A wheel position detector for a vehicle includes: a transmitter at each wheel having a first control portion for transmitting a frame with specific identification information; and a receiver at a vehicle body receiving the frame from one wheel and having a second control portion for performing wheel position detection; and a wheel speed sensor for detecting a tooth of a gear. The second control portion: acquires gear information indicating a tooth position; sets a variation allowance based on the tooth position; registers the one wheel with using the variation allowance; and performs the wheel position detection by excluding an identified wheel as the one wheel from a candidate of another wheel mounting the transmitter that transmits another frame when the second control portion identifies the one wheel.

There is known a direct-type tire inflation pressure detector according to the related art. This type of tire inflation pressure detector uses a transmitter that is provided with a sensor such as a pressure sensor and is directly attached to a vehicle mounted with tires. An antenna and a receiver are provided for the vehicle. If the transmitter transmits a detection signal from the sensor, the receiver receives the detection signal at the antenna and detects the tire inflation pressure.
The direct-type tire inflation pressure detector determines whether the data is transmitted from a local vehicle and to which wheel the transmitter is attached. For this purpose, each data transmitted from the transmitter contains ID information that discriminates between a local vehicle and a remote vehicle and identifies a wheel to which the transmitter is attached.
The receiver needs to previously register the ID information about each transmitter in association with each wheel position to be able to locate the transmitter from the ID information contained in the transmission data. If a tire is replaced, the receiver needs to re-register the positional relationship between the transmitter ID information and the wheel. For example, patent document 1 proposes the technological method of automating this registration.
Specifically, the apparatus described in patent document 1 detects that the wheel reaches a specified rotation position based on an acceleration detection signal from an acceleration sensor included in the transmitter provided for a vehicle. The vehicle also detects a rotation position of the wheel when a wireless signal is received from the transmitter. The vehicle monitors a change in a relative angle between the rotation positions to specify the wheel position. This method monitors a change in the relative angle between the wheel rotation position detected by the vehicle and the wheel rotation position detected by the wheel based on the deviation in the specified number of pieces of data. The method specifies the wheel position by determining that a variation exceeds an allowable value with reference to an initial value. In more detail, the method finds the number of gear (rotor) teeth from a wheel speed pulse output from a wheel speed sensor provided for the corresponding wheel. A rotation position is detected at a wheel based on an acceleration detection signal from an acceleration sensor. The number of gear teeth found from the wheel speed pulse of the wheel speed sensor indicates a rotation angle. The method specifies a wheel position based on a relative angle between the rotation position and the rotation angle.
However, the method described in patent document 1 specifies the wheel position based on whether a variation belongs to an allowable range defined by a specified allowable value with reference to an initial value. The method cannot specify the wheel position while the variation belongs to the allowable range. A certain amount of data is needed because the method specifies the wheel position based on the standard deviation. The method cannot specify the wheel position until the necessary amount of data is acquired. Accordingly, specifying the wheel position consumes the time.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2010-122023

Wheel position detector and tire inflation pressure detector having the same


A clay slurry with a solids content of at least about 60 weight percent and a casting rate of at least 60 grams per hour, wherein the slurry contains from about 68 to about 74 weight percent of silica and less than about 0.8 percent of carbon. At least about 9 weight percent of the particles in the slurry are larger than about 44 microns, and at least about 5 weight percent of the particles in said slurry are larger than about 74 microns.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,812,247 and 4,812,248 of William Kohut describe a stable ball clay slurry that contained from about 50 to about 65 weight percent (by weight of dry ball clay) of silica. In the "comparative examples" discussed in such patents (see, e.g., comparative examples 10–89 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,427, at columns 39 et seq.), a discussion was presented of certain slurries made from clays with a silica content of 72 weight percent. Referring to columns 43 and 44 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,427, and in the examples 16, 17, 18, and 19 thereof, slurries made from clays containing 72 weight percent of silica were unstable, having a settling index of 0.11, 0.18, 0.16, and 0.18, respectively. By comparison, the stable ball clay slurry of U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,427 had a settling index of at least 0.9; but the maximum allowable silica content for such slurry was 65 percent. It is an object of this invention to make a clay slurry with a silica content of at least 68 percent wherein such slurry is stable and has properties suitable for slip casting.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A makeup mixing plate and cover product is configured to open and close over a makeup plate to protect and maintain makeup items used intermittently over a duration of time. The makeup mixing plate and cover product includes a makeup plate base and a makeup plate lid that is configured to cover a makeup mixing plate that a makeup artist uses as a workspace while applying makeup to a makeup recipient. The makeup mixing plate and cover product includes several magnets that are attached to the makeup plate base and the makeup plate lid to magnetically connect the makeup plate lid to the makeup plate base in a closed configuration of the makeup mixing plate and cover product, the magnets being disconnected to an open configuration of the makeup mixing plate and cover product.

The embodiments herein relate generally to covers that protect and maintain makeup items used intermittently over a duration of time and, more specifically, to a makeup mixing plate and cover that protects and maintains makeup items used intermittently over a duration of time.
In the makeup industry, people who apply makeup (hereinafter referred to in the singular as "makeup artist" or "makeup professional" and in the plural as "makeup artists" or "makeup professionals") use makeup plates to hold and mix makeup to apply to actors or models. The makeup plates typically are steel plates, but some makeup artists use plastic makeup plates while applying makeup to an actor or a model.
Conventional makeup plates typically are exposed above the plate, allowing makeup artists to hold the makeup plate with one hand, while applying makeup from the makeup plate to the artist/model with their other hand. Typically, there are is left over makeup on the makeup plate after the makeup artist has applied makeup to the artist or model. This often leaves the left over makeup exposed to air, dust, wind, and other surrounding elements, which renders the left over makeup unsuitable for further applications to the artist/model. Thus, many makeup artists add new makeup to the makeup plate each time they need to apply makeup to an artist or model. As a result, many makeup artists dispose of the unused makeup on the makeup plate. This is wasteful and results in greater costs.
Therefore, what is needed is a way to protect makeup on a makeup plate from environmental elements when makeup artists are not engaged in applying makeup to an individual, thereby ensuring that makeup left over on the makeup plate remains relatively fresh and free from contaminants and other elements in the ambient surroundings during the time between applications of the makeup to the individual.


To improve the characteristics of fuel to be used in an engine of an automotive vehicle or a boat or ship, to reduce an amount of harmful substances in emission and to enhance a fuel consumption rate, a device for improving the characteristics of fuel is provided and connected between the engine of the automotive vehicle or the boat or ship and a fuel tank. A fuel pipe spirally wound is arranged within a hexagonal housing in outer shape. A carbon rod is provided inside of the fuel pipe and a coil is wound around its outer periphery. Powder of metal, mineral and oxide is filled between the fuel pipe and the inner wall of the housing and solidified with silicone resin. The fuel flows through an interior of the fuel pipe in a spiral manner to be fed to the engine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for improving the characteristics of fuel such as fuel oil to be supplied to an engine of a vehicle such as an automobile and a boat or ship or heavy oil or light oil to be supplied to a burner of a boiler or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Explanation will be made as to fuel for automobiles. Gasoline, light oil, LPG and the like are used for an automotive engine depending upon its type. It is well known that such hydrocarbonized fuel forms a variety of harmful substances through the combustion. Therefore, the amount of the harmful substances emitted after the combustion is limited by circumstance standards or legal provisions. For this reason, every car maker makes a great effort to improve engines and purifying devices such as catalyst systems to meet the applicable standards.
By the way, the demands for improving the fuel for automotive vehicles are not only decreasing the harmful substances in emission. There is a task as to how to reduce the amount of fuel to be required for running the vehicle through the same distance (i.e., fuel consumption rate). If the fuel consumption rate is enhanced, not only an economical effect is improved but also the emission of the harmful substances may be suppressed.
A technology which is noticed recently is a so-called lean-burn engine. This means that each part of the engine is improved so that a lean combustion in comparison with a conventional engine, i.e., a smooth rotation with fuel at a high air/fuel ratio may be obtained. Every car maker has researched and developed this type of engine and has provided a lean-burn engine on the market. However, the percentage of that engine on the market is still about several percent. This engine has not yet been extensively used.
It is considered that a user who thinks about purchase of an automobile would be typically worried that:
i) the power would be insufficient;
ii) Although there is no problem when the automobile is new, when it gets old, the fuel consumption rate would become worse and in addition, the power would be insufficient; and
iii) the maintenance would difficult, which would increase costs for maintenance. Thus, the user hesitates to buy the automobiles with the lean-burn engine and finally decides to buy a traditional one.
Nevertheless, it is attractive that the fuel consumption rate is enhanced. Any driver wishes that. Also, although the driver could not compensate for the disadvantage of the harmful substances in emission of the automotive vehicle owned by him or her by his or her efforts, the small containment of the harmful substances in emission out of the automotive vehicle is one of the essential factors. However, if the type of the automobile is not limited as in the lean-burn engine described above but a good result is obtained by mounting a device on the automobile as desired after the purchase of the automobile, this is ideal. This is because the driver only spends a small amount of money for the vehicle that is now owned, thereby reducing the harmful substances contained in the emission and enhancing the fuel consumption rate.


