A cardio-pulmonary resuscitation apparatus and method that provides mechanical compressions and oxygen delivery to a patient. The delivered oxygen quantity is based on the anterior to posterior distance of the patient. Tidal volumes of the delivered oxygen are calculated from the anterior to posterior distance. The compressions and oxygen may be delivered in sequences that enhance the circulation of the patient. The compressions may be sensed by a sensor to effect such sequences. Oxygen delivered based on the anterior to posterior distance may be further adjusted by airway pressure. Embodiments may include a tube with lumens to deliver oxygen, monitor airway pressure, and contain wires to activate the airway valve and monitor airway pressure. Embodiments may also include a carbon dioxide sensor and may use two tidal volumes, the larger one to sample the end tidal carbon dioxide. Also included in some embodiments is a safety relief valve.

This invention relates to the field of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In particular, the invention provides improved devices and methods for enhancing blood circulation in patients undergoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (hereon abbreviated as CPR). Such procedure is applied, for example, when cardiac arrest is present. In these situations, the heart ceases to pump blood out of the heart. To obtain some circulation until the normal pumping action of the heart can be restored, manual compressions are conventionally applied on the chest of the supine patient. The compressions on the chest may be alternated with brief periods of forced breathing into the patient, for example, by mouth to mouth ventilation. Alternatively, a ventilation bag with facemask or tracheal tube may be used to achieve the same effect. The American Heart Association publishes guidelines on CPR procedures. For example, the "2005 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care", published in the Circulation journal, give a good overview of the subject of CPR.
While manual compressions are partially effective in providing circulation to the patient, it is not a perfect method. The manual compressions applied on the chest attempt to squeeze the heart and major vascular structures to eject blood into the extrathoracic arterial circulation. However, the rib cage provides an obstacle to achieve effective squeezing of the heart and vascular structures. The rib cage, in fact, spatially protects the internal organs including the heart from external forces. As a result, the physical frame forming the rib cage attenuates the amount of squeezing on the heart obtained by external compressions on the chest, by distributing the force across entire chest and rib cage.
Furthermore, when a rescuer provides CPR and compresses the chest of the patient, the heart only experiences a partial squeeze, because soft tissues surround the heart and mediastinum. Namely, the soft tissues are the lungs on the sides of the mediastinum, and inferiorly, the soft tissues of the upper abdomen. As the external compression is delivered, the heart deforms and expands part of its volume into the surrounding soft tissues. This expansion creates inefficiencies in squeezing the heart during CPR. It would be desirable to impede that lateral expansion into soft tissues so that a more effective cardiac squeeze is achieved. One such method to effectively accomplish such lateral support is open chest cardiac massage, in which clinicians manually squeeze the heart with their hands. In this case the squeeze of the heart is delivered around most of the heart's perimeter, not just the front and back as in traditional CPR. The squeeze is therefore very effective, but it of course requires a very invasive surgery to expose the heart, and is thus not amenable to typical CPR and first aid situations. In any case, the point emphasized here is the inefficiency of the squeeze of the heart due to its laterally surrounding soft tissues and its protective rib cage, as provided by conventional CPR methods.
In an effort to alleviate some of the above shortcomings, and to enhance circulation during CPR, several devices have been proposed in prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,420 to Lurie describes a special valve coupled to the airway of the patient, such that the flow of air into the patient's lungs is restricted during the chest decompression phase of CPR. The valve's restriction of air inflow into the patient's lungs, in combination with the natural elastic recoil of the chest after a compression, causes a negative intrathoracic pressure. This vacuum helps draw venous blood from the body into the thorax prior to the next chest compression, thereby better priming the heart pump with enhanced filling. As a result, more blood is in the heart when the next compression occurs, and therefore, more blood is ejected, obtaining enhanced circulation.
In the above cited '420 patent, Lurie also mentions the use of positive pressure, by implementing a restriction to outflow of air from the patient's lungs during the compression phase of CPR. It can be appreciated that if the airway is restricted to outflow, greater intrathoracic pressure will be obtained during a compression step of CPR. Such enhanced pressure will help develop a more efficient ejection of blood from the heart. This addresses the inefficiency of cardiac expansion of the heart into surrounding soft tissues during external compression. Because the lungs cannot readily evacuate their air due to the outflow restriction, the heart is laterally impeded from expanding into the lung spaces. This contributes to a more effective squeeze of the heart when applying external compression to the front of the chest.
The prior art however does not describe a sequence, nor a device to provide it, that would combine optimized positive and negative pressures. Furthermore, when passive decompression CPR is used according to the known art, there is a disadvantage when providing inflow air-resistance during more than a few compression cycles. The distinction of active and passive decompression in CPR merits explanation at this point. By passive decompression CPR it is understood that no active devices are used to expand the chest after each compression step, for example, by using suction cups on the skin to pull and expand the chest. In passive decompression CPR, the chest is allowed to naturally and elastically recover in shape after each compression. The discussion below, and for the rest of this document, is framed in the context of passive decompression CPR, which is the most commonly used method.
Describing the disadvantage in more detail, when using the known inflow restriction devices, there will be less air exchange occurring than there would be if no air restriction was present. In consequence, there will be less air volume present in the lungs just prior to the compression phase of CPR. In other words, after a few compression-decompression cycles, the patient's chest will hold less air volume at the end of the chest decompression phase, due to the impediment presented by the special valve, which restricts the filling of the lungs. Air is easily ejected from the lungs with chest compression and an open airway, but not so easily inhaled through the restrictive valve. Therefore, the chest will not inflate fully to its natural relaxed state. This volume deficiency will be greater if the cracking pressure is set to a higher value on the inflow restriction valve. The cracking pressure is the pressure at which the valve will open to allow air inflow to the lungs, when the valve is subjected to negative pressure at the patient airway side. It can also be understood as the amount of inflow resistance. It must be properly set for the particular patient, as a child, for instance, may have different negative pressure requirements than a large adult.
The extreme situation of lung air volume reduction occurs with a very high cracking pressure: the air inflow is completely occluded when the chest attempts to expand during the decompression phase of CPR, and no new air enters the chest. Notice that this happens even the though the elastic recoil of the chest creates a relatively high vacuum to draw blood to the heart from the periphery. So while blood is adequately drawn into the chest by vacuum, it is done at the expense of air intake.
The disadvantage noted above has two implications: first, barring manually delivered ventilations, which defeat the negative pressure advantages, there is less respiratory gas exchange with the outside atmosphere than in traditional open airway CPR, so oxygen and carbon dioxide transport is negatively affected. Second, if a device or method were to simply combine vacuum with a positive pressure technique as described earlier (restricting air outflow during chest compression to enhance ventricular blood ejection), it will be less effective. This inefficiency of the compression phase of any such simple combination has not been noted in the prior art. The inefficiency occurs because, with the reduced volume of lung air present at the beginning of the chest compression, the heart and major vessels can more easily deform and expand into the less inflated lung space. In contrast, if the precise states of the lungs and heart were taken into account, for example, if the lungs were instead optimally full of air, and the outflow of air restricted during chest compression, the squeeze on the heart would be enhanced, as inflated lungs present a better lateral obstruction to the heart, than do deflated lungs. Such is one of the objectives of the invention. Similarly, if a vacuum were to be applied without regard to the prior states of the cardio-pulmonary system, the benefit of the negative pressure may not be optimal. Therefore, an optimized combination of vacuum and positive pressures is sought in order to further enhance cardio pulmonary circulation. Further, it would be desirable to accomplish such combination without significantly impairing ventilation of the patient. What is also needed is a device and method that optimally provides both negative and positive intrathoracic pressures to enhance circulation during CPR, but does so while maintaining a degree of gas exchange that does not substantially defeat the assistive thoracic pressures.
The invention embodiments described in this document address these needed characteristics, while offering further advantages, and will therefore provide for enhanced CPR devices and methods.

Method and apparatus for improved ventilation and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation


A method for manufacturing an organic semiconductor element, capable of obtaining an organic semiconductor element in which an organic semiconductor layer is easily patterned without being lowered in mobility, which includes: a source electrode and drain electrode formation step; an organic semiconductor layer formation step of forming an organic semiconductor layer having the liquid crystal organic semiconductor material on the alignment layer to cover the source electrode and the drain electrode; a dielectric layer formation step of forming a dielectric layer on the organic semiconductor layer to be positioned at least on a channel region between the source electrode and the drain electrode; and an annealing step of annealing the organic semiconductor layer, on which the dielectric layer is formed, at a liquid crystal phase temperature of the liquid crystal organic semiconductor material.

