A method and appartus for differentiating between ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation includes a pair of electrodes located on a single catheter which, in conjunction with an implantable cardioverter device, utilize two channel ventricular algorithms for ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation separation. Two closely spaced unipolar electrograms demonstrate similar morphology and consistency during rhythms with broad coherent activation (such as sinus rhythm and ventricular tachycardia). Conversely, for incoherent rhythms (ventricular fibrillation and polymorphic ventricular tachycardia), activation between the electrodes proved to be dissimilar and inconsistent. The cross-correlation of the two depolarizations measures similarity between electrogram morphology, and interquartile range measures consistency in a passage. The method and apparatus of the present invention is able to address the limitation of existing algorithms and provide accurate separation of ventricular fibrillation from other rhythms.

The heart may be viewed as a spontaneous current generator whose pumping action is effected by spontaneous generation of an electrical impulse (known as an action potential), conduction of the electrical impulse throughout the heart, and subsequent contraction of the heart muscle (myocardium) in response to the impulse. It is, therefore, electrical activity which initiates and controls muscular contraction of the heart.
Chemicals in the form of ions (such as sodium, potassium and chloride) reside in the extracellular and intracellular fluid of a muscle cell. The concentration gradients of these ions combined with cell membrane features make for a special ion arrangement at the inner and outer wall of the cell membrane. At rest, this special membrane arrangement produces a negative transmembrane potential. If the cell membrane is stimulated by an electrical impulse of adequate magnitude and proper polarity, a process known as an "action potential" will ensue. During an action potential a cell depolarizes (transmembrane potential becomes less negative) and then repolarizes (transmembrane potential returns to resting value). The impulse of adequate magnitude naturally comes from a neighboring cell undergoing an action potential. Thus, impulses are propagated through the heart via a cell-to-cell mechanism.
The heart's electrical impulse originates in the sino-atrial node and is transmitted (cell-to-cell) to all portions of the atria, resulting in the contraction of the atrial chambers. The electrical impulse continues in its path to reach a cluster of conduction fibrils known as the atrioventricular node, or the A-V node. By delaying conduction for approximately one-tenth of a second, the A-V node acts as a buffer for impulses from the atria to the ventricles. This allows for proper flow of blood from the atria to the ventricles.
Following this delay, the A-V node transmits an impulse that reaches another cluster of fibers known as the bundle of His which comprises left and right bundle branches of the His-Purkinjie system. The bundle branches terminate with the Purkinjie fibers which are themselves attached directly to the myocardial cells.
A coordinated wave of electrical impulses effects contraction of many myocardial cells simultaneously, thus causing the heart's pumping action. The action begins in the sino-atrial node from which impulses are provided spontaneously and periodically. The impulses travel to the surrounding cardiac tissue and propagate as a wave of depolarization. As noted above, contracting of the cardiac muscle of the atria follows after the depolarization. Subsequent ventricular conduction is initiated via the A-V node and the His-Purkinjie system.
Normal electrical function provides for continued proper functioning of the heart. However, aberrations in electrical origination or transmission produce concomitant malfunctions of the systemic delivery of blood to the body. The majority of cases of cardiac malfunction may be traced to a failure in the electrical conduction system of the heart. The result of such an electrical failure or change from the normal electrical activity and sequence of cardiac activity is an arrhythmia. Arrhythmias may be atrial, atrioventricular, or ventricular. Two of the most deadly forms of arrhythmia are ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. Both of these events are generally defined as sustained ventricular arrhythmias.
In ventricular tachycardia, the sequence of ventricular extrasystoles occur at a rate of between 110 to 240 cycles per minute. This type of arrhythmia is characterized by atrioventricular dissociation, an abnormally wide QRS complex (surface lead electrodes), and a far more rapid rate than usual.
Ventricular fibrillation sometimes preceded by a sustained ventricular tachycardia reaches a frequency in excess of 330 cycles per minute. Ventricular fibrillation is not a cessation of electrical activity, but is actually characterized by incoherent electrical activity throughout the ventricle. This loss of succinct conduction of electrical activity prevents any reasonable contraction of the heart and therefore prevents pumping of blood to the body. If therapy is not given, beyond five minutes inadequate blood will result in loss of brain function and, beyond ten minutes, death will occur.
Several methods are known to treat arrhythmia. Drugs are occasionally prescribed, and, while having significant side effects, are often justified because of the severity of the arrhythmia. Drugs, called calcium antagonists, mediate the heart's conduction by halting electrical conduction through the blocking of the calcium channels of myocardial cells. Nitrates may be used as treatment in cases of acute myocardial infarction or congestive heart failure.
Another therapeutic technique is referred to as radio frequency ablation which is directed to neutralizing accessory electrically-conductive pathways of the heart which cause the heart to fail in properly conducting electrical impulses due to some small area of the heart which is skewing the direction of depolarization. In this technique, a catheter is introduced into the heart and a delivery of high frequency radio waves is used to burn away the faulty area of the heart. Following successful radio frequency ablation therapy, normal conduction of the heart will return and the particular arrhythmia associated with the damaged tissue will be eliminated.
One of the most common approaches for termination of an arrhythmia, instead of prevention, is electrical therapy in which electrodes are fitted to either the body or the heart for selectively delivering an electrical current or shock to alter the rhythm of the heart. Implantable cardioverter defibrillators, or "ICDs", are devices which are implanted and stimulate the heart directly using function generators with specific waveforms to respond to and treat arrhythmias on an "as-needed" basis.
Implantable cardioverter defibrillators have achieved overwhelming success in salvaging thousands of lives by providing immediate electrical therapy for the treatment of potentially lethal arrhythmias, i.e., ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. These rhythms are believed responsible for over 80% of cases of sudden cardiac death, which claims 400,000 victims per year. The number of implants of ICDs is exceptional (over 75,000 implants to date), despite its relative infancy in the medical field.
Because of the difference in rates of ventricular extrasystoles between ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation, a lower amount of defibrillating energy is required for the former than for the latter. An implantable cardioverter defibrillator capable of correctly distinguishing between the two so as to deliver only as much power as the circumstance warrants would produce greater power savings, a situation which is important to extending the life of the unit.
There are known implantable cardioverter defibrillators which supply immediate defibrillation for ventricular fibrillation and lower-energy therapies of antitachycardia pacing and cardioversion for ventricular tachycardias, the object being largely for the conservation of battery power, but also for greater patient comfort. In general, these devices use heart rate to distinguish ventricular tachycardia from ventricular fibrillation.
More particularly, to distinguish between ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation, commercially available ICDs increment a counter associated with a detection zone based on the most recent cycle length. Measuring cycle length is dependent on an accurate sensing of each depolarization by a trigger. However, electrogram dropout (missed triggers) during ventricular fibrillation produces low estimates of the ventricular fibrillation rate which severely overlap ventricular tachycardia rates making ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation indistinguishable. (This is particularly problematic in the event of tachyarrhythmias in the range of 200 ms to 350 ms since there is a significant overlap in cycle lengths. See, for example, Caswell et al., Ventricular Tachycardia Discrimination By Antitachycardia Devices, PACE 1996 (unpublished)!.) Such electrogram dropouts are common in ventricular fibrillation because of rapidly changing peak amplitudes.
The implantable cardioverter defibrillators commercially available today use rate thresholds and counters to distinguish ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. These methods have had limited success for distinctions between ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. Other algorithms have been developed in the research setting with some success.
Compensation for ventricular fibrillation sensing limitations, in order to ensure detection of ventricular fibrillation, is typically achieved by lengthening the fibrillation detection interval (FDI), the rate threshold between ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. The overriding necessity of fail-safe ventricular fibrillation detection bypasses the use of lower energy therapies tailored for ventricular tachycardia since overly-liberal FDI values invoke defibrillation for many episodes of ventricular tachycardia. Accordingly, due to the necessity of not missing ventricular fibrillation, physicians program devices to deliver defibrillation to these cases, limiting the usefulness of lower energy therapies which save precious battery energy and decrease patient anxiety.
Little information is available concerning discrimination of ventricular tachycardia from ventricular fibrillation for appropriate therapeutic choice of treatment. Some studies claim defibrillation was delivered to true ventricular fibrillation in only 10-21% of shock episodes. (See, for example, Bardy et al., Implantable Transvenous Cardioverter-Defibrillators, Circulation 1993, 87:1152-1168, and Bardy et al., Clinical Experience With A Tiered-Therapy Multiprogrammable Antiarrhythmia Device, Circulation 1992, 85:1689-1698.) Another study used simulators of the three FDA-approved ICDs to test a variety of ventricular tachycardias and ventricular fibrillations (Caswell et al., Ventricular Tachycardia Discrimination By Antitachycardia Devices, PACE 1996 unpublished!). At nominal parameters, ventricular tachycardia was misdiagnosed as ventricular fibrillation, of greater than 65% of the cases. The PSC invention has been demonstrated to be successful in separating ventricular fibrillation from ventricular tachycardia and sinus rhythm and gives a dramatic improvement over ICD rate methods in current use. Comparatively, one test showed ICDs has specificity of 10% versus 100% specificity for PSC.
In addition to rate, two morphological algorithms for ventricular fibrillation detection were implemented in earlier ICDS, probability density function (PDF) and temporal electrogram analysis (TEA). PDF, the original AICD.TM. detection scheme, used the derivative to define departure from baseline (Mirowski et al., The Automatic Implantable Defibrillator, Am. Heart J. 1980, 100: 1089-1092). TEA, incorporated in some second-generation devices, identified a change in electrogram morphology by the order which depolarizations crossed predetermined thresholds (Paul et al., Temporal Electrogram Analysis: Algorithm Development, PACE 1990, 13: 1943-1947). Experience with PDF and TEA in first- and second-generation devices was disappointing due to its lack of specificity. As a result, by 1992, less than 15% of ICDs utilized either algorithm for tachycardia discrimination (DiCarlo et al., Tachycardia Detection By Antitachycardia Devices: Present Limitations And Future Strategies, Journal of Interventional Cardiology, 1994, 7: 459-472).
A number of studies have begun to address the problem of separating ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. In several studies (see, for example, DiCarlo et al., Differentiation Of Ventricular Tachycardia From Ventricular Fibrillation Using Intraventricular Electrogram Morphology, Am. J. Cardiol., 1992, 70: 820-822 and Jenkins et al., Is Waveform Analysis A Viable Consideration For Implantable Devices Given Its Computational Demand?, Computer in Cardiology, 1993, Los Alamitos: IEEE Computer Society Press, 1993: 839-842) the standard deviation of template-based (TB) algorithms (correlation waveform analysis (CWA), bin area method (BAM), difference of area (DOA), derivative area method (DAM)) was used as a discriminant function and achieved varying degrees of success. Sensitivity ranged from 83% to 100% and specificity from 56% to 100%. Other algorithms utilized statistical methods and are discussed in Thakor et al., Ventricular Tachycardia And Fibrillation Detection By A Sequential Hypothesis Testing Algorithm, IEEE Trans. Biomed Eng., 1990, 37:837-843 and Turner et al., Statistical Discriminant Analysis of Arrhythmias Using Intracardiac Electrograms, IEEE Transactions On Biomedical Engineering 1993, 40:985-989. However, neither study segregated the data into training and test sets thus results are inconclusive.
As described by Chen et al. in Ventricular Fibrillation Detection By A Regression Test On The Autocorrelation Function (Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, 1987, 25: 241-149), autocorrelation function (ACF) was examined using linearity of the peak values where more linearity indicated monomorphic waveforms and achieved 100% sensitivity and specificity.
Two algorithms (discussed and disclosed in Throne et al., Scatter Diagram Analysis: A New Technique For Discriminating Tachyarrhythmias, PACE 1994, 17:1267-1275 and Ropella et al., Differentiation Of Ventricular Tachyarrhythmias, Circulation 1990, 82:2035-2043) using two distinct signals from the ventricle achieved significant success in discriminating ventricular fibrillation from other rhythms. As described in Throne et al., (supra), corresponding pairs of the two channels were plotted on a scatter diagram (SD). It was found that monomorphic ventricular tachycardias trace nearly the same path and occupy a smaller percentage of SD than non-regular rhythms such as polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (PMVT) or ventricular fibrillation. The development of a two channel algorithm using two separate catheters based on the magnitude squared coherence (MSC) which measures the basic organization of the rhythm in the frequency domain was described by Ropella et al. in Differentiation Of Ventricular Tachyarrhythmias (Circulation 1990, 82: 2035-2043). Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,535, issued Mar. 16, 1993, to Bardy et al. for METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISCRIMINATION OF VENTRICULAR TACHYCARDIA FROM VENTRICULAR FIBRILLATION AND FOR TREATMENT THEREOF describes an algorithm which uses variability of the timing difference (TIM) between two ventricular signals. The method and apparatus of this reference teaches the quantification of the directional changes in the depolarization of the ventricle.
Each of these teachings suffers from at least one disadvantage. Specifically, the described algorithms may be potentially confounded by atrial fibrillation with ventricular response (AF/FVR) due to its variable rate (ACF), and ventricular premature depolarizations (VPDs) due to variable morphology (ACF, TB, TIM, SD). Other possible limitations of these algorithms include computational complexity, the necessity of a sinus rhythm template which is representative of all time and the introduction of multiple electrode catheters.
Accordingly, the present challenge is to optimize differentiation of ventricular tachycardia from ventricular fibrillation in order to direct appropriate therapy to minimize power consumption of an implantable battery-operated device.

