A flexible circuit includes a flexible non-conductive substrate having a first surface and a second surface. A first electrically conductive trace is provided on the first surface and a second electrically conductive trace is provided on the second surface. A passage extends through the substrate from an end of the first trace to an end of the second trace. The passage includes a beveled opening of a first size formed in the first side and axially aligned with a second beveled opening of the first size formed in the second side. The first and second openings are interconnected by an aperture axially aligned therewith and being of a second size less than the first size. An electrically conductive surface is provided on the passage for electrically interconnecting the first trace and the second trace.

The disclosures herein relate generally to flexible circuits and more particularly to conductive vias provided to interconnect circuit traces on opposite side of the circuit substrate.
The current trend in packages for integrated circuits is to use automated forms of lead bonding such as tape automated bonding (TAB) and flip chip techniques as opposed to the more traditional method of wire bonding. This trend stems from the requirement for increased number of inputs and outputs (I/O) in a package as well as improved reliability, enhanced electrical signal performance and increased yields. To meet these demands, flip-chip packages and multi-chip modules employing flip-chip bonding techniques are beginning to replace more conventional packaging architectures.
Double sided circuits typically are fabricated by forming a conductive pattern on opposing sides of a planar dielectric material and interconnecting the opposing conductive layers with conductive vias. Various processes and techniques, generally involving conventional photolithographic methods, are used to form the conductive circuit patterns on double sided circuits. Photolithographic techniques for forming conductive circuits are explained and well documented in electronic packaging handbooks and in patent literature, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,008. Various well-known methods are also used to form vias in the dielectric which separates the conductive layers. Common via forming methods include mechanically punching, drilling, laser ablation, chemical (wet) or plasma etching. These methods have been commonly used to form straight, vertical sidewalls, which terminate at a 90-degree angle with the opposite surfaces of the dielectric material as well as low aspect ratio tapered wall vias. After the via holes are formed in the dielectric, additional processing steps take place to electrically connect the circuit patterns on either side of the dielectric through the via holes. Thus, the vias serve as conductive feedthroughs or conductive through holes.
Although the above mentioned techniques as well as many other methods are available to create the dielectric holes which serve as the openings for the conductive feedthroughs between layers, these methods create vias which have one or more limitations. Foremost among the limitations associated with prevailing via types is the shape of the vias. Common via shapes, with high aspect ratios, serve to both generate and accelerate the accumulation and concentration of the forces which induce stress into the surrounding circuit features. This induced stress often causes premature brittle cracking and failure of the metallic conductors and or causes the conductors to delaminate from the dielectric. Many conventional methods have been tried in the efforts to eliminate these types of stress failures. Some of these methods are described or referenced in U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,541.
Although many methods exist which attempt to eliminate stress failures, they have had only limited success at doing so. As mentioned, the stress generating and stress concentrating nature of conventional vias are due to the problematic shape of the vias. Conventional via shapes do not successfully alleviate the effects of Z-axis movement of the materials used in the construction of the vias. Movement in the Z-direction is distinctly different for all of the materials used in the construction of double sided circuits and vias, and this mismatch of the physical properties of these materials is the source of the stress, often severe, which in turn causes the circuit to fail.
Copper is the most common conductive metal used as the electrical feedthrough in the via. Copper has a well known thermal coefficient of expansion of 17 ppm/.degree.C. In the construction of double sided circuits, copper may be applied (laminated, vapor deposited, etc.) to any number of different types of dielectric materials. Among the more common dielectric materials are polyimide, FR4, BT resin, etc. Polyimide is typical of these dielectric materials in that there are many different types of polyimide which can be either flexible or rigid. Z-axis values of the thermal coefficient of expansion of the commercially available polyimides used to construct double sided circuits are in the ranges of 120 to 140 ppm/.degree.C. Therefore, this substantial difference in the thermal coefficients of expansion of copper and polyimide can cause extremely high stresses in and around the via, especially at the 90 degree angle where the via sidewall intersects the opposite surfaces of the dielectric material. These stresses are cyclic and extremely high in value relative to the tensile strength of the copper. The cyclic nature of the stresses serves to work harden the copper at a point at which the tensile forces in the copper is at a maximum. Over time, often a relatively short time, the tensile strength of the copper decreases due to work hardening. Finally, the copper cracks and ruptures at the 90 degree angle and the circuit fails mechanically and electrically.
Although mismatches of thermal expansion coefficients in the Z direction are the source of much stress associated with conductive vias, there are also many other causes of stress. Some of these stresses are caused by differences in hygroscopic expansion between the metal and the organic substrate, and differences in expansion caused by solvents, organic or otherwise, used in the manufacture, processing, or handling of multilayer circuits, etc.
The many causes of stress in a circuit having vias with conductive feedthroughs, and the poor ability of conventional double sided circuits with conducive vias to effectively limit the effects of the stresses, have therefore created a need for a multilayer circuit, with interconnecting vias which is inherently resistant to the deleterious effects of Z-axis movement and associated stress.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,097 discloses a method for making conductive feedthroughs in silicon wafer interposers utilized in silicon wafer multi-chip modules. The feedthroughs are in a silicon wafer substrate rather than the polymeric substrate of a flexible circuit. Due to the conductivity of doped silicone, the feedthroughs must be electrically isolated from each other by applying a layer of dielectric material within the feedthroughs prior to metallizing them. The inherent dielectric properties of a polymeric flexible circuit substrate preclude the need to electrically isolate the feedthroughs. Furthermore, the feedthroughs are fabricated with an anisotropic etching process called orientation-dependent-etching (ODE) such that a high aspect ratio of 400:1 is attained. This type of anisotropic wet etching process relies on the crystal structure of the silicon wafer to provide for such a high aspect ratio. Wet etching of feedthroughs in polymeric flexible circuit substrates are anisotropic but the polymeric material does not permit aspect rations attainable with an ODE etching process.
Therefore, what is needed is a flexible circuit suitable for flip chip and wire bond applications having high I/O's. Moreover, the need for methods of manufacturing a flexible circuit which is capable of meeting increased I/O requirements, at an economical yet reliable fashion, also continues to exist.

Flexible circuit with conductive vias having off-set axes


Systems and methods for virtual collaboration between participants in remote locations are provided. A system can include a computing device, a display, a plurality of cameras, a microphone, at least one speaker or headset, a sensor, and a computer-readable medium having software stored thereon for generating a virtual roundtable experience for the user.

Video conference calling allows individuals in remote locations to interact and conduct business via electronic communication. Through video conference calling, businesses can eliminate travel costs and increase efficiency by meeting employees and customers in a virtual environment. However, current video conferencing techniques require dedicated physical space, and installation of purpose-specific and/or permanent video conferencing equipment.

The Florida International University Board of Trustees


Disclosed is a secondary battery including a positive electrode including a current collector coated with a positive electrode mixture that includes a positive electrode active material; a negative electrode including a current collector coated with a negative electrode mixture that includes a negative electrode active material; and an electrolyte solution including a lithium salt and a non-aqueous solvent, wherein the negative electrode includes a carbon-based material and a silicon-based compound, and the non-aqueous solvent includes cyclic carbonate and/or a linear solvent. The secondary battery exhibits superior lifespan characteristics and safety.

As mobile device technology continues to develop and demand therefor continues to increase, demand for secondary batteries as energy sources is rapidly increasing. Among these secondary batteries, lithium secondary batteries which exhibit high energy density and voltage, long lifespan and low self-discharge rate are commercially available and widely used.
In existing lithium secondary batteries, a lithium cobalt composite oxide having a layered structure is generally used in a positive electrode, and a graphite-based material is generally used in a negative electrode. However, cobalt, as a constituent of the lithium cobalt composite oxide, is very expensive, and use of the lithium cobalt composite oxide in electric vehicles is not suitable due to unsatisfied safety thereof. In addition, the lithium cobalt composite oxide has difficulties in exhibiting high capacity according to energy density increase.
Accordingly, as a positive electrode active material, use of lithium-containing manganese oxides such as LiMnO2 having a layered crystal structure, LiMn2O4 having a spinel crystal structure and the like, and lithium-containing nickel oxides such as LiNiO2 is also under consideration. In addition, as a negative electrode active material, a carbon-based material is mainly used, and, recently, a mixture of SiO having 10 times or higher effective capacity than that of the carbon-based material is under consideration due to demand increase for high-capacity secondary batteries.
However, lithium secondary batteries have various problems. For example, some lithium secondary batteries have problems related with characteristics in manufacturing and operating a negative electrode.
For example, in an initial charge and discharge process (activation process) of a carbon-based negative electrode active material, a solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer is formed on a surface of the negative electrode active material and, accordingly, initial irreversibility is induced. In addition, an SEI layer is collapsed in a continuous charge and discharge process and an electrolyte solution is depleted in a regeneration process, whereby a battery capacity is reduced.
Furthermore, when a carbon-based material and SiO are mixed, problems according to SEI layer formation can worsen with increasing cycle number because SiO causes greater electrode expansion, compared to the carbon-based material.
So as to address such problems, it was attempted to form an SEI layer having far stronger binding force, to form an oxide layer or the like on a surface of a negative electrode active material, or the like. However, such an SEI layer does not exhibit commercially applicable characteristics due to electrical conductivity decrease by the oxide layer, productivity decrease by an additional process, etc.
In addition, an additive may be added to an electrolyte solution. However, a main object of an electrolyte solution additive conventionally used is to prevent side products generated during charge and discharge.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for technology to fundamentally resolve such problems.