In recent years, about semiconductor transistors, typical example of which are TFTs, the scope of articles to which the transistors are used tends to be enlarged with the development of display devices. In such a semiconductor transistor, its electrodes are connected to each other through the material of its semiconductor, so that the transistor fulfills a function as a switching element.
Hitherto, the semiconductor material used in the semiconductor transistor has been an inorganic semiconductor material such as silicon (Si), gallium arsenic (GaAs), or indium gallium arsenic (InGaAs). In recent years, semiconductor transistors in which such an inorganic semiconductor material is used have been used in TFT array substrates for display, the use of which has been spreading in liquid crystal display devices.
As the semiconductor material, an organic semiconductor material made of an organic compound has also been known. The organic semiconductor material is low in process temperature, so that the material can be formed on a flexible plastic substrate. Thus, the material has advantages that the material is stable against mechanical impacts, and can be made light. Moreover, the material can be produced through a coating process such as printing, so that the material may be mass-produced into a larger area at lower costs than the inorganic semiconductor material. Accordingly, the following activities in which such organic semiconductor materials are objects have been actively made: applications of the organic semiconductor materials to next-generation display devices, such as flexible disks, typical examples of which are electronic papers; and researches in which print RFID tags and others are targeted.
At the time of manufacturing an organic transistor in which an organic semiconductor material is used, it is usually necessary to pattern its organic semiconductor layer. As a method for patterning the organic semiconductor layer, an ink-jetting method and others have been reported. However, the methods require the step of forming a hydrophilic/hydrophobic pattern on a substrate, the step of forming partition walls thereon, or some other step. However, there is caused a problem that when the organic semiconductor layer undergoes such a step, this layer is declined in mobility.
Separately, attempts have been made for forming an organic semiconductor layer on the whole of a surface and then forming a protective layer thereon, and further inactivating its portion not protected by the protective layer as a mask, or removing the organic semiconductor layer partially (see, for example, Patent Literatures 1 to 4). As a method for the inactivation, investigations have been made about plasma treatment, the use of an oxidizer, and others. As a method for the removal, investigations have been made about laser radiation, and others.
However, when an organic semiconductor element is manufactured, these methods require its organic semiconductor layer to be patterned by inactivating or removing the organic semiconductor layer. Thus, the process thereof becomes complicated, and costs are increased.
Known is also a method of using a liquid crystal organic semiconductor material, and patterning an organic semiconductor layer by hydrophilic/hydrophobic patterning, a transferring method or some other method (see, for example, Patent Literatures 5 and 6).

Method for manufacturing organic semiconductor element


The prior art requires the selective removal of antifuse material from the bottom of the standard via. This cannot always be accomplished without damage to the nearby antifuse. In addition, in the absence of antifuse structural isolation, problems were encountered at M2 etch in consistently removing the full thickness of metallic material at this level. Shorting due to underetch was often encountered. These problems were solved by first forming only the antifuse via. This allowed the via to be controlled and optimized for antifuse requirements and for the antifuse material to be patterned without regard to possible side effects on the standard vias. Design rules for overlaps of overfuse and M2 layers were amended such that each antifuse is individually isolated. The latter were then formed, without (as in the prior art) any concerns that the antifuse might be affected. The result is an antifuse that is well isolated from other wiring and a standard via that will facilitate good electrical contact between metal layer 1 and 2.

The invention relates to the general field of integrated circuits with particular reference to programmable circuitry based on antifuses.
To meet the needs of customers who wish to manufacture small volumes of custom chips without the delay and expense of going to a foundry, field programmable chips such as PLAs (programmable logic arrays) and PGAs (programmable gate arrays) have been available for some time. Personalization may be effected dynamically (by means of pass transistors) enabling a chip to be personalized many times or a write-once technology may be employed (with an attendant improvement in circuit density and speed). Implementation of write-once personalization may be accomplished by either breaking existing connections or by forming new ones.
The element that enables the formation of new connections is the antifuse. This is a connection between two layers of metal made through a via which includes in its serial path a layer of material that, as initially deposited has relatively high resistivity. When its temperature is raised above some critical value this material undergoes a phase change which causes its resistivity to drop by several orders of magnitude. Said phase change is commonly (though not necessarily) a change from an amorphous to a crystalline state. The necessary heating is most conveniently effected by passing a suitable current pulse through the afore-mentioned via.
Since the via that contains the layer of antifuse material is similar to the standard vias routinely used for connecting between wiring layers it has been the practice of the prior art to form both via types in a single operation. Referring now to FIG. 1, we show there, in schematic cross-section, a substrate 11 (typically the upper portion of an integrated circuit) on whose topmost surface a first layer of metal 12 (M1) has been deposited. Layer 12 is coated with titanium nitride layer 13 which will serve as a barrier layer. Dielectric layer 14 lies over layer 13 and, as can be seen, two via holes (16 and 17), that pass through it have been simultaneously formed, and then lined with amorphous silicon layer 15 which will be used as the antifuse material. To protect the antifuse layer, a protective coating 15a of titanium and titanium nitride is then immediately deposited.
The next step in the prior art process is illustrated in FIG. 2 where amorphous silicon layer 16 has been selectively removed from everywhere except inside, and close to, via hole 17. It is difficult to create a plasma etch process that will remove amorphous silicon material from features with aspect ratios of the order encountered in a via while still maintaining the critical dimensions of the masked feature overlying the antifuse via.
Should any material from layer 15 or 15a be left behind in via hole 16, a high contact resistance between the two metal layers that are connected by that via will be introduced. If over-etching is done in an attempt to remedy this, there is a danger that the overlap of the amorphous silicon layer over the via hole 17 will be reduced, causing damage to the resulting antifuse structure.
Previously, antifuses were not isolated individually. This cause problems during metal 2 (M2) etch where two layers of titanium and titanium nitride, as well as the amorphous, all needed to be simultaneously etched. Incomplete etching at this stage can cause metal shorting.
The present invention discloses a solution to the above problems.
A routine search of the prior art was performed with the following references of interest being found:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,159,836 (Wei) shows a TiN/xcex1Si/TiN sandwich anti-fuse structure. U.S. Pat. No. 5,789,795 (Sanchez et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,970 (Pramanik et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,107,165 (Vain et al.) all show related anti-fuse structures, some with etch stops.
It has been an object of the present invention to provide a process for manufacturing both an antifuse and a standard via.
A further object has been that said process permit over-etching of the standard vias, as needed.
Another object has been that the process allow close control of the thickness of the antifuse layer.
Still another object has been that the antifuse be fully encapsulated and isolated from other antifuse structures.
These objects have been achieved by first forming only the antifuse via. This allows etch time to be optimized. Overetch into the titanium nitride layer can cause antifuses to short to underlying metal. Underetch can render the antifuse unprogrammable if dielectric remains in the via. In addition, the antifuse material may be patterned without regard to possible side effects on the standard vias. The latter are then formed, without (as in the prior art) any concerns that the antifuse may be affected. Furthermore, these standard vias may be overetched in order to clear the thick titanium nitride layer and to ensure good electrical contact and low via resistance. The result is an antifuse that is well isolated from other antifuses and a standard via that will facilitate good electrical contact between metal layer 1 and 2.

Design and processing of antifuse structure


An arrangement is provided for tamper-resistant software to protect high-security data. In an embodiment, high-security authorization information is encrypted using a fingerprint that is computed based on a protected portion of a data access program. When the program is executed, a runtime fingerprint is computed based on the protected portion of the program to decrypt the high-security authorization information. Access to the the high-security data is allowed only when the decryption is successful.

Aspects of the present invention relate to software. Other aspects of the present invention relate to software security.
Tampering with software involves unauthorized access and modification to software. Such acts often directly associate with security issues. For example, altering network security software to perform what it is not designed to do may pose a serious threat to network security. Similarly, changing application software that transfers secure data from one computer system so as to expose that secure data may compromise that secure data.
To ensure software integrity, different protection mechanisms have been attempted. The most common practice to protect data access is the use of passwords. With a password based mechanism, an operator who initiates the data (software) access supplies a password which is then authenticated against a matching predetermined password that is either hard coded in the software or stored in, for example, a file on the file system. With a password mechanism, it is assumed that both the operator and the software are trusted parties during data manipulation.
Another approach to secure software access is through access right control. For example, secure software may only be accessed with a certain level of access right such as administrator's privilege. Many Unix systems allow designated software to be executed at a higher level of permission than the default level of permission granted to the current login. Other types of security systems rely on a certificate authority. Such systems implement security measures by allowing a file system to "fingerprint" software at the system administrator's level. Some advanced security systems enforce secure software access based on encryption key management mechanisms.
Conventional approaches to ensuring software and data integrity often depend on the underlying operating system implementation or other hardware components and sometimes require significant installation and maintenance effort. Static encryption key management mechanisms of some conventional approaches to ensure software and data integrity provide static, instead of dynamic, key management, which is inflexible and easier to compromise. Furthermore, the conventional approaches do not provide the means to identify software tampering that has been committed.

Cryptography-based tamper-resistant software design mechanism


The invention relates to a superfinishing tool having a shank (2), as well as at least one rigid cutting edge (16) and at least one guide rib (30) on the periphery. In addition, or alternatively, the cutting edge (16) and/or the guide rib(s) (30) can be configured to form a single-piece solid tool with the shank (2). The guide beads or ribs guarantee steady, stable functioning of the tool in spite of high rotational speed and/or hardness of the workpiece. An additional advantage is provided by producing the tool as a solid tool, i.e. made of solid hard metal.

