An interback-type device in which a substrate 9 is carried into the device from one side of the device and is inverted in the device to be carried out and returned to the same side, a plurality of vacuum processing chambers 21, 22, 23 are longitudinally-provided and hermetically connected, and a carry system which passes through these vacuum chambers for carrying the substrate along established carry lines 94, 95L, 95R is provided. The carry line includes an outward carry line 94 toward an inversion position and return carry lines 95L, 95R returning from the inversion position, and the outward line 94 and return carry lines 94, 95L, 95R are different parallel paths, and the return carry lines 95L, 95R are branched in plurality. The outward carry line 94 and return carry lines 95L, 95R are established to pass through the same three processing chambers 21, 22, 23.

1. Technological Field to Which the Invention Belongs
The invention of the present application relates to a substrate processing device suitable for use in the manufacture of display devices, such as liquid crystal displays.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In the manufacture of various display devices, such as liquid crystal displays and plasma displays, a process such as surface-processing must be administered on a plate-shaped material that forms the base of the device (hereinbelow referred to as the substrate). By way of example, in liquid crystal displays, a process to form a transparent electrode on the plate surface (surface that is not the peripheral surface) of the glass substrate is required.
The substrate processing device employed in processing of this kind comprises a chamber configured in such a way that it can be pumped out to a vacuum or a predetermined gas can be introduced to the inner space because the processing of the substrate is performed in a predetermined atmosphere. As different processes are continuously performed therein and the pressure must be gradually lowered from atmospheric pressure, the configuration that is adopted comprises a plurality of chambers.
Substrate processing devices of the prior art such as this may, in terms of the layout of the chambers, be broadly classified into two types. One is known as the inline-type and the other is known as the cluster tool-type.
FIG. 9 shows the schematic configuration of an inline-type device as a typical substrate processing device of the prior art. The inline-type device uses a configuration in which a plurality of chambers 2, 3, 11 and 12 are longitudinally-provided in a straight line. A carry system, which carries the substrate 9, is provided so as to penetrate the plurality of chambers 2, 3, 11 and 12. In addition, gate valves 10 are provided between the chambers 2, 3, 11 and 12.
The substrate 9 is carried in sequence through the chambers by the carry system in a state in which it is mounted on a tray 91 for processing. One of the plurality of chambers is a load-lock chamber 11 which opens to the atmosphere when the substrate 9 is carried in, and another chamber is a load-lock chamber 12 which opens to the atmosphere when the substrate 9 is carried out. The remaining chambers include chambers for processing (hereinbelow, processing chambers) 2. In addition, a chamber 3, provided between the processing chamber 2 and the load-lock chamber 11 or unload-lock chamber 12, constitutes a pressure-adjustment chamber. As there is a large pressure difference between the load-lock chamber 11 (or unload-lock chamber 12) and the processing chamber 2, the pressure adjustment chamber 3 maintains and adjusts the atmosphere to an interim pressure therebetween.
As shown in FIG. 9, the configuration of the carry system enables the movement of the tray 91, on which the substrate 9 is mounted, by the use of carry rollers 41. These carry rollers 41 constitute a pair of small disk-shaped members provided at both ends of a rotating shaft extending perpendicular with the direction of carry in the horizontal direction. The carry system is configured by the provision of, in a predetermined interval in the direction of carry, a large number of groups of rotating shafts and pairs of carry rollers 41. As is clear from FIG. 9, the substrate 9 is carried and processed horizontally.
On the other hand, FIG. 10 shows, as another example of a typical substrate processing device of the prior art, a schematic configuration of a cluster tool-type device. The cluster tool-type device uses a configuration in which, in the perimeter of a carry chamber 5 in which a transfer robot 42 is provided in the inner part, load-lock chambers 11 and a plurality of processing chambers 2 are provided. In the example shown in FIG. 10, two load-lock chambers 11 are provided. In addition, gate valves 10 are provided between the carry chamber 5, load-lock chambers 11, and the processing chambers 2.
The transfer robot 42 takes out the substrate 9 from one load-lock chamber 11 and carries it in sequence to the processing chambers 2. The transfer robot 42, following processing, returns the substrate 9 to the other load-lock chamber 11. It will be noted that, although the load-lock chamber 11 shown in FIG. 10 performs the unlock load chamber 12 function in the device shown in FIG. 9, the name "load-lock chamber" is used without alteration.
The transfer robot 42 is an articulated type robot. The substrate 9 is mounted and carried on the tip-end of the arm thereof. To carry the substrate 9 to a predetermined position, the transfer robot 42 performs arm extension and contraction, rotation, and a range of vertical movements. The substrate 9 is mounted and carried on the arm horizontally. In addition, the substrate 9 is also supported and processed horizontally within the processing chamber 2.
In substrate processing devices of this kind, at the heart of the demands for greater intricacy of the entire process and improvements to the productivity is the need for a large number of both different and identical processing steps to be able to be continuously performed. That is to say, due to an increased intricacy of the entire process, different processing steps must be continuously performed, and in order for productivity to be improved, identical processing steps must be broken up and performed at the same time. It will be noted that the term "continuously" used here refers to the execution of a next processing step without the substrate having been taken out into the atmosphere.
Because of a need to increase the number of processing steps in this way, the substrate processing devices of the prior art described above have the following problems.
First, in inline-type substrate processing devices, when the number of processing chambers is increased in order to increase the number of processing steps, the length of the device in the direction of the tray line is lengthened by that amount. In inline-type devices, because the substrate is carried in from one side of the device and is carried out from the other side, problems of workability and efficiency arise when the length of the device is increased and the carry-in position and the collection position of the substrate are separated further. In addition, a problem arises in that it is difficult for devices that are lengthy to be assembled in existing production lines.
On the other hand, in cluster tool-type devices, if an attempt is made to increase the number of processing chambers, the sides of the center carry chamber must be enlarged. There are drawbacks accompanying this in that the cross-section of the carry chamber is larger and the occupied area of the device as a whole is larger. As the carry chamber is a section that does not directly contribute to productivity, an increase in size of this section is undesirable. In addition, when the carry chamber is enlarged, there are problems in that the scale of the pump system for pumping out the inner space is larger and more expensive. Furthermore, when the carry chamber is enlarged, the operation range required of the carry robot for carrying the substrate to the chambers increases. As a result, the scale of the transfer robot is larger and more expensive and, as a result of a lengthening of the arm of the transfer robot, problems in flexibility of the arm and reduction of carry precision arise.

Interback-type substrate processing device


A method for enabling a driver's license to be used as a credit account, including: accessing data from a scanned bar code of a driver's license; comparing the accessed data from the scanned bar code to a store of information comprising a stored set of profile information; based on the comparing, determining if a match between the accessed data and a stored set of profile information exists, and identifying a matched stored set of profile information; identifying a customer credit account, of the customer credit account information, linked to the matched stored set of profile information; generating an credit verification for the customer, such that, as to the customer, a particular transactional activity is allowed to be processed using the identified customer credit account.

Credit card companies require merchants to check the picture identification of a person using a credit card issued by their company. These requirements help to reduce credit card fraud. However, these requirements are also burdensome and time consuming for the merchant and the customer alike. Additionally, when customers forget to take their credit cards with them while shopping, many times, they are not able to purchase a desired object.


A method for the manufacture of an adhesive id described, comprising: (A) Providing an initial reaction product of a solution polymerization reaction, the initial reaction product comprising polymer, unreacted polymerizable reactant, non-polymerizable material, and solvent; and (B) Purifying the initial reaction product by adding an oxidizing agent and a reducing agent to the initial reaction product and allowing the unreacted polymerizable reactant in the initial reaction product to further react, thereby providing a second reaction product comprising additional polymer and a lower level of unreacted polymerizable reactant than was present in the initial reaction product. Optionally, the method of the invention may further comprise: Precipitating the polymer from the second reaction product to provide a precipitated polymer, and separating the precipitated polymer from the remainder of the second reaction product, the precipitated polymer comprising a lower level of non-polymerizable material or unreacted polymerizable reactant or both non-polymerizable material and unreacted polymerizable reactant than was present in the second reaction product.

Adhesive compositions including one or more polymers are often used in the manufacture of medical products that are designed for use in contact with human skin. Adhesive wound dressings may include components to cover a wound, absorb fluids and/or deliver medicaments to the injured skin. Such dressings typically include an adhesive backing which may be applied directly to the skin to maintain the dressing in place over the injury. Additionally, transdermal patches have become an accepted means for the delivery of certain molecules through the layers of the skin, thus eliminating the need for injections. Transdermal patches include a drug dosage which may be stored in an appropriate medium and affixed to an adhesive coated backing. The backing on the transdermal patch is intended to be adhesively affixed to an area of human skin to place and hold the drug-carrying medium in direct contact with the skin and thereby promote the delivery of the drug through the skin. In some instances, the drug dosage may be directly incorporated into the adhesive used to secure the patch to the skin. Adhesive compositions used for securing medical products to human skin are preferably free of significant concentrations of unreacted materials such as residual monomer components, initiator materials, inhibitors or other agents. In addition to enhancing the adhesion, cohesion, stretch and/or adhesive tack of the adhesive, a low level of significant impurities in such adhesive formulations is also desired to avoid certain unwanted features in the final product, such as unpleasant odors or the like.
Adhesive polymers that have been prepared by conventional free radical solution polymerization generally include impurities, such as residual monomers, initiator materials, inhibitors or other agents. Although residual monomers may be removed from the adhesive polymer by use of scavenger (or scavenging) monomers, this method also requires the removal of the scavenger monomer and the polymers that result are generally not the same as the original adhesive polymer obtained during the primary polymerization reaction. Alternatively, impurities remaining after free radical solution polymerization may also be removed by multiple heating and evaporation steps which remove volatile components. But, this method may crosslink, gel or degrade the polymer and it is time consuming, costly, and relies upon the volatility of any impurities.
There is a need to provide clean, adhesive polymers prepared by free radical solution polymerization and to improve the ability to remove impurities from such adhesive polymers.