Secondary battery including silicon-based compound


The invention is directed to corrosion and wear resistant metallic coatings containing nickel, boron, and thallium. The coatings are preferably deposited on catalytically active substrates from an electroless coating bath containing nickel ions, a mixture of thallium nitrate and thallium sulfate as a stabilizer, a metal ion complexing agent, and a borohydride reducing agent, at a pH of about 10 to about 14.

This invention relates to novel metal coatings, which exhibit exceptional hardness. More particularly this invention relates to metal coatings containing nickel, boron and thallium to the reductive deposition of said coatings on the surfaces of substrate articles from aqueous solutions at an alkaline pH.
The plating or deposition of metal alloys by chemical or electrochemical reduction of metal ions on the surface of an article to modify its surface characteristics for both decorative and functional purposes is well known in the art. Of particular commercial significance is the deposition of metal/metal alloy coatings on both metal and activated non-metal substrates to enhance surface hardness and resistance to corrosion and wear. Nickel-boron and cobalt-boron alloy coatings are recognized in the art for their hardness and associated wear-resistance. The patent literature reflects an ongoing research and development effort in the area of nickel-boron coatings with the goal of producing still harder, more corrosion resistance coatings from a stable bath. For example, see, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,019,163; 3,738,849; 3,674,447; 3,432,338; 3,378,400; 3,045,334; and 2,726,170. The art has recognized that when a borohydride reducing agent is used in a nickel/boron-plating bath a harder coating is achieved. However, borohydride, is very unstable in the bath. The solution to the stability problem has been to add stabilizers such as thallium salts such as thallium sulfate, or lead chloride to control the instability of the borohydride. The addition of stabilizers requires balancing the need for a proper plating rate with the need to control the stability of the borohydride. An over stabilized bath tends to plate slowly and co-deposit thallium in the coating.
The addition of the stabilizers created a new problem in the art by interfering with the formation of the nickel coating. During the formation of the nickel coating the stabilizer would co-deposit in the nickel coating thereby negatively impacting the hardness of the coating. In the case of thallium the hardness of the coating begins to decrease as the concentration of the thallium goes over three percent in the nickel coating.
As the bath ages there is a need to continuously add even additional thallium to achieve stability of the nickel/boron bath. During normal operation of the bath, boron and thallium salts are added every thirty minutes. As the bath ages the amount of thallium needed to stabilize the boroydride increases. This increase in concentration of thallium in the bath causes the concentration of the thallium in the nickel coating to increase. In a typical prior art bath such as Bellis or Klien the amount of thallium in the nickel coating can vary by as much as 50% over a two hour period of production. As the thallium concentration in the coating approaches 4% the hardness of the coating will be reduced by approximately 25%.
This invention solves the problem in the art of controlling the amount of thallium codeposited in the nickel coating as the bath ages while at the same time allowing for an acceptable plating rate. The inventor has discovered that by selecting a mixture of thallium sulfate and thallium nitrate the co-deposition of thallium in the nickel coating can be less than 4% as the bath ages. Preferably, thallium in the nickel coating can be less than 3% as the bath ages. At the same time the plating rate can be maintained at 1 mill per hour.
It is therefore a general object of this invention is to provide a method of electroless plating an article of manufacture or at least a portion of its surface with a hard, ductile, wear and corrosion resistant metal coating comprising both nickel, boron, and thallium from a bath containing a mixture of thallium sulfate and thallium nitrate so that the thallium codeposited in the coating is below 4%. Preferably the thallium codeposited in the coating is below 3%. And at the same time the plating rate can be maintained at 1 mill per hour.
An object of this invention is to provide improved metal alloy coating composition containing both nickel and boron and a mixture of thallium sulfate and thallium nitrate.
Another object of this invention is to provide coating baths from which a hard, ductile, wear and corrosion resistant coating can be deposited on at least a portion of the surface of a metal or activated non-metal substrate.

Coating compositions containing nickel and boron


A method is provided wherein semiconductor device includes a package, a semiconductor chip provided on the package, an intermediate layer formed on the package, an adhesive layer formed on the intermediate layer, and a lid formed on the adhesive layer and sealing the semiconductor chip. The intermediate layer contains a major component which is the same as a major component of the package. The method includes screen printing the intermediate layer on a predetermined area of the package and the formation of a roughened surface by sintering the intermediate layer. The major component comprises, among other materials, alumina or alumina and glass.

The present invention generally relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to an improvement in adhering structural elements, such as a package and a cover, to each other. Further, the present invention is concerned with a method of producing such a semiconductor device.
Recently, semiconductor chips of large sizes have been used in order to realize a high integration density. As the semiconductor chip size increases, a package which accommodates a semiconductor chip also increases. A lid (which is also referred to cap or cover) is, for example, adhered to a stage surface of the package by an adhesive. It is necessary to obtain a sufficient strength of an adhesive portion between the package and the lid, particularly when the package accommodates a large-size semiconductor chip.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a conventional frit seal type semiconductor device 1. FIG. 2 is an enlarged diagram of a portion surrounded by the chain line shown in FIG. 1. The semiconductor device 1 is composed of a ceramic package 2, a semiconductor chip 3 on which integrated circuits are formed, a lid 4 and a glass layer 5. The ceramic package 2 has a recess portion in which the semiconductor chip 3 is accommodated. The lid 4 is adhered to a stage (upper) surface of the ceramic package 2 by the glass layer 5. Generally, as the chip size increases, a weight applied to the lid 4 is varied in order to improve reliability of sealing the semiconductor device.
The applicants conducted a thermal shock test based on an MIL standard, MIL-STD-883C 1011 COND.A, in which samples of the semiconductor device 1 shown in FIG. 1 are alternately placed into a chamber maintained at 0.degree. C. and a chamber at 100.degree. C. The results of the thermal shock test are shown in Table 1, which will be shown later. When the thermal shock operation was repeatedly carried out about 300 times, a crack took place in a portion of the glass layer 5 along a peripheral edge of the lid 4 of each of all the samples. This means that the adhesive strength between the glass layer 5 and the ceramic package 2 is not sufficient and the adhesive portion is weak in thermal shocks.
The reasons are considered as follows. The stage surface 2a of the ceramic package 2 has a roughness between about 0.3 and 0.4 when it is expressed by a center line average roughness Ra. As is known, the center line average roughness Ra is defined as Ra=(1/l).intg..sub.o.sup.1 .vertline.f(x).vertline.dx where x represents the direction of a center line, 1 is a measurement length, and f(x) (=y) is a roughness curve. Thus, a sufficient anchoring effect is not obtained. A meniscus portion 5a (peripheral taper portion) of the glass layer 5 is a convex portion. As a result, a portion of the glass layer 5 outward extending from the edge of the lid 4 does not meet or exceed a sufficient length `a`, and thus the adhesion area is small. Further, the difference between the coefficient of thermal expansion of the ceramic package 2 and the coefficient of thermal expansion of the glass layer 5 affects the occurrence of cracks. Similar problems occur between the semiconductor chip 3 and the package 2.

