Poinsettia `490 PINK` is a new cultivar, distinguished by pink bracts and intense dark green foliage with self-branching characteristics. `490 PINK` is a color sport of the dark red bracted `490` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,825) with the same early flowering response and cultural requirements. The new plant produces a very desirable branched flowering pot plant. The new plant is resistant to epinasty after being confined to shipping containers and recovers rapidly if the plant does become epinastic. The post-production foliage and bract retention is excellent even under low light intensities in the consumer's home.

This new poinsettia cultivar originated as an induced pink bracted sport of 490 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,825) in my greenhouse in Encinitas, Calif. It was induced by irradiation of 100 vegetative plants of `490` with 4000 rads of radiation, randomly applied to the whole plant under conditions which were not lethal to the plant. Of the 100 plants irradiated, one plant exhibited pink bracts. The mutant plant exhibited early flowering, self branching, pink flower bracts and dark green foliage; traits which help distinguish it from other poinsettia cultivars, and seem to make it a desirable plant for commercial greenhouse production.
`490 Pink` differs from the parent plant `490` in its distinctly different pink bract color. In contrast, parent `490` exhibits dark red bracts. Otherwise, the two plants are similar in size, height, leaf shape, and other characteristics.
After selection, `490 PINK` was vegetatively reproduced from stem cuttings for test purposes in Encinitas, Calif. By subjecting clones of this plant to successive generations of vegetative propagation, it was demonstrated that the distinctive characteristics of `490 PINK` held true from generation to generation.


A terminal block arrangement for a timer device or system; which enables suitable heat dissipation wherein the terminal block is handling currents of the order of at least 30 amps, such that heat dissipation is a problem because the dissipation is limited either by the PC board track or, if wire is used, by the heat conduction of the wire. The terminal design of the present invention is unique because the terminal block provides the combined advantages of access to the end user, is a source of heat sinking required by the relay, is a reliable integral connection between relay and output, and by changing the size of the terminal, can provided an almost unlimited use for AC and DC applications requiring high voltages and currents. The relay connections can be welded or soldered.

The present invention relates to a terminal block arrangement for a timer device or system in which relatively low values of currents are involved, for the most part, in the timer circuitry which is mounted on a printed circuit (PC) board. The terminal block assembly or arrangement is particularly used in conjunction with electronic timing circuitry to provide the required high current and voltage values involved in switching loads on and off at appropriate times. The on and off switching is carried out by relays judiciously connected to the electronic timing circuitry.
Conventional designs have the characteristic that the components are placed in an area inaccessible to the end user. Typically, a case is provided for the timer device and the front side thereof is provided with a suitable opening for a display and an area for pushbutton controls directed to the selection of the day, hour, or minute, and so forth. At the bottom of the front side of the case, a terminal block is provided for circuitry output, that is, suitable load connections are to be made so as to accomplish the required switching of loads on and off. Such loads can be, for example, lamps, air conditioners, etc.
Depending on the load requirements, conventional design provides connection from the relay which is performing the on and off functions to the terminal area either by the PC board conductors, or by soldering wire from the relay terminals to the board area in which the terminal block is disposed or situated.
Accordingly, it will be apparent to the man skilled in the art that the current design in handling such requirements is deficient because: (1) the PC board conductor is a limiting factor in the current capacity of the timer; in other words, the typical board conductor is very limited in current capacity; (2) using additional wiring simply increases the cost due to the required wire and labor involved in connecting the relay board to the end user terminal board area; additionally, when wiring is used to reach the terminal block, additional soldered or welded contacts have to be made which introduce further contact resistance.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to overcome the deficiencies present with conventional design and construction of terminal block arrangements for timer or other electronic devices, which involve components being placed in areas inaccessible to the end user, but in which circuitry output is to be by means of a terminal block to which load connections are to be made. The latter must be accessible but, must importantly, must be capable of carrying the relatively high currents involved, in the order of at least 30 amperes. Furthermore, the heat dissipation must be ample such that UL or other regulatory requirements can be met for the allowable temperature rise.