Method and apparatus for separation of ventricular tachycardia from ventricular fibrillation for implantable cardioverter defibrillators

The Regents of the University of Michigan


Tension of compensating ropes in an elevator system is electively changed to minimize horizontal vibration of the compensating ropes in tall buildings. The tension of compensating ropes is changed by a tensioning mechanism either when the horizontal movement of the compensating ropes exceeds a preset limit or when the building sway exceeds a predetermined amount. Additionally, the tension of compensating ropes can be changed when the elevator car is parked within certain predetermined top floors. The tension can be applied to a compensating sheave supporting the compensating ropes by a tensioning mechanism such as a hydraulic jack.

A typical elevator system comprises an elevator car and a counterweight, each suspended on opposite ends of hoist ropes disposed in an elevator hoistway. Compensating ropes are hung from the underside of the elevator car to the underside of the counterweight to balance the weight of the hoist ropes as the car and counterweight move alternatingly up and down within the hoistway. A compensating rope sheave, disposed on the bottom of the hoistway, allows the compensating ropes to pass therethrough.
A problem with compensating ropes arises in tall buildings, which tend to sway, as a result of winds acting upon the buildings. Under certain combinations of rope length and tension, the compensating ropes tend to vibrate with the building. The compensating ropes' motion may continuously gain amplitude as the result of the building sway. The problem of horizontal rope vibration tends to be worse when the elevator car is parked near top floors because the compensating ropes are the longest and the building sway, which excites the rope vibration, is greatest.
Such horizontal vibration of the compensating ropes is undesirable for a number of reasons. First, compensating ropes may get tangled with one another since elevators have many compensating ropes or may interfere with other cables in the hoistway. Second, horizontal movement of ropes limits the ability of the elevator car to travel at higher speeds, because the shortening of the vibrating ropes resulting from an elevator car traveling downward will increase the oscillations of the ropes, thereby inhibiting the ropes' ability to stay within the grooves of the compensating sheave. Third, the noise from the compensating ropes hitting the hoistway walls may frighten passengers and building occupants.
One common method for minimizing horizontal movement of compensating ropes is to increase the weight of a frame supporting the compensating sheave. The major drawback of increasing the dead weight on the compensating sheave is that the suspended dead weight becomes live load which must be supported by the elevator machine, thereby requiring increased capacity of the machine itself and the increased size of the associated powertrain hardware.
Another approach to dampen oscillations of the compensating ropes is to use a follower carriage attached to the ropes. However, this approach has the same major short-coming as the use of suspended dead weights. The elevator machine and drive must support the additional weight of the follower carriage.