A display apparatus includes: a substrate defining transistor and wiring areas; a thin film transistor in the transistor area and including a gate electrode, an active layer, and source and drain electrodes; an etch prevention layer in the transistor area, absent in the wiring area and covering the active layer, and first and second contact holes defined in the etch prevention layer and through which the active layer is electrically coupled to the source and drain electrodes; a first wiring layer in the wiring area; a first insulating layer which covers the gate electrode and the first wiring layer, and a third contact hole defined in the first insulating layer in the wiring area and exposing the first wiring layer; and a second wiring layer on the first insulating layer and in the wiring area, and electrically coupled to the first wiring layer via the third contact hole.

1. Field
One or more exemplary embodiment of the invention relates to a display apparatus and a method of manufacturing the display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flat panel display apparatuses such as organic light-emitting display apparatuses, liquid crystal display apparatuses, etc. are manufactured on a substrate on which are disposed patterns including at least one thin film transistor ("TFT") and capacitor, and lines connecting the TFT and capacitor.

Display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same


A system and method for persisting device operating parameters through different phases of the boot process of a computer system. A boot command is entered to boot from a remote (or local) source through a boot device (e.g., a network interface, a disk controller), and is accompanied by one or more operating parameters (e.g., speed, duplex, link-clock). The parameters are converted to properties of the boot device and saved. Subsequently, one or more communication connections are established using the boot device properties. Using an initial boot program, the system may establish a first connection to access and load a secondary boot program, and another connection to load an operating system kernel. The boot device properties are thus used to establish communication connections at different times in the boot process, while the system is controlled by different programs (e.g., open boot PROM, secondary boot program, operating system kernel).

This invention relates to the field of computer systems. More particularly, a system and methods are provided for enabling device operating parameters (e.g., speed or duplex settings) to persist across different phases of initialization of a computer system.
Many of today's computer systems pass through multiple phases during their initialization or booting process. In the first phase, a boot command is entered that directs the system to boot from a source that may be local (e.g., hard disk) or remote (e.g., network). System firmware (e.g., an Open Boot PROM (OBP)) may operate a suitable driver (e.g., an FCode driver) to initialize a device (e.g., disk controller, network interface card) capable of establishing a communication link with the source. Using the device, the firmware locates and loads a secondary boot program.
In the second phase of the boot process, the secondary boot program locates and loads the operating system kernel. The source of the secondary boot program may or may not be the same source from which the kernel is loaded. In a third phase of the boot process, the system kernel loads the operating system and makes the computer system ready for use.
Because control or operation of the computer system and/or individual components of the system may pass among multiple entities (e.g., OBP, FCode driver, operating system kernel), the system device through which a connection is established to boot the system may have to be initialized, or a communication connection through the component may have to be established, multiple times.
Furthermore, some devices need to operate, or operate most effectively, in particular modes or with particular settings. For example, a communication link controlled by a network interface card (NIC) may be configured for operation in either auto-negotiation mode or forced mode. In auto-negotiation mode, the interface may attempt to detect (e.g., via link auto-negotiation or parallel detection) the settings of its link partner (e.g., a switch, router) regarding speed, duplex (e.g., half or full), link-clock for speeds greater than 1 Gbps (e.g., master, slave), etc. If the interface cannot correctly determine the link partner's settings, the link may not be usable. In non-auto-negotiated mode (or forced mode), the interface must be configured with link capability settings that are compatible with the link partner.
Unfortunately, there currently is no mechanism for guaranteeing the persistence of a device's operating parameters (e.g., speed, duplex setting) through all three phases of the initialization of a computer system in a consistent manner. This may cause the device to become unusable, or require initialization to be restarted, if an incorrect parameter setting is applied. Or the boot process may become inefficient (e.g., slow) because of work-around solutions to the need to determine or apply an operating parameter. Conversely, if the desired settings for the device could be established just once and then used in each phase of the booting process, the process may finish faster, and with less chance for error.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to determine a device's settings once and to have those settings persist through each phase of an initialization process.

System and method for device parameter persistence


A method, system, and apparatus are provided for converting currency values between types of currency. When a string of text is entered into an application program, the string is analyzed to determine whether the string of text includes a currency value. If the string of text includes a currency value, the value is semantically labeled with schema information that identifies the type of currency associated with the value. When a selection is received of the currency value, a list of actions may be provided identifying conversion options available for the value. One of the conversion options may then be selected resulting in the conversion of the selected currency value to the destination type of currency identified by the selected action. The converted currency value may then be inserted into the string of text to replace the selected currency value along with a currency notation corresponding to the destination currency value.

On Jan. 2, 2002, the new European currency, the Euro, became the official currency of twelve European countries. The countries that adopted the Euro as their official currency are Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. After Feb. 28, 2002, the national currencies of these countries were no longer accepted for transactions. With the adoption of the Euro as the official currency of most European nations, a unified economic marketplace of over 300 million people has been created. Denmark, Great Britain, and Sweden may also adopt the Euro as their official currencies sometime in the future, thereby creating an even larger unified economic marketplace.
Although the conversion from national currencies to the Euro officially occurred in 2002, many electronic documents created prior to the conversion still contain references to the former national currencies of the member countries. Therefore, when these types of documents are utilized, it may be necessary to convert referenced currency values from the expressed national currency to the Euro. For instance, a user may need to easily and quickly convert a currency value referenced in a word processing document from French Francs to Euro. A user may also need to convert a Euro currency value to one of the former national currencies. However, converting currency values between national currencies and the Euro, and vice versa, has heretofore been difficult for a user to accomplish easily and quickly.
Previously, if a user wanted to convert a currency value referenced in an electronic document, such as a word processing document, between a national European currency and Euro, or vice versa, the user would first have to copy the currency value to be converted to a clipboard. The user would then paste the value into an external program or Web site capable of converting the currency value to Euro. Once the external program or Web site had completed the conversion, the user would copy the converted currency value to the clipboard and then paste the converted value back into the electronic document. The user might also have to locate the currency symbol for the converted type of currency and insert the symbol into the document.
Although systems such as these do allow a user to convert currency values between national European currencies and Euro, these systems can be difficult to use because of the large number of steps required to complete the conversion. Moreover, these previous solutions require the user to perform the conversion using the user interface language of the conversion program or Web site. This can be extremely frustrating for an international user that does not understand the language of the conversion program or Web site.
Therefore, in light of the above, there is a need for a method, system, and apparatus for easily converting currency values between Euro and the national currencies of the member European countries that do not require the user to utilize an external application or Web site to convert currency values. Moreover, there is a need for a method, system, and apparatus for converting currency values between Euro and the national currencies of the member European countries that can present conversion options to the user in a user-selected user interface language.

Method, system, and apparatus for converting currency values based upon semantically labeled strings


An apparatus and method for correcting magnetic resonance temperature measurements is disclosed. In one aspect, the method identifies monitoring regions of interest outside a therapeutic region of interest. Next, a pulse sequence sensitive to changes in T1 and proton density is used to measure the temperature changes in these regions. Next, the PRFS is measured in these same regions. The PRFS in these regions will be caused both by the desired shift from temperature change, and the undesired shift from background magnetic field changes. Using the measured temperature changes from the T1-method, the component of the PRFS due to actual temperature changes is subtracted from the PRFS method, leaving only the component caused by the unwanted magnetic field changes. This analysis is performed separately for each region. At the end of this step, one has measured the change in background magnetic field within each region.

