The present invention relates to a microelectronics element, such as an optical receiver element, for a medical implant device to be implanted in the human or animal body, particularly for a retinal implant device. The microelectronics element comprises a functional unit including application specific microelectronics, such as a photodiode, for performing a function in the medical implant device, and rectifier means adapted for converting an AC supply voltage into a DC voltage. The DC voltage provided by the rectifier means, or an operating voltage derived from the DC voltage, is configured to be supplied to the functional unit. Further, the functional unit and the rectifier means are integrated on a common semiconductor substrate and configured such that the rectifier means isolates the microelectronics element from application of an external DC supply voltage. The invention also relates to a medical implant device, such as a retinal implant, which incorporates such a microelectronics element.

When microelectronic components are employed in medical implant devices, an important consideration is to protect the microelectronic components from the adverse affects of the aqueous environment usually encountered within the human or animal body. In particular, the moisture or fluids of the human or animal body to which such medical implant devices are almost invariably exposed are typically electrolytic conductors and create a potentially corrosive environment for the microelectronic components, especially when those components are supplied with a direct current (DC) voltage via a battery power source or a converted alternating current (AC) power supply. When the microelectronic components are exposed to corrosive influences, the efficacy of the medical implant device can be compromised leading to reduced performance or even to a complete failure of the device. For example, when an optical receiver element is used in an environment where it is exposed to aqueous solutions or other liquids, proper functioning of the receiver element may be impaired by electrochemical corrosion.
A typical solution to this problem is to enclose or encase the microelectronics and other sensitive components in such a way that they are impervious to moisture. For example, the sensitive components or even the entire medical implant device may be hermetically sealed from the aqueous environment of the body, for example, by an enclosure or a coating layer, such as a polymer coating. Silicone polymers are particularly favorable in this context because of their high bio-compatibility. Such a coating layer, however, not only complicates the manufacturing process, but also has the problem that the microelectronic components still need to maintain an electrical contact with external components. This often requires that a physical connection be provided through the protective enclosure or coating layer and, thus, a breach in the protective enclosure or layer is created. Additionally, while sealing some components or the entire implant device with, for example, a polymer coating layer can provide effective protection from a corrosive environment, it can also involve a conflict between the requirements of impermeability to moisture on the one hand, and flexibility of the implant device on the other, particularly in the field of retinal implants.

Retinal implant with rectified AC powered photodiode


A migration imaging system using a laser-addressable thermoplastic imaging member. The imaging member comprises a supporting section and a thermoplastic imaging surface layer. A charged, uniform layer of marking particles is deposited on the imaging surface layer. An imagewise-modulated laser beam transforms selected volumes of the imaging surface layer in an imagewise pattern to a permeable state. Charged marking particles that superpose a transformed volume then migrate into the imaging surface layer so as to be retained. Unaddressed marking particles are cleaned away. The imaging member, or solely the imaging surface layer, may be transferred and bonded to a receiver such as a drum for use as an exposure mask, or to a receiver sheet to provide a hard copy reproduction. The processed imaging member is usable as a master in a xeroprinting system.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an imaging system, and specifically to an improved migration imaging system utilizing an imaging member having a thermoplastic imaging surface layer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Within the art of electrophotography are imaging processes or systems which involve the migration of particles in a liquid or softenable medium to achieve an imagewise pattern. Particle migration to provide a latent image has been disclosed, for example, in processes based upon electrophoretic and photoelectrophoretic imaging of photoconductive particles dispersed in liquids. In solid mediums that are nominally not permeable, particle migration is typically facilitated by the softening of the medium by the application of heat or solvents.
Most conventional migration imaging systems will arrange the marking particles in an imagewise pattern on the softenable member before any migration is accomplished. Thus, some means must be provided for composing the particles in an image-wise pattern, and another means may be necessary to transfer the pattern to a softenable layer. Then, a further means is used to soften the layer, and another means is used to migrate the particles into the softened layer. The system is complicated and the process is time-consuming. A simpler and more efficient system is desired.
Some migration imaging systems utilize a solid migration imaging member which typically comprises a substrate, a layer of softenable material, and a layer of photosensitive marking material deposited on the softenable layer. A latent image is formed by electrically charging the member and then exposing the member to an imagewise pattern of light to discharge selected portions of the marking material layer. The entire softenable layer is then made permeable by dissolving, swelling, melting, or softening it by application of heat or a solvent, or both. Portions of the marking material that retain a differential residual charge due to the light exposure will migrate into the softened layer by electrostatic force. One example of such an imaging process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,731, issued to Tam et al.
An imagewise pattern may also be composed in a solid imaging member by establishing a differential in the density of colorant particles in imaged vs. non-imaged areas. In other words, the colorant particles are uniformly dispersed and then selectively migrated such that they are further dispersed to a greater or lesser extent. The differential density determines the image. The overall quantity of particles on the substrate is unchanged. Alternatively, the particles are migrated such that certain particles agglomerate or coalesce, thus achieving a differential density.
Or, in what is known as a heat development method, a solid imaging member will include colloidal pigment particles dispersed in a heat-softenable resin film on a transparent conductive substrate. An electrostatic image is transferred to the film, which is then softened by heating. The charged colloidal particles migrate to the oppositely charged image. Image areas are thereby increased in particle density while the background areas are less dense. Heat development is described by Schaffert, R. M., in Electrophotography, (Second Edition, Focal Press, 1980) at pp. 44-47 and, in particular, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,254,997.
However, the images formed in the solid imaging members processed according to the foregoing approaches have been found to lack the image contrast, gray scale accuracy, and sharp resolution required in high-resolution image reproduction. A simpler and more efficient imaging system would be desirable.
In another imaging process known generally as adhesive transfer, a solid, multilayered donor-acceptor imaging member is used to produce image copies. The donor layer includes a uniform fracturable layer of marking particles, a marking particle release layer, and a supporting carrier or sheet. An adhesive-coated acceptor layer overlies the marking particle layer. Areas of the marking particles are softened by localized heating in an imagewise pattern such that their attraction to, or retention by, the donor portion is less than the attraction of particles to non-heated areas. The acceptor layer may then be stripped from the member, taking the imaged pattern of marking particles from the release layer.
The aforementioned adhesive-transfer systems operate on a frangible dispersion of marking particles under a separable adhesive layer. Such systems typically cannot offer high resolution image reproductions because of an inherent compromise between the frangibility of the particles in non-imaged areas vs. the cohesiveness of particles in an imaged area. For example, in a peel-away system, any imaged area of the particulate layer must be cohesive enough to be carried with the peel-away layer. However, the imaged area must break cleanly at a border with a non-imaged area. Serifs, fine lines, dot images, and the like can receive an undesirably ragged edge during such a process.
For example, International Patent Application WO 88/04237, filed Dec. 7, 1987 by Polaroid Corporation, discloses a thermal imaging medium which includes a support sheet having a surface of a heat-liquifiable material and a layer of a particulate or porous image-forming substance. A pressure-sensitive adhesive layer overlies the particulate layer. The liquifiable material is imagewise exposed to heat to cause it to flow by capillary action into the image-forming substance. With cooling, the imaged areas of the substance are thereby retained by the material on the support sheet. The adhesive layer is then peeled away, causing the unexposed areas of the particulate layer to break from the exposed areas and be carried with the adhesive layer. The support sheet retains the exposed pattern.
However, the fracturing between exposed and unexposed areas can be uneven or irregular. Moreover, the heat-softened material is expected to flow only into a certain volume of the colorant, but the flow is not restricted. The softened material can flow laterally into a volume that is adjacent the heated area and which is not part of the image to be reproduced. The perimeter of an image component (a dot, for example) would then be greater than intended. As a result, image quality can be degraded.
In general, adhesive transfer and migration imaging systems are also materials-intensive and thus are costly to operate. This is especially so in systems which consume materials that are not provided in a simple, easy-to-use, and inexpensive form.
Significant waste products are generated in many of the above-described systems. Solvent-based systems generate a solvent effluent that is hazardous, expensive to discard, and cumbersome. Adhesive transfer systems generate discarded peel-away films which are usually not reusable. Proper disposal of such waste is inconvenient and increases operating costs.
Migration imaging and adhesive transfer processes have, therefore, not been favored for image reproduction in a number of applications, especially in high-resolution or high-speed printing.


A system and method for the detection of foreign object debris materials or defects on and/or under a surface of a composite part under manufacture. A member, for example an inspection gantry, is configured to move over the surface. A thermal excitation source is fixed to the member and is configured to direct infrared radiation across the surface. An infrared camera is also fixed to the member a predetermined distance away from the thermal excitation source and is configured to scan the surface as the member moves over the surface to detect and output scan information of the surface. A controller is coupled to the excitation source and to the infrared camera. The controller is configured to process the scan information from the infrared camera to identify a foreign object debris material or defect located on and/or under the surface.

