A food processing apparatus comprises a heat exchanger with a food path for connecting a source of food substance to the heat exchanger and a pump located in the food path for conveying food substance from the source to the heat exchanger. A pressure sensor is provided for sensing pressure downstream of the pump and for transmitting a pressure signal corresponding to a measured pressure downstream of the pump. A controller connected between the pump and the pressure sensor controls the pump in response to the pressure signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for processing food products in a heat exchanger. Although suitable for many types of hot and cold food products, the apparatus is described in connection with frozen confections such as soft-serve sorbets and yogurts, for which it has particular advantages.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bacterial contamination is a significant concern with related art food processing machines. A typical related art commercial frozen confection machine contains four integrated systems; an insulated compartment for storing liquid food substances; a gas circuit for providing an edible gas for mixture with the liquid food substances; a production unit for making a frozen confection from the mixture of liquid and gas; and a refrigeration circuit for cooling both the insulated compartment and the production unit. If bacteria is able to enter the frozen confection machine through any one of these systems, health hazards may occur.
Many related art machines are open system devices wherein liquid food product is poured into an opened holding reservoir or is otherwise exposed to air from the surrounding atmosphere. Such structure not only increases the possibility that bacteria and foreign particles will contaminate the food product, but also allows odors in the surrounding atmosphere to be absorbed into the food product, degrading the taste of the end product. Many hospitals and other institutions that use odorous sanitizing chemicals avoid frozen confection machines in their cafeterias for this very reason.
In addition, the storage compartment is typically connected to the production unit by a tube which defines a food path. In order to minimize bacterial contamination within the system, it is desirable to minimize the length of the food path and the number of components through which the liquid food substance must pass before it is frozen in the production unit. However, even when shortened, nooks and crannies in the conventional food path provide a haven for bacterial growth. Therefore, related art machines must be flushed, disassembled, sanitized, and reassembled on a daily basis to avoid hazardous contamination. However, this cleaning operation is time consuming and often results in wasted food product.
A maintained positive system pressure is also critical to a bacteria free environment. While related art devices may use pumps to convey liquid food substance into a production unit, they may not be designed to always maintain a positive pressure in the system during use. Rather, they may fluctuate between positive pressure and atmospheric pressure, or may substantially operate at atmospheric pressure. If the pressure in the system falls to atmospheric pressure, contaminants may enter the system leading to bacterial growth. Thus, more frequent cleaning may be necessary to maintain a bacteria free environment.
Another problem with related art devices is their limited ability to control the uniform quality of their end product. The present inventors have recognized that there exists a direct relationship between the pressure within the heat exchanger and the resulting quality of the end product. Critical pressures vary depending upon the make-up of the food product and food product temperatures. However, in the related art, precise control of system pressure is difficult. In addition, the goal of keeping the food path free of elements that define nooks and crannies that permit bacterial growth, discourages the use of conventional pressure sensors within the system.
It is also important to precisely control the proportion of food product and gas entering the production unit in order to ensure the quality and consistency of the end product. Desired proportions may vary depending upon the make-up of the food product being used as well as control standards. However, related art devices lack the ability to precisely control the proportion of gas and food product that is sent to the production unit.
Finally, temperature control is also important to the quality of the end product. As the liquid food substance cools in the production unit, its ability to absorb and be become emulsified with the gas decreases. Thus, if a critical temperature is reached before the gas and liquid are fully emulsified, pockets of gas will form in the heat exchanger. When a dispensing valve on the production unit is opened, these pockets of gas may "blowout," spewing food product through the valve. In addition, product quality may be poor if full gas emulsification has not occurred.
In order to prevent blow-outs and to provide a fully emulsified product, the cooling rate may be decreased. However, the slower the mixture cools, the larger the crystal size in the end product. Since smaller crystal size results in a smoother textured end product, a fast cooling rate is desirable.
Some related art devices separately inject the liquid and gas into the production unit, and some include premixing units or saturators in the food path for mixing the liquid and gas before it enters the cooled environment of the production unit. A drawback of premixing units is that they provide additional nooks and crannies within the food path that may trap food particles and thereby lead to bacterial growth.
Thus, a major drawback of related art devices is their inability to accurately control pressure, temperature and the ratio of food substance to gas, while at the same time maintaining a virtually bacteria free environment.


Detailed information about plural factors determining a color and the coordinate value of a pointed position are determined from a position pointing device. The detailed information about the plural colors is by factors such as detailed gradation information on basic colors such as red, green, and blue. The amplitude or frequency of an AC field is controlled in accordance with the set color information. The AC field has a spatial distribution corresponding to the coordinate value of the pointed position.

RELATION TO CO-PENDING APPLICATION
This application is related to co-pending application Ser. No. 08/362,643, filed Dec. 23, 1994.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in a position pointing device used in combination with a position detecting device employing electromagnetic waves.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prior to the instant application, the applicant has proposed, in Japanese Patent Application No. 61-213970 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-70326), a position detecting device in which a sensing section exchanges electric wave signals with a position pointing device so as to detect the coordinate value of a position pointed by the position pointing device.
Briefly, the position detecting device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-70326 has a plurality of loop coils constituting the sensing section and adapted to transmit an electric wave of a predetermined frequency. The electric wave is received by a resonance circuit provided in the position pointing device so that resonance takes place in the resonance circuit to emit electric wave. This electric wave is received by the loop coil so that a voltage is inducted in the loop coil. This operation is conducted successively on the plurality of loop coils constituting the sensing section, so that the coordinate value of the position pointed by the position pointing device is determined based on the levels of the voltages induced in the loop coils.
The position detecting device of the type described faces a demand for the ability to enter various kinds of information in addition to the coordinate value of a pointed position, such as information which indicates that the position pointing device, e.g., a pen or the like, has been set to a position for pointing a definite position (this state will be referred to as "pen-down state," hereinafter), information concerning the type of the position pointing device, e.g., a pen, a cursor or the like, as well as a demand for inputting, together with the coordinate values, information for continuously varying values of parameters other than the coordinate information, such as, for example, thickness or width of a line and hue or density (brightness) of the position or area appointed by the pointing device.
To cope with such demands, the position pointing device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-70326 employs a manual switch which selectively connects, to the resonance circuit which is constituted by a coil and a capacitor, an additional capacitor so as to slightly vary the resonance frequency, the slight variation in the resonance frequency being detected as a variation in the phase angle so as to be used as information indicative of the aforesaid various types of information.
In Japanese Patent Application No. 63-316943 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-162410), the applicant also proposed a position detecting device and an inputting pointing device therefor having a capacitance-variable capacitor (variable capacitor) which is turned as a knob provided on the top end of a penholder turns, causing the capacitance thereof to vary continuously, so that the resonance frequency also continuously varies in accordance with the turning angle of the variable capacitor, the continuous change in the resonance frequency being detected as a continuous change in the phase angle to be used as information for continuously varying the parameter.
In the device according to the aforesaid Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-162410, however, the range, over which the resonance frequency varies as the capacitance of the capacitance-variable capacitor varies coincides with the range (about -60.degree. to about +60.degree.) over which such variations in the resonance frequency can be detected. For this reason, only rough information on a pointed position, the color of a specified area, etc. can be entered, such rough information being typically represented by the input of information on which one of a plurality of preset colors (e.g., red, green, blue, purple, sky blue, brown, white, gray, bright red, bright green, bright blue, bright purple, bright sky blue, yellow, bright white, and black). Thus, the device is not capable of enabling the input of detailed information concerning a plurality of factors which define a color, such detailed information including the one concerning a hue, brightness and chroma, and detailed gradation information, e.g., 256 gradations, of basic colors such as red, green, and blue.
To solve the problem described above, there is a method available, whereby a menu for setting such information on a display screen is displayed, so that an operator may select and set using the position pointing device. This method, however, does not enable the operator to define colors only through the position pointing device, presents a drawback of poor man-machine interface.

Position pointing device, system and method employing AC field


An apparatus for preparing a folded food product includes a filling machine (128) operable to deposit a filling (30) on a food wrap (20). The apparatus further includes a first folding element (134 and 136) that is configured to fold a first section (22) of the food wrap (20) over the filling (30). Additionally, the apparatus has a creasing device (222) and a folding belt (214) that is operable to fold the food wrap (20) along first and second creases formed by the creasing device (222). Furthermore, the apparatus includes a first crease plate (328) that is operable to place a third crease (26) in the food wrap (20) after the food wrap (20) exits the folding belt (214), and a second folding element (334 and 336) configured to fold the food wrap (20) along the third crease (26). The apparatus also has a second crease plate (340) that is operable to place a fourth crease (28) in the food wrap (20), and a third folding element (338, 344 and 346) configured to fold the food wrap (20) along the fourth crease (28).