Terminal block arrangement for a timer device or the like


A semiconductor device having both high strength and high thermal radiation that is capable of being applied to mounting on automobiles experiencing many thermal cycles, and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. A circuit board 1a for a resin encapsulated semiconductor module device has a configuration where a silicon nitride plate 2 with a thickness of 0.635 mm has copper plates of 1.0 mm and 0.8 mm bonded to both sides thereof via active metal. A copper plate 3a is bonded to the surface side of the silicon nitride plate 2, and a prescribed circuit pattern is formed on the copper plate 3a. Tin-silver-copper cream solder layers 4a and 4b with a thickness of 200 μm are formed at a prescribed location on the circuit pattern 3a on which a semiconductor element 6 is mounted and at a prescribed location of a base plate 1 on which the circuit board 1a is disposed. Nickel particles 5 having a maximum particle size of 100 μm and an average particle size of 70 μm are dispersed in the solder 4a on the base plate 1 of good thermal conductivity. A semiconductor element (chip) 6, the circuit board 1a, and the base plate 1 are disposed on predetermined locations. Thereafter, they are set in a reflow oven (not shown in the drawings) for reflow soldering. After the inside of the reflow oven is replaced by a nitrogen atmosphere, the reflow oven is heated to 280° C. At the time when solder is melted, the inside of the oven is decompressed to 1 Pa, nitrogen is introduced, and the reflow oven is cooled to about room temperature, thereby completing the solder bonding step. After flux is washed, an outer case 7 with an insert-molded outlet terminal 8 is adhered to the base plate 1 and a predetermined connection is conducted via an aluminum bonding wire 9. Then, silicone gel 10 is injected into a package delimited via the base plate 1 and the outer case 7, and the silicone gel 10 is heat-hardened, thereby completing a resin encapsulated semiconductor device A.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power semiconductor module device, especially to a resin encapsulated power semiconductor module device that realizes effective thermal radiation, and a production method thereof.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, power semiconductor module devices have been used for electronic devices such as inverters, converters, servos, and the like. FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of a conventional power semiconductor module device. As shown in FIG. 5, the power semiconductor module device comprises a circuit board with metal plates 103a and 103b bonded to both sides of a ceramic material 102, the circuit board being fixed on a metal base plate 101 using solder 104a. And a semiconductor element 106 is fixed on a surface side metal plate 103a of the aforementioned circuit board using solder 104b.
An outer case 107 having an insert-molded outlet terminal 108 is attached to the metal base plate 101 such that it is erected on the metal plate 101. Electric connection between the semiconductor element 106 and the outlet terminal 108 is performed via an aluminum bonding wire 109. A resin material 110, such as silicon gel, is used to fill in an internal space delimited by the outer case 107.
In the aforementioned electronic devices such as inverters, converters, servos, and the like, regarding semiconductor elements capable of use for various types of power systems that are usually mounted, such as diodes, transistors, IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor), MOSFET, or the like, ceramic materials are selected through which insulation and thermal conductivity functions of the circuit board are performed depending on each heat release value. In medium to high capacity devices that have high heat release values, aluminum nitride ceramics are mainly used. In small to medium capacity devices, alumina ceramics are used.
In particular, as the demand for the reduction of environmental burdens has been increasing, the application of power semiconductor mounted devices to automobiles, such as hybrid cars, has rapidly made progress. Conventionally, power devices applied to automobile driving systems have high heat release values, so that circuit boards employing aluminum nitride in an insulated layer have been used.
With the progress of material development technologies, silicon nitride having superior strength characteristics has attracted attention, and applied research has been in progress regarding silicon nitride having both high strength and high thermal conductivity to be used for silicon nitride circuit boards as a material substitutable for aluminum nitride circuit boards (see Patent Documents 1 to 3, for example).
Patent Document 1: JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 9-162325 A (1997)
Patent Document 2: JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 10-190176 A (1998)
Patent Document 3: JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-84046 A

Resin encapsulated semiconductor device and the production method


When forming a module 100 having a configuration in which a column-shaped connection terminal 11, which forms an interlayer connection conductor, and an electronic component 102 are mounted on a wiring substrate 101 and sealed with a resin, the column-shaped connection terminal 11 which has a substantially T-shaped cross section and in which a first end portion has a larger diameter than a second end portion is prepared (the preparation step), an electronic component 102 is mounted on one main surface of the wiring substrate 101 and the connection terminal 11 is mounted on the one main surface in such a manner that the second end portion of the connection terminal 11 having a smaller diameter is connected to the wiring substrate 101 (the mounting step), and the electronic component 102 and the connection terminal 11 are sealed with a resin layer 103 (the sealing step).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of manufacturing a module that includes a plurality of connection terminals forming interlayer connection conductors and relates to the module.
2. Description of the Related Art
To date, as shown by an example module illustrated in FIG. 8, a module 500 is known in which various electronic components 502 mounted on both surfaces of a wiring substrate 501 are sealed with resin layers 503 (for example, refer to Patent Document 1). In this case, a metal shield layer 504 is provided on one main surface of the module 500, and mounting electrodes 505 for external connection are provided on the other main surface. The metal shield layer 504 and the mounting electrodes 505 are electrically connected to the wiring layer of the wiring substrate 501 through respective via conductors 506 for interlayer connection.
Patent Document 1: International Publication No. 2005/078796 (paragraphs 0017-0025 and 0035, FIG. 1, Abstract, and others)