Method for the manufacture of pressure sensitive adhesives


A power saving circuit for metal oxide silicon field effect transistors (MOSFETS) comprised of an MOS circuit comprising low threshold voltage MOSFETs, at least one MOS FET switch connected in series between the low threshold MOSFET and a power rail, at least one MOSFET switch being of low threshold voltage type similar to MOSFETS used in the MOS circuit, and apparatus for applying at least one control signal to the at least one MOSFET switch for enabling the at least one MOSFET switch to turn on and off, the at least one control signal having a voltage of at least one of VPP and VBB, wherein VPP is more positive than a normal power rail operating voltage VDD, and VBB is more negative than a normal opposite power rail operating voltage VSS.

As integrated circuits (ICs) become more advanced, feature sizes are reduced to achieve higher performance and to place more circuits on a single chip. The smaller feature sizes make the ICs more sensitive to damage from voltage levels that are used. To reduce the likelihood of such damage occurring, operating voltage levels are being reduced, e.g. to 2 volts or less. Reduction in operating voltage also requires a similar reduction in threshold voltage (V.sub.T) to keep noise margins and other operational factors in scale.
Unfortunately, as threshold voltages are reduced, the MOSFETS leak current at a higher rate than at the higher voltages when the MOSFETS are "off". This effect is caused by subthreshold current, which becomes more significant as threshold voltages are reduced.
Several different techniques have been used in the past to avoid the subthreshold leakage, most of which involve placing switches between the low V.sub.T MOS circuits and power supplies, to electrically isolate the MOS devices when they are off. A description of a prior art technique may be found in "Low Voltage Circuit Design Techniques for Battery-Operated and/or Giga-Scale DRAMs", by Tadato Yamagata et al, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 30, No. Nov. 11, 1995, pp. 1183-1188.
A prior art circuit is shown in FIG. 1, wherein a low threshold (V.sub.T) MOS circuit 1 is connected via switches 3 and 5 to power supply rails of VDD and ground (VSS). Signals applied to the switches 3 and 5 cause them to close for normal operation and open for low power standby operation. Assuming the switches to be perfect, leakage current through circuit 1 would be stopped when the switches are open.
However, the switches 3 and 5 are not perfect, as they are realized by MOSFETS 7 and 9 as shown in FIG. 2. The MOSFETS 7 and 9 have their source-drain circuits in series with circuit 1 to voltage rails VDD and ground, respectively. MOSFETS 7 and 9 are typically realized as PMOS (p-channel MOS) and NMOS (n-channel MOS) high V.sub.T FETs respectively, in order to have low subthreshold leakage currents, and therefore to function as an effective off switch to stop subthreshold current leakage through circuits 1. Low V.sub.T devices are used in circuits 1 in order to provide acceptable propagation delay during normal operation.
To operate the switches, a signal STBY is applied to FET 7, which when pulled to VSS causes FET 7 to operate for normal operation of circuit 1, and when pulled to VDD causes FET 7 to become nonconductive, during a low power standby mode of circuit 1.
A signal /STBY is applied to FET 9, which when pulled high to VDD causes FET 9 to operate for normal operation of circuit 1, and when pulled low to VSS causes FET 9 to become nonconductive, during the low power standby mode of circuit 1.
Thus the high V.sub.T devices controlled by the STBY and /STBY signals, having lower subthreshold leakage currents than the devices used in circuits 1, limit subthreshold leakage during standby. The FETs 7 and 9 controlled by the STBY and /STBY signals may be local to a small or to a large group or to groups of logic circuits, to suit the design.
However, the circuit shown in FIG. 2 requires more processing steps than is desirable. To fabricate both high and low V.sub.T NMOS and PMOS devices in the same integrated circuit, extra masks are required to isolate the high V.sub.T devices from the low V.sub.T devices and requires additional fabrication steps. This can reduce yield and increase manufacturing costs.
FIG. 3 illustrates a variation of the above circuit, in which only a single switch is used. The circuit 1 in this case is shown as a complementary symmetry MOS (CMOS) inverter 11 formed of a PMOS and an NMOS FET having their source drain circuits connected in series, one end thereof being connected to VDD. The gates of the CMOS FETs are connected together to an input IN and the junctions of their source and drain circuits forms the output OUT.
An NMOS FET 13, used as a switch, is connected between the other end of the source drain circuit of the inverter 11 and ground. A high valued resistor 15 is connected across the source and drain of FET 13.
In this example, OUT is known to be at high logic level during the time that the inverter 11 is in its standby state, and therefore no power switch is required in its pull-up path. Control signal /STBY is pulled low to disable FET 13 during the standby time. The subthreshold leakage current I.sub.ST through the off NMOS FET of inverter 11 is in this case shunted through the resistor 15 to ground. This current induces a voltage drop across the resistor which increases the voltage V.sub.S at the source of the NMOS FET of the inverter 11. The increase in V.sub.S decreases the gate to source voltage of the NMOS FET of inverter 11 and therefore acts to turn that FET off harder, and effectively reduces the subthreshold leakage current I.sub.ST through that FET.
While the circuit of FIG. 3 has the advantage that no nodes float during the standby time, since only the "off" pull up or pull down path is effected, a high V.sub.T device is still required for FET 13, with the attendant increased fabrication complexity, cost and yield risk described with reference to the structure of FIG. 2. In addition, the resistor is a large device in an integrated circuit, which consumes precious silicon area.

Power savings technique in solid state integrated circuits


A hunting trophy presentation apparatus includes a vertical support structure having a plurality of supporting sides disposed so as to provide an enclosure having a first open end and a second open end, a frame connecting the plurality of vertical sides and defining an access opening through which an animal trophy is inserted, and a presentation platform disposed below the frame and providing a mounting surface for an animal trophy. The presentation platform is secured to one of the frame and the vertical support structure, and supports an animal trophy to present the animal trophy above the frame and the vertical support structure. The trophy presentation apparatus also presents a visual display, such as a video or a photograph, attached to the vertical support structure.

Hunting animals has been a vital activity since man first walked the earth. Trophies from the hunt, being body parts from animals, are displayed with pride by hunters and animal-lovers alike. The taxidermy industry was developed to meet the desire to display such hunting trophies. Traditionally, animal trophies such as antlers, animal heads, and the like, were mounted on plaques attached to a vertical surface such as a wall. However, this approach suffers at least two serious drawbacks. First, mounting a hunting trophy in this manner requires that a person lift the trophy and mounting assembly above their head to attach it to a wall, an operation that normally takes two people standing on ladders. This poses a significant risk of injury to those engaging in this operation, since they can easily fall from the ladder onto a hard floor.
Another shortcoming is that mounting a hunting trophy on a wall presents the trophy at a distance from admirers. The trophy will often be mounted above the height of most people, preventing them from closely examining the hunting trophy.

Hunting trophy and visual display presentation apparatus


A system for switching between a signal having delay paths of differing magnitudes without generating any glitches and false edges uses a no delay circuit for outputting a signal having no delay and a delay output circuit for outputting a delayed form of the signal. The signals are inputted to a multiplexer. The multiplexer will output at least one of the signals. Control circuitry is coupled to the multiplexer for signalling the multiplexer to output at least one of the signals. The control circuitry will control the switching of the multiplexer so that when the output of the multiplexer switches from a signal having no delay to a delayed form of the signal, or when the output of the multiplexer switches from a delayed form of the signal to a signal having no delay, no glitches or false edges are generated.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to delay systems and, more specifically, to a system and method that is able to switch between delay paths of differing magnitudes without creating any glitches or false edges.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Microcontrollers such as MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY's PIC17C56 have a peripheral that is commonly referred to as a Synchronous Serial Port (SSP). The SSP is capable of supporting two serial communication protocols. The two protocols are the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) and the Inter-Integrated Circuit (I.sup.2 C). The SSP can only support one of these protocols at a time.
While incorporating a serial protocol on the SSP, it is necessary to select between two signals that are differing delayed versions of the same input signal. The I.sup.2 C protocol requires the selection to be made without creating any glitches or false edges during the transition between the differing delay paths. The I.sup.2 C protocol requires devices connected.to the bus to filter out any glitches of less than a certain amount (i.e., typically around 50 ns) on the input signals. For most SSP modules, the filtering of glitches is typically done by a circuit known as a pulse gobbler. The pulse gobbler uses weak devices and capacitors to delay the input signals for a period of time greater than the maximum glitch required to be filtered. Thus, if the input changes back to its initial state before it is allowed, the transition will be ignored. The filtering of the glitches is only required for the I.sup.2 C protocol. Since charging and discharging capacitors consume power, it is desirable to only have the pulse gobbler functioning when the SSP is operating in the I.sup.2 C mode.
The I.sup.2 C bus consists of two lines, a data line and a clock line. The 1.sup.2 C protocol defines that a transition on the data line while the clock line is high generates either a start bit or a stop bit. Thus, it is essential not to create any false edges on the data line when enabling and disabling the pulse gobbler.
Therefore a need existed to provide an improved system and method that is able to switch between delay paths of differing magnitudes. The improved system and method must be able to switch between delay paths of differing magnitudes without creating any glitches or false edges. This will allow a Synchronous Serial Port (SSP) operating under an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I.sup.2 C) protocol to switch between the differing delay versions of the same input signal without generating any glitches or false edges during the transition.