In recent years, specialty food products, particularly Mexican food products, have become increasingly popular in the United States. Moreover, the increasing time demands upon families has caused an increase in the demand for heat and serve products. Particularly popular are frozen enchiladas, burritos, and other types of food products such as egg rolls that are offered for sale in the frozen food section of supermarkets. These foods are often sold individually or in packages containing several enchiladas or burritos. Typically the products need only be removed from the package, heated and served.
Historically, such products have been prepared manually by physically folding tortillas or other food wraps around a filling or fillings. This manual approach is time consuming, costly, and often produces products having an inconsistent or uneven appearance. In addition, manual preparation of these folded food-products introduces sanitation concerns.
In order to solve these problems, attempts have been made in the past to fabricate automated folding systems. However, such systems have typically been large and complex. For example, one automated folding system uses a series of plates that support the food wraps as they travel through the folding system. An individual plate supports each food wrap, and each plate has numerous folding parts that allow the plate to be manipulated to fold the food wrap supported by the plate. The plates travel through the system on a type of conveyor or drive, and then are reused once the food wrap that they support has been completely folded and removed from the plate. Due to the large number of moving parts in such a system creates, many complexities are created, which leads to malfunctions in the system and non-uniform folding of the food wraps.
Therefore, a need has arisen for a new method and apparatus for preparing a folded food product that overcome the disadvantages and deficiencies of the prior art.

Method and apparatus for preparing a folded food product


A filter canister is disclosed that includes a main body having a top. An inlet port is positioned on the top of the main body and an outlet port also positioned on the top of the main body, offset from the inlet port by a predetermined distance. A filter cartridge is positioned within the main body that has an outlet end that sealingly engages the outlet port. An inlet port identifier is associated with the inlet port, and an outlet port identifier is associated with the outlet port. A valve is also disclosed that operates in connection with the filter canister.

The present invention concerns a filter and valve apparatus. More specifically, the present invention concerns an encapsulated filter that cooperates with an easy shut-off valve to permit rapid replacement of the encapsulated filter. The filter and valve assembly of the present invention are designed to prevent or minimize the spillage of the filtration medium during the filter exchange operation.
Filtration systems known in the prior art generally include a cylindrical housing into which a cylindrical filter is placed to filter particulate materials from fluids such as water. In such prior art systems, in order to replace a clogged or dirty filter, it is first necessary to shut off the fluid supply to the filter housing, open the housing and replace the filter. Not only is this operation time consuming, it usually results in leakage of fluid when the housing is opened. Accordingly, a need has developed for a filter system that permits rapid exchange of the filter element without the associated spillage of fluid from the filter housing. This is particularly desirable in situations where the filter is replaced in a sterile environment, such as an operating room in a hospital or such as a clean room in a manufacturing facility, where any spilled filtration media must be cleaned up according to rigid procedures.
The present invention overcomes the problems with the prior art by providing a self-contained, replaceable filter cartridge that can be quickly and easily removed and replaced from the fluid lines connected thereto.
To accomplish this, the present invention provides a valve that connects a filter cartridge to the fluid being filtered. The valve design permits the cartridge to be quickly replaced without spilling fluid into the environment by providing fluid cut-off upon rotation of filter and part of the valve head assembly. The cartridge may be either a completely disposable type or it may have a construction where the housing may be opened to provide access to an internal, disposable filter.
In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a filter canister is provided having a main body with a top. An inlet port is positioned on the top of the main body along with an outlet port that is displaced from the inlet port by a predetermined distance. A filter cartridge is positioned within the main body with an outlet end that sealingly engages the outlet port. An inlet port identifier is associated with the inlet port and an outlet port identifier is associated with the outlet port.
The present invention further provides that the inlet port identifier be a flange positioned on the inlet port with a first diameter. The outlet port identifier on the outlet port is a flange with a second diameter. The first diameter can be larger than the second diameter or vice versa.
Alternatively, the inlet port identifier may be a flange with a first shape. The outlet flange identifier may be a flange with a second shape. To differentiate between the inlet port and the outlet port, the flanges may be of different shapes.
The present invention also provides for a valve having an upper plate with inlet and outlet ports. A receptacle disk is rotatably connected to the upper plate and also has inlet and outlet ports. The receptacle disk inlet and outlet ports fluidly communicate with the upper plate inlet and outlet ports when the receptacle disk in a first orientation with respect to the upper plate. The inlet and outlet ports do not fluidly communicate with one another when the receptacle plate is in a second orientation with respect to the upper plate. A lower disk has a cammed surface that permits access to the receptacle disk inlet and outlet ports when the receptacle disk is in the second orientation but prevents access to the receptacle inlet and outlet ports when the receptacle disk is in the first orientation.
In further accordance with the teachings of the present invention, the lower disk is connected to the upper plate in fixed relation thereto. The receptacle disk includes an inlet port identifier associated with the receptacle disk inlet port and an outlet port identifier associated with the receptacle disk outlet port. The inlet port identifier is a first flange receiving portion with a first diameter. The outlet port identifier comprises a second flange receiving portion with a second diameter.
In still further accordance with the teachings of the present invention, the first diameter is greater than the second diameter. Alternatively, the second diameter is greater than the first diameter.
According to the present invention, the inlet port identifier may alternatively have a first flange receiving portion with a first shape and a second flange receiving portion with a second shape. The first shape differs from the second shape.
According to still another teaching of the present invention, the inlet port identifier may comprise a diameter of the receptacle disk inlet port and the outlet port identifier may comprise a diameter of the receptacle disk outlet port. The diameter of the receptacle disk inlet port may be greater than the diameter of the receptacle disk outlet port or vice versa.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, a filter and valve assembly are provided where the filter has a main body with a top. Inlet and outlet ports are positioned on top of the main body and are offset from one another a predetermined distance. A filter cartridge, positioned within the main body, has an outlet end sealingly engaging the outlet port. A valve is also provided that has an upper plate with an inlet port and an outlet port. A receptacle disk, rotatably connected to the upper plate, has an inlet and an outlet port. The receptacle disk inlet and outlet ports fluidly communicate with the upper plate inlet and outlet ports when the receptacle disk is in a first orientation with respect to the upper plate. The receptacle disk inlet and outlet ports do not fluidly communicate with one another when the receptacle disk is in a second orientation with respect to the upper plate. A lower disk has a cammed surface that permits access to the receptacle disk inlet and outlet ports when the receptacle disk is in the second orientation and prevents access to the receptacle inlet and outlet ports when the receptacle disk is in the first orientation. The assembly also includes an inlet port identifier associated with the filter canister inlet port and the receptacle inlet port, where the inlet port identifier permits the filter canister inlet port to fluidly engage the receptacle disk inlet port. Also, the assembly includes an outlet port identifier associated with the filter canister outlet port and the receptacle disk outlet port where the outlet port identifier permits the filter canister outlet port to fluidly engage the receptacle disk outlet port.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a filter and valve assembly where the inlet port identifier is a first flange on the filter canister inlet with a first diameter and a first flange receiving portion on the receptacle disk inlet port for engaging the first flange. The outlet port identifier has a second flange on the filter canister outlet port with a second diameter and a second flange receiving portion on the receptacle disk outlet port for engaging the second flange. The flanges may be of differing sizes or shapes, as described above.


System for the bidirectional connection of an ELAN and a CLS wide-area network (CLSnet) having an address memory for allocated MAC addresses of the ELAN (ELAN 1, . . . ) and E.164 addresses of the CLS network (CLSnet), having a memory for an E.164 address allocated to the transition to the CLS network (CLSnet), and having a controller in order, dependent on specific conditions, to handover frames coming from the ELAN to the interface to the CLS network in common with the E.164 address belonging to the destination MAC address or, respectively, to discard them, whereby frames having a local broadcast MAC address as destination address are always to be discarded, and in order to hand frames coming from the wide-area network over to the interface to the ELAN.

