Fastening devices and methods of utilizing the same. The fastening devices include a handle, a trigger mechanism, a fastener magazine, a fastening head, and a tab feed structure. The tab feed structure includes a tab magazine, a feed rail, and a tab advance mechanism. The tab magazine is configured to contain an accordion-folded stack of tabs, which is defined by a first subset of a plurality of interconnected tabs. The fasting device is configured to, upon actuation of the trigger mechanism, urge a fastener through a leading tab of the plurality of interconnected tabs and into a workpiece to operatively affix the leading tab to the workpiece and also to advance a tab strip, which is defined by a second subset of the plurality of interconnected tabs, toward a fastening region with the tab advance mechanism. The methods include methods of utilizing and/or loading the fastening device.

Powered fastening tools, such as pneumatic staplers, may be utilized to secure lumber wrap to lumber. The lumber wrap may be wrapped around lumber and fastened to the lumber, such as with staples or other fasteners, to protect the lumber from environmental or other damage during storage and transport. Tabs may be utilized to reinforce the fasteners, thereby resisting tear-through and retaining the lumber wrap attached to the lumber.
Historically, these tabs were applied manually. Specifically, an operator would hold the tab and utilize a general-purpose staple gun to staple the tabs to the lumber. More recently, special-purpose staple guns have been developed. These special-purpose staple guns may be configured to automatically feed both tabs and staples, and they generally feed one tab and one staple each time that the trigger is pulled.
While these special-purpose staple guns may provide certain advantages over manual tab application methods, they may be bulky and can be tiresome to utilize. Additionally or alternatively, ergonomics of these special-purpose staple guns may be insufficient to provide a desired level of operator comfort. Furthermore, the tabs may be stored in coils, which are bulky to handle and generally results in wasting of a significant number of caps. Thus, there exists a need for improved fastening devices and/or for improved methods of operating fastening devices.

Columbia River Staple & Lumber Wrap, Inc.


A semiconductor device includes an output driver having a variable current driving ability, for outputting an amplified data signal to the outside through a transmission line; a nonvolatile memory having a specific area for storing output adjustment data to adjust the current driving ability of the output driver; an output adjustment data readout unit for reading out the output adjustment data from the specific area of the memory in response to powering on; and a current driving ability adjustment unit for adjusting the current driving ability of the output driver on the basis of the output adjustment data read out from the memory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, more particularly to a semiconductor device including an output driver for outputting an internally generated data signal to the outside, and a semiconductor memory device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In semiconductor devices, for example, semiconductor IC chips, some of various types of internally generated signals are output to the outside through a dedicated output driver.
As such an output driver, a data output circuit that can adjust its own driving force, that is, current driving ability is proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-225421).
The data output circuit is provided with a fuse element, which indicates information to specify a driving force required by a user by a connected or disconnected state. The driving force of the data driver is adjusted on the basis of a binary setting signal that corresponds to the connected or disconnected state of the fuse element.
However, the data output circuit described above is required to have the fuse element that occupies a relatively large area in the chip for the purpose of setting an adjustment value to adjust the driving force of the data driver, thus causing an increase in the size of the device. In addition, a unit specific to a disconnection process of the fuse element is required to be provided, thus causing an increase in manufacturing cost.

Semiconductor device and semiconductor memory device


A wind turbine blade includes a multilayer composite structure including a first reflective layer, and a second layer including a plurality of resistive circuit analog (CA) elements. The CA elements are tuned so as to interact with the first layer to provide absorption of electromagnetic (EM) energy over a desired frequency range. The parameters of the CA elements can be varied to provide for frequency tuning and to maintain absorption at a specific frequency range despite varying layer separation, while at the same time ensuring that the mechanical properties of the CA layer are compatible with integration into the turbine blade.

This invention relates to wind turbines and wind turbine blades, and to the reduction in reflectivity of such turbine blades to electromagnetic radiation.
Renewable energy targets rely heavily on wind power, both onshore and offshore. However, a significant percentage of all planning applications for new wind farms are rejected on the grounds that they will interfere with civil airport radars. The use of radar absorbing materials (RAMs) for wind turbines has previously been proposed to reduce the effect on ATC (Air Traffic Control) radar and ADR (Air Defence Radar) by reducing the RCS (Radar Cross Section). Wind turbine blades are highly specified to meet stringent performance criteria however, and the introduction of RAM to the blades ideally results in little or no modification of the structural properties and/or weight of the blade. This presents a significant engineering challenge.
The present applicant has produced a report entitled "Design and manufacture of radar absorbing wind turbine blades—final report" as part of a DTI funded study. In this report the glass reinforced epoxy (GRE) and GRE/foam sandwich construction of certain turbine blades is noted, and it is suggested that a Jaumann type absorber could be used by including a resistive layer at a specific spacing from a perfect electrical conductor (PEC). The outermost GRE skin can be modified using a lossy impedance layer, and a reflector included on the inside surface of the sandwich construction. It is stated that impedance layers can be made from glass fibre tissues impregnated with a small amount of chopped carbon fibres. A carbon fibre cloth layer can act as the PEC, inserted into the rear of the GRP skin.
It is an object of the present invention to provide improved wind turbine blades and associated methods.


A contact charger for charging an image bearing member comprises a support member, a flexible film supported at a side end by the support member and having a free end adapted to contact the surface of the image bearing member, and power device for applying charging voltage to the flexible film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact charger for use in image forming apparatus such as electrophotographic copying machines and printers.
2. Related Art of the Invention
In electrophotographic copying machines, printers and like image forming apparatus, an electrostatic latent image bearing member such as a photosensitive drum is charged by a charger, and the charged area is exposed to light to form thereon an electrostatic latent image, which is then developed to a visible image and thereafter transferred and fixed to a copy sheet.
Various types of chargers are known which are divided generally into those of the noncontact type utilizing corona discharge, and those of the contact type wherein a brush, roller or drivingly revolvable endless belt is held in contact with the surface of the electrostatic latent image bearing member, or wherein a blade made of rigid body is pressed against one point on the surface of the image bearing member and voltage is applied to the blade.
The chargers of the noncontact type utilizing corona discharge have the advantage of effecting stabilized charging, but possess the problem of producing a large amount of ozone which deteriorates the image bearing member and exerts an adverse influence on the human body. Attention is therefore directed to the chargers of the contact type which are much smaller than the corona chargers in the amount of ozone produced.
Among the chargers of the contact type, however, those employing the brush have the problem that the production of the brush requires labor, while those wherein the roller or endless belt is used need means for driving the roller or belt, and are therefore correspondingly more complex in construction. Moreover, the roller remains in contact with the image bearing member even while the image forming apparatus is out of operation, is accordingly subjected to residual strain due to creep and consequently fails to effect proper charging. Furthermore, the charger having the endless belt has the problem of being large-sized in its entirety and necessitating a complex belt drive system. The charger having the blade encounters difficulty in setting the blade in position because the blade, which is a rigid body, is not smoothly in contact with the the surface of the image bearing member, and has the likelihood of defacing the image bearing member since the blade is held in contact with the image bearing member surface under high pressure. Because of the high pressure, the electrostatic latent image bearing member further needs a great torque for rotation.


A greenhouse having glass panels that is designed to capture and retain warmth in the colder months may be totally unsuitable for use in the warmer months as the conditions inside may be too hot. And conversely, for a structure designed to keep plants cooler during hot weather. This invention provides a building or structure that can easily be modified to provide improved growing conditions for plants in a range of seasons. This is made possible by a construction that facilitates easy removal and replacement of the major panels of the building, for example glass panels can quickly be replaced with shade panels when the seasons change from cold to hot. The top rails of the structure include a removal section providing access to remove both side wall panels and roofing panels.

Greenhouses typically comprise a framework structure that supports a large number of panels of glass, plastic or a screen material.
There is generally a requirement to let as much light pass through the structure as possible, and for this reason there is a desire to keep the size and quantity of any structure to a minimum.
If not well constructed, and particularly if the structure is slender and not well braced, and if the panels are not secured well, a greenhouse can be relatively flimsy, or it can tend to rattle or be buffeted by wind.
Greenhouses and other horticultural structures are generally designed to facilitate a particular range of growing conditions, or to at least provide a more consistent growing conditions, than are available outside. However, a greenhouse having glass panels that is designed to capture and retain warmth in the colder months may be totally unsuitable for use in the warmer months as the conditions inside may be too hot. And conversely, for a structure designed to keep plants cooler during hot weather.
The relatively fragile nature of many greenhouses limits their suitability for modification or adjustment once assembled.
In this specification unless the contrary is expressly stated, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge; or known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.