System and method for minimizing horizontal vibration of elevator compensating ropes


A vehicle interior panel includes stitching sewn through a decorative skin layer of the panel. The associated sewing needle holes are sealed by an elastomeric material before a foam layer is formed on the non-visible side of the skin layer to prevent the expanding foam from leaking through the needle holes and becoming visible at the visible side of the panel. The elastomeric material is initially applied as a viscous liquid formulated to solidify and can be applied by spraying, enabling lines of stitching to be located along complex contours of the panel. A latex emulsion is one suitable type of viscous liquid.

Vehicle interior panels typically include a decorative aspect, providing the passenger cabin of a vehicle with a desired aesthetic. Combinations of different types of materials, textures, shapes, tactile features, and visual features can be used with such panels to provide a particular passenger cabin with any of a variety of different ambiences, from luxurious to utilitarian. Visible stitching, whether actual sewn stitching or simulated stitching, is sometimes used as an element in vehicle interiors to indicate luxury. Stitching features are reminiscent of hand-crafted materials such as custom leather upholstery, considered luxurious in a day and age of automated high-speed manufacturing. Where sewn stitching is employed, the associated needle holes can sometimes lead to other visual defects, however, such as underlying materials showing through the needle holes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,643 to Iida discloses a sewn cover assembly of a type that is to undergo a foaming process involving injection and curing of a liquid foaming material therein. The cover assembly is formed by sewing together plural cover elements via two different sewing threads. One of the two threads is larger in thickness than the other and is intended to prevent leakage of the liquid foaming material where the cover elements are sewn together.

Vehicle interior panels with sealed stitching


A device having at least one power-saving mode includes a storage unit configured to store a program; an advance notification unit configured to send, to the program, an advance notice of transition to the power-saving mode prior to transition start timing at which the transition to the power-saving mode is started; a transition determining unit configured to query the program, at the transition start timing, whether the transition to the power-saving mode is acceptable; and a transition control unit configured to cause the device to transition to the power saving mode if the transition to the power-saving mode is acceptable for the queried program.

1. Field of the Invention
An aspect of this disclosure relates to a device, a power-saving control method, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
There exist devices that transition (or switch) to a power-saving mode (or energy-saving mode) to save power when, for example, the devices are not operated for a predetermined period of time. Examples of such devices include image forming devices like a printer, a facsimile machine, a copier, and a multifunction peripheral. Also, there is an image forming device where components (e.g., programs) running on the image forming device are queried to determine whether transition to the power-saving mode is acceptable for the components (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-152824). The image forming device transitions to the power-saving mode only if it is acceptable to the components. This configuration makes it possible to prevent malfunction of the components and damage to data being processed by the components, which may occur as a result of an abrupt transition to the power-saving mode.
Meanwhile, there is an image forming device where functions can be added after the factory shipment by installing application programs that can be developed using public application programming interfaces (APIs). In such an image forming device, a large number of application programs may be running depending on the needs of the user.
Here, an increase in the number of application programs running on a device such as an image forming device indicates an increase in the number of objects to be queried to determine whether to transition to the power-saving mode. That is, it is necessary to query all installed application programs to determine whether transition to the power-saving mode is acceptable. Accordingly, if the number of objects to be queried increases, the time necessary to determine whether to switch to the power-saving mode increases. This may result in a delay in switching to the power-saving mode and may reduce the power-saving efficiency.

Device and power saving control method for selectively transitioning to one or more low power modes depending on whether all of the programs on the device have been interrupted or terminated


Copper electroplating baths containing primary alcohol alkoxylate block copolymers and ethylene oxide/propylene oxide random copolymers having specific HLB ranges are suitable for filling vias with copper, where such copper deposits are substantially void-free and substantially free of surface defects.

Copper is used extensively in the manufacture of electronic devices, including integrated circuit (IC) devices. For example, copper damascene processes used in the manufacture of integrated circuits involve the formation of inlaid copper wiring patterns with the simultaneous formation of via connections between metal layers. In such processes, the copper is deposited electrolytically. Various copper electroplating formulations have been developed to meet the unique needs of depositing copper in the very small sized features, such as ≤150 nm, used in damascene metallization processes in the manufacture of ICs. Such copper electroplating baths typically require an accelerator, leveler and suppressor as organic additives in order to get defect-free copper deposits.
Recent trends in the semiconductor industry to increase the density of IC devices have led to three-dimensional (3-D) packages and 3-D ICs, both of which make use of through-silicon vias (TSVs). A TSV is a vertical electrical connection passing through a wafer or die, and are typically formed from copper. Typically, TSVs have a depth of from 5 to 400 μm, a diameter of from 1 to 100 μm, and high aspect ratios, such as from 3:1 to 50:1. The dimensions of TSVs are challenging to fill with copper from a conventional electroplating bath in a reasonable amount of time such that the resulting copper deposit is void-free and free of surface defects. Voids in a TSV copper deposit can lead to circuitry failure. Surface defects require additional polishing to remove them to obtain a planar surface prior to subsequent processing.
Certain copper electroplating baths have been developed specifically to deposit copper in TSVs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,670,950 discloses the void-free filling of TSVs with copper using a copper electroplating bath that does not contain a suppressor. However, this patent does not address the issue of surface defects in such copper deposits. Accordingly, there remains a need for copper electroplating baths that provide void-free deposits that are also free of surface defects.

Method of electroplating copper into a via on a substrate from an acid copper electroplating bath


An object of the present invention is to provide an aquarous rust inhibitor having low toxicity and excellent rust resistance, which contains saturated fatty acid, saturated dicarboxylic acid and salt thereof, derivatives of ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid, tolyltriazole or benzotriazole, fatty acid metal salt, and water.

