An alloy for bonded magnets of the present invention includes at least a main component of iron (Fe), 12-16 atomic % (at %) of rare-earth elements (R) including yttrium (Y), and 10.8-15 at % of boron (B), and is subjected to a hydrogen treatment method as HDDR process or d-HDDR process.

Hard magnets (permanent magnets) are used in motors and various other equipment. Above all, automobile motors, etc. have the strongest demands in terms of miniature size and high output. This type of hard magnet with superior magnetic characteristics is of course demanded at a low price due to worldwide competition. First, from the viewpoint of high performance, the development of a RfeB-type magnet (rare-earth magnet), made from a rare-earth element (R), Boron (B) and Iron (Fe), has up until now been popular.
In the way of these RFeB-type magnets, RFeB-type isotropic magnet alloys that possess magnetic isotropy have been released, for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,851,058 (referred to as "Prior Technology 1" below) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,608 (referred to as "Prior Technology 2" below).
Specifically, in Prior Technology 1, a magnet alloy with approximately 10-40 at % Nd, Pr or Nd and Pr, approximately 50-90 at % Fe, and approximately 0.5-10 at % B is disclosed. In Prior Technology 2, a magnet alloy is disclosed with the content of 12-40 at % Nd, Pr or Nd and Pr, not more than 10 at % Co, 3-8 at % B, and a remainder of Fe. In Prior Technology 2, through the addition of Co, the heat resistance was increased upon an increase in Curie temperature. Both of these Prior Technologies result in magnet powder with the above-mentioned composition through a type of quenching solidification called melt-spun method.
This magnet powder has many uses industrially as a raw material powder for bonded magnets (hard magnets). The bonded magnets are obtained by, for example, first making pellets from this magnetic powder and a resin binder, then inserting the pellets into a die for molding, and then carrying out compression molding. In general, when the pellets are inserted into the mold, if the degree of fluidity (s·g−1) is small, the time required for pellet insertion will be short, and thus the productivity of the bonded magnets will be increased. Moreover, if the apparent density of the pellets is high, uniform pellet insertion into the mold becomes possible and the failure rate of the bonded magnets can be reduced. Therefore, with a small degree of fluidity and a high apparent density, the cost reduction of the bonded magnet can be achieved resulting in a very economical magnet. The degree of fluidity and apparent density depend on the particle shape of the magnet powder, that is to say that ideal degree of fluidity and apparent density are obtained from a spherical shape.
However, the shape of the magnetic powder particles produced by the above-mentioned Prior Technology 1 and 2 is a ribbon shape with thickness of 20-50 μm, and when compared to the case of a round shape, have a large degree of fluidity and small apparent density. Of course on can think to crush this ribbon shape to make a spherical shape thus making a small degree of fluidity and a large apparent density. However, this would increase the number of production steps and even if a spherical shape is achieved, in fact, it is difficult to effectively make the degree of fluidity small and the apparent density large. This is because the original particle size is at maximum 50 μm and in general it is easy to get adhesion/cohesion with powder not more than 50 μm.
Moreover, the situation is the same even with a SmFeN-type magnet powder, which has a different composition than that mentioned above. Even if the magnet powder particle size is close to a spherical shape, and it is made to be a fine powder with an average particle diameter of 1-5 μm, it is easy to get adhesion/cohesion and the degree of fluidity and apparent density become worse.
Therefore, alternative production methods of magnet powder, other than the above-mentioned melt spinning method, include the HDDR (hydrogenation-disproportionation-desorption-recombination) processing method and the d-HDDR processing method. The magnet powder acquired by these methods have virtually a spherical particle shape and therefore have the degree of fluidity and apparent density that are much superior to the magnet powder acquired by the above-mentioned Prior Technology 1 and 2.
The HDDR processing method is used to produce RFeB-type isotropic magnet powder and RFeB-type anisotropic magnet powder, and it generally has two production steps. That is to say, the first step of 3-phase decomposition (disproportionation) reaction (the hydrogenation step) is carried out while maintained at 773-1273 K in a hydrogen gas environment on the order of 100 kPa (1 atm), and after that is the dehydrogenation step (the second step) where dehydrogenation occurs under vacuum.
On the other hand, d-HDDR is used predominantly in as a production method for RFeB-type anisotropic magnet powder. As reported in detail in commonly-known literature (Mishima, et. al.: Journal of the Japan Applied Magnetics Society, 24 (2000), p. 407), it is defined as the control of the reaction rate between the RFeB-type alloy and hydrogen when going from room temperature to a high temperature. In detail, the four principal production steps are the low-temperature hydrogenation step (step 1) where hydrogen is sufficiently absorbed into the RFeB-type alloy at room temperature, the high-temperature hydrogenation step (step 2) where the 3-phase decomposition (disproportionation) reaction occurs under low hydrogen pressure, the evacuation step (step 3) where hydrogen is decomposed under as high a hydrogen pressure as possible, and the dehydrogenation step (step 4) where the hydrogen is removed from the material. The point which differs from the HDDR process is that through the preparation of multiple production steps with different temperatures and hydrogen pressures, the reaction rate of the RFeB-type alloy and hydrogen can be maintained relatively slow, thus securing homogeneously anisotropic magnet powder.
The following Prior Technologies can be given as examples of these various processes used in magnet powder production methods.
First, the production method of RFeB-type isotropic magnet powder using the HDDR process is disclosed in the Japanese Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 7-68561 (U.S. Pat. No. 2,041,426: hereafter referred to as Prior Technology 3). According to this Prior Technology 3, the magnet powder is produced by carrying out crushing step and homogenizing heat treatment step, and after that carrying out the above-mentioned HDDR process on an alloy ingot with a main composition of R, Fe and B. Here, in this situation, the two steps prior to the HDDR process (the crushing step and the homogenizing heat treatment step) are essential to obtain an isotropic magnet powder with great magnetic properties. AS is even written in Prior Technology 3, if these two steps are omitted and magnet powder is produced by the direct HDDR processing of RFeB-type cast alloy, the bonded magnet made from the resulting magnet powder will have an extremely low value of coercivity (hereafter referred to as iHc) at a maximum of 0.76 MAm-1.
Additionally, these two steps come with a high cost and uneconomical. In particular, a homogenizing heat treatment step carried out at a high processing temperature between 873-1473 K will double the cost of the HDDR process, thus being very uneconomical.
Next, the RFeB-type anisotropic magnet powder production method, etc. using the HDDR process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,576,671 (hereafter referred to as Prior Technology 4), U.S. Pat. No. 2,576,672 (hereafter referred to as Prior Technology 5), U.S. Pat. No. 2,586,198 (hereafter referred to as Prior Technology 6) and U.S. Pat. No.2,586,199 (hereafter referred to as Prior Technology 7).
In an actual example of these Prior Technologies, magnetic powder was produced by carrying out a homogenizing heat treatment step and a crushing step and then carrying out the HDDR treatment on alloy ingot of approximately 10-20 at % R, approximately 5-20 at % B and a remainder of Fe with various additive elements. However, in the examples, the disclosed amount of B in the alloy was disclosed in detail for not more than 10.4 at %, but only disclosed for 10.4 at % and 20 at % for alloys with B content exceeding 10.4 at %. The (BH)max of the anisotropic bonded magnet made from the magnet powder with B composition of 10.4 at % was 83-112 kJ/m3 and the iHc was 0.74-0.97 MA/m, while the (BH)max of the anisotropic bonded magnet made from the magnet powder with B composition of 20 at % was 80-93 kJ/m3 and the iHc was 0.46-0.75 MA/m. These magnetic properties are not nearly sufficient, especially the significant decrease in iHc with a B composition up to 20 at %.
Moreover, in the case of the above-mentioned Prior Technology when the homogenizing heat treatment step is carried out at a high temperature between 1393-1413 K, the cost of production of the magnet powder is high and especially uneconomical. Of course, in this case, the omission of the homogenization heat treatment would reduce the cost, however as in the case of Prior Technology 3, there would be no avoiding a decrease in the iHc properties.
Incidentally, in reality it is very difficult to industrially mass produce isotropic magnet powder using the methods like those in Prior Technologies 4-7. This is because, in order to achieve magnet powder with excellent anisotropy, the temperature during the HDDR process must be controlled very strictly. To be specific, if the HDDR process is not carried out within a ±20 K range of the target temperature then high anisotropic magnet powder cannot be achieved. Additionally, if the amount processed per batch of HDDR process is increased, the generation of heat during the disproportionation reaction between hydrogen and RFeB-type alloy as well as the heat loss during the dehydrogenation will drastically increase, and the atmospheric temperature will become outside of the desired range. As a result of this, the magnetic properties, especially the anisotropy, of the magnet powder massed produced by methods such as Prior Technologies 4-7 are small.
Therefore, when mass producing RFeB-type anisotropic magnet powder, it is recommended that the d-HDDR process is used as disclosed in patents such as Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-148306 (hereafter referred to as Prior Technology 8) or Japanese unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-76917 (hereafter referred to as Prior Technology 9) etc. With this d-HDDR process, even if the amount processed per batch is increased, a magnet powder having high anisotropy can be obtained. As mentioned above, in the case of d-HDDR processing, because the reaction rate between the RFeB-type alloy and hydrogen is controlled to be slow through a number of processing steps, the amount of heat generation during the disproportionation reaction between the RFeB-type alloy and hydrogen as well as the amount of heat loss during dehydrogenation can be controlled.
However, in the case of Prior Technologies 8 and 9, anisotropic magnet powder was produced by carrying out this d-HDDR processing after performing a homogenizing heat treatment step on an alloy ingot of approximately 12-15 at % R, approximately 6-9 at % B and a remainder of Fe. Because of this, the production cost was high, similar to the above-mentioned production methods.
Up to now the main introduction has been about the cost reduction of hard magnets with high properties, but when considering actual use, it is also important to have excellent properties over time such as corrosion resistance etc. In particular, there is a demand for superior heat resistance, etc. for hard magnets used in a high-temperature environment, such as in motors of household appliances and automobile motors, etc., from the point of view of securing motor reliability, etc.
However, for the above-mentioned rare-earth magnets, it is very easy for the properties of the Fe and R that are the main components of the composition to be reduced by oxidation corrosion etc., and therefore it is difficult to steadily ensure high magnetic properties. Especially in the case that rare-earth magnets are used above room temperature, there is a tendency for the magnetic characteristics to drop off drastically. The permanent demagnetization ratio (%) is usually used to index a magnet's change over time, and in the case of the prior rare-earth magnets, most of them had permanent demagnetization ratios exceeding 10%. Moreover, when held below a certain temperature for an extended period of time (over 1000 hours), the permanent demagnetization ratio does not return to its original level when remagnetized and the percentage of magnetic flux is reduced.