Composite materials are increasingly used as substitutes for conventional materials such as aluminum and steel alloys in various structural components due to the generally high strength-to-weight ratio inherent in composite materials. Composite materials may generally be comprised of a network of reinforcing fibers that are generally applied in layers, and a polymeric resin that substantially wets the reinforcing fibers to form an intimate contact between the resin and the reinforcing fibers. High speed composite layup machines are typically used to form each layer. Such machines can lay composite material at a rate of 3000 inches per minute.
A problem can arise, however, when foreign object debris (FOD), contamination or other type of tape layup anomaly is on or within the formed composite part prior to curing. For example, small amounts of entrapped or surface-adhering moisture or other types of contamination can result in delaminating and porosity of the composite material once the curing is completed. In addition, debris such as small pieces of bagging materials, Teflon tapes or breathing material used during the composite layup that becomes entrapped within a composite layer can result in delamination, porosity and wrinkles in the composite part. One particular type of FOD is referred to as a fuzzball and is generated during the manufacture of a composite part formed from layers of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) tape. A so-called "fuzzball" consists of strands of CFRP tape that are abraded by contact with the spools holding the tape and which may randomly fall onto the surface of the composite part under manufacture. Further, other types of tape layup anomalies can occur during layup including twists, folds, untacked tows, wrinkles, bridging, etc. FOD and defect detection is currently done manually by visual inspection. Often, however, FODs and defects are either transparent or blend well with a surface color of the composite material and are thus difficult to detect visually. This manual FOD and defect detection method is thus slow and unreliable. Significantly, if the FOD materials and defects are not detected and removed or repaired prior to curing, large and expensive composite parts may be rejected during nondestructive testing.
One-piece composite parts are presently used in many applications, including parts for commercial aircraft. Such parts can be very expensive to manufacture, and very small FOD materials, contamination or defects not removed during the buildup phase of such a part can result in a manufacturing defect that requires the repair or even rejection of the part. The repair or rejection of such parts is thus quite costly and can also result in schedule delays and inventory problems.
Accordingly, there is a need for an automated high-speed inspection system for the detection of surface and subsurface FODs, contamination and defects during the high-speed composite layup process.

System and method for high speed surface and subsurface FOD and defect detection


An apparatus, e.g. an optical receiver, includes an optical front end and an equalizer. The front end is configured for receiving an optical signal bearing first and second symbols on respective first and second polarization channels. The equalizer is configured to 1) select a first cost function if the first symbol has greater energy than the second symbol, 2) select a second different cost function if the second symbol has a greater energy than the first symbol, and 3) based on the selected cost function, update coefficients of an adaptive filter configured to demultiplex and equalize the first and second polarization channels.

This section introduces aspects that may be helpful to facilitating a better understanding of the inventions. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
Blind equalization is a digital signal processing technique of using signal statistics of a received signal to infer (equalize) the transmitted signal from the received signal, while making use of the transmitted signal statistics.
Blind equalization may be viewed as essentially blind de-convolution applied to digital communications. Nonetheless, the emphasis in blind equalization is on online estimation of the equalizer filter (which is the inverse of the channel impulse response) rather than estimation of the channel impulse response itself. This is due in part to the common use of blind equalization in digital communications systems as a way to extract the continuously transmitted signal from the received signal.
One modulation format is polarization-switched (PS) Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying (QPSK). Various approaches to blind equalization in PS-QPSK have been investigated, but suffer from various impairments that render PS-QPSK an unsuitable modulation format for some applications, such as long-haul optical fiber communications.

Blind equalization for polarization-switched QPSK optical communications


A zoom lens system comprising, at an image side location, a lens unit which has a negative refractive power and consists, in order from the object side, of a positive front subunit and a negative rear subunit: the front subunit being composed of a negative lens component consisting of a negative lens element and a positive lens element, the rear subunit being composed only of a single negative lens component, and the negative lens element having an aspherical surface which weakens a negative refractive power as portions of the aspherical surface are farther from an optical axis thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zoom lens system which is to be used with compact cameras and so on, has a short back focal length and uses a negative lens unit disposed on the image side therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Lens systems for compact cameras which need not have long back focal lengths, unlike lens system for single-lens reflex cameras, may use nagative lens units disposed on the image side therein for shortening total lengths of the lens systems. For each of the lens systems which use the negative lens units disposed on the image side therein, it is conventional to correct aberrations by composing the negative lens unit of a positive lens element and a negative lens element which have refractive powers contrary to each other.
Since aberrations are varied remarkably by zooming a zoom lens system which has a high vari-focal ratio, it is necessary for such a zoom lens system to correct aberrations more strictly in each of lens units used for composing the zoom lens system.
When chromatic aberration is corrected by strengthening a refractive power of a positive lens element and a refractive power of a negative lens element, it is impossible to correct the other aberrations, astigmatism and coma in particular. As a conventional example which uses a positive lens element and a negative lens element for composing the above-mentioned negative lens unit in addition to an aspherical surface adopted as a surface of the positive lens element for balancing chromatic aberration with the other aberrations, there is known a zoom lens system disclosed by Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. Hei 3-127,008. The correcting means adopted for this conventional example and the similar zoom lens systems is effective for favorably correcting astigmatism and coma, but since the positive lens element has a weak paraxial refractive power, the zoom lens systems allow longitudinal chromatic aberration to be varied by moving zooming lens units and have chromatic aberration which cannot be said to be sufficiently corrected.
A zoom lens system disclosed by Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. Hei 3-45,916 is known as a conventional example in which the above-mentioned negative lens unit is composed of a plurality of negative lens elements and a plurality of positive lens elements for correcting chromatic aberration. This zoom lens system is composed of three positive, positive and negative lens units or four positive, negative, positive and negative lens units.
In addition to the conventional examples described above, a zoom lens system disclosed by Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. Hei 3-233,422 is known as a zoom lens system which comprises an image side negative lens unit using a cemented lens component for correcting chromatic aberration. This zoom lens system is composed of three negative, positive and negative lens units.
Out of the conventional examples mentioned above, the zoom lens system disclosed by Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. Hei 3-45,916 has a defect that it exhibits a low effect for correcting aberrations other than chromatic aberration due to a fact that a front subunit of such a negative lens unit as the third lens unit out of the three lens units or the fourth lens unit out of the four lens units has a remakably low refractive power when the front subunit is composed of a cemented lens component consisting of a negative lens element and a positive lens element or a positive lens element and a negative lens unit, and a rear subunit of the negative lens unit is composed of a negative lens component.
Further, when a third lens unit is composed of a cemented lens component consisting of a positive lens element, a negative lens element and a positive lens element in a zoom lens system comprising three lens units, like the zoom lens system disclosed by Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. Hei 3-233,422, the cemented lens component has a strong negative refractive power and produces aberrations, thereby making it necessary to dispose a positive lens component on the object side for cancelling the aberrations and use a large number of lens elements for composing the zoom lens system while enhancing a manufacturing cost thereof.


A drop-on-demand printing method comprising performing the following steps in a printing head: discharging a first primary drop of a first liquid from a first nozzle outlet to move along a first path (pA) with a first speed; discharging a second primary drop of a second liquid from a second nozzle outlet to move along a second path (pB) with a second speed, lower than the first speed, wherein the second path (pB) is inclined with respect to the first path (pB) along an axis inclined at an angle (α) from 3 to 60 degrees and crosses the first path (pA) at a connection point; controlling the flight of the first primary drop and the second primary drop to combine the first primary drop with the second primary drop into a combined drop at the connection point so that a chemical reaction is initiated between the first liquid of the first primary drop and the second liquid of the second primary drop; applying electric charge to the combined drop; wherein the path of flight (pC) of the combined drop is altered no more than 20 degrees from the axis of the path of flight (pA) of the first primary drop; and controlling the path of flight (pC) of the combined drop with applied electric charge by deflecting electrodes.