The present invention relates to a rust inhibitor for metal. More particularly, the invention relates to a metal working fluid or water soluble rust inhibitor, which can be used for storing metallic parts.
A cutting fluid or lubricant is used for cutting metals such as an iron, aluminum, and various types of alloys. Such cutting fluid and lubricant is a water insoluble cutting oil, water soluble cutting oil, or water soluble composition developed by the inventors of the present invention. Generally, a rust inhibitor is added to these cutting fluids and lubricants to protect metal from corrosion.
The rust inhibitor can be used for various purposes. For example, it can also be used with a cooling fluid for radiators.
However, a conventional rust inhibitor has drawbacks of having toxicity and inferior rust resistance.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a rust inhibitor having low toxicity so as not to adversely affect the environment.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a rust-inhibiting composition having high rust resistance.
As the result of our researches on the development of an environment-friendly rust inhibitor having high rust resistance, we have eventually found the present invention.
The rust inhibitor of the present invention is an aqueous solution containing saturated fatty acid, saturated dicarboxylic acid and salt thereof, chelating agent, tolyltriazole or benzotriazole, and fatty acid metal salt.
The rust inhibitor of the present invention may further contain hydroxide and/or methasilicate such as sodium methasilicate.
The rust inhibitor of the present invention may be an aqueous solution containing 0.1 to 5 wt % of saturated fatty acid, 0.01 to 1 wt % of saturated dicarboxylic acid and salt thereof, 0.01 to 1 wt % of chelating agent, 5xc3x9710xe2x88x923 wt % to 1 wt % of tolyltriazole or benzotriazole, and 0.01 to 1 wt % of fatty acid metal salt.
The saturated fatty acid can be at least one selected from the group consisting of caprylic acid, caproic acid, decanoic acid, lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, and stearic acid.
The saturated dicarboxylic acid can be dodecanoic diacid or sebacic acid.
The chelating agent can be a derivative of ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid or a derivative of nitrilotriacetic acid.
The hydroxide can be potassium hydroxide. The concentration of the hydroxide can be in a range of 0.1 to 5 wt %.
The fatty acid metal salt can be fatty acid potassium salt.
A rust inhibitor of the present invention is an aqueous solution prepared by dissolving at least saturated fatty acid, saturated dicarboxylic acid and salt thereof, chelating agent, tolyltriazole or benzotriazole, and fatty acid metal salt in distilled water, deionized water, tap water or the like.
The rust inhibitor of the present invention can be prepared by further adding hydroxide and/or methasilicate.
Although the amounts of saturated fatty acid, saturated dicarboxylic acid and salt thereof, chelating agent, tolyltriazole or benzotriazole, and fatty acid metal salt are not particularly limited, the rust inhibitor of the present invention is an aqueous solution containing 0.1 to 5 wt % of saturated fatty acid, preferably 0.3 to 1 wt %; 0.01 to 1 wt % of saturated dicarboxylic acid and salt thereof, preferably 0.03 to 0.1 wt %; 0.01 to 1 wt % of chelating agent such as a derivative of ethylenediamine triacetic acid, preferably 0.02 to 0.1 wt %; 5xc3x9710xe2x88x923 to 1 wt % of tolyltriazole or benzotriazole, preferably 0.01 to 0.1 wt %; and 0.01 to 0.1 wt % of fatty acid metal salt, preferably 0.02 to 0.1 wt %.
The saturated fatty acid contained in the rust inhibitor of the present invention is not particularly limited, but any saturated fatty acid known to persons skilled in the art can be used. Preferable saturated fatty acid is at least one selected form the group consisting of caprylic acid, caproic acid, decanoic acid, lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, and stearic acid.
The saturated dicarboxylic acid contained in the rust inhibitor of the present invention is not particularly limited, but any saturated dicarboxylic acid known to persons skilled in the art can be used. Preferable saturated dicarboxylic acid is dodecanoic diacid or sebacic acid.
The chelating agent contained in the rust inhibitor of the present invention is not particularly limited, but any chelating agent known to persons skilled in the art can be used. Examples of the chelating agent include a derivative of ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid or nitrilotriacetic acid. Preferable chelating agent can be ethylenediamine tetraacetate tetrasodium salt (EDTA-4Na4H2O) complex or the like.
The fatty acid metal salt contained in the rust inhibitor of the present invention is not particularly limited, but any fatty acid metal salt known to persons skilled in the art can be used. Examples of preferable fatty acid metal salt include fatty acid potassium salt, fatty acid sodium salt, and the like.
The aqueous solution prepared from saturated fatty acid, saturated dicarboxylic acid and salt thereof, chelating agent such as a derivative of ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid, tolyltriazole or benzotriazole, fatty acid metal salt can be used for various purposes as a substitute of a conventional rust inhibitor. However, in order to increase a rust resistance, the solution preferably further contains hydroxide or methasilicate as a pH adjuster. The hydroxide used herein is not particularly limited, but any hydroxide known to persons skilled in the art can be used. Examples of hydroxide include sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, calcium hydroxide, and the like. The methasilicate used herein is also not particularly limited, but any methasilicate known to persons skilled in the art, such as sodium methasilicate, can be used.
In addition, the rust inhibitor of the present invention may further contain stabilizer and the like.
The rust inhibitor of the present invention can effectively protect various metals as iron, cupper, stainless steel, and aluminum from rust, so that it can be added to a metal cutting fluid to be used in metal cutting operation or can be used as an anticorrosive dye. In addition, the rust inhibitor of the present invention can be used as circulating water for radiator or air conditioner of a motor vehicle, or circulating fluid for floor heating.
The rust inhibitor of the present invention has lower toxicity than conventional rust inhibitors containing chrome and amine. Furthermore, the rust inhibitor of the present invention has high compatibility with a metal working fluid developed by the inventors of the present invention, and protects the metal from rust.
The rust inhibitor of the present invention will be more clearly understood by referring to the Examples below. However, the Examples should not be construed to limit the invention in any way. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various improvements, changes, and modifications can be made thereto without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.


A novel fluorescent substance for a light-emitting diode, emitting light of any one of three primary colors by excitation of an ultraviolet light-emitting diode. Alternatively, a novel fluorescent substance for a light-emitting diode, emitting light in a red region of a spectrum by excitation of a blue light-emitting diode. Na2SrSi2O6 is doped with Eu3+. Preferably, Eu3+ is added so as to account for 1 to 80 mol % in concentration in a host crystal, while sites of Si4+ in Na2SrSi2O6. are replaced by Al3+ and/or Ga3+. Alternatively, Ca3Si2O7 is doped with Ce3+ and Tb3+. Preferably, Ce3+ and Tb3+ are added so as to account for 0.1 to 80 mol % and 0.1 to 20 mol % in concentration in a host crystal, respectively. Still alternatively, Ca3Si2O7 is doped with Eu2+. Preferably, Eu2+ is added so as to account for 0.5 to 10 mol % in concentration in the host crystal.

Due to excellent properties such as low electric-power consumption and longer operating life, a light-emitting diode has been brought into service as a luminous source such as a traffic signal, a lighting apparatus or the like. Then, a white light-emitting diode produced by combining a blue light-emitting diode and a yellow light emitter YAG:Ce3+ has been developed and therefore studies on a high-power visible light-emitting diode are underway in many fields (e.g., see Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. 2003-105336).

Fluorescent substance for light-emitting diode


Cell selection by a service group is disclosed. A user equipment (UE) determines that a first cellular service of a plurality of cellular services is desired. The UE accesses service group information that correlates a plurality of service groups to a plurality of cells, wherein each service group is associated with one or more cellular services. The UE initiates a first connection with a first cell of the plurality of cells that can provide the first cellular service based at least in part on the service group information.

Many cellular technologies, such as those implemented in accordance with the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards, use a bearer (radio bearer or transport level) as the level of granularity in the Radio Access Network (RAN) to transport data between a user equipment and the network. Resource allocation algorithms, admission control, scheduling, load balancing, and the like are based on the bearer level of granularity, which ignores upper layer requirements at the end-to-end application/service type level, which include, for example, multiple Long Term Evolution (LTE) bearers. For example, a video service is treated as a single service at the application layer; however, an LTE network often breaks such video service into three or more independent radio and transport bearers (control bearer, sound bearer, and video bearer).
U.S. Pat. No. 9,444,679 discloses the grouping of bearers into sets which define a complete end-to-end service as understood by upper layers, such as application layers, in the communication protocols.