System and method for a glitchless transition between differing delay paths


A detecting system and method of determining the position of a mobile point of interest in a m dimensional coordinate system having an ultrasonic transmitter mounted on the point of interest, and a plurality of stationary ultrasonic receivers, the number being at least m plus 2. The location of the receivers are determined optimally by using a linear matrix formulation. Alternatively, the location of the receivers can be determined during installation or self-calibration of the system. The system also includes receiver controlling means for processing the received signal to generate time of flight measurements which are used to eliminate the speed of sound as a variable and to compute the location of the point of interest. The controlling means also generates phase measurements when prompted by an outside source by comparing the transmitted signal with a 40kHz pulse sync to refine the accuracy of the location of the point of interest.

Numerous types of position detection systems are well known in the prior art. Generally, these systems are configured to use techniques employing a single transmitter and multiple receivers, estimating geometric distances by the transmit-receive mode of ranging, to measure the position of a target point. Most ultrasonic systems are of the pulse-echo type and use highly directional transducers that are pointed toward the target point to measure the position and distance of the target point. With this technique, the distance between a transmitter and a receiver is determined indirectly by measuring the elapsed time, usually called the time of flight (TOF), during which the signal generated at the transmitter hits the receiver and bounces back to the transmitter. This ranging technique is used mostly to measure distances in one dimension along the line perpendicular to the transducer surface.
The most popular pulse-echo type system was built by Polaroid which was designed to provide the distance from a camera to the picture subject for the purpose of focusing a lens. However, pulse-echo systems are not very accurate because different reflection properties of the targets affect the accuracy of the TOF. In addition, ultrasonic beams spread as they travel away from the transmitter, thus these systems are unable to effectively point to a small target.
Acoustic ranging systems for applications in two-dimensional and three-dimensional space are produced commercially by a few manufacturers. These products use transducers operating in the transmit-receive mode primarily for digitization applications. The coordinates of a transmitter are calculated from its distance to various receivers located outside the operating volume of the digitizing unit. The distances are determined by measuring the TOF of the ultrasonic pulse as it travels from the transmitter to each receiver. Calculation of the coordinates of the transmitter from these distances is done using a simple triangulation operation.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,148 issued to Gilchrist discloses a three-dimensional acoustic digitizing system employing two transmitters and four receivers to determine the position of a target point. A different technique was employed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,152 issued to Milner. In Milner, the distance between a transmitter and several receivers were determined using a transmitter responsive receiver frame, a plurality of fixed receivers, and a controller port plug which provides a computer with position signals.
The accuracy of the sonic sensors used in these systems and their response to the changes in the speed of sound has generated much concern. The deterministic effects of the speed of sound in an environment is caused by changes in temperature and humidity, and by air turbulence. For accurate measurements, the speed of sound must be known at all times and the path travelled by the signal must be linear. Because it is difficult to maintain an homogenous environment within a given work area, calibration techniques have been devised. The most common technique employed has been to estimate and to average time of flight measurements.
Gilchrist discloses the use of a reference correction transmitter and a scale correction technique to compensate for the changes in the speed of sound while calibrating the system. One disadvantage of this and similar techniques is that they require a separate transmitter to account for the changes in the speed of sound. Other disadvantages include requiring a controller device to determine the distance between the transmitters and receivers, and a reference receiver with dedicated circuitry to correct for the changes in the speed of sound.
Another technique used to increase the accuracy of the distance of a target point includes calculating the phase shift between the transmitted and received signals. Such a method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,917, issued to Dechape. Dechape discloses a phase measurement technique that compares the phase of the transmitted signal to the phase of the received signal, and combines this resultant signal with rough time of flight measurements to refine the position of a target point. While Dechape seems to have solved part of the accuracy problem, it does not account for changes in the speed of sound or the speed of sound's deterministic effects on the accuracy of the position of the target point.
Accordingly, what is needed is a detection means and method which provides an inherent self-calibration technique that eliminates the speed of sound as a necessary variable, while determining the coordinates of a point of interest in an m-dimensional coordinate system. The present invention meets these needs.

The Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund


A gudgeon or endcap for a heated roller is provided which substantially reduces heat loss through the ends of the roller and is of sufficient strength and durability to transmit rotation to the rollers during extensive use. The gudgeon is molded from thermoplastic polyimide filled with 20 to 50 weight percent glass fiber. A roller comprising the gudgeon is also provided.

In the printing and paper making industries, heated rollers are commonly used to feed paper sheets and simultaneously perform some processing step on the paper. For example, an heated roller may serve as a pressure roll fuser for electrographic copiers, or as a calendar in making paper. In such applications, the roller is supported by gudgeons, also referred to as endcaps or journals, and is rotated by a drive mechanism connected to the roller through the gudgeons.
Gudgeons attached to fuser rollers perform many functions and so must be constructed to perform them with minimum failure. For example, gudgeons transmit rotational motion from the copier drive mechanism to the roller; they allow the bearing to fit over the gudgeon so that smooth rotational motion is obtained; they must be able to withstand fusing temperatures up to 450.degree. F. without degrading or affecting performance, and; they must be good thermal insulators so that heat transmitted to the bearings and to the frame is minimized. Exposure to high temperatures reduces bearing life.
Heat through the surface of the roller accomplishes the desired fixing of toned images to the sheets or calendering of the paper. In order to decrease heat losses through the ends of the heated roller and to the surrounding environment, it is desirable to construct the roller surface of one material having a high thermal conductivity (such as metal) and the gudgeons forming the ends of the roller of another material having a low thermal conductivity (such as an organic material). Materials of low thermal conductivity, however, generally do not match the metal roller in its physical characteristics of strength, stiffness or thermal expansion. Suitable measures must be taken to minimize the effect of these differences and provide gudgeons that will operate over extended temperature ranges without loosening or becoming eccentric and without inducing excessive stresses in the roller.
Historically, gudgeons have been manufactured with all plastics, such as thermoset epoxy, and thermoset polyimides such as Kinel.TM. 4504, Fibrite PI-740 & PI-755. The major problem with these materials is that the resin degrades, especially when in contact with the metal core. Degradation is generally characterized by shrinkage which leads to motion of the gudgeon in relation to the core which in turn leads to transmission of torque and rotational motion through the gudgeon. This affects fusing performance to the extent that improper fusing occurs and the fuser roller must be replaced. Gudgeons may also be made of metal such as aluminum and steel, including stainless steel, but with the design of the present invention, the roller or ball bearings would require special lubricant and this would significantly increase the cost of the bearings.
Further problems arise because repetitive heating and cooling of the roller frequently cause the bolts to relax the coupling between the gudgeon and roller or ultimately to fracture.
Several configurations of heated rollers and their end gudgeons are disclosed in Research Disclosure Bulletin, Item 13027, Vol. 130, page 23-24, "Internally heated roller construction" published Feb. 10, 1975 in Hampshire, United Kingdom. These configurations are designed to help minimize the problems outlined above, but the durability of gudgeons continues to be a problem. What is needed, then, is an improved gudgeon which prevents substantial heat loss from the ends of a heated roller and which will not degrade or shrink or lose its close fit to the roller core upon repetitive heating and cooling.


Methods and systems for optimal access of data are disclosed. A system for optimally updating data is described wherein a central database transmits a location table to a remote terminal having an access time variant (ATV) storage medium wherein a first set of data items is stored. The data on the ATV medium can be displayed visually upon a user's accessing a particular piece of data from the ATV medium. The user's data access habits are indexed on a location table by the central database where the location table is optimized and updated according to the number of accesses the user makes to particular data items. A second set of data is then transmitted to the remote terminal along with the updated location table and stored on the ATV database in optimized form, thereby reducing the access time to the second set of data on all the remote terminals since each particular user's individual habits govern the optimization process.