A performance of a compressor is enhanced and durability of scroll bodies is enhanced by optimizing relief to machining tolerance at a central end part of spiral members for forming the scroll bodies. In a scroll type compressor in which a reinforced portion (for example, a large radius of curvature R) reinforced more than in other root corner portions 5 is provided in a root corner portion 5 at a central end part in which a stress of the two spiral members 10 and 20 is increased, a first relief is formed in a region in which the two spiral members 10 and 20 come into contact with each other where the reinforced portion is applied only to one of the spiral members 10 and 20, and a second relief larger than the first relief is provided in a region in which the two spiral members come into contact with each other at a portion in which the radius of curvature R is provided in both of the two spiral members, thereby reasonably forming reliefs for avoiding interference at the point of contact of two spiral members.

The present invention relates to a scroll type compressor used in an automotive air-conditioner or the like, and more particularly to the shape of scroll body for the purpose of enhancing the performance of the compressor and durability of the scroll body.
As shown in FIG. 6, in general, a conventional scroll body for a scroll type compressor is composed of a stationary scroll body 1 and a movable scroll body 2. Both of the stationary scroll body 1 and the movable scroll body 2 are each composed of a substantially disc-shaped plate member (not shown) and a spiral member 10, 20 formed on one surface of the plate member. The stationary scroll body 1 and the movable scroll body 2 are combined with each other so that their spiral members 10 and 20 are engaged with each other. Then, when the movable scroll body 2 is moved in a circular orbital motion while coming into contact with the stationary scroll body 1 a pair of compression chambers 31 and 32 are formed between the two scroll bodies 1 and 2. Also, the compression chambers 31 and 32 move toward the center of the spiral members 10 and 20. In accordance with this movement, the volume of the compression chambers 31 and 32 is decreased so that any coolant gas therein is compressed.
It is possible to apply a variety of involutes as a curved line for defining the spiral members 10 and 20. However, an involute of a circle that is easy to handle is generally used. However, since a large amount of stress is applied to an initial winding part (i.e., the central end part of the spiral member), in order to increase the mechanical strength of this part, the wall thickness of the spiral members is increased and at the same time, this part is formed into a round shape to avoid sharp edges. For this reason, the point where the involute changes is determined at a suitable involute angular position. The outer end part side of the involute change point is formed into an involute curved line, and the central end part side of the involute change point is formed into another curved line.
Also, the scroll bodies 1 and 2 are generally made of a cast material such as aluminum alloy, and thereafter, finished by machining such as cutting. The inner wall and the outer wall of the spiral members 10 and 20 are conventionally end-milled. In order to further enhance the mechanical strength of the central end part of the conventional scroll bodies 1 and 2 that is subjected to particularly large stress, a cutting tool of an end mill which is different from the tool for the other portions is used for the central end part. As shown in FIG. 8, a radius of curvature R larger than other portions is formed at a root corner end part 5 where the wall surface meets the plate member so as to be more reinforced than other root corner end parts.
For this reason, the machining precision of the wall surface of the central end part is not as good as at the other parts of the scroll bodies. Accordingly, with respect to this central end part, the two spiral members interfere with each other due to machining tolerances, and there is a fear that excessive wear or contact force may occur. Therefore, a relief is formed in order to avoid this interference. For this relief, a cutaway portion 4 is also formed in the inner wall of the central end part as shown in FIG. 7.
FIG. 9 shows a state where the spiral member 20 of the second scroll body (for example, the movable scroll body) 2 is arranged at an interval corresponding to a radius of the revolution relative to the spiral member 10 of the first scroll body (for example, the stationary scroll body) 1.
In FIG. 9, an angular region A1 between a point a1 and a point b1 on the wall surface of the spiral member 10 and an angular region A2 between a point a2 and a point b2 on the wall surface of the spiral member 20 indicate the portions of the spiral members 10 and 20 in which stress is increased. A radius of curvature R larger than that of the other parts is applied to each root corner portion 5 (see FIG. 8) as described above.
In FIG. 9, points a21 and b21 at which normal lines L11 and L12 from the points a1 and b1 of the spiral member 10 intersect with the spiral member 20 are theoretically the points of the associated member with which the points a1 and b1, respectively, come into contact when the scroll bodies 1 and 2 are operated. In the same manner, points a11 and b11 at which normal lines L21 and L22 from the points a2 and b2 of the spiral member 20 intersect with the spiral member 10 are theoretically the points of the associated member with which the points a2 and b2, respectively, come into contact when the scroll bodies 1 and 2 are operated. Thus, in FIG. 9, when a normal line is drawn from any desired point of the inner wall of one of the spiral members, the point on the inner wall of the associated member at which the normal line intersects represents a point at which the two members contact with each other.
However, in the above-described angular regions A1 and A2, since the radius of curvature R larger than that for the other portion is applied to the root corner portion as described above, machining precision is reduced. Accordingly, in region D including the two regions A1 and A2, as indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 9 (or as shown in the perspective view of FIG. 7), the cutaway portion 4 to be used as the relief is provided on the inner wall of the spiral member 20 of the second scroll body 2. Here, in order to facilitate the understanding of the cutaway portion 4 in the drawings of FIG. 7 and FIG. 9, the size thereof is exaggerated.
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the spiral member 10 of the first scroll body 1 which has been cut away up to the dotted line in FIG. 9. The wall thickness of this part of the spiral member 20 is cut away up to the dotted line so that the wall is thinner than the theoretical shape. The machining tolerance based on reduced machining precision is dealt with by this cutaway portion 4.
In the above-described conventional compressor, the state of contact between the two spiral members 10 and 20 is categorized into three types, i.e., a region in which the portions having the radius of curvature R larger than that of the other portions, as the portion reinforced more than the other root corner portions, namely, the above-described portions in which machining precision are not good, appear in both the spiral members, a region in which the portions appear in one of the spiral members, and a region in which the portions do not appear in any of the spiral members. In FIG. 9, the region B is the region in which the portions that are machined with less precision having the radius of curvature R appear in both the spiral members. In this case, the machining tolerances of both spiral members 10 and 20 are combined to cause such portions with less precision. Also, the regions C1 and C2 are regions in which the portions that are machined with less precision having the radius of curvature R appear in either one of the spiral members 10 and 20. In this case, errors caused by the machining tolerances of one of the spiral members appear. However, the cutaway portion 4 serving as the relief is formed with a constant relief dimension in the region D including these regions B, C1 and C2. For this reason, in the regions C1 and C2 where only one of the machining tolerances appear, the relief action would be excessive, so that the gap between the two spiral members is large. As a result, the performance of the compressor would be degraded. Also, there is a tendency for the durability of the spiral members to become worse due to the extra cutaway portions.

Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho


The present invention provides for the detection of human heads, faces and eyes in real-time and in uncontrolled environments. The present invention may be implemented with commercially available components, such as a standard video camera and a frame grabber, on a personal computer (PC) platform. The approach used by the present invention is based on a probabilistic framework that uses a deformable template model to describe the human face. The present invention works both with simple head-and-shoulder video sequences, as well as with complex video scenes with multiple people and random motion. The present invention is able to locate the eyes from different head poses (rotations in image plane as well as in depth). The information provided by the location of the eyes may be used to extract faces from a frontal pose in a video sequence. The extracted frontal frames can be passed to recognition and classification systems (or the like) for further processing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to real-time video image analysis, and more specifically to the detection of human faces and eyes within real-time video images.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, the detection of human faces from video data has become a popular research topic. There are numerous commercial applications of face detection, such as in face recognition, verification, classification, identification as well as security access and multimedia. To extract the human face in an uncontrolled environment, most prior art techniques attempt to overcome the difficulty of dealing with issues such as variations in lighting, variations in pose, occlusion of people by other people, and cluttered or non-uniform backgrounds.
In one prior art face detection technique, an example-based learning approach for locating unoccluded human frontal faces is used. The approach measures a distance between the local image and a few view-based "face" and "non face" pattern prototypes at each image location to locate the face. In another technique, the distance to a "face space", defined by "eigenfaces", is used to locate and track frontal human faces. In yet another prior art technique, human faces are detected by searching for significant facial features at each location in the image. Finally, in other techniques, a deformable template based approach is used to detect faces and to extract facial features.
In addition to the detection of faces within video image sequences, prior art systems have attempted to detect eyes on human heads. For example, Challepa et al., "Human and Machine Recognition of Faces: A Survey", Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 83, no. 5, pp. 705-740, May 1995, described a process for detecting eyes on a human head, where the video image includes a front view of the head. For frontal views, eye detection that is based on geometrical measures has been extensively studied, by, for example, Stringa, "Eyes Detection for Face Recognition", Applied Artificial Intelligence, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 365-382, October-December 1993 and Brunelli et al., "Face Recognition: Features versus Templates", IEEE Transaction on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, October 1993. Additionally, Yuilee et al., "Feature Extraction from Faces Using Deformable Templates", International Journal of Computer Vision, vol. 8, pp. 299-311, 1992, describe a deformable template-based approach to facial feature detection. However, these methods may lead to significant problems in the analysis of profile or back views. Moreover, the underlying assumption of dealing only with frontal faces is simply not valid for real-world applications.
There is therefore a significant need in the art for a system that can quickly, reliably and flexibly detect the existence of a face or faces within a video image, and that can also extract various features of each face, such as eyes.