Ink jet printing is a type of printing that recreates a digital image by propelling drops of ink onto paper, plastic, or other substrates. There are two main technologies in use: continuous (CIJ) and Drop-on-demand (DOD) inkjet.
In continuous inkjet technology, a high-pressure pump directs the liquid solution of ink and fast drying solvent from a reservoir through a gunbody and a microscopic nozzle, creating a continuous stream of ink drops via the Plateau-Rayleigh instability. A piezoelectric crystal creates an acoustic wave as it vibrates within the gunbody and causes the stream of liquid to break into drops at regular intervals. The ink drops are subjected to an electrostatic field created by a charging electrode as they form; the field varies according to the degree of drop deflection desired. This results in a controlled, variable electrostatic charge on each drop. Charged drops are separated by one or more uncharged "guard drops" to minimize electrostatic repulsion between neighboring drops. The charged drops pass through an electrostatic field and are directed (deflected) by electrostatic deflection plates to print on the receptor material (substrate), or allowed to continue on undeflected to a collection gutter for re-use. The more highly charged drops are deflected to a greater degree. Only a small fraction of the drops is used to print, the majority being recycled. The ink system requires active solvent regulation to counter solvent evaporation during the time of flight (time between nozzle ejection and gutter recycling), and from the venting process whereby gas that is drawn into the gutter along with the unused drops is vented from the reservoir. Viscosity is monitored and a solvent (or solvent blend) is added to counteract solvent loss.
Drop-on-demand (DOD) may be divided into low resolution DOD printers using electro valves in order to eject comparatively big drops of inks on printed substrates, or high resolution DOD printers, may eject very small drops of ink by means of using either a thermal DOD and piezoelectric DOD method of discharging the drop.
In the thermal inkjet process, the print cartridges contain a series of tiny chambers, each containing a heater. To eject a drop from each chamber, a pulse of current is passed through the heating element causing a rapid vaporization of the ink in the chamber to form a bubble, which causes a large pressure increase, propelling a drop of ink onto the paper. The ink's surface tension, as well as the condensation and thus contraction of the vapor bubble, pulls a further charge of ink into the chamber through a narrow channel attached to an ink reservoir. The inks used are usually water-based and use either pigments or dyes as the colorant. The inks used must have a volatile component to form the vapor bubble, otherwise drop ejection cannot occur.
Piezoelectric DOD use a piezoelectric material in an ink-filled chamber behind each nozzle instead of a heating element. When a voltage is applied, the piezoelectric material changes shape, which generates a pressure pulse in the fluid forcing a drop of ink from the nozzle. A DOD process uses software that directs the heads to apply between zero to eight drops of ink per dot, only where needed.
High resolution printers, alongside the office applications, are also being used in some applications of industrial coding and marking. Thermal Ink Jet more often is used in cartridge based printers mostly for smaller imprints, for example in pharmaceutical industry. Piezoelectric printheads of companies like Spectra or Xaar have been successfully used for high resolution case coding industrial printers.
All DOD printers share one feature in common: the discharged drops of ink have longer drying time compared to CIJ technology when applied on non porous substrate. The reason being usage of fast drying solvent, which is well accepted by CIJ technology designed with fast drying solvent in mind, but which usage needs to be limited in DOD technology in general and high resolution DOD in particular. That is because fast drying inks would cause the dry back on the nozzles. In most of known applications the drying time of high resolution DOD printers' imprints on non porous substrates would be at least twice and usually well over three times as long as that of CIJ. This is a disadvantage in certain industrial coding applications, for instance very fast production lines where drying time of few seconds may expose the still wet (not dried) imprint for damage when it gets in contact with other objects.
Another disadvantage of high resolution DOD technology is limited drop energy, which requires the substrate to be guided very evenly and closely to printing nozzles. This also proves to be disadvantageous for some industrial applications. For example when coded surface is not flat, it cannot be guided very close to nozzles.
CIJ technology also proves to have inherent limitations. So far CIJ has not been successfully used for high resolution imprints due to the fact that it needs certain drop size in order to work well. The other well-known disadvantage of CIJ technology is high usage of solvent. This causes not only high costs of supplies, but also may be hazardous for operators and the environment, since most efficient solvents are poisonous, such as the widely used MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone).
The following documents illustrate various improvements to the ink jet printing technology.
An article "Double-shot inkjet printing of donor-acceptor-type organic charge-transfer complexes: Wet/nonwet definition and its use for contact engineering" by T. Hasegawa et al (Thin Solid Films 518 (2010) pp. 3988-3991) presents a double-shot inkjet printing (DS-IJP) technique, wherein two kinds of picoliter-scale ink drops including soluble component donor (e.g. tetrathiafulvalene, TTF) and acceptor (e.g. tetracyanoquinodimethane, TCNQ) molecules are individually deposited at an identical position on the substrate surfaces to form hardly soluble metal compound films of TTF-TCNQ. The technique utilizes the wet/nonwet surface modification to confine the intermixed drops of individually printed donor and acceptor inks in a predefined area, which results in the picoliter-scale instantaneous complex formation.
A U.S. Pat. No. 7,429,100 presents a method and a device for increasing the number of ink drops in an ink drop jet of a continuously operating inkjet printer, wherein ink drops of at least two separately produced ink drop jets are combined into one ink drop jet, so that the combined ink drop jet fully encloses the separate ink drops of the corresponding separate ink drop jets and therefore has a number of ink drops equal to the sum of the numbers of ink drops in the individual stream. The drops from the individual streams do not collide with each other and are not combined with each other, but remain separate drops in the combined drop jet.
A US patent application US20050174407 presents a method for depositing solid materials, wherein a pair of inkjet printing devices eject ink drops respectively in a direction such that they coincide during flight, forming mixed drops which continue onwards towards a substrate, wherein the mixed drops are formed outside the printing head.
A U.S. Pat. No. 8,092,003 presents systems and methods for digitally printing images onto substrates using digital inks and catalysts which initiate and/or accelerate curing of the inks on the substrates. The ink and catalyst are kept separate from each other while inside the heads of an inkjet printer and combine only after being discharged from the head, i.e. outside the head. This may cause problems in precise control of coalescence of the drops in flight outside the head and corresponding lack of precise control over drop placement on the printed object.
A Japanese patent application JP2010105163A discloses a nozzle plate that includes a plurality of nozzle holes that discharge liquids that combine in flight outside the nozzle plate.
A U.S. Pat. No. 8,092,003 presents systems and methods for digitally printing images onto substrates using digital inks and catalysts which initiate and/or accelerate curing of the inks on the substrates. The ink and catalyst are kept separate from each other while inside the heads of an inkjet printer and combine only after being discharged from the head, i.e. outside the head. This may cause problems in precise control of coalescence of the drops in flight outside the head and corresponding lack of precise control over drop placement on the printed object.
In all of the above-mentioned methods, the drops of respective primary liquids are not guided after being discharged from respective nozzles. Therefore, their path of flight on their way towards the point of connection where they start to form a mixed, combined drop, is not controlled. Such control may become necessary when mixing chemically reacting substrates in order to avoid accidental and undesired contact between substrates in the area of nozzle endings, where such too early contact might lead to residue build up of the combined substance and blocking the nozzle with time while the combined substance solidifies.
A PCT application WO2016135294A2 discloses a drop-on-demand printing method comprising performing the following steps in a printing head: discharging a first primary drop of a first liquid to move along a first path; discharging a second primary drop of a second liquid to move along a second path; controlling the flight of the first primary drop and the second primary drop to combine the first primary drop with the second primary drop into a combined drop at a connection point within a reaction chamber within the printing head so that a chemical reaction is initiated within a controlled environment of the reaction chamber between the first liquid of the first primary drop and the second liquid of the second primary drop; and controlling the flight of the combined drop through the reaction chamber along a combined drop path such that the combined drop, during movement along the combined drop path starting from the connection point is distanced from the elements of the printing head. In one of the embodiments, the printing head comprises a set of electrodes for altering the path of flight of the second primary drop to a path being in line with the path of flight of the first primary drop before or at the connection point.
There are known various arrangements for altering the velocity of the drop exiting the printing head by using electrodes for affecting charged drops, as described e.g. in patent documents U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,599, US20110193908 or US20080074477.
The US patent application US20080074477 discloses a system for controlling drop volume in continuous ink-jet printer, wherein a succession of ink drops, all ejected from a single nozzle, are projected along a longitudinal trajectory at a target substrate. A group of drops is selected from the succession in the trajectory, and this group of drops is combined by electrostatically accelerating upstream drops of the group and/or decelerating downstream drops of the group to combine into a single drop.
German patent applications DE3416449 and DE350190 present CIJ printing heads comprising drop generators which generate a continuous stream of drops, some of which combine into a combined drop. The stream of drops is generated as a result of periodic pressure disturbances in the vicinity of the nozzles that decompose the emerging inkjets to drops which have the same size and are equally spaced. The majority of drops are charged and are collected by gutters and fed back to the reservoirs supplying ink to the drop generators, as common in the CIJ technology. The core features of the printing head related to the CIJ technology make it inherently limited with respect to the DOD technology. A combined drop is formed of non-charged drops and is directed towards the surface to be printed according to a path of movement which depends on the paths of movement of the colliding primary drops.
A Japanese patent application JPS5658874 presents a CIJ printing head comprising nozzles generating continuous streams of drops, which are equally spaced, wherein some of the drops are collected by gutters and only some of the drops reach the surface to be printed. The core features of the printing head related to the CIJ technology make it inherently limited with respect to the DOD technology. The paths of charged primary drops are altered by a set of electrodes such that the path of one drop is altered to cross the path of another drop, so that the drops concentrate at the surface to be printed. A combined drop is therefore formed directly at the surface to be printed.
Due to substantial structural and technological differences between the CIJ and DOD technology print heads, these print heads are not compatible with each other and individual features are not transferrable between the technologies.
A U.S. Pat. No. 8,342,669 discloses an ink set comprising at least two inks, which can be mixed at any time (as listed: before jetting, during jetting, or after jetting). A particular embodiment specifies that the inks may be mixed or combined anywhere between exiting the ink jet head and the substrate, that is, anywhere in flight. After combination of the inks between the ink jetting device and the substrate, the drops of the inks may begin to react, that is polymerization of the vinyl monomers may begin and momentum of the drops may carry the drops to a desired location on the substrate. This has, however, the disadvantage, that it is difficult to control the parameters of coalescence of the drops, as it the surrounding outside the ink jetting device is variable.
It would be desirable to control the path of flight of the primary substrate drops after they leave their respective nozzle outlets not only to ensure the appropriate coalescence, but also in order to avoid too early contact between chemically reacting substrates in the proximity of nozzle outlets. Such undesired contact might lead to the reacted substance residue build up and consequently to the nozzle clogging.
A US patent application US2011/0181674 discloses an inkjet print head including a pressure chamber storing a first ink drawn in from a reservoir and transferring the first ink to a nozzle by a driving force of an actuator; and a damper disposed between the pressure chamber and the nozzle and allowing the first ink to be mixed with a second ink drawn through an ink flow path for the second ink. The disadvantage of that solution is that the mixed ink is in contact with the nozzle. This can lead to problems when the physicochemical parameters of the mixed ink do not allow for jetting of the mixed ink, or the mixed ink is not chemically stable and reactions occurring within the mixed ink cause the change of physicochemical parameters that do not allow for jetting of the mixed ink, or the reaction causes solidification of the mixed ink. In case the chemical reaction is initiated while mixing the ink components, any residue of the mixed ink which gets in contact with the nozzle may cause the residue build up, leading to clogging the nozzle during printing process.
The problem associated with DOD inkjet printing is the relatively long time of curing of the ink after its deposition on the surface remains actual.
There is still a need to improve the DOD inkjet printing technology in order to shorten the time of curing of the ink after its deposition on the surface. In addition, it would be advantageous to obtain such result combined with higher drop energy and more precise drop placement in order to code different products of different substrates and shapes. There is a need to improve the inkjet print technologies in attempt to decrease the drying (or curing) time of the imprint and to increase the energy of the printing drop being discharged from the printer. The present invention combines those two advantages and brings them to the level available so far only to CIJ printers and unavailable in the area of DOD technology in general (mainly when it comes to drying time) and high resolution DOD technology in particular, where both drying (curing) time and drop energy have been have been very much improved compared to the present state of technology. The present invention addresses also the main disadvantages of CIJ technology leading to min. 10 times reduction of solvent usage and allowing much smaller—compared to those of CIJ—drops to be discharged with higher velocity, while the resulting imprint could be consolidated on the wide variety of substrates still in a very short time and with very high adhesion.
There is also a need to provide an alternative solution for controlling the flight of the printing drops, with alternative means for controlling the path of flight of the printing drops, and with an aim to improve drop placement accuracy, drop size selection and print resolution. Such alternative solution should preferably enable to apply the above mentioned improvements on a wide range of different substrates by means of using wide range of inks including inks allowing the combination of very high adhesion, very high print resolution and drop placement accuracy i.e. print quality and a very short drying or solidifying time, i.e the time between the moment of placing the drop on the substrate and the moment of readymade, dry, solid, permanent imprint creation on the substrate.

