A sensor-transmitter (20) intended to be fastened to a mobile structure (11, 13, 14) and to transmit a security signal in a home automation installation (10), comprising, in a casing (22, 23): an autonomous power source (36), a vibration sensor (33), a wireless transmitter (35) and a processing logic unit (34) analyzing the signals obtained from the vibration sensor to decide whether to transmit the security signal by the wireless transmitter, which comprises means (27, 32) of detecting the mechanical state of the casing, the sensor-transmitter being:                in an operational state when the casing is closed and fastened to the mobile structure, the transmission of a security signal being enabled in this operational state, and        in a disabled state otherwise,                    the transmission of a security signal being prohibited in this disabled state, whereas the transmission of other signals remains possible, or            the transmission of a security signal being enabled in this disabled state, the security signal being disabled by a disabling signal.

The invention relates to a security sensor-transmitter positioned on a motorized mobile structure in a home or building automation installation, in particular a motorized blind or awning, to a disabling method and to a learning method for such a sensor-transmitter. The sensor-transmitter includes a wireless transmitter so as to transmit a security signal.

Security sensor-transmitter for detecting wind in a home automation installation


A positive acting photoresist composition (e.g., a monolayer dry film) which is strippable in aqueous alkaline solution comprises a photo acid generator and a UV-transparent resin binder system which allows efficient photo bleaching of the photoactive component. An acid functional cellulosic resin may be the only binder resin, an acidic acrylate resin being optional. The dry coating is flexible and may be used as an etch and plating resist.

Initially, negative acting photoresists were applied as liquids to copper substrates and radiated imagewise to form relatively insoluble material in the exposed areas and left relatively soluble material which was washed away upon treatment with a developer to reveal the copper substrate in the non-exposed areas. The copper was then etched away and the relatively insoluble material covering the remaining copper traces was stripped by a stronger solvent.
The processing of positive acting photoresists generally follows the sequence of applying a solution of the resist to a copper foil laminated to an epoxy resin base, drying and baking the resist to expel the solvent, exposing the resist to actinic radiation through a patterned photomask to define an image, dissolving the exposed portions of the resist in an alkaline developer to delineate the image, rinsing, and in some instances post-baking the imaged resist. The areas void of resist, comprised of exposed copper substrate, are then either etched or electroplated. If the exposed copper is etched, the unexposed portions of the resist which cover the remaining copper foil may then be stripped away by a more active alkaline solvent to reveal the desired pattern of copper traces. If the copper exposed during development is electroplated with gold, for example, the newly exposed in the stripping step is then removed by etching.
The early use of a laminatable, negative acting single layer film on a substrate to make a dry film photoresist is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,982. That was followed a few years later by the use of laminatable films of a positive acting compositions to make dry film photoresists as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,193,797.
Particular requirements in the positive acting photoresist art, however, have led to the use of two layer or multilayer laminatable sheets of photoresist materials in order to make dry films having improved sensitometric and physical properties.
An oleophilic, moderately flexible dry film photoresist comprising two intermixed and intertwined resin networks and a positive acting photosensitizer is described in 3M's U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,616. The first network comprises a cross-linked urethane derived from a novolac resin and a polyisocyanate compound; the second is a heat curable epoxy resin plus a curing agent therefor. The photosensitizer generates acidity in the irradiated areas.
Although, the dry film of the 3M patent is a monolayer, a later 3M patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,020, teaches that positive acting dry film photoresists having the monolayer construction could not meet the then existing commercial needs for resistance to crazing during storage, photosensitivity, and thermal dimensional stability. The solution to the problems taught by the later 3M patent is a positive acting multilayer dry film photoresist comprising at least two functional layers and, optionally, a strippable carrier layer. The first functional layer comprises an o-quinone diazide in a phenol formaldehyde resin binder which becomes more soluble in an aqueous alkaline solution upon exposure to actinic radiation. The second layer, comprising an acrylic copolymer or terpolymer and a phenol formaldehyde resin crosslinked with a polyisocyanate, is adjacent and adhered to the first layer.
The performance limitations exhibited by typical negative acting dry film photoresists include:
1. resolution limitations, limited aspect ratio; PA1 2. resist and debris related defects in the manufacture of innerlayers which lead to opens, near opens, and pits; PA1 3. resist and debris related defects in the manufacture of outerlayers which lead to short circuits, reduced spacing, and under plating; PA1 4. polyethylene coversheet required to allow for roll packaging of the photoresist composition; PA1 5. limited process latitudes (exposure, development); and PA1 6. leaching of organics during plating cycles. PA1 UV-transparent resin binder system allows for efficient photobleaching of the photoactive component, affording lower exposure doses; PA1 flexible, tack free, excellent tensile strength; PA1 does not crumble or flake when handled; PA1 does not stress crack when tightly rolled up or folded; PA1 adheres to a carrier sheet such as polyester prior to lamination; PA1 adheres to copper clad dielectric using conventional lamination techniques; PA1 the solvated resist formulation may be directly applied to copper clad dielectric and dried, thus resulting in a photosensitive laminate for which the resist coating exhibits tack-free adhesion to the substrate and flexibility; PA1 shelf-life of at least one year; PA1 variations on the resist formulation enable vacuum lamination capability; PA1 exhibits little to no odor at room temperature or when heated during lamination; also is relatively non-toxic; PA1 no cold flow or telescoping; PA1 uses conventional lamination equipment, pressures, and temperatures; PA1 uses conventional exposure equipment and light sources; PA1 conventional development equipment, chemistries, temperatures, spray pressures, concentrations, and durations used for negative photoresists may be employed; PA1 capable of on-contact patterned exposure using irradiation doses in the realm of current negative acting dry films without evolution of nitrogen during or after exposure; not sensitive to oxygen; PA1 capable of multiple exposures, e.g., exposure of unexposed areas after a plating cycle; PA1 attenuates the need for artwork compensation or biasing commonly used with negative acting dry films; PA1 exhibits one-to-one linearity with the phototool used; PA1 more tolerant to overexposure as compared to negative acting dry films, even from non-collimated light sources; PA1 straight or slightly sloped sidewalls after aqueous alkaline development attenuating the resist foot typically observed with negative acting photoresists; PA1 space growth (the inverse of line growth exhibited by the negative acting dry films) occurs only when gross off-contact exposures are performed; PA1 wide exposure latitude; less sensitive to scattered or stray light sources; PA1 excellent resolution (aspect ratio) and adhesion properties; PA1 permits circuit densification (finer etched spaces, finer conductor widths), and landless vias; PA1 minimal (<5%) unexposed film loss after aqueous alkaline development; PA1 excellent gloss and abrasion resistance after aqueous alkaline development and after acid etching; PA1 less sensitive to over development than negative acting dry film photoresists; PA1 opens, near opens, pits in the manufacture of innerlayers minimized; PA1 short circuits, reduced spacing, under plating in the manufacture of outerlayers minimized; PA1 conventional equipment, chemistries, temperatures, spray pressures, concentrations, and durations used in acid etching; PA1 conventional equipment, chemistries, temperatures, concentrations, and durations used in the electrochemical plating of metals such as copper, tin, nickel, and gold; and PA1 a lesser number of ingredients relative to typical negative acting dry film photoresist compositions, thereby lowering the standard cost and overhead required to test and stock raw materials; PA1 no leaching into chemical plating baths during plating cycles.
For most circuit board manufacturers, the use of positive acting liquid photoresists in the fabrication of printed circuit boards has been a financially difficult proposition because of the capital expenditure required to purchase, set-up and maintain an electrodeposited photoresist system, a liquid photoresist roller coater, drying oven and ancillary cleanroom.
Another performance limitation of positive acting liquid photoresists in the fabrication of printed circuit boards has been artwork tenting during on-contact patterned exposure. The transporting of panels coated on both sides with liquid resist through the drying oven requires that each panel be suspended by means of a mechanical gripping system. Thus, each panel is held in areas where resist has already been coated. As a result, liquid resist is transferred onto the conveyor mechanism itself. Over time this leads to airborne, resist debris within the confines of the drying oven. This debris then deposits on subsequently coated panels, while still wet, leading to debris laden dry resist coatings. During on-contact exposure, this embedded debris can lead to artwork tenting resulting in light scatter and defocus problems.
The slow photospeed of positive acting liquid photoresists compared to that of negative acting dry films, even when thin coatings (e.g., 0.5 mil) are applied, has been still another of their performance limitations.

High resolution positive acting dry film photoresist


The invention comprises several vehicle parameters transducers (1, 2, 3, 4) associated to respective slave circuits (10, 20, 30, 40) connected by a single, time-shared serial bus (60) with a master slave (50) which, when activated from a digital processing unit (DP), performs a communication with each one of the slave circuits, a bit frame circulating through said serial bus (60) according to a transmission protocol, without error correction, formed by a series of bit packets, each one with information from a corresponding slave circuit and separated by a short time interval, which information is stored in said master circuit (50) from where it is acquired by the (DP) through a parallel bus (70).