System and method for detecting a human face in uncontrolled environments


The gaps which develop at times in a file of cigarette packs moving from a packing machine to a processing machine are filled by spare packs stacked in an upright magazine which is adjacent to the conveyor for the file of packs. The lowermost pack of the stack is transferred into an oncoming gap by a pusher which moves the lowermost pack in as well as transversely of the direction of movement of packs in the file. The last stage of transfer includes gravitational descent of the spare pack into the corresponding gap.

The present invention relates to apparatus for manipulating substantially block-shaped commodities, such as cigarette packs or packs containing other smokers' products. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus for filling gaps which develop at times in a continuous file or stream of commodities (hereinafter referred to as cigarette packs or packs) which are transported between a supplying machine and a processing or consuming machine.
Cigarette packs which are formed in a packing machine (e.g., in a machine of the type known as COMPASS produced by Hauni-Werke Korber & Co. KG., Hamburg, Federal Republic Germany) are transported to one or more further processing machines, for example, to a machine which applies revenue labels across the narrow front side faces of successive packs. As a rule, cigarette packs which issue from the packing machine form a single file of equally spaced or abutting packs which move lengthwise or sideways on toward the labelling station. For example, such single file or stream of cigarette packs can be transported by the horizontal upper reaches of two parallel belts defining a straight path along which the packs move sideways toward the labelling machine. In many instances, the file of packs exhibits gaps which develop as a result of removal of certain packs, e.g., because defective packs are expelled from the file before or immediately after they reach the aforementioned conveyor. The resulting gaps must be filled by admission of spare packs because many processing machines can operate properly only if they receive an uninterrupted stream or file of contiguous or equally spaced cigarette packs. Thus, many labelling machines will operate properly only if a row consisting of a predetermined number of packs is piled up immediately upstream of the labelling station.
The situation is analogous when a file of cigarette packs is fed to a carton filling machine which accumulates the oncoming packs into stacks and introduces one or more stacks into discrete containers, e.g., cartons consisting of cardboard or the like. The presence of a gap in the file of cigarette packs approaching the carton filling machine can result in accumulation of stacks containing less than the necessary number of packs so that the corresponding cartons must be ejected and their contents removed prior to reintroduction into the carton filling machine.
Gaps in a file of cigarette packs are also likely to develop at stations where successive packs of a series are transferred from a preceding conveyor onto the next-following conveyor. Therefore, the path along which the file of packs advances is monitored by photocells, mechanical sensors or other suitable detectors which transmit signals on detection of a gap, and such signals are used to effect the introduction of a spare pack into each gap ahead of the next-following (processing or consuming) machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,040,862 discloses an apparatus wherein a magazine for spare packs is adjacent to the conveyor for a single file of cigarette packs. A slide is employed to push a spare pack from the magazine onto the conveyor so that the spare pack expels a defective pack. The slide is movable at right angles to the direction of movement of the file of packs. In another embodiment, a defective pack is left on a platform and is expelled from the platform by the next-following satisfactory pack.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,350 discloses an intermittently operated conveyor for stepwise transport of packs from a supplying station, past several intermediate stations, and on to a receiving station. Vertical magazines above the intermediate stations serve for temporary storage of surplus packs or for delivery of packs to the conveyor. The packs which enter the supplying station are delivered to the conveyor by a first reciprocating pusher, and the packs leaving the receiving station are removed from the conveyor by a second reciprocating pusher.
A drawback which is common to both patented apparatus is that the pushers must perform relatively long strokes. The same applies for the transfer of packs from the magazine or magazines onto the conveyor or vice versa. Therefore, the output of such apparatus is relatively low. Furthermore, the patented apparatus are quite complex and expensive. The stations where spare packs enter the conveyor constitute bottlenecks and, therefore, such apparatus are not suited for transport of continuous files or streams of packs between a high-speed producing machine and a consuming machine whose output is sufficiently high to enable the consuming machine to accept all packs which issue from a modern packer or the like. In fact, the speed of modern cigarette packing machines and of machines which process packs issuing from packing machines is on the increase so that there exists an urgent need for apparatus which can adequately link such machines and insure the transport of a continuous file of equally spaced or contiguous packs.

Apparatus for inserting packs into the gaps of a moving file of cigarette packs or the like


A hydrogen generator system and a fuel cell system including the hydrogen generator system are disclosed. The hydrogen generator system includes a replaceable cartridge that is removably contained within the system, and an external pump disposed outside the cartridge housing and configured to pump a fluid. The cartridge includes a cartridge housing, a liquid reservoir disposed within the cartridge housing and configured to contain a liquid including a reactant, a reaction area disposed within the cartridge housing and within which the reactant reacts to produce hydrogen gas, a liquid flow path disposed within the cartridge housing and through which the reactant liquid can flow from the liquid reservoir to the reaction area, and an internal pump disposed within the cartridge housing that can be operated by the external pump and is configured to transport the reactant liquid through the liquid flow path.

Interest in fuel cell batteries as power sources for portable electronic devices has grown. A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that uses materials from outside the cell as the active materials for the positive and negative electrode. Because a fuel cell does not have to contain all of the active materials used to generate electricity, the fuel cell can be made with a small volume relative to the amount of electrical energy produced compared to other types of batteries.
Fuel cells can be categorized according to the types of materials used in the positive electrode (cathode) and negative electrode (anode) reactions. One category of fuel cell is a hydrogen fuel cell using hydrogen as the negative electrode active material and oxygen as the positive electrode active material. When such a fuel cell is discharged, hydrogen is oxidized at the negative electrode to produce hydrogen ions and electrons. The hydrogen ions pass through an electrically nonconductive, ion permeable separator and the electrons pass through an external circuit to the positive electrode, where oxygen is reduced.
In some types of hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen is formed from a fuel supplied to the positive electrode side of the fuel cell, and hydrogen is produced from the supplied fuel. In other types of hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen gas is supplied to the fuel cell from a source outside the fuel cell. A fuel cell system can include a fuel cell battery, including one or more fuel cells, and a hydrogen source, such as a fuel tank, a hydrogen tank or a hydrogen generator. In some fuel cell systems, the hydrogen source can be replaced after the hydrogen is depleted. Replaceable hydrogen sources can be rechargeable or disposable.
A hydrogen generator uses one or more reactants containing hydrogen that can react to produce hydrogen gas. The reaction can be initiated in various ways, such as hydrolysis and thermolysis. For example, two reactants can produce hydrogen and byproducts. An accelerator and/or a catalyst can be used to increase the rate of reaction or catalyze the reaction. When the reactants react, reaction products including hydrogen gas and byproducts are produced.
Various liquids can be used in hydrogen generators. For example, the liquid can include water that can react with another reactant, or the liquid can include water as one reactant and another reactant dissolved in the water, and the water and the other reactant can react under certain conditions (e.g., when the liquid contacts a catalyst, when the liquid is heated and/or when the pH of the liquid is changed) to produce hydrogen gas.
In one type of hydrogen generator at least one reactant is stored in a reservoir as a liquid, and the liquid is transferred from the reservoir to a reaction chamber, where the liquid or a reactant in the liquid reacts to produce the desired gas. Various means have been used to transfer liquids, including pumps. Pumps can also be used to control the rate of hydrogen gas generation by controlling the rate at which the liquid is transferred.
A hydrogen generator can be part of a system that is at least partially replaceable, so depleted reactants can be easily and economically replaced with fresh reactants. Since hydrogen generating systems can include components that do not have to be replaced at the same time as depleted reactants, it can be advantageous for the hydrogen generator system to include both replaceable components and non-replaceable (i.e., reusable) components. This is especially true when relatively expensive components can be reused.
It is desirable to provide a hydrogen generator system capable of supplying hydrogen gas, particularly to a fuel cell system. It is desirable to provide a hydrogen generator system in which depleted reactants can be easily and economically replaced and in which the number of components that can be reused is maximized. It is further desirable that the hydrogen generator system have excellent reliability, safety, and a simple design that is easily manufactured at a low cost. It is desirable that the hydrogen generator system be highly resistant to leaks, particularly leaks of harmful or corrosive liquids, and highly resistant to malfunctioning due to accumulation of solids in lines, valves and so on.