Most types of computer systems which are in use today require the ability to store large amounts of data for ready access by system users. Data storage media technology has exhibited great advances in the last few years such that large amounts of data are able to be stored on computer systems. Several examples of data storage media in use today are floppy disks, hard disks, optical disks, magnetic tape, as well as other data storage devices.
It is known by those with skill in the art that information stored on data storage devices must be readily changed or updated either by a user or by another system as external conditions demand data updating. When a limited number of users have access to a database, or when the time for database updating is not critical, there is little problem in updating the storage medium with new information. However, when a database is being continually accessed or when a variety of users need access to the database for different information, it has generally been undesirable to take large amounts of time for updating the database but, desirable to provide efficient storage of a wide variety of data on the database so that many different users can be accommodated. There has been a long-felt need in the art for near optimal storage of data on databases thereby reducing access time by users to information on the database and providing efficient data updating.
In order to store extremely large amounts of data on a database, it is often necessary to use a mass storage medium such as, for example, magnetic tape, floppy disks, hard disks and optical disks, etc. Mass storage media are generally "access time variant" (ATV). As herein defined and used throughout, an "ATV" medium refers to any type of data storage medium wherein the last access of data stored on the medium influences the access time to the next item stored on the medium. It is usually extremely desirable to keep the access time to all items on the ATV medium as low as possible. The access time to data items on an ATV medium is determined by the time it takes the particular accessing means of the ATV medium to locate the requisite data item stored on the ATV medium. Maximum access time occurs when two consecutive pieces of data to be accessed reside at the most remote positions from one another on the ATV medium. Maximum access time can be empirically determined for any ATV medium by measuring all possible access times from prior datum to subsequent datum.
Certain prior art approaches have been utilized to retrieve information stored on a tape for display by a computer or on a video screen. U.S. Pat. No. 3,757,037, Bialek embodies such a system. The device embodied in the Bialek patent requires that information stored on a video cassette be grouped. See Bialek column 1, line 25. Some A priori knowledge of where to place and group related data is necessary to utilize the device embodied in the Bialek patent. Thus, Bialek fails to provide a computer database which is efficiently useful to a large variety of users, since grouping of information for fast access can only be tailored for specific individual user's tastes.
Another prior art approach to creating a database containing information which is available to a variety of users is embodied in U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,477, Lovett. The device disclosed in the Lovett patent shows a television information system which transmits selected video picture information to a number of subscribers who have televisions connected to the system. See Lovett, column 6, lines 40-45. According to the operation of the Lovett system, a subscriber makes a selection from the system by transmitting a request to the database. See Lovett, column 7, lines 10-15. A central computer having a central database searches the database for the information and sends it over a carrier frequency which has been specifically dedicated to the specific subscriber.
The device embodied in Lovett requires that each user be given a specific television frequency for interfacing with a complex central database. The inventors of the subject matter disclosed and claimed herein have determined that the most economical and efficient way for many users to optimally access data on a database is to distribute the databases among the individual users. The databases distributed among the individual users can then be continuously updated according to an optimal updating algorithm. The device in the Lovett patent fails to provide any of these features. Thus, the device in Lovett does not satisfy the long-felt need in the art for an economical and efficient database which can be used in the homes of a multitude of users.
It has been known in the computer art to provide remote terminals which can communicate with a central database and computer system. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,290, McKenna et al. The device embodied in the McKenna et al. patent discloses a data storage and transmission system for accumulating data and transmitting the data to a central location. See column 1, lines 18-21 of McKenna et al. However, the device described and disclosed in the McKenna et al. patent merely transmits statistics about television viewing habits and product purchases of selected users by transmitting information to the central database over a cable line. The device in the McKenna et al. patent does not provide for continuous and optimal updating of data in remote databases which can be used by a large number of subscribers. Thus, the device embodied in the McKenna et al patent does not fulfill the long-felt need in the art for distributed databases with optimal data storage.
Periodic updating of information which is displayed to subscribers through a video display device has also been known in the computer art. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,203,130, Doumit et al. The Doumit patent discloses a device which updates data from a central database periodically. See Doumit et al. column 2, lines 11-15. However, the system disclosed in Doumit provides globally updated information to all users of the system in a single order and format. Thus, the device disclosed and described in Doumit et al can not provide optimally updated data to a multiplicity of remote databases when different users of the remote databases have unique data access habits.
The inventors have recognized a long-felt need in the art for a computer system having databases distributed among a potentially unlimited number of users. The information stored in all of the databases must be continuously updated and optimally placed on an ATV storage medium according to the desires and access habits of each the particular user. The inventors have also recognized a long-felt need in the art for systems which display optimally updated data which has been stored according to a user's particular statistical data access habits. The inventors have invented methods and systems which solve these problems and fulfill the aforementioned long-felt needs in the computer art for systems and methods for optimal updating of data.


The invention relates to a continuous process for producing synthetic crude oil from oil bearing material, e.g., oil shale or tar sand, through continuous loading, calcining and unloading operations in three triangularly placed reactor tubes that are loaded with oil bearing material from a common feed source.

The processing of oil shale and bitumen (tar sands) to produce commercially viable products has long been desired. However, existing shale or bitumen technology for recovering viable petroleum products contained therein is not economically feasible. In addition, spent shale or tar sand is a waste material that has not been constructively used.
An exemplary process for recovering oil from oil shale involves retorting oil shale so that the kerogen molecules are cracked. Inorganic matter of the shale must be separated from the heavy, highly unsaturated, highly viscous components. These fluidic components must be further processed by cracking, hydrocracking, hydrogenating, or by other processes.
FIG. 1 shows a known fixed bed process for treating oil shale. The temperature conditions and flow rates of the materials described are only provided for illustration and are not intended to be limited to those values. According to the process of FIG. 1, oil shale from a mine 10 (180,000 tons/day or 7,500 tons/hour) is conveyed via a bucket elevator 12 to a feed hopper 14. Raw shale in feed hopper 14 is maintained at about 60.degree. F. and is charged through feed valve 16 into a pressure equalizer 18. The shale is then conveyed through valve 20 into reactor 22 where hydrogen at 600 psi is introduced into reactor 22 at several locations.
Reactor 22 may be of any conventional design and, in particular, has a diameter of about 12 feet and a height of about 100 feet. Hydrogen is conveyed through line 26 and controllably introduced into reactor 22 via control valves 24. The hydrogen in line 26 comprises recycle and make-up hydrogen at a temperature of approximately 910.degree. F. The shale is processed in the reactor to produce synthetic crude, bi-products, hydrogen for recycling and spent shale.
Shale is discharged from reactor 22 through line 28 at a temperature of about 900.degree. F. and at a rate of about 6,750 tons/hour. Synthetic crude, bi-products and recycle hydrogen at 850.degree. F. are discharged from reactor 22 through flow line 30. The products in flow line 30 are conveyed to and introduced into heat exchanger bank 32 concurrently with make-up hydrogen plus recycle via flow line 72, whereby heat is transferred from the process products in line 30 to the hydrogen from line 72.
Cooled products from exchanger 32 are conveyed to cooler 36 and are thereafter introduced into a condensate drum 42. The bottoms from the condensate drum 42 include synthetic crude and bi-products that are removed and sent to a syncrude stripper 48 concurrently with a stripping hydrogen stream in line 70 from hydrogen source 66. The products from stripper 48, e.g., syncrude, are removed via line 49 at 180,000 barrels/day. A top product from stripper 48 is conveyed via line 50 to a bi-products recovery plant 52.
In bi-products recovery plant 52, elemental sulfur is produced and removed through line 58. Anhydrous ammonia (NH.sub.3) is also produced and removed via line 60. A hydrogen stripping stream is produced in plant 52 and is removed via line 62 and thereafter introduced into line 72 for recycling and use in exchange bank 32. Hydrogen that is produced in plant 52 is removed through line 54 and thereafter introduced into line 72. In addition, all the product streams from plant 52 are processed in a manner known to those skilled in the art to remove sulfur compounds to obtain useable products. The disadvantage of the process described by FIG. 1 is that it is not a continuous process.
In another known process for converting kerogen of oil shale to oil petroleum products, U.S. Pat. No. 4,153,533, a mixture of oil shale and hydrogen is subjected to wave energy in the microwave range to obtain oil.
In these and other oil shale and tar sands processes, the feed material must be mined. As a result, the sites that are mined/excavated to produce the feed for these processes are left untreated, resulting in depleted and non-usable land.
Thus, a need exists to provide a continuous process for treating oil shale and/or tar sands that is economical. A need also exists for practical use of spent product wastes that are generated from these processes. The present invention eliminates the drawbacks and limitations of batch or fixed bed type oil shale or tar sand conversion processes, as well as, the problems encountered when dealing with waste materials from these processes.

Apparatus for converting oil shale or tar sands to oil


The present invention incorporates an add-on adaptive feedforward controller into the existent track-following servomechanism of a dual-actuator disc drive to suppress the disturbance caused by mechanical interaction of the two actuator assemblies to thereby enhance the positioning accuracy at track following. The control signal fed into the power amplifier of one actuator is also used as the input signal of an adaptive controller in the other one. In an illustrative embodiment, the information is fed into an adaptive LMS filter. The output of the adaptive filter is then used as a feedforward signal to coordinate the head position with the desired track position. By matching the unknown disturbance dynamics with a filtered-x LMS (least mean square) adaptation algorithm, the output of the feedforward controller is able to cancel the disturbance from mechanical interaction, and thereby realizes the necessary fast, accurate head positioning.