Disclosed is a method of constructing and executing a process. A conventional process is minutely divided into minimum unit subprocesses, and the minutely divided subprocesses are classified into a decision subprocesses and a routine subprocess by whether they require decision-making. Any subprocess which is executable using the setup condition in a specific decision subprocess is classified into the routine subprocess in such a manner that the classified routine subprocess follows on the specific decision subprocess. One or a series of decision subprocesses are combined with one or a series of routine subprocesses which are executable on the condition of the completion of the decision subprocesses to form one unit process, and a job-support computer program is created to allow the plurality of subprocesses included in the one unit process to be successively executed. A plurality of subprocesses which are executable in accordance with common input data are detected from the minutely divided minimum unit subprocesses, and a job flow is constructed to allow the respective jobs in the plurality of subprocesses to be simultaneously initiated and executed in parallel. The present invention can drastically reduce the lead-time of a process while facilitating execution of the entire process with high efficiency.

In various fields, a number of proposes and actual attempts have been made to reduce the lead-time of a process. Conventional techniques of lead-time reduction are intended to shorten or reduce individual operations, tasks, jobs or subprocess constituting a process, but not to reduce the lead-time through a technique of reviewing the entire construction of a process to reorganize subprocesses or cut useless subprocesses according to need. Thus, the conventional process includes a number of hidden, unrecognizable useless jobs. In fact, considerable jobs which could otherwise be executed in parallel are executed in series, and useless waiting or holding period involves between subprocesses. In addition, the conventional process includes a number of decision subprocesses requiring millions of parameters, and the decision-making in each of such subprocesses generally relies on a skilled specialist. The conventional process also has a problem of including many similar subprocesses to be repeatedly executed. Heretofore, it has not been achieved to effectively reduce the entire process time due to no effective means for detecting such problems.

Method of constructing process workflow having decision subprocesses and routine subprocesses and combining subprocesses to form one unit process


A provisional implant includes an indicator of implant function. Alternating electrically conductive regions and electrically insulating regions on the surface of the provisional implant cooperate with an electrically conducting mating component to indicate when the mating component is in contact with each of the electrically conducting regions.

The present invention relates to provisional, or trial, implants having an indicator of implant function and joint kinematics.
During joint replacement surgery it is common for a surgeon to use a provisional implant or set of implants to determine the proper size and placement for a particular prosthetic joint component. Typically the affected bones are cut to accept the prosthetic component and then a succession of corresponding provisional components are tried in the joint. Each provisional is placed and its function and the joint kinematics are checked for such things as joint laxity or tightness, component tilt, and smoothness, freedom and extent of joint motion. With prior devices the surgeon has had to rely on his ability to sense or feel proper joint function and his ability to see in the indistinct environment of a surgical wound how the components are performing.


A vehicle, such as a lawn mower or garden tractor, includes an engine attached to a frame. The frame includes several wheels including two driven wheels. A first axle shaft is attached to the first driven wheel. A second axle shaft attached to the second driven wheel. The vehicle has a transmission for transmitting power from the engine to the first axle shaft and the second axle shaft for driving the first and second wheels. The transmission includes a differential for accommodating different lengths of travel between said first wheel and said second wheel, such as when the vehicle makes a turn. The differential includes a ring gear supported by the first axle shaft and the second axle shaft. A first planet gear is supported on the first planet shaft. The first planet shaft is attached to the ring gear. Similarly, a second planet gear supported on a second planet shaft. The second planet shaft is also attached to the ring gear.