Hydrogen generator system with liquid interface


A gate array is provided which includes a semiconductor substrate having a main surface. The main surface includes a cell region and a channel region adjacent to the cell region. A cell column including a plurality of basic cells arranged regularly is provided in the cell region. A first interconnecting line is provided in the channel region for connecting the basic cells. In accordance with the gate array, as the first interconnecting line is formed in the channel region in advance for connecting the basic cells, it is not necessary to form a first interconnecting line when manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit device. Accordingly, the time period for development of a semiconductor integrated circuit device can be reduced as compared with a case where conventional basic cells are used.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to gate arrays and, more particularly, the present invention relates to gate arrays which are improved so that a time period required for development of a semiconductor integrated circuit device can be shortened. The present invention further relates to a manufacturing method of a semiconductor integrated circuit device using such a gate array.
2. Description of the Background Art
A gate array is a chip on which circuit elements (basic cells) such as transistors for constituting a logic gate are regularly arranged. Gate arrays are manufactured and stocked in advance. A manufactured and stocked gate array is called a "master slice". A gate array is provided with an interconnection pattern designed for each customer's circuit to be finished as an LSI at the end. Designing of the interconnection pattern (a customized design) is usually carried out according to a procedure as shown in FIG. 1, using an automatic layout design. An interconnection pattern of a basic circuit such as each kind of logic gate, a flip-flop and so on is designed (referred to as a microcell) and registered in a library in advance and then automatically laid out and interconnected.
Examples of lay-out forms of a master slice of a gate array are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. An island array shown in FIG. 2 is often found in a bipolar gate array. A continuous column array shown in FIG. 3 is often used for a CMOS gate array.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, a plurality of basic cells 1 are arranged regularly in a chip T. Basic cells 1 are connected to each other by an interconnection process after a contacting process according to a circuit to be constructed, thereby forming a semiconductor integrated circuit device.
In these figures, a region where there is no basic cell 1 is called a "channel region" 2 where interconnecting lines are formed for connecting basic cells 1. Peripheral cells 3 are provided in the periphery of chip T.
The semiconductor integrated circuit device is formed by providing a first interconnecting line in the channel region 2, then forming an interlayer insulating film over the first interconnecting line, and further providing a second interconnecting line over the interlayer insulating film.
The use of a gate array in forming a semiconductor integrated circuit is intended for reducing the time period of its development. There has been an increasing need for a further reduction in this time period in recent years.
In order to meet such a need, an improved gate array has been developed for connecting basic cells by a single interconnection layer instead of two interconnection layers. A single interconnection layer reduces necessary masking processes, which makes it possible to shorten the period for the development.
However, such a gate array has a difficulty that a chip area is increased due to a decrease in the interconnecting efficiency, which results in an increased cost. Accordingly, although a gate array having a single interconnection layer can be used for testing the operation, it is not suitable for practical manufacture.

Gate array and manufacturing method of semiconductor memory device using the same


A multiple exposure camera performing a plurality of exposures in one photographing operation has a diaphragm, a shutter and a controller. The diaphragm controls an amount of light passing through a taking optical system to reach a light receiving medium. The shutter controls an exposure time of the light receiving medium. The controller controls a degree of blur of a subject image formed on the light receiving medium by controlling an exposure operation at a predetermined aperture value and a predetermined shutter speed in each of the plurality of times of exposures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present Invention relates to a multiple exposure camera, and more specifically, to a multiple exposure camera performing a plurality of times of exposures on the same film surface in one release operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional photographing, out-of-focus images become blurred. This is undesirable because the edge of the blurred image is enhanced, for example, in the case of a monotonous subject such as a light source. When the degree of blur is substantially uniform in the entire blurred image, a natural and beautiful blurred image is obtained. Means for obtaining such ideal pictures or improving the appearance of pictures include one that uses a so-called apodization effect in which the quantity of the light emanating from the subject and passing through a peripheral portion of the lens is made smaller than that of the light passing through the central portion. This has already been commercialized as a camera.
An arrangement has been disclosed for obtaining pictures where two subjects are in focus by setting a shutter speed, an aperture value, a focal length and in-focus lens driving for a first subject, setting a shutter speed, an aperture value, a focal length and in-focus lens driving for a second subject at a longer distance than the first subject, and performing multiple exposure as described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. H4-215633.
Moreover, the present applicant has disclosed an arrangement in which for a first subject and a second subject at different distances in the photographic image plane, an aperture value where at least one of the subjects is situated outside the depth of field and an aperture value where both are situated within the depth of field are decided and multiple exposure is performed at each of the aperture values as described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. H6-160933.
However, in the conventional product using the apodization effect, the aperture diameter of the diaphragm varies at a constant speed, so that it is impossible to arbitrarily set the apodization effect. Moreover, in the arrangement as described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. H4-215633, an object thereof is to obtain pictures in which subjects at different distances are in focus, which is different from the object of the present invention, i.e. to obtain natural and beautiful blurred images. Moreover, the arrangement as described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. H6-160933 merely provides pictures in which a single blurred image is superimposed outside an in-focus image.


A structural module has a cast concrete portion and a girder. The concrete portion has a reinforced deck with a reinforced load bearing a diaphragm at opposite ends. The girder extends between the diaphragms and protrudes into each diaphragm without structural connection thereto while being shear and tension coupled to the deck such that forces induced in the girder are transferred to the diaphragms via the coupling between the girder and the deck.

It is well appreciated that one of the major problems facing road authorities and local councils is the maintenance and replacement of a large population of aging timber bridges. One of the reasons for such a large number of timber structures lies in the fact that Australia, for example, was blessed with vast supplies of durable and strong hardwood timber. However, a point has been reached in Australia and elsewhere, where large sawn timber is not available in sufficient quanties to continue to economically maintain these structures in the traditional manner. It is well known that the supply of large diameter logs is quickly diminishing as old growth forests disappear. Consequently the cost of timber has risen sharply. Over the past ten years, the cost of good quality large sawn hardwood timber has risen by about a factor of four.
From an environmental point of view, alternative methods and materials are needed to replace aging timbers or reduce the need for such timbers.
Because timber is dimensionally unstable (that is as the moisture content varies it swells or shrinks by as much as ten percent perpendicular to the grain) and is also biologically unstable if exposed to the elements, it has to date been considered as a temporary material in outdoor construction. Thus timber structures have been repaired in the traditional manner which involves replacing members as they degrade.
Also, because natural round timber is irregular in its natural form, it is sawn to produce a more uniform product. Up to sixty percent of the timber is lost at the mill and a material of inferior strength is produced because some load carrying fibres are severed and knots are exposed.
The invention, in one application, replaces large sawn timber with reinforced concrete and combines this in the preferred embodiment with natural round timber which is in reasonable supply and can be obtained from plantations and regrowth forests.

Module combined girder and deck construction


An earth quake resistant structure having a superstructure and at least one load distributing base supporting said superstructure, the connections between said structure and the earth being essentially a support means and a connecting means, said support means transferring to the ground the load of the structure in a first direction from said load distributing base, said support means providing elastic resistance to movement of the structure in all directions perpendicular to said first direction so that said support means is able to follow dynamic movements of the ground in said perpendicular directions without transferring great forces from the ground to said base in said perpendicular directions, said structure being provided with peripheral clearance from the ground in said perpendicular direction so that said base can move a predetermined distance through said clearance relative to the ground in said perpendicular direction.

The destruction caused by earthquakes mainly arises from the horizontal components of the oscillation of the earth. These components impose very large shear forces on constructions. When those forces exceed the strength of one structural member, this member is damaged.
In my previous patent application, I described a system for isolating a construction from the earth when horizontal seismic forces exceed a predetermined value. The system includes a base, usually of reinforced concrete, supports which carry the weight or load of the construction and impose elastic forces on the construction which react against horizontal movement, and connecting means which prevent horizontal movement of the construction under normal circumstances, for example, when the building is subjected to forces from winds.
In the specific embodiment described in my previous application, the connecting means is comprised of elongated bars, which are attached to the base and to the ground. The bars are primarily of large diameter but have a short segment of small diameter. The bars are attached in such a way that they are in tension at all times. If the structure is subjected to great horizontal forces, the tensile strength of the short segment is exceeded and it breaks. This releases the construction so that it may oscillate freely, under the influence of the elastic forces described above, somewhat like a giant pendulum.
The means for attaching the bars described in my previous application is comprised of a post which extends upwardly through an opening in the base and anchorages which attach the bars to the base and to the post. Once the bars break, the base can move relative to the post, within the limitations imposed by the size of the opening in the base through which the post projects.
In certain locations, the anticipated oscillations of the base are very great and therefore the opening must be quite large. However, in certain constructions, such large openings cannot be accepted. For example, in a concrete bridge, a large opening in the deck might be needed which would not be acceptable for reasons of economy, because vehicles travel over the deck and therefore the bridging of the openings is very expensive. Also it would be necessary to overcome great practical design difficulties even if the bars are arranged under the deck.