Method for producing a semiconductor device having an improved adhesive structure


A generally U-shaped casing includes cooperating frameworks slidably mounted relative to one another to effect spacing of confronting channels to accommodate variations in construction to employ threaded adjuster structure to effect such spacing.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to construction framework organizations, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved door and window casing assembly wherein the same is arranged to adjustably accommodate variations in thickness accepting the casing structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In construction of various buildings, the building will confront various wall thicknesses. To effect such accommodation, the instant invention is addressed to effect an adjustment to accommodate such different and varying thicknesses. Prior art window casing structure has heretofore not addressed this issue in a manner to effect a compact and effective cooperation of components as indicated by the instant invention, wherein such prior art is exemplified in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,439,965; 4,909,005; 3,774,345; and 4,443,984.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a new and improved door and window casing assembly as set forth by the instant invention which addresses both the problems of ease of use as well as effectiveness in construction and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A memory card reading/writing apparatus, access method, program and storage medium thereof, that have a psychological security function, or in other words a mild security function and that make it possible to perform various kinds of management of the memory card even when the memory card is lost. In the memory card reading/writing apparatus of this invention, an apparatus-user-information-acquisition unit acquires apparatus-user information from a memory unit that stores apparatus-user information that identifies the user of the memory card reading/writing apparatus. Also, a memory-card-user-information-acquisition unit acquires the main-memory-card-user information from the memory card that identifies the main user of the memory card. A user-information-comparison unit compares the two kinds of information, and outputs a comparison result. An output unit outputs specific output based on the comparison result.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a memory card reading/writing apparatus that access information stored on a removable memory card, and more particularly to a memory card reading/writing apparatus that has a function for determining the owner of the memory card.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as semiconductor memories have been made more compact and mobile, and their capacity increased, memory cards have become known as a compact memory medium that can be conveniently carried and can store all kinds of data such as text files, audio contents, video contents and the like. Moreover, by taking advantage of their feature of being small in size, the memory cards can be installed in portable devices such as audio players, digital still cameras, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), etc. For example, an SD (Secure Digital) memory card is well known as this type of memory card.
Currently, this kind of memory card is relatively expensive, so the owner (user) does not normally transfer or distribute their memory cards to others.
It can be expected that memory cards will become less expensive in the future. That is apparent when looking at other widely used media such as FDs (Floppy Disks (R)) or CD-R.
In that kind of situation, memory cards could easily transferred to others, or it is feasible that they could be shared among a specific group. For example, memory cards could be used for neighborhood bulletins that are circulated among members of the neighborhood, or in an 'exchange-diary' that is kept among friends.
Also, depending on the type of recorded data, for example audio data, video data, text files or the like, it is also conceivable that one person may have a plurality of memory cards.
However, in the case of use where the memory card is transferred to other people or shard among a specific group, with the security technology that is used for current memory cards or other recording media, there is a possibility of obstacles to the type of use mentioned above.
In other words, the following problems would occur when absolutely no security was performed when using the memory card. For example, in the case when there are data stored in an exchange-diary or the like that are not to be seen by others, the user or group do not think favorably about others being able to see that data. That is, in the case that a memory card on which this kind of data are stored is lost, when there is no security performed, the uneasiness felt by the user is greater than in the case when security is performed.
On the other hand, in the case when stringent security is performed when using the memory card, a method for clearing the security performance, such as a password, must be given to all users. In other words, in the case of many users sharing a memory card, with the aforementioned stringent security, complicated operations are needed in order to reference the data.
An example of this stringent security is disclosed in Japanese laid-open publication No. 2001-211170. In this art, by performing an identification process that uses ID data for the memory card and ID data for the device, it is possible to prevent the memory card from being used by a device other than a specified device.
However, in this prior art, it is necessary to equip the memory card with a specific security function, and this is not possible for memory cards that are not equipped with the security function that is available in the current market. Also, as described above, the memory card can only be used on a specified device that is equipped with this kind of stringent security function, so this art cannot be used in the case when the memory card is shared by a plurality of uses.
In other words, this does not mean that security is not necessary for data that are stored on the memory card shared by a plurality of users, however, in the case of setting stringent security, there is the tendency for use to be hindered.
Moreover, in the case of a plurality of owned memory cards, a problem of managing the memory cards also occurs in addition to the problem of security described above. In other words one problem is related to managing the memory cards themselves.
As a method for managing the memory cards themselves, it is possible to attach a label to the memory card on which the contents of the various kinds of stored data are described, similar to the case of a conventional FD (R). However, since memory card continue to be made more and more compact, it is difficult to attach a label to a memory card giving the owner's name and description of the contents. Also, in the case of a person having a plurality of memory cards, attaching a label to each memory card is not only troublesome, but there is also a possibility that the label could be pared off when inserting or removing the memory card from the memory card reading/writing apparatus.
Moreover, a problem of managing the data stored on the memory card also occurs. In other words, when various kinds of data are stored on a memory card, it is necessary to execute a special application or use a special device for each kind of data in order to identify the contents of the memory card. Here, it is possible to use file-management software on a personal computer to identify the file names, however, identifying the titles of songs in the case of audio contents, for example, is not easy with a special kind of contents-management method of the memory card. In other words, a problem exists in that it is not easy to identify the contents of the data stored on the memory card.
Furthermore, a problem related to management of the users of the memory card occurs. That is, in a situation where a plurality of memory cards is shared by a plurality of users, there is a problem in that it is difficult to know who the main owner of the memory card is.

Memory card reading/writing apparatus, access method, program and storage medium thereof

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A device for cooling a superconductive resonator has a tube for containing liquid coolant and a diffusion weld connecting an outer face of the tube with the resonator wall in a heat-exchanging relationship therewith.

This invention relates to a device for cooling a superconductive high-frequency resonator with a liquid coolant and further relates to a method of making such a cooling device.
Superconductive resonators are used, for example, for accelerating and deflecting particles. They are advantageous since they operate with significant energy saving. For setting and maintaining the superconductive state, the superconductive structures have to be cooled continuously with a coolant such as liquid helium.
The cooling of high-frequency resonators is known and is achieved either by submerging the superconductive resonator into a bath of liquid helium which is at a temperature of 4.2 K or the resonator vessel is of a dual-wall (jacket) structure filled with liquid helium which is continuously circulated and replaced.
The above-outlined arrangements have a number of disadvantages. Thus, particularly in the immersion process, the resonator vessel, in the inside of which a high vacuum of less than 10.sup.-8 Torr is to be maintained, is exposed to the pressure fluctuations of the helium bath which cause deformations of the resonator and thus lead to undesirable changes in the resonant frequency. Further, a leakage of liquid helium into the resonator can be prevented only by particular structural arrangements for increasing the sealing effect. Although these disadvantages may be, to a large measure, avoided by using a dual-wall resonator, this latter solution is structurally complex and thus leads to high costs.

Device for cooling a superconductive resonator and method of making the device


A holding tray for spools of yarn suitable for embroidery machines comprises a molded body forming a flat horizontal base and a plurality of upstanding vertical pegs each of which is generally frustoconical in shape. At the top of each peg is formed a slit diametrically of the top surface and extending a small distance down the side surface of the peg at each side. An end of the yarn from the spool can then be engaged into the slit and the spool engaged over the peg as a loose fit. The pegs thus store twelve spools in two rows of six so that the spools can be carried from a storage area to, for example, a twelve head embroidery machine.

This invention relates to a yarn spool holding tray which is particularly but not exclusively designed for holding spools of yarn arranged for use with commercial embroidery machines or the like.
Commercial embroidery machines generally have a plurality of heads simultaneously operating to effect an embroidery action on a base fabric. Each head is supplied with yarn from a plurality of different yarn spools so that the head can switch from yarn color to yarn color by selecting one of the needles at the yarn head. Each needle is threaded with a respective one of the yarn colors. In a commercially popular arrangement, the machine has twelve heads with each head having six needles each associated with a respective yarn color. Each machine therefore has a yarn supply totaling 72 yarn spools which must be managed by the operator to ensure a continuing supply of the required colors. Other machines are also available from one head to six heads and up to twenty four heads.
In addition, it will of course be appreciated that yarn is supplied in many more colors than the simple six colors available at the machine head. It is necessary therefore in any embroidery machine operation to store and manage a very large number of spools of the different colors. Each embroidery machine. Operation therefore has a stock room containing a very large number of spools of different colors with each color having at least twelve spools, one for each head, and generally more since it is necessary of course to have a reserve supply.
The management and control of this spool supply is extremely difficult and constitutes a major problem in the embroidery business.
The spools are of different designs and arrangements depending upon the particular yarn supplier. In general, however, each spool of yarn includes a base support cone on which the yarn is wound. The base support cone is conical in shape so as to allow the yarn to be pulled off over end of the cone in conventional manner.
While yarn spools of this type are relatively stable, mishandling can of course damage the spool by partially or wholly unwinding the structure of the wound yarn package and if this occurs, the whole of the yarn of that spool may become wasted or at least a part of the spool may be unwound and discarded. Such damage can occur if the spools are mishandled by being carried manually as a bundle of the spools or by being dropped or the like.
Canadian Patents 517,108 (Russell), 514,541 (Storer) and 645,745 (Ellis) disclose various forms of support tray having projections from the tray which project into a spool as a friction fit with the spool for use in packing the yarn packages for transportation. These devices are intended to be simple inexpensive elements used in packing and not suitable for permanent storage of spools of different sizes.
Canadian patent 881,936 (Cosentino) discloses a yarn spool storage device in the form of a cabinet with a pair of inclined surfaces each of which has a plurality of outstanding pegs onto which a yarn spool can be attached. This arrangement is however intended for spools of copper wire in the wire industry and is entirely unsuitable for storing yarn spools in a manner which renders them readily for use at for example a twelve head embroidery machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,127,018 (McMasters) discloses a wire element for supporting a yarn package. U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,892 (Rosen) discloses a packaging system for yarn and the like which includes a box for transportation with the main feature including a sleeve for protecting the package material.
However none of these devices is in any way suitable for storing and supplying yarn particularly for a yarn embroidery machine.