The present invention relates generally to disc drive data storage systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to attenuating the disturbance to the positioning of a read/write head of a first actuator assembly in a dual-actuator disc drive caused by the motion of a second actuator assembly in the drive.
Disc drives read and write information along concentric tracks formed on discs. To locate a particular track on a disc, disc drives typically use embedded servo fields on the disc. These embedded fields are utilized by a servo subsystem to position a head over a particular track. The servo fields are written onto the disc when the disc drive is manufactured and are thereafter simply read by the disc drive to determine position. A servo system samples the position of the read/write head relative to a particular track at a particular sampling rate and adjusts the position of the head.
In a typical servo system, the actual position of the read/write head relative to a given track is sensed and compared to the desired position of the head. A position error signal (PES) indicative of the difference between the actual and desired positions is provided to a servo controller. Based on the value of the position error signal, the servo controller provides a servo control signal to a power amplifier that amplifies the servo control signal and provides it to a voice coil motor. The voice coil motor is coupled to an actuator that moves in response to the application of the amplified control signal to the voice coil motor. An actuator arm that holds the read/write head is coupled to the actuator. In this way, the servo controller controls the positioning of the read/write head relative to a particular track on the disc surface.
Magnetics technology has continued to allow for rapid growth in the areal density of disc drives. With the increase in capacity of magnetic disc storage devices used as the main file for large computer systems, fast data access performance is essential. Along with increasing areal density have come faster access times and faster throughput. Each of these technology improvements requires higher performance servo system and mechanical structures. The rotary dual-actuator structure is effective in meeting the high access performance and faster throughput requirement. Two individual channels and actuators are designed to operate simultaneously. However, the dual-actuator structure tends to suffer from the mechanical interaction between actuators when attaining the required head positioning. The motion of one actuator, especially during track seeking, will generate vibrations which will significantly affect the positioning accuracy of the other actuator while track following.
The present invention provides a solution to these and other problems and offers other advantages over the prior art.
The present invention serves to attenuate the disturbance to the positioning of a read/write head of a first actuator assembly in a dual-actuator disc drive caused by the motion of a second actuator assembly in the drive.
One embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method of attenuating the disturbance to the positioning of a first read/write head, associated with a first actuator assembly, caused by the motion of a second actuator assembly. Pursuant to the method, the servo control signal provided to the second actuator assembly is also provided to an adaptive filter that also receives the position error signal of the first actuator assembly. The adaptive filter then produces a feedforward signal adapted to offset the disturbance to the positioning of the first read/write head caused by motion of the second actuator assembly. The adaptive filter adjusts its parameters based upon the received position error signal and the received servo control signal. The feedforward signal is provided to the servo loop of the first actuator assembly.
Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a disc drive that includes first and second actuator assemblies, corresponding first and second servo controllers, and an adaptive filter. The first actuator assembly positions a first read/write head relative to a disc surface. The first servo controller receives a first position error signal that is indicative of a difference between the actual position of the first read/write head relative to a disc surface and the desired position of the first read/write head. The first servo controller provides a first servo control signal to the first actuator assembly based on the value of the first position error signal. The second actuator assembly positions a second read/write head relative to a disc surface. The second servo controller receives a second position error signal that is indicative of a difference between the actual position of the second read/write head relative to a disc surface and the desired position of the second read/write head. The second servo controller provides a second servo control signal to the second actuator assembly based on the value of the second position error signal. The adaptive filter receives the second servo control signal and the first position error signal and provides a feedforward signal to the first actuator assembly. The feedforward signal is designed to offset the disturbance to the position of the first read/write head caused by the motion of the second actuator assembly. The adaptive filter adjusts its parameters based upon the second servo control signal and the first position error signal.
These and various other features as well as advantages which characterize the present invention will be apparent upon reading of the following detailed description and review of the associated drawings.

Disturbance rejection of mechanical interaction for dual-actuator disc drives using adaptive feedforward servo


A hybrid scanner for switching internal analog buses to system pin channels. Semiconductor switches switch most scanner buses to system pin channels, but mechanical relays perform switching for at least one bus used for high-current test signals. To perform low-impedance guarding and/or high-current backdriving, the low impedance, high current bus is typically connectable to one or more overdriver circuits and a guard voltage potential through mechanical relays. The scanner is capable of supporting in-circuit tests covering the most significant regions of the fault spectrum can be made more reliable and much smaller and less costly than the scanners conventionally used in traditional broad spectrum testers. It turns out that this test-supporting capability can be achieved by adding only a few mechanical relays to an otherwise semiconductor-switch-based scanner. Only those necessary to support low-impedance and high-current test operations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to automatic circuit testers and, in particular, to an improved manufacturing defect analyzer (MDA) having a hybrid scanner.
2. Related Art
For reasonably comprehensive testing of circuit boards, the number of circuit-board test points ("nodes") that test instruments must be connected at one time or another is typically quite large. But the number of points that have to be connected at any one time is relatively a smaller fraction of the total. The test instruments can therefore be multiplexed. The term used in this art for the multiplexing hardware is "scanner."
Some manufacturing defect analyzer (MDA) circuit testers have used semiconductor switches to implement the scanner. Because of the accuracy costs that such switches' high impedances exact, however, they have been employed only in a few testers directed to a very limited region of the fault spectrum. By and large, more comprehensive testers use mechanical relays instead. With such scanners, considerable in-circuit measurement accuracy can be achieved. In addition, some circuit testers perform measurements on powered-up digital circuits, where it is sometimes necessary to force large currents through a pin channel. Semiconductor switches that carry high currents have high capacitance associated with them, making them unsuitable for use in scanners. Semiconductor switches having suitable capacitance values, can only carry a few tens of milliamperes without risking damage, are therefore also unsuitable. As a result, tester manufacturers have borne the significant burdens that mechanical relays impose, such as limited reliability, low probe-addressing flexibility, high relay-energization power requirements, the need to provide mechanical reinforcement to support the relays' added weight, and the much greater space required by the relays, their drivers, and the resultant power supplies.
What is needed, therefore, is a circuit tester scanner that can support tests for identifying defects covering a large portion of the fault spectrum without incurring the above drawbacks of conventional scanners.