The invention is directed to a means (IWF) for the bidirectional connection of an ELAN and a wide-area network offering a connectionless service.
ELAN stands for emulated LAN as described, in particular, in the specification 94-0035R9, "LAN Emulation Over ATM: Version 1.0" of the LAN Emulation SWG Drafting Group of the ATM Forum of Jan. 6, 1995, Bill Ellington, editor. This is thereby an approach of the ATM Forum to the migration of current LANs to ATM networks. ATM thereby means "Asynchronous Transfer Mode", i.e. asynchronous data or, respectively, information transmission methods. LAN is an abbreviation of "Local Area Network". LANs are datagram-oriented local networks that are described in, among other references, the article by David D. Clark, Kenneth D. Progran and David P. Reed, "An Introduction to Local Area Networks" in Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 66, No. 11, November 1978, pages 1497 through 1517. LANs are also described in ISO/IEC TR 8802-1, "Overview of LAN-Standards". LANs offer a connectionless service, what is referred to as the MAC service. MAC thereby stands for "Media Access Control". By contrast to this connectionless service, ATM technology is connection-oriented. When the protocols of the higher layers developed for LANs are to be used in emulated LANs on the basis of an ATM network, the properties of the connectionless MAC service must be produced in this ATM network. The LAN emulation according to the aforementioned specification realizes the MAC service in the local ATM network and thus defines a single emulated LAN, called ELAN below. The standard LAN protocols such as LLC, TCP/IP, SPX/IPX or TP/CLNP can be used in this ELAN.
The LAN emulation supports the two most frequently employed LAN standards, namely Ethernet according to IEEE 802.3 and Token Ring according to IEEE 802.5, whereby three frame lengths are supported given token ring. The routing of an information packet within an Ethernet ensues on the basis of a destination MAC address handed over from a higher layer. For the description of the information path, token ring LANs employ what are referred to as route descriptors in the frame header. The frame can be conveyed to the destination within token ring LANs on the basis of such a descriptor.
What is meant below by MAC address is an address within an LAN that corresponds to the route descriptor in a token ring and to the MAC address in an Ethernet.
For emulation of an LAN in an ATM network, the LAN emulation must, among other things, resolve destination MAC address into destination ATM addresses, realize multicast and broadcast, i.e. a distribution of information to a plurality of or to all subscribers, as well as assure the transmission of LAN emulation frames in the proper sequence. The LAN emulation has a client-server configuration. The client side is called LAN emulation client LEC and the server side is called LAN emulation service. The LAN emulation service is composed of LAN emulation server LES, broadcast-and-unknown server BUS and LAN emulation configuration server LECS. The LAN emulation client receives the destination MAC address from a higher-ranking layer, for example the LLC layer, and must find the corresponding ATM address, in order to subsequently initiate the setup of a direct ATM connection to the destination by signaling. The signaling can thereby ensue, for example, according to the ITU-T Recommendation Q.2831/Q.2971. An LEC can be a software driver that must be installed at all stations that are directly connected to the ATM network, i.e. are connected by an ATM hardware circuit to an ATM switch. However, an LEC can also be realized within this ATM hardware circuit.
An LEC maintains a table with all MAC addresses that are reported in the emulated LAN, for example in the framework of a configuration, and with the corresponding ATM addresses. The communication between the LECen and the LES ensues according to an LAN emulation address resolution protocol that, conforming to the English designation LAN Emulation Address Resolution Protocol, is referred to as LE_ARP. When an LEC does not know the destination ATM address of a destination MAC address, then it sends an inquiry with the destination MAC address to the LES. Such an inquiry for address resolution is referenced LE_ARP request. When the LES can resolve the destination ATM address, it replies with LE_ARP response. When it cannot, it sends the request to further LECen.
When an LEC receives an address resolution response LE_ARP response, then it sets up an ATM-UBR connection to the ATM address contained therein and sends a unicast frame. UBR thereby denotes "Unspecified Bit Rate", i.e. indicates that the bit rate is not specified. A unicast frame is an information or, respectively, data packet with a single addressee. In the transmission of frames within an ELAN, a distinction is made between unicast frame to one receiver and multicast or broadcast frame to several or all receivers. An ATM-UBR connection is maintained for 20 minutes from the last transmitted frame so that further frames can be sent to the same receiver in a simple way. To this end, the variable C12 is referenced in point 5.1.1 of the LAN emulation specification. The destination ATM addresses of destination MAC addresses are stored for a certain length of time in the LEC with the assistance of a cash mechanism. When there is no connection to a destination LEC but the destination ATM address is known in the sender LEC, a sender LEC can set up a connection without address resolution request and send a unicast frame.
Multicast frames to a group of subscribers or, respectively, LECs and broadcast frames to all subscribers or, respectively, LECs are sent to the aforementioned BUS. The BUS maintains connections to all LECs in its emulated LAN and distributes the arrived frames to the addressees.
Every LEC can be signed on in the configuration as what is referred to as proxy-LEC. A proxy-LEC receives all address resolution requests LE_ARP request that an LES cannot resolve. A proxy-LEC also receives all multicast and all broadcast frames.
The advantage of ATM technology is to be seen, among other things, therein that direct connections with flexible bandwidth can be set up between the communication parties. Such direct connections guarantee minimum time delays and a high information transmission rate. This advantage of ATM technology is utilized in the LAN emulation for unicast frames.
The connectionless service or CLS service can be realized with various technologies (for example, DQDB, ATM, FR). The service is described in the ITU-T Recommendation F.812.
Known realizations are the switched multi-megabit data service (SMDS) described in specifications of Bellcore, SMDS Interest Group (SIG) and European SMDS Interest Group (ESIG), as well as the connectionless broadband data service (CBDS) defined in ETSI Standard 300 217 and ITU-T Recommendation I.364. CLS has become widespread worldwide due to these realizations. Systems that offer this service are built by many manufacturers in the field of telecommunication.
The service is envisioned for worldwide data communication. At every access to the CLS network, one or more CLNAP addresses according to E.164 (E.164 address) are assigned (CLNAP=connection network access protocol).
A destination CLNAP address (E.164 address) is attached (encapsulation) to an incoming unicast frame with static or dynamic allocation tables on the basis of its destination MAC address and the encapsulated frame (also called CLS packet) is conducted to this CLNAP address.
For better understanding, the addresses in the ELAN are called unicast or, respectively, multicast/broadcast MAC addresses; but individual and group addresses shall be referred to in the CLS network.
Each CLS packet is transmitted independently of the others in the CLS network. The networks sees to the proper sequence of the CLS packets.
Under certain conditions (see prETS 300 478, 300 479), the CLNAP PDUs are encapsulated in CLNIP PDUs (CLNIP=connectionless network interface protocol).
The handling of multicast traffic in the CLS network is realized in the following way. What are referred to as group address agents (GAAs) contain tables with the individual CLNAP addresses that belong to a CLNAP group address. Each CLS packet that has a group address as destination address is conducted to the corresponding group address agent. When encapsulation was carried out, the same group address resides in the fields "CLNAP destination address" and "CLNIP destination address".
The GAA resolves the group address of the incoming CLS packet into individual CLNIP addresses, generates copies of the original packet and attaches to corresponding individual address to each copy as CLNIP address.
The "CLNAP destination address" field remains unmodified, so that the receiver can learn about the original group address. The LAN emulation describes an individual emulated LAN. No solutions are currently known for the coupling of ELANs. For performance reasons, the mechanisms described in the LAN emulation for address resolution and for the realization of multicast/broadcast in the WAN region cannot simply be transferred.
Various concepts for connecting local ATM networks such as, for example, ELANs via a wide-area ATM network are known in the article, "Interconnect Emulated LANs with White Area ATM networks" by Peter T. P. Chang and Bill Ellington, ATM Forum Technical Committee of Nov. 29 through Dec. 2, 1994.
In a first concept, a plurality of ELANs are thereby connected to a wide-area ATM network, whereby the address resolution and the data transmission are undertaken via a single LES and a single BUS. This concept leads to an enormous traffic volume for the realization of the broadcast function. The address resolution delay times in such a network are extremely high.
A further concept provides that ELANs be respectively connected to a wide-area ATM network via remote bridges. Either all remote bridges are thereby connected to one another via permanent virtual circuits PVC or the remote bridges are dynamically connected to one another with the assistance of an ATM signaling upon employment of an address resolution server. The transmission possibilities are thereby limited by the transmission possibilities of the remote bridges and the bandwidth of the permanent virtual circuits between two remote bridges. The remote bridges are flooded with broadcast and unknown servers of remote ELANs insofar as the remote bridge thereof does not respectively know the address of the remote bridges allocated to the destination MAC addresses.
A further concept provides that, instead of remote bridges, brouters be provided, a mixture of bridge and router. In this case, these brouters fulfill the function of an LAN emulation bridge at the ELAN side and fulfill the functions of a router at the side of the ATM wide-area network. As a result thereof, the broadcast problems are reduced; however, a limitation of the transmission possibilities via the ATM wide-area network due to the transmission possibilities of the brouters and of the permanent virtual circuits continues to exist.
A further concept provides that the LES of the individual ELANs as well as the BUS of the individual ELANs be connected to one another by direct connections. This, however, leads to a great plurality of direct connections and to a high traffic volume between the LES and the BUS of the individual ELANs. The traffic volume thereby increases linearly with the plurality of connected ELANs.
A further concept provides that the LES of the individual ELANs as well as the BUS of the individual ELANs be connected to a higher-ranking LES or, respectively, to a higher-ranking BUS via direct connections. This, however, likewise leads to a great plurality of direct connections and to a high traffic volume. The multilayer nature of BUS and higher-ranking BUS or, respectively, LES and higher-ranking LES also leads to time delays.
All described concepts provide for the coupling of an ELAN to an ATM network.