The present invention relates to a distributed system and to a process for acquiring remote data in packets with a communication protocol optimizing the transmission speed. These system and process are applicable in the automotive industry for quickly and effectively controlling certain operation parameters or functions in a vehicle through a single time-shared bus.
Different data processing and communications systems applied to vehicles are known in the state of the art.
European patent number 0653856, to Regie Nationale des Usines Renault, S.A., discloses a process and device for evaluating the quality of a communication network assembled in an automotive system and comprises several electronic modules connected by means of a communication bus and which emit each one of the signals in the form of frames composed of high and low binary states. A measurement is taken of the transaction time difference between said high and low binary states on each signal frame circulating in the bus for a constant tension difference representative of this transition and set by the features of the bus. Said measurement is carried out by means of one or several particular bits located outside of the frame arbitration area. A maximum time difference is sought and compared with a predefined maximum value for a configuration of the vehicle.
European patent number 0681383, to Regie Nationale des Usines Renault, S.A., discloses a process for transmitting messages between modules of a communication network connected by a bus, such that the frame emitter module defines a field in the identifier of addresses of each frame; it initializes the content of the field of the first frame to be emitted with a value known by all recipient modules; it increases the content of the field; it modulates its maximum value in each frame emission; and such that each receptor module accepts the frame after a filtering by comparison of one part of said field with a memorized model and by comparison between the identifier field of the frame and one or several indicators memorized in view of its use in the application of the module. This process is applied to a communication network assembled in an automotive vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,048, to Pioneer Electronic Corporation, discloses a data communication system assembled in a vehicle provided with at least one master unit, a plurality of slave units and a communication bus. Each one of the slave units is provided with a first recipient device for receiving communication data transmitted through the communication bus; a first assessment device to evaluate whether the first recipient device has failed in the reception of the data or not; and a first transmission device to transmit recognition data to indicate a failure in the reception of the first recipient device in case the first assessment device has assessed that a reception failure has occurred. The master unit is provided with a second transmission device to transmit communication data emitted to the slave units; a second recipient device to receive the transmitted recognition data; a second assessment device to assess whether the data corresponding to the transmitted communication data have been received by the second recipient device; and a process control device to carry out a certain process to face the failure of the first recipient device. The system is prepared for being used in a component network of an audio-visual (AV) system in the vehicle.
European patent number 0849122, by Temic Telefunken Microelectronic GMbH, discloses a process for transmitting digital data from a central unit and several control modules connected thereto such that they are suitable for the communication of control information, especially for controlling safety devices in an automobile, through a bus system. When a critical state is detected from the safety point of view, the control information contains suitable orders warning of said critical safety state, using a first transmission protocol in which the central unit emits the control information to those units corresponding to the control modules. In critical safety cases, the data transmission speed increases, activating a second transmission protocol, which does not provide any re-emission of control information, it is therefore shorter than the first protocol.
The present invention proposes a distributed system and a process for acquiring remote data in packets with a communication protocol, especially characterized by optimizing the transmission speed, being particularly applicable to the follow-up and control of the values of signals provided by a series of transducer devices distributed in different parts of an automotive vehicle, and which follow different analog or digital variables. These variables can correspond to vehicle operation parameters or functions, such as tire pressure and temperature, engine lubricating oil pressure and temperature, battery charge and voltage level, temperatures in different elements or areas of the vehicle, status of switches, ABS equipment, stereo equipment, speech or sound emission signals with the possibility of echo canceling, etc.
The system of the present invention comprises a digital processing unit associated to a combined master or main circuit and slave or subordinate circuits system, both provided with digital processors, connected to each other through a single, time-shared communications serial bus. Each one of said slave circuits is associated to a transceiver device. The master circuit is provided to perform, upon petition of an activation by said digital processing unit, a repetitive or non-repetitive communication with each one of the slave circuits, during which communication a bit frame circulates through said time-shared serial bus according to a transmission protocol formed by a series of bits packets separated by a short time interval.
Each one of said packets associated to a corresponding slave circuit comprises:
a start bit, which has a longer duration or length than the data bits, so that they can be fully identified; a delay/synchronism bit for the frames going from master to slave; one or more (according to the number of slave devices present in the system) address bits indicating the slave device to be consulted; and several data bits containing information sent to/or coming from each slave device.
The information from the slave circuits is stored in said master circuit in arrayed entries containing said data bits, which are susceptible to be acquired sequentially by the digital processing unit through a parallel bus and upon the petition of a reading order from said digital processing unit, while the repetitive master circuit communication with the slave circuit continues for carrying out a new consultation cycle. In turn, the digital processing unit is linked to a bus of the vehicle, such as a CAN or other type of bus.
An essential feature of the present invention is that, in order to maximally increase the data acquisition and processing speed, the protocol does not incorporate any transmission/reception error correction routine, although it preferably includes an error detection bit, therefore the system simply skips over the detected errors, going on to the reading of the following data packet. In other words, the system gives priority to the acquisition of a new data packet from a certain slave circuit over the integral (or corrected) recovery of a preceding data packet which has undergone an error in the transmission/reception thereof. This is possible due to the high transmission frequency in the data packet flow, such that the unexpected loss of one of them is not a significant disturbance for controlling the parameter involved.
The system uses the Manchester format to encode each bit of the bit packets. In each bit packet, the length of said start bit is at least two times the length of each one of the data bits of the packet, whereas the delay/synchronism bit length is at least 1.5 times the length of one of said data bits. The start bit is provided for generating a reinitialization of all the slave circuits. Preferably, each bit packet further includes an additional protocol error detection bit in the last place of the data field or address field. Each bit packet optionally contains, in addition to the address bit or bits, data bits sent to the slave device, being transmitted such that they are univocally recognized by the slave device.
The system only admits digital form signals, therefore, when one of said transducer devices provides an analog signal, as is the case, for example, in a fuel tank level transducer, the transducer is then associated to an analog/digital converter connected to the corresponding slave circuit.

Distributed system and method for the remote acquisition of data in packets with a communication protocol which optimizes the transmission speed


A liquid crystal display (LCD) and a display device are disclosed. The LCD is provided with a plurality of pixel units; each pixel unit includes a plurality of sub-pixel units for displaying different colors; quantum dot (QD) layers capable of allowing backlight to run through are disposed at positions of an array substrate, corresponding to the sub-pixel units of at least one color of the pixel units; the QD layers are excited by ultraviolet light in sunlight and emit light which at least is of the color of the sub-pixel units; and color filters are disposed between the QD layers and the opposing substrate. The LCD has enhanced display brightness and higher outdoor viewability in the case of outdoor display.

Quantum dots (QDs), also referred to as nanocrystals, are nanoparticles composed of group II-VI element or group III-V element. The particle size of the QDs is generally between 1 and 20 nm. As electrons and holes are subjected to quantum confinement, continuous energy band structures are converted into discrete energy level structures, and hence the QDs can emit fluorescent light after excitation.
The emission spectrum of QDs may be controlled by the variation of the size of QDs. The emission spectrum of QDs may cover the entire visible light spectrum by the variation of the size and the chemical composition of QDs. Taking CdTe QDs as an example, when the particle size of the QDs is increased from 2.5 nm to 4.0 nm, the emission wavelength of the QDs can be changed from 510 nm to 660 nm.
Currently, the QDs may be used as molecular probes and applied to fluorescent labels and also may be applied to display devices by means of the emission characteristic of the QDs. When monochromatic QDs are used for a light source of a backlight module of an LCD, the monochromatic QDs are excited by a blue-light light-emitting diode (LED) and emit white ambient light formed by the mixture of monochromatic light and blue light. The resultant light has a larger color gamut, so that the image quality can be improved.
A current LCD has relatively low display brightness in the situation of intense outdoor light when applied to outdoor display, and hence the viewing effect can be affected. In general, the transflective display mode can be adopted to brighten the LCD. However, the aperture ratio of pixel units in the LCD can be reduced when the transflective display mode is adopted.

Liquid crystal display and display device

BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A container has a body with an opening for holding a fluid such as water. A plurality of substantially parallel fins extend from an opening toward an opposite end of the container defining parallel channels. When a fluid is dispersed from the opening of the container, the fluid is dispersed evenly across the opening in a coaxial direction to the fins.

Many different containers are used to hold and dispense liquids or fluids. Some containers have handles for grasping the container and spouts for controlled pouring of the contents from the container. Examples of such containers include pitchers such as ones for dispensing beverages into a glass or cup. Beverage pitchers are well-suited for dispensing a liquid into a glass as these containers focus the flow of the beverage to a relatively narrow stream.
Conventional containers such as pitchers are not well-suited to dispense a broad, wide flow of liquid. Typically, the spout or edge of the pitcher's mouth will concentrate the liquid in a narrow stream and thus not provide a broad flow of fluid. Therefore, conventional pitchers are not well-suited for use to rinse shampoo or soap when giving an infant a bath. Likewise, conventional pitchers are not ideal for rinsing soap or shampoo from your pet during its bath.
One recent pitcher in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/045229 has a flexible panel with a broad bottom surface shown in its FIG. 7. The pitcher dispenses water over a broader area. The publication describes various forms including one in its FIG. 8 in which bottom interior surface has ridges 52 for concentrating the flow of a liquid to the center.
What is needed in the art is an improved container for rinsing an infant which more evenly dispenses liquid from the container over a wider area.