Hybrid scanner for use in an improved MDA tester


The increase of temperature in heat sensitive devices during heat generating conditions is prevented through the absorption of heat, by providing a carbohydrate endotherm in an amount sufficient to effect the required heat absorption. The carbohydrate endotherm operates in an environment substantially devoid of potential oxidizing reactants. A scavenger may be employed in combination with the carbohydrate endotherm to remove or neutralize potential oxidizing reactants. Alternatively (or in addition), a fluoro-inert material may be employed in combination with the carbohydrate endotherm to effect a desired non-oxidizing environment. The carbohydrate endotherm may be used to provide thermal control and/or thermal protection in a variety of applications and environments. The carbohydrate endotherm may also be employed in combination with previously disclosed endotherm materials to achieve synergistic benefits therewith.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to endotherm systems and methods that employ one or more carbohydrates in a non-oxidizing (i.e., low oxygen) environment to absorb and/or dissipate heat from a potentially heat sensitive environment. Exemplary embodiments and implementations of the disclosed systems and methods employ one or more carbohydrates in combination with an oxygen scavenger to provide thermal control and/or thermal protection to heat sensitive devices and/or components, e.g., electrical devices and the like.
2. Background Art
Active cooling of electronic components, particularly delicate TR modules, Impatt diodes, data recorders, containers for chemicals and munitions, batteries and the like, is not always feasible. Even when feasible, active cooling generally requires continuous high energy cooling, which taxes other ancillary engineering systems typical in missiles, aircrafts, railroads, trucks, automobiles, guns, nuclear reactor systems, related combat systems, as well as commercial systems and technology.
The heat sinks of the prior art generally employ phase change material compositions (PCMs) for the absorption and dissipation of heat. Conventional PCM materials are largely solid or fluidic in nature, i.e. liquids, quasi-liquids or solids such as waxes or other meltable compositions. However, these conventional PCMs have proven to suffer from many technical problems, as well as problems in their use and application. These problems include relatively low latent heats of fusion, the inability to control the shape and form of such fluid PCM materials, as well as the unevenness of heating and cooling. Other problems include the need to provide a containment housing and the stress placed on the housing, resulting in frequent rupture and spillage of the PCM, potential hazards to life and property due to high heat content and flammability of conventional PCMs, and uneven cooling hysteresis. In addition, the use of such known PCMs can lead to spillage of hot fluids onto a human's skin, resulting in serious third degree burns due to the sticky contact nature of many hot wax and polymer or plastic PCMs. Ruptured non-composite fabric endothermic material (CFEM) or liquefied bulk PCM disks may spill their content and cause flash fires, which have a tendency to spread as the PCM pours out during heating in ovens Moreover, wax-filled disks are prone to fires which can spread and flow out of stoves.
Applicant has addressed some of these and other PCM problems in his U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,916, disclosing composite fabric endothermic materials (CFEMs) and providing devices especially suitable for use as heat sinks for aerospace and military use. The disclosed CFEMs provide an improved heat sink that absorbs heat at the melting temperature of a compound embedded within a fibrous mesh or matrix. The CFEM preferably includes a phase change material which is held by capillary action and chemical adhesion to the fibers of the matrix. As a result, a greatly increased surface area for heat transfer is obtained, thus providing for controlled melting and thermal dissipation of the fusion cooling agent.
Applicant has also addressed some of the PCM problems in U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,914, which addresses the need for an improved recyclable endothermic/exothermic thermal storage method for use in many commercial and civilian applications, e.g., in food, home and commercial packaging operations. In the '914 patent, improved CFEMs are disclosed that are capable of being employed in a variety of commercial applications, such as in the food industry, where a need has arisen for heat retaining or heat insulating containers, packages and thermal storage devices. However, the active agents disclosed in the '914 patent are not useful in certain heat absorbing devices, as they function simultaneously as endotherms and exotherms. While the agents disclosed in the '914 patent can accomplish some protection from high temperatures through absorption of their latent heat of fusion, such agents are totally unsuitable for applications relating to the absolute protection of heat sensitive devices from high heat. After all, the heat they have absorbed, they must release. In addition, the active agents of the '914 Patent and other prior art PCMs are not capable of absorbing more than 130 cal/gm. Thus, they can remove heat for only a short period of time relative to mass and only at temperatures not exceeding 326° F. Consequently, they are not effective for applications requiring cooling at very high temperatures and for long periods of time as would be needed, for example, in airplane and railroad crash recorders, missile electronics, spacecraft devices, power supplies, data recorders employed as aircraft and railroad components and combat devices, and in commercial uses such as oven sensors, fire walls, nuclear reactors, munitions' boxes, chemical containers, batteries and automobile exhaust systems. Finally, the agents disclosed in the '914 patent tend to burn at relatively high temperatures, raising the overall heat content of the system.
More recently, applicant has issued a series of patents directed to advantageous endotherm systems that provide non-reversible heat absorbing applications. For example, applicant has disclosed heat absorbing devices and methods capable of absorbing heat for the cooling and maintenance of the temperature of heat sensitive devices at acceptable levels. [See U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,793,844; 6,780,345; 6,773,623; 6,759,476; 6,673,260; 6,652,770; 6,638,444; 6,558,568; 6,264,854; 6,261,475; 6,241,910; 6,241,909; 6,238,591; 6,235,216; and 6,224,784; the contents of the foregoing U.S. patents are incorporated herein by reference.] The disclosed endothermic agents include certain acids and their salts, certain bases and their salts, certain hydrate salts and certain organic compounds. The disclosed endothermic agents are effective in absorbing large quantities of heat to decompose to their individual component elements at temperatures specific to such agents. Additional heat may be absorbed by the disclosed endothermic agents, e.g., in connection with phase change phenomena and/or dehydration. Exemplary endotherms include boric acid; metal hydroxides and their mixtures; carbonates and bicarbonates and their mixtures; salts of acetic acid, salts of formic acid, salts of boric acid and their mixtures; paraldehyde, paraformaldehyde and trioxane and their mixtures; and hydrate salts and their mixtures. The endothermic systems and methods disclosed in these prior patents are effective and have been utilized in commercial systems to achieve desired levels of thermal control and/or thermal protection.
Nonetheless, a need remains for improved systems and methods for providing thermal control and/or thermal protection, e.g., for electronic devices and the like. The need extends to the thermal protection of various heat sensitive devices, such as airplane and railroad crash recorders, missile electronics, munitions boxes, clothing, firewalls, safe boxes, nuclear reactors, laser shields, thermal pulse shields, spacecraft devices, power supplies, data recorders employed as aircraft and railroad components, combat devices, as well as in commercial uses such as oven sensors and the like. These and other needs are satisfied by the systems and methods disclosed herein, as well be apparent to persons of skill in the art from the disclosure that follows.

Endotherm systems and methods utilizing carbohydrate in non-oxidizing environment


Provided herein are compositions and methods for preventing and treating diseases and risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome by targeting the RGD-binding site of selected intra- and extracellular proteins. Exemplary compositions include RGD-polyphenol conjugates via an ester linkage; polyphenol polymer conjugated to RGD analogs or mimetics; and RGD polymer conjugates linked to polyphenol.

Metabolic syndrome (or Syndrome X) is characterized by a group of metabolic risk factors in one person that include, for example, central obesity (i.e., excessive fat tissue in and around the abdomen), atherogenic dyslipidemia (i.e., blood fat disorders—mainly high triglycerides and low HDL cholesterol—that foster plaque buildups in artery walls), raised blood pressure (e.g., 130/85 mmHg or higher), insulin resistance or glucose intolerance (the body can't properly use insulin or blood sugar), prothrombotic state (e.g., high fibrinogen or plasminogen activator inhibitor in the blood), and pro inflammatory state (e.g., elevated high-30 sensitivity C-reactive protein in the blood).
The underlying causes of this syndrome are overweight/obesity, physical inactivity and genetic factors. People with the metabolic syndrome are at increased risk of coronary heart disease, other diseases related to plaque buildups in artery walls (e.g., stroke and 35 peripheral vascular disease) and type 2 diabetes.
Metabolic syndrome has become increasingly common in the United States. It's estimated that about 47 million U.S. adults have it. The syndrome is closely associated with a generalized metabolic disorder called insulin resistance, in which the body cannot use insulin efficiently. This is why the metabolic syndrome is also called the insulin resistance syndrome. Some people are genetically predisposed to insulin resistance. Acquired factors, such as excess body fat and physical inactivity, can elicit insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome in these people. Most people with insulin resistance have central obesity. The biologic mechanisms at the molecular level between insulin resistance and metabolic risk factors are not fully understood and appear to be complex.
Conventional treatment typically includes dietary changes to limit fat and calories, increased exercise, and changes in habits or patterns of eating. Medications commonly prescribed for weight loss include numerous metabolic stimulants, perhaps in combination with cholesterol lowering drugs and/or high blood pressure medications. However, such compounds may not be effective in all subjects, or may be of limited efficacy. Accordingly, new treatments for metabolic syndrome and its associated factors are needed.
Caloric restriction is known to extend lifespan in mammals. Caloric restriction also reduces the incidence of age-associated conditions such as obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and cancer. Resveratrol, a polyphenol derived from red wine, is a "phytoestrogen" that mimics caloric restriction by activating Sir2 and extending lifespan in several species. Resveratrol is also known to have anti-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic effects, as well as preventive effects to atherosclerosis.
Resveratrol has been shown to reduce fat accumulation in C. elegans and in several insulin-sensitive mammalian cell lines Inhibition of AMP-activated kinase gene expression is also known to prevent the effect of reseveratrol on fat accumulation. Accordingly, the effect of resveratrol on fat accumulation depends on Sir2.1. Thus, resveratrol-like compounds will prove useful in the prevention and treatment of diseases and risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome.
Consequently, it would be desirable to provide resveratrol analogs, resveratrol-like compounds, and polymers thereof, as well as methods of using such compounds in preventing and treating diseases and risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods of stimulating fat mobilization using a polymer conjugated polyphenol


Pairs of similar vectors in a set of vectors are identified. A comparison vector x is identified, and a set of candidate vectors corresponding to the vector x is identified. For each candidate vector y in the set, a similarity estimate between the comparison vector x and the candidate vector y is determined; if the similarity estimate meets a similarity threshold, a similarity score of the comparison vector x and the candidate vector y is determined; and if the similarity score meets the similarity threshold, the pair of vectors (x, y) is included in a list of similar pairs of vectors.

It is useful to search for similar pairs (or groups) of objects from a population of objects. For example, finding similar documents can be useful in document management, such as for removing duplicate documents in a database. The objects to be analyzed can be represented as vectors. Finding similar pairs of objects can involve computing similarity scores between pairs of vectors, and keeping track of which vectors (or which parts of the vectors) have already been compared. The similarity scores can be compared with a threshold, and pairs of vectors whose similarity scores above the threshold are provided as the search result. For example, given a dataset V of vectors, a similarity function sim(·, ·), and a threshold value t, one way to identify similar pairs of vectors is to compute sim(x, y) for all pairs of vectors x and y in the dataset V and identify the pairs of vectors x and y for which sim(x, y)≧t.


A computer-executable application receives genetic test results for a genetic test a patient has undergone, an identifier for the genetic test, and an identifier for the genetic laboratory that performed the genetic test. The application identifies a format type of the genetic test results. When the format type is unstructured, the application performs an optical character recognition process to the genetic test results such that the format type of the genetic test results is semi-structured. When the format type is semi-structured, the application identifies a set of lexing and parsing rules assigned to the genetic test. The application generates processed genetic test results by applying the set of lexing and parsing rules to the genetic test results and stores the processed genetic test results in a data store. When the format type is structured, the application stores the genetic test results as the processed genetic test results in the data store.