The invention relates to a microfinishing tool comprising a shank, at least one rigid cutter, as well as at least one guide rib on the periphery and a taper screw by means of which the cutting diameter can be adjusted.
Such tools are used especially as reamers.
From CH-PS 449390 there is known a reamer supplied with coolant whose tool body is provided with a central longitudinal bore leading to the cutting head, and from which longitudinal bore a plurality of transverse bores extend outwardly at an angle between the cutters. Coolant and lubricant is supplied through these bores in order to cool and to lubricate the cutting head during the cutting process.
In a reamer having an adjustable cutting head, described in DE 32 34 238 A, the reamer is provided with a central coolant bore which divides into two diverging branch bores skirting the shank of the taper screw at a shallow angle. The taper extends only over the forward cutting region, so that upon adjustment only the forward portion of the reamer is expanded.
According to EP 0215144B, a reamer is provided with a cutting head expansible by a taper screw and with a coolant passage leading axially through the reamer shaft, with the coolant passage extending into a threaded bore receiving the threaded shank of the taper screw and subsequent to this passing into a hollow cylindrical part of the reamer shaft which is expansible by the taper screw. Between the hollow cylindrical shaft portion and the taper screw there is an annular channel which is connected with the axial coolant passage by means of an axially parallel coolant passage in the taper screw. From the annular passage leads at least one channel between the cutters, with this channel or channels being directed forwards at an angle of between 30xc2x0 and 45xc2x0.
CH-PS 645 051 describes an adjustable machine reamer with taper screw which comprises adjustment means for changing the spacing of the cutters and the guide ribs from the reamer axis in the same sense and to approximately the same degree. Again, the adjustment taper extends only over the forward cutting region.
It is the object of the invention to provide a microfinishing tool which is versatile in use, cuts with a high degree of accuracy and can be manufactured economically.
This object is achieved in accordance with the invention by a microfinishing tool as defined herein.
In FR 2460173A there is described a microfinishing tool which has an expandable taper insert which is longer than the cutter. The taper insert is seated in an axial blind bore of the tool shank and has a cylindrical recess in its front end. A radial slot extends from the front end approximately up to the level of the end of the blind bore. Between the cutter and the radial slot there is located a radial screw which is in contact with the taper insert. By rotating the screw one can cause a local asymmetric deformation of the shank, which is weakened in terms of material at this point, and consequently effects a change in the cutting diameter. This arrangement makes possible only a local diameter adjustment and necessitates additional finishing measures and parts. Moreover, it is only suitable for a cutter where the adjustable cutting region is only short.
It is the object of the invention to provide a mircofinishing tool which is versatile in use, cuts with a high degree of accuracy and can be manufactured economically.
A microfinishing tool in accordance with the invention thus comprises a shank, at least one rigid cutter, at least one guide rib on the periphery and a taper screw by means of which the cutting diameter can be adjusted. The taper region of the taper screw is at least equal in length to the cutter.
The term xe2x80x9ctaper screwxe2x80x9d used herein should be understood to include all other expansion parts and arrangements with varying diameter which will achieve the desired expansion effect. By extending the length of the taper and of the taper region one achieves an enlargement of the expansion zone. Consequently, the cutters and/or guide ribs can be expanded parallel to the axis, ie. their orientation to the axis remains unchanged and the tapering of the microfinishing tool is maintained. Because the tapering remains the same in spite of changes in diameter, one achieves an unvaryingly good surface quality with the tool.
Preferably, recesses are provided in the shank of suitable shape to serve as expansion aids in the adjustment of the cutting diameter.
Because of the guide ribs the microfinishing tool has a quiet, stable mode of operation in spite of high speeds of rotation and/or hardness of the workpiece, over its whole diameter range. Preferably, with the microfinishing tool of the present invention, at least one guide rib is provided per cutter. Additionally, a guide rib can be arranged axially offset in relation to the associated cutter.
The cutter and/or at least one guide rib can be made as one piece with the shank as a solid tool. The manufacture of the tool as a solid tool is very advantageous, particularly in solid hard metal. The cutters and/or guide ribs can be inserted, or alternatively the cutters can be soldered on.
The different pressure points of the taper screw make it possible to adjust the cutters and guide ribs in a defined way. Depending upon the lengths of the cutters and guide ribs the pressure points can be located at different diameters and axial positions of the taper screws and thus a desired axial region of the cutters or guide ribs.
The material of the cutters and guide ribs can be chosen so as to be matched to the particular requirements of use, independently of the tool body. For example, guide ribs with minimum lubrication and for high speeds of rotation are preferably made of diamond.
A variation of the taper screw comprises tapered sections having different angles of taper. In this way, the enlargement of the diameter can be effected in steps. The taper screw can alternatively be made as a multi-part component.
In one preferred embodiment of the microfinishing tool in accordance with the invention the taper screw includes a cylindrical section after the threaded region, with this cylindrical section being a snug fit in the shank of the tool. This effects a guidance and alignment of the taper screw and consequently gives an extraordinarily precise, centered expansion of the cutting region, if wanted.
The microfinishing tool according to the invention can be provided with internal cooling for coolant and/or lubricant, which is guided in particular to the cutting zone.
This internal cooling is provided for example as a central axial coolant bore in the tool shank for coolant and/or lubricant. From the central axial coolant bore, at least one branch bore leads outwardly into its forward region. In one embodiment of the internal cooling, the branch bore leads into a coaxial supply bore which extends axially at least partially over the cutting region and from which at least one discharge bore leads to the cutting region. The use of coolant and lubricant having 10% or more of an oil-containing emulsion is particularly suitable.
With the structure of the microfinishing tool in accordance with the invention, coolant and lubricant can be supplied to the cutting zone even if the tool shank has been expanded for example by a taper screw or if several cutters or adjustable cutters are provided. The bore which carries the coolant and lubricant runs through into the forward or cutting region either through a possibly provided taper screw or its receiving passage, so that there is no weakening of the material at this position. Rather, the bore extends coaxially into the cutting region and then in the radial direction in the region of the cutters and guide ribs which are to be cooled or to be lubricated. By the simple channel design, the bore geometry is very simple and consequently can be effected at low cost for the most varied types of friction, sinking and boring tools, even without taper screws. In addition to this, the cooling effect of the coaxial bore feeding the coolant through the tool shank can also be utilised.
In particular, the bore arrangement of the present invention makes it possible to cool and to lubricate even the guide ribs of such a tool, so that one ensures a smooth and trouble-free operation of the tool. Preferably, a discharge bore is associated with each guide rib. The coolant and lubricant can be supplied as desired, and the intermediate spaces between the guide ribs can be cleaned effectively of any remaining chip material, etc.
Preferably, the coaxial supply bore extends over the whole length of the cutting region. In this way, the coolant and lubricant are distributed over the whole cutting region and are supplied to the cutters or guide ribs at desired positions by way of the discharge bores.
A particularly good cooling and lubricating effect is achieved in the microfinishing tool according to the invention if a plurality of axially offset discharge bores are provided. The number and axial arrangement of the discharge bores can be chosen according to the mechanical and thermal load of the cutting region which is anticipated.
Preferably, the discharge bore issues into the chip space of an associated cutter. In this way, the coolant and lubricant goes directly to the cutter to be cooled and the chip material can be freed and carried away.
In one advantageous embodiment of the microfinishing tool according to the invention, the discharge bore associated with the guide rib leads outwards in the direction of rotation in advance of the guide rib, i.e. the coolant and lubricant goes directly to the associated guide rib.
Preferably, the branch bore is directed at an angle forwards. The coolant and lubricant stream can thus be directed to the cutting tip in a particularly simple manner.
In one embodiment of the microfinishing tool according to the invention, the branch bore and/or discharge bore associated with the guide rib has a smaller diameter than the bore associated with the cutter. In this way the cutter, which is subject to mechanically higher loads, is supplied with more coolant than the guide rib.
The microfinishing tool in accordance with the invention can be provided with one or more rigid cutters. It can also have one or more replaceable cutters and/or cutters mounted on a carrier. The cutter or cutters can be adjustable, i.e. it or they can be provided with a pre-cutting step.
In addition to one or more cutters provided at the periphery, an end cutter or an end cutting zone can be provided.
The taper screw can close off the axial coolant channel by its threaded end. This simplifies the manufacture of the tool, because the central bore for the cooling channel is then bored through right up to the tapered bore.
A matching to different cutter and guide rib shapes can advantageously be achieved if the taper screw has taper sections with different angles of taper. The cutters and guide ribs can be adjusted thus defined.
If the microfinishing tool according to the invention is provided with internal cooling, the axial coolant bore can issue into a distribution ring which is in front of the end of the taper screw opposite to the tip of the tool, and from which distribution ring the branch bores extend.
Suitable materials for the cutters of the microfinishing tool according to the invention are for example hard metal, cermet, ceramic, polycrystalline, natural or synthetic diamond, as thin film and thick film, or cubic boron nitride.
The guide ribs can consist of for example hard metal, cermet, ceramic, polycrystalline, natural or synthetic diamond, with or without coating.
In the microfinishing tool according to the invention one can arrange for the cutting head to be replaceable. In this way the tool can be utilised in a very versatile manner.
In one preferred embodiment of the invention the cutting head is fixed to the shank of the tool by means of a bayonet connection, or alternatively by means of a taper screw. Obviously, other adaptor connections are also possible.
The microfinishing tool according to the invention can have one, two, three or more cutters.
Preferably, at least one guide rib per cutter is provided. In one embodiment of a sinking and friction cutting tool, two guide ribs per cutter are provided.
The guide ribs are preferably provided between the cutters at the periphery. However, alternatively, a guide rib can be arranged axially offset relative to the associated cutter. In this way, the number of guide ribs per cutter and the desired guiding effect can be maintained in spite of greater numbers of cutters, and so a quiet, stable operation of the tool can be guaranteed in spite of high speeds of rotation and/or workpieces which are very hard.