A method of encoding a communication signal by selecting a cyclic code, establishing a generator polynomial, generating a polynomial using the generator polynomial, forming a matrix from the generated polynomial, receiving data to be encoded, appending zeros to the received data, calculating a syndrome of the matrix, calculating check values from the syndrome, appending the check values to the received data, and encoding the received data with appended check values using the generator polynomial.

When messages are transmitted over a communication network, errors in transmission may occur. To detect and correct these errors, each transmitted message is modified, adding a pre-determined error-correcting scheme to the message. After the message is received, the message must be decoded.
Common types of codes used include block codes, such as Reed-Solomon and Bose Chaudhuri Hocquenghem (BCH) codes. BCH codes are a commonly used multi-level cyclic variable length code used in error correction schemes.
The encoded message is normally grouped by codeword. A codeword is generally comprised of n symbols, further comprising k information symbols, which results in n−k redundant symbols. For BCH codes, n=2m−1, and k≧n−mt. To correct for t bits, mt bits of redundancy are needed.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/976,731, entitled "LOW COMPLEXITY AND LOW POWER FEC SUPPORTING HIGH SPEED PARALLEL DECODING OF SYNDROME-BASED FEC CODES," discloses a method of reducing power consumption and complexity when performing forward error correction by using parallel decoding techniques. The present invention is not designed to process error codes using parallel decoding techniques. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/976,731 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/092,407, entitled "SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD, SIGNAL PROCESSING SYSTEM, PROGRAM FOR SIGNAL PROCESSING, AND COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM ON WHICH THIS PROGRAM IS RECORDED," discloses a signal processing method for processing 40 Gbps or higher communication signals. The method calculates a Yule-Walker equation that has elements of a Galois field, and solves the equation using Jacobi's formula to obtain symmetric matrices. The number of errors is determined to be the maximum matrix size that corresponds to the non-zero solution. The method then determines if the number of errors equals the number of correctable errors. The present invention does not determine the number of errors and decide if the number of errors is correctable. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/092,407 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/202,252, entitled "EFFICIENT DECODING OF PRODUCT CODES," discloses a decoding system that generates test pattern syndrome and subsequent test pattern syndromes using a recursive function of the syndromes previously generated. The present invention does not generate syndromes using a recursive function of the syndromes previously generated. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/202,252 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/301,769, entitled "ERROR CORRECTION IMPROVEMENT FOR CONCATENATED CODES," discloses a multiple dimension codeword. Decoding is performed in multiple passes for each dimension, wherein the corrected data of the previous pass used as an input to subsequent passes. The present invention does not encode data in multiple dimensions. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/301,769 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. patent application No. 11/543,282, entitled "METHOD OF DECODING SIGNALS HAVING BINARY BCH CODES," discloses a method of correcting a communication signal with BCH product codes. The method comprises the steps of receiving a codeword vector, establishing a generator polynomial, establishing a check polynomial, calculating a binary-matrix, and calculating the binary syndrome S=Hrt. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/543,282 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
Known non-patent publications include:
Error Control Coding, Fundamentals and Applications, Chapter 6: Binary BCH Codes, Shu Lin and Daniel J. Costello, Jr., Pearson Prentice Hall, second edition, pp. 194-195, 224-225, 2004; and
A Simple Decoding of BCH Codes over GF(2m), Keiichiro Kogo, IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 46, no. 6, June 1998.

Method of encoding signals with binary codes

The United States of America as represented by the Director, National Security Agency


A steel ball machining apparatus comprises a ball machining mechanism having a pair of machining plates which are adapted to oppose and rotate relative to each other, a steel ball storing vessel for supplying to and receiving from said polishing mechanism steel balls, a steel ball supply path provided between said machining mechanism and said steel ball storing vessel, a steel ball discharge path provided between said machining mechanism and said steel ball storing vessel adapted to discharge said steel balls to said vessel, and a set of parallel bars provided in at least one of said steel supply path and steel ball discharge path so as to eliminate foreign matter.

Steel balls used in ball bearings, etc., are first made from wire materials into roughly spherical blanks having flashes. Then, they are subjected to flashing process to remove such flashes, heat treatment to impart the required strength and durability to the balls, grinding process thereafter, and lapping process to finish the balls with high accuracy after the grinding process.
FIG. 7 illustrates a steel ball machining apparatus 70 of prior art used in the above-mentioned flashing, grinding, and lapping processes. The apparatus 70 comprises a machining mechanism 76 having a rotary plate 72 and a stationary plate 74, and a conveyor 80 having a vessel 82 for supplying steel balls 78 between the rotary plate 72 and the stationary plate 74 and receiving steel balls 78 therefrom. The conveyor may be either a rotor conveyor type, a water propeller type or a bucket elevator type. In the flashing process, the rotary plate 72 and the stationary plate 74 have the respective ball grooves (not shown); and are axially pressed together with the balls held therebetween. In the grinding and lapping processes, balls are fed between the rotary plate 72 and the stationary plate 74 with a grinding fluid, the surface plate 74 having V- or R-shaped grooves and the rotary plate 72 having ball grooves with a predetermined depth.
The steel balls 78 supplied by the conveyor 80 are held between the rotary plate 72 and the stationary plate 74 and processed while rolling along the grooves. After making almost a round held between the rotary plate 72 and the stationary plate 74, the balls 78 are discharged to the conveyor 80. The balls 78 circulate through the machining mechanism 76 and the conveyor 80 until the predetermined dimensional accuracy is attained.
The flashing process is mainly to remove flashes. Most of the flashes will fall from the space between the rotary plate 72 and the stationary plate 74 along with the grinding fluid. However, some of them in fact are returned to the conveyor 80 and are fed into the machining mechanism 76. Consequently, it is possible that the flashes will damage the ball grooves of the rotary plate 72 and the stationary plate 74. In addition, it is also possible that wire materials which failed proper machining during the initial forming process are mixed with the balls and fed to the machining mechanism 76 damaging the grooves of the rotary plate 72 and the stationary plate 74.
In the grinding and lapping processes, a grinding wheel is utilized as the rotary plate 72. When steel balls 78 are fed to the machining mechanism 76, the grinding wheel oftentimes breaks off. Such chips of a grinding wheel will also fall from the space between the rotary plate 72 and the stationary plate 74 along with the grinding fluid. But, some of them are accidentally fed by the conveyor 80 to the machining mechanism 76 damaging the ball grooves of the rotary plate 72 and the stationary plate 74. Furthermore, in case balls having flaws or cracks are fed into the machining mechanism 76, they will also give rise to the possibility of a similar damage.
Thus, the object of the present invention is in the first place to provide a steel ball machining apparatus which is capable of removing foreign matter which are apt to accidentally mix with the processed steel balls.
Secondly, the object of the present invention is to provide a steel ball machining apparatus which is capable of protecting the ball grooves in the rotary plate and the stationary plate by eliminating foreign matter.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a steel ball machining apparatus which is capable of guaranteeing a predetermined level of quality of the finished steel balls by protecting the ball grooves of the machining plates as mentioned above.

Steel ball machining apparatus capable of eliminating foreign matter

Tsubakimoto Precision Products Co., Ltd.


A cylinder identifying apparatus for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine can generate an exact reference position signal at an earliest possible time during engine start-up operation, thereby making it possible to identify predetermined reference positions of each cylinder in a highly accurate manner. A first signal generator 1 is provided on a camshaft for generating a cylinder identifying signal SC in synchronization with the rotation of the camshaft. A second signal generator 4 is provided on a crankshaft for generating, in synchronization with the rotation of the crankshaft, a pulse signal P containing a series of pulses each corresponding to predetermined first and second crank positions of each cylinder. A reference position signal generating circuit 2 generates, based on the output signals from the first and second signal generators, a reference position signal ST containing a series of pulses each exactly indicating the predetermined crank position of each cylinder and a cylinder identifying information signal indicative of the cylinder corresponding to each pulse of the reference position signal.