Alloy for bonded magnets, isotropic magnet powder and anisotropic magnet powder and their production method, and bonded magnet

Abstract: Using the magnet powder obtained from carrying out d-HDDR processing, etc. on this magnet alloy, pellets with superior insertion characteristics into bonded magnet molding dies can be obtained, and bonded magnets with superior magnetic properties and showing low cost can be obtained.


A medical image routing system that allows for a user to override the current routing of medical image data such that a user need only activate an input device and the first medical image data routing to a display(s) is automatically interrupted and second medical image data is automatically routed to the display(s). Upon activation of the input device a second time, the first medical image data routing is automatically reestablished and the second medical image data is automatically interrupted.

A wide variety of operating room systems are known for performing both diagnostic and surgical procedures. In particular, systems have been provided that allow a surgeon to perform a procedure with a variety of medical and operating room equipment. This equipment ranges from visual imaging tools (e.g., endoscopes, cameras, etc.) and systems, to medical devices (e.g. tools for cutting, grasping, extracting, irrigating, etc.), and other operating room equipment.
In particular, operating room visualization equipment has been provided that allows for visualization of the interior of an organ or joint while a surgeon is conducting a procedure. These visualization systems allow for a surgeon to view, typically on a surgical monitor placed either in or adjacent to, the sterile environment, a location inside the body where the procedure is being performed. These systems have further allowed for the recording of still pictures and video recordings of the area and procedure. Not only have the surgeon and those in the operating room been able to view the surgical site on the surgical monitor, but systems have further provided for the transfer of visualization information via a network connection to remote locations from the operating room. In this manner, individuals have had the capacity to view a surgical procedure from different locations. This has proved to be a very helpful educational tool (e.g. medical students can view a medical procedure from a class room) and has allowed for specialists to view the surgical procedure from a distance to provide expert analysis and input to the surgeon.
A number of medical procedures require the patient be maintained under anesthesia, typically by means of IV administered anesthesia or a gas mixture administered to the patient, or both. In this case, ventilation is provided to the patient, which may be provided through an endotracheal tube inserted into the trachea. It should be noted that when the tube is inserted, the patient is asleep hyperoxygenated and then paralyzed for the procedure, and therefore not breathing. As the ventilator is not yet in operation, the physician must work quickly to insert the endotracheal tube.
The insertion of this tube involves risks that the anesthesiologist seeks to avoid or at least minimize. It is estimated that between one in 6,000 to one in 8,000 general anesthesia procedures result in death. There are of course many causes but of these it is estimated that about one third of them are caused by the intubation procedure.
Some obstacles encountered by the anesthesiologist include; the remoteness of the location where the tube is to be positioned, the consequent restriction of view as the tube is inserted, variations and anomalies in the anatomy of the patients, an uncomfortable and unnatural position for the anesthesiologist while holding the instrument, the potential need to change blades during the procedure, and the necessity for rapid intubation.
With the advent of endoscopic equipment and small cameras, instrumentation can enable viewing of the cords and larynx on a video screen facilitating the intubation of the patient in a relatively quick and safe manner. A number of video laryngoscopes have been known including U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,655,377; 6,543,447; 6,890,298; 7,044,909 and 8,029,440. Typically, these video laryngoscopes route video feeds to dedicated video monitors located adjacent to the laryngoscope (e.g. a video screen mounted beside or right on the handle of the laryngoscope).
As operating room control systems develop, the use of video displays and control systems continues to expand. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,069,420 to Roderick Plummer (the Plummer patent) discloses an operating room system that allows for videos to be displayed on screens in the operating room.
However, while great steps have been made in the presentation of endoscope video imaging in an operating room system, the integration of video laryngoscopes into the operating room control system has not been effectively addressed. In current systems, the intubation process occurs with a system separate and apart from the operating room system. However, if during a surgical procedure it becomes necessary to re-intubate the patient, time is critical. Having to move the operating room equipment aside, moving the laryngoscope equipment in, intubating the patient, moving the laryngoscope equipment aside and moving the operating room equipment back into place can mean delayed time to intubate the patient and increased time under anesthesia, both of which are highly undesirable.


A wrinkle reducing pad is used to reduce wrinkles by applying tension to skin on a portion of the user's body, such as the face. An adhesive layer on the back of the wrinkle reducing pad is adhered to the skin, extending from a first point on the user's cheek, to a second point of the user's neck. A tension strap that is attached to one end of the adhesive pad is pulled to exert tension that tightly stretches the user's skin toward the neck. The tension strap is then removeably secured to the outer surface of the adhesive pad while maintaining the tension for a desired period of time. Since the adhesive pad adheres to the skin on the neck between the two points, it prevents wrinkles from forming there as a result of the tension applied by the tension strap.

Millions of dollars are spent each year on products and procedures to reduce facial wrinkles, in an attempt to delay the evidence of aging and to reduce the adverse effects of exposure of the skin to sunlight. Currently non-surgical options for reducing or even eliminating such wrinkles—at least temporarily, include the use of injected substances, such as dermal fillers, or muscle relaxers, e.g., Botulinum toxin. Hyaluronic acid, synthetic fillers, or even a patient's own body fat can be injected into the folds of the skin to change its contours, yielding a more youthful appearance. Other options for reducing wrinkles include chemical peels in which an acid is applied to the epidermal layer to enable dead skin cells to be peeled off, microdermabrasion in which fine crystal of an abrasive are applied to sand the skin, and the use of lasers and intense pulsed light, or heat treatments. Non-ablative and ablative laser or treatments actually provide a controlled damage to the skin, which promotes the body to respond by producing collagen that fills in or plumps the skin to reduce wrinkles. The greater the amount of damage, the more benefit that will be derived, since more collagen will be produced; however, more damage to the skin causes redness and will require longer periods to heal. Heat treatments also promote collagen production and tightening of existing collagen.
Many of the treatments noted above are relatively expensive and may require time to realize the benefits and allow the adverse side effects to heal. For this reason, cosmetic facial creams have been developed that are intended to reduce wrinkles in facial skin by moisturizing, smoothing, and tightening the skin in the region to which the creams are applied. The efficacy of such creams can vary, but none offer more than a temporary palliative.
Other non-surgical facial wrinkle treatments involve stretching the skin. One of the causes of wrinkles is the loss of muscle tone and resilience in facial tissue. By applying a force to the affected area that slightly stretches the dermal layer and smooths the wrinkles for a period of time, a reduction of the wrinkles in the skin that was stretched remains evident for at least a day or so. Regular application of such a stretching force on a daily basis can have an even more beneficial result in reducing wrinkles and providing better skin tone.
A system for applying a force to stretch skin in an area subject to wrinkles using an elastomeric strip or string is known in the art. Pads supporting the elastomeric strip or string are adhesively attached to skin at disparate points on the user's skin, so that the elastic force provided by the device tends to pull the disparate points toward each other, to stretch the skin adjacent to these points. However, this approach also tends to create wrinkles in the skin disposed between the disparate points, since the elastomeric force pulls the points towards each other. While reducing wrinkles in a portion of the skin to adjacent to where the apparatus is applied, it thus increases wrinkles between the two adhesive pads. Furthermore, although the user can initially set the tension applied to the disparate points on the skin, if used at night, the elastomeric strip or string can give and stretch when pushed against a pillow, thereby changing the tension force set by the user's adjustment.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a tension force to stretch skin subject to wrinkles, thereby smoothing the skin for a period of time, but without causing wrinkles in other portions of the user's skin. Thus, it would be desirable to prevent the apparatus being used to stretch the skin to reduce wrinkles from also causing wrinkles where the apparatus is being used. Further, it would be desirable for contact with a pillow to not alter the force applied by the apparatus.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Use of adhesive patch and tension strap to reduce wrinkles in skin


A sleeving device includes two side brackets. These brackets are secured to the side edges of a flap of a shipping box that contains a roll of sleeving material. The side brackets each engage a respective side edge of the flap in a respective channel. One of the side brackets further includes a guide that forms a funnel-shaped opening that facilitates the loading of film into the pockets of the sleeving material.