A self-adjusting storage rack for holding vertically stationery, envelopes, letters, file folders, cards, photos, magazines and similar flat surface articles. The device comprises of two upright ends mounted on a base of two flat telescopic rods; a third central telescopic rod acts as a guide for a elastic, expandable and continuous multi-coil; each end coil is attached to an upright end so that one upright may be manually pulled out, extending the length of the rack to the full length permitted by the telescopic rods or any length in between. The elastic coil between the two uprights adjust itself accordingly.

(a) Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a self-adjusting storage rack for holding in position stationery, envelopes, letters, file folders, cards, photos, magazines and similar flat articles.
(b) Description of Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,415 describes an adjustable rack without any separate supports between the articles so that the articles are placed together. U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,022 describes a rack that's not extendable and is of a fixed size; and within the limits of said rack, the vertical supports are not self-adjusting. The lower support rod for mail or similar articles requires a hole to be punched through the article, large enough to slide the article on a rod. Said rod must be pulled out on one side to slide punctured mail, etc. onto it.
My invention accepts all previously mentioned articles between the self-adjusting elastic supports, either individually or collectively. Such articles are easily inserted and removed. The rack itself may be manually lengthened to twice its size or any convenient size between the end-plates and the elastic supports self-adjust to the new length.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,750,576 has a rack which is adjustable and has rigid upright supports which must be placed in slots between the end-plates, such supports are obviously not self-adjusting and, not being flexible, maintain a fixed position so space between vertical supports does not conform to the size of article inserted or removed.
All storage racks have rigid vertical or horizontal supports in which articles filed are placed together or, if filed separately, leaves too much wasted space between the fixed vertical supports. Where articles are filed within the same vertical uprights, it is not easy to see or select one article without removing the others. This also holds true when files are placed horizontally one on top of the other in filing racks.
Present adjustable racks do not have flexible, multiple self adjusting vertical uprights for individually filing the previously mentioned articles nor do the retaining uprights automatically adjust for individual files when the end-plates are extended to lengthen the rack.
Most storage racks or desk top organizers appear bulky and even when not in use require the same amount of desk space whereas my device is small and compact in comparison and yet can hold numerous articles, providing easy accessibility with immediate insertion and removal of individual items.
In order to provide background information so that the invention may be completely understood and appreciated in its proper context, reference is made to a number of prior art patents and publications as follows;
______________________________________ U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS ______________________________________ 1682060 8/1928 Banks 211/43 1739545 12/1929 Cubberley 211/51X 1750576 3/1930 Cubberley 211/43X 1772438 8/1930 Cubberley 211/11 3425565 2/1969 Sprenger 211/43 3844415 10/1974 Heimann 211/43 3850303 11/1974 Franklin 211/43 4801022 1/1989 Colby 211/11 5121681 6/1992 Chang 211/42 ______________________________________


A conveyor of the articulated chain type for transporting products, includes a mounting frame for elements for supporting and guiding a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt includes a plurality of links forming elements for supporting the product and articulated connected to each other, each link having a first and a second plurality of longitudinal protrusions which extend in opposite longitudinal directions and which are transversally spaced from each other so as to form respective spaces for receiving the longitudinal protrusions of an adjacent link. The link includes a perpendicular protuberance forming elements for engaging and sliding against a transversal centering surface of guide elements in a curved stretch of the belt and a transversal protuberance extending laterally of the link and forming elements for engagement and sliding relative to a perpendicular longitudinal retaining surface of the guide elements, retaining elements for keeping a connecting pin inserted between adjacent links.

Conveyors of the articulated chain type for transporting products are known which comprise a mounting frame for supporting means which support and guide a conveyor belt which in turn comprises a plurality of plastic links constituting means for supporting the product and connected to each other in articulated fashion, each link having respective pluralities of longitudinal protrusions which extend in opposite longitudinal directions and which are transversally spaced from each other in such a way as to form respective spaces for receiving the longitudinal protrusions of an adjacent link.
More specifically, conveyors of the articulated chain type are known which are used for transporting products or objects along a respective path having straight stretches and curved stretches and which comprise a plurality of plastic links that are articulated to each other through respective pins inserted in transversal holes made in the longitudinal protrusions of the belt links.
For holding each connecting and articulation pin within the respectiver oblong hole in the belt link once the pin has been inserted to join respective links with each other, several solutions have been proposed.
One prior art solution contemplates the provision of a block separate from the plastic link to be associated, upon assembly, with a longitudinal protrusion lateral of the link in such a way as to close a hole at the end of the link through which the pin passes. A system of this kind for locking the articulation pin in the inserted condition is disadvantageous because it involves making separate parts and applying them to the link, which means complex and time-consuming assembly operations. Furthermore, once the separate blocks have been applied to the link, subsequent use leads to wear which may cause them to break and come apart from the link, allowing the articulation pin to slip out, with all the obvious problems that this evidently produces.
In another solution, a hole is made in one side of the link to allow the articulation pin to be inserted. The hole is, however, totally offset relative to the zone where the pin is inserted into the oblong holes in the longitudinal protrusions of the link. Inserting the pin thus means forcing the pin along a curved path so it goes into the lateral hole and from there into the oblong holes in the longitudinal protrusions which are in an offset position relative to the lateral hole. This task is complex and awkward and it is easy to break the link and/or the pin while it is being done.
Another common problem with conveyors of the articulated chain type is that the links, made of plastic, tend to break, especially at the lateral edges of the link which slide against the inside of the guide of the curved stretches of the belt. In effect, in the curved stretches, this sliding movement causes the link to scrape the inside guide surface, causing wear and subjecting the link to considerable stresses which lead not only to breakages but also to excessive vibrations and noise.
As means of centring and perpendicular retention, other prior art conveyor solutions contemplate the provision of perpendicular tabs terminating with transversal tabs suitable for gripping corresponding longitudinal guide profiles on the side opposite to the body of the link. In practice, these prior art conveyors use these L-shaped tabs as means of perpendicular retention and transversal centring for gripping respective first and second guide profiles at the bottom of the belt. With these conveyors, however, the result is excessive friction due to the multiplicity of the points of contact between the L-shaped tabs on the underside of the link and the corresponding guide profiles, which, in this case too, leads to excessive vibrations and noise.
Also known are conveyors which have transversally extending portions designed to be inserted into lateral dovetail guides in the form of transversal portions applied to the link bodies. The risk in this case is that stresses generated during conveyor operation tends to cause these applied portions to come out of the guides.
A yet further drawback of the prior art conveyors is due to the awkward and time-consuming process required to assemble current configurations of the guide means.