The present invention relates to a cylinder identifying apparatus for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine which can identify reference positions of each cylinder in a highly accurate manner.
In general, in a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine having a crankshaft driven by a plurality of cylinders and a camshaft operatively connected with the crankshaft, a plurality of reference position signals, which are generated by a reference signal generator in synchronism with the rotation of the crankshaft, are used for controlling engine operation such as ignition timing and fuel injection timing for each cylinder. Each of the reference position signals corresponds to a predetermined rotational angle of the crankshaft, which is hereinafter referred to as a predetermined crank angle or position. The reference signal generator is generally mounted on the crankshaft or the camshaft which is operatively connected with the crankshaft in synchronized rotation therewith.
FIG. 8 illustrates a typical example of a conventional cylinder identifying apparatus for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine. The apparatus illustrated includes a first or cylinder identifying signal generator 201 mounted on an unillustrated camshaft, which is operatively connected to an unillustrated crankshaft of the engine for synchronized rotation therewith, for generating a cylinder identifying signal SC", and a second or reference signal generator 202 mounted on the camshaft for generating a reference position signal ST' indicative of two predetermined reference positions corresponding to two predetermined crank angles. The cylinder identifying signal SC" from the first signal generator 201 and the reference signal ST' from the second signal generator 202 are supplied through a first and a second interface 203, 204, respectively, to a control unit in the form of a microcomputer 205 which identifies reference positions for each cylinder based on these signals to thereby control the ignition timing for each cylinder.
Generally, the camshaft, on which the cylinder identifying signal generator 201 and the reference signal generator 202 are mounted, is operatively connected with the crankshaft such that it performs one complete revolution per two revolutions of the crankshaft.
As shown in FIG. 9, the cylinder identifying signal generator 201 generates a cylinder identifying signal SC" comprising an appropriate number of pulses each corresponding to a specific cylinder per one camshaft revolution, and the reference signal generator 202 generates a reference position signal ST' comprising a plurality of reference pulses each corresponding to predetermined reference crank positions of a corresponding cylinder. For example, these signal generators 201, 202 may be constructed as follows. A rotating disk is mounted on the camshaft for integral rotation therewith and has a plurality of first and second arcuate slits formed therethrough. The first slits correspond in number to the cylinders and are disposed around the center of rotation of the disk at equal circumferential intervals. Each of the first slits has a leading edge and a trailing edge corresponding to two predetermined reference crank positions or angles for a corresponding cylinder. Each of the second slits corresponds to a specific cylinder. The first and second slits during the rotation of the disk are sensed by an appropriate sensing means such as a photocoupler which generates a cylinder identifying signal each time it senses one of the second slits, and a reference position signal each time it senses one of the first slits.
FIG. 9 is a waveform diagram showing the waveforms of the cylinder identifying signal SC" and of the reference position signal ST', which are adapted for use with an engine having four cylinders #1 through #4. Here, the cylinder identifying signal SC" includes two kinds of rectangular-shaped pulses generated for two specific cylinders, cylinder #1 and cylinder #4. The reference position signal ST' includes a series of rectangular-shaped pulses each having a leading or rising edge corresponding to a second reference position of a corresponding cylinder, e.g., 75 degrees (B75.degree.) before top dead center (BTDC), and a trailing or falling edge corresponding to a first reference position thereof, e.g., 5 degrees (B5.degree.) BTDC.
The operation of the above-mentioned conventional apparatus will now be described below while referring to the waveform diagram of FIG. 9. As the engine starts to operate, the first and second signal generators 201, 202 generate a cylinder identifying signal SC" and a reference position signal ST' which are fed to the microcomputer 205. Based on these signals SC" and ST', the microcomputer 205 senses the first reference position B5.degree. and the second reference position B75.degree. of each cylinder and controls the optimum ignition timing and the optimum fuel injection timing for each cylinder in a timer-controlled manner on the basis of the first and second reference positions thus sensed while reflecting the running conditions of the engine such as the rotational number (rpm), the engine load, etc.
In this case, however, since the camshaft is operatively connected with the crankshaft through a power transmission belt such as a timing belt, it is extremely difficult to always ensure that the camshaft rotates in exact synchronization with the rotation of the crankshaft. As a result, the reference position signal ST' may involve a certain degree of error and thus does not exactly reflect or indicate the predetermined crank positions.
In summary, with the conventional cylinder identifying apparatus as described above, the first and second reference positions B5.degree., B75.degree., which are detected or determined based on the reference position signal ST' from the reference signal generator 2 mounted on the camshaft, involve more or less errors, so it is impossible to perform highly precise control on the engine using the first and second reference positions.

Cylinder identifying apparatus for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine


A snubber for tension members such as drive chains and drive belts includes a spindle having an upstanding wall at one end and a recess at the opposite end. A compressed spring is carried on the spindle and is retained thereon in its compressed state by a split ring received in the recess. The snubber can be used with tension members associated with garage door openers, for example.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to mountings for members loaded in tension, and in particular to the mounting of flexible drive members such as belts or chains.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many devices in use today include a tension member, either rigid or flexible, which is subjected to intermittent loads. One example of a rigid tension member is given in U.S. Pat. No. 3,306,121 which describes a screw shaft which has an end secured to an alternator mounting on an internal combustion engine, and driven by a fan belt. A coil spring disposed about the screw shaft maintains a spring tension on the fan belt. The spring is backed by a stationary mounting bracket mounted to the engine. The screw shaft is free to move through the mounting bracket to allow the spring to work against forces applied to the fan belt.
However, many systems employ flexible tensile members such as ropes and cables. U.S. Pat. No. 916,081 discloses an arrangement for applying a static tension to a flexible tension member. The tension member is passed through a mounting bracket and is connected to a hollow shaft with external threads, which also passes through the mounting bracket. On the upstream side of the bracket, a spring is held captive between the bracket and a free end of the hollow tube. A threaded nut advances the hollow tube so as to vary the spring tension applied to the tension member.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,290,964 discloses a resilient cable support in which a cable is attached to a hook, with the body of the hook being passed through a rigid support. The body of the hook is threaded to receive a threaded fastener. A spring is held captive between the threaded fastener and the mounting. By advancing the threaded fastener along the hook body, the spring tension is adjusted, which in turn adjusts the tension in the cable.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,128,030 discloses a tightener for supplying a tension to a cable. A hollow enclosure has opposed open and closed ends. A threaded attachment member extends from the closed end for securement to a stationary support. A shaft is inserted through the open end of the housing to have a first portion disposed within the housing and a second portion disposed outside of the housing. A coil spring is slid over a first portion of the shaft and is held captive thereon by an enlarged end of the shaft. The second portion of the shaft, extending outside of the housing, is connected to a cable. The coil spring acts to withdraw the second portion of the shaft into the hollow body. Initially, the second portion of the shaft is pulled outside of the hollow body to store energy in the coil spring, and a pin is inserted in the second portion of the shaft to prevent retraction into the hollow body. After the device is installed between a rigid support and a cable, the pin is removed to allow a slight expansion of the spring and a resulting tensioning of the cable. In order to assemble the device, the hollow body must be made of several components, herein three components, a part resembling a pipe nipple, and a pair of threaded end caps to be fitted to the pipe nipple, one having a central opening through which the second portion of the shaft is inserted, prior to assembly. The device is generally unsuitable for use with tension members having a threaded shaft at the end to be secured, and the device is costly to fabricate.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,109,213 discloses an automatic tension release device for cords which contract when wet. A cord is passed through a cylindrical barrel having an arrangement resembling a ball bearing race at one end. The bearing balls engage the cord, preventing movement relative to the cylinder. The cylinder is inserted in a conical housing which presses the bearing balls against the cord. The conical tube is secured with a bail to a stationary support. A second cord extends between the cylinder and the stationary support. The second cord is of a design to shrink faster than the cord whose tension is being controlled. When the second cord is wetted, it contracts to move the cylinder relative to the conical tube, thus allowing the bearing balls to move away from the cord being controlled, thus releasing tension on the cord.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,343,858 describes a resilient link in which a generally cylindrical housing has a closed end for attachment to a tension member, and an opposing open end having a central bore and a radially directed slot extending from the central bore. The housing has a side portion removed, forming an opening which extends to the slot and the central bore, thus forming a continuous passageway. A shaft having a first, enlarged end and a second free end is inserted through the passageway of the housing with the shaft aligned with the central bore of the housing. A coil spring and a disk-like wall are slid over the second end of the shaft with the disk-like wall compressing the spring against the enlarged, first end of the shaft. A removable pin holds the disk-like wall in position, storing energy in the coil spring. The shaft assembly is then inserted in the passageway of the housing, with the spring, disk-like wall and enlarged end of the shaft received in the body of the housing, and the second, free end of the shaft extending through the bore at the open end of the housing. The removable pin is accessible through the open side of the housing, so as to be removable once the resilient link is installed in a system. No other adjustment is provided in the resilient link, except for the provision of allowing the spring to expand once the pin is removed. The device is of a complicated construction and expensive to fabricate.
A need has existed for an improved snubber device for tensile members, particularly flexible tensile members. For example, improved mounting devices have been sought for garage door openers having a drive chain or drive belt coupled to a trolley providing attachment to a garage door. Heretofore, certain garage door opener types have had drive members provided with free ends, which are mounted to spaced portions of the trolley. One free end of the drive member is provided with a threaded shaft, which is inserted through a mounting wall on the trolley. By manipulating nut fasteners mated to the threaded shaft, the threaded shaft can be moved relative to the trolley mounting wall, thereby adjusting the tension on the drive member. Snubber devices have been sought for use with the above-mentioned types of garage door openers and similar mounting systems for tension members. However, in many applications, such snubber devices must be both economical to fabricate and quickly installed without difficulty, so as to be commercially attractive in competitive markets.