Hartmetallwerkzeugfabrik Andreas Maier GmbH


A tool container (20, 520, 620) has a pair of clamshell housing members (22, 24, 422, 424) hingedly coupled to be moved between opened and closed positions. At least one of the members (22, 24, 422, 424) defines a cavity defined by a base (42, 44, 442, 444) and a wall (58, 60, 62, 64, 458, 460, 462, 464) extending from the base (42, 44, 442, 444), and a two-retaining insert (32, 34, 36, 37, 431, 433) is provided in the cavity. The insert (32, 34, 36, 37, 431, 433) and wall (58, 60, 62, 64, 458, 460, 462, 464) include alternating complementary dovetail tenons (74, 132, 474, 532) and recesses (76, 134, 476, 534) secure a tool-retaining insert in the cavity of the housing member (22, 24, 422, 424). The tool-retaining insert (32, 34, 36, 37, 431, 433) includes a number of tool-receiving recesses (120, 520, 620) therein with tool-receiving cradles (152, 552, 652) and various alternate retaining finger arrangements (124, 524, 525, 624) being provided for releasably retaining elongated tools (170, 570, 670) therein and for facilitating the ease of their removal. Such alternate arrangements including opposed pairs of tool-retaining fingers (124, 524, 525, 624) and split finger (624) configurations. A latch mechanism (28, 428) is included to releasably lock the pair of housing members (22, 24, 422, 424) in their closed position.

The present invention relates to tool containers and, more specifically, to containers which include inserts to retain the tools within the container.
Tool users, whether casual or professional, strive to maintain their tools in some type of organized fashion. Tool organization enables a user to readily find the desired tool, use it, and return it to its storage place. Thus, several types of tool containers have been provided to serve such a function.
While most previous tool containers work satisfactorily for their designed purpose, these containers have their drawbacks. One such drawback is that some containers are not rugged enough to withstand the day-to-day punishment to which a professional user subjects his tools. Also, the previous containers are often inordinately large, awkward or difficult to handle. Further, many previous containers do not provide an aesthetic appearance.
The present invention provides the art with a tool container that overcomes the above shortcomings and that is durable and easily used and manipulated by the user. The present tool case is rugged enough to withstand the daily use of a professional user, while providing a pleasing aesthetic appearance.
In accordance with the invention, a tool container comprises a pair of housing members pivotally coupled to open and close with respect to one another. At least one of such housing members define a recessed cavity for receiving tools such as drill bits, driver bits, or the like. The recessed cavity is preferably defined by a base and a peripheral wall extending generally perpendicularly or at least transversely from the base. One or more tool receiving inserts is permanently secured at any of a variety of positions in the housing. The insert has a surface mechanism to secure it to the housing member base or wall, which can be comprised of a plurality of alternating dovetail recesses and tenons on the insert and on the walls. The tenons on either the insert or the walls are received by opposing recesses on the other of the insert or the wall. The tenons preferably have a front face that is angled with respect to vertical at about one (1.degree.) degree. The recesses have a similar surface angled correspondingly to the front face of the tenon in order to lock the insert within the cavity. The tenons on either the housing member walls or the inserts can have generally vertically-extending rib or other protrusion to enhance the wedged, frictional interlock therebetween. Alternatively, the housing base may have a surface that has a plurality of discontinuities or that is "roughened". Likewise, the insert can also have a surface that has similar discontinuities or ribs or that is similarly "roughened" so that such surfaces of the inserts and the walls can be ultrasonically welded together or frictionally interlocked.
The pivotally attached housing members are preferably provided with a locking mechanism including a rail member on each housing member and a latch with a channel configuration for sliding on the rail members between locked and unlocked positions. The rail members, as well as the channel for receiving the rail, are both preferably arcuate in longitudinal and lateral directions. Further, the latch can include first and second indicia that are of contrasting colors and indicate locked and unlocked positions. Alternatively the "locked" and "unlocked" indicia can be formed on the container adjacent the latch. The preferred latch member is constructed of first inner and second outer members, with the first inner member providing rigidity and optionally including a portion which projects through the second outer member.
The tool receiving insert includes a body with a plurality of tool-retaining recesses with V-shaped tool-receiving cradles and tool-retaining finger portions that preferably self-orientate the tool bits in the cradle. The fingers, if necessary, rotate the tool bit to a proper orientation (either circumferentially or axially) to seat the tool bit with an apex of a hex-shaped tool bit within the apex of the V-shaped tool-receiving cradle. The V-shaped cradle preferably has one or more apertures dividing the cradle into two spaced V-shaped cradle portions. One or more pairs or sets of tool-retaining fingers are positioned adjacent this aperture to enable flexing of the fingers which, in turn, enables the fingers to spread apart to receive a tool bit being inserted into the V-shaped cradle. The fingers can be resilient and can include protrusions thereon to urge the tool into a snug, rattle-free engagement with the tool-retaining recesses and cradle portions. A wall portion or socket is provided at an end of the insert adjacent the tool receiving V-shaped cradles. The tools can be slid or snapped into and out of the tool-receiving recesses.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings.


A lumber testing apparatus incorporates opposed wedges to simultaneously exert tension and clamp forces on boards being tested. The inclined wedge surfaces utilize bearing materials and wedge angles selected to match the required clamp forces to tension forces on each board, without crushing the boards at high loads. This is accomplished by using bearing materials having a variable coefficient of friction under varying load conditions.