This invention relates generally to systems and methods for imaging tissue using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, and more particularly to obtaining high accuracy temperature measurements of a tissue mass by compensating for errors during the acquisition of MR images used for temperature measurement by applying a T1-based correction to the MR images.
In the past, ultrasound imaging has been used for both generating and positioning focused ultrasound waves on tissue to be destroyed. It was soon found that the MR images were much better suited for such guidance, since MR provides excellent images of tissue, and is not limited to "windows" that excludes bones, for example. Further, MRI system images are useful not only for guiding the actual surgical procedures, but also for planning the surgical procedures. In fact, a tumor is often much more visible in an MR image than as seen in actual surgery. In actual surgery, the tumor and normal tissues often look similar. In addition, during the surgery, the tumor can be obscured by blood. Presently, patients are first scanned in an MRI system to locate the tumor and plan a safe trajectory between the entry of the ultrasound radiation and the target points.
Certain types of tissues, such as cancerous tumors, can be destroyed by heat. It has further been discovered that the control of heat was improved by using short pulses such that the effect of blood profusion is made negligible. The state of the art has advanced to the point where the MRI system is used not only for planning the surgery, but also during the actual destruction of the cancerous tissue. The MRI system using separate scanning sequences provides temperature information and, in addition, also provides tissue information. Thus, the actual temperature of the tissue can be ascertained using magnetic resonance imaging methods, and in addition the ablation of the tissue can be observed using the MRI system.
One conventional way to heat these tissues is by directing laser energy into the tissue using, for example, a laser source carried by a catheter. Another conventional way is to focus high intensity, ultrasonic acoustic waves into the tissue using, for example, a phased-array of piezoelectric transducers. Both of these approaches can reduce or even eliminate the need for invasive surgery to remove the tissue.
Thus, the prior art performs thermal surgery guided by MRI systems and procedures to selectively destroy tumorous tissue in the patient with localized heating, without adversely affecting healthy tissue. The heat is applied to the tumor tissue in a pulsed or oscillating fashion. The pulsed energy creates a heat focus that heats either at the tip of the optical fiber, or at the focal point of the transducer, depending on the heat source. The heated tumorous region may be imaged with the use of the MRI systems, employing a temperature sensitive MR pulse sequence to acquire a temperature "map" that is used basically to assure that the heat is being applied to the tumorous tissue and not to the surrounding healthy tissue. This is done by applying a quantity of heat that is insufficient to cause necrosis but is sufficient to raise the temperature of the heated tissue. The MRI system temperature map shows whether or not the heat is applied to the previously located tumorous tissue. The imaging system is also used in a separate scan sequence to create an image of the tissue intended to be destroyed. Using the imaging system in the prior art, the operator of the apparatus adjusts the placement of the radiation on the site of the tissue to be destroyed. The MR image of the tumor acquired in the separate scan determines in real time if necrosis is occurring and effectively ablating the tumorous tissue. However, the monitoring and guiding are provided using separate two-dimensional scan sequences.
When laser beams are used as the heat source, then mechanical means are used to position the optical fiber carrying the laser beam to the diseased tissue to accurately position it within the diseased tissue. When ultrasound beams are used as the heat source, then the focus of the ultrasound beams can be positioned either by mechanically moving the ultrasound generator to move its focal point, or a phased array ultrasound system can be used to manipulate the position of the focal point so that it is within the diseased tissue that is to be destroyed by heating.
Of critical importance to the process is verifying that a sufficient temperature was reached during each application of ultrasonic energy to kill the target tissue structure, or portion thereof being heated. This can be done by measuring the temperature change (rise) of the portion of the tissue structure being heated during the heating process using MR imaging techniques.
There are several MRI methods that have been used in the past for measuring temperatures using well-known MRI parameters, such as the spin-lattice relaxation time T1, the time to repeat (TR), the time to echo TE, and the flip angle. For example, temperature maps can be generated based on such procedures that provide T1 derived images evaluated with fast spoiled gradient echo sequences applied during the actual thermal therapy exposure. The parameters used are to some degree based on the tissue type and the precise evaluation of the behavior due to physiological or metabolic changes in the tissue during thermal therapy exposure. For example, TE, TR and the flip angle of the spoiled gradient echo have been used for localizing the low-temperature elevation induced by a focused ultrasound beam during both the planning and treatment.
Another known method of measuring temperature change using MR techniques exploits the temperature dependence of the proton resonant frequency (PRF) in water. The temperature dependence of the PRF is primarily due to temperature-induced induced rupture, stretching, or bending of the hydrogen bonds in water. The temperature dependence of pure water is 0.0107 ppm/° C., and the temperature dependence of other water-based tissues is close to this value.
Because of a non-homogenous magnetic field within the MR image, absolute PRF measurements are not possible. Instead, changes in PRF are measured by first taking a MR image before the delivery of heat, and subtracting this baseline value from subsequent measurements. Notably, the total imaging time must be kept relatively short for the baseline value to remain relatively stable, since drifts in the magnetic field can occur over time.
The temperature-induced changes in PRF are then estimated by measuring changes in phase of the MR signal, or proton resonance frequency shift (PRFS) in certain MR imaging sequences. Unfortunately, movements of the object being imaged or dynamic changes in magnetic field intensity and/or uniformity during the MR imaging process (i.e., between successively acquired images) can also induce phase shifts, which can be misinterpreted as a temperature-induced phase shift. As a result, a given phase shift might be attributable to any one of temperature change, motion, changes in magnetic field, or some combination thereof, between acquired images. This ambiguity makes it difficult to determine the tissue mass temperature change relying only on the MR signals from the tissue mass being heated. Such motion and non-uniform field "distortion" may have differing sources acting alone or in combination, such as patient motion, breathing or other dynamic organ movement (e.g., the heart), or blood moving through a blood vessel located in or adjacent to the target tissue region.
Another method is known as self-referencing or reference-less thermometry. In this method, tissue outside the therapeutic zone (tissue being heated) is used to measure the PRFS. Assuming this tissue does not heat, then the PRFS in these regions is due only to changes in magnetic field. Unfortunately, the temperature is these regions often do change, rendering the method ineffective.
Another method being developed is to use nearby fat tissue as a reference. Fat tissue does not experience a PRFS with temperature change, so that any temperature-induced changes in PRF are due to background field changes. The limitation here is that one may not have enough fatty tissues around to perform this correction.
In view of the foregoing, the problem of performing accurate measurement of temperature changes in tissue in an MRI system remains one of the biggest barriers to widespread use of the PRF method in temperature imaging. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method that accurately measures the temperature changes in tissue in an MRI system.

T1-corrected proton resonance frequency shift thermometry


The present invention is directed generally to container for reconfigurable products and, in particular, to a display package operable to display a product in multiple configurations. The display package may include product housing portions adapted to slide from a first, adjacent position, where one product portion is positioned adjacent to another product portion, to a second, separated position, where one product portion is spaced from the other product portion. The display package may include a plurality of product housings adapted to rotate with respect to each other along a common axis such that product portions within the product housings may be selectively aligned to form desired configurations of a completed, displayed product. The display package may include a stationary housing section and a movable housing section adapted to rotate with respect to the stationary housing section such that the product portions within the movable housing section may be selectively aligned with the product portions of the stationary housing section.

The present invention relates to a container for a reconfigurable product such as toy and, more particularly, to a display package for a product comprising a plurality of product portions, each portion representing a part of a complete product, wherein the product portions may be selectively aligned to form desired configurations of a completed, displayed product.

Display packaging for reconfigurable product


The optical device includes a waveguide on a base. The waveguide is configured to guide a light signal through a light-transmitting medium to a light sensor. The light sensor includes a sensor waveguide on the base. The sensor waveguide receives the light signal from the input waveguide. Additionally, the sensor waveguide includes a light-absorbing medium having an input side. The input side is interfaced with the light-transmitting medium such that at least a portion of the light signal received by the sensor waveguide travels through the input side of the light-absorbing medium upon being received by the sensor waveguide. The light-absorbing medium includes doped regions. One or more of the doped regions each extends from within the light-absorbing medium to the input side of the light-absorbing medium.

The use of optical and/or optoelectronic devices is increasing in communications applications. These devices can include light sensors that receive light signals from a waveguide. These light sensors often employ a light-absorbing material that absorbs the received light signals. During operation of the light sensor, an electrical field is applied across the light-absorbing material. When the light-absorbing material absorbs a light signal, an electrical current flows through the light-absorbing material. As a result, the level of electrical current through the light-absorbing material indicates the intensity of light signals being received by the light-absorbing material.
In these light sensors, increasing the voltage that is applied to the light sensor in order to generate the electrical field can often increase the speed of the light sensor. However, it is often desirable to reduce this voltage while still maintaining the same level of speed. As a result, there is a need for more efficient light sensors.

Optical device having light sensor with doped regions


A disk drive is disclosed comprising control circuitry for generating a control signal applied to a VCM in response to a position error signal (PES) generated from reading embedded servo sectors and a feed-forward compensation value that compensates for a repeatable runout (RRO) disturbance. The feed-forward compensation value is generated for each servo sector in response to an RRO estimate Ŝ computed recursively for each servo sector according to:

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to disk drives for computer systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disk drive recursively estimating repeatable runout (RRO).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Repeatable runout (RRO) in a disk drive is a disturbance in the servo system which can degrade performance by disrupting the head's centerline tracking during read and write operations. The RRO disturbance is typically caused by physical imperfections in the disk drive such as spindle motor runout, disk slippage, disk warping, media defects, and imperfections in the electromechanical servoing mechanism including the mechanism for writing embedded servo sectors onto the disk during manufacturing. Because the imperfections that cause RRO are relatively static, RRO is a predictable disturbance that is periodic with the rotation of the disk. It is known in the industry to estimate and cancel out the periodic RRO disturbance by introducing a feed-forward compensation signal into the servo loop.
Prior art techniques typically estimate the RRO disturbance by averaging the position error signal (PES) over many revolutions of the disk in order to average out other noise sources (the non-repeatable runout), and then backing out the effect of the servo compensator. The RRO disturbance is estimated during a manufacturing process, wherein a feed-forward compensation value is generated and stored for each servo sector of each track. However, estimating the RRO disturbance for every track over multiple revolutions of the disk can increase significantly the manufacturing time of the disk drive.
There is, therefore, a need for a fast, accurate technique for estimating the RRO disturbance in a disk drive to reduce the manufacturing time.