This invention relates to a sleeving device for use with sleeving material to assist a user in loading strips of film into the sleeving material.
Sleeving material is widely used to protect film, including both negative and positive film. In one form, such sleeving material includes a roll of upper and lower sheets that are secured together to define an array of pockets extending across the sheets. Each of these pockets is open at one end. In use, strips of film are inserted into the pockets, typically with the aid of a sleeving machine.
Conventional motor-driven sleeving machines provide automatic indexing of the sleeving material. Such sleeving machines are particularly useful for high-volume applications, where the speed and convenience provided by a motor-driven sleeving machine easily justifies its costs.
In smaller volume applications, there is a need for a simple, reliable, inexpensive sleeving device which facilitates insertion of film into the pockets of the sleeving material.


An object is to simplify a power supply noise analysis model of a circuit board. CAD data of the circuit board is obtained from a CAD apparatus, and overlapping power supply islands among power supply islands existing in different layers of the circuit board are extracted as a power supply pair. Nodes are arranged in the extracted power supply pair, and the nodes of the power supply pair are projected on the power supply islands to which the power supply pair belongs. A mesh region which encloses each node is determined for each power supply island, and impedance (L, R, C) between nodes is calculated. Then, a power supply noise analysis model is created based on the impedance between nodes in each layer, and a capacitance between layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for generating an analysis model for analyzing power supply noise of a circuit board, a power supply noise analysis model generating apparatus, and a recording medium on which a program thereof is recorded.
2. Description of the Related Art
With an increase in the density of elements mounted on a circuit board, the density of an electric current of a power supply unit has been significantly growing. Additionally, the operating frequency of a circuit has been rising, and also a frequency component included in a power supply current has been increasing. The number of faults, which are not conventionally problematic and caused by power supply noise, has been growing due to such a situation.
Power supply noise is evaluated by creating a power supply noise analysis model of a circuit board, which copes with such faults, and by using a circuit simulator with the power supply noise analysis model.
Conventionally, a power supply noise analysis model is created by extracting as a power supply pair a portion where power supply islands existing in different power supply layers of a circuit board, by arranging nodes in units of power supply pairs, and by calculating impedance between nodes.
FIGS. 1A and 1B show a conventional power supply noise analysis model. A portion where power supply islands existing in different power supply layers overlap is extracted as a power supply pair. FIG. 1A shows a case where power supply pairs 1 and 2 are extracted from a first layer. 4 nodes represented with white circles shown in FIG. 1A are arranged in the power supply pair 1, and also 4 nodes represented with white circles are  arranged in the power supply pair 2.
FIG. 1B shows mesh regions that respectively enclose the nodes. A predetermined region centering each of the nodes is set as a mesh region.
If the power supply pairs extracted as described above are individually put into models, power supply pairs existing in the same power supply island are generated as separate models. Therefore, the power supply pairs 1 and 2 are merged into one model by setting boundary line nodes in a boundary line between these pairs as shown in FIG. 1A.
However, since the number of power supply pairs to be partitioned increases in a power supply island of a complicated shape, also the number of boundary line nodes grows. As a result, the ratio of the number of boundary line nodes, which occupies the total number of nodes, becomes high. As the number of boundary line nodes increases, so does the number of elements such as an inductor, a resistor, a capacitor, etc. of a power supply noise analysis model. This leads to an increase in the size of the power supply noise analysis model. Additionally, as the size of a power supply noise analysis model increases, analysis time at the time of simulation becomes longer.
Furthermore, a via is used to connect layers on a multi-layer circuit board. For example, if the angles of a via in an upper layer and a via in a lower layer do not align, misaligned portions become overlapping portions of a power supply island of another layer, and the overlapping portions are extracted as power supply pairs. Therefore, a plurality of minute power supply pairs is extracted for one via. If these pairs are respectively put into models, the number of power supply noise analysis models increases.
Still further, if an overlapping portion of power supply islands having shapes shown in FIG. 3 are extracted, for example, if the overlapping portion of graphics A and B is extracted, an intersection point T of the graphics A and B sometimes becomes an intersection point T′ due to an error of a graphic computation.  If an overlapping portion of the graphics A and C including this intersection point T′ is extracted as a power supply pair, a shaded region and a black region in FIG. 3 are extracted as separate overlapping regions, and the black region in FIG. 3 is extracted as a power supply pair. A minute power supply pair which does not originally exist is extracted due to an error of a graphic computation as described above, leading to an increase in the number of power supply noise analysis models.
FIGS. 4A and 4B explain a conventional method for calculating the inductance of a lead pattern. FIG. 4A is a perspective view of a circuit board, whereas FIG. 4B is its cross-sectional view.
If the lead pattern of a power supply island in an L1 layer, and a power supply island in an L9 layer configure a power supply pair, the inductance of the lead pattern in the L1 layer is conventionally calculated from the area of the lead pattern in the L1 layer, the area of the power supply island in the L9 layer, and a distance between the L1 and the L9 layers. However, if a power supply island exists in another layer in the neighborhood of the lead pattern as shown in FIG. 4A, the inductance calculated as described above differs from an actual value in many cases.
Patent Document 1 recites the creation of a semiconductor device model for a power supply noise analysis by creating each model of power supply wiring, an internal capacitance, an internal consumption current, and an input/output cell of a semiconductor device, and by merging the models.
Patent Document 2 recites a ripple process executed when the arrangement of nodes of a power supply noise analysis model is determined.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2004-234618
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2004-334654

Power supply noise analysis model generating method and power supply noise analysis model generating apparatus


A semiconductor memory device includes a main bit line; a plurality of sub-bit line pairs provided corresponding to the main bit line pair; a plurality of transistor pairs provided respectively corresponding to the plurality of sub-bit line pairs, each transistor pair being responsive to a prescribed selection signal for connecting one sub-bit line of a corresponding sub-bit line pair to one main bit line of the main bit line pair and connecting the other sub-bit line thereof to the other main bit line thereof; a plurality of word lines; a plurality of memory cells connected to sub-bit line pairs and word lines; and a selecting circuit for selecting one transistor pair out of the plurality of transistor pairs and applying the selection signal to the selected transistor pair to render the transistor pair conductive, as well as selecting at least another transistor pair out of the plurality of transistor pairs in response to the test enable signal and applying the selection signal to the selected transistor pair to render the transistor pair conductive. Thus, the total parasitic capacitance of the main and the sub-bit lines increases, so that an accelerated test of a read operation margin can be carried out.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of testing an operation of a semiconductor memory device and a semiconductor memory device which can be subjected to such an operation test, and more particularly, to a method of acceleratedly testing a read operation of a dynamic random access memory (hereinafter referred to as "DRAM") having a hierarchical bit line (divided bit line) structure.
2. Description of the Background Art
A DRAM having a so-called hierarchical bit line structure has been proposed for the purpose of implementing large storage capacity with small chip area. In this DRAM, a plurality of sub-bit line pairs are provided corresponding to a single main bit line pair, and each sub-bit line pair is connected through two selection transistors to the main bit line. A semiconductor memory device with a hierarchical bit line structure including a main bit line pair having at most 1/4 parasitic capacitance per unit length of a sub-bit line pair has been already disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 6-349267.
With increase in capacity of a semiconductor memory device, time required for an operation test thereof increases. Therefore, an accelerated testing method which can be carried out reliably for a short time is becoming important. In particular, since a semiconductor memory device with a hierarchical bit line structure generally has large storage capacity, it conventionally takes a lot of time to carry out various tests of a read operation margin, a read noise margin, a sensing operation margin or the like thereof.