Drop on demand printing head and printing method


A thermal mass flowmeter with a metal-encapsulated sensor system is provided. The sensor system included at least one heating resistor having a platelet geometry, and a sensor cap surrounding the at least one heating resistor. At least one distal end area of the sensor cap is formed with a flat rectangular cross section corresponding to the platelet geometry of the heating resistor, such that the distal end area of the sensor cap surrounds the heating resistor closely with an accurate fit (e.g., with a predetermined gap therebetween).

According to the measurement principle on which the thermal mass flowmeter is based, two temperature sensors can be fitted in the media flow, which acts on them, in order to transfer heat to the media flow and to measure its temperature. In this case, resistance thermometers are primarily used as temperature sensors. The flow can be calculated from the heating power and the temperature of a heated resistance thermometer, using generally known mathematical relationships.
DE 199 39 942 A1 from the same applicant discloses a thermal mass flowmeter. This thermal mass flowmeter has a pulsed electrical heating element and a temperature sensor which is thermally operatively connected to the flowing fluid and whose electrical resistance is temperature-dependent. In this case, the sensor element can be heated by means of the heating element. Electronic means are provided in order to determine the flow and to detect the time profile of a heating and cooling process which takes place in the sensor element.
Heating elements and sensor elements are in this case accommodated in a common housing. The thermal operative connection between the sensor element and the medium flowing past is influenced by the choice of material for the housing and of a possible filling material within the housing, as well as the geometric configuration of the housing.
In the above-described thermal mass flowmeter, the housing has a taper in the area of the sensor element, in order to increase the thermal operative connection. In principle, an optimum measurement effect and high measurement accuracy can be achieved by as good a thermal operative connection as possible, that is to say a maximum heat transfer from the heating element to the flowing medium, and by minimum heat dissipation into the sensor connections or holders.
In order to achieve a sensor system with a short response time, the thermal mass of the sensor system and its packaging environment should be kept as small as possible. On the other hand, numerous industrial applications—for example, in the foodstuffs and pharmacology sectors—require metal encapsulation of the sensor system, for example, by means of stainless steel. In addition to hygienic aspects, such metal-encapsulated sensor systems have the advantage of being considerably more resistant to corrosive media, and can therefore be used even in severe environments. However, appliances such as these require complex packaging for the sensor system, since the sensor system and its packaging must be stable over a wide temperature range and numerous different materials are generally used, with different thermal coefficients of expansion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,365 discloses a metal-encapsulated sensor system for a thermal mass flowmeter having a metal cap. The metal cap has a cylindrical shape and is formed by welding a hollow cylinder and a circular cover together. The ratio of the circumference to the cross section of this sensor system is a critical quality parameter. Resistance wires are used internally as sensors and are wound around a likewise cylindrical former, which is in turn surrounded by the cylindrical metal cap. In order to achieve a sensor system with a low thermal resistance, the cylindrical metal cap is in this case plastically deformed into the flowing medium. In addition, the use of a gland contributes to increased thermal insulation of the cylindrical former.
DE 102 16 532 A1 describes a metal-encapsulated sensor system in which a thermal measurement element is mounted on a rectangular ceramic mount. The ceramic mount is in turn surrounded by a cylindrical metal cap, and is fixed therein by means of solder tin. In this case, however, the electrical contact-making points of the measurement element are not covered by the solder tin. Furthermore, the ceramic mount is covered by a temperature-resistant glass layer at the location of the measurement element which is mounted on it. Tin metallization is applied to the opposite surface of the ceramic mount to the measurement element. All of these quite complex measures serve to achieve a sensor system with as low a thermal resistance as possible in the flowing medium, and great thermal insulation at the same time within the mount.
In addition, EP 1 835 267 A2 includes a measure for suppression of the heat flow between the heating resistor and its mount. A second active heating element is used for this purpose, and is positioned between the heating resistor and the mount. This type of active heat flow suppression requires a correspondingly large amount of component complexity, however.

Thermal mass flowmeter with a metal-encapsulated sensor system


Systems and techniques for physical layer encryption (PLE) using beamforming. The techniques are based on the principles of Linear Amplification with Nonlinear Components (LINC) to produce a transmit signal with limited dynamic range. A masking signal is structured based upon a source data signal to produce a transmit signal with limited dynamic range, while providing a high degree of secrecy.

As is known in the art, physical layer encryption (PLE) is a set of techniques that rely on information theory and the concept of channel capacity for security. Unlike traditional encryption, such as private- and public-key systems, PLE is not vulnerable to computational attacks and can offer perfect forward security. Many PLE techniques work by artificially degrading the eavesdropper's channel so that their channel capacity is not sufficient to recover the infonnation being sent. For example, a masking signal may be added to a communication signal such that it has a null in the direction of an intended receiver. For all other directions spatially separated from the intended receiver, an eavesdropper will receive a combination of the communication and masking signals, with the masking signal dominant. This degrades the information capacity of the eavesdropper channel, making it difficult or impossible to recover the transmitted information.
PLE is generally quantified by a measure called secrecy capacity. This represents the difference in channel capacity between the intended receiver and the eavesdropper. A positive secrecy capacity means that the intended receiver has a higher capacity than the eavesdropper and the communication link can be configured so that the receiver can demodulate the data and the eavesdropper cannot by choosing an appropriate rate and encoding scheme. If the secrecy capacity is negative, then the eavesdropper will be able to demodulate any message that the intended receiver can and secrecy fails.
One example a PLE technique is called Additive Artificial Noise (AAN) in which a transmitted signal is expressed as:xAAN(t)=w·s(t)+z(t)·n(t)  (1)z(t)∈N(h),∥z(t)∥=1  (2)where z(t) is a basis vector in the null space of the complex channel vector, vector h, s(t) is the communication signal, w is the set of complex beam-forming weights, and n(t) is a Gaussian random variable with variance selected according to the desired power division between signal and artificial noise. The choice of a basis vector in the null space of the channel ensures that the artificial noise does not appear in the intended receiver.
Another family of techniques is called Directional Modulation (DM), in which a different weighting vector is chosen for each symbol in the transmit constellation in order to form the desired vector at the intended receiver. This causes receivers in other positions to receive a constellation with distorted but still distinct symbols. Determining the necessary weighting vector is an unbounded problem and generally requires the use of matrix inversion or optimization techniques. An improvement on this technique chooses a different weighting vector each time a given symbol appears. This is sometimes called Dynamic DM. This addresses the vulnerability of so-called Static DM systems to eavesdropping techniques which can resolve the distorted constellation by changing the pattern of distortion continuously.