Disk drive recursively estimating repeatable runout

Abstract: S      ^              n      +      1        =                    S        ^            n        -          λ                    [                                            S              ^                        n                    -                                    1              n                                                                  ∑                                  i                  =                  1                                n                                                                                PES                i                                                    ]            wherein: λ is a predetermined fraction;                PESi is the position error signal generated for a selected servo sector during an ith revolution of the disk; and        n represents a number of disk revolutions.


A rechargeable battery assembly comprises a rechargeable battery unit and a data and power connector plug. The battery assembly has a deployed configuration in which the battery assembly has the general form of and functions as a conventional battery format, and a recharge configuration in which the data and power connector plug is made accessible to enable said connector to be connected to a suitable receptacle on a computing or peripheral device for recharging of the battery.

An ongoing problem with rechargeable batteries is their general dependency on an external recharging unit, plug and AC socket, which are often unavailable when recharging is required. Whilst attempts have been made to embed North American style mains supply connectors within large battery assemblies, these require access to a US AC socket. Furthermore all such approaches require a geographic specific plug or connector. Our preferred embodiments provide an integrated and mechanically compact solution for small batteries that are suitable for enabling universal recharging from a general portable or desktop computing device in any territory. This provides a modern rechargeable battery solution in standard formats readily suitable for portable computing accessories such as input devices, digital cameras and media players.
There is substantial and diverse prior art relating to rechargeable batteries in general, both on custom battery formats and transformers with embedded sockets and connectors, some where the connectors fold or slide to reduce profile. There are also many examples of recharging cradles for holding a plurality of batteries that connect either to a mains supply or in some case via a cable or directly to a USB connector or for custom batteries (such as a mobile phone). Various prior art exists on mechanical methods of collapsing the two flat prongs forming a North American mains supply socket, either to reduce format in a transformer or to store within a large format battery such as a C or D type.
By way of example U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,523 by Izumi (1978) shows an example of a large battery encasing sprung folding North American socket connectors and provides a detailed prior art description documenting various related rechargeable battery approaches, from U.S. Pat. No. 2,876,410 by Fry through to U.S. Pat. No. 3,665,285 by Mullersman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,507 by Persen (1986) discloses an integrated battery and re-charger for a large format battery with a removable mains plug. Similarly U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,567 by Yeh (1995) discloses a battery with integral mains supply connectors that slide out from the large format battery. Various other mechanical solutions appropriate for large format batteries and North American AC sockets are searchable within these patent families. Of particular note is the connector approach disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,805 by Aragon for connecting a sleeve over AC power blades on an external plug connected to a socket. Whilst a strip containing AC power slits has been used in a similar manner on previous art, the inclusion of this as a small flexible strap is perhaps the only prior art identified that proposes a method of embedding a AC power connector within the small form factor batteries such as AA and AAA that do not have space for supporting rigid AC power blades internally. However, this approach is only appropriate in combination with an external North American plug and AC mains supply so does not address the geographic issue.
Prior art also exists at the ornamental or aggregate assembly level for various portable electronic devices such as memory cards, media players, digital cameras that have methods of enclosing or reducing the impact of a connector, such as a rigid USB, by having a removable lid, sliding cover, or overall hinge mechanism. By way of example U.S. Pat. No. 6,456,500 by Chen, shows a typical memory device employing a sliding sheath and slot to enclose a projecting adapter to protect it during transportation. Similarly the more recent U.S. Pat. No. 6,808,400 by Tu discloses a specific structure for protecting the USB with a spring sliding element.
However, despite the large volume of granted patents covering various approaches for rechargeable batteries with integral connectors, either as custom devices or devices forming an existing standard format, the prior art has not addressed or presented a mechanical approach of integrating a generic USB or other computer peripheral connector into a small format battery that can form a typical battery in one configuration in which it can be used in an identical way to the standard format battery, and can form a further configuration in which the peripheral connector is exposed and deployed suitable for recharging. Furthermore, no approach has presented a mechanical method of providing a USB connector in such a manner as to be integrated within a battery assembly, either as a flexible configuration or as a rigid folding configuration or in such a manner as to form a reduced section suitable for fastening within a USB socket. Similarly no prior art examined has proposed a battery adaptor suitable for converting an AAA battery into a AA format with an integral external connector. Nor has it disclosed the approach of embedding recharging circuitry within the USB connector volume itself.

Rechargeable battery assembly having a data and power connector plug


A dosing cup having a longitudinal axis includes a base; an opening opposing the base, wherein the opening is circumscribed by a rim; and a sidewall extending from the base to the rim. The sidewall includes a first portion extending from the rim toward the base. The first portion has a projection with a dosing indicium. The projection is defined by a length extending axially along the sidewall and a width that is perpendicular to the length. The width of the projection is less than the length of the projection. The sidewall includes a second portion extending from the base toward the rim. The second portion has a recess. The projection of the first portion mates with the recess of the second portion. The first portion has a first translucency and the second portion has a second translucency, wherein the first translucency is different than the second translucency.

Detergent compositions, such as laundry or dish detergents, and including liquids, gels, and powders, are dosed into washing machines based upon the size of the load or the degree of soil on the items to be washed. Consumers often rely on dosing indicia in the interior of a lid or dosing cup to measure the proper amount of detergent composition for a given wash cycle. However, the dosing indicia on the interior of the dosing cup or lid is often difficult to see. Moreover, the consumer may be rushed or may not be particularly careful in measuring the proper dose of detergent composition. As a result, the user may not dose enough detergent composition into a wash cycle, or the user may add more detergent composition than is needed for a particular wash cycle. Consequently, the items to be washed may be insufficiently cleaned or the detergent composition may be consumed at a faster rate than necessary. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a dosing cup that allows a user to quickly and easily measure the proper dose of detergent composition.
Dosing cups having windows to view the liquid from the interior or exterior of the cup do exist. However, such windows may be formed of a separate material from the remaining dose cup, and, thus, may leak at the seams of the window. In addition, some dosing windows are so large in size relative to the size of the dosing cup as a whole and also relative to any dosing indicium on the dosing cup that it takes time for a user to focus in on the dosing indicium while measuring a dose of detergent.
Different ways to fill and measure detergent compositions into dosing cups exist. For example, some consumers may hold the dosing cup with one hand and pour the detergent composition from a container held in the opposite hand. Other users may hold the dosing cup in one hand and dispense a detergent composition from a dispensing system that is stationary on a rigid surface, such as a countertop. In these different situations, consumers may measure the desired dose of detergent composition in different ways depending upon which method the user intuitively finds more appropriate in the given situation. For example, some consumers may measure the detergent composition by viewing the interior of the dosing cup, while other consumers may measure the detergent composition by viewing the exterior of the dosing cup. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a dosing cup that allows a user to measure a dose of detergent composition from the interior and exterior of the dosing cup.
In addition, some consumers may use the dosing cup to pretreat soiled items, such as clothes. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide spreading or scrubbing elements to assist the user in pretreating soiled clothing. It may also be beneficial to provide a dosing cup that is ergonomically configured to perform multiple functions.


The present invention relates generally to a cosmetic apparatus. More particularly, the invention encompasses an accessory sleeve for a cosmetic item. The present invention is also directed to a novel lock-in cosmetic accessory sleeve. The accessory sleeve has a first opening to securely and releaseably accommodate a first cosmetic container, and a second opening to securely and releaseably accommodate a second cosmetic container. The accessory sleeve and/or the containers have at least one releaseable engagement means to securely hold each to the other. The lock-in cosmetic accessory sleeve has at least one engageable and/or constriction means to engage with and securely, and releaseably, hold a first cosmetic container at a first open end, and/or to engage with and securely, and releaseably, hold a second cosmetic container at a second open end. The constriction means could be at least one leaf spring type means.