A process for forming small micron-sized (1-10 xcexcm) protein particles is provided wherein a protein, a solvent system for the protein and an antisolvent for the protein solvent system are contacted under conditions to at least partially dissolve the protein solvent system in the antisolvent, thereby causing precipitation of the protein. The solvent system is made up of at least in part of a halogenated organic alcohol, most preferably 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP). Preferably, a solution of the protein in the solvent system is sprayed through a nozzle into a precipitation zone containing the antisolvent (preferably CO2) under near- or supercritical conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with improved methods for the forming and precipitation of small protein or peptide particles making use of the precipitation using compressed antisolvents (PCA) process. More particularly, the invention is concerned with such a method and the resulting proteinaceous particles wherein the process is carried out using a halogenated organic alcohol as at least a part of the protein solvent; in particularly preferred forms, the solvent is 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP), and the process yields micron-sized particles suitable for pharmaceutical uses without substantially degrading the protein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Micron-sized (1-10 xcexcm) protein particles are often deemed necessary for drug delivery systems such as controlled release and direct aerosol delivery to the lungs. Consistent commercial production of small protein particles of this type can be difficult. For example, spray drying techniques often lead to thermal denaturation of the protein, while milling and similar processes yield unacceptably broad size distributions and/or denaturation. Lyophilization can give particles in the desired size range, but with a broad distribution and/or denaturation; moreover, not all proteins of interest can be lyophilized to stable products.
In an effort to overcome these problems, supercritical fluid precipitation processes have been employed. Two processes that use supercritical fluids for particle formation are: (1) Rapid Expansion of Supercritical Solutions (RESS) (Tom, J. W. Debenedetti, P. G., 1991, The Formation of Bioerodible Polymeric Microspheres and Microparticles by Rapid Expansion of Supercritical Solutions. BioTechnol. Prog. 7:403-411), and (2) Gas Anti-Solvent (GAS) Recrystallization (Gallagher, P. M., Coffey, M. P., Krukonis, V. J., and Klasutis, N., 1989, Gas Antisolvent Recrystallization: New Process to Recrystallize Compounds in Soluble and Supercritical Fluids. Am. Chem. Sypm. Ser., No. 406; U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,478 to Krukonis et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,263 to Gallagher et al.). See also, PCT Publication WO 95/01221 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,280 which describe additional SCF particle-forming techniques.
In the RESS process, a solute (from which the particles are formed) is first solubilized in supercritical CO2 to form a solution. The solution is then sprayed through a nozzle into a lower pressure gaseous medium. Expansion of the solution across this nozzle at supersonic velocities causes rapid depressurization of the solution. This rapid expansion and reduction in CO2 density and solvent power leads to supersaturation of the solution and subsequent recrystallization of virtually contaminant-free particles. The RESS process, however, is not suited for particle formation from polar compounds because such compounds, which include drugs, exhibit little solubility in supercritical CO2. Cosolvents (e.g., methanol) may be added to CO2 to enhance solubility of polar compounds; this, however, affects product purity and the otherwise environmentally benign nature of the RESS process. The RESS process also suffers from operational and scale-up problems associated with nozzle plugging due to particle accumulation in the nozzle and to freezing of CO2 caused by the Joule-Thompson effect accompanying the large pressure drop.
The relatively low solubilities of pharmaceutical compounds in unmodified carbon dioxide are exploited in the second process wherein the solute of interest (typically a drug, polymer or both) is dissolved in a conventional solvent to form a solution. The preferred ternary phase behavior is such that the solute is virtually insoluble in dense carbon dioxide while the solvent is completely miscible with dense carbon dioxide at the recrystallization temperature and pressure. The solute is recrystallized from solution in one of two ways. In the first method, a batch of the solution is expanded several-fold by mixing with dense carbon dioxide in a vessel. Because the carbon dioxide-expanded solvent has a lower solvent strength than the pure solvent, the mixture becomes supersaturated forcing the solute to precipitate or crystallize as microparticles. This process was termed Gas Antisolvent (GAS) recrystallization (Gallagher et al., 1989).
The second method involves spraying the solution through a nozzle into compressed carbon dioxide as fine droplets. In this process, a solute of interest (typically a drug, polymer or both) that is in solution or is dissolved in a conventional solvent to form a solution is sprayed, typically through conventional spray nozzles, such as an orifice or capillary tube(s), into supercritical CO2 which diffuses into the spray droplets causing expansion of the solvent. Because the CO2-expanded solvent has a lower solubilizing capacity than pure solvent, the mixture can become highly supersaturated and the solute is forced to precipitate or crystallize. This process has been termed in general as Precipitation with a Compressed Fluid Antisolvent (PCA) (Dixon, D. J.; Johnston, K. P.; Bodmeier, R. A. AIChE J. 1993, 39, 127-139.) and employs either liquid or supercritical carbon dioxide as the antisolvent. When using a supercritical antisolvent, the spray process has been termed Supercritical Antisolvent (SAS) Process (Yeo, S.-D.; Debenedetti, P. G.; Radosz, M.; Schmidt, H.-W. Macromolecules 1993, 26, 6207-6210.) or Aerosol Spray Extraction System (ASES) Mxc3xcller, B. W.; Fischer, W.; Verfahren zur Herstellung einer mindestens einen Wirkstoff und einen Trxc3xa4ger umfassenden Zubereitung, German Patent Appl. No. DE 3744329 A1 1989).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,063,910 describes a specific process for the production of protein particles by supercritical fluid precipitation. In this process, a solution of protein is prepared using a variety of solvents such as ethanol, DMSO and glycols, whereupon the solution is sprayed through a nozzle into an antisolvent under supercritical conditions, thereby effecting precipitation of the protein as small micron-sized products. In the case of insulin, the process was found to create a substantial loss of xcex1-helicity and a marked increased in xcex2-sheet and xcex2-reverse turn content. (Winters et al., J. Pharmaceutical Sciences, 85(6):586-594 (1996)). The solvents used in the process of the ""910 patent, and particularly DMSO, are not favored for pharmaceutical uses. For example, many such solvents leave a residuum in the precipitated particles, causing purity problems.
There is accordingly a real and unsatisfied need in the art for an improved protein precipitation process which avoids the solvent problems of many prior techniques while giving micron-sized particles of small size distribution and with little protein degradation.
The present invention overcomes the problems outlined above and provides an improved method for forming small protein particles of micron size, preferably from about 1-10 xcexcm, and more preferably from about 1-5 xcexcm. Broadly speaking, the process involves contacting a protein, a protein solvent system and an antisolvent for the protein solvent system under conditions to at least partially dissolve the protein solvent system in the antisolvent with consequent precipitation of the protein; the protein solvent system includes at least in part a halogenated organic alcohol, and preferably consists essentially of a single halogenated organic alcohol. Use of such solvents materially improves precipitation processes heretofore used and avoids many of the problems of the prior art.
A wide variety of solvent/antisolvent precipitation processes can be used in accordance with the invention. For example, the GAS and PCA processes can be employed. Preferably however, the solvents of the invention are used in the PCA process wherein the protein is first dissolved in the solvent system, and then droplets of the solution are sprayed into an antisolvent under conditions to precipitate protein particles.
The preferred halogenated organic alcohols are the halogenated alkyl alcohols, especially the C1-C4 alcohols. Particular alcohol solvents are HFIP, trifluoroethanol, 2-chloroethanol and mixtures thereof. The single most preferred solvent is HFIP (CAS #920-66-1). This solvent has a boiling point of 59xc2x0 C. and a density of 1.618 g/ml, and is very soluble in CO2. Normally, only a single halogenated organic alcohol will be used as a protein solvent. However, multiple-component solvent systems can also be employed, so long as such systems include a halogenated organic alcohol as at least a part thereof.
A variety of antisolvents can also be used in the invention, such as CO2, propane, butane, isobutane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, trifluoromethane, hydrogen and mixtures thereof. CO2 is the most preferred antisolvent, owing to its low cost, ready availability and critical properties (Tc=81.0xc2x0 C. and Pc=73.8 bar or 1070 psi). Furthermore, CO2 is non-toxic, non-flammable, recyclable, and xe2x80x9cgenerally regarded as safexe2x80x9d by the FDA and pharmaceutical industry.
During processing, the contact between the protein solution system and antisolvent is carried out at near or supercritical conditions for the antisolvent, e.g., from about 0.5-2 Pc and more preferably from about 0.9-1.5 Pc; when CO2 is used as the antisolvent, pressure conditions are normally maintained at a level of from about 1000-2000 psig, and more preferably from about 1100-1600 psig. The temperature conditions during processing are generally relatively low in order to avoid heat denaturation of the protein. Generally, temperatures of up to about 60xc2x0 C. and more preferably up to about 50xc2x0 C. are used. When CO2 is the antisolvent, such temperatures exceed the Tc.
In order to maximize production rates, the preferred process is carried out in a pressurized precipitation chamber equipped with a nozzle. The protein solution is sprayed through the nozzle into a precipitation zone containing the antisolvent. The resultant protein particles are collected in a downstream recovery filter, and can easily be further processed for pharmaceutical uses.
In most instances, the starting protein is dissolved in a halogenated organic alcohol solvent or solvent system containing such an alcohol, thereby producing true solutions. However, the invention is not so limited. That is, it is possible that the protein may be only partially dissolved or dispersed within the solvent. Therefore, as used herein, xe2x80x9csolutionxe2x80x9d should be understood to mean not only true solutions but also partial solutions and dispersions. Similarly, while complete proteins are often processed in accordance with the invention, protein fragments or peptides could also be treated. Accordingly, the term xe2x80x9cproteinxe2x80x9d refers to all types of proteinaceous species.