The disclosed method relates generally to the creation of books or documents and, more particularly, to a process for rapidly generating personalized books while a purchaser waits. In carrying out the method of the present invention, a series of steps is performed that includes loading a program having a predetermined story stored therein into a computer, entering personalized data into the computer to create a personalized story therefrom, feeding into a printing device a set of sheets having a first and second side, printing the personalized story on one of the sides of the sheets, separating the sheets transversely into pages, assembling the pages in a predetermined order and the fastening the assembled pages to a book jacket to form a personalized book. The sheets used in the disclosed method are preferably standard size, coated paper and have a partially preprinted design or illustration that partially covers the top side of each sheet, leaving blank areas for the story text, and fully covers the bottom side of the sheets.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the creation, printing and assembling of books or documents. More particularly, it relates to the rapid generation or printing of personalized books, while a purchaser waits.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, there exist methods for creating personalized books that incorporate into a pre-prepared general story various items of personal information, usually having to do with the purchaser and/or the intended recipient of the book, such as their names, the names of related parties, residence or geographic information, as well as other personalized information.
In particular, two methods for producing such personalized books have become known and are practiced in the industry. Each of the two methods utilizes non-standard page sizes. That is, the pages used to form the personalized book are neither letter size, 81/2.times.11 inches, legal size, 81/2.times.14 inches, or DIN A4 size, 21.0.times.29.7 cm. paper as is regularly handled by most commercially available printers. This makes the production of books by these methods difficult, time-consuming and expensive because individual sheets are required to be hand fed, in a labor-intensive operation, through a printer. In lieu of this hand-feeding operation, a specialized printer is required to be used. In both cases, the process is expensive, either because of either the increased cost of special hardware or the increased cost of prolonged manual effort.
The first known method for producing personalized books uses non-standard size coated paper for all its pages. This method requires double printing, i.e., the printing of both text and pictures on both sides of each book sheet that is fed through the printer. Each of the non-standard size coated pages, preprinted with the book's illustrations, must be hand fed through a printing device not once, but twice, so that the printed text of the story is placed on both sides of each page, in addition to the preprinted illustrations. This creates a further disadvantage because the first pass through the printing device renders a sheet hot and somewhat damp and warped, making the required second pass through the printing device difficult. Obtaining a perfect or near-perfect sheet when such a second pass is necessary is extremely difficult and can frequently result in wasted pages and increased time and effort to produce a completed personalized book.
In the second method for generating personalized books, again using irregular size paper, the disadvantage of the two-pass method is overcome to some extent. In this second method, although text must be printed on both sides of a sheet, text and only text, without any illustrations at all, is printed only on less expensive, less fragile, non-coated paper. This rougher, plainer paper with the text printed on front and back is then interleaved with sheets of glossier, coated type paper containing only preprinted illustrations for the book. This improves somewhat the results obtained by using the two-pass text printing operation of the first method, but causes the resulting book to contain pages of vastly different textures. The interleaving of the rough, less expensive paper with the preferred, coated paper makes the final book less attractive and, therefore, less desirable.
The method of the present invention overcomes the aforementioned and other disadvantages and provides a method that is faster, more cost effective and highly desirable to purchasers. The method of the present invention solves the two-pass problem altogether by using only the glossy or coated type of paper for all pages of the book and printing text only on a single side of each sheet. This method requires, therefore, that each sheet only be fed through the printing device to affix text one time, eliminating the problems caused when a second pass is required. Requiring printing only on one side of each sheet of book pages allows coated paper, with or without illustrations, to be used throughout the book.
The resulting personalized books produced by the method of the present invention are more attractive because they contain only coated, high-quality pages, giving the book an even texture throughout. Further, because the method of the present invention utilizes standard size paper, i.e., letter, legal and A4 sizes, high-quality personalized books can be produced without the time-consuming and expensive processing of nonstandard size paper or the inevitable warping inherent in other known methods. The use of standard size pages obviates the need for manual feeding of pages into the printing device as well as the need to purchase expensive, specialized hardware or a printing device equipped with an adjustable page feeder to handle odd-size paper. Furthermore, unlike other known systems, the present invention is very flexible and can handle virtually any printer configuration; known systems are very limited as to the printers that can be utilized. All of the aforementioned features of the present invention, coupled with the use of specially marked, correlated book sheets, jackets and programs, allows personalized books of high quality to be generated in accordance with the method of the present invention within minutes, a fraction of the time required using existing methods, while a purchaser waits.

Method for rapidly generating personalized books while a purchaser waits

c/o Best Personalized Plaza, 4350 Sigma Dr.


A rack for supporting a plurality of product-carrying cards in wasted space beneath a shelf including first and second horizontal spaced beams includes a horizontal first cross member having a first end portion resting on a recessed shoulder of the first beam and a second end portion resting on a recessed shoulder of the second beam. A horizontal second cross member generally parallel to and spaced from the second cross member has a first end portion resting on the shoulder of the first beam and a second end portion resting on the shoulder of the second beam. A plurality of card support prongs extend through holes in the product-carrying cards. The first and second cross members carry a prong support assembly to which the prongs are attached below the level of lower surfaces of the first and second beams.

The present invention relates to a store fixture system designed to display and/or store card-mounted goods in space beneath shelves or racks that otherwise would be wasted.
In some stores, especially in "warehousing" types of retail stores, a great deal of the merchandise stock is stored on racks having horizontal shelf support beams such as 12A and 12B in FIG. 1. Each of the beams 12A and 12B have recessed shoulders such as 13A and 13B, respectively. Pallets or the like, indicated by dotted line 14, carrying large items of merchandise or large boxes of merchandise often are stored on the upper surfaces of shelf support beams, such as 12A and 12B. Additional shelf support beams (not shown) are arranged above and below the ones shown in FIG. 1. Thus, a pair of similar shelf support beams carrys merchandise, the top portion of which is generally indicated by numeral 19. below beams 12A and 12B. The space 29 between the bottom of beams 12A and 12B and the top of merchandise 19 supported by the lower tier of shelf beams such as 12A and 12B is usually wasted. The wasted space 29 offers is a foot or two in height. Of course, wasted space in a commercial building often represents loss of a profit opportunity, especially if an inexpensive way can be found of effectively using the wasted space.

Merchandise rack for supporting product display cards beneath horizontal store shelf supports


An end closure assembly for a dispensing container and the method of assembly. A cover mounted on the container includes a central opening and a radially spaced dispensing passageway. A rotor overlies the cover and is rotatable about a central, generally columnar, hub positioned within a central orifice of the rotor such that a dispensing passageway through the rotor can be rotated into and out of registry with the cover dispensing passageway to thereby open and close the container. The hub includes an annular, radially outward extending flange which overlies the rotor and holds the rotor against the cover. An annular gripping lip integral with the cover permits downward insertion of the hub into the cover orifice during assembly yet inhibits removal of the hub after assembly. If the assembly is tampered with by attempting to remove the hub from the cover orifice or by removing the rotor from beneath the hub flange, it will be difficult to replace the rotor or hub without the assembly showing evidence of the tampering. An efficient method of assembling the end closure includes forming the rotor and hub as a one piece article of manufacture connected by bridging material which breaks and separates the rotor and hub during assembly. The method is not only more economical but also allows a design formed into the rotor and hub to be in proper alignment immediately after assembly.

The invention relates to end closure assemblies for a dispensing container of the type having a cover on the container including a cover dispensing passageway therethrough and an overlying rotor which is rotatable with respect to the cover. The rotor includes at least one rotor dispensing passageway therethrough which, when the rotor is selectively rotated, may be brought into registry with the cover dispensing passageway to permit access to the contents of the container, or out of registry to close the container. Such end closure assemblies are commonly used on canister type containers for dispensing powdered or granular food products such as grated cheese, powdered coffee creamer, spices and other condiments. One such prior art end closure is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,979.
In recent years, it has become more important to container manufacturers to provide containers, and especially container closures, which are safe, more tamper resistant, and help shopkeepers and consumers determine if the container has been tampered with to alert them to the possibility that the contents may have been adulterated.
One such tamper resistant end closure assembly is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,541. This patent shows the utilization of frangible plastic points molded into the rotor which are designed to break in the event of tampering. However, some drawbacks exist with this scheme. In the event one is able to remove the top rotor without breaking the frangible areas, the container contents are freely accessible and the rotor can easily be snapped back onto the cover plate without any evidence that the container had been tampered with. Further, if a logo or other design is to be molded into the top of the rotor it could interfere with the proper operation of the frangible areas.
Another tamper resistant end closure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,374. This scheme provides for a hollow stem hub which is inserted into a hole in the cover and thereafter a plug in driven into and bonded with the stem. This assembly is difficult and relatively expensive to accomplish on a fast moving assembly line and also suffers from the same draw back mentioned above in that if the rotor is successfully removed, access to the contents is gained and the rotor could then be snapped back onto the cover.


A locking mechanism for a portable tripod of a Q-Pad comprises a casing assembly jointly assembled by a lower casing and an upper casing. At least three legs are rotatable attached to the casing assembly. The casing assembly further includes a retaining cutout. A supporting body defines a supporting surface for supporting a camera is pivoted at the cutout of the casing assembly. The casing assembly further includes a locking mechanism wherein the supporting body can be held a desired angle with respect to the casing assembly when the locking mechanism is held in the locked position. The supporting body can be released when the locking mechanism is held in the released position.

The present invention relates to a supporting mechanism, more particularly, to a locking mechanism for a portable tripod of a Q-Pad. The locking mechanism facilitates an easy adjustment of the leg of the tripod to any inclined angle.
The inconvenience of the conventional tripods for supporting cameras is the bulk size. On the other hand, when the legs of the tripod are retracted, they have a preset length which is not suitable for storage. When the user wants to take a photo for a special scenery, not only the camera shall be carried heavily, but also shall the tripod be carried as well. On the other hand, the conventional tripod is heavy and with a considerably large size. It really becomes a burden for the photographer. In light of this, there is still a room for improvement on the tripod for a camera.

Locking mechanism for a portable tripod of a Q-pad


An apparatus for electrically stimulating a smart material includes a controllable power source for charging the smart material and/or switching circuitry for discharging the smart material. The controllable power source includes a regulated DC to DC converter having controllable drive circuitry associated therewith. The drive circuitry can be self-oscillating through associated feedback means. The switching circuitry can be responsive to one or more control signals.