A flange seal, disposed on opposed sides of a bore and chest liner embodied in a gate valve and secured to one of a pair of rings disposed in opposed sides of the bore section of the liner, enhances the integrity of the seal formed between the gate valve and each respective radial flange of a connected pipe.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to seals for gate valves and, more particularly, to seals for sealing the junction between opposed connected pipes and a gate valve.
2. Description of Related Art
Many years ago, predecessors in interest of the present assignee developed a chest and bore liner for use in gate valves having split metal, as described in further detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,993,092, 4,051,863 and 4,112,969. A further configuration of a one piece liner for a gate valve and a gate seal usable therewith is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,517. A yet further adaptation of such a one piece bore and chest liner is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,919.
Recent experience with bore and chest liners of the type identified above suggests that a low rate leakage between the annular sealing face of the bore segment of the liner and the radial flange of a connected pipe may sometimes occur. Large sized split body gate valves on the order of 30 inches and having a bore and chest liner appear to be prone to such leakage. Under certain circumstances, similar low flow rate leakage may occur in smaller sized gate valves of this type. The split bodies of these gate valves are invariably of metal, and often of aluminum resulting in lighter weight. If the flow controlled by the gate valve is a flow of a fluid corrosive to aluminum, or other metal of which the gate valve may be made, corrosion of the gate valve body may result from the low flow rate leakage. Moreover, an attached radial flange and its connected pipe may become corroded.
The leakage may result in flow intermediate the chest of the gate valve and the chest segment of the lining. Should the leaking fluid be corrosive to the composition of the chest, pitting, flaking and corrosion will result. These discontinuities of the interior surface of the chest may begin to act in the manner of a wedge against the adjacent liner. Such wedging action will tend to impede sliding movement of the gate and/or increase the wear rate.
Analysis of the cause of the low rate leakage suggests that when the gate valve is in the open position with the gate raised, a minute collapse of the bore and chest liner in the vicinity of the lateral edges of the junction between the bore and the chest of the liner may be occurring. The lower edge of the gate is semicircular. At the interior lateral edges of the junction between the bore and the chest of the liner a void exists due to the raised position of the gate. Such void is believed to accommodate a slight collapse of the liner. The slight collapse of the liner at these two locations will reduce the pressure of the corresponding areas of the annular faces of the bore element of the bore and chest liner bearing against adjacent radial flange of each of the connecting pipes. With such reduction in pressure, the integrity of the seal may be compromised sufficiently to accommodate a low flow rate leakage. For other than large sized gate valves, the integrity of the seal between the annular faces of the bore and chest liner and the adjacent radial flanges of the connecting pipes appear to be unaffected.


With the purpose of providing an improved cleaning mechanism that accomplishes better results and that may be used in thermal and piezoelectric printing, it is dis-closed a method for cleaning a printhead comprising: moving a wiper along a plurality of nozzles of the printhead; and pressurizing the nozzles within the printhead, the pressurization of each nozzle causing ink to be expelled in an expelling direction; wherein a controller is to detect the position of the wiper and to selectively pressurize at least some of the nozzles for which the position of the wiper corresponds to its expelling direction.

Inkjet printers are, in general terms, controllable fluid ejection devices that propel droplets of ink from a nozzle to form an image on a substrate wherein such propelling can be achieved by different technologies. In all of such technologies, the primary cause of inkjet printing problems is ink drying on the nozzles, causing the pigments and dyes of the ink to dry out and form a solid block of hardened mass that may clog the ink passageways.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A knee airbag module of a vehicle occupant restraint system comprises an outer housing (12) having a front side (14) including a deployment aperture (18) as well as an opposite rear side (16), an airbag (20) and an inflator (32) which provides filling gas for the deployment of the airbag (20). The airbag (20) is folded and in the folded state is retained by a flexible airbag wrapping (34) while forming an airbag package (24), wherein the airbag package (24) constitutes a pre-assembled unit and the flexible airbag wrapping (34) closes off the knee airbag module (10) at least in portions to the outside. There is provided a rigid outer housing part (42) which includes a first bearing zone (54) positioned in the area of the airbag package (24) against which the airbag (20) bears during deployment.

The invention relates to a knee airbag module of a vehicle occupant restraint system.
In the event of crash, knee airbag modules protect the vehicle occupant from impact in the leg region. Frequently, the knee airbag module is placed in a lower portion of the instrument panel or below the latter in the vehicle interior, and upon activation of the airbag module the knee airbag deploys along the instrument panel in the direction of the vehicle occupant between the instrument panel and the legs of the vehicle occupant.
Since the knee airbag module is concealed behind or below the instrument panel, it has been thought about replacing the rigid housing which is usually provided for an airbag and completely surrounds the inflator and the folded airbag package merely with a flexible wrapping. In so doing, it has turned out, however, that the deployment behavior of the airbag will change as compared to a rigid housing.


A transient voltage surge suppressor for an electrical circuit having a hot electrical conductor, a neutral electrical conductor, and a ground electrical conductor includes a first surge suppressor connected between the hot and neutral electrical conductors, a second surge suppressor connected between the hot and ground conductors, and a third surge suppressor connected between the neutral and ground conductors; a first over current fuse connected between the hot electrical conductor and the first and second surge suppressors and a second electrical fuse connected in series between the third surge suppressor and the neutral conductor; and a visible indicator connected between the first fuse and the second fuse for illuminating only when both said first and second fuses are intact, and extinguishing when either of the first and second fuses is open.