System (IWF) for the bidirectional connection of an ELAN and a CLS wide-area network


Disclosed is a plasma torch in which the position of the center electrode (1) is adjustable relative to the orifice of the plasma torch (2). The invention is based on a construction in which the center electrode (1) is mounted to the body part (9) of the plasma torch by way of a pivotal ball joint (7, 23), whereby the electrode (1) can be pivotally rotated in said joint (7, 23), thus making it possible to align the electrode tip to the orifice center of the plasma nozzle (2). The spherical element (7) of the pivotal joint is attached to the bearing box (23) with the help of a tightening gland nut (11, 12). The depth of the center electrode (1) can be adjusted by rotating a depth adjustment gland nut (14), which is attached to the spherical element (7) by a threaded joint. Due to its versatile adjustability the function of the plasma torch can be maintained in a stable range, thus significantly contributing to reduced wear and damage of the plasma nozzles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma arc torch having a cover, an electrode, body parts and a nozzle having an orifice.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a plasma arc torch the main arc utilized for welding is excited between the torch electrode and the workpiece. The nozzle section of the torch is comprised of two coaxial cavities. The inner cavity houses a tungsten electrode and the end of the cavity is provided with an orifice about the tip of the electrode. A plasma gas is fed into this cavity. The inner cavity is enclosed by another cavity whose exit orifice surrounds the exit hole of the inner cavity. The shielding gas which envelops the electric arc is fed to this outer cavity.
Because the electric arc of the plasma torch is maintained in a gas atmosphere between the workpiece and the electrode, the gas must be ionized before the ignition of the main arc in order to make the gas electrically conductive. This ionization is accomplished by means of a pilot arc excited between the electrode and the nozzle that forms the inner cavity. The pilot arc ionizes the plasma gas, whereby a conductive ionized gas path is formed between the workpiece and the electrode, thus providing proper ignition conditions for the main arc.
The main arc must be maintained only between the electrode and the workpiece, because such a high-energy electric arc so between the electrode and the nozzle would rapidly destroy the nozzle. Normally, the cooling of the nozzles and the electrical and magnetic forces acting in the nozzle prevent the main arc from being excited between the electrode and the nozzle. This requires, however, that the electrode tip must be exactly aligned to the electrical center point of the nozzle. If the nozzle orifice and the electrode tip have symmetrical shapes, the electrical center point generally also coincides with the geometric center point.
The shape of the nozzle orifice and thus the position of the electrical center point may change during welding for several reasons: The electrode tip may be offset from the electrical center point already from the start of welding due to unavoidable production tolerances of the torch, nozzle and electrode. Resultingly, the position of the nozzle orifice undergoes slow shifting during welding, causing the plasma jet to deviate. The orifice shape itself may often also become deformed due to welding splashes and accumulation of other debris. When the plasma jet direction diverges, working with the plasma torch becomes difficult and finally impossible. The welding seam quality worsens and repeatability will be lost due to the varying behavior of the plasma arc. The pilot arc weakens, and the ignition of the main arc becomes more difficult so that finally the main arc cannot be ignited at all. At this stage the nozzle and generally the electrode as well must be replaced. As nozzles in plasma torches are easily damaged, nozzle changes become the cause of frequent interruptions in welding operations, which thus are hampered by the high consumption rate of the nozzles.
In plasma torches intended for manual welding, altering the position of the electrode is possible only through machining of the electrode tip, because the electrode is permanently aligned with respect to the torch body by means of ceramic support pieces. Reshaping of the electrode is a slow and time-consuming operation, since the work must be done in a machine due to the high tolerance requirements.
In larger plasma torches used in mechanically controlled welding, the electrode position can be adjusted with the help of an eccentric mechanism. These torches have a large-diameter nozzle orifice, and the main arc is ignited by means of a high-frequency arc which rotates in the gap between the electrode and the nozzle. The centering of the electrode is accomplished by first igniting the high-frequency arc and then aligning the electrode with the help of the eccentric mechanism until the arc starts to rotate about the nozzle orifice in a symmetrical manner. Such a mechanism is, however, too massive for hand-held torches and can be used only in torches ignited by a high-frequency arc. The electrode position is not adjustable by such an arrangement after the main arc has been ignited, because the torch is not gas-tight during the adjustment.

Plasma arc torch having adjustable electrode


Systems, methods, and devices of various embodiments enable the provision of providing terrestrial broadcast television services over a cellular broadcast system. In various embodiments, a processor of a network element of the cellular broadcast system may parse a terrestrial broadcast television service for one or more information elements. The processor may configure a service description of the cellular broadcast system to include the one or more information elements of the terrestrial broadcast television service. The processor may send the configured service description over the cellular broadcast system to a receiving device to enable the receiving device to receive the terrestrial broadcast television service over the cellular broadcast system.

Mobile cellular networks are being expanded and enhanced to provide an increasingly wide range of services. One area of service development includes migrating terrestrial broadcast television (TV) services delivery onto cellular broadcast networks. Providing broadcast TV services over a cellular broadcast network may permit reuse of ultrahigh frequency (UHF) spectrum that is currently assigned for broadcast TV service distribution for, as one example, for, wireless broadband communications and multimedia content delivery. However, cellular broadcast systems are not currently configured to provide the full range of currently-available broadcast TV services, and cross-technology service delivery migration will be required in order to support the delivery of broadcast TV services over cellular broadcast networks.

Terrestrial broadcast television services over a cellular broadcast system


An auxiliary pressure clamp is provided for a bar clamp structure on an internally threaded sleeve for adjustably engaging an elongated bar of the bar clamp at a right angle thereto. A force-applying screw is threaded into the sleeve and has a handle at another end to rotate the force applying screw within the sleeve. A head will engage with a work place at a right angle to the clamping action of the bar clamp to apply pressure thereto, especially when various parts of the work piece are being glued together, or a veneer is being glued to a surface of a work piece.

The instant invention relates generally to bar clamps and more specifically it relates to an auxiliary pressure clamp.
Numerous bar clamps have been provided in the prior art that are adapted to be indispensable tools for a gluing work pieces when making furniture and built-ins since the pressure they exert are tremendous. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,499,206 to Quernheim; 3,677,584 to Short and Des. 274,034 to Lacina all are illustrative of such prior art. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purpose of the present invention as hereafter described.


A unit dose package has two chambers separated by a frangible seal. A liquid or solvent is provided in one of the chambers. An absorptive pad and powder are provided in the other chamber. The liquid and powder are stored separately, to avoid decomposition of the unstable mixture. In use, the first chamber is squeezed or rolled, bursting the seal, and driving the liquid into the second chamber, where it dissolves the powder and is absorbed by the pad. The package is peeled or torn open, and the pad is removed and applied to the skin.

This invention relates to a unit dose package. More specifically, the invention finds applications in containing and applying skin care drugs and products.
It is often advantageous to store two different substances, e.g., drugs and cosmetics, separately, and mix them together just prior to use. If mixed first, many substances will decompose and lose their effectiveness before they can be used. Similarly, other substances, which must be combined before use, such as a powdered drug and solution or solvent vehicle, become unstable when combined. These substances must be used very soon after they are combined to achieve the desired therapeutic effect.
Several known packages use a multi-chamber system for the mixing of separated substances, for example, the mixing of two liquids. These devices range from containers that aid in mixing separated components to devices that allow the simultaneous delivery of several separated substances. However, while these known packages or devices may facilitate mixing of liquids and powders just prior to use, disadvantages remain in applying the mixture from the package. Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved unit dose package.


An assembly and method provide a continuous supply of packaging film to a form, fill and seal packaging machine with two spindles alternately operating as the active spindle to feed the film from one roll at a time. Opposed pneumatic manifolds are operative to splice the tail-end of the film from the active roll to the head-end of the film from the standby roll. The opposed manifolds pivot in opposite directions away from the machine to provide easy access for loading. A programmable controller controls the splicing operation. Valves operated by the controller connect a vacuum source to one of the manifolds to hold the head-end at a splicing station and to the other to maintain tension on the active film after the tail-end leaves the spindle. An end-of-roll detector near the spindle triggers the tensioning function. The width of the manifold is adjustable to accommodate different width film. A photocell detector and encoder in the circuit allow tracking of the tail-end. When it arrives at the splicing station, the appropriate control valve rapidly switches to apply an air blast generated by positive pneumatic pressure to blow the tail-end/head-end together so that adhesive tape pre-applied to the head-end is securely attached to the tail-end to complete the splicing operation. The programmable controller continues to track the splice through the packaging machine to initiate a dry cycle and removal of the splice section.