Actuator technologies are being developed for a wide range of applications. One example includes a mechanically-leveraged smart material actuator that changes shape in response to electrical stimulus. Since this shape change is generally effectuated predominantly along a single axis, such actuators can be used to perform work on associated mechanical systems including a lever in combination with some main support structure. Changes in axial displacement are magnified by the lever to create an actuator with a useful amount of displacement and force. This displacement and force is useful for general-purpose industrial valves, beverage dispensers, compressors or pumps, brakes, door locks, electric relays, circuit breakers, and most applications employing a solenoid-type actuator. Smart materials, however, piezoelectric specifically, can require hundreds of volts to actuate and cause displacement. This type of voltage may not be readily available and may have to be derived from a lower voltage as one would find with a battery.
Another characteristic of piezoelectric materials is that the materials are capacitive in nature. Moreover, a single actuator is often controlled using two separate signals: a main supply and a ground using watts of energy during the moment of actuation.

Apparatus and method for charging and discharging a capacitor


A multi-sided display device assembleable from a plurality of sheets bound in book-like fashion by a binding allowing free movement of the sheets. Each sheet is cut-out to define a display flap which is selectively displaceable away from the uncut bound portion. The cut-out portions are adapted to form a self-locking coupling with an adjacent sheet to form a three dimensional device with a substantially regular polygon formed on a plane perpendicular to the sheets. The invention allows fabrication of the device from a flexible material.

This invention relates generally to an improved display device, and in particular to an improved multi-sided display device formed from a plurality of sheets bound in book-like fashion which is readily assembleable and easily suspended.
Three-dimensional displays of various shapes and forms are well-known in the art. However, multi-sided displays of more than two sides for carrying display messages are generally difficult to construct and assemble. These devices are often bulky, awkward and expensive to produce. Construction of these devices require many cut and scoring lines in cardboard or similar material in order to enable on site assembly. Assembly is difficult as more than one piece of material is involved. The devices often require glue or taping of sides and flaps to provide sufficient structural rigidity to assemble the display. It is also difficult to fold the displays flat for shipping as they are generally awkward in shape and make packing a problem. Often these devices require additional packing material to provide rigidity for shipping. In addition, they may be disassembled and reassembled readily without damaging the device.
One such alternative has been to provide an expanded book-like toy which may be unfolded. However, the proposal is not completely satisfactory when the individual book pages are of a relatively flexible stock, such as Bristol board and it is desired to suspend from the center of the assembled device. The flexible nature of the pages themselves tends to unsecure interlocking tabs aligned vertically. When a more rigid stock is used many scoring lines are needed to impart sufficient rigidity. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved three-dimensional display of simplified construction.


A pressure measuring device, comprising: a pressure measuring cell having a measuring membrane, at least one platform and a pressure chamber formed therebetween. An electrical transducer for transducing a deflection of the measuring membrane into a pressure dependent, primary signal; a cylindrical housing having a measuring cell chamber, in which the pressure measuring cell is arranged, and an end face pressure receipt opening in communication with the pressure duct; and an electronic circuit in the housing for operating the electrical transducer, and for processing the primary signal, and for outputting a measurement signal. The cylinder axis of the pressure measuring cell forms with the cylinder axis of the housing an angle, which amounts to not less than 80°, and which is especially preferably a right angle.

A pressure measuring device of the field of the invention is disclosed, for example, in European Patent EP 1 128 172 B1. The pressure measuring device disclosed there includes a pressure measuring cell in a housing, wherein the pressure measuring cell is oriented essentially coaxially with the housing, and wherein the pressure chamber of the pressure measuring cell is contactable with a media pressure via the pressure duct and a hydraulic path of a pressure transfer means. The pressure measuring cell includes a capacitive transducer whose electrodes are arranged in the pressure chamber and, thus, are surrounded by the pressure transfer liquid. This protects the electrodes in the case of application of the pressure measuring device as a relative pressure sensor against moisture influences that it would be exposed to in the case of an arrangement outside of the pressure chamber. At least one electrode of the capacitive transducer, which is arranged on the platform opposite the measuring membrane, is contacted via an electrical cable, which—same as the pressure duct—leaves on that end of the platform, which faces away from the measuring membrane and toward the pressure transfer means.
Insofar as the capacitance dependent primary signals are sensitive to disturbances, the primary signals must be conditioned as near as possible to the electrodes by a preprocessing circuit. Therefore, between a platform of the pressure transfer means and that of the pressure measuring cell, sufficient space must be provided for such a preprocessing circuit. Moreover, between the lateral surface of the pressure measuring cell and the housing wall, sufficient space must remain, in order to lead the connection lines for the preprocessing circuit past the pressure measuring cell to a main electronics.
Therefore, in the case of a given size of the pressure measuring cell, the housing must be sufficiently large, or, in the case of a given housing size, the pressure measuring cell must be sufficiently small, in order to satisfy the above requirements.
The enlarged separation between the pressure measuring cell and the body of the pressure transfer mean, effects, in addition to the associated greater amount of hydraulic transfer liquid, a contribution to a temperature dependent measurement error. Additionally, it contributes to a hydrostatic measurement error, which depends both on position as well as also on temperature.


The embedded package includes a semiconductor chip having contact portions disposed on a top surface thereof, a first dielectric layer substantially surrounding sidewalls of the semiconductor chip and including first fillers dispersed therein, a second dielectric layer substantially covering the top surface of the semiconductor chip and including second fillers dispersed therein, and first external interconnection portions disposed on the second dielectric layer and electrically connected to the contact portions, wherein an average size of the first fillers is different from that of the second fillers.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to electronic device packages, to embedded packages including a multi-layered dielectric layer, and methods of manufacturing the same.
2. Related Art
Electronic devices employed in electronic systems may include various circuit elements such as active elements and/or passive elements. The circuit elements may be integrated in and/or on a semiconductor substrate, thereby constituting the electronic device (also, referred to as a semiconductor chip or a semiconductor die). The electronic device may be mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) or a package substrate to produce an electronic device package. The package substrate may include circuit interconnections such as silicon interposers. The electronic device package may be mounted on a main board to constitute the electronic systems, for example, computers, mobile systems, or data storage media.
The electronic devices may be buried in a substrate using device embedding technologies. According to the device embedding technologies, the electronic devices may be buried in a dielectric layer constituting the package substrate, and interconnections may be formed on a surface of the dielectric layer. As the semiconductor chips (or the electronic devices) become more highly integrated, sizes of the interconnections formed on the dielectric layer of the package substrate have been gradually reduced and connection structures electrically connecting the semiconductor chips to the interconnections have also been reduced. If the interconnections on the package substrate and the connection structures in the package substrate are reduced in size or dimension, the minimization of the interconnections and the connection structures may be more influenced by a surface roughness of the dielectric layer.
In the embedded packages fabricated using the device embedding technologies, the dielectric layer (or a dielectric film) may contain fillers to improve a mechanical characteristic and/or a thermal characteristic of the dielectric layer. The fillers may lower the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the dielectric layer and may be introduced into the dielectric layer to enhance the rigidity or the hardness of the dielectric layer. If the fillers are contained in the dielectric layer, the surface roughness of the dielectric layer may be affected by the fillers. Increase of the surface roughness of the dielectric layer may lead to a difficulty in scaling down the interconnections which are formed on the dielectric layer.

Embedded packages including a multi-layered dielectric layer and methods of manufacturing the same