In order to provide complete suppression of voltage transients in electrical circuits, and particularly circuits that include hot, neutral, and ground conductors, it is desirable to provide surge suppressors, such as metal oxide varistors, bridging each of the three possible pairs of conductors in which these voltage transients can occur. More specifically, it is desirable to provide a surge protection device connected between the hot and neutral lines, between the hot and ground lines, and between the neutral and ground lines.
Some forms of transient voltage surge suppression devices, such as varistors, are subject to failure during operation, either as a result of high energy transient voltages being applied to the devices, the repetitive application of lower energy transient voltages, or even the long term application of steady state voltages above the suppression threshold. Any one of these may lead to immediate failure.
The failure mode associated with metal oxide varistors, produces a short circuit or low impedance failure. That is, the impedance of the device is reduced significantly below its normal operating impedance, as a result of failure. It is known to protect electrical circuits against such failure, by providing fuses in series with the varistors so that if the varistors fail, the fuses open and the varistor does not itself cause a short circuit or low impedance condition on the power circuit, which could create a risk of overloading the circuit, leading to overheating, the tripping of remote circuit breakers, or the like.
When a metal oxide varistor fails in a way that causes a series connected fuse to open, the protection provided by the varistor is lost. Moreover, the failure may be undetectable by observation of the device or devices connected to the circuit. Therefore it is possible for the transient voltage protection to be lost without any obvious signs thereof, and thereafter for voltage transients to be passed unsuppressed to the equipment connected to the previously protected circuit, possibly causing damage.
In an effort to provide some indication of the failure of certain suppression devices, particularly varistors, indicators have been provided. Such indicators may be visual, such as a light emitting diode or other visible device; or audible such as a buzzer, horn or the like. While such devices are effective in indicating the loss of surge suppression, the additional components required to provide such indicators are expensive, increase the overall cost of the transient voltage surge suppression device, and therefore to some extent reduce the number of applications in which the surge suppression devices may be used. Suppression devices with indicators have been provided that overcome this problem to some extent by providing inexpensive indicator devices, either a light and/or an audible device, that indicates the failure of one or two legs of the surge suppressor, but to date, no device is known that uses a single indicator for indicating a failure of any one of three surge suppressors connected between the previously described pairs of lines in a two-wire plus ground electrical circuit.
While audible failure indicators are particularly desirable in applications where the surge suppression device is mounted in a visually inaccessible area, an audible alarm can itself cause problems. In applications where a fault occurs and an audible alarm sounds, it may be some time before a repair can be effected. Since surge suppression devices are often combined with electrical receptacles which are permanently connected to electrical circuits, trained personnel are needed to effect a replacement in the event of a fault.
In residential settings, or even in commercial or industrial settings, a trained person is not always immediately available. In these cases, the incessant buzzing of an audible alarm may be distressing to residents forced to listen to it during the time it takes for the device to be replaced. To this end, it is known to provide an audible alarm that can be deactivated, for example, by turning a screw that engages the diaphragm of a buzzer, thereby quieting it, or breaking a circuit trace connecting the buzzer to its power source, each of which effectively quiets the buzzer, but may do so in an irreversible fashion. Since the control for deactivating the buzzer must be accessible on the outside of the device, it may happen that the control is either accidentally or even maliciously engaged before a fault occurs, thereby in some instances rendering the audible portion of the alarm ineffective in the event of a failure. It would be advantageous to provide a control for disengaging an audible alarm that can be switched from an engaged position to a disengaged position repeatedly, so that if the alarm is accidentally disengaged before a fault occurs, the device is not thereby rendered inoperative in the future. It is desirable to do this switching electrically rather than mechanically, so as to provide repeatable engagement and disengagement without damage as may occur with a mechanical approach. Moreover, it is desirable to provide a control for disengaging an audible alarm that can be operated with readily available tools, such as the pointed tip of a pencil or pen, or the like, rather than requiring a screw driver or other tool that may not be available when needed. Such a device has the additional advantage of preventing accidental disengagement of the audible alarm.
It is an object of this invention to provide a transient voltage surge suppressor (TVSS) that overcomes the problems mentioned before.
It is a more particular object of this invention to provide an electrical receptacle with integral transient voltage suppression that includes an indicator light that is responsive to the failure of any of three transient voltage surge suppression devices, particularly metal oxide varistors, to provide a visible indication of such failure, so that the device can be replaced.
It is another object of this invention to provide an electrical receptacle that includes integral transient voltage surge suppression, together with an audible alarm that includes an actuator for selectively engaging or disengaging the alarm.
It is an even more particular object of the invention to provide a TVSS with such an actuator that can be repeatedly turned on or off without destroying or otherwise impairing the functioning of the audible alarm.
It is an even more specific object of the invention to provide a TVSS with an actuator for the alarm that can be disengaged with a simple tool, such as a pointed pen or pencil.

Transient voltage surge suppressor with three-way fault indication


Techniques are disclosed relating to type conversion using a floating-point unit. In one embodiment, to convert a floating-point value to a normalized integer format, a floating-point unit is configured to perform an operation to generate a result having a significant portion and an exponent portion, where the operation includes multiplying the floating-point value by a constant. In one embodiment, the apparatus is further configured to add a value to the exponent portion of the result, and set a rounding mode to round to nearest. The constant may be a greatest value less than one that can be represented using the particular number of unsigned bits. The value added to the initial exponent may be equal to the number of unsigned bits of the normalized integer format. The apparatus may perform this conversion in response to a pack instruction.

1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to type conversion, and more specifically to type conversion using a floating-point unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Graphics processing often involves type conversion. For example, computations are typically performed using floating-point numbers, but results may be stored using integer formats. Thus, conversion between floating-point numbers and integer formats may be common. As one specific example, the OPENGL® UNORM and SNORM normalized integer formats are used to store representations of floating-point numbers in the ranges 0 to 1.0 and −1.0 to 1.0 respectively. These formats may be converted to floating-point numbers and vice versa using the unpack and pack operations. This type conversion may be performed using dedicated units in graphics execution pipelines. However, dedicated units may increase chip area, e.g., because they may require an extra set of flops for providing source operands.

Type conversion using floating-point unit


Improved methods are provided for the treatment of foods to inhibit microbial growth therein, by the applying to or incorporating into the food a quantity of an alkali or alkaline earth metal salt of levulinic acid. The salts may be topically applied by spraying or dipping, or can be incorporated into the foods such as comminuted meat products. Preferred antimicrobial agents are the sodium and potassium salts of levulinic acid, applied or incorporated at a level of from about 0.5-4% by weight. A variety of foods may be treated in accordance with the invention, such as human foods (e.g., meats and cheeses) or animal foods (pet foods).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with improved methods for the treatment of foods such as meats and cheeses to inhibit microbial growth, as well as the food products themselves. More particularly, the invention is concerned with treatment of foods with a minor amount of an alkali or alkaline earth metal salt in liquid or solid form for antimicrobial purposes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The growth and proliferation of many types of microbes can materially affect the quality of food products. It has been known in the past to treat meat products with steam, hot water wash, acid wash and addition of antimicrobial substances such as sodium lactate, sodium acetate, sodium diacetate, and nisin. Lactates are commonly added to processed meats because their antimicrobial activity increases shelf-life. Lactates used at a level of 1.5-3% of meat weight has been used extensively in the industry as an antimicrobial additive and to improve various quality attributes of meat. Lactates tend to positively affect flavor, microbial shelf-life and safety of pork.
Levulinic acid (4-oxopentanoic acid, C5H8O3) is a 5-carbon organic acid commercially available as a biproduct of corn extrusion. Levulinic acid is known to have prooxidative activity that could limit shelf-life (Yi et al. "Antioxidant Activity of Maltol, Kojack Acid, Levulinic Acid, Furfural, 5-hydroxymethyl furfural, and Pyrazine." Kor. J. Food Sci. 14, 265-270 (1982)).
Various methods have been devised in the past for the production of levulinic acid. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,859,263 describes an efficient method for the production of levulinic acid via reactive extrusion.
Conversion of levulinic acid to the corresponding salts is generally quite straight forward, involving neutralization with appropriate cations and proper maintenance of pH to assure that the salt form predominates.