Assemblies and methods for unwinding and feeding of packaging film into a form, fill and seal packaging machine are known in the art. A number of other machines that process web material similar to film, such as printing presses, employ similar feeding assemblies and methods. These feeding assemblies typically include means for supporting and unwinding a supply web roll and means for feeding the web into the processing machine.
In the case of a form, fill and seal packaging machine, the film is ultimately formed into an open package, filled with a product, and sealed to retain the product until opened for use. A wide variety of products, most notably food items, are packaged in this manner. To further explain, the basic combination of a form, fill and seal packaging machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,707, assigned to the assignee of the present invention. It discloses a method and assembly for controlling the feed of packaging film from a supply roll over a former, where the film is formed into an open tube. A filling means provides a measured amount of product into the bottom of the tube where a package or bag is being formed. The package is then sealed across the top to yield a filled, hermetically sealed package with the product on the inside (see FIGS. 2-4). The '707 patent actually covers a particular improved control routine for film registration utilizing registration marks detected by a photoelectric cell and triggering the various form, fill and seal operations.
It is desirable to minimize the down-time of the packaging machine so that a maximum number of packages or bags can be produced during each unit time. This necessarily means that not only is a reliable high speed package forming, filling and sealing operation required, but also a reliable high speed film feeding/registration arrangement is a necessity, as illustrated in the '707 patent.
In prior art assemblies, film is typically supplied for feeding along the feed path into a form, fill and seal portion of the machine by loading or installing a roll of the film on a spindle or web roll cradle, and controllably rotating the roll to unwind the film. A significant disadvantage of these prior art packaging film unwinding arrangements is the lost operating time caused during change-over when a roll of film is exhausted and a new roll must be loaded and brought on stream. This change-over typically requires an operator to stop the packaging machine to load a new roll of film on the spindle or cradle, thread the film along the feed path and then restart and regulate the machine operation. Typically, lost machine production time is between 10-30 minutes.
The potential lost operation time can be further magnified because a single operator is, in many instances, required to keep several machines operating simultaneously. Thus, if two or more machines require a new roll to be loaded at about the same time, or an emergency occupies the operator's attention at a time when a new roll of film is required, the interruption and lost operating time are detrimentally increased.
Some prior art feeding assemblies and methods have sought to correct or alleviate this problem by incorporating dual roll supporting and unwinding equipment so that upon exhaustion or expiration of an active roll, the threading of the film from a standby roll can begin immediately. This reduces the roll change-over interruptions because the operator can have the standby roll pre-loaded in the machine. Thus, the overall down-time of the packaging machine is reduced.
Some web feeding approaches for other types of machines have suggested going a step farther to include a provision for automatically splicing the tail-end of the web of the active roll to the head-end of the web of the standby roll so that the web is truly continuously fed without any roll change-over interruption.
In these web feeding assemblies and methods, it is highly desirable to include provision for implementing the splicing by a control means upon detection of the tail-end of the web of the active roll being at a splice position along the feed path. In addition, upon expiration of the active roll of the web and its release from the spindle, there must be provisions for maintaining tension on the web. This is necessary to maintain tracking of the web through the machine and to ensure that the tail-end is properly oriented to be spliced upon reaching the splice position.
When successful, this splicing operation alleviates much of the problem of a single operator trying to keep several machines operating simultaneously. It can result in minimizing, and indeed, eliminating roll loading and change over interruptions. The operator has a much wider window of time within which to load new rolls on the machines without risking interruption and lost operating time. In theory, an operator merely installs a new roll onto the standby spindle at any time during unwinding of the active roll prior to its expiration, and the machine can continue operating indefinitely without interruption.
However, prior art methods and assemblies for feeding webs supplied on rolls into processing machines including such splicing provisions possess significant drawbacks and disadvantages. For instance, the arrangements that I am aware of employ moving mechanical parts to mechanically move the head-end and tail-end of the webs into splicing engagement. Adhesive means typically located between the head-end and tail-end are designed to hold them together once the webs are forced together. These moving mechanical parts typically are opposing plungers or plates that forcefully slap the head-end/tail-end together upon detection in real time of the head-end and tail-end being present between them.
Moving mechanical parts utilized to mechanically slap the head-end/tail-end of webs together in this manner are subject to inordinate wear and tear. Heavy maintenance and continuous adjustment to account for the wear that occurs are commonplace complaints of the operators. Furthermore, this brute force approach tends to cause the web to burst if a slight error in synchronization of the operation is experienced.
It is also known that slapping the head-end/tail-end of the webs together with adhesive located between them is particularly problematic when the adhesive is applied in liquid or paste form. Particularly when applied in excessive amounts, the adhesive can squeeze out due to the excessive force of the slap action, resulting in it tending to clog around the moving mechanical parts, and eventually impede or jam their operation.
Another drawback of prior art web feeding assemblies and methods is the lack of convenient operator accessibility to load the head-end of the web of the standby roll into the splice ready position. Specifically, prior to expiration of the active roll, the operator loads the head-end into a holding means in the splice ready position where it is maintained awaiting the tail-end of the web of the active roll. Typically the web of the active roll is in close proximity to the holding means, and manual intervention can cause inadvertent interference and damage to the feeding of the web of the active roll. Shut-down of the processing machine results.
Another problem associated with prior art feeding assemblies and methods that include splicing provisions is the subsequent processing and handling of the head-end/tail-end splice section. That is, the splice section must be retained along the feed path throughout the entire processing machine to maintain the continuous web until the final cut-off point in the process. It is desirable to track the splice section through the entire machine, to inhibit further processing of it, and to recognize it at the cut-off point and dispose of it. Prior assemblies and methods have not addressed the problems of tracking the splice section through the machine to inhibit its processing, and/or to remove it after cut-off.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,190 to Bianchetto et al. discloses an apparatus and method for splicing two webs together so that the web is substantially continuously fed into a processing machine. In this case the processing machine is a printing press (see column 1, lines 14-15). The webs are fed from two rolls and spliced together at a splicing station (see FIG. 1). This prior art apparatus utilizes vacuum means for holding the head-end of the web of the standby roll at the splicing station. The web of the active roll as it is expiring causes actuation of a pneumatic cylinder and, correspondingly, downward movement by the plate thereby slapping the two films together. The objective is for both webs to adhere to the adhesive strip between them, effecting a splice (see FIGS. 4D-4G).
This '190 patent also includes a suggestion for retracting the holding means to facilitate loading of the head-end of the web of the new roll so as to be positioned spaced from the splicing station (see FIGS. 4A-4C). However, no mounting details are provided and an operator must move several other components out of the way to permit the movement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,178 to Goulette also discloses an arrangement for splicing the head-end of web of a standby roll to the tail-end of the web of an active roll so that continuous or semi-continuous feeding is effected. The control bar moves downwardly (FIGS. 10 and 11), causing the webs to be slapped together with a tape in between to thereby implement a splice.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,489 to Wommer discloses a device for splicing the web head-end of a standby roll to the web tail-end of an active roll (see FIG. 1). Again, moving plates 3 must slap the head-end/tail-end together (see FIG. 4) to effect a splice.
Thus, all of these prior art assemblies and methods for splicing two webs together include mechanical moving parts subject to great wear and tear and a tendency to stress, and possibly burst the web just from normal operation. As a result, the parts tend to require regular maintenance at short intervals and continuous adjustment, and occasional shut-down of the machine is required to manually splice a broken web, and rethread the web. In addition, none of the references teach a device or method for tracking the splice section through the machine so that further processing of the splice section can be inhibited, and thus efficiently discarded. Inhibiting the processing of the splice section is referred to as operating the machine in a "dry cycle mode."
Thus, despite these prior art attempts, the continuous feeding of a web, and particularly relatively thin flexible packaging film for use in a form, fill and seal packaging operation, by splicing the film of the rolls together, remains a difficult, and generally problematic procedure. Specifically, (1) the presence of moving mechanical parts to slap the webs together; (2) the lack of a simple means for retracting the head-end holding means to facilitate loading of the new standby roll; and (3) the lack of any provision for efficiently tracking the splice section through the machine and inhibiting its further processing, are particularly identified.

Packaging film feeding and splicing apparatus and method


A process for the foaming of the headspace of containers filled with carbonated beverages, wherein, after the filling of the beverages into the containers, the containers are transferred to a foaming area, in which an electromagnetic beam, preferably a laser beam, is irradiated in a controlled way into the headspace of the container which is not filled with the beverage, whereby, due to the resultant foaming, the gas volume in the headspace is displaced from it, and the containers are subsequently sealed, as well as to a device for carrying out the process.

In bottling plants, beverages are filled into containers in such a way that a residual gas volume remains in the headspace of the containers. This residual volume is at first filled with carbon dioxide in the case of beverages containing CO.sub.2. Since the containers are exposed to ambient air during transfer form the bottling station to the sealing station, there is a risk of oxygen entering the headspace during this transfer, which promotes germ formation in such beverages and thus greatly reduces their storage stability.
For the afore-mentioned reason, beverages are conventionally foamed during transfer from the bottling station to the sealing station by introducing a gaseous or liquid medium into the headspace onto the surface of the beverage so that the resultant foam expels the gas volume, and thus also the oxygen that has entered, from the headspace. Thus, the oxygen content in the headspace will be reduced at the moment the container is sealed.
One example of such a foaming device is disclosed in German Utility Model No. 91 16 815 U1. A jet of liquid, here in particular water, is introduced into the headspace of the filled containers at a pressure of 40 bar by means of the device described therein. The pulse of the water jet can be regulated.
It is in particular disadvantageous in such process and devices according to the prior art that after the high-pressure water injection the beverage foam has relatively large pores so that, despite large overfoam volumes (2 to 5 ml/container), the average oxygen values that can be achieved in the headspace are not better than 0.018 to 0.12 mg per liter. The disadvantageously large overfoaming results in a high waste water pollutant load and thus substantial liquid waste disposal costs; also, the large overfoam volumes are equivalent to net beverages losses which, of course, are expensive per se.
A further main disadvantage of this known foaming process resides in the fact that water, and thus foreign media, is injected into the beverage, thereby diluting it. There is danger of germs being injected into the beverage together with the water, while, to avoid this danger, special equipment for preparing germ-free water must be provided.