Physical layer encryption using out-phased array linearized signaling


An apparatus for finishing wood (cants) comprises a circular saw (6) which can be reciprocated (double arrow 7) in the cutting plane (11), and several clamping trestles (1) for holding the piece of wood to be divided, these trestles being adjustable perpendicularly to the cutting plane (11) in order to set the cutting position. Furthermore, supports (3) are provided for the wood, wherein the lower clamping jaws (2) of the clamping trestles (1) can be lowered underneath the supports (3). The saw (6) is designed for forward and rearward cutting so that, with each stroke of the saw, a cut can be executed. For feeding the pieces of wood to be divided, inclined conveyor belts (13) are provided which deposit the pieces of wood on lifting tables (12), the latter then placing such pieces onto the supports (3) for the wood.

Such apparatuses are utilized predominantly for the finishing of precut wood (cants). The saws used for the finishing step can be circular saws or band saws and are fixedly mounted in conventional facilities. In known facilities, it is the device for holding the wood to be divided which is adjustable transversely to the longitudinal extension of the wood, i.e. crosswise to the direction of the cut, for aligning the wood with respect to the saw (setting of the cutting position), and is additionally movable in the direction of the wood for executing the sawing work. This dual mobility of the holding device not only presents structural disadvantages since the device for holding the wood must be movable in two directions, but also displays the drawback that the operator of the apparatus does not see the wooden blank at rest in front of him and therefore finds it hard to observe how the blank can be divided with a minimum of waste.
It has been known from EP-A 55,793 to retain wooden boards, during the edging of the same, in alignment in an apparatus, and to move the tool (saw or milling cutter) intended for the edging step with the board being at a standstill. For fixing the board in the apparatus, several pressure pistons are provided which can be advanced from above toward a table.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,924 discloses an apparatus for edging the rims of multiple-layer, panel-shaped workpieces; in these workpieces, the two outer layers project past the rim of the central layer. In order to retain the workpiece, a clamping means is provided which is equipped with two clamping jaws, the clamping jaws engaging respectively from above and from below at the workpiece and holding the latter. The clamping means for the workpiece can be adjusted with respect to the cutting plane of the saw with the aid of a motor in a manner not shown in detail. The saw is moved relatively to the stationary workpiece for the edging operation.


An optical information recording medium is disclosed in which the recording layer is a material capable of absorbing energy and being reversibly converted between a substantially non-crystalline or amorphous state and a substantially crystalline state. The recording layer is a Te-Ge-Sb composition which also contains nitrogen. The optical recording medium includes a substrate onto which is sequentially deposited a first dielectric layer, a nitrogen-containing recording layer, a second dielectric layer and a metallic reflecting layer. In order to control the sensitivity of the medium to laser irradiation, the second dielectric layer is graded in thickness and progressively becomes thicker as a function of increasing radius. Alternatively, in another embodiment, the reflecting layer is graded in thickness, and progressively becomes thinner as a function of increasing radius. To further optimize the write/erase characteristics, the write to erase power ratio, as well as the recording duty cycle of the laser are varied as a function of radial position.

Prior art optical recording media are known in which information may be written, but not erased. These "write-once" media have a thin film recording layer of TeO.sub.x (0<x<2.0) in which Te and TeO.sub.2 are the main compositional constituents.
The prior art also shows efforts directed towards the development of erasable optical recording media, in which it is possible to repeatedly write and erase information. Erasable recording media are being developed in which a small spot on a recording layer may be heated and melted by a focused laser beam. Rapid cooling transforms the molten spot into a non-crystalline amorphous material, having optical properties which are different from a crystalline state of the material. The same spot may subsequently be heated by the laser beam to a temperature which causes the amorphous state to be converted to the crystalline state. Information may generally be recorded by either forming the amorphous state or the crystalline state, with erasure accomplished by converting the recorded spots on the layer to the opposite state.
Materials which have been investigated in the prior art for such erasable recording media include thin film compositions of the chalcogen elements, as exemplified by Ge.sub.15 Te.sub.81 Sb.sub.2 S.sub.2, etc., as reported by Ovshinsky et al. In addition, thin film recording layers formed from combinations of a chalcogen/elements with an element or elements selected from Group V of the periodic table or an element or elements selected from Group IV of the periodic table (i.e., Ge, As.sub.2 S.sub.3, As.sub.3 Se.sub.3 or Sb.sub.2 Se.sub.3) have also been widely investigated in the prior art.
Generally, an optical recording medium is in the shape of a circular disc, which is rotated during operation so that a movable laser beam can be rapidly focused over the entire disc surface. The thin film recording layer is deposited, along with other layers, on a transparent substrate in which grooves are formed to serve as guides for the laser light. The thin film recording layer may initially be prepared in the crystallized state.
To record information, laser light is focused to a spot on the recording layer of about one micron in diameter and is intensity-modulated between a first high peak power level and a second lower power bias level in accordance with the information to be recorded. Recording is performed while the disc is rotating by irradiating spots on the disc with a high peak power level, which is sufficient to increase the temperature of those spots above the melting point of the thin film recording layer. As these spots rapidly cool, the information is recorded by the formation of substantially non-crystalline, or amorphous spots in the recording layer.
To erase the information, the amorphous spots are irradiated with the lower power bias level of the laser light. Upon irradiation with this bias power level, the irradiated areas are elevated in temperature above the crystallization temperature of the thin film recording layer. Amorphous spots are thereby converted to substantially crystalline spots, and the information recorded therein is accordingly erased.
By utilizing a single laser beam modulated between a high peak power level and a lower power bias level, in combination with a recording layer which may be controllably converted between a substantially crystalline structure and a substantially non-crystalline or amorphous structure in the manner described above, an optical recording medium is produced in which it is possible to overwrite information in a simple procedure.
Since the thin film recording layer, during operation, is repeatedly heated, the optical recording medium is generally fabricated by sandwiching the thin film recording layer between two protective dielectric layers, which have the property of being highly heat resistant. These protective dielectric layers serve to thermally insulate the heated thin film recording layer from other thermally sensitive layers, such as the substrate and various adhesive layers. The thermal response, and in particular the rapid or slow cooling characteristics of the recording layer depend upon the thermal conductivity of the dielectric layers. Thus, by carefully selecting both the composition and geometry of these dielectric layers, it is possible to control and optimize the write/erase characteristics of the medium.
In the development of practical optical recording media, it is important to maintain the stability of the record/erase characteristics as a function of many write/erase cycles. After repeated cycling, deterioration of these characteristics may result from thermal damage to the disc substrate or other layers. This is manifested during operation as an increase in noise. In addition, a physical shifting of the thin film recording layer within the guide grooves of the substrate, generally along the direction of rotation of the disc, has also been identified as a factor leading to the deterioration of the write/erase characteristics after many cycles. The physical shifting of the layer also results from thermally induced stress.
As to the erasure characteristics, the melting point of a substantially non-crystalline or amorphous film containing Te is typically in a wide temperature range of 400 .degree. C. to 900.degree. C. As explained, crystallization is generally achieved by increasing the temperature of the irradiated spots above the crystallization temperature, followed by a gradual cooling. The peak temperature reached is within the crystallization temperature range, and is lower than the melting point of the thin film recording layer. However, when the crystallized layer is subsequently irradiated with laser light having a higher power level, it is heated to a temperature above the melting point of the material. As the molten area rapidly cools, the material transforms to the substantially non-crystalliine or amorphous state and an amorphous spot is thereby formed which may represent the recorded information. During formation of the amorphous spot, the faster the cooling rate, the more uniform will be the resulting amorphous state. If the cooling rate is too low, a difference in the degree of non-crystallinity between the center and the outer periphery of the spot may result, which can lead to incomplete or non-uniform erasure during subsequent write/erase cycles. Thus, the higher the cooling rate during formation of the amorphous state, the better the erasure characteristics of the optical recording medium.

Method of recording and erasing information in an erasible optical recording medium

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A device for preventing rattling of a friction pads in disc brakes, in which a resilient member for avoiding rattling is interposed between the outer periphery of the friction pad and the inner surface of a portion for receiving the pad. The pad-receiving portion is formed in a caliper body.

The present invention relates generally to a disc brake including a caliper body arranged to stride over a disc and a pair of friction pads adapted to apply pressure to the disc from its both sides to exercise a damping effect thereon, and more particularly to a device for preventing rattling of the pads.
In the known disc brake in which a friction pad is received in a pad-receiving portion formed in a caliper body so that the friction pad is retained on the receiving portion to bear a braking torque on the latter, the inner surface of the pad-receiving portion is either kept in a casted state or further processed. In either case, however, a given tolerance causes a gap to be formed between the inner surface of the pad-receiving portion and the friction pad, which is responsible for the generation of a rattling noise due to vibrations or rocking movement of the vehicle body and a brake squeal in braking. In addition, the pad-receiving portion as casted is disadvantageous in that its inner surface, is too poor in accuracy to permit smooth sliding of the friction pad. For these reasons, the pad-receiving portion is often processed. However, it is particularly difficult to process the portion for receiving a square friction pad since its inner surface is of a square shape, resulting in a rise in the production cost etc.