An information reproduction device capable of a more appropriate frequency monitoring of a read clock, as compared to conventional devices, is realized. By providing the information reproduction device with a frequency difference detection means which detects a difference in frequencies between a read clock, obtained by applying PLL to a reproduction signal read from a recording medium, and a reference clock; an information processing means which performs signal processing on the reproduction signal and outputs a processing status information indicating whether or not the information processing is performed normally; and a frequency monitoring means which monitors whether or not the frequency of the read clock is normal based on the frequency difference and the processing status information; wherein the frequency monitoring means makes a transition to an OK status which indicates that the frequency of the read clock is normal when the processing status information is indicating a normal status; and makes a transition to a NG status which indicates that the frequency of the read clock is abnormal when the processing status information is indicating an abnormal status and the difference of the frequencies exceeds a first threshold; and returns to an OK status when the difference of the frequencies is below a second threshold during the NG status.

Conventionally, during recording, disk drive devices write data onto an optical disk based on a reference clock (i.e. write clock) which has a predetermined frequency. Disk drive devices are configured so as to generate, during reproduction, using a PLL (Phase Locked Loop), a read clock corresponding to a reproduction RF signal read from the optical disk, and demodulate data by performing signal processing based on the read clock. (For instance, refer to Patent Document 1).
Therefore, in order to have a disk drive device correctly demodulate data, it is required that the frequency of the read clock match the frequency of the write clock. However, a reproduction RF signal may be corrupted due to various causes such as failures or defects of the optical disk, or impact caused to the disk drive device and the like, which make it impossible to perform accurate PLL on the reproduction RF signal, which in turn may cause fluctuations of the frequency of the read clock. In this case, the frequency of the read clock deviates from the frequency of the write clock, and data cannot be normally reproduced.
Thus, disk drive devices are configured so that the frequency difference between a write clock and a read clock is monitored upon reproduction, and when the frequency difference exceeds a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the frequency of the read clock is inappropriate due to some error, and normalization of data reproduction is attempted by executing a retry operation or changing operation modes.
One of the methods of such monitoring of the frequency of the read clock involves monitoring the state of consistency of a pulse based on an edge of an N-divider signal of the write clock and a pulse based on an edge of an N-divider signal of the read clock, and when discrepancies between the two pulses continue for a predetermined number of times, the frequency of the read clock is deemed to be inappropriate and a transition is made to a read clock NG status, (hereinafter simply referred to as a "NG status"), and when matches between the two pulses continue for a predetermined number of times during a NG status, the frequency of the read clock is deemed to have returned to an appropriate condition, and the status is returned to a read clock OK status (hereinafter simply referred to as an "OK status").
Another method of monitoring the frequency of the read clock involves monitoring whether an edge of an N-divider signal of the write clock is within a detection window based on an edge of an N-divider signal of the write clock, and when a condition where the edge is not within the detection window continues for a predetermined number of times a transition is made to a NG status, and when a condition where the edge is within the detection window continues for a predetermined number of times during the NG status, the status is returned to an OK status.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-201268.
However, in actuality, there are cases when data is normally processed by circuits in subsequent stages even when the frequency of a read clock deviates and a NG status is determined. For instance, when a temporary deviation of the frequency of a read clock occurs due to causes such as a defective portion of an optical disk being read, a NG status may be determined even though a decoder circuit continues to stably detect a frame sync and there is a possibility that a normal decoding will be performed (excessive NG determination), thereby giving rise to a problem wherein a meaningless retry operation is commenced.
In addition, there was a problem at the disk drive device where, in the event that a reproduction RF signal is corrupted due to causes such as a unrecorded portion of an optical disk being read, in turn causing a PLL to become extremely unstable and the read clock to become temporarily extremely quickened, an edge of the read clock enters each detection window despite the fact that there is a major discrepancy between the frequencies of the read clock and the write clock, and an erroneous determination of an OK status is temporarily made, in turn causing the status to fluctuate between OK statuses and NG statuses within a short period of time (destabilization of status determination), and a stable reproduction operation becomes impossible.

Information reproduction device and read clock monitoring method


A main magnetic pole includes a first part extending from a medium facing surface to a point at a predetermined distance from the medium facing surface, and a second part other than the first part. An accommodation part for accommodating the main magnetic pole includes: a first layer having a groove; a second layer lying between the first layer and the main magnetic pole in the first layer's groove; and a third layer interposed in part between the second layer and the main magnetic pole in the first layer's groove. The second layer is formed of a metal material different from a material used to form the first layer. The third layer is formed of an inorganic insulating material. The second and third layers lie between the first layer and the first part. The second layer lies between the bottom of the first layer's groove and the second part, but the third layer does not. The distance between the bottom of the first layer's groove and the second part is smaller than that between the bottom and the first part.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording that is used for recording data on a recording medium by means of a perpendicular magnetic recording system, a method of manufacturing the same, and a head assembly and a magnetic recording device each of which includes the magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, magnetic recording devices such as a magnetic disk drive have been improved in recording density, and magnetic heads and magnetic recording media of improved performance have been demanded accordingly. The recording systems of magnetic recording devices include a longitudinal magnetic recording system wherein signals are magnetized in a direction along the plane of the recording medium (the longitudinal direction) and a perpendicular magnetic recording system wherein signals are magnetized in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the recording medium. As compared with the longitudinal magnetic recording system, the perpendicular magnetic recording system is harder to be affected by thermal fluctuation of the recording medium and capable of providing higher linear recording density.
Magnetic heads for perpendicular magnetic recording typically have, as do magnetic heads for longitudinal magnetic recording, a structure in which a reproducing head including a magnetoresistive element (hereinafter, also referred to as an MR element) for reading and a recording head including an induction-type electromagnetic transducer for writing are stacked on a substrate. The recording head includes a main magnetic pole that produces a magnetic field in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the recording medium. The main magnetic pole includes, for example, a track width defining portion having an end located in a medium facing surface that faces the recording medium, and a wide portion that is coupled to the other end of the track width defining portion and is greater in width than the track width defining portion. The track width defining portion has a nearly uniform width.
What is required of the recording head for achieving higher recording density is reduction in track width and improvement in recording characteristics, in particular. Reducing the track width leads to degradation of the recording characteristics, such as overwrite property which is a parameter indicating an overwriting capability. A further improvement in recording characteristics is therefore required as the track width is reduced.
A magnetic head for use in a magnetic disk drive is typically provided in a slider. The slider has the medium facing surface mentioned above. The medium facing surface has an air-inflow-side end and an air-outflow-side end. The slider is configured to slightly fly over the surface of the recording medium by means of an airflow that comes from the air-inflow-side end into the space between the medium facing surface and the recording medium. The magnetic head is typically disposed near the air-outflow-side end of the medium facing surface of the slider. In a magnetic disk drive, positioning of the magnetic head is performed by a rotary actuator, for example. In this case, the magnetic head moves over the recording medium along a circular orbit about the center of rotation of the rotary actuator. In such a magnetic disk drive, a tilt of the magnetic head with respect to the tangent of the circular track, which is called a skew, occurs according to the position of the magnetic head across the tracks.
In a magnetic disk drive of the perpendicular magnetic recording system, in particular, which exhibits a better capability of writing on a recording medium compared with the longitudinal magnetic recording system, the skew mentioned above can cause a phenomenon called adjacent track erase or wide-range adjacent track erase, that is, the phenomenon that signals already recorded on one or more tracks that are adjacent to a track targeted for recording are erased or attenuated when recording a signal on the track targeted for recording. Suppression of the adjacent track erase or wide-range adjacent track erase is required in order to achieve a higher recording density.
In order for a magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording to achieve reduction in track width and improvement in overwrite property at the same time, it is effective to increase the thickness of the main magnetic pole so as to increase the area of the cross section of the main magnetic pole perpendicular to the direction of flow of the magnetic flux. If the entire main magnetic pole is increased in thickness, however, the adjacent track erase or wide-range adjacent track erase becomes more likely to occur. This makes it difficult to increase the recording density.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0239567 A1 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0002884 A1 each describe a main magnetic pole that is configured to have a first part that extends from the medium facing surface to a point at a predetermined distance from the medium facing surface, and a second part that is other than the first part. The main magnetic pole changes in at least either one of width and thickness at the boundary between the first part and the second part so that the second part has a larger cross-sectional area than that of the first part. The main magnetic pole of such a configuration allows the suppression of adjacent track erase or wide-range adjacent track erase, and at the same time allows the improvement of overwrite property.
In general, there is a trade-off between the suppression of adjacent track erase or wide-range adjacent track erase and the improvement of overwrite property. If the main magnetic pole is configured to have the foregoing first and second parts, the shape of the main magnetic pole affects both the adjacent track erase or wide-range adjacent track erase and the overwrite property. More specifically, if the cross-sectional area of the second part increases too much as compared with that of the first part, the overwrite property can be improved but the adjacent track erase or wide-range adjacent track erase is more likely to occur. If, on the other hand, the cross-sectional area of the second part increases too little as compared with that of the first part, the adjacent track erase or wide-range adjacent track erase can be suppressed but the overwrite property cannot be improved. To achieve the suppression of adjacent track erase or wide-range adjacent track erase and the improvement of overwrite property at the same time, it is therefore necessary to precisely control the shape of the main magnetic pole.
It has conventionally been difficult, however, to precisely control the shape of the main magnetic pole when the main magnetic pole is configured to have the foregoing first and second parts.

Magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording and method of manufacturing same


An electronic apparatus and a heat dissipation plate are provided. The electronic device includes a frame or a housing, at least one heat generating unit and a heat pipe, wherein the heat dissipation plate includes the frame and the heat pipe. The heat pipe is disposed on the frame or the housing. An orthogonal projection of the heat pipe on the frame or on the housing is partially overlapped with an orthogonal projection of the heat generating device on the frame or on the housing.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates to an electronic device and a heat dissipation plate, and particularly to an electronic device having a heat pipe and a heat dissipation with a heat pipe thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, with the development of the technology industry, information products such as notebook computers, tablet computers, and mobile phones have been widely used in daily lives. Electronic devices are diverse in its styles and functions, and the convenience and the usefulness enables the popularity of those electronic devices.
Generally, a frame is disposed in an electronic device to provide supporting forces to the electronic device. In order for the frame to have enough strength, the frame is generally made of metal materials, such as stainless steels. On the other hand, a central processing unit (CPU), processing chips, or other electronic elements are disposed in the electronic device, and heat is generated during the operation of the electronic elements. Beside the supporting function, the frame may further conduct the aforementioned heat to assist the electronic device dissipating heat. However, stainless steels with higher strength exhibit a problem of lower heat conduction coefficient, so that the heat can not be conducted and dissipated effectively, and thus severely influence the operational efficiency of the electronic device.


Existing media signals are processed to create new media content by defining content representations for the existing media and establishing functional dependencies between the representations. The content representations constitute different data types which determine the kinds of operations that can be performed and dependencies that can be established. Among the types of transformation that can be achieved are synchronization, substitution resequencing temporal compression and dilation, and the creation of parametric special effects. The content representations and their functional dependencies are combined to construct a functional dependency network which causes the desired transformations to occur on input media signals. The inputs to the functional dependency network are parametrically specified by media data types to construct a template that can be used to create adaptive media productions.

Today's most advanced media processing systems are mechanical, rather than computational, devices. They directly manipulate extents of temporal media in the same manner as the first film editing systems at the dawn of the century, and their users are still required to think that way. In order to understand how even the most advanced media editing systems operate, one can imagine a virtual robot arm manipulating media according to temporal in and out points. A different model of the content being operated upon, and of the operations being performed, could result in different methods of media production and different kinds of media productions. Two historical analogies are illustrative in this connection. The first relates to the invention of manufactured interchangeable parts in the process of gun manufacture in the later part of the 18th century. Before the invention of interchangeable parts, gun manufacture suffered from a lack of standardization and reusability of components. Every part was a unique result of handicraft, rather than a standardized manufactured component. The invention of manufactured interchangeable parts transformed gun production from a pre-industrial to an industrial mode of production. In the later part of the twentieth century, media production methods have yet to achieve the stage of industrialization reached by gun manufacture at the end of the eighteenth century. The current invention aims to alter that situation.
In order for media to be produced by means of the manufacture of interchangeable parts, purely mechanical modes of production are insufficient. Computational media production methods are required, in a manner analogous to the invention in the 1980's of computational production methods in software design which enabled the simple definition, creation, and reuse of software components.
The ability to quickly, simply and iteratively produce new media content is of special interest in contexts where movie-making has been historically hampered by lack of skill and resources. In particular, home consumer production of movie content suffers from the lack of the following three capabilities which are needed to meet these objectives:
easy-to-use yet powerful composition tools PA1 access to media content which cannot be produced in the home PA1 tools for producing high-quality soundtracks (including multitrack music, dialogue, narration, and sound effects) PA1 (automatically, semi-automatically, and manually generated descriptive data that represent the content of media signals) PA1 (functional relationships that operate on content representations and media signals to compute new media content)
Another limitation associated with current media processing systems is the fact that they are poorly suited for the re-use of pre-existing media content. This is especially the case in situations in which the cost and/or difficulty of creating new media content exceed the cost and/or difficulty of reusing existing media content. For consumers wishing to participate in media productions, access to existing media is of paramount importance given their lack of production skill, financial resources, and media assets. Currently, there is no mechanism by which pre-existing recordings can be efficiently retrieved and combined to present the desired effect.
In summary, there is a need for a time-based media processing system which is capable of providing high-quality, adaptive media productions without requiring a significant level of skill on the part of the user, and is therefore suited for use by the average consumer. The objective of the invention is to enable new efficiencies, methods, and forms in the production and distribution of media content. The invention also aims to satisfy a need for a media-processing system which facilitates the re-use of media content, and indirectly the labor and expertise that created it.


Medical devices and systems provide for detection of proper lead insertion by monitoring for electrical continuity between adjacent electrical contacts. The electrical contacts are spaced so that an electrical connector of a medical lead being inserted will span the distance between the electrical contacts and thereby maintain a physical connection with both electrical contacts at one time. Upon the medical device detecting that continuity is achieved between the adjacent electrical contacts, the medical device may provide an indication such as a visual and/or audible cue to a clinician who is inserting the lead and/or by providing a telemetry signal to an external device such as a programmer so that the programmer may then provide a visual and/or audible cue to a technician operating the programmer.

Medical systems such as those that are implantable often utilize a medical device coupled to a medical lead. The medical lead may be fully or partially implanted within the body of the patient and the medical lead extends from the internal or external site where the medical device is located to the internal site where the electrical sensing and/or stimulation will occur. A distal end of the medical lead includes electrodes that provide the sensing and/or stimulation interface to the tissue of the patient. A proximal end of the medical lead includes electrical connectors that make physical connection with electrical contacts within a header of the medical device. Electrical conductors within the medical lead carry signals between the electrical connectors and the electrodes.
Typically, the medical lead and the medical device are separate items that are coupled together once implantation of the medical lead is completed. A clinician manually inserts the proximal end of the medical lead into the header of the medical device. The proximal end of the medical lead needs to be fully inserted into the header to ensure that each electrical connector of the medical lead makes electrical connection to a corresponding electrical contact of the header. If the medical lead is not fully inserted, one or more of the electrical connectors may not make contact with a corresponding electrical contact, and as a result, a corresponding one or more electrodes of the medical lead will not be functional.
The medical lead may also be inserted too far. For the reasons stated above regarding failing to fully insert the lead, a clinician may be overly zealous when inserting the lead and may damage the lead by continuing to apply insertion force once the lead is already fully inserted. Such lead damage may also cause one or more electrodes of the medical lead to not be functional.
Various techniques have been employed to assist the clinician in determining when a lead has been fully inserted so that insertion force can be stopped. For instance, headers of the medical devices may be transparent so that the clinician may view the lead as it passes into the header. However, medical devices and medical leads continue to be miniaturized to the point that judging the location of the lead relative to the electrical contacts within the header is difficult.
Other techniques utilize impedance measurements for the electrical pathways from the electrical contacts of the header to the electrodes. These impedance measurements provide only a gross assessment in that an electrical connector may have only a slight electrical connection to an electrical contact where that slight connection may fail over time due to small movements of the medical lead within the header, yet the impedance measurement taken immediately after insertion may indicate that adequate insertion has occurred. As another drawback, these impedance measurements involve the interface of the electrodes to the tissue and this interface may provide unreliable results particularly immediately after lead implantation when lead insertion into the medical device typically occurs.

Medical lead insertion detection by monitoring for electrical continuity between adjacent electrical contacts of a medical device


An assistance device (10) for assisting in the adjustment of a damping choke (1) of a fluidic actuator (30), wherein the assistance device (10) includes a display arrangement (3) and is adapted to determine an adjustment recommendation for the adjustment of the damping choke (1) on the basis of a detected movement of an actuator member (4) of the fluidic actuator (30) and to display the adjustment recommendation via the display arrangement (3), and the assistance device (10) is further adapted to determine, based on the movement of the actuator member (4), operational safety information based on kinetic energy related to the movement of the actuator member (4), and to display the operational safety information via the display arrangement (3).

The invention relates to an assistance device for assisting in the adjustment of a damping choke of a fluidic actuator. The assistance device comprises a display arrangement. The assistance device is adapted to determine an adjustment recommendation for the adjustment of the damping choke on the basis of a detected movement of an actuator member of the fluidic actuator and to display the adjustment recommendation via the display arrangement.
From the company Aventics GmbH the product "CAT—Cushioning Adjustment Tool" is available, with which an adjustment recommendation can be determined and displayed.