Method of testing an operation of a semiconductor memory device and semiconductor memory device which can be subjected to such an operation test


A process for separating toluene diisocyanate and/or higher boiling solvents from distillation residues obtained from the phosgenation of toluene diamine in the presence of solvents wherein the separation takes place in a fluidized bed at temperatures of 140.degree. C. to 280.degree. C.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the separation of toluene diisocyanate and/or higher boiling solvents from distillation residues by evaporating the residue in a fluidized bed at temperatures of 140.degree. C. to 280.degree. C. The distillation residues are produced during the preparation of toluene diisocyanate by the phosgenation of toluene diamine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Technical Chemistry, 4th Edition (1977), Vol. 13, p. 351, discloses the reaction of toluene diamine with phosgene to produce toluene diisocyanate in the presence of an organic solvent, such as monochlorobenzene or o-dichlorobenzene which boils at a lower temperature than toluene diisocyanate. The use of solvents boiling at higher temperatures then toluene diisocyanate has also been disclosed. These solvents include methyldiphenylmethane, tetrahydronaphthylene, or alkylisophthalate (the latter in French Pat. No. 1 476 755). The phosgenation is generally carried out in two stages, initially at temperatures of 0.degree. C. to 100.degree. C. and subsequently at temperatures from 150.degree. C. to 180.degree. C. The residual phosgene is then removed from the reaction solution by distillation or by passing nitrogen through the solution. The reaction solution is then distilled into toluene diisocyanate, the solvent, and phosgenation by-products, which are primarily non-volatile residues.
If a solvent is used for the phosgenation, boiling lower than toluene diisocyanate, it is distilled off first during further processing. This leaves a crude toluene diisocyanate mixture which consists of 65 weight percent to 98 weight percent of toluene diisocyanate, 0 weight percent to 10 weight percent of lower-boiling solvent, and 2 weight percent to 25 weight percent of non-volatile residues. If a solvent is used boiling higher than toluene diisocyanate, the toluene diisocyanate alone or a mixture of toluene diisocyanate and part of the higher-boiling solvent is initially distilled off. This leaves a residue mixture 65 weight percent to 89 weight percent of higher-boiling solvents, 0 weight percent to 10 weight percent of residual toluene diisocyanate, and 2 weight percent to 25 weight percent of nonvolatile residues. The residues may be totally or partially dissolved or partially suspended.
The above-mentioned mixtures are now further concentrated by means of distillation in the first case to obtain the toluene diisocyanate and in the latter case, to reclaim the higher-boiling solvents. A distillation residue is obtained which still contains considerable quantities of toluene diisocyanate and/or higher-boiling solvents normally between 20 weight percent and 80 weight percent hereinafter sometimes referred to as desired product. Depending upon the manufacturing conditions, the residual components of the distillation residue primarily consist of 1 weight percent to 80 weight percent of urea compounds, 0 weight percent to 40 weight percent of uretdione, 0 weight percent to 60 weight percent of isocyanuric esters, 0.5 weight percent to 20 weight percent of carbodiimides, and 5 weight percent to 95 weight percent of higher-condensing or polymeric materials.
The reclaiming of toluene diisocyanate and/or the higher-boiling solvents is of primary importance for the profitability of the manufacturing process. Various processes were developed for reclaiming isocyanate from residue mixtures. German Patent Application No. 12 43 178, for instance, describes an extraction process. British Pat. No. 1 117 066 and German Patent Application No. 12 31 689 describe distillation processes. German Application No. 19 62 598 relates to a hydrolysis process with subsequent phosgenation of the hydrolysis products. A drawback of the above-mentioned processes is that large quantities of solvents are required for isolating the isocyanate. These solvents have to be purified in separate expensive process stages.
In order to avoid these drawbacks, the distillation residue may be removed by screw conveyors. The residue may be fed into a heated packed bed equipped with a screw agitator so that it descends when agitated together with the solids material in the vertical center section, loses the volatile components at the bottom, and moves upwards along the peripheral zones to form a dry solid residue (German Published Application No. 24 52 805). The latter process is for the separation of toluene diisocyanate as well as for higher-boiling solvents. Although these processes show rather favorable results, they also have certain drawbacks. One drawback, for instance, is that the equipment has moveable parts upon which the chlorine and chloride-containing distillation residues have a strongly corrosive effect.
It was known that packed materials can be dried and cooled with the aid of fluidized beds [Machinenmarkt, Wuerzburg, 18 (1975) 79, pages 1480 to 1973].

Separating toluene diisocyanate and/or higher boiling solvents from distillation residues of the toluene diisocyanate manufacture using a fluidized bed


An auxiliary foam roller exercise support apparatus including a trapezoidal platform with an open center area, a left longitudinal side, a right longitudinal side, an open front side, and a rear longitudinal side. A flexible cover over the open center area enables a user to rest his or her head and neck while exercising with a foam roller. Each of a left front leg and a right front leg of a pair of front legs has a handle at the top, a wheel at the bottom, and is attached to the trapezoidal platform. Each of a left rear leg and a right rear leg of a pair of rear legs also has a wheel at the bottom and is attached to the rear longitudinal side of the trapezoidal platform. A pair of cross beams support the apparatus and connect at each of the bottom of the pair of front legs and the pair of rear legs.

The art of massage has long been used to relieve various nerves, tendon, muscle, skeletal, and other connective tissue ailments. The kneading of muscle imparts a modification to the muscle tissue. This modification acts beneficially on the nerves, tendons, muscle, skeletal, and other connective tissue, due to improved blood circulation. When trying to relieve nerve, tendon, muscle, skeletal, and other connective tissue discomfort in the back and hips, one might use a massage or foam roller. While using a massage or foam roller, a user is lying supinated, on his back, perpendicular to the massage roller. During this process, there is no support for the user's cervical spine, neck, or head. Rather, the user must rely on the muscle of his cervical spine or support the head and cervical spine with his hands. This lack of support for the spine, neck, or head causes great discomfort when using a massage roller for back and hip relief.
Accordingly, an apparatus is needed that is particularly effective in relieving the pain and discomfort associated with the cervical spine and head support during the use of a massage roller. Thus, what has been needed is an auxiliary foam roller exercise support apparatus including a trapezoidal platform with an open center area, a left longitudinal side, a right longitudinal side, an open front side, a left front corner, a right front corner, a rear longitudinal side, a left rear corner, a right rear corner, and a cross member. What has also been needed is a flexible cover disposed atop the open area of the trapezoidal platform. Each of a left front leg and a right front leg of a pair of legs has handlebars at a top end and wheels at a bottom end, while each of a pair of rear legs is affixed to the rear longitudinal side of the trapezoidal platform. What has finally been needed is a pair of cross beams attaching each of the lower legs. The auxiliary foam roller exercise support apparatus thus enables a user to align his or her head, neck and spin while exercising with a foam roller.

Auxiliary foam roller exercise support apparatus


The invention relates to adjustable stop-wagon retarders with locking function for wagons at high speed and disposal methods thereof, which are suitable for railway marshaling yards or rail lines where it is required to prevent wagons from running away, which are hydraulic equipment of no external energy source to automatically regulate wagon's speed and disposal methods of such equipment. The stop-wagon retarder is characterized in that a uni-directional return unit comprising a sealing valve plate and adjustable throttle valve, and a locking control valve composing of switch valve and positioning unit are mounted in the piston assembly, which make the returning speed and the locking speed for wagon at high speed adjustable, thus the aim of setting the retarder with different control levels and thresholds according to the wagon speed is realized. The disposal method is characterized in that the distances between every two adjacent stop-wagon retarders correspond to the distances between every two adjacent wheel axles.

A multifunctional stop-wagon retarder for railway wagon is disclosed in Chinese Pat. No. ZL92232912.5. This retarder can reduce the speed of a wagon, stop a wagon, or prevent a stalled wagon from running away. And it will do work on a wagon at low speed, and be locked by a wagon at high speed. However, the retarder has disadvantages. The structure of its uni-directional return unit makes the normal returning speed of sliding cylinder unadjustable and therefore, the retarder can not have different control levels. The term "control level" means the time necessary for the sliding cylinder of the stop-wagon retarder to return to its original position after it is deflected downwards by a wheel of the wagon. It's locking control valve can not regulate the locking speed and different thresholds for controlling the locking speed can not be set. The connection mode of the positioning unit is complicated and its components are liable to come off, which affects locking precision. And the exhaust hole located rather low in the housing harms its water prevention performance. In addition, existing disposal method for stop-wagon retarders adopts centralized method to dispose large retarder group which can not achieve good retardation on wagons.

Adjustable stop-wagon retarders with locking function for wagons at high speed and disposal methods thereof


A hybrid data transmission frame format for a hybrid single-carrier modulation and OFDM carrier modulation MIMO system and corresponding transmission/reception methods and devices. A transmitter employs single-carrier modulation for preambles and signaling fields via a single-carrier signal generator to produce single-carrier transmission sequences of transmission links. While to employs the same sampling rate to process all the data so as to match a receiver, the sampling rate of the single-carrier transmission sequences needs to be processed into being identical to that of OFDM via a pulse shaping multiphase filter before entering a digital-to-analog converter; the transmitter employs an OFDM modulation mode to transmit data field segments via an OFDM signal generator; and a data receiving process of the receiver is opposite to a data transmitting process of the transmitter.