Precipitation of proteins from organic solutions


Disclosed are a pixel circuit, a method for driving the same, a display panel, and a display device, and in the pixel circuit, a node reset sub-circuit resets a gate of a driver transistor in a first reset stage, a data writing sub-circuit writes a data signal, and compensates for drifting threshold voltage of the driver transistor, in a data writing stage, and a light-emission control sub-circuit connects a first voltage terminal with a light-emitting diode in a light emission stage.

An Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) display is one of focuses in the field of researches on the existing flat panel displays, and the OLED display has advantages of low power consumption, a low product cost, self-luminescence, a wide angle of view, a high response speed, etc., over a liquid crystal display; and at present, the OLED display has come to take the place of the traditional Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) in the field of flat panel displays including mobile phones, PDAs, digital photos, etc., where the design of a pixel circuit is a core technology in the OLED display, and researches on its design are of great significance.

Pixel circuit, method for driving the same, display panel, and display device


A light guide for industrial, medical, or cosmetic applications is provided, having an outer circumferential surface and at least one end face made of glass, with an optical element made of at least one transparent plastic directly molded to the end face of glass by molding or reactive injection molding, so that the electromagnetic radiation guided in the light guide when in its operational state is directed through the end face of glass into the transparent plastic of the optical element and exits therefrom.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to light guides in general, more particularly to rigid fiber optic light guides having optical elements made of highly transparent plastic molded thereto, and to applications thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Rigid fiber optic light guides are known from prior art in the form of dental light guide rods. They are usually made by drawing glass rods or a bundle of core-cladding rods. They may be overmolded with a plastic, inter alia, as a sleeve. The plastic material used for this purpose is a black opaque, usually glass fiber reinforced PPS plastic (e.g. FORTRON® by TICONA). Such mounting sleeves are used for accommodating the dental light guide rod in a close fit in a handpiece that comprises the light source.
These sleeves are enclosing portions of the outer circumferential surface of the light guide, the end face of the light guide made of glass is exposed. The emission profile of the electromagnetic radiation guided in the light guide is therefore mainly determined by the geometry and refractive index of the glass of the light guide. If different emission profiles are required, for example in order to achieve additional focusing and/or homogenization of the light, further optical systems will be needed, which have to be attached to the light guide. In particular for medical or cosmetic applications the problem arises that the light guide must be hygienically cleanable and therefore must be capable of being sterilized and/or autoclaved. With prior art lens systems which include lens frames, lens cementing and seats for mounting on the light guide this requirement cannot be met or only with very great expenditure.
DE 10 2012 100 375 A1 discloses a light guide whose optical properties are adjusted by employing liquid polymers. In particular, over the light exit surface a region with these liquid polymers can be located, which are enclosed by a sealing cap. For such a light guide it will be difficult to resist mechanical stresses, in particular because if the sealing cap is pulled off the liquid polymers may leak.

Light guide with optical element molded thereto


A multilayer ceramic electronic component includes: a main body; and a first external electrode disposed on a first surface of the main body and a second external electrode disposed on a second surface of the main body. The first external electrodes include a first base electrode forming an edge portion of the first surface of the main body and a first terminal electrode disposed on a portion of the first base electrode. The second external electrodes include a second base electrode forming an edge portion of the second surface of the main body and a second terminal electrode disposed on a portion of the second base electrode.

Electronic components using ceramic materials include capacitors, inductors, piezoelectric elements, varistors, thermistors, and the like.
A multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC), as a ceramic electronic component, may have advantages such as small size, high capacitance, and ease of mountability.
The multilayer ceramic capacitor may be used as a chip type condenser mounted on printed circuit boards of several electronic products such as display devices including liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), and the like, computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and mobile phones, and the like, and may charge and discharge electricity.
The multilayer ceramic capacitor may suppress voltage noise in a circuit. When the multilayer ceramic capacitor is used in a high frequency environment, the multilayer ceramic capacitor may have high equivalent series inductance (hereinafter, referred to as 'ESL'), and there is a need to secure a predetermined level or less of equivalent series resistance (hereinafter, referred to as 'ESR') to promote stability.
In addition, the size of multilayer ceramic capacitors have been getting smaller and higher capacitance have been implemented therein, and the amounts of stacked dielectric layers and internal electrodes disposed therein have also been increased in order to realize high degrees of capacitance. In this case, since multilayer ceramic capacitors have been miniaturized and thicknesses thereof have been increased, it may be difficult to stably mount such multilayer ceramic capacitors on the printed circuit boards. That is, a mounting defect rate of the multilayer ceramic capacitor may increase.
As described above, there is a need to variously adjust the ESL and the ESR in the multilayer ceramic electronic component.
In a related art, adjusting ESR and ESL for a multilayer capacitor has been disclosed, and a multilayer ceramic condenser has been miniaturized in terms of size and implemented with high capacitance. However, there still exists a need for solving a problem when mounting a multilayer ceramic condenser on a printed circuit board.

Multilayer ceramic electronic component and manufacturing method thereof


A method and apparatus of searching for an operator network in a multi-Radio Access Technology (RAT) environment are provided. The method, calculating a length of a sleep interval to perform background Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) searching, comparing the length of the sleep interval with a predetermined reference parameter, if the length of the sleep interval is larger than the reference parameter, performing background PLMN searching of a passive RAT during the sleep interval, and if the length of the sleep interval is equal to or smaller than the reference parameter, performing background PLMN searching of an active RAT during the sleep interval.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to network search in a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus of searching for an operator network and selecting the operator network by background searching and network selection in an environment to which multiple Radio Access Technologies (RATs) are applied.
2. Description of the Related Art
A Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) is a mobile communication network configured generally with Base Stations (BSs) each managing one or more cells, a subscriber server, and a gateway. Mobile communication operators that provide mobile communication services have unique PLMN Identifiers (IDs) and a wireless terminal identifies the mobile communication operator and RAT of a mobile communication network to which a BS belongs by a PLMN ID received from the BS. Different mobile communication operators provide mobile communication services in different frequency bands. For example, RATs include 3rd Generation (3G) technologies such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and 4G technologies such as Long-Term Evolution (LTE), and the like.
To receive a mobile communication service, a wireless terminal is registered to a Home PLMN (HPLMN) of a specific mobile communication operator. If the wireless terminal supports roaming, the wireless terminal may receive a telephony service or a data communication service from a PLMN of another mobile communication operator other than the home PLMN. The network belonging to a different service provider (e.g., the other mobile communication operator) and visited by the wireless terminal visits is called a Visited PLMN (VPLMN).
In the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) or 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), it is regulated that when a wireless terminal is located in a VPLMN, the wireless terminal searches for an HPLMN during a predetermined scanning time. In other words, when the wireless terminal receives a service in the VPLMN, a scanning timer of the wireless terminal (e.g., set to 2 minutes) starts and upon expiration of the scanning timer, the wireless terminal searches adjacent PLMNs for the HPLMN. In addition, the wireless terminal may search PLMNs in response to a manual manipulation from a user.
In most cases, PLMN searching progresses in the background during a time period in which the wireless terminal does not exchange signals with the current network, without interrupting an on-going task. When the wireless terminal supports multiple RATs, the wireless terminal should search PLMNs over each RAT, switching from one RAT to another RAT. If PLMN searching is not performed rapidly and accurately, the wireless terminal may continue receiving the service from the VPLMN despite the existence of a nearby BS of the HPLMN, thereby performing an unnecessary PLMN search procedure.
Accordingly, there exists a need for efficiently performing a background PLMN search procedure in a wireless terminal.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.

Method and apparatus of searching for operator network in a multi-radio access technology environment


A passive pickup that utilizes electromagnetic coils comprising circuits that are connected in series and placed underneath and parallel to the strings of the electrical instrument. Each circuit within the passive pickup can be run through separate amplifiers in stereo or combined with standard guitar pickup signals and run through one or more amplifiers. The passive string isolating pickup is directed at allowing utilization of signal processing (guitar effects) in a string-isolated mono or stereo manner and the adjustment the volume and tone of isolated strings when wired in conjunction with volume and tone potentiometers.