Process and a device for headspace foaming of containers filled with carbonated beverages


A program filing method for a video tape recorder is disclosed. The tape is formatted into a number of regions so that the tape is arranged into a filing form, and thus, recording and reproduction is faster and more convenient by utilizing a VISS function. When a vacant tape is inserted, the total length of the tape is divided into a number of regions based on the desired formatting number, and VISS signals are recorded on each of the regions for several seconds, so that recording and reproduction can be carried out by selecting the formatted region number, thus making it possible to carry out recording or reproduction on the desired regions.

Generally, the currently used video tape recorders are undergoing a trend of diversification in functions, so that video tape recorders become more convenient to use. However, a function of selecting and reproducing desired portions of the recorded information based on the desire of the user has not been realized yet.
Thus, in spite of the developments and applications of other functions, the technique of searching and reading a specific desired information in order to reproduce it has not yet been fully developed the initial stage of the VTR technique.

Method for formatting a videotape and recording/reproducing to/from the formatted videotape


A hinge structure for a vehicle open/close body, in which a long hinge member supporting the open/close body is rotatably disposed in an opening portion of a vehicle body and the hinge member rotates according to an opening and closing motion of the open/close body, wherein a cover member for covering the hinge member is disposed in the hinge member; and wherein a shape of an outer periphery surface of the cover member facing a corner portion of the opening portion is formed in a shape following a shape of the corner portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hinge structure for a vehicle open/close body, such as a door and a trunk lid of a vehicle, for rotatably fixing the vehicle open/close body to a vehicle body.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, when a linear member such as a harness and a wire for various devices such as a lamp installed in a door or a trunk lid of a vehicle is wired, the linear member is wired along a long hinge member constituting a hinge mechanism of the door and trunk lid.
FIG. 15 is an illustration showing an installation condition of a hinge structure of a conventional vehicle open/close body, which is an enlarged perspective view of a corner portion of a trunk lid when the open/close body is opened. FIG. 16 is also an illustration showing an installation condition of a hinge structure of a conventional vehicle open/close body, which is an enlarged perspective view of a corner portion of a trunk lid when the open/close body is opened. FIG. 17 is an illustration showing a hinge structure of a conventional vehicle open/close body, which is an enlarged cross sectional view of a main portion of a hinge member provided with a harness.
For example, as shown in FIG. 17, a hinge structure 400 is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-333723, in which a long protector body 410 having a U-shaped cross section for housing a harness 430 is disposed along a long hinge member 450, and an outer periphery of the protector body 410 and hinge member 450 is covered by a cover member 470 having a U-shaped cross section and a cap member 420. Meanwhile, the long hinge member 450 has a concave groove 451 along an extending direction thereof and another harness 440 is housed in the concave groove 451.
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, a trunk room 110 for putting baggage is disposed in a rear portion of a vehicle body. An opening portion 120 of the trunk room 110 is opened and closed by an open/close body such as a trunk lid for putting the baggage in the trunk room 110. The open/close body is rotatably fixed to a vehicle body 100 via, for example, long hinge members 210, 310. Each front end portion of a pair of the hinge members 210, 310 is fixed to right and left sides of the open/close body, and each anchor portion thereof is rotatably fixed to an axis of the vehicle body 100 by passing through each of the right and left corner portions 121 of the trunk room 110.
A weather-strip 500 made of rubber is disposed on a periphery of the opening portion 120 of the trunk room 110. The opening portion 120 to which the weather-strip 500 is fixed is formed such that a corner portion 121 is formed in a circular arc. In addition, the open/close body such as a door and a trunk lid of the vehicle may be provided with various devices such as a lamp and a locking device. These various devices may be provided with a linear member such as a harness for connecting the devices to, for example, a power source installed in the vehicle body and a wire for opening the trunk lid.
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 15 to FIG. 17, when the linear members such as the harness and wire are connected to the various devices of the open/close body, the linear members are wired along the long hinge members 210, 310, 450 which constitute a hinge mechanism of the door or the trunk room.
For example, in a hinge structure 200 shown in FIG. 15, a clip 240 for holding harnesses 220, 230 is disposed on a lateral surface of the hinge member 210 having a square cross section, and the harnesses 220, 230 are fixed on the lateral surface of the hinge member 210 by the clip 240.
In addition, in a hinge structure 300 shown in FIG. 16, the hinge member 310 is formed in a U-shape in cross section so that the harness 320 can be housed in the hinge member 310, thereby the harness 320 is housed inside the hinge member 310 and held by a tape 330 and the like.
However, in the hinge structure 200 shown in FIG. 15, since the harnesses 220, 230 are disposed on the lateral surface of the hinge member 210, the hinge member 210 protrudes by an installation space S200 of the harnesses 220, 230 toward the edge of the trunk room 110.
On the other hand, when the hinge member 210 is disposed close to an edge of the opening portion 120 in the vehicle width direction for reducing the protrusion of the hinge member 210 toward the trunk room 110, since the corner portion 121 is formed in the circular arc, a distance L200 between the hinge member 210 and a front edge of the opening portion 120 becomes long, thereby resulting in producing a wide gap between the hinge member 210 and the front periphery of the opening portion 120.
In addition, in the hinge structure 200, since the harnesses 220, 230 are barely disposed on the lateral surface of the hinge member 210, the appearance is not good.
In addition, in the hinge structure 300 shown in FIG. 16, since the hinge member 310 having a U-shaped cross section has a role of covering the harness 320, the harness 320 is hardly seen from the rear side of the vehicle, thereby resulting in improvement of the appearance. However, since the harness 320 is housed in the hinge member 310, the hinge member 310 grows in size.
In addition, since the hinge member 310 is not formed in a shape following the shape of the corner portion 121, if the hinge member 310 is disposed close to the front edge of the opening portion 120, a gap S300 between a side edge of the opening portion 120 and the hinge member 310 becomes wide although a gap L300 between the front edge of the opening portion 120 and the hinge member 310 becomes narrow.
Therefore, a protrusion S400 of a lining 130, where an anchor portion of the hinge member 310 is housed, becomes large due to growing of the hinge member 310 in size and expansions of the gaps L330, S300, thereby resulting in producing a small storage space of the trunk room 110 for putting the baggage therein.
In a structure of the opening portion 120 of, for example, a door or a trunk room, it is preferable to dispose the door hinge structures 200, 300 as close to the corner portion 121 of the opening portion 120 as possible for widely utilizing the opening portion 120.
However, in a door hinge structure 400 (Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-333723) shown in FIG. 17, since a cross section of a hinge member 470 grows in size to protrude inside the opening portion, the space of the opening portion is reduced.
In addition, a corner portion of the opening portion is formed in a curved shape (circular arc) in many cases. However, since the conventional door hinge structure 400 is formed in an angulated shape, if the door hinge structure 400 is moved close to the corner portion of the opening portion, a clearance between the door hinge structure 400 and the corner portion varies, thereby resulting in deterioration of the appearance.
The present invention has been developed considering the problems described above, and it is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a hinge structure for a vehicle open/close body, which reduces the protrusion toward the opening portion, as well as improves appearance of the vehicle when the vehicle open/close body is opened.

Hinge structure for vehicle open/close body


A method is provided for automatically displaying context information to an information fragment with no user interaction. The method includes: displaying the fragment in a first window, wherein the window and fragment each relate to a source process; pointing with a cursor to a part of the fragment displayed in the first window; generating an event object comprising coordinates of the cursor and part of the information fragment; broadcasting the event object to the source process, wherein the only information exchange between the target process and the source process is based on the event object; interpreting the event object by the target process and generating a response by the target process; and displaying the response of the target process in a second window, wherein the second window is related to the coordinates of the cursor.

The invention relates generally to a method for automatically displaying context information as well as to an event management device. The invention relates further to a computer system, a data processing program, and a computer program product.
Today, many user interfaces of computer systems are windows-based. Text and graphical elements may be presented to a user in such a window. A pointing device, having a related cursor inside the visible window, may be used to navigate through the content displayed in the window. Additionally, the pointing device in combination with the cursor may be used to select displayed text or graphical elements. Different windows with different displayed content may be displayed on a single screen. However, only one window may be active at a given point in time.
The general set-up of the user interface may be controlled by a primary application also controlling the cursor in response to a physical treatment of the pointing device, i.e., "clicking".
A click at a cursor position in the window on a computer screen may be interpreted in the context of the specific application, the pointing device and thus the cursor are linked to. Other applications than the one having a link to the cursor may not be activated or controlled by the pointing device active in the active window.
Several approaches for application-to-application-communication techniques in a windowed environment are known. Document U.S. Pat. No. 7,685,605 B1 discloses an apparatus for a communication between applications by using an extensible communication protocol with a graphical user interface. The user transmits an interest object associated with an event from a second application to a server, which forwards the interest object to a first application. When the first application practices the event, information concerning the practice of the event is transmitted from the first application to the second application without going through the server.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 7,113,982 B2 discloses a device capable of determining a delivery destination of an event automatically without requiring choosing operation of an operator. An event entered through an event input means is given to a delivery destination determining means, which in turn determines to which of applications API, AP2, . . . , APn the given event is to be delivered according to the contents of the event, and according to a delivery destination determining information stored in a delivery destination determining information storing section, and delivering accordingly. Therefore, the event is delivered to an appropriate application even if the operator does not choose an addressed application.
Thus, there may be a need for an improved management of events in a windowing system requiring only little or no change to the code of the applications involved and enabling a more flexible response to a pointing device related event.