Genetic tests for genetic conditions are increasingly used by healthcare providers in deciding how to best treat patients. Genetic test results for a genetic test of a patient typically include identifiers for a genetic condition tested for by the genetic test, identifiers for genes (and variations of genes) associated with the genetic test, and an indication of whether the patient has the genetic condition. Genetic test results for genetic tests typically are provided to computing systems of healthcare providers by genetic laboratories in an unstructured format, a semi-structured format, or a structured format.
Genetic test results formatted in an unstructured format do not include computer-readable text and hence are not searchable by a computing device. An example of an unstructured format is an image file format, such as a Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) file.
Genetic test results formatted in a semi-structured format include computer-readable text and hence are searchable by a computing device. However, different semi-structured genetic test results may employ different labels for the same data elements. For instance, first semi-structured genetic test results from a first genetic laboratory may refer to a genetic variation as a "genetic variation," while second semi-structured genetic test results from a second genetic laboratory may refer to the (same) genetic variation as a "genetic alteration." An example of a semi-structured format is a searchable portable document format (PDF) file or a text file (.txt).
Genetic test results formatted in a structured format include computer-readable text, as well as standardized labels for data elements in the genetic test results. For instance, first structured genetic test results from a first genetic laboratory and second structured genetic test results from a second genetic laboratory both may both refer to a genetic variation as a "genetic variation." An example of structured genetic test results may be genetic test results that are stored according to a Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) standard.
Conventionally, genetic test results for genetic tests are stored in the computing systems of the healthcare providers in the same format in which they are received from a device of a genetic laboratory that performed the genetic test. This is undesirable for several reasons. First, file sizes of unstructured and semi-structured genetic test results may be large, and hence storing unstructured and semi-structured genetic test results may be burdensome on storage resources of the computing systems of the healthcare providers. Second, storing genetic test results in different formats is not conducive to performing population level analytics on the genetic test results. Third, genetic test results stored in an unstructured format are not searchable and do not have semantic annotation.

Computing system for normalizing computer-readable genetic test results from numerous different sources


An electromagnetic component for mounting in a framework 47 so as to provide a stator segment 20 of an electrical machine 12. The component comprises a magnetic flux guide 32 and an electrical winding 34 for electromagnetic interaction with the magnetic flux guide 32. The component further comprises electrical terminals 52 for connecting the electrical winding 34 to an electrical network 61, at least one fluid pathway 42 for receiving a flow of cooling fluid in normal use, and at least one fluid connector 54 for coupling the fluid pathway 42 to a source of cooling fluid.

It is known to provide electromagnetic generators for generating power from a gas turbine engine. Such generators can be housed within an engine structure such as a bearing housing. Such an arrangement offers advantages in terms of efficient packaging of engine components, but also poses new challenges, particularly in terms of maintenance.
In particular, the size and weight of electrical the rotors and stators of electrical machines makes removal and installation for maintenance and replacement difficult to carry out by hand. These difficulties are compounded by the magnetic forces produces between the stator and rotor when they are translated relative to each other.
Electrical machines housed within an engine structure such as a bearing housing may also experience relatively high temperatures in use, and so require a coolant system to provide a coolant flow through at least the stator. Such coolant systems also add further weight and complexity to the engine, and generally require an additional housing or casing in order to separate the coolant flow from the oil contained within the bearing housing.
The present invention seeks to address these issues.

Electromagnetic component for a stator segment of an electrical machine


Disclosed is a semiconductor package where at least one tie bar is arranged on the leadframe such that the die to be packaged is attached to the tie bar by binding tape. The problem of gap or delamination will not occur due to the disuse of silver epoxy and die paddle. The processing time can be reduced and the applicability to die is enhanced.

In recent years, packaging becomes the performance-limiting factor for microelectronic device, and the issues such as size, weight, cost, pin count, and power consumption are important for packaging design. Therefore, the packaging design generally trade off between material, structure, electronic property to obtain a cost effective and reliable design.
FIG. 1 shows the cross section view of a conventional semiconductor package. The die 10 cut from wafer is attached on the paddle 22 of the leadframe 30 and then adhered to the paddle 22 by epoxy 30 or other viscous adhesives. The resulting structure is then encapsulated by a molding compound 32, thus completing the package.
However, in above-mentioned packaging process, delamination or gap is liable to form between the paddle 22 and the molding compound 32 due to the poor adhesion. Therefore, moisture may be entrapped within the package containing gap or delamination. The package may have the problem of crack when subjected to a following on soldering process due to the thermal expansion of the moisture. Moreover, if the amount of the of the epoxy is excessive, the epoxy is liable to ooze out from under the die and mat cause the occurrence of gap or delamination due to the poor adherence between silver epoxy and molding compound. The gap or delamination also can induce the crack of the package.
As shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b, the silver epoxy 30 should be well controlled such that there is no gap formed between die 10 and die paddle 22.
As shown in FIG. 1b, the size of die paddle 22 should be compatible with that of die 10 to be packaged, therefore, the applicability of this kind of leadframe is limited.
Moreover, the processing time is excessively long because it takes long time to cure the silver epoxy 30.
Another packaging scheme referred as lead on chip (LOC) is proposed to overcome above problems. FIGS. 3a and 3b show shows the cross-sectional view and the top view of LOC package, respectively. In this kind of package, the die 10 is directly attached to the inner lead 24 of leadframe 20 by a binding tape 34 and, accordingly, the provision of die paddle is saved. The adhesive force between the silicone die and the molding compound is superior to that between the lead frame and the molding compound. Therefore, the gap of delamination which may cause pop-corning is prevented in LOC package. Moreover, the die 10 is attached to the inner lead 24 by binding tape 34 in stead of silvery epoxy. The processing time is reduced for the elimination of silver epoxy curing step.
However, as shown in FIG. 3b, the die 10 is attached to the inner lead with tape 34. The bond pads 26 of die 10 are accordingly arranged on somewhat central portion of the die 10 in LOC package.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved IC package, which has the same effect as LOC package for preventing pop-corning while the applicability is enhanced.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved IC package by which the processing time is reduced.
To achieve above objects, the present provides an IC package wherein at least one tie bar is arranged on the leadframe such that the die to be package is attached to the tie bar by binding tape. The problem of gap or delamination will not occur due to the disuse of silver epoxy and die paddle. The processing time can be reduced and the applicability to die is enhanced.

Semiconductor packaging structure with the bar on chip


A poultry management system having at least one animal holding area with a holding area floor for a poultry animal occupying the animal holding area and a conveyor comprising a conveyor belt having an upper track and a lower track disposed below the upper track. The lower track is disposed adjacent to the animal holding area and is adapted to receive one or more eggs deposited by the poultry animal occupying the animal holding area and transfer the one or more eggs for further processing.

Various poultry management systems are known for keeping poultry, such as laying hens, in particular. While keeping poultry in cages is still allowed in some countries, in other areas, it is now preferred to use, for example, aviaries. An example of an aviary for keeping poultry is described in DE 20 2004 003 194 U1. Especially poultry management systems are known in which several poultry keeping devices, such as cages and/or aviaries, are arranged on several levels, each comprising several animal holding areas arranged next to each other. Such poultry management systems are usually located in a house or a hall, wherein the house may also be a mobile stable. It is preferred that walkways, usually arranged parallel to each other, are arranged between different rows of poultry keeping devices, which are preferably arranged on several levels.
Poultry management systems may be designed as open systems so that the animals are able to move freely not only within the individual holding areas or on one level, but also in the house and/or the hall. In most cases, the house floor, especially in the walkways, is arranged as scrabbling space for the animals, preferably covered with litter. However, this type of poultry management has the disadvantage that the animals freely come into contact with areas and/or elements outside the animal holding areas in the poultry keeping devices and may contaminate them, inter alia, with their manure. Especially in the keeping of laying hens, the ability of the animals to move freely may also lead to a contamination of and/or damage to eggs. The contamination of conveyors for transporting the eggs out of the poultry management system may further have the consequence that the eggs will no longer, or only with a delay, roll from the animal holding area to the conveyors and be transported outside, which, in turn, increases the probability of the animals contaminating and/or damaging the eggs.
Therefore, the invention is based on the object of providing a poultry management system and a method of transporting eggs in a poultry management system which reduce or eliminate one or several of the above mentioned disadvantages. It is, in particular, an object of the present invention to provide a poultry management system and a method of transporting eggs in a poultry management system which, in a space and cost saving manner, reduce the contamination and/or damaging of eggs and/or increase the hygiene in the house.

Poultry management system and method of transporting eggs in a poultry management system


A Multimedia (MMC)/Secure Digital (SD) form-factor compliant card apparatus can include a mode determining circuit connected to first and second pins of the card apparatus and configured to determine a type of host connected to the first and second pins based on comparing voltages at the first and second pins to an internal voltage level. Related adaptors and methods are also disclosed.

In general, movable storage devices like multimedia cards (MMC), secure digital (SD) memory cards, compact flash (CF) cards, and memory sticks are used in movable digital devices (i.e. hosts) like camcorders, digital cameras, PDAs (personal digital assistance), and MP3s (MPEG-1 Layer 3). The devices communicate with the hosts in different protocols. Therefore, each movable storage device may only be connected to a host that communicates in a corresponding communication protocol.
Thus, as shown in FIG. 1, for a host that uses a specific protocol, a memory card that supports the specific protocol is used. In other words, a MultiMedia Card (MMC) 12 is used for an MMC host 11, and a Secure Digital (SD) memory card 14 is used for an SD host 13. Likewise, a Compact Flash (CF) card 16 is used for a CF host 15 and a universal serial bus (USB) apparatus 18 is used for a USB host 17. U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,919 discusses such card-type flash memory devices.
In order for a mobile storage device to be used with a host that has a specification different from that of the mobile storage device, the mobile storage device should have a specification that is in accordance with the host, have an interface apparatus dedicated for the host, or have an additional device that converts its communication protocol into a communication protocol of the host.
Although an interface function may be provided for the host or an additional device may be used in the mobile storage device, the mobile storage device may need to recognize the host type and determine an operation mode for interfacing the host. It is known to include an additional signal pin on the mobile storage device wherein the host outputs a control signal used for determining the operation mode for interfacing the host through the signal pin. However, this approach may increase the number of signal pins on the mobile storage device and may require that the host output the control signal to the mobile storage device.