Assistance device and method of operating an assistance device


A high-isolation multiple in, multiple out (MIMO) antenna array includes, in one configuration, a ground plane, and a plurality of antenna transmitting/receiving elements arranged near the periphery of the ground plane, wherein each of the antenna transmitting/receiving elements is resonant at a frequency f. Also, the array includes an isolation antenna element located on the ground plane, between the plurality of antenna transmitting/receiving elements. The isolation antenna element is also resonant at the same frequency f. The plurality of antenna transmitting/receiving elements and the resonant isolation antenna element are arranged on the ground plane arranged so as to achieve substantially greater than 15 dB isolation of the antenna transmitting/receiving elements. In some configurations, at least about 30 dB of isolation of the antenna transmitting/receiving elements can be achieved.

This invention relates generally to antennas for the transmission and reception of radio frequency (RF) energy, and more particularly to methods and apparatus providing high isolation between transmitting/receiving elements of multiple element antenna arrays.
Multiple in, multiple out (MIMO) antenna system are sometimes used in wireless computer networks such as local area networks (LANs) or WI-FI service. A MIMO antenna system combines the antennas by controlling phase differences and/or amplitude or gain differences between the antennas. This combination is used to form different beam shapes to eliminate interference and/or to enhance a signal in a selected direction. Thus, a MIMO antenna system is, to some degree, similar to an adaptive array.
The antenna transmitting/receiving elements used in a MIMO array may inherently have 15 DB of isolation. Any combination of the transmitting/receiving elements can be used for receiving or transmitting. However, antenna transmitting/receiving elements having only 15 dB of isolation may not achieve the most effective beam steering or adaptive steering, especially with elements having the same individual directional pattern.

Multiple antenna array with high isolation


The present invention comprises a rechargeable battery operated combination sweeper/vacuum assembly for picking up debris that is swept into a pile. The assembly further comprises an elongated handle, a sweeper member, and a vacuum member. A compartment for housing the rechargeable battery is mounted to the upper end of the elongated handle. Mounted to the lower end of the handle is the sweeper member which further comprises a housing adapted to slidably receive the bristles of the sweeper member. Mounted to the backside of the housing is the vacuum member which further comprises a removable cover constructed in the shape of a dust pan. The removable cover of the vacuum member can be used as a conventional dust pan with the sweeper portion of the present invention.

The present invention relates to cleaning appliances and more particularly, a combination assembly containing a sweeper for collecting debris and a vacuum cleaner for picking up the collected debris.
Normally, a broom is used to sweep debris into a pile and the pile of debris is then swept into a dust pan. The dustpan is then emptied into a garbage container. Sometimes all the debris is not transferred to the dustpan. It is also easy to spill the debris from the dustpan.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,617,610 issued Apr. 8, 1997 discloses a self-contained sweeper and vacuum pick-up. This device comprises a broom and a rechargeable vacuum assembly. However, the present invention provides a uniquely designed broom and vacuum assembly.


An analyzer transforms a digital signal into a spectrum representing the digital signal. A spectrum analyzing unit specifies a predetermined number of sets of the bands in decreasing order of the correlation between the spectrum distributions from among the bands obtained by equally dividing the above spectrum into equal bands, and then specifies one of the two specified bands as a removed band and the other as a interpolation band. Then, a frequency shifting unit removes spectrum components within the removed bands and shifts spectrum components within another bands to the lower frequency side (that is, performs the thinning and compressing of frequency), and then supplies a signal representing the spectrum after thinning and compressing to a synthesizer. The synthesizer generates a signal represented by the spectrum after thinning and compressing. Thereby, even a signal having a high-frequency part steeply attenuated can be compressed in its bandwidth in such a manner that it can be exactly restored later, and/or an audio signal information can be compressed keeping high audio quality.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for thinning predetermined frequency components in a signal in order to compress information of the signal to be transmitted or recorded.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, there is the increasing delivery of information such as music by a cable broadcast, wireless broadcast and communication technique.
Sometimes, lines used in broadcast or communication do not have bandpass characteristics wide enough to transmit audio signals up to its high-frequency part without attenuation. The technique used in such a case is in that the device sending an audio signal boosts the high-frequency part of the audio signal to be sent (that is, amplifies the high-frequency part with a larger amplification factor than the other parts), then sending out the audio signal having the boosted high-frequency part.
The boosting of a high-frequency part has been achieved by passing an audio signal to be sent through an equalizer shown in FIG. 8 and then amplifying it, for example.
The equalizer of FIG. 8 comprises a capacitor C connected between an input and output terminals, a resistor R1 also connected between the input and output terminals and a resistor R2 having one end connected to the output terminal and another end connected to ground. Thus, a signal input to the input terminal is attenuated with larger attenuation factor in the bands except the high-frequency part than in the high-frequency part, and then output from the output terminal.
However, when a signal (for example, a signal having a removed high-frequency part) having a high-frequency part steeply attenuated above a given frequency, such as an audio signal composed of compressed information, is boosted in the high-frequency part and then transmitted, there have been problems in the receiving side that it is difficult to exactly restore the received signal to its original signal (the signal before boosting). If an audio signal is to be transmitted, this problem may result in degrading the quality of the reproduced audio.
The invention has been made by considering the above situation. It is an objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for thinning frequency components of a signal, allowing the compression of the bandwidth of the signal in such a manner that even the signal having a high-frequency part steeply attenuated may be exactly restored.
It is another objective of the invention to provide an apparatus and method for thinning frequency components, allowing the compression of the information of an audio signal while keeping high audio quality.

Frequency thinning apparatus for thinning out frequency components of signal and frequency thinning apparatus


The invention concerns a method of fusing and electrically contacting a first insulating substrate (28A) having at least one first conductive layer (29A) thereon with at least one second insulating substrate (28B) having at least one second conductive layer (29B) thereon, the method comprising: stacking the first and second substrates (28A, 28B) such that an interface zone is formed between them, the interface zone comprising an electrical contacting zone where at least one first conductive layers (29A) faces and is at least partially aligned with at least one second conductive layer (29B), and a substrate fusing zone where the insulating substrates (28A, 28B) directly face each other; focusing to the interface zone of the substrates (28A, 28B) through one of the substrates (28A, 28B) a plurality of sequential focused laser pulses from a laser source, the pulse duration, pulse frequency and pulse power of the laser light being chosen to provide local melting the substrate (28A, 28B) materials and the conductive layers (29A, 29B); and moving the laser source and the substrate with respect to each other at a predetermined velocity and path so that a structurally modified zone is formed to the interface zone, the structurally modified zone overlapping with said electrical contacting zone and said substrate fusing zone. The invention provides a convenient way of manufacturing well-sealed joints and electrical contacts for multifunction electronic devices, for example.

EP 1369912 discloses a method of bonding a flip chip to a chip carrier using laser beam. The method comprises aligning a contact area of the chip and a contact area of the chip carrier and projecting a laser beam through the chip or carrier to the aligned contact areas to electrically bond them to each other. However, the surroundings of the contact area remain exposed to ambient air (oxygen) and humidity, which may have a detrimental effect on the device being manufactured.
US 2004/207314, US 2005/174042, US 2003/197827 and JP 2005/028891 disclose further methods utilizing laser welding for contacting or joining parts of semiconductor or glass substrates. Also none of these methods, however, is capable of producing a simultaneously well-contacted and well-sealed structure.

Method of sealing and contacting substrates using laser light and electronics module


A printer dock for use with a digital data terminal, has a housing having a paper inlet portal, a first tray receiver, and a second tray receiver. The first tray receiver adjoins the paper inlet portal. The second tray receiver is disposed in spaced relation to the paper inlet portal. A printer engine is disposed in the housing. The printer engine has a paper path extending from an entrance facing the paper inlet portal. A device interface is operatively connectable to the data terminal and the printer engine. A paper tray is alternately mountable in a use position and a storage position. The paper tray, in the use position, is located in the first tray receiver and is disposed in operative relation to the printer engine. The paper tray, in the storage position, is located within the second tray receiver.

A printer docks is a hybrid product that combines a dock for recharging a handheld device referred to herein as a "data terminal", with a printer capable of printing image files from the data terminal. In many cases, printer docks allow printing with or without a connection to a computer. Other functions, such as connectability to a network and CD printing, can also be provided by a printer dock, as disclosed, for example in U.S. Patent Publication US 2003/0210333 A1.
Printer docks can be small in size allowing easy portability. With some printer docks such as the Kodak EasyShare Printer Dock Plus, Series 3, marketed by Eastman Kodak Company of Rochester, N.Y., a tray for printable media is detachable from a receiver in a housing of the printer dock to allow easier transport. A carrying case that can hold the housing and tray is also marketed. The case is convenient to use, but is less convenient to store and locate when needed, since the case is likely to be packed away for occasional use, while the printer dock is left out for more regular use. The case is also inconvenient for transporting the printer dock over short distances, such as from room to room of a house.
Since a printer dock can be used for recharging a data terminal, a convenient location for the printer dock in a consumer's home or place of work is where the data terminal is readily accessible. This can be problematic, since such a location often has very little available surface space. The size of a printer dock can deter convenient placement, which makes printer dock use less convenient.
Printers that are similar to printer docks, but lacking the docking features have similar shortcomings in terms of convenient placement.
It would thus be desirable to provide improved printers, printer docks, and systems, which do not have the above shortcomings.