Device for preventing rattling of pads in disc brakes


An organic EL device includes a substrate (21), a hole infecting electrode (22), an electron injecting electrode (25), and organic layers (23, 24) disposed between the electrodes. The hole injecting electrode (22) is an ITO electrode having (111) orientation. Due to improved film formation, close contact and physical properties at the interface between the hole injecting electrode and the organic layer, the device has a long lifetime, high luminance, high efficacy, and quality display and prevents the occurrence of current leakage and dark spots.

Recently, active research works have been made on organic EL devices. As a basic configuration, the organic EL device includes a hole injecting electrode, a thin film formed thereon by evaporating a hole transporting material such as triphenyldiamine (TPD), a light emitting layer deposited thereon of a fluorescent material such as an aluminum quinolinol complex (Alq3), and a metal electrode or electron injecting electrode formed thereon from a metal having a low work function such as magnesium. Such organic EL devices are attractive in that they can achieve a very high luminance ranging from several 100 to several 10,000 cd/m.sup.2 with a drive voltage of approximately 10 volts.
With respect to the material used as the hole injecting electrode of such organic EL devices, a material capable of injecting more holes into the light emitting layer or the hole injecting and transporting layer is believed effective. The hole injecting material is also required to be transparent and electroconductive because in many arrangements, emitted light exits from the substrate side.
Transparent electrodes known to this end include tin-doped indium oxide (ITO), zinc-doped indium oxide (IZO), ZnO, SnO.sub.2, and In.sub.2 O.sub.3. Of these, ITO electrodes are widely used as transparent electrodes in liquid crystal displays (LCD), dimmer glass and solar cells because they have both a visible light transmittance of 90% or higher and a sheet resistivity of 10 .OMEGA./or lower. ITO electrodes are considered promising as the hole injecting electrode in organic EL devices.
Organic EL devices tend to deteriorate with the lapse of time. It is a key task to prevent the EL devices from deteriorating. While various factors cause to deteriorate EL devices, the deterioration at a film interface, for example, between an electrode and an organic layer has a significant influence on the lifetime and light emission of EL devices. It is thus important to modify physical properties at the film interface. It is also necessary to prevent an abnormal light emitting phenomenon due to current leakage and a phenomenon of generating and propagating non-luminous regions known as dark spots.

Organic electroluminescent device and preparation method with ITO electrode (111) orientation


A method of forming a sealed cavity around an end of a fastener protruding from a structure is disclosed having the steps of: (i) installing a cap having a cap body terminating at a rim which surrounds an opening of a cavity over the end of the fastener so that the end of the fastener is enclosed within the cavity; (ii) heating the cap to increase a temperature within the cavity; (iii) providing a bead of uncured sealing material around the rim of the cap body to seal a volume of gas within the cavity; and (iv) curing the bead of sealing material during a cure period.

Large passenger aircraft are typically struck by lightning once or twice a year, each lightning bolt striking with up to 200,000 amps of electrical current that seeks the path of least electrical resistance. Many modern passenger aircraft have exterior surfaces made from composite materials which have a very high electrical resistance. There is therefore a high probability of lightening attachment at any of the many metallic fasteners in the exterior surface, which have a much lower electrical resistance. In the wing, some of these fasteners pass through the outer wing skin into the fuel tank.
FIG. 1 is a side view of part of a fastener assembly passing through a panel 1, which may be a composite or metallic panel. The assembly comprises a fastener comprising an externally threaded bolt 2, an internally threaded nut 3, and a washer 4 (the fastener may alternatively comprise any other known fastener type, such as a rivet or swage fastener). In the event of a lightning strike hitting the panel 1 and attaching to the fastener, sparking, plasma or out-gassing may occur at the locations indicated by reference 5 in FIG. 1. The panel 1 may provide a fuel tank boundary and the fastener may therefore be immersed in fuel or fuel vapour rich gas. A lightning strike at the fastener may thus provide sparking and hot gas ignition sources which could cause ignition of the fuel.
A known method of providing spark suppression is described in EP-A-0334011. A volume of gas is enclosed by a cap around the fastener. The gas provides spark suppression for arcing that may occur between the composite structure and the metal fastener during any lightning strike.

Method of installing a spark containment cap


A combination holder for beverage containers and personal stereos or recorders for mounting on stationary exercise equipment or the like. The holder generally has a cavity for holding a personal stereo, recorder or other device. The holder also has a generally circular opening for insertion of a beverage container. Wire legs extend outwardly from the holder beneath the circular opening to support the beverage container. The holder is secured to the bar of exercise equipment by wrapping attached straps having hook and loop material around a horizontal bar of the exercise equipment.

This invention relates to a combination beverage container and stereo holder for exercise equipment and bicycles.
When using stationary exercise equipment, it is often desirable to be able to take periodic drinks from a beverage can or the like. It is also desirable to be able to listen to tape recordings or radio broadcasts. There is a lack of safety and convenience in carrying a beverage holder or personal stereo in one hand while at the same time using exercise equipment. It may be also uncomfortable or inconvenient to have a personal stereo attached to one's clothing while using exercise equipment.
Various types of beverage holders and article holders exist in prior art. For example, beverage holders for bicycles have included structures consisting of bottom and top plates and means for spacing the interconnecting top and bottom members. The plates are mounted on a bicycle support and hold the beverage container, such as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,175.
Another example of the prior art, used to hold other items on a bicycle, is U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,744. This patent discloses a structure which provides a myriad of hook configurations and demountable attachment sections for securing of loose articles such as purses, sweaters, towels or other loose items.
Although prior art exists for mounting beverage containers on stationary exercise equipment, and also for holding other articles, it would be inconvenient, as well as impractical, to have separate structures for holding separate items on the same piece of exercise equipment. Also, such structures are unsightly and their use is inconvenient.

Combination beverage container and stereo holder


A method for controlling the resonance frequency of single crystal yttrium iron garnet (YIG) films by incorporating lead as a partial substituent for the yttrium component of the YIG film.

This invention relates to yttrium iron garnet films and to a method for their preparation. More particularly, this invention concerns itself with a method for controlling the resonance frequency of single crystal yttrium iron garnet (YIG) films grown by liquid phase epitaxy (LPE).
Single crystal yttrium iron garnet having the formula Y.sub.3 Fe.sub.5 O.sub.12 and being hereinafter referred to as YIG, is an important crystalline material finding wide application for use in a variety of electronic devices. The material can be utilized in either its single crystal bulk form or as a single crystal film grown on a suitable substrate. In bulk form, the material is often used as an optical modulator, a magnetic flux sensor and in magneto-optical memory devices because of its faraday effect. The major interest in the film form is for applications in magnetic bubble domain devices and in microwave signal processing devices. The high quality of the film form, especially those grown by liquid phase epitaxy techniques (hereinafter referred to as LPE), suggests that thin films, on the order of 1 mm. in thickness, are superior to flux grown bulk crystals in the fabrication of garnet spheres which are used in a number of microwave devices.
In liquid phase epitaxy, the YIG films are grown on a suitable substrate by the isothermal dipping method using a PbO--B.sub.2 O.sub.3 flux. The substrate is held horizontally in the flux and rotated around a vertical axis to produce the thin YIG films. However, it is often required to grow YIG films which have specific resonance frequencies or which have specific differences in resonance frequency in a fixed applied field. Heretofore, it has proven to be extremely difficult to control the resonance frequencies using liquid phase epitaxy. However, with the present invention, it has been found that the incorporation of several percent of lead as a substituent alters the lattice parameter of the YIG film thereby controlling the resonance frequency. The lead need not be added to the flux since it is already present. However, by growing the YIG at sufficiently low temperatures, the lead can be incorporated as a substituent for the Yttrium component of the YIG film in amounts as much as several weight percent.
Although the incorporation of lead as a substituent for YIG films is well known, its use as a means for controlling resonance frequency by utilizing a particular flux component in combination with specifically controlled growth temperatures, has not been previously recognized. The advantages of the present invention are that the flux of LPE melt is simple, the degree of lead incorporation is easily and effectively controlled, and a broad range of lead concentration can be prepared.

Method for controlling the resonance frequency of yttrium iron garnet films

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


A process for preparing substituted pentacene compounds comprises the step of cyclizing substituted bis(benzyl)phthalic acids using an acid composition comprising trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, the substituted bis(benzyl)phthalic acids being represented by the following general formulas: wherein each R (that is, each of the groups R1 through R8) is independently an electron-donating group, a halogen atom, a hydrogen atom, or a combination thereof.