Loading lumber to stress levels at some factor above its design value is a useful method for proving its strength. Boards with naturally occurring strength-reducing characteristics such as knots and decay, or with distorted grain or man-made characteristics such as finger joints or machining inaccuracies, if severe enough, can be failed by loading them prior to use. By this method, substandard material can be removed from use, increasing the minimum strength in the population of surviving boards.
Because of lower costs, smaller force, and lack of a clamping requirement, most testing and research of lumber strength properties has been in bending. However, in many cases tension is the preferred strength property to prove or measure. Tension loading offers a more thorough test of all elements of the material cross-section than does bending. There is less risk of testing-induced incipient failures with tension than with bending. This includes the risk of causing compression wrinkles in lumber and the risk of weakening the outer fingers in the joints of horizontally finger-jointed material. In addition, the duration of maximum load is more easily controlled in the production line with tension than with bending test apparatus. In many cases of interest for structural lumber, such as for the lower chords of trusses, tension testing more nearly simulates the actual condition of use.
Any improvement in tension testing apparatus which reduces the cost and eases the clamp complexity will make tension testing more practical and thus bring it into more generally use. Because the clamping mechanism has been the most costly part of tension proof testing apparatus for lumber, it follows that clamp innovation is important.
The present disclosure presents an apparatus for gripping lumber with clamps such that the clamping force is not so high as to crush the material nor so low as to allow slippage when the tensile load is applied. This apparatus can be used for tensile testing of lumber to provide the strength of individual pieces of lumber or wood timers at high tensile loads. Tested material can be used with greater confidence in its reliability for critical structural applications. The tension testing apparatus can also be used for researching the tensile strength of materials and for production quality control testing.
To apply a tensile force to material such as lumber, one must first grip it sufficiently well at two places with clamps. When tensile force is applied, the clamps must not slip along the lumber surfaces. The tensile force that can be applied before slippage occurs is a function of the clamping force and the coefficient of friction at the wood/clamp interface. The condition that must be satisfied is: EQU T<2C.mu..sub.w
where T is the tensile force applied, C is the clamping force applied in the direction perpendicular to the wood/clamp interface, and .mu..sub.w is the coefficient of friction at the wood/clamp interface. The factor "2" enters this relation because there are two wood/clamp interfaces. Also important, when dealing with crushable material such as wood, is its crushing strength, or the amount of clamp pressure the wood material can sustain before it is crushed by the clamps.
For a given tensile force T to be allowed, one must make the friction .mu..sub.w and/or the clamping force C large enough so that the above relation is satisfied. But the clamping force C must not be so large as to cause crushing.
One method used in previous designs for increasing the friction has been to use serrated metal grip plates; then when clamp pressure is applied, the teeth bite into the material surface. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,556,480, 3,685,801, and 3,763,654 utilize this method for clamping material. Although serrated grip plates greatly increase the effective friction, they also cause damage to the surfaces of the test specimen.
The best clamp gripping surface presently known which does not cause damage to wood but yet has a reasonably high friction against wood is provided by a soft (70-90 durometer) polyurethane coating applied to a steel backing, the polyurethane serving as the gripping interface. The polyurethane-to-wood interface has enough friction to prevent slippage of the grips provided the force C is large enough. But, the range of acceptable forces is limited because crushing of boards will occur if the force is too large.
The acceptable clamp force range can be increased by increasing the clamp contact area. Practically, this is accomplished by increasing the length of the clamps. The tradeoff the length of the material clamped versus the length tested. Also, the larger the clamp area, the more difficult and expensive it is to apply a uniform clamping pressure over this area.
Test specimens of lumber that will sustain the higher tensile loads also will usually sustain higher clamp forces without crushing. Previous clamp designs have made use of this fact by using the same hydraulic pressure to actuate the clamp force that actuates the tensile force in a linear relationship. Then, as the tensile force increases, so also does the clamp force. The clamp force to tensile force ratio is controlled by choice of the actuating hydraulic cylinder areas. This method has proved to be technically acceptable, but it is very expensive because of the hydraulic apparatus required. It has also been observed experimentally with this type of equipment that for the higher tensile forces, the clamp force to tensile force ratio required to prevent slippage increases. To achieve the required ratio at high tensile forces, one must increase the ratio over the entire force range because the hydraulic cylinder areas cannot be adjusted in use.
Another method for achieving a constant clamp force to tensile force ratio uses a mechanical wedge arrangement so that with application of tesnile force, grip plates moving along the inclined planes of wedge members also move perpendicularly to the tensile force direction thereby causing a clamping force. The amount of clamping force is dependent on the angle of the inclined planes, the coefficient of friction between the grip plate/wedge member interfaces, and the tensile force applied. Use of wedges in one form or another can be found in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 839,784; 2,831,654; 2,989,337; 3,168,205; 3,170,322; 3,556,480; 3,685,801; 3,763,654; 3,774,352; 3,815,117; 4,050,675; 4,053,255; 4,208,045; 4,365,792; 4,410,169; and 4,506,871. The wedge clamp method for tension testing has been applied to off-line quality control testing of lumber and other wood products. Advantages of the mechanical wedge arrangement are that fewer parts are required, the inclined planes can be segmented and spread out over the gripping surfaces so that the clamp force is distributed over the grip area, the clamps can tolerate partial coverage of their lengths by the material being tested without damaging the clamp parts, and expensive hydraulic equipment is eliminated.
Disadvantages of prior art mechanical wedge clamps have been problems of friction. The lack of consistency of the coefficient of friction between the pressure plate and the indicated plane has caused inconsistency in the clamp force relative to the tensile force. Consequently, either the clamps sometimes slip on the wood, or the inclined plane angle is adjusted for a higher clamp force to tension force ratio than would otherwise be necessary. This in turn leads to wood fiber crushing problems. Another friction problem is that for the materials which have been used in the grip plate/wedge member interface, static friction is greater than dynamic friction. This can lead to clamp lockup at high force levels. When trying to unload the clamps, they can stick, sometimes requiring the use of sledgehammers to open them. When large tensile forces are applied at very low velocity, the resulting large static friction forces can prevent an increment of tensile force from causing a corresponding increment of clamping force. Thus, particularly at high force levels, slippage of wood in the clamps can occur.
The present invention utilizes a multiple split wedge clamping arrangement for tension testing of lumber. This arrangement uses polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) bearings between the moving and stationary wedge members to solve the friction problems that have been seen with other wedge clamps used for tension testing. The properties of PTFE bearings as used in the wedge clamps are uniquely matched to the clamping requirements of lumber provided that the bearing wedge angle and clamp area are properly chosen.
The objective of the invention is to provide a low cost, high reliable, low maintenance clamp apparatus for tension testing of lumber. Lumber can be crushed if subjected to too much clamp pressure, but will slip in the clamps if the clamping pressure and/or the coefficient of friction of the gripping surface against the wood is not sufficiently high.
Although PTFE sliding against steel has a relatively large coefficient of friction when compared with roller or ball bearings, its reduced coefficient of friction with increased load, its static values that are no higher than its dynamic friction values, and the designer's ability to choose its sliding contact bearing load area and wedge angle make PTFE an ideal solution as the bearing material between relatively moving wedge members in this application. Further, PTFE is a low cost solution and its natural viscoelastic deformation characteristics under load allow it to conform to manufacturing tolerances of less precision than are required for rolling bearings. The method described for computing bearing area causes large bearing pressures at rated tension load for the clamps. This is the minimum coefficient of friction situation and is shown to correspond to a maximum clamp-to-tension force ratio. Experimentally, higher clamp-to-tension force ratios are needed at high loads than at low loads to prevent slippage of lumber. The decreasing coefficient of friction with increasing load makes PTFE an ideal choice of bearing material to match the clamping force versus load requirements of lumber. Such matching requires proper choice of both bearing area and wedge angle according to the described procedure.
Another advantage of the wedge clamp apparatus with PTFE bearings is the absence of clamp lockup. Clamp lockup occurs as a result of "stiction" which occurs when the static coefficient of friction for a bearing material is larger than its dynamic coefficient of friction. Practically all bearing materials except PTFE exhibit some stiction.
Use of wedge clamps is more efficient in the production-line tension testing of lumber than the use of hydraulic clamps. For fast operation, hydraulic clamps need a separate low pressure, high flow hydraulic circuit for fast clamp action until the clamps contact the wood; then it is necessary to switch to high pressure and low flow. Accumulators, valving and controls to accomplish this are complex and expensive when compared to the simplicity of using an air cylinder or other simple low cost actuator for the "close" and "open" functions of the wedge clamping apparatus.


A method for processing data includes receiving a depth map of a scene containing a human hand, the depth map consisting of a matrix of pixels having respective pixel depth values. The method continues by extracting from the depth map respective descriptors based on the depth values in a plurality of patches distributed in respective positions over the human hand, and matching the extracted descriptors to previously-stored descriptors in a database. A pose of the human hand is estimated based on stored information associated with the matched descriptors.

A number of different methods and systems are known in the art for creating depth maps. In the present patent application and in the claims, the term "depth map" refers to a representation of a scene as a two-dimensional matrix of pixels, in which each pixel corresponds to a respective location in scene and has a respective pixel depth value, indicative of the distance from a certain reference location to the respective scene location. (In other words, the depth map has the form of an image in which the pixel values indicate topographical information, rather than brightness and/or color of the objects in the scene.) Depth maps may equivalently be referred to as 3D maps, depth images, or 3D images.
Depth maps may be created by various techniques, such as by detection and processing of an image of an object onto which a pattern is projected. Methods of depth mapping of this sort are described, for example, in PCT international Publications WO 2007/043036 A1, WO 2007/105205 and WO 2008/120217, as well as in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0007717, whose disclosures are incorporated herein by reference. Depth maps may alternatively be created by stereoscopic methods or by time-of-flight measurements, as well as by other methods that are known in the art.
Depth maps may be processed in order to segment, identify and localize objects and their components in the scene. Identification of humanoid forms (meaning 3D shapes whose structure resembles that of a human being) in a depth map, and the exact poses of these forms, which may change from frame to frame, may be used as a means for controlling computer applications. For example, PCT International Publication WO 2007/132451, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a computer-implemented method in which a depth map is segmented so as to find a contour of a humanoid body. The contour is processed in order to identify a torso and one or more limbs of the body. An input is generated to control an application program running on a computer by analyzing a disposition of at least one of the identified limbs in the depth map.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/0211754, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method for tracking body parts by combined color image and depth processing. A part of the body of a subject is identified in at least one of depth image of a scene containing a human subject and receiving a color image of the scene containing the human subject. A quality of both the depth image and the color image is evaluated, and responsively to the quality, one of the images is selected to be dominant in processing of the part of the body in the images. The identified part is localized in the dominant one of the images, while using supporting data from the other one of the images.
Documents incorporated by reference in the present patent application are to be considered an integral part of the application except that to the extent any terms are defined in these incorporated documents in a manner that conflicts with the definitions made explicitly or implicitly in the present specification, only the definitions in the present specification should be considered.

Learning-based estimation of hand and finger pose


Several embodiments include a method of operating a cache appliance comprising a primary memory implementing an item-wise cache and a secondary memory implementing a block cache. The cache appliance can emulate item-wise storage and eviction in the block cache by maintaining, in the primary memory, sampling data items from the block cache. The sampled items can enable the cache appliance to represent a spectrum of retention priorities. When storing a pending data item into the block cache, a comparison of the pending data item with the sampled items can enable the cache appliance to identify where to insert a block containing the pending data item. When evicting a block from the block cache, a comparison of a data item in the block with at least one of the sampled items can enable the cache appliance to determine whether to recycle/retain the data item.