Many stringed musical instruments, such as guitars, include one or more pickups to capture the vibrations of the strings. Typically, the metal strings of a guitar are positioned above and perpendicular to the pickup such that when the strings vibrate the pickup detects the vibration and creates a signal. The pickup is usually mounted on the body of the electronic instrument, but can also be attached at other locations on the instrument. An electromagnetic pickup generally consists of one or more magnets that is wrapped with thousands of rotations of copper coil wire. When the instrument is played, and one or more of the strings vibrate, the magnetic flux linking the coil induces an alternating current through the coil. This signal can then be supplied to amplification and/or recording equipment. Different types of pickups exist for electronic instruments. For example, a single coil pickup and a humbucking pickup are common types of pickups for guitars. Each type of pickup has its own type of sound as well as having different tendencies. For instance, single coil pickups have a tendency to also pick up ambient hum along with the vibration of the strings. This hum could come from many sources, such as alternating current frequency, power-supplies, radio frequencies and other electronic devices. A humbucking pickup, on the other hand, usually includes two pickups that are wired together with identical coils having fields of opposite magnetic polarity and phase. In this arrangement, the ambient hum reaches the coils as common-mode noise, inducing an electrical current of equal magnitude in each coil, thereby eliminating the hum.

Passive electromagnetic string isolating pickup


A sensor system assembly for a grille of a motor vehicle includes a camera, a cover assembly, and a radar unit covered by the cover assembly. The cover assembly includes a first thermoplastic layer having an outer edge and an inner edge defining a first opening for receiving the camera, a second thermoplastic layer having an outer edge and an inner edge defining a second opening for receiving the camera, the second opening being aligned with the first opening, the outer edge of the second thermoplastic layer being interlocked with outer edge of the first thermoplastic layer, and the inner edge of the second thermoplastic layer being interlocked with the inner edge of the first thermoplastic layer, and an emblem between the first thermoplastic layer and the second thermoplastic layer.

Surround view cameras (SVC) may be applied to motor vehicles to show the driver a birds-eye-view around the vehicle. The SVC is similar to a backup camera, but for all sides of the car. The camera in the front grille needs to be positioned forward in the grille to be free of blockage from the license plate, grille, and fenders. However, a SVC protruding from underneath the emblem may have a bad appearance. If the camera is moved up, it can protrude less due to optic requirements.


A method for generating evidencing information for a document includes generating an error correction code and generating a digital token employing the error correction code. A method for verifying authentication and integrity information printed on a mail piece includes obtaining an error correction code printed on the document and employing the obtained error correction code to verify the validity of the evidencing information. A method for verifying the evidencing information printed on a mail piece includes obtaining an error correction code printed on a mail piece and determining that the obtained error correction code is inaccurate. The information employed to generate the inaccurate error correction code is obtained and an error correction code is generated from the obtained information. The generated error correction code is employed to verify the validity of the evidencing information. The document may be a mail piece and the evidencing information postage evidencing information with the error correction code being for at least a portion of destination address information.

Postage metering systems print and account for postage and other unit value printing such as parcel delivery service charges and tax stamps. These systems have been both electronic and mechanical. Some of the varied types of postage metering systems are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,457 for MICROCOMPUTERIZED ELECTRONIC POSTAGE METER SYSTEM, issued Aug. 31, 1976; U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,507 for ELECTRONIC POSTAGE METER HAVING PLURAL COMPUTING SYSTEMS, issued Nov. 17, 1981; and, U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,054 for STAND ALONE ELECTRONIC MAILING MACHINE, issued Apr. 1, 1986. Moreover, other types of metering systems have been developed which involve different printing systems such as those employing thermal printers, ink jet printers, mechanical printers and other types of printing technologies. Examples of these other types of electronic postage meter are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,533 for MICROCOMPUTER MINIATURE POSTAGE METER, issued Sep. 18, 1979; and, U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,252 for POSTAGE PRINTING APPARATUS HAVING A REMOVABLE PRINT HEAD AND A PRINT DRUM, issued Jan. 15, 1985. These printing systems enable the postage meter system to print variable information which may be alphanumeric and graphic type of information.
Card controlled metering systems have also been developed. These systems have employed both magnetic strip type cards and microprocessor based cards. Examples of card controlled metering systems employing magnetic type cards include U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,518 for METERING SYSTEM, issued Sep. 16, 1980; U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,360 for METERING SYSTEM, issued Oct. 7, 1980; and, U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,871 for ELECTRONIC POSTAGE METER SYSTEM SETTABLE BY MEANS OF A REMOTELY GENERATED INPUT DEVICE, issued Dec. 16, 1986. A microprocessor ("smart card") based card metering system providing an automated transaction system employing microprocessor bearing user cards issued to respective users is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,903 for AUTOMATED TRANSACTION SYSTEM WITH INSERTABLE CARDS FOR TRANSFERRING ACCOUNT DATA, issued Feb. 13, 1990. Moreover, systems have also been developed wherein a unit having a non-volatile read/write memory which may consist of a EEPROM is employed. One such system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,532 for SECURE TRANSPORT OF INFORMATION BETWEEN ELECTRONIC STATIONS, issued Jul. 12, 1988 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,271 for SECURE TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION BETWEEN ELECTRONIC STATIONS, issued Mar. 6, 1990.
Postage metering systems have also been developed which employ encrypted information printed on a mail piece. The postage value for a mail piece may be encrypted together with other data to generate a digital token. A digital token is encrypted information that authenticates and enables verification of the integrity of the information imprinted on a mail piece including postage values. Examples of postage metering systems which generate and employ digital tokens are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,537 for SYSTEM FOR DETECTING UNACCOUNTED FOR PRINTING IN A VALUE PRINTING SYSTEM, issued Jul. 12, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,555 for SECURE POSTAGE APPLYING SYSTEM, issued May 16, 1989; U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,246 for SYSTEM FOR DETECTING UNACCOUNTED FOR PRINTING IN A VALUE PRINTING SYSTEM, issued Oct. 4, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,645 for SECURE POSTAGE DISPENSING SYSTEM, issued Oct. 10, 1989; and, U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,718 for POSTAGE AND MAILING INFORMATION APPLYING SYSTEM, issued Feb. 16, 1988 and the system disclosed in the various United States Postal Service published specifications such as Information Based Indicium Program Key Management System Plan, dated Apr. 25, 1997; Information Based Indicia Program (IBIP) Open System Indicium Specification, dated Jul. 23, 1997; Information Based Indicia Program Host System Specification dated Oct. 9, 1996, and Information Based Indicia Program (IBIP) Open System Postal Security Device (PSD) Specification dated Jul. 23, 1997.
These systems, which may utilize a device termed a postage evidencing device (PED), employ an encryption algorithm to encrypt selected information to generate the digital token. The encryption of the information provides security to prevent altering of the printed information in a manner such that any change in the values printed in the postal revenue block is detectable by appropriate verification procedures.
Typical information which may be encrypted as part of the input to a digital token includes the value of the imprint, the origination zip code, the recipient addressee information (such as, for example, delivery point destination code), the date and a serial piece count number. These items of information when encrypted with a secret or private key and imprinted on a mail piece provide a very high level of security which enables the detection of any attempted modification of the information in the postal revenue block, where this information may be imprinted both in encrypted and unencrypted form. These digital token systems can be utilized with both a dedicated printer, that is, a printer that is securely coupled to an accounting module such that printing cannot take place without accounting or in systems employing non-dedicated printers and secure accounting system. In this case, such as in personal or (wide area or local area) network computing systems, the non-dedicated printer may print the digital token as well as other information.
Digital tokens need to be computed and printed, for example, in the postal revenue block for each mail piece. The digital token transformation (DTT) computation requires a secret or private key, that has to be protected and may be periodically updated. One of the more difficult problems with encrypted evidence of postage payment is the key management problem. Indeed, the use two digital tokens (postal and vendor) is described in pending U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,251 for MAIL PROCESSING SYSTEM INCLUDING DATA CENTER VERIFICATION FOR MAILPIECES, issued Feb. 14, 1995, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. In such systems, the digital tokens are usually computed for every mail piece processed. This computation involves taking input data such as serial piece count, date, origination postal code and postage amount and encrypting this data with secret keys shared by the postage evidencing device (PED) and postal or courier service and by the postage evidencing device and device manufacturer or vendor. This sharing requires coordination of key updates, key protection and other measures commonly referred to as a key management system. The computation of digital tokens takes place upon request to generate tokens by a mailer. This computation is performed by the postage evidencing device. Thus, the postage evidencing device needs to have all the information required for computation, and, most significantly encryption keys. Moreover, refilling the postage evidencing device with additional postage funds also requires separate keys and a management process. In these systems, the process of token generation is accomplished with real time token computation and tokens can be computed for any combination of input parameters allowed by the system.
Various enhanced systems have been developed including systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,038 for ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE POSTAGE EVIDENCING SYSTEM, issued Sep. 26, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,641 for POSTAL RATING SYSTEM WITH VERIFIABLE INTEGRITY, issued Sep. 5, 1995; and, U.S. Patent No. 5,625,694, for METHOD OF INHIBITING TOKEN GENERATION IN AN OPEN METERING SYSTEM, issued Apr. 29, 1997, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
As noted above, it has been recognized that addressee information can be incorporated into the digital token. This provides enhanced security. The inclusion of addressee information in the digital token insures that for an individual to perpetrate a copying attack by copying a valid indicia from one mail piece on another mail piece and entering it into the mail stream, the fraudulent mail piece must be addressed to the same addressee as the original valid mail piece. If this has not been done, the fraudulent mail piece would be detectable as having an invalid indicia upon verification at a mail processing facility.
It has also been recognized that a level of enhanced security can be obtained by generating the digital tokens using a subset of addressee information. This concept is disclosed in published European Patent Application Publication No. 0782108 for A METHOD FOR AUTHENTICATING POSTAGE EVIDENCING USING DIGITAL TOKENS GENERATED FROM A SUBSET OF ADDRESSEE INFORMATION, filed Dec. 19, 1996 and published Jul. 2, 1997. The published European application discloses, inter alia, using the hash code of a predetermined appropriate section of each address field as part of the digital token transformation process. It is suggested that the first 15 characters of each line can be selected as such appropriate section of each address field for authentication. An error correction code is generated for the selected address data using, for example, Reed Solomon or BCH algorithms. A secure hash of this section of the address field data is generated, which is sent to a vault (PED) along with the postage required and date data. This information, the section of the address field, is part of a request for a digital token. The vault which may be coupled to a personal computer (PC) generates the digital token using this data. The error correcting code is printed on the mail piece in alpha numeric characters or bar code format. Upon verification, an OCR system reads the delivery address from the mail piece and the data from the indicium. Using an OCR or bar code reader, the error correcting code is also read. An error correcting algorithm is executed using the error correcting code. If errors are not correctable, then the recognition process is notified of a failure. If correctable, the appropriate section of each address field is selected for authentication. A secure hash of the selected data is generated during the verification process. A secure hash and the postal data are then sent to the verifier which then generates digital tokens that are compared to the digital tokens printed on the mail piece to complete the verification process.