Alkali and alkaline earth metal levulinates as antimicrobial agents


A method and apparatus for color measurement using a physically distributed multiplicity of sensors. Broad band illumination is provided to irradiate a test pattern. The sensors are used to measure color characteristics of discrete areas of a region of the pattern that has an intended single color by providing the pattern and sensors arrayed in a substantially matching geometric configuration.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to colorimetry, more specifically to color hard copy apparatus, and, more particularly, to an apparatus for color measurement using a physically distributed multiplicity of sensors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Color hard copy apparatus are commercially available for printing color images from digital alphanumeric text and graphic or photographic image data. While the data source may have excellent color gamut representation capability, the printed images produced can be affected by unpredictable variations in the writing instruments, the print medium, and the ambient atmospheric conditions. For example, in an ink-jet printer, inconsistencies of ejected ink drop size (volume generally measured in picoliters), ink dot interactions on the media, ink-media interactions, ink chemical composition from batch-to-batch, and local temperature and humidity can result in a printed color not closely matching the desired color as represented by the data.
Digital color print quality benefits greatly when color calibration techniques are employed. By measuring the actual color produced as well as knowing the desired color, it is possible to compensate for any recognizable difference between the two. Printing commands using correction factors can be modified in real time such that the commanded color deposition exactly, or at least within visual discrimination capability, matches the desired color.
Colorimetry is "any technique by which an unknown color is evaluated in terms of standard colors; the technique may be visual, photoelectric, or indirect by means of spectrophotometry." McGraw-Hill, Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, Fourth Edition, Copr. 1989. A variety of apparatus for making color measurements exist. For example, an external instrument can be used to read a test print and the derived data can be analyzed for determining such correction factors. Spectrophotometers are highly accurate, but generally too expensive to integrate into a commercial printer, particularly common desktop computer peripherals and multifunction (printer/copier/facsimile) office products. Spectrophotometers use a broadband (wide range of frequencies) light emitter and sensor, relying on complex wavelength discriminating optical components (e.g., variable wavelength filters) to accurately measure color properties. The broadband spectrum is spit into multiple paths for detection at each of the desired wavelengths, or multiple filters are moved into the optical path from the observation spot to a single detector. Generally, thirty or more channels are being measured and a large effort is required to focus all channels on a small spot of color print. Note that in general, external instruments are inconvenient, requiring separate power, alignment apparatus, a user interface for communicating results to the hard copy apparatus, and user familiarity with calibration operations.
Lower cost type instruments, such as a densitometer or a colorimeter, can be employed. As examples, a densitometer device using a changeable filter arrangement, is disclosed by Lloyd et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,826, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CALIBRATED DIGITAL PRINTING USING A FOUR BY FOUR TRANSFORMATIO MATRIX (assigned to the common assignee herein); Haraguchi et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,498, describe a conversion function for obtaining analytical density for spectral density using a densitometer in an ink-jet printing apparatus.
Another prior art solution is to measure color patches with a multi-light-emitting-diode (LED) device. Intermediate accuracy levels are achieved by measuring the spectral characteristics of color test patches in more than two or three bands. LED devices have a drawback in not providing optical energy at short wavelengths. The LED's must illuminate the same, relatively small, color test patch, imposing unnecessary design constraints. Moreover, the effect of fluorescing "brighteners" that media vendors incorporate into their paper products is not detectable.
Kent Vincent, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,059 (assigned to the common assignee herein) for an ELECTROLUMINESCENT COLOR DEVICE, has multiple electroluminescent emitters and a broadband sensor forming a colorimeter. The emitters produce light covering spectral segments determined by a filter layer and an active layer wherein the spectral segments sufficiently cover the visible spectrum to enable a wide range of colors to be accurately measured.
Another prior art method is described by Hayasaki in U.S. Pat. No. 6,042,213 for a METHOD AN APPARATUS FOR CORRECTING PRINTHEAD, PRINTHEAD CORRECTED BY THIS APPARATUS AND PRINT APPARATUS USING THIS PRINTHEAD. A CCD camera and image processing is used during printhead manufacture to provide correction data for adjusting the amount of ink discharged from each nozzle.
Another prior art method is describe by Chan in U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,332 for a METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING CLOSED LOOP COLOR CONTROL BETWEEN A SCANNED COLOR IMAGE AND THE OUTPUT OF A COLOR PRINTER (assigned to the common assignee herein and incorporated herein by reference). A digital data processing method for continuously correcting for error in color output from a scanned image is described.
There is a need for an accurate, inexpensive, on-board, color measurement apparatus for measuring actual color produced by a hard copy apparatus on currently used media so that compensation for the difference between actual and desired values can be made with digital data processing techniques to modify printing commands accordingly and make real time corrections.

Color measurement with distributed sensors in a color hard copy apparatus


The present invention discloses a method for manufacturing a fringe field switching mode liquid crystal display device. Here, a gate bus line has a double layer structure of an ITO layer and an opaque metal layer, and thus the gate bus line and a counter electrode region where a counter electrode is formed are formed at the same time. In addition, a data bus line has a double layer structure of the ITO layer and the opaque metal layer, and thus the data bus line and a pixel electrode region where a pixel electrode is formed are formed at the same time. A polyimide layer is employed as an electrode insulating layer formed between the pixel electrode and the counter electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and in particular to a fringe field switching mode liquid crystal display device including a pixel electrode and a counter electrode of a transparent material which generate a fringe field having homogeneous elements in parallel to a surface of a rear substrate in a liquid crystal cell.
2. Description of the Background Art
A homogeneous alignment mode liquid crystal display device developed by Hitachi company in Japan is an in-plane switching mode liquid crystal display device, and has a better field angle property than a twisted nematic mode liquid crystal display device. However, the homogeneous alignment mode liquid crystal display device has a poor opening ratio and transmissibility. In order to overcome such a disadvantage, there has been suggested a fringe field switching mode liquid crystal display device.
In the fringe field switching mode liquid crystal display device, a counter electrode and a pixel electrode consist of a transparent conductive material on a rear substrate. An interval between the counter electrode and the pixel electrode is larger than an interval between a front substrate and the rear substrate. Accordingly, when a picture voltage is applied between the counter electrode and the pixel electrode, a fringe field is generated in a liquid crystal cell, thereby re-aligning liquid crystal molecules.
A method for manufacturing the fringe field switching mode liquid crystal display device will now be described with reference to FIG. 1.
An indium tin oxide(ITO) layer is formed at the upper portion of the rear substrate 1 according to a sputtering method, by using Ar gas, O2 gas and ITO target. The ITO layer is patterned according to a first mask process, thereby forming a counter electrode 2 in a comb or plate shape.
Thereafter, an opaque metal layer for a gate bus line is formed according to the sputtering method at the upper portion of the rear substrate 1 where the counter electrode 2 has been formed. The opaque metal layer for the gate bus line is patterned according to a second mask process, thereby forming a gate bus line 3, a gate pad and a common electrode line(not shown).
A gate insulating layer 4, an amorphous silicon layer 5 and a doped amorphous silicon layer 6 are sequentially stacked at the upper portion of the rear substrate 1 where the gate bus line 3, common electrode line and gate pad have been formed. The amorphous silicon layer 5 and the doped amorphous silicon layer 6 are patterned according to a third mask process, thereby forming a channel and an ohmic contact portion of a thin film transistor.
An ITO layer is formed according to the sputtering method at-the upper portion of the rear substrate 1 where the channel and ohmic contact portion of the thin film transistor have been formed. The ITO layer is patterned according to a fourth mask process, thereby forming a comb-shaped pixel electrode 7.
Thereafter, the gate insulating layer 4 is removed according to a fifth mask process, thereby opening the gate pad.
An opaque metal layer for a data bus line is formed according to the sputtering method at the upper portion of the rear substrate where the pixel electrode 7 has been formed and the gate pad has been opened. The opaque metal layer for the data bus line is patterned according to a sixth mask process, thereby forming a source electrode 8a, a drain electrode 8b and a data bus line(not shown). Here, a contact portion of the gate pad is formed at the same time.
At last, a protective layer(not shown) is deposited at the upper portion of the rear substrate 1 where the source and drain electrodes 8a, 8b and the data bus line have been formed. The protective layer is patterned according to a seventh mask process, thereby opening the pixel electrode 7 and the contact portion of the gate pad.
However, the conventional method for manufacturing the fringe field switching mode liquid crystal display device has a disadvantage in that a manufacturing time and cost are increased and a yield is reduced due to many mask processes.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a fringe field switching mode liquid crystal display device which can decrease a number of mask processes.
In order to achieve the above-described object of the present invention, a method for manufacturing a fringe field switching mode liquid crystal display device is applied to a fringe field switching mode liquid crystal display device including a pixel electrode and a counter electrode formed on a rear substrate to generate a fringe field in a liquid crystal cell; a thin film transistor consisting of a gate electrode, a source electrode, a drain electrode and a channel, and applying a picture signal between the pixel electrode and the counter electrode; and a gate pad formed at the edge of the rear substrate. Firstly, a transparent conductive layer for a counter electrode and an opaque metal layer for a gate bus line are sequentially stacked on the surface of the rear substrate. The transparent conductive layer for the counter electrode and the opaque metal layer for the gate bus line are patterned in an identical shape, thereby forming a gate bus line connected to the gate electrode, a counter electrode region for forming the counter electrode, and a gate pad region for forming the gate pad. Thereafter, a gate insulating layer, an amorphous silicon layer and a doped amorphous silicon layer are sequentially stacked on the rear substrate where the gate bus line and the counter electrode region have been formed. The gate insulating layer, the amorphous silicon layer and the doped amorphous silicon layer are patterned in an identical shape, thereby forming an active region overlapped with the whole region of the gate bus line. The opaque metal layer for the gate bus line in the counter electrode region and gate pad region is removed, thereby forming the counter electrode and the gate pad. An electrode insulating layer is deposited on the rear substrate where the active region, counter electrode and gate pad have been formed. The electrode insulating layer is patterned, thereby opening a part of the active region and the gate pad. A transparent conductive layer for a pixel electrode and an opaque metal layer for a data bus line are deposited on the rear substrate where the active region and gate pad region have been opened. The transparent conductive layer for the pixel electrode and the opaque metal layer for the data bus line are patterned in an identical shape, thereby forming a data bus line crossing the gate bus line, a source electrode and a drain electrode respectively electrically connected to the active region, the channel of the thin film transistor being positioned therebetween, a pixel electrode region for forming the pixel electrode to be overlapped with the counter electrode, and a contact portion of the gate pad. Thereafter, a protective layer is deposited on the rear substrate where the data bus line, source electrode, drain electrode, pixel electrode region and gate pad have been formed. The deposited protective film is patterned, thereby opening the pixel electrode region and the contact portion of the gate pad. Thereafter, the opaque metal layer for the data bus line in the opened pixel electrode region is removed, thereby forming the pixel electrode.