As wireless spectrum resources become more and more scarce, millimeter wave communication has received extensive attention. High-throughput millimeter wave communication technology has become one of the most active fields of the wireless communication technology. In a millimeter wave band, there is an urgent need to reduce the peak to average ratio of baseband signals to reduce the design difficulty of a power amplifier. Compared with an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) system, a single-carrier modulation mode has the advantages of low peak to average ratio, and still has similar receiver complexity and communication system performance with the OFDM. Therefore, a single-carrier system is widely used in the millimeter wave communication. However, the single-carrier system is more complex to implement pre-coding and multiuser, while the OFDM system can carry out a pre-coding design with lower complexity and carry out a pre-coding operation on the transmitted data, thus enhancing the reliability and the throughput of the system.
Based on the above findings, the combined use of single-carrier modulation and OFDM modulation is one of the key technologies of the millimeter wave communication. In the two IEEE802.11ad and IEEE802.11aj wireless local area network standards, preamble sequences and signaling fields are transmitted in a single-carrier modulation mode, while data fields are transmitted in an OFDM mode. The main reason of adopting the single-carrier transmission mode is to reduce the peak to average ratio (PAR: Peak to average ratio) of transmitted signals so as to reduce the design difficulty and the hardware implementation cost of the power amplifier. The main reason of adopting the OFDM transmission mode is to reduce the complexity of the receiving mechanism and improve the system throughput. But a frame format and a transmission mode in the EE802.11ad standard frame designed by the array antenna technology cannot be directly used in a multiple input multiple output (MIMO: Multiple Input Multiple Output) communication system. Based on the above findings, the present invention provides a hybrid data transmission frame format that can simultaneously support single-carrier modulation and OFDM carrier modulation MIMO systems, and corresponding transmission/reception methods and devices.

Methods and devices for transmission/reception of data for hybrid carrier modulation MIMO system

ZTE Wavestone Science and Technology Ltd.


A converter for converting a non waste-residue collecting toner cartridge to a waste-residue collecting toner cartridge, a method for converting a non waste-residue collecting toner cartridge to a waste-residue collecting toner cartridge, and a waste-residue-collecting converted toner cartridge.

In electrophotographic printing, such as in laser printers and copiers, a pattern of electrostatic charges corresponding to a print image is developed on an optical photoconductor using radiated energy, either visible spectrum light or optical energy outside the visible light spectrum. Conventionally, near infrared laser light is used to develop an electrostatic image on the optical photoconductor. The optical photoconductor is usually a continuous surface such as a drum or belt.
The laser light scans across the charged surface of photosensitive material on the optical photoconductor in a succession of scan lines. Each scan line is logically divided into picture element (pixel) areas and the laser beam is modulated such that selected pixel areas are exposed to light. Pixel size (or pixel space) is defined by a given dot pitch, scan velocity and spot size of the printer. The exposure to light results in the reduction of voltage on the optical photoconductor at those select pixel locations forming a latent image pattern. Subsequently, toner is applied (deposited) onto those pixel locations to form a visible image and this image is then transferred to a print media (typically a sheet of paper).
In many electrophotographic printing devices, the supply of toner, the optical photoconductor and other associated components are housed in a separate toner cartridge that is easily inserted or removed from the printing device. The construction and operation of toner cartridges are well know in the art. Toner cartridges are described in U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2001/0041079 A1 filed Nov. 15, 2001 of Michlin et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication US2001/0055949 A1 filed Dec. 27, 2001 of Katakabe et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,448 filed Oct. 3, 2000 of Arcaro et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,224 filed May 26, 1998 of Binder et al., each of which is hereby incorporated by reference for all that it discloses.
Traditional toner cartridges for printers generally employ toner products that leave waste-residue which must be removed to prevent printer malfunction and poor printed product. Accumulation of such waste-residue generally occurs within a waste-residue hopper situated in association with a blade that scrapes the waste-residue from a photoconductor drum located within the cartridge as the photoconductor drum rotates during routine printer operation. This so-removed waste-residue then enters the waste-residue hopper for retention.
Recently, however, new toner cartridges have been developed for printers wherein these newly developed cartridges initially are supplied with non waste-residue organic toner products that leave no waste-residue for collection. As a result, such cartridges no longer include a waste-residue collection site. When a user merely discards these new toner cartridges after their respective toner supplies are depleted, no problem exists since no re-use of such cartridges occurs. However, if the user does, in fact, wish to pursue a re-use program where only waste-residue-producing toner is available for replacement of spent non waste-residue toner, a very significant problem occurs, since no waste-residue collection site is present for the accumulation of such waste-residue. Additionally, of course, no waste-residue remover scraper is present for removing such waste-residue from the photo conductor drum. Consequently, printed work product quickly becomes unacceptable. Thus any toner recharge of such non waste-residue toner cartridges has heretofore been substantially unsatisfactory.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


In accordance with an embodiment, described herein is a system and method for supporting REST services natively in a service bus runtime. The service bus runtime can include one or more native REST proxy services, one or more native REST pipelines, and one or more native REST reference services. A native REST proxy service can deliver a message payload of a REST native format into a native REST pipeline, which can process the payload without converting the payload to or from an XML-based Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) format. JavaScript code can be supported in the pipeline to manipulate the message payload. A REST branch node can be used in the service bus runtime to route a message based on an HTTP verb or a relative URL path in a header of the message.

A service bus system, for example Oracle Service Bus (OSB), provides a software architecture for mediating messages among services that are loosely coupled, independently deployed, and heterogeneous and disparate. A service bus system can include a service bus runtime, and a management console used for configuring and managing the service bus runtime.
With the popularity of cloud applications and mobile applications, a service bus system may need to mediate an increasing number of messages between a mobile application and a cloud service. As such, it is important for a service bus system to provide a mechanism to achieve optimized data pass-through.

System and method for supporting representational state transfer services natively in a service bus runtime


A step of an industrial vehicle according to the present invention includes: an upper footboard fixed to a side surface of the industrial vehicle; a turning mechanism provided at a rear side of the upper footboard; a front suspension member extending downward from a front portion of the upper footboard and having elasticity; a rear suspension member extending downward from the turning mechanism and having elasticity; and a lower footboard held by the front suspension member and the rear suspension member, wherein: an upper portion of the front suspension member is fixed to the front portion of the upper footboard so as to be non-turnable; a lower portion of the front suspension member is fixed to a front portion of the lower footboard so as to be non-turnable; a lower portion of the rear suspension member is fixed to a rear portion of the lower footboard so as to be non-turnable; and an upper portion of the rear suspension member is coupled to a rear portion of the upper footboard through the turning mechanism so as to be turnable around an axis extending in a vehicle width direction.

Among industrial vehicles such as hydraulic excavators and wheel loaders, an industrial vehicle having a relatively high height is provided with a step through which an operator goes to a driver's seat or an engine room. For example, the step is provided at a rear portion of the industrial vehicle. In this case, when the industrial vehicle climbs a slope, the step may contact a ground surface to be damaged.
The step of PTL 1 is configured such that a part of a footboard turns upward relative to the other part of the footboard. According to this configuration, when the step contacts the ground surface, a part of the footboard turns upward relative to the other part. With this, the damage of the step can be avoided.

Step of industrial vehicle and industrial vehicle


An actuating device comprising a housing inside of which an actuating element is provided, the actuating element being slidably displaceable along a first axis between a first operative position and a second non-operative position, the displacement between the first operative position and the second non-operative position defining the stroke of the actuating element; a manual operating element pivotably connected to the housing at a first pivoting axis and coupled to the actuating element through a linkage, so that the linkage produces a translation of the actuating element, upon rotation of the manual operating element; the linkage comprising at least one lever arm coupled to a respective driver member, wherein the driver member is guided and constrained into a respective blind seat provided on the actuating element, characterized in that the lever arm is slidably coupled to the driver member and the driver member is movably constrained into the blind seat.

The present invention relates to an actuating device of the type provided with an actuating element and means for manually operating the actuating element, particularly for moving the actuating element between an operative and a non-operative end position. In detail, the present invention relates to an actuating device typically used for handling elements during metalworking processes, e.g. in welding lines of the vehicle body construction industry.
In metalworking processes, the actuating devices are usually provided with manual operating means (in addition to or substitution of pneumatic operating means) by means of which the movement of the actuating element (between its operative and non-operative end positions) is usually triggered.
Typical actuating devices used in the vehicle body construction industry and provided with manual operating means are clamping units or power clamps, pivoting units or power pivots, gripper units, pin clamps and retractable locating pin packages. By way of example, in clamping units the actuating element comprises a piston rod connected to a fork linkage. The group consisting of the piston rod and the fork linkage moves between two end positions, thereby displacing an articulated lever mechanism which, on its turn, causes a clamping arm to rotate.

Actuating device of the type provided with an actuating element and means for manually operating the actuating element


A system for calibrating impedance of an input/output (I/O) buffer on a semiconductor die includes: the I/O buffer; a temperature sensor on the semiconductor die; and a supply sensor on the semiconductor die. The temperature sensor is configured to acquire temperature information for calibrating the I/O buffer. The supply sensor is configured to acquire voltage information for calibrating the I/O buffer. The I/O buffer comprises: a memory component coupled to the temperature and supply sensors and configured to store the acquired temperature or voltage information; a logic component coupled to the memory component; and a driver with driver legs. The driver is coupled to the logic component. The logic component is configured to generate driver control signals representing an on/off configuration for the driver legs of the driver based at least in part on the acquired temperature information or the acquired voltage information stored in the memory component.