Traditionally, inorganic silicon and gallium arsenide semiconductors, silicon dioxide insulators, and metals such as aluminum and copper have dominated the semiconductor industry. In recent years, however, there has been an increasing research effort in using organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) as an alternative to the traditional thin-film transistors based on inorganic materials.
Pentacene, thiophene oligomers, and regioregular polythiophenes have been the most widely researched organic semiconductors. Of these classes of semiconducting organic materials, the highest charge-carrier mobility values have been observed for pentacene. Charge-carrier mobility values greater than 1.5 cm2 V−1 s−1, on/off current ratios greater than 108, and sub-threshold voltages of less than 1.6 V have been reported for pentacene-based transistors. These values are comparable or superior to those of amorphous silicon-based devices.
However, the performance of pentacene-based devices can be difficult to reproduce. This lack of reproducibility is due to the polymorphic nature of pentacene. The alignment or structural order of the pentacene molecules differs for each polymorph or crystallographic phase, and this structural order determines the electronic properties of the device. The crystallographic phase adopted by pentacene depends on the process and conditions under which the crystals are formed. For example, when pentacene is vapor-deposited onto a substrate, a thin film phase is formed. This thin film phase is more effective at transporting charge than pentacene's bulk or single crystal phase, but it is meta-stable. For example, the thin film form of pentacene can be converted to the bulk phase by exposure to solvents such as isopropanol, acetone or ethanol. (See, for example, Gundlach et al., Applied Physics Letters, 74(22) 3302 (2000).)
In order to achieve maximum performance, pentacene must generally be deposited from the vapor phase by vacuum sublimation. The vacuum sublimation process, however, requires expensive equipment and lengthy pump-down cycles. Solution processing has the potential to greatly reduce the manufacturing costs associated with the use of organic semiconductors. Pentacene, however, is insoluble in common solvents and is therefore not a good candidate for solution processing.

Process for preparing pentacene derivatives


Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media can transmit at least a media content item to a recipient device. A response can be received from the recipient device. At least the media content item can be obscured to produce an obscured media content item. The response and the obscured media content item can be presented. The response can overlay the obscured media content item.

Today, people often utilize computing devices (or systems) for a wide variety of purposes. Users can use their computing devices to, for example, interact with one another, create content, share information, and access information. In some instances, a user can utilize his or her computing device to engage in communication. For example, under conventional approaches, a sending user can transmit a first text message to a recipient user. The recipient user can receive the first text message transmitted by the sending user. Upon receiving the first text message, the recipient user can view, read, access, or otherwise interact with the first text message. Moreover, the recipient user can decide to respond to the first text message by transmitting a second text message back to the original sending user. The original sending user can receive the second text message and can view, read, access, or otherwise interact with the second text message.
In another example, under conventional approaches, the sending user can transmit media content, such as images, audio, videos, and text, to the recipient. The recipient user can receive the media content and can access, view, or otherwise interact with the media content upon receipt. However, conventional approaches to communications can be uninteresting, boring, or not sufficiently interactive. These and other similar concerns can reduce or create challenges for the overall user experience associated with using computing devices to engage in communication.

Systems and methods for providing communications with obscured media content backgrounds


A medical imaging system having an X-ray image acquisition device, a plurality of proximity sensors located at components of the X-ray image acquisition device and a processing unit is able to prevent unintended X-ray radiation to an object in a field of irradiation. For this purpose, the processing unit is configured for determining temporal differences of distance information delivered by the proximity sensors, for generating reference distance information based on acquired distance information with an X-ray source, an X-ray detector and the patient support in fixed positions, for filtering out reference distance information from the acquired distance information and for generating a signal in case temporal differences are determined exceeding a predetermined threshold.

During interventional X-ray procedures, an interventionist should avoid placing his/her hands into the direct X-ray beam. However, in emergency cases, or linked to the clinical task to be conducted, this may be unavoidable. Several countermeasures are known, for example the use of gloves containing an X-ray impermeable material such as lead, the use of a smooth cream for attenuating X-rays, the use of ring-finger attachable dosimeters, etc.
Furthermore, it is known to use an X-ray device having an X-ray source and an X-ray detector as well as indicator means for illuminating an irradiation field traversed by X-rays, which is situated over a patient and between the X-ray detector and the patient. Indicator means are provided for monitoring the irradiation field. Thereby, the operator's hand may be detected when placed in the X-ray beam, such that alarming means give notice that a hand is irradiated. For example, this may be gathered from EP 1 084 678 A1.
US 2008/0279333 A1 discloses a C-arm X-ray imaging system that is provided with proximity sensors. Prior to an examination, the proximity sensors scan real outer dimensions of a patient as an individual 'static envelope'. During the examination, the real outer dimensions of the patient are determined in real-time as the 'dynamic envelope'. The static and dynamic envelopes are compared and, if the 'distance' between individual static and dynamic envelopes exceeds an adjustable value, a movement of the C-arm or the patient table may be stopped.

Medical imaging system capable of preventing unintended X-ray radiation to an object


Disclosed are a communication module and a lighting apparatus having the same. The communication module includes a housing provided therein with a space, and a module substrate provided in the space of the housing and provided therein with a wireless communication chip, a reset device to reset the wireless communication chip, and a display part to display the state of the wireless communication chip through the opening. The communication module is detachably coupled with an object to transmit a control signal, which is received through a wireless network, to the object. The communication module is stored when the lighting part of the lighting apparatus is replaced with new one, so that the cost is reduced. The light is discharged through the opening to display the erroneous operation of the inner part, such that the communication module is forcibly reset.

The disclosure relates to a communication module and a lighting apparatus including the same.
In general, a switch connected to a lighting apparatus through a cable is manually manipulated in order to turn on or turn off the lighting apparatus. In this case, the patient, the old, or the infirm that cannot freely move, or children that cannot reach the switch feel inconvenience when turning on or turning off the lighting apparatus.
Recently, in order to remove the inconvenience, a lighting apparatus, which is turned on or turn off, and can adjust lighting intensity by using a remote controller, has been released.
As the market of the lighting apparatus has been diversified, the requirement for the selective control of the characteristic (color temperature, dimming value, or brightness) of the lighting apparatus, or the selection of a communication scheme based on the speed/distance/power consumption among various communication schemes such as ZigBee, WiFi, or Bluetooth is increased.
In addition, since the communication module that receives/processes/transmits the user command is integrally provided with the lighting apparatus, the failure of the power supply part (PSU) provided in the lighting apparatus and/or the failure of an LED, a general lighting unit, or a control part provided in the lighting apparatus may occur. In this case, the lighting apparatus including the communication module must be replaced with new one.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Communication module and lighting apparatus having the same


A method of manufacturing coated paper by applying a coating liquid to a strip-shaped web of paper to form a plurality of bands extending in the width direction of the web and spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction of the web includes: a coating step (S1) of applying the coating liquid to the web to form the bands with a coating band pitch narrower than a design band pitch defined as a standard for the coated paper; an aftertreatment step (S2), executed after the coating step, of drying the web; and a tension applying step (S3), executed after the aftertreatment step, of expanding the band pitch of the web by applying tension to the web to cause the band pitch of the web to approach the design band pitch.

One example of such coated paper is low ignition propensity wrapping paper for cigarettes.
In recent years, low ignition propensity wrapping paper for cigarettes has come to be widely known, and such wrapping paper has a fire retardant coated on (applied to) predetermined regions thereof. Where a cigarette using the low ignition propensity wrapping paper is lit, spread of fire toward the proximal or mouth end of the cigarette is restrained. Specifically, the low ignition propensity wrapping paper for cigarettes is obtained by applying a fire retardant in liquid form to a strip-shaped web of paper in such a manner that the regions applied with the fire retardant are spaced at predetermined intervals from each other in the longitudinal direction of the web and extend in the width direction of the web (like bands), and then subjecting the web to aftertreatment such as drying.
The low ignition propensity wrapping paper is often required to have bands of the fire retardant arranged at the intervals defined as a standard (hereinafter referred to as design band pitch). For example, where cigarettes to be produced require that the low ignition propensity wrapping paper to be used should have bands complying with the design band pitch, low ignition propensity wrapping paper having bands with an irregular band pitch or in disagreement with the design band pitch is rejected and is not used.
There has been known an apparatus which is configured to inspect the width and spacing of the bands of a fire retardant on the web in the process of manufacture of cigarette wrapping paper (Patent Document 1). Also, a cigarette paper manufacturing machine has been known in which the width of bands formed on the web is inspected by an inspection apparatus to adjust the amount of the fire retardant to be applied to form the bands (Patent Document 2).

Method and apparatus for manufacturing coated paper


A reciprocating bender for conduit which may make equal and opposite bends in a length of conduit. The reciprocating bender includes a bending deck, a traveling bending shoe, a rising bending shoe, a jack, and a stabilizer. The conduit is placed adjacent the traveling and rising bending shoes, and the stabilizer holds the conduit in place. The jack elevates the rising bending shoe above the deck, causing the conduit to make both equal and opposite bends about the two bending shoes.