Method for manufacturing fringe field switching mode liquid crystal display device


If an aperture of the objective-imaging is the same as an aperture when a state has turned into a focused state with autofocus before the objective-imaging or if an F value of the objective-imaging is equal to or greater than an F value when a state has turned into a focused state with autofocus before the objective-imaging, the focused state is maintained and the focusing of the objective-imaging is skipped. Even in other cases, a in-focus position is detected near the in-focus position before the objective-imaging. Alternatively, if the user selects a speed priority, the in-focus position is detected in a narrow range near the in-focus position before the objective-imaging. This enables to achieve both enough speed and focus accuracy of the main-photographing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographing apparatus including an autofocus function.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-248510, in a complex camera including a still camera unit, a video camera unit, and a photographic lens common to the units, a control device performs a servo control based on repeated detections of the focus detection device if a movement detecting device detects that a subject is moving during still image photographing, and performs a one shot control, in which the lens drive is terminated once the lens is focused and then the focus is locked, if it is detected that the subject is not moving.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-207712 discloses an imaging apparatus that adjusts the focus of an optical device, the imaging apparatus comprising: an optical unit that receives a light beam from a subject to generate a subject image; a contrast detecting unit that detects a contrast value of the subject image; a ranging unit that calculates range information indicative of a distance from the focusing apparatus to the subject; an adjustment instruction accepting unit that accepts instruction information indicative of adjustment of the focus of the optical unit; a focus control unit that adjusts the focus of the optical unit when the adjustment instruction accepting unit accepts the instruction information; and a range information storing unit that stores a contrast value detected by the contrast detecting unit when the adjustment instruction accepting unit accepts the instruction information and range information calculated by the ranging unit.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-258344, an arithmetic processing circuit executes, in response to a first instruction from a release SW for starting photographing, AE and AF processes based on a signal outputted from an imaging element to control the lens position, the aperture size, and the shutter speed of the imaging element and keeps an elapsed time from the acquisition of the first instruction to the acquisition of a second instruction that is instructed following the first instruction and that is from the release SW for starting photographing. In the photographing started according to the second instruction, the arithmetic processing circuit executes the AE and AF processes based on the elapsed time, and if the elapsed time is short, the arithmetic processing circuit diverts a control result of the AE and AF processes executed in the photographing started according to the first instruction without executing one or both of the AE and AF processes.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-232984, according to a focus instructing operation, a CPU compares, before the focusing operation, current image data obtained just after the focus instructing operation with the focus lens at a last-time in-focus position detected by the focusing operation of the last time and last-time image data that is obtained during the focusing operation of the last time or just after the end of the focusing operation of the last time with the focus lens at the last-time in-focus position. The CPU then determines whether the focused state from the focusing operation of the last time is maintained. If not maintained, the CPU does not drive the focus lens in the in-focus position detection or narrows down the driving region of the focus lens.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-76169, a focus adjusting lens is set at the hyperfocal distance in advance. Once an operation for starting a photographing preparation operation is performed, a photometric device ALS is activated, and then whether an aperture value obtained from calculated photometric information is greater than a predetermined aperture value is compared. If it is greater, the photographic operation is permitted. If it is smaller, distance measuring devices AFS and AFC are activated. A control device MPU for permitting the photographic operation is installed after activating a lens driving unit LM based on calculated distance measurement information. If an aperture value obtained as a result of photometry is greater than a predetermined aperture value, a subject can be focused at the depth of field of the lens set at the hyperfocal distance. Therefore, the releasing is immediately performed without driving the lens. In other cases, the lens is driven.


A method for stream allocation in a data storage system begins by determining whether a stream needs storage space. Storage space for the stream is requested, and a device on which to allocate the storage space is selected. The storage space on the selected device is allocated to the stream.

The term "stream" as used herein refers to a sequence of discrete input/output (IO) commands from a single initiator targeted toward a single virtual destination, with each command carrying a certain amount of data.
When a storage system has multiple independent data streams, it is important to distribute the streams among the various connected storage devices in order to maximize the overall system throughput. The factors which are involved in selecting the "best" individual storage device include the current usage of all of the available devices and the current usage of the paths through which the data travels on its way to each device. The hardware paths include the system memory bus, the system peripheral buses (e.g., PCI bus), the host adapter card, the external peripheral buses (e.g., FC or SCSI bus), and the controllers of the storage devices. The software paths include the application, the device driver, the operating system's "mid-level" (e.g., the portion of the operating system that defines internal interfaces and provides common services between the application and the device drivers), and the host adapter driver. Trying to compute the bandwidth of each of these path components and determining the impact of the data streams on that bandwidth is difficult. The concepts of "input limited" and "output limited" can be used to help assess where a bottleneck exists in the system.
As shown in FIG. 1A, when the rate at which data is passed to a device is less than the device's ability to consume the data, that device is referred to as being input limited. A device is input limited when the total input rate is less than the potential output rate. Adding additional input increases the throughput of the device.
Referring to FIG. 1B, when the input data rate exceeds the device's output rate (i.e., when the input data rate is greater than the device's ability to consume data), that device is referred to as being output limited. Adding additional input does not increase the device's throughput. A device can become output limited when any component of the path to the device is unable to pass the available data at the rate it is being supplied. Once that occurs, each new command must wait for previous commands to move past the limiting component before they can be completed. Because the commands "stack up" this way, the command completion time increases significantly as soon as the device becomes output limited.
Previous load balancing logic assumed that the storage devices and paths were always input limited, and assigned new streams to the device and path that had the lowest use in terms of throughput (e.g., megabytes (MB) per second). This caused heavily loaded disks to appear more attractive, since the overall throughput decreases once the device becomes output limited. This approach created a problem in that by looking only for the device having the lowest throughput, streams would be continuously added to the output limited device.
A potential solution includes recording the path information and the bandwidth of each path component to attempt to track the impact of the streams on each path component. This approach has several problems in terms of complexity and accuracy, since the path components through which the data travels have to be determined, and there is no way to determine the amount of the total bandwidth that is in use by others.

Maximizing storage system throughput by measuring system performance metrics