For input/output (I/O) interfaces that exist between field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), I/O buffers driving signals from the FPGA to the DRAM (and vice versa) must be calibrated to compensate for any impedance discontinuity that may exist between the I/O buffer and board traces coupled between the FPGA and DRAM. Calibration of the I/O buffers is performed to reduce the noise being reflected back into the I/O buffer when during signal transmission.
Impedance discontinuity that exists between the I/O buffers and board traces may be due to process variation, temperature variation, and voltage variation. Currently, calibration of I/O buffers is done by connecting a precision resistor on-board (e.g., external to semiconductor die) and dedicating an I/O buffer of an I/O bank for performing calibration. The precision resistor is used to determine the amount of impedance discontinuity associated with the dedicated I/O buffer and the remaining I/O buffers of the I/O bank are calibrated accordingly. Using an on-board precision resistor increases implementation costs. Furthermore, dedicating an I/O buffer for calibration limits its ability to be used for another function.

System and method of eliminating on-board calibration resistor for on-die termination


A ferritic steel sheet wherein a mean value of X-ray random intensity ratios of a group of {100}<011> to {223}<110> orientations is 3.0 or more and a mean value of X-ray random intensity ratios of three crystal orientations of {554}<225>, {111}<112>, and {111}<110> is 3.5 or less and further at least one of the r values in a rolling direction and a direction at a right angle of that is 0.7 or less.

In order to keep down the amount of emission of carbonic acid gases from an automobile, high strength steel sheet is being used to try to reduce the weight of the automobile body. Also, in order to ensure the safety of passengers as, high strength steel sheet is now being frequently used in addition to mild steel sheet for the automobile body. Further, in order to reduce the weight of the automobile body in the future, there is a fast growing new demand for raising the level of usage strength of high strength steel sheet more than the past.
However, when bending high strength steel sheet, due to the high strength, the bent shape tends to depart from the shape of the die and return to the shape before bending. The phenomenon of trying to return to the original shape even after bending is referred to as "springback". When this springback occurs, even if the steel sheet is bent, the intended shape cannot be obtained in the bent part after bending.
Also, a wall camber phenomenon arises wherein the flat surface of a side wall becomes a surface having curvature due to elastic recovery from bending and springback during shaping. The intended shape cannot be obtained in the bent part and poor dimensional accuracy occurs.
Accordingly, in the body of a conventional automobile, steel sheet of a high strength of 440 MPa or less has been mainly used.
Irrespective of the fact that the weight of automobile bodies must be reduced by using steel sheet of a high strength of 490 MPa or more for the automobile body, in actuality a high strength steel sheet having small springback and good shape fixability does not exist.
There is no need to add that it is extremely important to increase the shape fixability after shaping in steel sheet of a high strength of 440 MPa or less and mild steel sheet for improving the shape accuracy of products such automobiles and home electric appliances.
JP-A-10-72644 discloses an austenitic stainless cold-rolled steel sheet having a small springback (dimensional accuracy in the present invention) characterized in that the degree of integration of the {200} structure in planes parallel to a rolled surface is 1.5 or more. The publication, however, does not describe any art for reducing the springback phenomenon or the wall camber phenomenon of ferritic steel sheet.
Also, as art for reducing the springback of the ferritic stainless steel, JP-A-2001-32050 discloses an invention setting a reflected X-ray intensity ratio of {100} planes parallel to the sheet surface at 2 or more at the center of the sheet thickness. This publication, however, does not describe anything concerning the reduction of the wall camber and does not describe anything regarding the group of {100}<011> to {223}<110> orientations and the {112}<110> orientation important for the reduction of the wall camber.
Also, some of the present inventors disclosed a thin ferritic steel sheet having a ratio of the {100} planes and {111} planes of at least 1 for the purpose of improvement of the shape fixability in the WO00/06791 pamphlet, but this pamphlet does not describe anything regarding the values of X-ray random intensity ratios of the group of {110}<011> to {223}<110> orientations and {554}<225>, {111}<112>, and {111}<110> as in the present invention.
Also, some of the present inventors disclosed a cold-rolled steel sheet having a reflected X-ray intensity ratio of the {100} planes parallel to the sheet surface of 3 or more and a small springback in JP-A-2001-64750. However, this cold-rolled steel sheet is characterized by defining the reflected X-ray intensity ratio of the {100} plane at the outermost surface of the sheet thickness. The measurement position of the X-rays is different from the mean X-ray intensity ratio of the group of {100}<011> to {223}<110> orientations at "½ t of sheet thickness" defined in the present invention.
Also, the publication does not describe anything at all regarding the {554}<225>, {111}<112>, and {111}<110> orientations.
Also, JP-A-2000-297349 discloses a hot-rolled steel sheet having an absolute value of an in-plane anisotropy Δr of the r value of 0.2 or less as a steel sheet having good shape fixability. However, this hot-rolled steel sheet is characterized in that the shape fixability is improved by lowering the yield ratio. The publication does not describe the control of the texture aimed at improvement of the shape fixability based on the concept explained in the present invention.
On the other hand, stretch flangeability is also an indispensable characteristic when working steel sheet into automobile parts or the like. If the shape fixability of a high stretch flanging steel sheet is improved, the range of application of the high strength steel sheet to an automobile body becomes further wider.
None of the above publications, however, describes anything from the viewpoint of achieving both stretch flangeability and shape fixability.
Also, on the other hand, high strength steel sheet is also required to have a good press formability enabling press forming to automobile parts having complex shapes. As the method of improving the press formability of high strength steel sheet, for example, JP-A-6-145892 proposes a method of leaving at least a certain amount of austenite in the steel and utilizing working-induced transformation from this remaining austenite to martensite. In such a good workability high strength steel sheet, however, the method of improving the shape fixability has not been clarified.
Further, for the method of increasing the absorption of impact energy at the time of collision of an automobile while maintaining a good workability, for example JP-A-11-080879 proposes a method of similarly utilizing residual austenite. In a high strength steel sheet having good workability and absorption of impact energy, however, the method of improving the shape. All cited references are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Steel plate excellent in shape freezing property and method for production thereof


Disclosed herein is a mammography device for X-ray photographing an object to be inspected. The mammography device includes: a generator irradiating an X-ray; a support part for an object to be inspected including a detector positioned to face the generator; and a pressing pad moving between the generator and the support part for an object to be inspected to press the object to be inspected, wherein at least one of the support part for an object to be inspected and the pressing pad is rotatably installed at one side of the mammography device, and in a pressing initial state of the object to be inspected, at least one of the support part for an object to be inspected and the pressing pad that is rotatably installed is configured so that a front end portion thereof toward a subject is elastically deflected to a position inclined toward the object to be inspected.

This application is based on and claims the benefit of priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0034405, filed on Mar. 29, 2013 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
An X-ray generally indicates a short wavelength electromagnetic wave having a wavelength of 0.01 nm to 10 nm and a frequency of 30×1015 Hz to 30×1018 Hz. X-ray photographing is one of radiographies of projecting and displaying an inner portion of an object to be inspected by high penetration power of the X-ray. As well-known, the X-ray involves an attenuation phenomenon depending on a material, a density, and a thickness of an object, such as Compton scattering, a photoelectric effect, or the like, during a process in which it is transmitted through the object. Therefore, the X-ray photographing projects and displays the inner portion of the object to be inspected on the basis of an attenuation amount of the X-ray accumulated during a process in which the X-ray passes through the object to be inspected. To this end, a dedicated X-ray system is used.
Recently, an X-ray image technology has been rapidly evolved as a digital X-ray image technology having various advantages such as a relatively high resolution, a wide dynamic area, easy generation of an electrical signal, simple processing and storing of data, and the like, instead of a traditional analog scheme using a film while being grafted onto a semiconductor field. A digital based image technology strongly reflects a clinically environmental demand such as an early diagnosis of a disease on the basis of excellent diagnosis ability of a digital image.
Therefore, a "digital mammography", which is a breast dedicated X-ray photographing technology capable of detecting a lesion and micro-calcification for detection and an early diagnosis of a breast cancer by representing an internal structure of the breast corresponding to an object to be inspected as a high resolution image, using unique biological tissue contrast capability of the X-ray, has been introduced. The digital mammography has been rapidly spread due to unique characteristics such as image enlargement, a decrease in the number of times of photographing, an increase in a resolution, and minimization of exposure through adjustment of a luminance and a contrast ratio together with various advantages of the digital X-ray image technology.
A general mammography device mainly includes a support column having a lower end portion fixed to a bottom and having a vertical column shape and a C-arm or a device body installed on the support column so as to ascend or descend in a vertical direction and generally having a C shape or a shape similar to the C shape in which a central portion thereof is configured to be rotatable with respect to a horizontal axis. A generator irradiating an X-ray toward a lower end portion of the device body is mounted at an upper end portion of the device body, and a detector facing the generator is mounted at the lower end portion of the device body. A pressing pad that vertically and linearly reciprocates along an inner surface of the device body is installed between the generator and the detector.
In the mammography device as described above, when a subject is in a standing or sitting state at a photographing position, the device body ascends or descends and rotates with respect to the support column, such that a height and an angle of the device body are adjusted so that a breast of the subject is put at a target position on the detector. Then, the pressing pad moves toward the detector to press the breast. In this state, the generator irradiates the X-ray toward the breast and the detector, and the detector positioned behind the breast receives the X-ray passing through the breast to obtain an image.
That is, the detector generates an electric signal for each position that is in proportion to an amount of incident X-ray, and reads the electrical signal and position information and processes the read electrical signal and position information by an image processing algorithm, thereby making it possible to obtain an X-ray image of the breast for a corresponding angle. Then, the above-process is repeated while rotating the generator and the detector with the breast interposed therebetween, whereby the mammography device may obtain high resolution images for the breast of the subject at various mediolateral oblique view angles.
In a general mammography device having the above-mentioned photographing principle, a critical driving mechanical for minimizing discomfort of the subject and obtaining a high quality X-ray image is a pressing operation of the pressing pad and ascending or descending and rotating operations of the device body. Particularly, since the pressing pad applies direct pressure to the breast at the time of X-ray photographing, it is directly associated with pain and discomfort felt by the subject, and since the device body determines an accurate photographing position through ascent or descent and rotation, it is directly associated with quality of the X-ray image.
Here, the pressing pad presses the breast in order to photograph the breast in a state in which the breast is pressed for the purpose of separating a lump (a lesion or a portion at which the possibility of micro-calcification is high) looking like being overlapped with a mammary gland, or the like, from the mammary gland.
However, the pressing by the pressing pad, which is the largest pain felt by the subject, causes large discomfort. Further, when the subject moves due to the pain and the discomfort caused by the pressing of the pressing pad, the breast is out of a photographing position, such that an accurate X-ray image may not be obtained. Particularly, the pain due to the pressing of the pressing pad is mainly felt particularly at a distal portion (a portion adjacent to a nipple) of the breast of the subject, and the discomfort is further increased.