Method for management and broadcasting an event context

International Business Machines Corporation


A printing apparatus includes a command input portion, an acquiring portion that acquires image data, a judging portion that determines if specified image data is included in the image data, a control portion and a printing portion that prints an image based on the image data onto a medium. Upon receiving the print command, a determination by the judging portion is performed, and when the judging portion determines that the specified image data is included, a first copy that includes invalidation processing on at least a section of the image is produced, and a second copy that includes invalidation processing on all of the image and the image in all subsequent copies that are printed thereafter is produced, to thereby execute printing of a number of copies that are specified by the print command and subsequently enter a state in which a next print command can be executed.

Various kinds of technology have been proposed for printing apparatuses such as color copiers and color printers to prevent forgery of paper currency and marketable securities and the like. For example, the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-207261 is configured to processing to print on a paper sheet an image that is based on image data acquired by reading an original image and concurrently therewith to make a judgment regarding whether or not specified image data for which output should be prohibited is included in the image data. Such an apparatus is capable of judging that the image data includes specified image data during printing and executes invalidation processing that blots out the image that has been already printed on the paper sheet using white toner, and stops the mechanical operations or discharging the paper sheet. Thus, the apparatus prevents malicious use of the specified image that is printed.
However, in the conventional printing apparatus as described above, sufficient consideration has not been given to the correct processing to be performed when a command is received to print multiple copies of a certain specified image. More specifically, for example, in the case of a printing apparatus that is used by a plurality of users, in a case where one user inputs an instruction to print multiple copies of a certain specified image, when the mechanical operations are stopped, other users who are not attempting to print the specified image are inconvenienced and their print job is delayed.
In view of the above circumstances, there is a need for technology that makes it possible for a printing apparatus to perform appropriate processing when an instruction is made to print multiple copies of a specified image for which output should be prohibited.


A method for depositing a dielectric film on a substrate includes positioning a plurality of substrates in a process chamber, heating the process chamber to a deposition temperature between 400° C. and less than 650° C., flowing a first process gas comprising water vapor into the process chamber, flowing a second process gas comprising dichlorosilane (DCS) into the process chamber, establishing a gas pressure of less than 2 Torr, and reacting the first and second process gases to thermally deposit a silicon oxide film on the plurality of substrates. One embodiment further includes flowing a third process gas comprising nitric oxide (NO) gas into the process chamber while flowing the first process gas and the second process gas; and reacting the oxide film with the third process gas to form a silicon oxynitride film on the substrate.

In the formation of integrated circuits on the surface of a semiconductor substrate, oxide or oxynitride films are frequently grown or deposited over the surface of a crystalline substrate such as silicon. Industry standard processes for chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of high quality silicon oxide (SiOx, x≦2) films for semiconductor Flash memory and micro-feature sidewall applications are based on high-temperature reactions of dichlorosilane (DCS) and nitrous oxide (N2O), for example. The main benefits of this process include the ability to process multiple substrates simultaneously in a batch process, excellent electrical performance of the silicon oxide films, and relatively low wet etch rates of the films compared to other CVD films, e.g., films deposited using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), bis(tertiary-butylamino)silane (BTBAS), and other precursors.
However, there are several shortcomings associated with performing CVD of silicon oxide films using DCS and N2O. This CVD process requires relatively high substrate temperature (e.g., around 800° C.) which can limit its use when integrating silicon oxide films with advanced materials that require a low thermal budget. Further, the use N2O gas as the oxidizing gas has been found to result in poor and generally uncontrollable nitrogen (N) incorporation into the silicon oxide films. Low film deposition rates are thought to be due to a rate limiting DCS nucleation step on the oxide film that is due to absence of gas phase reactions between DCS and N2O.
The demand for high-k dielectrics has required manufacturers to augment existing oxide films (e.g., oxide films on silicon and germanium) by incorporating nitrogen into the oxide films. It is known in the art that nitrogen incorporation into the oxide films increases the dielectric constant of the resulting oxynitride film, and allows thinner gate dielectrics to be grown on these semiconductor substrate materials. Silicon oxynitride (SiOxNy) films can have good electrical properties, including high electron mobility and low electron trap density that are desirable for device operation in semiconductor applications. Further advantages of nitrogen incorporation in a thin silicon oxide film include: reduced boron penetration through a p-doped polysilicon gate, improved interfacial smoothness, increase in the dielectric constant of the silicon oxynitride film, and improved barrier properties to prevent diffusion of metal oxides or metal gate materials into the underlying substrate.
Due to the miniaturization of semiconductor devices and use of advanced materials that require reduced thermal budgets of semiconductor processing methods, there is a need for new processing methods that provide low temperature silicon oxide and silicon oxynitride films deposition with high nitrogen incorporation at controlled depths while providing a controlled rate of oxide growth.

Low-temperature dielectric film formation by chemical vapor deposition


A rectal catheter is configured for improved pediatric care. The catheter includes a member that terminates into a rounded tip, a plug mounted about the member, the plug being made of a moldable material, a balloon mounted about the member between the rounded tip and the plug, a conduit that fluidly communicates with the balloon and that extends from the member to enable a pressure source to be operatively connected to the balloon to inflate the balloon, and a pressure relief valve operatively connected to the conduit, the pressure relief valve being configured to open the conduit to atmosphere pressure in response to a pressure in the conduit reaching a predetermined pressure. The predetermined pressure is selected to attenuate significantly risk of bowel perforation in pediatric patients.

Current techniques used in conducting enema studies in pediatric patients, such as, but not necessarily limited to, ileocolic intussusception reduction and treatment of meconium ileum, typically are conducted with a simple rectal catheter. These simple catheters require a significant amount of external adhesive tape to secure the catheter in place. Despite the adhesive tape tightly holding the buttocks together, a significant leakage of air or fluid from the anus can occur during the exam. This leakage can result in decreased effectiveness of the procedure, discomfort to the patient, increased radiation, and increased time for the procedure. The use of rectal catheters in children is also complicated by the length of the anal canal, which varies with patient age and ranges from 2 cm to 4 cm. Rectal catheters having balloons that are inflated within a patient's rectum to block fluid passage in adult patients present a significant risk for rectal perforation in the pediatric population. A survey conducted by the Society of Pediatric Radiology attests to instances of rectal perforation occurring during enema studies for meconium ileus conducted with such balloon-tip catheters. What is needed is a rectal catheter that attenuates the risk of rectal catheter use with pediatric patients.

Rectal catheter configured for pediatric care

Indiana University Research and Technology Corporation


The invention comprises an atomizing device capable of efficient conversion of liquids to a gaseous state by subjection in a primary atomization zone of a liquid to a first high velocity flow of an atomizing medium in order to impart substantial aerodynamic shear to the liquid, a mixture of finely dispersed atomizing medium and liquid being thus formed. The mixture is then subjected in a secondary atomization zone to a second high velocity flow of an atomizing medium downstream of the first atomization zone. The present structure is particularly useful in fuel burner applications, especially high fuel flow and high heat applications where rapid emulsification and dispersion of fuel is necessary to promote rapid and complete combustion. Fuel materials previous considered difficult to burn can be combusted readily through use of the present structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to atomizing apparatus wherein a liquid is dispersed into a fine mist by an atomizing medium, the invention being particularly useful for increasing combustion efficiency of a liquid fuel or the like. The present invention more expressly relates to an aerodynamic atomizer structure wherein a first flow of atomizing medium moving at sonic velocities imparts maximum aerodynamic shear to a liquid in a first atomization zone and wherein a second flow of atomizing medium downstream of the first atomization zone is directed against the mixture of atomizing medium and liquid to disperse and redirect the emulsified liquid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Practical considerations made even more compelling by the need to conserve dwindling fossil fuel energy resources require that presently used fuels be burned as efficiently as possible. Since the fuels which are primarily used for burning in home and industrial furnaces are becoming increasingly scarce, it is also necessary that fuel sources be developed and utilized which have not previously been capable of being efficiently burned with available burners. Materials such as asphalt and the like which have previously been considered as being suitable only for use as road fill are known to contain substantial quantities of energy. However, it has not been previously possible to efficiently burn such materials without producing substantial pollution and without harm to the burner due to the production of unburned products of combustion which foul burner mechanisms. While certain presently available burners are being employed to burn these "lower grade" materials, the situation is not satisfactory due to the facts of increased pollution, hardware deterioration, and other operational problems.
While the present invention can be used for atomization of any fluid, it is particularly to be noted that the present structure is useful for atomization of a liquid fuel immediately prior to combustion in order to maximize combustion efficiency. In a basic sense, combustion is seen to be the rapid chemical combination of oxygen with the combustible elements of a fuel. The objective sought for in combustion processes is the release of all heat available in the fuel which is being burned. In order to obtain this objective, it is necessary to minimize losses from combustion imperfections and superfluous oxidizing medium. In practice, it is attempted to maximize combustion efficiency by the provision of sufficiently high temperatures for efficient ignition, the subjection of the fuel to efficient mixing with the oxidizing medium, and the provision of sufficient time to allow complete combustion between the fuel and the oxidizing medium. The most difficult of these factors to retain is the mixing of the fuel with the oxidizing medium in a manner sufficient to maximize combustion efficiency. A particular method which has been used to provide a more intimate contact between fuel and oxidizing medium is the atomization of liquid fuel into the smallest possible droplet form, thereby to decrease the time per unit volume for conversion from a liquid to a gaseous state. The fuel in the gaseous state is thus capable of more intimate mixing with the oxidizing medium.
High burning rates have previously been established with the injection of atomized fuel into regions of high turbulence and high shear. Atomization structures, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,164, act to create regions of high turbulence and high shear by producing swirling air streams which produce regions of high turbulence and high shear at locations where the streams meet. According to this particular patent, relatively efficient atomization is caused by exposing a thin continuous sheet of fuel to high velocity air on both sides of the sheet of fuel.
Fuel atomization structures are also seen to be disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,843. As is recognized in this patent, only a very small percentage of the total kinetic energy of the atomizing medium is typically imparted to the fuel. Since combustion intensity and efficiency is primarily determined by the average surface area of fuel particles in contact with oxidizing medium, the time required for the evaporation of liquid fuel droplets is critical when atomized fuel is being burned. Combustion efficiency is seen to increase with reduced fuel droplet size. However, no known prior art atomizing structure has been capable of producing efficient atomization of materials such as coal/oil slurries, asphalt and the like. An atomizing structure capable of producing fine particles of such materials would dramatically increase the availability of fuels for certain combustion applications. Further, such atomizing structure would more efficiently burn those fuels which are now used in these combustion applications. The present invention provides atomizing structure which is capable of efficiently burning previously unusable materials which have been used in applications such as roadbed fill since the means for utilizing the materials as fuel did not exist. The invention particularly subjects the fuel to contact with two separate flows of high velocity atomizing medium in order to efficiently emulsify and disperse the fuel prior to combustion.