A content delivery network (CDN) is a caching system comprising one or more cache appliances (e.g., computer servers or other computing machines) that are accessible to serve data to clients in a wide area network (WAN), for example, the Internet. A cache appliance can serve data temporarily stored therein on behalf of a data center or an application service system. Multiple cache appliances can be distributed in edge point of presences (PoPs). Popular content, e.g., a video or photo that is requested by many users, is cached as close to the users as possible. When a user requests content that is already cached, such access can be referred to as a "cache hit." It is important to have a high cache hit rate (e.g., per item and per byte), because it lowers the latency of delivering the content to the user, and also saves the bandwidth to fetch the requested content all the way from a source data center.
In some cases, a cache appliance has both a primary data storage and a secondary data storage. For example, a cache appliance can have a random access memory (RAM) and a flash drive. The flash drive may have a much higher capacity than the RAM. In some cases, flash drives have inherent limitations to operate on a block basis. For example, a typical driver of a flash drive may expose 256 MB blocks to a processor of the cache appliance. A block in the flash drive, once written, would then need to be entirely erased before any byte in the block can be changed. The flash drive itself is not aware of data items/objects (e.g., an image file) it stores. Each block has a limited number of erase cycles before it wears out physically. A large number of writes/erase operations would slow down the latency to read items from the cache appliance.
The figures depict various embodiments of this disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of embodiments described herein.

Item-wise simulation in a block cache where data eviction places data into comparable score in comparable section in the block cache


The present invention provides a method and system for verifying network credentials. To accomplish the invention, a network intermediary, located in a communication path between a client device and a content server, receives from the client device a request for content directed to the content server, wherein the request includes a device identifier and a password. The network intermediary responsively looks up a user identifier associated with the device identifier, modifies the request to include the user identifier, and then sends the modified request along to the content server. The content server receives the request and determines whether a combination of the device identifier and the user identifier exists within a dataset of known combinations. If it exists, the content server may validate the request by reference to the password. If not, the content server adds the combination to the dataset and requests a new password from the user.

When a user of a mobile device (or indeed any client device for that matter, whether or not mobile/wireless) uses the device to send a content request via a network to a content server, the device may conventionally pull from its cache an indication of the user's ID and password. The device may then automatically provide those parameters, together with a device ID, in the content request to the content server. Because the user may have previously entered the user ID and password into the device and the device may have cached those values, the device may pull and send this information in the background, without the user needing to actively enter the user ID and password each time content is requested. The cached values may be specific to the content server/URL at issue or may be more general.
With a mobile device, the user ID may be a Network Access Identifier (NAI), typically assigned to the mobile device in association with the user's mobile service plan. An NAI may take the form username@domain, such as email@example.com for instance. The device ID may be an ID that uniquely identifies the mobile device, such as an Electronic Serial Number (ESN).
A problem with this general arrangement is that a device may change hands from one user to another and thus from one user account to another. When a device switches to a new user account, a different username (e.g., NAI) would likely be associated with the new account. However, there is still a chance that the device may bear in its cache the old account's (old user's) user ID and password. Consequently, when the device sends a content request, the device may automatically include within the content request the old user ID and password (together with the device ID), unbeknownst to the new user (or perhaps even with the knowledge of the new user). Unfortunately, the content server that receives such a request is unlikely to know that the user ID and password are not those of the current user/account. Thus, the content server may grant access to the requested content or other network resources in response to the provided user ID and password. This result is undesirable. The present invention provides a solution to help overcome this problem.

Method and system for verifying network credentials


An apparatus for producing an improved friction-fused welded joint is provided for use with overlapping thermoplastic strap portions. In an embodiment, the gripper is caused to swing back and force with a sufficiently large stroke and with a sufficiently fast stroke to cause sufficient reciprocation to rapidly heat the thermoplastic so that the two straps are welded together while reducing the depth of the area that is melted compared to traditional methods. Also, in an embodiment, a method is provided for stopping the relative motion of the two portions of straps with the portions of the plastic straps oriented in the same aligned relative positions at the end of the welding operation as at the beginning is disclosed.

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
Some prior art patents are U.S. Pat. No. 3,554,846 R. J. BILLETT 1971, U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,346 Kazuo Maehara, 1978, U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,815 Derek A. Roberts, 1989; EP 1824738 B1, Steve Aemisegger, 2005, U.S. Pat. No. 8,070,039 B1, Stephen A. Johnson 2010, U.S. Pat. No. 8,181,841 B2, Stephen A. Johnson 2011, U.S. Pat. No. 8,376,210 B2, Stephen A. Johnson 2012.
The welding process typically involves pressing one of the two strap portions against the other strap portion, so that the two strap portions overlap one another, with a force to create pressure holding the two strap portions together. One of the two straps is rapidly moved relative to the other strap to generate friction at the area of interface between the two straps. The pressure and movement generate sufficient heat to cause the components to begin to melt. Once the two straps are melted at the point of contact, the movement of the two straps is terminated, and the two straps are allowed to cool down while under a pressure pushing the two strap portions together. As the straps cool down in this static condition, a welded joint is formed at the interface where the two strap portions contact one another. The welding process may be applied to polyester strap with 16 mm width and 1 mm thickness and breaking strength of about 650 kg, for example.
Conventionally produced welded joints in thermoplastic straps have found wide commercial acceptance in many applications. However, the welding process of creating such joints has limitations. Referring to FIG. 1, one of two straps typically, lower strap 41, is the stationary strap, is loaded with tension force P during the welding operation. The conventional welding process requires a certain period of time to melt the material in the contact area. In that period of time, portions deep within the lower strap warm up, which reduces the cool cross section and therefore dramatically lowers breaking strength of the lower portion of the strap. Consequently, most plastic strapping apparatuses do not allow the strap to be tensioned more than 35% of the breaking strength of the strap and therefore do not utilize all of the capability of this expensive strap.
There are known methods and apparatuses that attempt to locate the welding surfaces in a predetermined position, by for example, using a combination of (1) forces of inertia to increase stroke from zero to a maximum and (2) a spring return mechanism to return to the initial position. However, this method is not entirely satisfactory since spring mechanisms are not able to consistently and accurately provide the alignment required. Also, there are methods of using forces of inertia without a spring return mechanism, but the welding mechanism is far less reliable and stable without the spring return mechanism.
Also there are some devices that have a very reliable stroke adjusting mechanism, but this kind of mechanism is too heavy in weight and is expensive to produce. As a result of the weight of the very reliable stroke adjusting mechanisms, the very reliable stroke adjusting mechanisms can only be implemented in stationary strapping machines and are not suitable for a mobile, handheld, or portable strapping apparatus.
All of the above-described examples utilize the same idea of adjusting the stroke during the rotation of the driveshaft, which is still rotating is the same direction.