In a system connecting a transmitter and a receiver using transmission paths and repeaters (in-line amplifiers), red chirping whose a parameter is positive is performed for an optical signal on a transmitting side. Each of the repeaters includes a dispersion-compensator for compensating the amount of dispersion on a preceding transmission path. The amount of dispersion compensation of the dispersion-compensator included in the transmitter is made constant. The dispersion-compensator included in the receiver is arranged in order to compensate the amount of dispersion on a preceding transmission path. A spread of a pulse width on a transmission path can be efficiently compensated by using the compensation capability of the dispersion-compensators and the red chirping on the transmitting side.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical transmission system using fibers, and more particularly to an optical transmission system using in-line amplifiers.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical transmission system is now being developed with increase capacity an extend a span of transmission. An increase of a bit rate and wavelength division multiplexing system are now being discussed so as to increase capacity. In the meantime, an optical amplifier has been introduced so as to extend the span of transmission. The types of optical amplifiers include a post-amplifier (for strengthening output of transmission power), a pre-amplifier (for increasing the sensitivity of reception power), and a repeater (in-line amplifier). The optical amplifier is currently under development at a production level. The introduction of the optical amplifier allows the difference between optical intensities at transmission and reception to be extended, and an allowable loss in the fiber is increased.
A system configuration using a post-amplifier and a pre-amplifier has been put into practical use. Additionally, the in-line amplifier is under development in order to extend the reproduction relay interval. Here, the in-line amplifier is a repeater which amplifies an optical signal without converting it into an electric signal, and transmits the amplified signal.
The system using in-line amplifiers, however, poses a new problem where amplified spontaneous emission lights from a plurality of amplifiers due to the connection of the plurality of amplifiers, are accumulated, and the S/N ratio is lowered. The lowering of the S/N ratio leads to the degradation of a minimum reception power of a receiver. To obtain a predetermined system gain in consideration of this degradation, transmission power output must be strong thereby a lower limit value of the transmission power is determined. Furthermore, if the transmission power output is stronger than a threshold +8 dBm for a dispersion shifted fiber, and 10 dBm or more for a single mode fiber, although it depends on the length of a transmission path or a wavelength), the waveform is significantly degraded due to the non-linear effect of a fiber. One type of wavelength degradation is an optical Kerr effect (refractive index changes depending on an optical intensity). This is a phenomenon where a frequency (wavelength) shift occurs at the rising and falling edges of an optical signal pulse (SPM: Self- Phase Modulation). Even if the width of an optical wavelength is narrow before transmission, the width of the wavelength increases, and at the same time, a reception waveform significantly changes due to the influence of fiber dispersion. The upper limit of optical transmission power is determined in consideration of such an influence.
Fiber dispersion means that the speed of light propagating on a fiber depends on its wavelength. An optical pulse having a certain wavelength width is widened or compressed after fiber propagation. This effect is referred to as fiber chromatic dispersion. Accordingly, a reception waveform in an optical transmission system after fiber propagation varies depending on chromatic dispersion, and a transmission error will occur depending on the degree of dispersion. Therefore, fiber dispersion imposes a restriction on the transmission distance.
With a system using an in-line amplifier which amplifies an optical signal without conversion, such non-linear effect and dispersion are accumulated while the optical signal travels. Accordingly, it becomes quite impossible to properly receive the optical signal on a receiving side unless suitable compensation is made.
In the meantime, a system implemented by combining blue chirping on a transmitting side and dispersion compensation in repeaters and a receiver was conventionally proposed.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a combination of conventional pre-chirping and dispersion compensators.
In this figure, a transmitter 1000 and a receiver 1010 are connected by transmission paths 1003, 1006 and 1009, and repeaters 1004 and 1007. The transmitter 1000 is composed of an E/O 1001, for converting an electric signal into an optical signal, and a post-amplifier 1002. The transmitter 1000 performs blue-chirping on the optical signal, and transmits the signal. The transmitted optical signal travels along the transmission path 1003 and enters the repeater 1004. The repeater 1004 amplifies the optical signal, and performs dispersion compensation using the dispersion compensator 1005. The amount of dispersion compensation is a constant value. The optical signal, which is further amplified and dispersion-compensated, passes along the transmission path 1006 and enters the repeater 1007. The repeater 1007 also amplifies the signal, performs dispersion compensation and transmits the signal on the transmission path 1009. The optical signal passes through repeaters whose number is predetermined, until it reaches the receiver 1010. The receiver 1010 amplifies the received optical signal using a pre-amplifier, performs dispersion compensation using a dispersion-compensator 1012, inputs the signal to an O/E 1013 in order to convert the optical signal into an electric signal, and extracts necessary data.
That is, the conventional combination is implemented by combining blue chirping (especially, chirping parameter xcex1=xe2x88x921) as the pre-chirping, and compensation by the dispersion-compensators arranged in in-line amplifiers and the receiver (between the pre-amplifier and the O/E). If the blue-chirping is performed in a fiber of + dispersion, the output pulse is compressed due to the characteristics of the fiber of + dispersion, and the chirping. As a result, a transmission distance is made relatively longer. Especially, in a system which does not use optical amplifiers, an optical signal having the wavelength of 1.5 xcexcm is more effective when it travels along a single mode fiber (1.3xcexczero-dispersion wavelength). Accordingly, dispersion compensation implemented by combining the pre-chirping and the succeeding compensation was considered also to be effective in a system using optical amplifiers. If the amount of dispersion compensation is set in order to keep a residual dispersion value (obtained by subtracting the amount of dispersion compensation from a total amount of dispersion of a transmission fiber) constant, a stable transmission characteristic can be obtained.
However, if output of the transmission power is increased by introducing optical amplifiers according to this method, the influence of the non-linear effect of an optical fiber remarkably appears. The influence of the non-linear effect is equivalent to the characteristic of blue chirping. The pulse width of the transmission waveform is narrowed due to the influence of the pre-chirping at the transmitter and the non-linear effect of the optical fiber. As a result, the influence of the non-linear effect remarkably appears, and the waveform is significantly changed for the dispersion.
The problems posed by the method for performing blue-chirping at the time of transmission are listed below.
1) Output of transmission power cannot be increased.
2) Dispersion-compensation on a transmitting side is ineffective.
3) The dispersion-compensation is performed in in-line amplifiers and on a receiving side due to the ineffectivity on the transmitting side in consideration with 2). Accordingly, the losses of dispersion-compensators become larger, and the tolerance of the losses becomes difficult as transmission distance is extended. Lowering the level of an optical input to the O/E leads to degradation of reception sensitivity, and this imposes a limitation. Furthermore, optical input power may sometimes have an upper limit depending on the dispersion-compensator to be used.
4) The tolerance of the amount of dispersion-compensation which can ensure the transmission characteristic is small.
5) The number of types of different device increases when the dispersion-compensator are prepared according to a transmission distance due to the small tolerance as a result of 4).
The object of the present invention is to provide a technology which can compensate for transmission degradation especially due to fiber Dispersion, and ensure a good transmission characteristic for a longer distance, in an optical in-line amplifier system.
The optical transmission system according to the present invention assumes the use of repeaters (in-line amplifiers). It comprises a transmitter, repeaters, a receiver and transmission paths for interconnecting these modules. The present invention is characterized in that the transmitter performs chirping whose xcex1 parameter is positive for an optical signal and each of the repeaters and the receiver include a dispersion-compensator having an amount of dispersion compensation to compensate for dispersion from a transmission path preceding each of the repeaters and the receiver.
Since the non-linear effect that the optical signal receives on the transmission path corresponds to the blue chirping, this effect can be compensated for by performing red chirping whose the parameter is positive on the transmitting side. This leads to the effect of preventing the waveform of the optical signal from being degraded.
Furthermore, degradation of the optical signal can be prevented more effectively by setting the amount of dispersion compensation in order to compensate for the dispersion from a preceding transmission path, on each of the repeaters or the receiver.
With the above described configuration, an optical signal can be transmitted by performing red chirping to compensate for the non-linear effect in order to prevent a waveform from being degraded even if an optical output power is increase on the transmitting side.
Additionally, since the amount of dispersion compensation in a repeater or a receiver can be achieved from a combination of unit modules, implementation as a product is relatively easy.

Optical transmission system using in-line amplifiers


A method for detecting a radio signal in a wireless communication system is provided. According to the method, a wireless device measures an input signal received by a RF unit of. The wireless device eliminates a duplicated part between the input signal and a complex conjugate signal of the input signal to generate a filtered signal. The wireless device determines whether a target signal exists in the input signal based on the filtered signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communications, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for detecting a radio signal.
2. Related Art
Recently, services that require ultrahigh speed wireless communications such as wireless Internet are rapidly increasing. Therefore, researches on communication techniques capable of guaranteeing the ultrahigh speed wireless communications are actively performed.
In particular, researches on efficiently using resources such as time, frequency, and space for a plurality of users are actively performed. However, since the frequency resource may be used only by a user authorized to use the corresponding frequency, when an authorized business does not use the corresponding frequency band, no one uses the corresponding frequency resource so that the frequency resource is wasted.
Therefore, recently, in order to reduce such waste and to efficiently make temporal and spatial use of the frequency resource, a cognitive radio technology of finding out a frequency band that is not used to perform communications is spotlighted. In accordance with the cognitive radio technology, the temporally and spatially empty frequency band is used so that the efficiency of use of the frequency resource may be maximized.
Recently, as the federal communication commission (FCC) revises regulation so that the cognitive radio technology may be used in a TV frequency band, an environment for applying the cognitive radio technology is created and standardization of the cognitive radio technology such as IEEE 802.22 is being performed.
On the other hand, in order for an unauthorized user to use the temporally and spatially empty frequency band, a frequency detecting technology or a signal detecting technology is important. The detecting technologies suggested until now require complicated operations so that operation complexity is high.

Method and apparatus for detecting radio signal