The invention is directed to organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and methods of manufacturing the same. According to embodiments of the invention, an improved electron transport layer (ETL) reduces the driving voltage and current consumption of the OLED, and increase luminous efficiency and lifespan. The OLED includes a first electrode, an organic layer on the first electrode and including an emission layer (EML) and an ETL, and a second electrode on the organic layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and methods of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) are self-emissive displays that may be lightweight and thin, and fabricated by simple processes using simple components. Also, OLEDs have high resolution and wide viewing angles, and can embody complete moving images with high color purity. In addition, OLEDs have appropriate electrical characteristics for mobile display devices because OLEDs consume little power and drive at low voltages.
In a conventional OLED, a pixel electrode is provided, an organic layer including an emission layer (EML) is disposed on the pixel electrode, and an opposite electrode is disposed on the organic layer.
To facilitate the transfer of holes and electrons from the pixel electrode and the opposite electrode to the EML, the organic layer may further include at least one layer selected from hole injection layers (HILs), hole transport layers (HTLs), and electron blocking layers (EBLs) between the pixel electrode and the EML. In addition, the organic layer may further include at least one layer selected from hole blocking layers (HBLs), electron transport layers (ETLs), and electron injection layers (EILs) between the EML and the opposite electrode.
However, the ETL is typically formed of a single organic material. As a result, the OLED including the ETL needs to drive at a high driving voltage and consume a large current, imparting poor luminous efficiency and insufficient lifespan. Therefore, high quality OLEDs are difficult to achieve.

Organic light emitting diode and method of manufacturing the same


A production method of highly unsaturated fatty acids with a high purity/high yield that compensates for shortcomings of conventional techniques is provided.

In recent years, unsaturated fatty acids are noticed not only as essential fatty acids in supplements, but since particularly eicosapentaenoic acid ethyl ester was approved as a therapeutic drug of arteriosclerosis obliterans and hyperlipidemia as switch OTC, there is an expanding market for pharmaceutical-grade EPA ethyl. In other words, highly unsaturated fatty acids have been utilized in pharmaceutical products and health foods. However, since highly unsaturated fatty acids have many double bonds, it is difficult to obtain them with chemical synthesis.
Highly unsaturated fatty acids are produced by extraction and purification from marine organisms such as fish oils. However, contents of highly unsaturated fatty acids are small, and thus a purification technique with a high yield/high purity has been desired.
Conventionally, with regard to methods of separating a specific fatty acid from a mixture of fatty acids or monoesters, there were mainly distillation, molecular sieve, and supercritical fluid extraction as separation methods using the difference in carbon numbers; and low-temperature fractionation, urea addition, silver complex formation, solvent fractionation, and column chromatographic methods using silver ion treatment resin and ODS, as separation methods using the number of double bonds. Although these purification methods are simple, each of them have shortcomings such as insufficiency in separation, and unsuitableness for industrial mass treatment even if high purification is possible, as in the case of chromatographic methods. In actual industrial production, highly pure fatty acids are produced by combining a plurality of these purification methods. However, there are many points to be improved in the complication of the purification methods and in the purity/yield.
The principle of silver nitrate treatment lies on the point that, among highly unsaturated fatty acids, particularly highly unsaturated fatty acids having a large number of double bonds within the molecule form a complex of the double bonds within the molecule and silver ions, by mixture with a silver nitrate aqueous solution. By utilizing this property, analysis on unsaturated fatty acids that utilizes the difference of holding force from a silica gel column carrier carrying silver ions, has been practiced. In the industrial production method of highly unsaturated fatty acids, water solubility of this complex is utilized to fractionate fat-soluble fractions, which include saturated fatty acids or moderately/highly unsaturated fatty acids having a small number of double bonds within the molecule, as oil layers. Since a water-soluble complex can be separated into silver nitrate and purified highly unsaturated fatty acids by heating the solution, such simple process enables purification of highly unsaturated fatty acids in an industrial scale.
However, silver nitrate treatment has drawbacks as a production method in that the price of silver nitrate, which is the raw material, is high, and there are big fluctuations in the price. In addition, since not all of the targeted highly unsaturated fatty acids form a complex, and some of them will remain in the oil layer, it is difficult to say that this is a production method achieving a high yield. As a result, there is a drawback that the production cost is raised.
Furthermore, in principle, there is a difficulty in completely removing highly unsaturated fatty acids having three or more double bonds within the molecule as impurities, in silver nitrate treatment. At the time of high-purity purification achieving pharmaceutical grades, such impurities become the cause of reducing the yield of purification methods in the preceding purification steps and the subsequent purification steps.
Representative purification methods in conventional techniques will be exemplified below.
Problems of techniques that have been used in purification of unsaturated fatty acids and derivatives thereof will be described below.                1) Precision Distillation            Characteristic: a method of separation by utilizing differences in boiling points of each component.    Problem: thermal denaturation may occur; a long time is required in purification of highly pure products.            2) Molecular Distillation            Characteristic: little thermal influence at the time of distillation.    Problem: low separation ability.            3) Urea Treatment Method            Characteristic: utilizing the property of dissolved urea, i.e., incorporating in coexisting linear molecules while forming hexagonal columnar adduct crystals at the time of crystallization.    Problem: low selectivity; waste disposal due to derivation of urea adduct.            4) Silver Nitrate Treatment            Characteristic: utilizing the property of a silver nitrate aqueous solution, i.e., forming a complex with double bonds of fatty acids.    Problem: the price of silver is unstable; involve impurities.            5) Fixed-Bed Chromatography            Characteristic: small thermal influence; separation with high precision is enabled.    Problem: large usage of eluents; unsuitable for industrial production.            6) Simulated Moving-Bed Chromatography            Characteristic: suitable for industrialization due to small usage of eluents and continuous operations.    Problem: ODS fillers, which are often used for separation of unsaturated fatty acids, are expensive; since only single solvent can be used, gradient separation is not possible.
With regard to purification techniques of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) ethyl esters, for example, Patent Literatures 1-4 describe silver nitrate treatment as an industrially remarkable purification technique of unsaturated fatty acids and derivatives thereof. However, the methods of Patents 1-4 have problems as follows:                1) unsaturated fatty acids other than EPA and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) also form a complex at the same time, and it is difficult to obtain highly unsaturated fatty acids with high purity; and        2) some of highly unsaturated fatty acids do not form a complex, and the yield is reduced by disposing them.
A production method of highly unsaturated fatty acids with a high purity/high yield that compensates for the shortcomings of the conventional techniques is required.

Production method of highly unsaturated fatty acid with high purity/high yield

Abstract: A purification method of highly unsaturated fatty acids and/or derivatives thereof comprising (a) contacting and stirring first raw materials comprising the substances with a first silver salt aqueous solution to collect a first oil layer and a first aqueous layer; (b) separating the first aqueous layer into a second silver salt aqueous solution and the substances; and (c) contacting and stirring the first oil layer with the second silver salt aqueous solution for separation into an oil layer and an aqueous layer to obtain a second aqueous layer comprising the substances.