Method and apparatus for high speed plastic strapping welding


This specification discloses fiber additives for reinforcing matrix materials and an apparatus for forming the same, said fibers having flattened shanks terminated with egg-shaped nodules. The apparatus comprises a roller-former-cutter assembly that forms the fibers in a single operation from continuous filaments using compressive force and a unique cut-out and blade assembly. The fibers described are designed to have an increased pull-out resistance compared to other fiber morphologies.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fibers useful for reinforcing matrix materials, and more particularly to fibers having mechanically-created "bone shaped" morphologies characterized by weak surface interface bonding (allowing debonding & sliding) and locking end nodules which provide for load transfer along the length of the fiber, useful for enhanced strength, toughness, and overall performance in matrix materials such as asphalt, rubber, plastic, and particularly in such matrix materials as ready-mix concrete, shotcrete, and other hydratable cementitious compositions; and methods of forming such fibers.
2. Background of Prior Art
The fibers of the present invention are suitable for reinforcing a number of matrix materials, including asphalt, composites, plastics, etc. One of their primary intended uses is for reinforcing hydrated cementitious compositions such as ready-mix concrete, precast concrete, masonry concrete, shotcrete, bituminous concrete, gypsum and Portland cement-based composites, and other hydrated cementitious compositions. A major purpose of the fibers of the present invention is reinforcing concrete and concrete structures.
Concrete is typically a brittle material. When subjected to stresses exceeding its maximum tensile strength, cracks form and propagate in the concrete, eventually causing structural failure. The ability of a concrete structure to resist crack formation and propagation can be understood with reference to two properties: "strength" and "toughness."
Concrete "strength" relates to the initial ability of a cement or concrete structure to resist crack formation. Concrete strength is proportional to the maximum load that can be sustained without cracking. It is a measurement of the minimum load required to initiate cracking. "Toughness" relates to the ability of the concrete to resist propagation (widening) of a crack once the crack has been initiated. Toughness is proportional to the force required to propagate or widen a crack after it is initiated. Toughness is determined by concurrently measuring: a) the load required to deflect a fiber-containing concrete once a crack has formed, and b) the amount of deflection.
Fibers designed to boost absolute toughness are not new to the composites industry. They belong to a class of fibers known as 'macro' fibers, based on their relatively large size (typically greater than 25 mm in length). Most such fibers depend on adhesion along the full length of the fiber. A smaller sub-group of fibers, including the class into which the current invention falls, depend on formations at the end of the fibers that mechanically lock into the matrix, preventing fiber pull-out, and thereby increasing overall toughness. Such fibers are generally known as "bone shaped fibers," or BSF's. Los Alamos National Laboratory published literature on 'bone shaped fiber' morphology that inspired the inventor to develop the disclosed invention. Los Alamos National Laboratory abandoned fiber research due to loss of patentability and insufficient time to suggest production devices and processes. see Zhu-Byerlein [1] generally.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,953,953 (of Marsden) discloses a BSF-like fiber, describing fibers having "J"-shaped ends for resisting pull-out from concrete. One of the problems with stiff fibers having such physical deformities such as hooks or ripples is their propensity to form fiber to fiber entanglements, which poses problems in achieving uniform dispersion in a concrete mix, as well as problems with workability (slump). Other morphologies using crimped ends or ends with wave-like formations have similar problems.
The present invention is a BSF with a unique morphology comprised of a flattened rod (generally less than 50 mm long) terminated at each end by a prolate nodule. The flattened 'nodule to nodule' section of the rod is smooth and designed to be maximally free of adhesion to the host matrix. This allows for maximal crack bridging and load transfer over the entire length of the fiber. The overall shape of the prolate nodule resists mechanical fiber to fiber entanglement, resulting in it being more easily dispersed throughout a cementous hydrated concrete mix.
A uniformly flattened fiber (not a BSF) was disclosed by Rieder, et al., W. R. Grace U.S. Pat. No. 6,773,646. The fiber described in that invention was not a BSF, but was flattened over it's entire length, and micro-mechanically deformed for improved contact and adhesion with the matrix material. Although such deformation may improve pull-out resistance, the increased adhesion along the entire surface of the fiber results in a lack of load transfer over the entire length of the fiber, and fiber breakage at the crack interface, which in turn results less effective in crack bridging, load transfer, and overall toughness. Many other competitors add various wrinkles, abrasions, and other continuous modifications evenly distributed along the length of their fiber to encourage anchoring along the full length of he fibers to adhere to the matrix material, locking into the surface of the fiber. Fibers that depend on uniform 'full length of fiber' adhesion offer good initial crack mitigation up to certain levels of applied stress that is concentrated most often in a small zone along the fiber in the vicinity of the crack, but the subsequent rupture of the fiber will abruptly lower the toughness contribution that can be achieved by adhesion only methods. SI Concrete Systems (Synthetic Industries, Inc. USA), U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,630 (Banthia, et. al), acquired a crimped (rippled) sinusoidal patterned fiber that produces a controlled but somewhat less localized stress concentration at crack intersections than do the Reider (U.S. Pat. No. 6,773,646) or other straight fibers when mitigating cracking in a host matrix. The SI sinusoidal fiber is also continuously modulated along its full length. This fiber depends on localized stress concentration at points along the fiber length. Furthermore, the 'wavy pattern' leads to poor slump (workability), at high volume fractions, and ruptures versus pullout.
SI also obtained a 'paddle fiber', via Novocon, Inc., that is formed via a roll-forming flattened ends onto steel wire fibers. The paddle fiber is not a "bone shaped fiber" as described by Zhu-Byerlein, although designed to anchor at its ends in a manner similar to a BSF fiber. Many other fibers fall into the 'paddle fiber' anchor genera such as the Baeckert Dramix™ bent wire fiber, and the Royal Environmental. Inc. (Stacy, Minn., USA) bent wire fibers. The 'paddle fiber' patent expired recently thus the fiber and production methods are in the public domain. Bent wires encourage high stress concentrations at the bends thus encourage directional cracking, and the fibers sever upon post cracking induced failure in the matrix rather than pulling out with great difficulty while further not inducing energy uptake via the required uniform micro cracking.
In view of the disadvantages of the prior art as discussed above, the present inventors believe that a novel fiber for reinforcing matrix materials, and in particular hydratable cementitious materials such as concrete and shotcrete, are needed. Also needed are novel methods for making such fibers and for modifying such matrix materials.
The present invention improves the pull-out resistance of fibers from concrete while avoiding the kinds of mechanical or physical fiber attributes that might otherwise impede the ability of the fiber to be introduced into, and uniformly dispersed within, the concrete mix. The inventor applied artificial intelligence tools in determining the maximally effective geometry for the nodule-terminated, flat centered fibers described here. This geometry optimizes dispersability in the wet matrix material while maximizing the mechanical anchoring of the end nodule once the matrix has solidified.
One of the other impediments to the commercial production of viable BSF's is the inability to rapidly and reliably form the fibers while preserving the structural integrity and properties of the precursor material. The roller-former-cutter machine, which is the basis of the method of forming the fibers described herein, and is an integral component of my invention, solves this problem. The roll-forming machine receives as feedstock a plastic monofilament or metal wire precursor. The roll-former, in one embodiment, produces the fiber morphology described in the invention, i.e., flat in the middle and terminated at each end by a nodule. The nodules are formed by troughs in the surface of the two opposing rollers. The troughs run parallel to the rotational axis of the rollers. The nodules so formed retain for the most part the whole diameter or thickness of the precursor filament or wire, while the nodule-to-nodule connecting length is roll formed flat. The flattened aspect of the middle portion of the fiber also improves flexural properties, which in turn reduces fiber rupture failure when mitigating a crack which forms at an acute angle to fiber. Also embodied in the roll-former is a fiber cut-off component, consisting of a blade residing in the center of one of the nodule-forming troughs, and a corresponding anvil that resides in corresponding trough of the opposing roller. The invention enables roll-forming at high speed and low cost. No such roll-former exists that applies troughs machined in cylinders and fiber cut-off, concurrently. The combined roller-former and blade & anvil assembly roll against the precursor monofilaments (or other precursors) pinching them flat in the middle, forming nodules at the ends, and cutting to the fibers to length, leaving a nodule terminated fiber as a result.
3. Objects and Advantages
There are several objects and advantages of the disclosed invention. The described fiber morphology provides a multi-fold increase in toughness over competing fibers. Compared to other macrofibers whose toughness-increasing properties depend on surface area adhesion, the inventor's BSF's are designed to 'slip' away from the matrix along the length of their shank, thereby distributing force along their entire length, rather than only in the vicinity of crack formation. Considering two fibers with equal tensile strength, the fiber that distributes force along its entire length will be able to absorb much greater force than one that has the same force applied to the area near a crack. The result is increased post crack toughness of BSF's in general, and the disclosed fiber in particular.
Compared to BSF's in prior art, the inventor's fiber has several advantages. Fibers with hook-shaped ends, "J"-shaped ends, ripples, waves, twists, or other such deformities tend to tangle with one another, leading to problems in distribution throughout the matrix, along with problems in workability. The inventor's fiber achieves the mechanical anchoring necessary to anchor to the matrix, while not being shaped in such a matter as to cause them to ball up or tangle with one another.
The disclosed invention is a true bone-shaped-fiber, the nodules of which have a smaller cross sectional area than their flattened shanks. This provides a distinct advantage over paddle-shaped fibers, whose ends have a smaller cross sectional area than their shanks. While paddle shaped fibers may function when made of steele, when made of polyolefin materials the paddle shaped ends do not provide the necessary mechanical anchoring to maximize post crack toughness. The ability to utilize polyolefins and other hydrophobic precursor materials is a key to achieving even distribution throughout a cementitious mix. In addition, polyolefins and other such plastic fiber precursors have the required ability to de-bond and 'slide' from the matrix along their shanks, allowing for maximal crack bridging and load transfer over the entire length of the fiber, which in turn leads to the increased toughness of the fiber-filled matrix.
The manufacturing method utilizing the roller-former-cutters disclosed by the inventor are a novel and unique invention that make high speed, high volume formation of bone shaped fibers possible. Other methods disclosed in prior art are either impractical for high volume fiber production, do not form bone-shaped-fibers, and/or are not practical for use with polyolefin or other plastic monofilament precursor materials.
In view of the disadvantages of the prior art as discussed above, the present inventors believe that a new fiber for reinforcing matrix materials (particularly hydrated cements such as concrete and shotcrete) is needed, along with a method for manufacturing such fibers. The invention presents a simple, practical, method of reliably forming functional bone shaped reinforcement members from monofilament or wire precursor materials.