The cosmetic industry is a vibrant industry with innovations and inventions. It is a multi-billion dollar market where every new improvement not only promotes a product but also leads to other innovations. There are numerous patents that have been obtained by the innovators of this industry, however, there are always new inventions that keep this industry moving forward.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,710,614 (Murray Dulberg), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an invention comprising a duplex rotary holder for personal use, and more particularly to a holder for personal use designed to closely unite two rotary holders, each of which being capacitated to carry an element related in use to the other.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,043,316 (Mary E. Bolser), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an invention which relates to an applicator for applying nail polish to one's fingernails. More particularly it relates to a compact applicator for dispensing a controlled amount of fluid into a brush.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,511 (Joseph E. Fattori, et al.), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an invention comprising a roll-on applicator package having a container for storing a fluid such as a perfume or lotion or an antiperspirant or deodorant composition, an elongated roller supported on stub axles near the container top for dispensing the fluid and a resilient cap having attached therein a resilient liner for sealing the container. The resilient liner is preferably an elastomeric material and has a Durometer measurement of 20-35 Shore A.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,914 (Holger Fitjer), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a device to apply cosmetic materials such as powders, pastes or similar substances by means of an applicator which is held against the surface of the cosmetic material in a storage chamber by spring pressure, it is envisioned that, in order to ensure a reliable and induced transfer of the cosmetic material to the applicator when the two housing parts are pulled apart, the pencil-like device be simple in construction, that the applicator (8) for the cosmetic material (19) be rotatably mounted within the respective housing part (1), and that, under the force of the spring (16) when the two housing parts (1 and/or 2) are separated, the rotatably mounted applicator (8) is revolved relative to the fixed storage chamber (18), while maintaining the surface contact between the applicator (8) and the cosmetic material (19) in the storage chamber (18).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,248 (Georg Ortner, et al.), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an invention comprising a perfume dispenser having a cylindrical shape similar to a pencil. A clip at the covering cap is broad and suitable for affixing advertising or jewelry, and may be slipped over the edge of a pocket, from which only the clip protrudes. The perfume dispenser has a delivery device including a pump, small sponge or a roll-on mechanism, which attaches to a glass cylinder. The covering cap is fastened by slipping it onto the perfume container, and a locking connection is provided between the cap and the perfume container. To compensate for tolerances, the covering cap can connect onto a metal mounting of the delivery device, for example, onto a screw cap. Alternatively, in a plug-in connection, the covering cap is provided with a slit in the edge region of a plug-in opening, or the covering cap may include a metal outer sleeve and an elastically deformable plastic inner sleeve. To improve seating of the cap, the inner sleeve includes ribs, which protrude inwards, extending in the longitudinal direction and having elastic properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,694 (Diane Breidenbach, et al.), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an invention comprising a perfume dispenser which is provided with a clear replaceable refill cartridge. The perfume applicator includes a metal or plastic barrel, screw on cap and disposable replaceable refill cartridge. The refill cartridge acts as the case of the unit and liquid perfume is dispensed from a snap-in spring loaded applicator, such as a roll-on applicator or an atomizer spray applicator. The disposable refill cartridge screws into the base of the barrel and a clear plug portion of refill cartridge allows viewing of the perfume level to determine when the unit is empty. The replaceable perfume cartridge preferably includes a threaded neck portion with a roller ball applicator portion therein, wherein the threaded neck portion is closed by a threaded metal cap. The replaceable perfume cartridge also preferably includes a transparent base end to provide an indication of the amount of perfume left in the cartridge, wherein further the transparent base portion is adjacent to a threaded base collar which engages a reciprocal threaded interior end of a plastic sleeve within the metal exterior barrel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,494 (Norbert Dumler, et al.), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an invention comprising a cosmetic unit comprising two different applicators each with a stem, each of the applicators dipping into a respective reservoir; each reservoir having an externally threaded neck on which to screw a coupling member; and the two reservoirs being releasably attachable to each other via a coupling sleeve by means of the coupling members which are screwed on and which simultaneously serve as a closure cap. The coupling members in the form of screw caps are non-rotarily attachable to the coupling sleeve by an axial serration and axially tightly attachable thereto by a beaded section engaging with a locking groove.
However, there is a need for improvement in the cosmetic accessories arena, and this invention improves on the deficiencies of the prior art, and provides a novel lock-in cosmetic accessory sleeve apparatus.

Lock-in cosmetic accessory sleeve apparatus having engageable and/or constriction means


The invention relates to a valve arrangement with a pressure limiting valve and a flow regulator valve, which comprises a flow regulator piston, having at least one first hydraulic resistor, distinguished in that the flow regulator valve""s (5) flow regulator piston (15) has a split pressure return surface and in that the first part (ring surface (45)) of the pressure return surface is capable of working at a pressure p1 and a second part (annulus surface (31)) of the pressure return surface is capable of working at a pressure p2.

The invention relates to a valve arrangement with pressure regulation and pressure regulation.
The pump supplies, for example, the gear system of a motor vehicle, particularly a revolutions-torque converter, and automatic or CVT gear system and/or a power steering system. The stream of liquid supplied to the consumer must be set to a certain amount. To this ends the main stage, the flow regulator valve, is used. The pressure limiting valve, which is also described as a pressure pilot, is used to set the maximum pressure of the medium supplied from the pump. It has emerged that the construction of the valve arrangement is, in many cases, costly and space-intensive. Often, different demands are made of the spatial arrangement of the pressure and suction connections of a pump containing a valve arrangement of the type discussed here. There are, for example in automatic gear system, tight spatial relations and/or there are mounting positions which are difficult to access. In addition, the connections and the main oil flow mechanism are pre-set in many cases. Moreover, in automatic gear systems, the valves are some distance away from the pump, meaning that the charging of the pump is poor, and the proportion of air in the oil is also large.
Therefore the aim of the invention is to create a valve arrangement of the type named at the beginning which does not exhibit these disadvantages.
In order to resolve this problem, a valve arrangement is proposed. The valve arrangement is characterized in that the flow regulator has a flow regulator piston with an initial hydraulic resistor which has a split pressure return surface. The first part of the surface of the pressure return surface is impacted with a pressure p1, and the second with the pressure p2. The split pressure return surface allows the mail oil flow through the flow regulator valve and also gives it a pressure limiting function, which would preferably be as a result of the pressure p2. This not only simplifies the guiding of the flow of medium, but also reduces the size of the pressure limiting valve. This means that the valve arrangement and a pump can be arranged within a single casing in confined spaces.
In order to resolve this problem, a valve arrangement is proposed which demonstrates the features named in claim 1. The valve arrangement is characterised in that the flow regulator valve has a flow regulator piston with an initial hydraulic resistor which has a split pressure return surface. The first part of the surface of the pressure return surface is impacted With a pressure p1, and the second with the pressure p2. The split pressure return surface allows the main oil flow to flow through the flow regulator valve and also gives it a pressure limiting function, which would preferably be as a result of the pressure p2. This not only simplifies the guiding of the flow of medium, but also reduces the size of the pressure limiting valve. This means that the valve arrangement and a pump can be arranged within a single casing in confined spaces.
An embodiment of the valve arrangement is preferred which is characterised in that the two parts of the surface of the pressure return surface are separated by a second hydraulic resistor, which can be arranged after the first hydraulic resistorxe2x80x94in the direction of flow and integrated into the flow regulator piston. Alternatively, the second hydraulic resistor can also be within the casing. This means that the structure is very compact and the guiding of the medium within the pump is simplified. In the preferred embodiment, the hydraulic resistors take the form of baffles.
In a particularly preferred example embodiment of the valve arrangement, the clutch mechanism takes the form of a plug which is inserted into a socket in the gear system. Preferably it is ensured that the clutch mechanism, i.e. the plug and the socket, is cylindrical in form. In particular, it is ensured that the outer diameter of the plug is chosen so that it is only very slightly less than the internal diameter of the socket, which means that the valve arrangement or the pump can be positioned particularly simply and precisely in relation to the great system.
A particularly preferred embodiment is characterised in that the sleeve surface of the cylindrical plug and/or the inner walls of the socket has/have a circular seal. This means that a seal can be achieved which is independent of the external characteristics of the housing of the valve arrangement or the pump and the housing or the flange of the gear system. There fore the seal of the connection between the valve arrangement and the gear system is independent of the size of the gap between the flange of the gear system and the housing of the valve arrangement.
The invention also relates to a pump for a gear system, particularly an automatic gear system, where the pump, a great control system, as revolutions/torque conversion unit and a valve for limiting the volume flow and/or limiting pressure and/or pressure modulation of the system pressure of the working medium of the great system are arranged within a common gear system casing. According to claim 24, the invention provides the valve allocated to the pump, specifically integrated within the casing of the pump. This is advantageous inasmuch as the particularly close arrangement between the pump and the valve allows short connections between these two components, which means that high volume flows can be supplied in the pump with a low level of loss. Oil flowing from the valve mechanism can also be used to charge the pump better, as the oil is returned directly via short routes.
For example, a flow regulator valve to limit flow volume and/or a pressure limiting or safety valve to limit pressure and/or a main pressure valve to modulate pressure can be used as the valve which is allocated to the pump. This valve or valves can also be externally influenced by an active component. What is known as a proportional valve should be mentioned specifically here, this can provide a modulated pre-control pressure for the valve, so that what is known as a pre-control circuit is formed. Alternatively, it can also be arranged so that the valve can be influenced by a magnet, a spring or any number of pressures present in the hydraulic system. This means that the line of the flow volume course can be set to be adjusted or influenced according to the operational status of the gear system.
Particularly preferred is an example embodiment of the gear pump where the valve arrangement in accordance with one or more of claims 1 to 22 is used for the valve. Alternatively or additionally, what is known as a main pressure valve can be used.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, the gear pump takes the form of a wing cell pump or a roller cell pump, which is at least one strike, i.e. has one suction chamber and one pressure chamber each. This type of wing cell pump and roller cell pump is characterised by a stroke ring which influences the inward and outward motion of the wings or rollers. At least one suction channel of the pump is adjacent to a hollow in the stroke ring, so that the cross section of the suction channel is extended. This is a simple way of ensuring that the suction resistance for the working medium is reduced, so that there are slight low pressures in the pump area.
Particularly preferred is an embodiment where the hollow is open at the edges and where the open side is arranged opposite a suction pocket which can be formed, for example, in what is known as a pressure plate. Therefore the mouth of the hollow is in a lateral surface of the stroke ring, meaning that the cross section of the suction channel in the area of the suction pocket and the hollow is increased.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, the hollow which is open at the sides has a rounded section on at least one of the areas between its mouth and its limiting walls at the sides. Preferably, the area between the mouth and a side wall which lies within the large circle of the stroke ring should be chosen. It is particularly advantageous ifxe2x80x94going from the mouth towards the side wallxe2x80x94there are two cut-out sections, so that the mouth continually climbs into the first section via an area, in order then to pass into a smaller rounded section. The transfer areas formed in accordance with the invention do not have any major influence on the stability of the stroke ring itself, as the notching effect is low here.