An appliance which includes an inner compartment with one zone in which uncooked bagels can be boiled and a second zone for subsequently baking the boiled bagels. The same appliance can also be used to make bagel doughs and to both make and bake other yeast doughs.

In one aspect the present invention relates to novel, improved, multi-function appliances.
In a more specific aspect the invention relates to appliances as characterized in the preceding paragraph which can be used to: (1) cook bagels by a sequence of boiling and baking steps, (2) prepare the bagel dough and other yeast doughs, and (3) make bread.

Appliance for making bread and for cooking bagels


The present invention is an optical harness and method for an optical cross-connect. The optical harness is defined primarily by a first portion and a second portion. The first portion of the optical harness comprises a number M of fiber optic row cables where each fiber optic row cable comprises an array of a number N of fiber optics arranged on a first plane. The first plane on which each fiber optic row cable is disposed is substantially parallel to each of the other first planes on which a fiber optic row cable is disposed. The second portion of the optical harness comprises a number N of fiber optic column cables where each fiber optic column cable comprises an array of a number M of fiber optics arranged on a second plane. Each fiber optic column cable is disposed on a second plane being substantially parallel to each of the other second planes on which each other fiber optic column cable is disposed. The optical harness further comprises a holding mechanism disposed intermediate the first portion and the second portion of the optical harness. The orientation of the first planes on which the fiber optic row cables are disposed is arranged at a defined angle relative to the second plane on which the fiber optic column cables are disposed.

Advances in light wave technology have made optical fibers a very popular medium for large bandwidth communication applications. In particular, optical technology is being utilized more and more in broadband systems wherein communications between systems take place on high-speed optical channels. As this trend continues to gain more and more momentum, the need for efficient utilization of the precious real estate on circuit boards, racks/shelves, back planes, distribution cabinets, etc., is becoming ever increasingly important. In order to fulfill expectations across the industry, opto-electronic modules and optic fiber devices need to continue to be made miniaturized or compact, thereby taking full advantage of the maturity of micro- and opto-electronic technologies for generating, transporting, managing and delivering broadband services to ever increasing bandwidth demands of end users at increasingly lower costs. Thus, the industry has placed an emphasis on small optical connectors and optical harnesses, both simple and complex. However, miniaturizing and compacting is tempered by the requirements of transmission efficiency and organization.
With the miniaturization of optical modules and optical fiber devices, the management of optical fiber congestion has become an issue at optical interfaces and connection distribution points. One solution is the use of multi-fiber ribbon in which a plurality of optical fibers are organized and contained side by side in a plastic ribbon. It is known to interconnect these ribbon cables by supporting the fibers between two support members made of a monocrystaline material, such as silicon. In the support members are V-grooves formed utilizing photolithographic masking and etching techniques. The fibers are placed side by side in individual V-grooves of one support member and the other mating support member having corresponding V-grooves is placed over the fibers so as to bind or hold the fibers in a high precision spatial relationship between the mating V-grooves. The top and bottom support members sandwiching the multi-fiber ribbon are typically bonded together with a clamp or adhesive, forming a plug of a multi-fiber connector. Two mating plugs with the same fiber spacing may then be placed in an abutting relationship so that the ends of the fibers of the respective plugs are substantially co-axially aligned with one another, thereby forming a multi-fiber connection. If desired, such plugs can be stacked in order to increase the interconnection density. However, in addition to straight connections, in some applications it is desirable to re-route the optical fibers in a multi-fiber ribbon and reconfigure the optical fibers in a new multi-fiber ribbon combination.
Multi-fiber ribbons and connectors have numerous applications in optic communication systems. For instance, optical switches, optical power splitters/combiners, routers, etc., have several input and/or output ports arranged as linear arrays to which a plurality of fibers are to be coupled. Further, since optical fibers are attached somehow to launch optical signals into these devices and extract optical signals therefrom, splicing of arrays of fibers (i.e., a multi-fiber ribbon) to such devices can be achieved using multi-fiber connectors. Another possible application relates to an optical fan-out fabric where an array of fibers in a multi-fiber ribbon may be broken into simplex or duplex channels for distribution purposes, as is often desired.
Another multiple fiber application is the perfect shuffle cross-connect, where, for example, each of the multiple input ports, typically comprising more than one optical fiber, is in communication by one fiber with each of the multiple output ports, which also typically comprises more than one optical fiber. The perfect shuffle cross-connect provides for multi-channel optical transmissions, for example as in multi-wavelength transmissions, to be mixed in an orderly fashion. Currently, such connections are made by flexible optical circuits or complex jumpers. While complex jumpers take up space and create congestion, the flexible optical circuit is expensive to produce, often requiring highly skilled labor, such as a CAD designer to generate the original drawings of the circuit, and expensive processing machines such as those for fiber routing, lamination and connectorization equipment.
In summary, there continues to be strong market forces driving the development of fiber optic connection systems that take up less space and relieve congestion, while at the same time demanding that the increasing interconnection density requirements be satisfied. Further, such a connection system should be capable of being manufactured and assembled easily and inexpensively.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

Optical harness and cross-connect method


An image reproducing apparatus to reproduce input image data supplied from an image data supply source as a visible image, which comprises a display, a printer, and an image processing device which shares hardware for processing the input image data to obtain image data to be represented on the display and image data for image recording with the printer. The image processing device includes an image processing section to subject the input image data to specified image processing steps and a data converting section to convert the thus processed data to the image data for displaying and the image data for image recording. The apparatus can reduce the distinction between the image to be represented on the display and the image to be reproduced on the hard copy, or the distinction found on the images reproduced in the image output devices due to the output properties thereof, with reduced cost of the image processing device.