Multimedia/secure digital cards and adapters for interfacing using voltage levels to determine host types and methods of operating


A QPSK demodulator that is smaller in size and lower in cost by restricting a storage capacity needed for a TAN.sup.-1 ROM to a minimum. Values of I and Q channel base band signals obtained by converting and quantizing a received signal are approximated to a nearest one of values on (2.sup.N-3 +1) segment lines represented by Q=(n/2.sup.N-3)I, where n=0, 1, . . . , 2.sup.N-3, with a phase accuracy of positive N bits. Data corresponding to the approximated segment line is previously stored in a TAN.sup.-1 ROM as phase arithmetic data. An address decoder converts each base band signal into an address. An arithmetic circuit obtains phase data, for obtaining a QPSK demodulated signal, by performing a predetermined arithmetic operation, which is commensurate with the size of I and Q channel base band signals, on phase arithmetic data stored in the TAN.sup.-1 ROM in association with the converted address.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) demodulators and more particularly to a QPSK demodulator for obtaining a phase by an arithmetic operation based on a received signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional communication systems such as mobile communication, satellite communication and mobile-satellite communication, it has been common practice to use a demodulator utilizing a QPSK demodulating method. This QPSK demodulating method is exemplified by a method comprising the steps of orthogonal-converting a received signal into an in-phase component (I channel) and a quadrature component (Q channel), then converting the converted quadrature component signal into phase data and finally performing demodulation by a maximum likelihood estimation methods
FIG. 5 of the accompanying drawings is a block diagram of a conventional QPSK demodulator utilizing the above-mentioned QPSK demodulating method. This conventional QPSK demodulator comprises a quadrature converter 4 for orthogonal-converting a signal, which is received from an input terminal 2, into an in-phase component (I channel) and a quadrature component (Q channel), an analog-to-digital converter 6 for sampling and quantizing the converted quadrature component signal, an address decoder 8 for converting combinations of I and Q channels into addresses, a TAN.sup.-1 ROM 10 in which TAN.sup.-1 (Q/I) values are previously stored in association with every combination of I and Q channel base band signals, and a maximum likelihood estimation circuit 12 for QPSK demodulating the phase of the converted-in-phase signal by a maximum likelihood estimation method to output a signal from an output terminal 14.
In operation, a received signal from the input terminal 2 is converted into an address for the TAN.sup.-1 ROM 10 by the address decoder 8 after being converted into I and Q channel base band signals as it goes through the quadrature converter 4 and the analog-to-digital converter 6. The TAN.sup.-1 ROM 10 previously stores a TAN.sup.-1 (Q/I) value in association with every combination of I and Q channel base band signals I, Q. The conventional QPSK demodulator therefore converts the phase of data corresponding to the converted address by fetching phase data from the TAN.sup.-1 ROM 10 The maximum likelihood estimation circuit 12 is for performing QPSK demodulation by maximum likelihood estimation based on the input phase data The thus QPSK demodulated signals are outputted from the output terminal 14.
However, in order to perform phase conversion according to the conventional art, it is necessary to store in the TAN.sup.-1 ROM a TAN.sup.-1 (Q/I) value in association with every combination of values of I and Q channel base band signals, which means that it would be difficult to make the demodulator smaller in size and lower in cost. Assuming that the I and Q channel base band signals have a plus/minus 8 bit accuracy (-128 to 127), phase has a positive 8 bit accuracy (0 to 255), and each TAN.sup.-1 (Q/I) value is represented by 1 bytes it requires a TAN.sup.-1 ROM having a storage capacity of at minimum 65536(=2.sup.8 .times.2.sup.8) bytes for all of 2.sup.8 possible values of I and Q base band signals.

QPSK demodulator for obtaining phase by arithmetic operation


An OFDM communication transceiver, which is configured to test its connection with an antenna circuit unit, has a receiver chain and an emitting chain. The receiver chain includes a time-to-frequency transform unit and the emitting chain includes a frequency-to-time transform unit. The transceiver further includes means for disconnecting the receiver chain to the antenna circuit unit, means for providing a stimulus as input to the emitting chain, means for reintroducing the signal at the output of the emitting chain as an input of the receiving chain, means for determining a circuit resonance frequency, Fr, and a quality factor, Q, of a transfer function computed from the output of the time-to-frequency transform unit, and means for deciding about the connection of said antenna circuit unit according to the resonance frequency and the quality factor.

Due to manufacturing needs, mobile phone manufacturers use mechanical structure where the antenna circuit (i.e. the physical antenna and its matching and filtering circuits) is connected to the phone handset with spring contacts, instead of soldering for instance.
Badly connected antenna spring contact may cause a situation where the phone works somehow in locations where the mobile network's coverage is strong (big cities, etc.) and poorly in the country side or in any locations where the network's coverage is low (lower signal strength).
This situation is very hard to detect even by the end user. Plus, even in the case where the end user detects a bad behavior of his or her mobile phone handset, s/he will bring it to a service center where usually the network coverage is strong. The service center clerk will then not be able to notice any problems with the mobile phone (unless the antenna circuit is completely disconnected).
There is therefore a need for automatic testing mechanisms, usually referred to as Built-In Self Test (BIST) techniques or production tests.
Various production test and BIST techniques have been developed to test the antenna circuit presence in microelectronic transceivers. Generally speaking, they all fall in one of the following categories.
A first prior art category consists in measuring the impedance of the antenna circuit. Using a peak detector that is integrated in the power amplifier block of the transmitter, the peak voltage of the transmitted signal is measured on-chip. By measuring this peak voltage, the load impedance at the antenna circuit connection pads can be calculated and compared with a predetermined range of admissible values so as to check whether the antenna circuit is present (well soldered) or not.
A second prior art category consists in measuring the output power of the transmitter. The device is programmed to radiate at a known power and then a spectrum analyzer measures the really outputted power (taking into account antenna-to-antenna loss over the air). By comparing these 2 values, a connection default of the antenna circuit can be detected. This technique requires extra equipment like a spectral analyzer and its associated antenna, and is therefore more devoted to production test than to BIST.
A third prior art category consists in measuring the signal, or the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the receiver. A continuous wave signal is radiated to the antenna of the receiver and the resulting signal level and frequency offset are measured using an on-chip DFT in the receiver circuit. A measured input power below the transmitted value, or a measured frequency offset higher than a predetermined one means that the antenna circuit is not well connected. This approach requires extra equipment like an RF signal generator and its associated antenna. Like the previous one, it is therefore more devoted to production test than to BIST.
A fourth category of prior art consists in performing a receiver/transmitter loopback test. This technique is for instance used in TM transceiver. The transmitter output a frequency modulated single tone carrier (for example, set at 87.5 MHz). The antenna voltage is fed through a matched attenuator to the internal LNA input. At the output of the LNA, the signal strength is measured by a level detector. The measured value is then compared to a lower limit. In case the measured value is above the limit, the antenna circuit is considered to be ok. If the measure value is below the lower limit, then the antenna circuit is considered as being in default. This mechanism is based on the fact that when a bad quality factor caused by the absence of the antenna circuit attenuates the transmitted signal level, the received signal strength has a lower value.
However, these solutions are insufficient in detecting a defective antenna mechanical contact. One of the reasons is that unlike traditional defective soldered contacts, a defective antenna's mechanical contact (e.g. spring contact) does usually not change substantially the impedance. Notice that mechanical contacts is the general case, spring contacts is an example of a widely spread way of doing mechanical contacts.
There is a need for a solution permitting to detect automatically connection defaults of non-soldered antenna circuits, e.g. antenna circuits connected with spring contacts.

Built-in self-test technique for detection of imperfectly connected antenna in OFDM transceivers


A sliding bearing includes a metal part formed by electroforming on an inner periphery of the sliding bearing and an oil feeding mechanism for supplying oil to the bearing gap. As a result, oil retained by the oil feeding mechanism is supplied to the bearing gap, so the lubricity between the bearing and the shaft member is improved by an oil film formed in the bearing gap. This makes it possible to avoid the generation of noise due to defective lubrication and wear of members due to the contact sliding between the bearing and the shaft member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bearing device equipped with a sliding bearing.
2. Description of Related Art
A sliding bearing (hereinafter simply referred to as "bearing") is widely used to support relative rotation, sliding, or sliding rotation between a bearing and a shaft member.
For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a bearing formed through insert molding using an electrocast metal part at the axial core of a resin-molded part. By thus forming the inner peripheral surface of a bearing constituting a bearing surface by a metal part, it is possible to obtain a bearing surface superior in wear resistance and to set with high precision a bearing gap formed between the bearing surface and a shaft member inserted into the inner periphery thereof.    [Patent Document 1] JP 2003-56552 A