Valve arrangement and pump for a gear system


A semiconductor device includes a receiver system having a first set of amplifiers, a second set of amplifiers, and an automatic gain control (AGC) module to receive first high and low detection signals from a first peak detector, and receive second high and low detection signals from a second peak detector. When the first high detection signal is set, a step decrease in at least one of a first gain control signal and a second gain control signal is taken. When the first high detection signal is not set and the second high detection signal is set, a second step decrease in at least one of the first gain control signal and the second gain control signal is taken. The first gain control signal is used in the first set of amplifiers. The second gain control signal is used in the second set of amplifiers.

1. Field
This disclosure relates generally to gain control, and more specifically, to gain control of a receiver using signal peak tracking.
2. Related Art
Communication protocols have been widely adopted for providing connectivity in a number of applications, including healthcare, sports, and sensor applications. Such protocols often use a preamble sequence at the beginning of a transmission that is used to identify a valid start of the transmission. The preamble sequence indicates to a receiver that a transmission is underway.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example and is not limited by the accompanying figures, in which like references indicate similar elements, unless otherwise noted. Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale.


A groove is provided to the rear of an inner wall of a cylinder. A locking ram capable of freely sliding in a radial direction and a cam rod having a profile changing with a transition from the rear to the front from a small diameter part to a large diameter part that are provided relative to a piston. The inner end of the locking ram makes contact with the profile, and the cam rod is urged to the rear by the spring, so that the cam rod can be pushed to the front by a push rod. The piston can therefore be locked with a simple structure, and it is possible to provide a linear actuator where locking can be released with a straightforward operation even when a pressurized oil source fails.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a linear actuator capable of generating thrust in a direction from front to back. In particular, the present invention relates to a linear actuator including a mechanism for locking the motion of a piston.
2. Background of the Invention
There is a desire to mechanically lock the motion of a piston after an operation as a result of actuation by oil pressure in the event the piston is used as a linear actuator for a translation cylinder etc.
In a typical structure, the piston is mechanically locked at the time when the piston is in a prescribed position of a stroke. When it is desired to release the lock, the lock is released by introducing pressurized oil supplied to the translation cylinder so that the piston is released.
However, with the above structure, it is not possible for the locking to be released in the event that a pressurized oil supply is damaged so that oil pressure cannot be supplied. There has therefore been a demand for a linear actuator for which locking can be reliably released even in the event of the pressurized oil supply becoming damaged.


Global Position System (GPS) receiver for receiving and processing GPS signals includes cicuitry for receiving and processing Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) signals. To realize simultaneous processing of both DAB and GPS signals, the receiver is provided with a receiver front-end, a mixer stage, filter, and analog-to-digital converter coupled to digital DAB and GPS signal paths. The receiver further includes a DAB signal eliminating device for selectively eliminating DAB signals from the digital GPS signal path.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a Global Position System (GPS) receiver for receiving and processing GPS signals comprising means for receiving and processing Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a receiver is known from e.g., the article xe2x80x9cMobile Satellite Communications for Consumersxe2x80x9d by Mr. G. K. Noreen, published in Microwave Journal, November, 1991, pages 24-34. The known receiver shows the use of a DAB receiver and a GPS receiver in one receiver housing. The advantages of having both single-to-multipoint transmission capabilities and position information at hand are extensively explained therein.
However, the use of complete receivers for DAB and GPS signals in one housing is not only costly, but may also give rise to mutual interferences in the processing of the received DAB and GPS signals.
It is an object of the invention to reduce the costs of implementing such receiver while maintaining, or even improving, performance of both DAB and GPS features. Therefore, a GPS receiver for receiving and processing GPS signals comprising means for receiving and processing Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) signals, according to the invention is characterized by a receiver front end, a mixer stage, filtering means and analog-to-digital converter means being coupled to digital DAB and GPS signal paths, includes DAB signal eliminating means for selectively eliminating DAB signals from said digital GPS signal path.
The invention is based on the recognition that proper correlation of GPS signal does not necessarily require haveing the GPS signals available continuously or fully separated from DAB signals. This allows to either interrupt the processing of GPS signals during the data carrying signal segments of a DAB signal, hereinafter also referred to as non-zero DAB data segments, or to tolerate the occurrence of DAB signals in the GPS signal path of the receiver, therewith enabling to combine the processing of GPS signals with a processing of DAB signals and to use certain receiver circuitry in common for both GPS and DAB processing. By applying the above measure according to the invention certain RF circuitry may be used for both GPS and DAB signal processing, whereas, at least after digitization, GPS signal processing is fully separated from DAB signal processing. This allows for a reduction in the costs of implementation while preventing mutual interferences between the GPS and DAB signal processing from occurring.
Preferably a GPS receiver, according to the invention, is being characterized by a voltage-controlled oscillator supplying a tuneable local oscillator signal to the mixer stage, said DAB signal eliminating means comprising control means coupled to a DAB demodulator included in said DAB signal path and providing a control signal to the voltage-controlled oscillator as well as to a switching device, said switching device being coupled between the analog-to-digital converter means on, the one hand and, said control means tuning the receiver to receive GPS signals, and simultaneously controlling the switch to disconnect the filtering means from the GPS signal path and to connect the filtering means to the DAB signal path at the occurrence of non-zero level DAB data segments.
By applying this measure, the receiver is switched from a GPS reception mode to a DAB reception mode and vice versa, dependent of the occurrence of non-zero level data carrying segments, respectively, zero level NULL symbols, in the DAB signals, therewith allowing to use the complete receiver circuitry for the reception and processing of both DAB and GPS signals. This shared use of circuitry allows further reductions in the price of manufacturing.
Another embodiment of a GPS receiver according to the invention is characterized by the receiver front-end comprising mutually separated DAB and GPS receiver front-ends, respectively coupled to a DAB and GPS mixer stage, outputs of these DAB and GPS mixer stages being coupled through, respectively, a DAB and GPS filtering device to an adder, an output thereof being coupled to said DAB and GPS signal paths, said DAB and GPS mixer stages providing a frequency conversion of the DAB and GPS signals into mutually different frequency ranges.
By applying this measure, the selective elimination of DAB signals from said digital GPS signal path is obtained by a mutual separation in frequency. Non-zero DAB signals are therewith blocked from entering into the GPS signal path.
Preferably such embodiment is characterized by DAB channel selection means for selecting a DAB channel having a frequency range located beyond the frequency range of the GPS signals, said DAB channel selection means being controlled by a DAB channel selection control device.
This measure allows for a further suppression of DAB signals within the frequency range of the GPS signals while obtaining an improvement of the DAB channel selection.
Yet another preferred embodiment of a GPS receiver according to the invention, is characterized by signal replica means for regenerating received DAB signals from a decoded DAB signal, as well as compensation means for subtracting the regenerated DAB signals from the GPS signals in the GPS signal path.
This measure results in a feed-forward compensation of DAB signals in the GPS signal path, which with a proper adjustment in phase and amplitude of the DAB replica signal, allows to fully eliminate DAB signals from the GPS signal path.


An improved therapeutic spa or hot tub or the like, such as a spa or hot tub of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,951, includes at least one and preferably a plurality of vibratory mechanical massage elements incorporated into the tub wall at selected locations to provide tub users with a therapeutic vibratory massage action. The vibratory massage element or elements are used in combination with conventional hydraulic air-water spa jets to provide the spa tub with improved therapeutic effect.

This invention relates generally to improvements in therapeutic spa tubs or hot tubs and the like. More specifically, this invention relates to an improved spa tub or hot tub having one or more vibratory mechanical massage elements incorporated directly into the tub wall at one or more selected locations, to provide a therapeutic massage action which is especially effective when used in combination with conventional air-water hydrotherapy spa jets.
Therapeutic spa tubs or hot tubs and the like are generally known in the art and typically comprise an upwardly open tub structure adapted to contain a selected volume of water. Control means are normally associated with the tub structure for heating the water, and for circulating the water through air-water hydrotherapeutic massage jets. One or more persons can sit within the tub, partially immersed within the heated water, in positions so that the spa jets are directed against the body to provide a therapeutic massage action. One preferred construction for a spa or hot tub of this general type comprises resilient foam wall structures covered by a waterproof flexible liner, as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,951 which is incorporated by reference herein.