A VTOL/STOL free wing aircraft includes a free wing having wings on opposite sides of a fuselage connected to one another respectively adjacent fixed wing inboard or center root sections fixedly attached to the fuselage for free rotation about a spanwise access. Horizontal and vertical tail surfaces are located at the rear end of a boom assembly rotatably connected to the fuselage. A gearing or screw rod arrangement controlled by the pilot or remote control operator selectively relatively pivots the fuselage in relation to the tail boom assembly to enable the fuselage to assume a tilted or nose up configuration to enable VTOL/STOL flight.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is depicted a STOL/VTOL free wing aircraft 10 of the invention disclosed in the aforementioned co-pending application, which comprises a fuselage 12, a tail section 14 and a free wing 16 with a propulsion system including an engine 18 at the forward end of the fuselage for driving a propeller 20. As used in this present specification, a free wing or "freewing" is a wing attached to an aircraft fuselage in a manner such that the wing is freely pivotable about its spanwise axis forward of its aerodynamic center. This arrangement enables the wing to have an angle of attack which is determined solely by aerodynamic forces acting on the wing. Rotation of the wing, without pilot intervention, induced by changes in the direction of relative wind over the wing surfaces, causes the angle of incidence between the wing and the aircraft fuselage to vary so that the wing presents a substantially constant angle of attack to the relative wind which, in horizontal flight, enables the aircraft to be essentially stall free.
The free wing 16 is free to rotate or pivot about its spanwise axis 22 forward of its aerodynamic center. Free wing 16 includes left and right wings 16a and 16b extending from opposite sides of fuselage 12; these wings are coupled together to collectively freely pivot about axis 22. The left and right wings 16a,16b may be adjustable in pitch relative to one another as disclosed in the aforesaid application, the relevant disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. Aircraft 10 further includes rudders 24 and elevators 26 in tail section 14 which may be controlled in a conventional manner for yaw and pitch control, respectively. Further, while a single propeller for the propulsion system is illustrated at 20 in FIG. 1, it will be appreciated that other types of propulsion systems may be utilized, such as counter-rotating propellers and multi-engine arrangements attached to the fuselage. As used in this present specification, the term "common propulsion system" means the same propulsion system for supplying the necessary thrust for both horizontal and vertical flight operations and is not necessarily limited to a single thrust producing system, such as a single propeller, but could include multiple thrust producing systems such as a pair of engines driving separate propellers, provided that the multiple thrust producing systems are used for supplying thrust in both vertical and horizontal flight modes.
The operation of the VTOL free wing aircraft 10 is as follows. At launch, the aircraft 10 is mounted in a vertical orientation such as depicted in FIG. 1, on a rail system schematically depicted at 60. Rail system 60 may comprise simply a guide or a track with complementary guide or track following members on the aircraft 10 for guiding the aircraft from vertical movement for a limited initial predetermined distance at lift-off. With the engine started and propeller backwash providing an air flow over the wings 16a,16b, aircraft 10 lifts off of launch rail 60. Catapult assists may be provided. Yaw and pitch controls are maintained by rudder 24 and elevator 26, respectively. Roll control is achieved by differential setting of the pitch of the free wings 16a,16b under pilot or computer control or remote control from a remote controller station (not shown). The air flow over wings 16a,16b provides dynamic forces on the wings to control the roll of the aircraft 10 during launch. The wings 16a,16b at launch are freely rotatable and the dynamic pressure on all control surfaces as a result of backwash from the propulsion system is intended to allow roll, pitch and yaw control over the aircraft 10 during the initial phases of vertical launch.
To transition from vertical to horizontal flight, the pilot, computer or remote controller gives a down elevator signal, causing the fuselage to pitch toward a horizontal orientation. By pitching the fuselage, the thrust vector also inclines from the vertical and thus has a horizontal thrust component. As the fuselage pitches toward the horizontal, the horizontal speed of the aircraft increases, causing the freely rotatable wing 16 to rotate relative to the fuselage in accordance with the relative wind. The effects of the relative wind acting on the freely rotating wing 16a,16b quickly overcome the effects of the airflow over the wings from the propulsion system and, with increasing horizontal speed, the wing develops lift. The aircraft 10 soon transitions into horizontal flight in a free wing flight mode.
Should the aircraft 10 lose power during launch or vertical flight, the aircraft will rapidly and automatically transition into a horizontal flight mode with minimum altitude loss. When power is lost, free wing 16 weathervanes into the new relative wind, which would appear to the wing to be coming vertically upwardly from the ground, and thus obtains a leading edge down orientation while the fuselage will be oriented into the relative wind by the action of the rudder and elevators. Because the free wings use positive pitching moment airfoils, the aircraft will quickly transition itself into stable level flight.
During horizontal flight, pitch, yaw and roll control are provided by the elevators, rudders and differentially pivoted wings 16a and 16b. Ailerons may be provided on wing 16 if desired.
To transition from horizontal to vertical flight, the reverse procedure is employed. That is, an up elevator command is given to rotate the fuselage toward a vertical orientation with its nose pointed upwardly. Horizontal speed is thus decreased and a vertical thrust vector is introduced. Accordingly, the relative wind changes and the free wing and fuselage ultimately both rotate into a vertical orientation. If the aircraft resists slowing and does not reduce its forward or horizontal speed sufficiently, the fuselage, by operation of the elevator, could be rotated past vertical so that the thrust line serves as a thrust reverser, slowing the aircraft past stall. Alternatively, the mechanism of prior co-pending application Ser. No. 07/795,329, filed Nov. 20, 1991, entitled "Lockable Free Wing Aircraft," the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, may be utilized. That is, the wing could be locked to the fuselage before rotating the fuselage up. By stalling the aircraft and, hence, achieving a reduction to zero forward horizontal air speed, followed by release to the free wing state upon stalling, the aircraft may be positioned in the vertical orientation. A further alternative to reduce horizontal speed while transitioning from horizontal to vertical flight is to provide wing devices such as spoilers or elevators at the trailing edge of the wing. Still further, a canard could be located in the nose of the fuselage to provide leverage to the fuselage to transition to the vertical. A canard, of course, could be recessed within the nose of the aircraft and displaced outwardly of the aircraft at the time of the transition to leverage the fuselage upwardly. The canard, of course, in any event could be a free wing or fixed. Once vertical or near vertical flight is achieved, the pitch, roll and yaw commands again control the position of the aircraft to a location directly over a net 66. When located over the net, the engine is turned off and the aircraft drops into the net.
Since the tail section is fixed to the fuselage and thereby immovable relative to the longitudinal axis and the thrust axis of the fuselage, relatively sophisticated launch (take-off) and recovery (landing) systems are necessary, such as the launch rail system 60 mentioned above for take-off, and netted recovery systems to land the VTOL aircraft 10 such as depicted in FIG. 6 of the prior application, said drawing figure and related written description being incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. In the alternative, extremely long and complex landing gear extending downwardly below the tail section 14 in the vertical flight mode of FIG. 1 would be necessary for STOL and VTOL operations. This type of landing gear (e.g., a so-called moon rocket landing gear) would be extremely expensive and effective for use only on substantially level terrain.
It is accordingly one object of the present invention to provide a free wing aircraft having vertical and short take-off and landing capabilities (STOL/VTOL) and which does not require external launch and recovery systems.
Another object is to provide a STOL/VTOL free wing aircraft having a thrust line movable between vertical and horizontal orientations without affecting the relative horizontal positioning of at least flight control surfaces located in the tail section to enable use of relatively non-complex and short landing gear.

STOL/VTOL free wing aircraft with articulated tail boom


A semiconductor storage device includes: a memory cell array having memory cells; and a control circuit configured to apply a first voltage to a selected one of first wirings as well as a second voltage to a selected one of second wirings. The control circuit includes: a signal output circuit configured to output a first signal based on a first current flowing through a selected memory cell and a reference current; and a current retaining circuit configured to retain a second current flowing through the first wirings or a wiring electrically connected to the first wirings during a certain period of time. The signal output circuit is configured to determine the first current based on the second current retained by the current retaining circuit. The control circuit is configured to stop application of the first voltage to the first wirings based on the first signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor storage device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Resistive memory has attracted increased attention as a likely candidate for replacing flash memory. As described herein, it is assumed that the resistive memory devices include Resistive RAM (ReRAM), in a narrow sense, that uses a transition metal oxide as a recording layer and stores its resistance states in a non-volatile manner, as well as Phase Change RAM (PCRAM) that uses chalcogenide, etc., as a recording layer to utilize the resistance information of crystalline states (conductors) and amorphous states (insulators).
It is known that the variable resistance elements in resistive memory have two modes of operation. One is to set a high resistance state and a low resistance state by switching the polarity of the applied voltage, which is referred to as "bipolar type". The other enables the setting of a high resistance state and a low resistance state by controlling the voltage values and the voltage application time, without switching the polarity of the applied voltage, which is referred to as "unipolar type".
To achieve high-density memory cell arrays, the unipolar type is preferable. This is because that the unipolar type solution enables, without transistors, cell arrays to be configured by superposing variable resistance elements and rectifier elements, such as diodes, on respective intersections between bit lines and word lines. Moreover, large capacity may be achieved without an increase in cell array area by arranging such memory cell arrays laminated in a three-dimensional manner (see Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2002-541613).
For unipolar-type ReRAM, data is written to a memory cell by applying, for a short period of time, a certain voltage to a variable resistance element. As a result, the variable resistance element changes from a high resistance state to a low resistance state. The operation of changing a variable resistance element from a high resistance state to a low resistance state is hereinafter referred to as the "set operation". On the other hand, data is erased from a memory cell MC by applying, for a long period of time, a certain voltage that is lower than that applied in the set operation to a variable resistance element in its low resistance state after the set operation. As a result, the variable resistance element changes from a low resistance state to a high resistance state. The operation of changing a variable resistance element from a low resistance state to a high resistance state is hereinafter referred to as the "reset operation". For example, a memory cell takes a high resistance state as a stable state (reset state) and data is written to the memory cell by such a set operation that causes a reset state to be switched to a low resistance state for binary storage.
In reset operation, a voltage greater than a certain voltage should be applied to a memory cell including a variable resistance element, taking into account the voltage drop due to the parasitic resistance of the entire path along which a reset current flows. In that case, the voltage applied in reset operation will exceed that required for set operation of the memory cell, which may result in erroneous set operation of the memory cell after the completion of the reset operation.