Robus digital token generation and verification system accommodating token verification where addressee information cannot be recreated automated mail processing


A laminated structure having a gathered marginal area which provides an improved fit about a portion of the human body, said laminated structure comprising an elastic member disposed between first and second substrates of flexible gatherable material, said elastic member comprising a plurality of interconnected longitudinally extending elastic elements defining apertures therebetween, the longitudinally extending elements having different cross-sectional areas to provide varying degrees of tension across the width of the marginal area and the first and second substrates of said laminated structure being secured together through at least some of said apertures.

Recent years have seen an increased demand for inexpensive apparel and the development of new and inexpensive components of construction and methods of construction of articles of apparel. In certain instances, there is a demand for apparel that is very inexpensive and, indeed, disposable. New elastomeric materials and methods of incorporating them into portions of a garment have been developed to meet the desire to fit these types of garments to a human form. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,639,917 discloses the use of a strip of a heat recoverable elastomeric material to gather the cuff of a disposable hospital gown.
Disposable diapers have been marketed which include an elastic or stretch member in the longitudinal side edges of the disposable diaper to provide elasticity about the leg of the infant when the diaper is applied. Examples of such stretchable fitted diapers which have elastic members disposed in the longitudinal side edges of the diaper are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,860,003 and 4,050,462. By being able to elastically contract the longitudinal sides of the diaper which are the leg and thigh encircling portion of the diaper once placed on an infant, you can compress the diaper about the leg of the infant. By virtue of this compressing, you reduce leakage at the leg of the infant and the tighter you make the fit, the more you tend to reduce leakage. However, if the fit is too tight, you will cause irritation on this tender portion of the thigh, especially when the diaper is wet. There are also a number of patents which disclose means for making the waist encircling portion of a disposable diaper elastic for tighter fit of the diaper about the waist of the wearer, for example, as shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,995,637 and 3,995,640. Disposable diapers usually comprise a facing and a backing layer which are substantially co-extensive and a somewhat smaller absorbent core or panel interposed between the facing and backing layer. The facing and backing layers are adhered together about their perimeter by hot melt adhesive or other adhesive material as is well known. In producing stretch or elastic diapers, an elastic member in its stretched or partially stretched state, is interposed between the facing and backing sheets along one or more edges of the diaper. The elastic member is adhered either to the facing and/or the backing sheets by adhesive or similar means and allowed to relax to produce elastic sections at the edges of the diaper. An example of a method for inserting elastic members in disposable diapers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,301.
The incorporation of these elastic members into disposable diapers has increased both the cost of materials used in the diaper and the cost of construction of disposable diapers. With solid elastic members, it is necessary to adhere the side edges of the facing and backing sheets together, either directly or by their mutual attachment to the elastic member.
When adhesively securing such an elastic member into a disposable diaper, the adhesive chosen must be elastomeric or must be applied in a discontinuous pattern or the glue may make the diaper too stiff to gather.
In commonly assigned co-pending patent application, Ser. No. 60,704 filed July 25, 1979, there is disclosed apertured elastic members which have substantial advantages over other types of elastic members in that they are simpler and more economical to insert and function very well by providing a good fit with a minimum of irritation. The present invention is an improvement on such apertured elastic members.
The laminated structures of the present invention provide improved fit about the portion of the human body to which they are applied. In the various parts of the extremities of the human body, such as the wrist, thigh, etc., the circumference of the extremity increases as you move along that extremity towards the body torso. Therefore, an elastic of any width will apply different forces on that extremity with the most force and the primary seal usually being at the contact line between the elastic and the body part having the greatest circumference.
Contrasted to the above, the apertured elastic member used in the laminated structures of the present invention has a varying degree of tension across its width and can be used to apply uniform forces about and along the extremity or even to apply the greatest force at the contact line between the elastic and the body part having the least circumference. The laminated structures of the present invention provide not only an improved fit but unexpectedly improve sealing capabilities with a minimum of irritation.

Laminated structures having gathered marginal portions


A fuel control system (100) for controlling the fueling of an internal combustion engine (E), and a fault detection system therefor, is provided. Signals (12, 17, 15, 16) indicative of the positioning of an operator controlled master unit (2) and of the slaved actuator (6,1) are compared to sense the existence of faults.

Related Applications
This application claims priority under 35 USC 119 from GB 9007012.9 filed Mar. 29, 1990 and assigned to EATON CORPORATION, the assignee of this application.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicular throttle control systems for selectively controlling the supply of fuel to a vehicular internal combustion engine. In particular, the present invention relates to a throttle control system which normally fuels the vehicular engine in accordance with operator demands as indicated by the operator's positioning of the throttle/accelerator pedal but which, in certain modes, is operable to override the operator demands and supply fuel to the engine in a predetermined manner independent of the positioning of the throttle pedal. Such systems are typically associated with automatic/semi-automatic transmission systems having a certain degree of automation to the extent that driver control of the throttle or other fuel feed actuator is overridden by automatic means during gear ratio changes.
More particularly, the present invention relates to fuel control systems having a sender or master control operated by the vehicle operator, a control unit which is typically a microprocessor-based ECU, and a receiver unit which is controlled by the control unit and is effective to position the throttle device, and includes logic means for sensing faults in either the sender or receiver unit and for responding thereto.
It is understood that the term "throttle" and terms of similar import are intended to include various types of throttling devices, fuel injection pumps, fuel injection racks and similar devices which may be selectively controlled to provide variable amounts of fuel and fuel/air mixtures to a controlled vehicular internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Manual nonsynchronized vehicular change gear transmissions which rely on the vehicle operator having sufficient skill to accelerate or decelerate his engine in unison with his selected gear changes are, of course, well known in the prior art as may be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,105,395; 4,754,665 and 4,735,109, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Synchronized transmissions and/or transmissions utilizing fluid fly wheels (i.e., torque converters) reduce the necessity of the vehicle operator properly controlling the speed of his engine during gear shifting but tend to be more costly, less fuel efficient and/or less robust than nonsynchronized mechanical transmissions. Automatic and semi-automatic mechanical transmission systems wherein gear shifts are at least partially automatically selected and/or implemented and wherein the fueling of the engine is automatically controlled during a transmission shift are also known in the prior art as may be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,361,060; 4,648,290 and 4,722,248, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Typically, the overriding throttle controller utilized in such automatic/semi-automatic transmission systems involves a control unit, typically a microprocessor based ECU, which receives input signals from various sensors including at least one sensor providing a signal indicative of the operator's positioning of a throttle pedal or the like and which sends command output signals to an actuator for adjusting the positioning of the fuel throttling device.
Upon completion of the automated or semi-automated shift operation, the control of the fuel throttling device is returned to the operator whereby the fuel throttling device will be directly controlled by the operator, or controlled by the ECU to directly track the requirements of the operator. Logic for the return of fueling control to the operator is known in the prior art and an example thereof may be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,141, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Logic for sensing faulty throttle position sensors and for fault tolerance logic associated therewith, is known in the prior art and examples thereof may be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,833,614 and 4,922,425, the disclosures of both of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
In vehicular throttle control systems, especially throttle control systems having an override mode of operation, it is important to be able to sense faults in either the master control or sender device, the receiver or actuator device, and/or in a lack of conformity between the sender and the actuator.