An installation aid for facilitating the installation of a faucet body of a two handle faucet to a sink deck. The aid has a frusto-conical configuration with a skirt formed of resilient circumferentially spaced apart legs extending radially outwardly downwardly from a top under a retention cap with fingers that removably attach the installation aid to an enlarged head of a spout tube extending upwardly from a central part of a faucet body having spaced valve tubes which along with the spout tube having the temporarily attached installation aid are inserted upwardly through sink deck holes from below the sink deck. The legs of the installation aid squeeze together as it is forced through the sink deck hole and spring back to a frusto-conical configuration for temporarily mounting the faucet body to the sink deck while an installer assembles attachment hardware to the valve tubes from above the sink deck without the need for the installer to hold the faucet body with one hand below the sink deck while installing attachment hardware with his other hand above the sink deck.

In installing certain faucets the faucet body is inserted through preformed holes in the sink deck from beneath the sink deck. After the body is inserted through the holes it must be supported by the installer with one hand to keep it from falling back through the holes while the base ring and attaching hardware are attached above the sink deck with the other hand. It is quite a stretch and quite difficult for the installer to hold the faucet body below the sink deck while at the same time reaching above the sink with the other hand to install the attaching hardware. This is particularly true of faucet bodies known as widespread faucet bodies in which there are a pair of spaced apart control valves, one for hot water and one for cold water, spaced on either side of a centrally located spout.
It would be very advantageous if a means could be provided which temporarily supports the faucet body in place once the body is inserted up through the holes in the sink deck and allows the installer to fasten the faucet body to the sink deck obviating the installer using one hand below the deck to support the faucet body while the other hand fastens attachment hardware to the faucet body from above the deck. The instant invention provides such a device.


The invention in some aspects relates to devices and methods for nucleating crystals under controlled conditions. In some aspects of the invention, devices and methods are provided for continuous crystallization.

In industries such as the chemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries, crystallization from solution is widely used to produce a variety of materials. In the pharmaceutical industry, for example, controlled crystallization processes are important for producing desired crystal forms and sizes that assures appropriate bioavailability and stability of the drug substance. Hence it is advantageous to control the crystallization process in order to obtain products with desired and reproducible properties. To produce small crystals with narrow size distribution, antisolvent crystallization has often been used. Traditional antisolvent crystallization systems often utilize rapid mixing of solution and antisolvent, and employ devices designed to eliminate local regions of uncontrolled supersaturation, e.g., impinging jets, tee-mixers, and static mixers. Unfortunately, these systems are often unsuitable for producing appropriate crystals for particular applications, and are limited in that they often require high supersaturation to trigger nucleation.


A parachute canopy release comprising a harness strap and a parachute riser. The parachute riser has a terminal end connected to a riser ring. The harness strap has a connector assembly comprising a ring assembly and a latch assembly. The ring assembly has a middle ring and a small ring secured to the harness strap at middle and small ring securing straps, respectively. The latch assembly has a base and a latch slide engaging the base. The middle ring is inserted through an inner diameter of the riser ring, the small ring is inserted through an inner diameter of the middle ring, and the latch slide is manipulated such that the small ring is retained intermediate said base and an interior surface of said latch slide when said parachute riser is releasably connected to said harness strap.

This disclosure is directed to an apparatus for releasably joining two lengths of material such as webbing. More particularly, the disclosure is directed to an apparatus for connecting and releasing a parachute canopy from a parachutist's harness strap.
Two-action parachute canopy release configurations are generally easier to rig than the tab and grommet configuration of conventional three-ring parachute canopy releases. Despite their easy assembly, two-action configurations may require considerable strength to release in extreme conditions. The conventional three-ring configuration uses a high mechanical advantage to reduce operating loads and thereby gain a weight advantage over two-action configurations. Since two-action configurations inherently lack the strong retention capabilities of the conventional three-ring configuration, parachute canopy release mechanisms employing the two-action configuration are heavier as they must be made of high strength steel to provide the requisite structural integrity.


An image forming apparatus includes an executing portion, which executes a first removing sequence and a second removing sequence when removing a toner image borne on an intermediate transfer member. The first removing sequence passes the toner image through a primary transfer portion, which is applied with a voltage having a same polarity as the predetermined polarity, and thereafter removing the toner image by the removing portion which forms a cleaning electric field. The second removing sequence removes the toner image by the removing portion, which forms the cleaning electric field, without passing the toner image through the primary transfer portion. A selecting portion means selects between the first removing sequence and the second removing sequence in accordance with a toner amount per unit area of the toner image borne on the intermediate transfer member at a stoppage of the intermediate transfer member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine, a printer; or a facsimile which adopts an electrophotographic printing method, and more particularly to a color image forming apparatus including an intermediate transfer member cleaning apparatus for cleaning an intermediate transfer member on which a multi-color image is formed by superimposedly transferring images formed on image bearing members.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, as an image forming apparatus that forms an image using an electrophotographic printing method, for instance, an image forming apparatus using an intermediate transfer member that first forms a multi-color image by superimposedly transferring images formed on image bearing members onto the intermediate transfer member and then transfers the multi-color image from the intermediate transfer member to a recording material has been widely used because of needs for formation of high-quality images on various kinds of paper as recording materials.
As the intermediate transfer member, an intermediate transfer belt is widely used. Also, as the intermediate transfer belt, a belt made of a resin generally represented by polyimide or the like is widely used because of its characteristics of realizing high image quality, long life span, and cleaning the intermediate transfer belt after transfer of a multi-color image onto a recording material, a blade method disclosed in JP 2001-305878 A is widely used. Considering the surface property of the resin belt and the like, the cleaning means based on the blade method has a high cleaning capability.
Meanwhile, recently, in order to further improve image quality and stabilize the cleaning capability of the cleaning means based on the blade method, for instance, diameters of developers (toner) have been reduced and shapes of the toners have been changed into nonspherical shapes.
As a result of the changes of the toner, however, with the intermediate transfer belt made of a resin, a problematic hollow characters phenomenon occurs at the time of transfer. The hollow characters phenomenon is a phenomenon in which at the time of transfer of an image, toner deformation by stress occurs due to application of a high pressure to the image and therefore a cohesive force between toners is increased and a part of the image is not transferred and remain on an image bearing member. The phenomenon occurs particularly conspicuously in the case of transferring letters, line images, and the like. In the case of the resin belt, the pressure applied to images at the time of transfer is very high, so the hollow characters phenomenon becomes particularly problematic.
Therefore, in recent years, in order to solve the hollow characters problem, an elastic intermediate transfer belt having a layer structure including at least one elastic layer has become a mainstream in place of the intermediate transfer belt formed by using a resin.
It is known that the elastic intermediate transfer belt is effective in solving the hollow characters problem because it includes, at least one elastic layer in its layer construction and therefore is soft and is capable of reducing a pressure exerted on toner at a transfer portion. It is also known that the elastic intermediate transfer belt is effective not only in improving transfer efficiency with respect to general paper but also in improving a transfer property with respect to thick paper and a transfer property with respect to paper having projections and depressions on its surface due to its superior adhesiveness with paper as a recording material at a secondary transfer portion.
However, when the blade method described above is used to clean the elastic intermediate transfer belt, a contact load of the cleaning blade with respect to the elastic intermediate transfer belt is the elastic intermediate transfer belt, the tip of the edge of the cleaning blade bites into the belt surface layer, and behavior of the tip of the edge of the cleaning blade becomes unstable, which leads to a cleaning failure. In addition, there is a fear that a problem such as a wire edge, flutter, or noise of the cleaning blade, and an inconvenience, such as a flaw in the elastic belt surface layer, or toner fusion bond will occur due to an increased frictional force between the belt and the cleaning blade, which lowers image quality.
Therefore, in recent years, in order to circumvent the inconvenience described above, an electrostatic fur brush with a less contact load with respect to the elastic intermediate transfer belt has been generally used as the cleaning means for cleaning the elastic intermediate transfer belt.
For instance, there is an electrostatic fur brush method described in JP 3236442 B with which a cylindrical member obtained by winding a conductive fiber around a metal core is abutted to a belt under a state in which a bias is applied, and a bias whose polarity is opposite to the polarity of toner is applied, thereby electrostatically attracting the toner with a fur brush and removing the toner from an image bearing member.
It is known that as compared with the blade method, with which toner is mechanically removed, the fur brush method, with which toner is electrostatically attracted and is removed from a belt, has limitations on a cleanable toner amount and toner polarity. With the electrostatic fur brush method, it is impossible to achieve the inherent effect of the fur brush unless toner is electrostatically attracted by the fur brush and then is further transferred from the fur brush using a flicker, a bias applying roller, or the like, so when the amount of toner attracted by the fur brush increases, cleaning performance deteriorates, which means that the electrostatic fur brush method is generally inferior to the blade method in terms of cleanable amount.
Also, as described above, the fur brush method is a method with which toner is cleaned through attraction by a fur brush, so only toner having a polarity that is opposite to the polarity of a bias applied to the fur brush is cleaned.
However, depending on the value of the bias applied at the time of transfer, there is a case where the polarity of transfer residual toner that remains on an intermediate transfer belt after transfer of a toner image to paper is reversed from positive to negative or from negative to positive. The transfer residual toner, whose polarity has been reversed, has the same polarity as the bias applied to the fur brush, so the toner is not attracted by the fur brush and passes through the fur brush. The toner having passed through the fur brush is superimposed on the next image, which may cause an image defect. Therefore, as disclosed in JP 2002-207403 A, two fur brushes are used as cleaning means and biases having different polarities are respectively applied to the fur brushes, thereby making it possible to attract and remove toner with the fur brushes with reliability regardless of the polarity (either positive or negative) to which the toner has been charged due to a bias applied at a secondary transfer portion, a use environment, toner degradation, and the like.
However, in the image forming apparatus described above, when a toner image on an intermediate transfer member is not appropriately transferred to a recording material due to occurrence of a paper jam, a large amount of toner remains on the intermediate transfer member. In order to remove the large amount of toner, it is required to pass the residual toner through the cleaning means multiple times, which results in the necessity to rotate the intermediate transfer member multiple times.
Consequently, when a toner image is not appropriately transferred to a recording material and remains on an intermediate transfer member, a long time is required to remove the toner from the intermediate transfer member, which leads to a problem in that the period of time for which image formation cannot be performed by an image forming apparatus increases.