The present invention relates generally to apparatus for bending tubes, such as electrical wire conduits and other pipes, and more particularly to a dual action offset bender that automatically makes two bends in a length of pipe substantially simultaneously. In many applications, pipe, such as electrical conduit, is installed where the pipe must be bent to accommodate a physical structure in the path where the pipe is to be routed. For example, electrical conduit, which serves as a mechanical protection for electrical wires, must often be bent so as to "go around" a beam, pillar, or other obstruction in a building. In such circumstances, the conduit must be bent in first direction (to "go around" the obstruction) and after extending a short distance, must be bent in a second, but opposite, direction. In this way, the pipe continues in its course, substantially parallel to its original course, but offset in order to avoid the obstruction. After passing the obstruction, the craftsman installing the conduit may bend the conduit a third and fourth time (again in opposite directions) so that the conduit resumes its initial path.
Many commonly available devices for bending conduit make only one bend in the conduit at a time. This is inconvenient where two equal and opposite bends are to be made in the conduit. If a first bend is made at a particular angle, the device must be employed a second time. Moreover, if a second bend is to be made, the bending device must be carefully utilized to ensure that the bend is made in the opposite direction and with the same angle as the first bend. Errors in operating the device or failure to measure the angle of the first bend accurately will result in a length of conduit which does not veer away from an obstruction in a orderly fashion.
Other devices are expensive to make. Still other conduit benders are too heavy to conveniently bring to a construction site where a bender would be utilized.


A laser sighting device for a pistol includes a universally mounted laser diode at the forward end of the pistol's trigger guard, wherein positioning of the laser beam is accomplished via adjustment screws from within the trigger guard. An energizing cable in the pistol structure is connected to a power supply located within the pistol's handgrip, and an externally operable activating switch is provided at the rear of the handgrip which is easily actuated by the user's hand immediately before the trigger is operated.

The present invention relates to a pistol sighting device and particularly to a laser sighting device adapted to form an integral part of a weapon.
A number of law enforcement agencies have recently started employing laser attachments in conjunction with regulation handguns. When the weapon is fired at predetermined range, a laser beam from a device mounted on the weapon can accurately predict the point of impact of the bullet even under conditions of moderate ambient light by projecting a spot upon the target. Not only does the use of such a laser sight ensure effectiveness with respect to the intended target, but also lessens the likelihood of unintended injury by a stray or inaccurately fired bullet.
Prior laser sighting devices have been in the nature of "add-on" structures attached to the police weapon in an obtrusive and ungainly manner so the weapon no longer can be received in a regulation holster. Moreover, such add-ons are easily damaged or unintentionally disengaged from the weapon unless considerable care is exercised with respect to their fragile structure. These devices can also be difficult to adjust in respect to the intended range of the weapon, and/or adjustment can be lost through mishandling such that the weapon can become more dangerous rather than more accurate.


An eye model including a front positive lens, a rear positive lens, an aperture stop located between the front and rear positive lenses, and a focal plane located rearward of the rear positive lens, wherein the front positive lens has a meniscus shape having an outer surface radius equal to a radius of a human eye, and wherein the rear positive lens has a rear surface having a radius equal to a distance from the aperture stop to the rear surface.

A difficulty in the development of ophthalmic diagnostic devices is obtaining information about the human eye, such as geometry, aperture diameter depth, etc. without incurring significant discomfort or injury to a human subject. The development of an ophthalmic diagnostic instrument requires repetitive gathering of information, and this can be painful and problematic for a human test subject.
An additional problem is the fact that the eye is a living organism and differs from one person to the next. Obviously, this compounds the problem of gathering accurate data about the eye geometry because there is no way to truly measure in-vivo tissue of the eye to the micron level without physically removing the eye.


A press apparatus is described for forcefully pressing a connector (14, FIG. 1) against a circuit board (12) to press projections (34) of the connector into circuit board holes (22), which minimizes set up time. The press includes a pair of platforms (60, 62, FIG. 2) on which a circuit board with a connector thereon is laid, an upper tooling arrangement (102) mounted on a ram, and a lower tooling arrangement (100) mounted on a stationary base (78). When the ram is lowered, it causes the circuit board and the connector thereon to move down against the lower tooling arrangement, and then seat the connector. The force of the ram is transmitted through the connector and circuit board to the lower tooling arrangement, so in many cases the stroke of the ram does not have to be adjusted for the thickness of the particular circuit board or connector. The two platforms have adjustable edge guides (66, 68) that abut opposite side edges of the circuit board, the platforms being movable together and apart to accommodate different circuit board widths, and each platform being downwardly movable against the force of a spring (74). A pair of retainers (132, 134) mounted on the ram, first engage opposite edge portions of the circuit board and move down the platforms, before the ram engages and pushes down the connector.

A common technique for mounting a connector on a circuit board, is to place the connector over the circuit board with connector projections aligned with circuit board holes. A lower tooling arrangement supports the bottom of the circuit board while an upper tooling arrangement on a ram moves down to press down the connector and thereby force the connector projections into the circuit board holes. The most common press arrangement includes a fixed platform on which the circuit board is placed, a lower tooling arrangement lying against the bottom of the circuit board or movable up against the bottom of the circuit board, and a ram whose downward stroke is closely controlled to move just far enough to seat the connector on the circuit board. The ram stroke can be manually adjusted or can be automatically adjusted by a closed loop electronic control, for variations in thickness of the circuit board and connector.
Processes that require the lower tooling arrangement to travel upward, increase the complexity and cost of the press, especially when high forces are encountered. On the other hand, requiring an operator to manually place a circuit board directly against a stationary lower tooling arrangement increases the cycle time and increases the possibility of damage to components on the lower side of the circuit board. Closed loop electronic controls to stop and retract the ram are of increased complexity and cost, while the manual adjustment of ram stroke adds to the set-up time.
It is common for a press for a particular set up, to "run" on the order of 100 circuit boards, wherein each circuit board is placed in the press with a set of connectors thereon that are to be seated on the board. The thickness of circuit boards commonly ranges between one-eighth and one-sixteenth inch, while the thickness of connectors commonly ranges between about one-fourth and one-half inch. A press of minimum complexity which could seat connectors on circuit boards with minimal adjustment of the press for variations in circuit board and connector thickness, and with fast setup and cycle times, would be of value.


An all terrain vehicle and suspension providing frame members that pivot relative to each other and independent of supported track assemblies. Suspension frame sections pivot at supported bearings and torsion couplers. An endless track of each track assembly is trained around a framework having a drive sprocket and sets of idler wheels. The track assemblies independently pivot relative to the vehicle from a track suspension frame and supported sets of idler wheels mounted to torsion biased rocker arms that resist and bias the rocker arms and idler wheels to an equilibrium position and conformally shape the track to the terrain. Improved track drive lug surfaces are shaped to prevent track derailment. The vehicle frame and track assemblies independently rise, fall and pivot as obstacles of differing configurations and types are encountered to stabilize and maintain an operator body substantially parallel to the ground.

The present invention relates to all terrain vehicles (ATV) and, in particular, to a drive train suspension for a vehicle having multiple pivot axes to permit independent longitudinal and transverse pivoting of the frame suspension and supported tracks and/or wheels.
A wide variety of all terrain vehicles have been developed for travel over off-road terrain of all types and including rocks, bog, rivers, sand, snow and ice. These vehicles typically include flexible suspensions that support floatation tires and/or tracks to produce relatively low pounds per square inch (psi) footprints to minimize incapacitating the vehicle.
Vehicles are also known wherein interconnecting members or beams of associated suspension frames are coupled together to pivot relative to each other independent of the vehicle operator compartment. As supported wheels or tracks encounter obstructions, the pivot joints allow the suspension frame to flex independent of the suspension members securing the wheels to the vehicle. A term sometimes used to describe a frame suspension of the foregoing type s is a "walking beam" suspension but which typically are believed to provide a single pivot.
The present invention was developed to provide an improved multi-pivot vehicle frame suspension that permits a support frame for several included wheels and/or tracks to independently flex and accommodate relatively severe terrains. In various vehicle constructions, the vehicle provides frame suspensions with five and eight pivot points of differing pivot constructions that independently pivot from four supported tracks. Each track assembly is independently supported to the multi-pivot suspension frame and includes a track framework that accommodates independent, torsion controlled track movement with encountered obstacles. The track assemblies are also mounted to independently pivot to accommodate front, rear, crab and 360° degrees steering at the track assemblies.
Each track assembly includes a framework having a drive portion containing a drive sprocket and an arcuate upper bearing support plate. The upper bearing support plate pivots clockwise and counter clockwise relative to an intervening slide bearing member and an arcuate lower bearing support plate. The lower bearing support plate separately supports sets of idler wheels or rollers of differing sizes from torsion biased rocker arms. A track trained around the drive sprocket and idler roller framework thereby independently flexes fore and aft to rise and fall and change shape as necessary to maintain contact with encountered obstacles.
The rocker arm assemblies are coupled to the track frame with axles fitted to collars containing elastomer shims that resist and bias axle rotation to an equilibrium position. Similar torsion couplers are used at the multi-pivot vehicle suspension frame. Alternative multi-pivot frame suspensions, track assemblies and improved internal, track drive lugs are disclosed. Critical edges of the drive lug are particularly chamfered to relieve wheel lug contact prevent the idler wheels from creeping upward along the lugs and derailing. Collectively, the vehicle frame and track assemblies independently rise and fall as obstacles of differing configurations and types are encountered, while maintaining the operator compartment substantially parallel to the ground.