This invention relates to the technical field of an image reproducing apparatus in which image data obtained from an image data supply source such as a scanner used for photoelectric reading of an image on a film is subjected to image processing steps to reproduce the image on a display or hard copy, that is, to output the image to be reproduced to a plurality of image output devices.
Currently, the image recorded on a photographic film such as a negative film or a reversal film (which is hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cfilmxe2x80x9d) is printed to a light-sensitive material (photographic paper) by xe2x80x9cdirect exposurexe2x80x9d (or analog exposure), in which the image on a film is projected onto the light-sensitive material to perform areal exposure.
A printer that relies upon digital exposure has recently been commercialized. Called a xe2x80x9cdigital photoprinterxe2x80x9d, the apparatus operates in the following manner: the image recorded on a film is read photoelectrically; the image is then converted to a digital signal and subjected to various image processing steps to produce image data for recording; a light-sensitive material is exposed by scanning with recording light modulated in accordance with the image data, whereby an image (latent image) is recorded; the necessary processing is done to produce a (finished) print.
In the digital photoprinter, the image recorded on a film is converted to digital image data, which is then processed to determine the conditions for exposure to be performed in printing; hence, the correction of drop-outs or blocked-ups in image such as washed-out highlights or dull shadows due to photography with back light or an electronic flash, sharpening, or the correction of color or density failure can be effectively performed to produce prints of very high quality that have heretofore been unattainable by conventional direct exposure. What is more, by image data processing, a plurality of images can be assembled into one composite image or a single image can be divided into more than one image and even characters can be assembled; thus, prints can be outputted after editing/processing is done in accordance with a specific use.
With the digital photoprinter, the desired image can not only be outputted as a finished print (photo); the image data can also be supplied to a computer or stored in a recording medium such as a floppy disk; thus, the image data can be utilized in various applications other than photography.
Having these capabilities, the digital photoprinter basically comprises a scanner (image reading device) for photoelectric reading of the image recorded on a film, an image processing device that performs image processing on the thus read image to produce output image data (conditions for exposure), and a printer that performs scan exposure on a light-sensitive material in accordance with the image data from the image processing device to form a latent image and that subjects the exposed light-sensitive material to development and other necessary steps to produce a finished print.
In the scanner, reading light issuing from a light source is allowed to be incident on the film to produce projected light carrying the image recorded on the film and the projected light is focused through an imaging lens on an image sensor such as a CCD sensor, whereby photoelectric conversion is effected to read the image from the film; after optionally being subjected to various image processing steps, image data from the film (image data signal) is sent to the image processing device.
The image processing device sets the conditions for image processing on the basis of the image data that has been read with the scanner; the device then performs image processing on the image data in accordance with the thus set conditions and supplies the printer with output image data (exposure conditions) for image recording.
In the printer, if it is of a type that relies upon exposure by scanning with light beams, the latter are modulated in accordance with the image data sent from the image processing device and deflected in a main scanning direction; at the same time, a light-sensitive material is transported in an auxiliary scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction to expose to the light beams carrying the image, thereby forming a latent image. The image is then subjected in the processor to development and other processing steps in accordance with the light-sensitive material, thereby producing a finished print (photograph) reproducing the image recorded on the film.
Not only the aforementioned digital photoprinter, but also image reproducing apparatuses to output image data delivered from an image data supply source as a finished print (or hard copy) perform verification of an image to be reproduced on the finished print. Therefore, these apparatuses are usually provided for example with a display such as a CRT (cathode ray tube) to represent the reproduced image of the image data supplied from the image data supply source such as a scanner. It is needless to say that, for appropriate image verification, the reproduced image to be represented on the display (display image) must be also subjected to the same image processing as in the image to be reproduced on the finished print (print image).
In order to satisfy the requirement, the image processing device has two independent hardware units: a hardware (H/W) for image processing of the image data to be represented on the display, and a hardware for image processing of the image data to be output as a hard copy with the printer. This arrangement increases equipment cost of the image processing device. What is more, there is a case where the image represented on the display is different from the image reproduced on the hard copy in spite of the same image processing performed.
The present invention has been accomplished under these circumstances and has as an object providing an image reproducing apparatus in which image data supplied from an image data supply source including a scanner, various recording media and imaging devices is subjected to specified image processing steps to represent on a display as a visible image and output with a printer as a hard copy, that is, to output to a plurality of image output devices and which can reduce the distinction between the image to be represented on the display and the image to be reproduced on the hard copy, or between the images to be reproduced in the image output devices, with reduced equipment cost of the image processing device.
In order to attain the above object, the present invention provides an image reproducing apparatus to reproduce input image data supplied from an image data supply source as a visible image, comprising:
a display to represent an image;
a printer to output a hard copy having the image recorded thereon; and
an image processing device which shares hardware for processing the input image data to obtain image data to be represented on said display and image data for image recording with said printer and which includes:
an image processing section to subject the input image data supplied from said image data supply source to specified image processing steps to produce processed image data, and
a data converting section to convert the processed image data output from said image processing section to the image data to be represented on said display and the image data for image recording with said printer.
Preferably, said image processing device subjects the input image data supplied from said image data supply source to the same image processing steps, except that different conversion parameters of the processed image data are used in said data converting section in representing the image on said display and in outputting the hard copy with said printer.
Preferably, said conversion parameters are elements of a 3D-LUT or a 3D-MTX to convert said processed image data.
Preferably, the image data to be represented on said display and the image data for image recording with said printer have different resolutions between the image to be represented on said display and the image to be reproduced on said hard copy, and said data converting section performs at least one conversion processing of thinning-out, electronic magnification and interpolation to convert said processed image data to obtain the resolutions suitable for each of the image data to be represented on said display and the image data for image recording with said printer.
Preferably, said conversion parameters are elements of a 3D-LUT or a 3D-MTX to perform said conversion processing.
Preferably, said specified image processing steps to be performed by said image processing section include at least one of color balance adjustment, gradation adjustment, density adjustment, dodging, saturation correction, sharpening, electronic magnification, soft focusing, sepia finishing, black-and-white finishing, high-contrast finishing, low-contrast finishing, posterized finishing, picture-like finishing, extraction of a principal portion (or subject) and red eye treatment.
According to the present invention, there is also provided an image reproducing apparatus to reproduce input image data supplied from an image data supply source as a visible image, comprising:
a plurality of output devices to output an image; and
an image processing device which shares hardware for processing processed image data to obtain image data suitable for output properties of each of said plurality of output devices and which includes:
an image processing section to subject the input image data supplied from said image data supply source to specified image processing steps to produce the processed image data, and
a data converting section to convert the processed image data output from said image processing section to the image data suitable for the output properties of each of said plurality of output devices.

Image reproducing apparatus which performs the same processing on image data to be displayed as image data to be printed


An improved insert anchor assembly which provides a lifting clevis is disclosed. A novel void former comprising a body and plug to completely surround the lifting clevis is also disclosed. An improved hoisting attachment capable of complimentable receipt within the recess created by the void former is further provided.

The field of this invention is the apparatus for hoisting and positioning prefabricated tilt-up concrete slabs. More specifically, the invention relates to improvements in clutch assemblies of such apparatus.
Prefabricated concrete walls or panels are common components of building constructions. Such panels are generally cast in a horizontal position where they are allowed to set. The hoisting and positioning of the finished panel presents problems in that the panels are very heavy and difficult to handle without cracking or breaking. Preliminary attempts to solve this problem can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,170, to Fricker et al., disclosing the use of an anchor imbedded in a concrete slab as a point of attachment and lifting in combination with a hoisting shackle, and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,367,892 and 4,437,642, to Holt, disclosing the use of a t-shaped anchor also for use with a hoisting shackle.

Apparatus and method for lifting tilt-up wall constructions


A master cylinder (32) in a vehicle hydraulic braking installation uhydraulic-fluid supply device for actuating wheel brake cylinders (20). The master cylinder (32) being isolated from the wheel brake cylinders (20) by at least one shut-off valve (30). The master cylinder (32) being associated with a simulator (46) having a piston (50) located in a simulator chamber (56). The piston (50) being subjected to fluid pressure of brake fluid from the master cylinder (32) and an elastic element (52). The master cylinder (32) being of the having a primary piston (44) and a secondary piston (60) slidably located in a bore (45) of a housing (48). Bore (45) has a peripheral groove (72) which is associated with a land (68) on the secondary piston (60) to allow communication with the simulator chamber (56) when the master cylinder (32) is in a positon of rest. A sealing element (70) carried by the secondary piston (60) engages the housing when the secondary piston moves to interrupt communicaton between the bore (45) and simulator chamber (56) to thereafter simulate brake actuation travel.

Electro-hydraulic braking installations conventionally comprise a service braking system using an external energy source and an emergency braking system using muscle power as its source, these two braking systems being controlled by a brake master cylinder, the actuating pedal of which is situated in the cockpit of the vehicle.
The braking system with an external energy source comprises a generator of brake fluid at high pressure, comprising a hydraulic pump associated with a hydraulic pressure accumulator. Upon a braking action performed by this system, the pressure supplied by the hydraulic pressure accumulator is communicated to the wheel brake cylinders via at least one solenoid valve so that the pressure leaving this solenoid valve has a value which is a function of the travel of the brake pedal and of the force with which this pedal is actuated, or a function of the force with which a handbrake lever is actuated, or alternatively a function of the brake fluid pressure produced using the footbrake pedal or the handbrake lever.
In such operation in service braking mode, the master cylinder is normally isolated from the braking installation of the vehicle by means of a shut-off solenoid valve. This then means that brake fluid cannot flow back from the master cylinder towards the wheel brake cylinders and that its piston cannot move or can move only by a minimum travel. However, for the brake pedal or handbrake lever to have a normal actuating travel, depending on the force with which they are actuated, a device which simulates the brake actuation travel is used.
Such a device that simulates the brake actuation travel is known, for example, from document U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,642. The known brake actuation travel simulator comprises a simulator cylinder with a simulator piston which can move in this cylinder when it is acted upon by the pressure of the brake fluid from the master cylinder, against the action of a spring and which can move inside this cylinder.
In the event of failure of the braking system with an external energy source, for service braking mode, the shut-off solenoid valve is switched to allow the master cylinder to actuate the wheel brake cylinders itself, for an emergency braking operating mode using as its energy source muscle power provided by the driver of the vehicle.
The brake actuation travel simulator device according to the aforementioned document is hydraulically connected to the master cylinder and to the shut-off solenoid valve and communicates, even in emergency braking mode, with the brake master cylinder. The known brake-actuating simulator therefore has the drawback of absorbing a certain amount of brake fluid in emergency braking mode using muscle power, and this needlessly increases the brake pedal travel and detracts from the effectiveness in emergency braking.

Master cylinder for motor vehicle electro-hydraulic braking installation