Image forming apparatus featuring first and second toner removing sequence selected on the basis of a toner amount per unit area


To improve the bonding of two parts (401, 403) of a component (400) of an EUV or UV lithography apparatus such that the probability of occurrence of additional stress over time in the bonded parts (401, 403) is lessened, a component (400) of an EUV or UV lithography apparatus comprising two parts (401, 403) bonded to each other by adhesive material (405) is proposed, wherein the adhesive material (405) is coated with a protective layer (407) insulating the adhesive material (405) from the surrounding gas environment.

The present invention relates to a component of an EUV or UV lithography apparatus comprising two parts bonded to each other by adhesive material, as well as to a projection system for an EUV or UV lithography apparatus and an EUV or UV lithography apparatus comprising such a component. The present invention further relates to a method for producing such a component.
EUV lithography apparatuses, i.e. lithography apparatuses working in an extreme ultraviolet wavelength range of approximately 1 nm to 20 nm, as well as UV lithography apparatuses, i.e. lithography apparatuses working in an ultraviolet wavelength range of approximately 20 nm to 400 nm are mainly used for the production of semiconductor devices. In lithography, a mask is illuminated, and the structure of the mask is projected onto a wafer coated with photo resist.
Some parts of lithography apparatuses such as mirrors, lenses, masks and others are mounted in holders or mountings and are often bonded by using an adhesive material. It has been noticed that, depending on the environment in which the component having two adhesively bonded parts is utilized, the bonding may show deformation variations over time: When controlling the deformation of the bonded parts, especially near the bonding, over a longer lapse of time, a drift may often be observed. In particular, if one of the bonded parts is an optical element, its optical properties may be deteriorated by the stress.

Component of an EUV or UV lithography apparatus and method for producing it


An half-fitting prevention connector includes a pair of female and male connectors to be fitted and connected to each other, an elastic member disposed in a housing of one of said female and male connectors, a repulsion force of said elastic member preventing said female and male connectors from half-fitting to each other, a lock member disposed in said housing so as to be slidable in a direction of mutual fitting of said female and male connectors for locking the other one of said female and male connector in said housing on the basis of function of said elastic member; and a support mechanism for supporting said lock member so that said lock member is slidable in said housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an half-fitting prevention connector set in which not only the mutual fitting of female and male connectors is released by the repulsion force of an elastic member when the female and male connectors are left in an half-fitted state but also the female and male connectors are locked securely when they are perfectly fitted to each other.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, various connector sets are known as half-fitting prevention connector sets. For example, an half-fitting prevention connector set disclosed in JU-A-5-81967, or the like, is known.
As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, a pin-side connector 100 has a plurality of pin contacts 102 arrayed in its inside, and mount flanges 100a provided in opposite side portions. A socket-side connector 101 has a plurality of socket contacts 103 arrayed in its inside, and electric wires 103a connected to the socket contacts 103 respectively, as shown in FIG. 16.
The pin-side connector 100 has a box-like housing 104 having an opened front portion. Guide plates 105 for guiding the pin-side connector 100 to be fitted to the socket-side connector 101 are provided in the inside of the housing 104 so as to partition the inside, at the center, into upper and lower parts. As shown in FIG. 16, the pin contacts 102 are provided in the inside of the housing 104 so as to project forward from the rear portion. A notch 104e is provided in the center portion of a cover plate 104d provided on the upper portion of the housing 104. An engagement piece 106 is formed in front of the notch 104e integrally with the cover plate 104d. A front end of the engagement piece 106 is set back from the front end edge of the housing 104 and has such flexibility as to be able to be curved slightly upward. An engagement protrusion 106a is provided at an end portion of the engagement piece 106 so as to project inward.
The socket-side connector 101 has a box-like housing 107 which has such a size that the housing 107 can be fitted into the opening of the housing 104 of the pin-side connector 100. Pin holes 108 into which the pin contacts 102 are to be inserted and slots 109 into which the guide plates 105 are to be inserted are provided in the front portion of the housing 107.
The outside of the housing 107 is covered, except its front and rear portions, with a movable cover 110 so that the movable cover 110 can move back and forth. An opening portion 111 for insertion of the socket-side connector 100 is provided in the front portion of the movable cover 110. The opening portion 111 has a size which is large enough so that a pair of opposite side plates 104a, a ceiling plate 104b and a bottom plate 104c of the housing 104 of the pin-side connector 100 can be inserted into the opening portion 111. However, when the engagement protrusion 106a of the engagement piece 106 abuts on the front end surface of the housing 107 and the engagement piece 106 is bent outward, the front end of the engagement piece 106 strikes the edge of the opening portion 111 so that the opposite side plates 104a, the ceiling plate 104b and the bottom plate 104c cannot be inserted into the opening portion 111.
Spring receiving portions (not shown) are provided so as to be opposite to each other in the opposite side portions of the housing 107 and the movable cover 110. Springs 114 are disposed in the spring receiving portions respectively so as to be extended in the front-rear direction, as indicated by the dot line in FIG. 15. The movable cover 110 is normally pressed forward, that is, leftward in FIG. 15 by the spring 114 but locked by elongated holes 115 provided in the upper portion of the cover 110 and by protrusions 116 provided on the upper portion of the housing 107 and inserted in the elongated holes 115 respectively. An engagement groove 117 is provided in a top portion of the housing 107 so that the engagement protrusion 106a of the engagement piece 106 engages with the engagement groove 117 in a state of perfect connection. The engagement groove 117 is located in such a position that it is normally covered with the movable cover 110 but it is revealed when the movable cover 110 is moved backward.
When the aforementioned connectors 100 and 101 are fitted to each other, the pin contacts 102 and the socket contacts 103 touch each other as shown in FIG. 16 so that the engagement protrusion 106a engages with the engagement groove 117. In the perfect fitting state, the contracted springs 114 are restored and the engagement piece 106 is covered with the movable cover 110 so that there is no room for disengaging the engagement protrusion 106a from the engagement groove 117. Accordingly, the connection state is kept securely.
On the other hand, in an half fitting state, that is, in an improper fitting state, the engagement protrusion 106a runs onto the ceiling of the housing 107 so that the engagement piece 106 is bent upward. Accordingly, the front end of the engagement piece 106 strikes the opening edge of the movable cover 110 and the springs 114 are contracted. Accordingly, the movable cover 110 presses the engagement piece 116 on the basis of the repulsion force of the springs 114, so that the two connectors 100 and 101 are departed from each other so as not to be fitted to each other at all.
Although the aforementioned connectors can be prevented from being half-fitted to each other, the movable cover 110 is not moved so that the connectors cannot be fitted to each other if the opposite sides of the movable cover 110 are gripped to perform the fitting. Further, the engagement piece 106 is located on the housing 107 so as not to be covered with the housing 107 at the time of perfect fitting. Accordingly, there arises a problem that, when external force is applied to the movable cover 110, the engagement piece 106 may move easily so that the connectors are disconnected unexpectedry even they are in a fitting state.
To release the connectors from the fitting state, the two connectors must be disconnected from each other while the movable cover 110 is pulled in the connector fitting direction and the revealed engagement piece 106 is bent upward by a tool, or the like. This operation is difficult to be carried out by one operating person. There arises a problem in workability.