The present invention is a connector bracket of one piece construction that comprises a structural plate having a first portion contiguous with a second portion in a common plane and positioned in mutually staggered alignment. Each of the portions has a pair of bent-over opposing edges that extend in a common direction away from the plate as a linear series of spikes. As such, the spikes, when driven into a pair of adjoining coplanar surfaces, enable the bracket to hold the surfaces in a mutually fixed position. The staggered alignment of the spikes of each portion prevents the splitting of the surfaces.

Connector brackets for holding structural members together in a fixed relationship are well known in the construction industry. Various shapes and sizes of brackets exist for holding wood beams and the like together for strengthening a building structure. Many such brackets are illustrated, for example, in the product catalogs of Simpson Strong-Tie.RTM. Company, Inc., and in various prior art patents such as:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor Issue Date ______________________________________ 4,308,703 Knowles 1/5/82 4,209,265 Moehlenpah 6/24/80 2,863,352 Mikesic 12/9/58 2,396,030 Terry 3/5/46 1,320,303 Young 10/28/19 450,753 Cary 4/21/1891 ______________________________________
To reduce manufacturing costs, such prior art devices are often formed by a stamping process and from a single piece of sheet material. The Knowles patent teaches such a device and includes a bracket with two plate sections linked by a channel section. Each plate section includes stamped-out teeth for engaging a wooden beam, or the like. Such teeth, however, are not barbed and can therefore be pulled out of the wooden beam relatively easily. Further, such a bracket is not well suited for fixing together two orthogonal surfaces.
Conversely, the Moehlenpah patent teaches an L-shaped bracket device for holding together two orthogonal adjoining surfaces. However, such a device is not well suited for holding together two coplanar surfaces. Further, such a device has non-barbed teeth such as in the Knowles device, and can therefore be pulled out of the wooden beam or other mounting surface relatively easily.
As is typical in the prior art, most connector brackets are only useful for a limited number of specific fastening applications, and are therefore not universally useful. Further, many of the prior art devices have mounting teeth or nail holes aligned in such a way that splitting of the wooden beams into which such devices are mounted is a common problem.
Clearly, then, there is a need for a fastening connector bracket that can be used to fasten together both coplanar and orthogonal surfaces. Such a needed device would be relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and could be stamped from a single piece of sheet material. Further, such a needed device would include barbed portions on protruding teeth for providing a relatively strong hold of the mounting surfaces. Still further, such a needed device would not tend to split the mounting surfaces. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.


A hydrocarbon conversion process is disclosed wherein a hydrocarbon feed is contacted with a reforming catalyst in the presence of a halogen at conditions which favor dehydrocyclization, isomerization, and dehydroisomerization of the hydrocarbon feed. The degree of the isomerization and dehydroisomerization is controlled by adjusting the amount of halogen present. The amount of halogen present can be adjusted on stream by the addition of halogen-containing gas or water. The reforming catalyst comprises a large-pore zeolite, containing at least one Group VIII metal. In one embodiment, the reforming catalyst comprises: (a) a large-pore zeolite containing barium and platinum; and (b) an acidic or acidifiable inorganic binder selected from the group consisting of silica-alumina, zirconia-silica and alumina.

The present invention concerns contacting a hydrocarbon feed with a new reforming catalyst which has a superior selectivity and activity for dehydrocyclization, isomerization, and dehydroisomerization.
Catalytic reforming is well known in the petroleum industry. It involves treating naphtha fractions to improve the octane rating by producing aromatics and isomerizing normal and singly branched paraffins. The more important hydrocarbon reactions occurring during reforming operation include dehydrogenation of cyclohexanes to aromatics, dehydroisomerization of alkylcyclopentanes to aromatics, dehydrocyclization of acyclic hydrocarbons to aromatics, dealkylation of alkylbenzenes, isomerization of paraffins, and hydrocracking reactions which produce light gaseous hydrocarbons, e.g., methane, ethane, propane and butanes. Hydrocracking reactions should be minimized during reforming as they decrease both the yield of products in the gasoline boiling range and the hydrogen.
Because of the demand for high octane gasoline for use in motor fuels, extensive research is being devoted to developing improved reforming catalysts and catalytic reforming processes. Catalysts for reforming processes must be able to produce high yields of liquid products in the gasoline boiling range (containing large concentrations of high octane number aromatic hydrocarbons) and low yields of light gaseous hydrocarbons. The catalysts should possess good activity in order that the temperature required to produce a certain quality product need not be too high. The catalysts should also either possess good stability, in order that the activity and selectivity characteristics can be retained during prolonged periods of operation, or be sufficiently regenerable to allow frequent regeneration without loss of performance.
Catalysts comprising platinum, for example, platinum and rhenium supported on alumina, are widely used for the reforming of naphthas.
The use of carriers other than alumina has been studied and it was proposed to use certain molecular sieves such as X and Y zeolites, which have pores large enough for hydrocarbons in the gasoline boiling range to pass through. However, reforming catalysts based upon these molecular sieves have not been commercially successful.
In conventional reforming, the hydrocarbons to be converted are passed over the catalyst, in the presence of hydrogen, at temperatures of about 450.degree. C. to 550.degree. C. and pressures of about 50 to 500 psig. Part of the hydrocarbons are converted into aromatic hydrocarbons, and the reaction is accompanied by isomerization and cracking reactions which also convert the paraffins into isoparaffins and lighter hydrocarbons.
The catalysts hitherto used have given fairly satisfactory results with heavy paraffins, but less satisfactory results with C.sub.6 -C.sub.8 paraffins, particularly C.sub.6 paraffins. Catalysts based on a type L zeolite are more selective with regard to the dehydrocyclization reaction and produce excellent results with C.sub.6 -C.sub.8 paraffins.
The selectivities of these catalysts for dehydrocyclization are so great that little isomerization and direct dehydroisomerization occurs. While it is highly desirable to reduce the amount of hydrocracking occurring in reforming, some isomerization is desirable to convert unreacted straight-chain and singly branched paraffins to isomers having higher octane numbers. While cyclopentanes can be converted to aromatics by ring opening followed by dehydrocyclization, a more favored route is to go directly to aromatics by dehydroisomerization.

Reforming process having a high selectivity and activity for dehydrocyclization, isomerization, and dehydroisomerization


An improved motorcycle steering lock assembly smoothly and reliably operates to immobilize the rotating shaft upon which the handle bars and front wheel forks are installed. The lock, mounted in front of the motorcycle seat and in close proximity to the handle bars and rotating shaft, selectively engages a receiving detent in the rotating shaft so as to prevent rotation of the steering assembly when the motorcycle is not in use. In particular, the steering lock assembly of the present invention comprises: a housing having a shell portion at one side and a base portion at the opposite side; a lock plug assembly rotably disposed in the shell portion of the housing and having a spindle which rotates when the lock plug is turned by a key; a locking bolt slidably disposed in a projecting sleeve in the base portion; a movable bolt means for selectively positioning the bolt between an engaged position wherein the bolt extends beyond the sleeve of the base portion of the housing (so that the bolt can engage the receiving detent of the rotating shaft) and a disengaged position wherein the bolt is fully retracted within the sleeve (so that the bolt cannot engage the receiving detent); and a drum operated camming means coupled to the lock plug spindle and rotably mounted in the housing for linearly actuating the movable bolt means.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to locks, and, more particularly, concerns a steering lock which immobilizes the front steering assembly of a motorcycle. The front steering assembly comprises a rotatable steering shaft upon which a set of handle bars and a front wheel fork are mounted.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional prior art steering locks have a locking bolt which selectively engages a receiving detent in the rotating shaft of the motorcycle. In use, a key rotates the lock, the turning of the lock actuates the locking bolt, and the locking bolt engages the receiving detent. When the locking bolt properly engages the detent, neither the handle bars nor the rotating shaft can be turned. In theory prior art steering locks function dependably. In reality, however, conventional steering locks tend to function rather crudely, erratically, and unreliably.