A method for fabricating a capacitor in a semiconductor device is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: forming an interlayer insulating film on a semiconductor substrate, which includes a first contact hole exposing a certain portion of the substrate; forming a storage node plug filling the first contact hole; forming a first insulating film, a first silicon nitride film, and a second insulating film sequentially above the substrate inclusive of the storage node plug; forming a second contact hole that exposes the storage node plug by removing the second insulating film, the first silicon nitride film, and the first insulating film partly; forming a recessed portion at side surfaces of the second contact hole by wet-etching the first insulating film remained in the second contact hole; forming a storage node electrode of the capacitor, which is connected to the storage node plug, by filling the second contact hole inclusive of the recessed portion; removing the remained second insulating film; and forming a dielectric film and a plate electrode sequentially on the entire surface of the storage node electrode structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a capacitor in a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a method for fabricating a capacitor which can prevent bridging of a storage node electrode by increasing bottom area of the storage node electrode and forming a prevention portion of the storage node on the bottom area.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As generally known in the art, a capacitor is an element that stores electric charges and supplies them to drive a semiconductor device, and it is generally known that size of unit cell has decreased and capacitance has increased to drive the semiconductor device by a little with the advance of high integration of the semiconductor device.
Although it has been necessary to minimize a capacitor with the advance of the high integration of a semiconductor device, limitations exist in storing electric charges, and it has been difficult to highly integrate the capacitors in comparison with the size of the cell. Accordingly, structure for storing electric charges of a capacitor has been variously studied to settle the above problems occurring in minimization of the capacitor.
Method of utilizing substance with a high dielectric ratio, method of decreasing thickness of a dielectric substance, and method of increasing surface area of a capacitor, which is a primarily utilized method in recent years, etc., have been adapted to increase electric charges of a capacitor.
Referring to structures of electric charge storing electrode in a capacitor, they can be largely divided into a stacking structure in which several layers are formed on small areas to obtain large area of a capacitor, a groove structure in which grooves of desired depth are formed on a substrate of a semiconductor and a capacitor is formed on them thereby storing the electric charges thereon.
Specifically, the stacking structure includes fin type structure that is formed in a fin shape, a cylindrical type structure that is formed in a cylinder shape, and a modified cavity type structure such as HSG (Hemispherical Shaped Grains) and Bellows, which is modified from a cavity type structure in order to increase capacitance of a capacitor.
However, when the method of utilizing substance of a big dielectric ratio in order to increase storing capacity of electric charges in DRAM device of a semiconductor, limitations arise as a result of such substances with large dielectric ratio not being diversified. Accordingly, the capacity of storing electric charges depends on the sort of a certain substance being chosen.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view for showing a method for forming a capacitor of a semiconductor device according to a prior art.
First, as shown in FIG. 1, a polysilicon layer 5 and a hard-mask layer 10 are sequentially stacked on a semiconductor substrate (not shown) having a desired lower structure, and etching is selectively performed on these layers to form gates G1 and an insulation spacer 2 at both sides of the gates G1.
Subsequently, a first polysilicon layer is formed on the substrate inclusive of the gates G1, and this layer is planarized to form plugs 15 that fill spaces made between the gates G1.
Then, a first interlayer insulation layer 20 is formed on the resultant substrate inclusive of the gates G1, and selective etching of this layer is performed to form a first contact hole (not shown) that exposes the plug 15, and a storage node electrode 25 filling the first contact hole is formed.
Thereafter, a silicon nitride film 30 and a PSG (Phosphorous Silicate Glass) layer 32 are formed sequentially on the resultant substrate, and these layers are selectively etched till an upper surface of the storage node plug 25 is exposed thereby forming a second contact hole 34.
Then, a polysilicon layer (not shown) for a storage node electrode is formed in the second contact hole 34 and is etched back, then the deepening-out of the PSG layer is performed to obtain a cylindrical type storage node electrode 35 bridging the storage node plug 25.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a process for showing problems occurring in the prior art.
However, as shown in FIG. 2, according to the above prior art, when the cylindrical type storage node electrode has been formed and a cleaning process of the electrode has been performed, the storage node electrode is tilted to an adjacent storage node electrode, resulting in bridging defects between the storage node electrodes.

Method for fabricating capacitor in semiconductor device


A mixer assembly group for a turbofan engine, having a primary flow channel extending along a central axis of the turbofan engine and a secondary flow channel. The mixer assembly group includes a mixer for guiding a first fluid flow from the primary flow channel and a second fluid flow from the secondary flow channel in the direction of an exhaust of the turbofan engine, as well as for intermixing the first and second fluid flows, and a connection appliance, which has at least one connection component that is fixated at the mixer and by means of which the mixer assembly group is to be fixated at two different first and second engine components of the turbofan engine, with are subject to operating temperatures of different heights during operation of the turbofan engine.

The invention relates to a mixer assembly group for a turbofan engine.
In a turbofan engine that has a primary flow channel extending along a central axis and a secondary flow channel in the area of an exhaust of the turbofan engine, it is known to provide a mixer assembly group with an (exhaust) mixer in order to guide a first fluid flow from the primary flow channel and a second fluid flow from the secondary flow channel in the direction of the exhaust, as well as to intermix the first and second fluid flows. The obtainable thrust can be increased and the engine noise can be reduced through such a mixer assembly group as a part of an exhaust mixing system, by means of which a first warm or hot primary fluid flow and a second cooler secondary fluid flow are intermixed.
What is for example known from EP 3 032 083 A1 in this context is a mixer assembly group for a turbofan engine that comprises a mixer with a blossom-shaped or meander-shaped contour (also referred to as a "lobed mixer" in technical jargon). At that, the mixer is preferably made of a ceramic fiber reinforced composite or a ceramic matrix composite (CMC in short), and facilitates an efficient intermixing of a primary fluid flow from a primary flow channel of the core engine of the turbofan engine that is warm or hot during operation with a cooler secondary fluid flow from the secondary or bypass channel, before both fluid flows flow outwards over an outlet cone at an exhaust nozzle of the turbofan engine. The fixation of the separately manufactured mixer at one or multiple engine components in the area of the exhaust is realized at an interface of the mixer assembly group, for example at a support component of a low-pressure turbine of the core engine with a ring-shaped flange section.
What is already known from practice in this context for the purpose of arranging the mixer in a turbofan engine is to provide a fixation at two different engine components which are, on the one hand, associated with the primary flow channel and, on the other hand, with the secondary flow channel so as to let the mixer adjoin the primary flow channel as well as the secondary flow channel, and to guide the respective fluid flows at the end of the respective channel via and by means of the mixer. What can for example be provided in this way is a fixation of a mixer assembly group comprising the mixer at a first engine component that is formed by a casing of the low-pressure turbine and thus defines a radially inner wall of the secondary flow channel. A further fixation of the mixer assembly group can also be provided at a second engine component associated with the primary flow channel. Such a second engine component can for example be a support component for the exit guide vanes or the guide wheel at the exhaust of the low-pressure turbine.
However, a disadvantage of fixating the mixer assembly group at two engine components that are associated, on the one hand, with the primary fluid flow and, on the other, with the secondary fluid flow is that these engine components are subjected to operating temperatures of different heights during operation of the turbofan engine. The fixation of the mixer assembly group comprising the mixer is realized at engine components that are subject to extreme temperature gradients during operation of the turbofan engine. Due to these sometimes considerable temperature differences, comparatively strongly varying thermal expansions and associated strong component loads through thermal stress occur in particular at a connection appliance by means of which the mixer assembly group is fixated at different engine components.

Mixer assembly group for a turbofan engine


Techniques described herein identify items within a content stream and output information pertaining to these items. For instance, the techniques may monitor an audio and/or video stream to identify products, geographical locations, particular people, or any other item of interest. In response to identifying an item of interest, the techniques obtain an instruction that determines what type of information to output with the content stream.

While consuming a content stream, users may view or hear scores of advertisements or other pieces of content relating to an array of different items. For instance, a user watching a video stream, such as broadcast television, may view an advertisement for a particular product that he or she may wish to obtain (e.g., purchase) or learn more about. However, in order to obtain or learn more information about the product, the user must typically either go to a brick-and-mortar store that offers the desired product or use a computer to locate information about the product or a merchant that offers the product. However, both of these two options require the user to direct his or her attention away from the object currently of interest—namely the video stream that is currently being broadcast and consumed by the user in this example.