A differential is a device that allows the driven wheels of a vehicle to turn at different speeds such as when making a turn. In rear wheel driven cars, the differential is known as the Rear End. There are essentially two types of differentials which can be described as heavy and light duty. The heavy duty, used by the automotive industry, is designed for heavy loads, high speeds and 1000's of hours of life. The light duty, used by the lawn and garden industry, is designed for light loads, low speeds and 100's of hours of life. Consequently, the designs of the two types are vastly different. The former requires accurate, well-supported steel gears, while the latter have simply, often highly unconventionally, supported powdered metal gears.
Generally, the differentials of the type used in lawn and garden tractors have the following components: a ring gear, two axle shafts, two planet gears, two bevel gears, a cross-shaft and various thrust washers and retaining rings. These parts are contained in and supported by a first housing portion and a second housing portion that may or may not have separate bearings.
The first and second housing portions mate to form a housing for the transmission. The differential is a part of the transmission. It should be noted that most of the time, the terminology for the components is as used above. Sometimes, however, the bevel gears are referred to as sun gears; the planet gears are referred to as planet pinions or merely pinion gears; and the ring gear is called the crown wheel.
Two types of transmissions are used in lawn and garden tractors, namely the mechanical and the more easily operated hydrostatic transmission (HST). Because of the high cost of the Hydrostatic transmission, most of the transmissions used in the past have been mechanical.
Over the last few years, however, the cost of the hydrostatic transmission has been substantially reduced. This lower cost and the ease of operation has resulted in the hydrostatic transimission gaining an increasingly greater share of the market. However, the hydrostatic transimission is less efficient than a mechanical transmission. To compensate for the inefficiencies, larger engines are required. The larger engine and inefficiencies translate into heat. Therefore, special features must be added to cool the hydrostatic transimission. In other words, the housing must be more complex with additional fins and added surface area to carry away the added heat generated. In addition, cooling fans must be added to force ambient air around the housing to adequately cool the unit.
Common types of differentials used in mechanical transmissions are very inefficient because the ring gear is supported on the Major Diameter (M.D.), or on cylindrical surfaces at a large diameter, by a cavity in the housing which may or may not have an intermediate member of steel. In any case, the friction is high and the diameter large. As Horsepower (HP) is proportional to Torque (T) and Speed (N), and as T is proportional to the gear Force (F), Radius (R) to the supporting surface, and Friction (u), Horsepower Loss (HPL) is proportional to N, F, R, and u. For purposes of comparison N and F are constants and consequently HPL is proportional to R and u, which, in the case of the more commonly used differentials are both very large. Additionally, as the ring gear floats in the housing cavity, it continuously bumps up against the housing at a large diameter further increasing the HPL.
As the hydrostatic transmission is a rather inefficient device, any inefficiencies downstream of the hydrostatic transmission further aggravates the problem of cooling the hydrostatic transmission because the hydraulic units of the hydrostatic transmission must work that much harder. Consequently, hydrostatic transmissions as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,339,965 and 5,447,028 have tried to address the problem of high differential inefficiencies by supporting the ring gear by a highly finished shaft of small diameter.
The construction of the hydrostatic transmission of U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,965 still allows the gear to float laterally. The cross-shaft is also expensive to produce. Additionally, the necessary clearances between the cross-shaft and the ring gear will, over time, cause wear and shortened life of the Hydrostatic transmission.
The construction of the hydrostatic transmission of U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,028 overcomes some of the problems of U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,965 mentioned above, but at increased cost. More parts and special assembly techniques are probably required to assure proper gear alignment of this hydrostatic transmission.
Therefore, there is a need for a low cost more efficient differential that can be used as part of either a mechanical or a hydrostatic transmission. A more efficient differential will have less wear and will last longer while not producing heat as a result of friction between the various components and the housing of the transmission. In addition, there is also a need for a transmission that has fewer parts and is simple to assemble and manufacture. There is a further need for a transmission that can be made less inexpensively.


A user-controlled application-based power management function is provided for a battery-operated device. In general, for each of a number of applications of the battery-operated device, a power management function enables a user of the battery-operated device to provide a usage parameter for the application defining a desired amount of usage of the application for each of one or more tasks. For each task, the power management function determines an estimated amount of battery life that is sufficient to provide the desired amount of usage of the application for the task and determines whether the estimated amount of battery life is available. If the estimated amount of battery life is available, the power management function allocates an amount of battery life corresponding to the estimated amount of battery life to the application for the task.

Users of battery-operated devices, such as mobile smart phones, frequently experience low-battery issues. Some currently available battery-operated devices enable a user to check remaining battery life, where the remaining battery life is presented as a percentage of a maximum battery life. The user may then manually adjust device options to reduce power consumption if desired. However, this type of manual power management scheme is not intuitive and practical for the average user. As such, there is a need for an improved power management scheme for battery operated devices.

User-controlled application-based power management


An alarm clock housing with lockable keypad enclosure that includes a time/alarm entry keypad. The lockable keypad enclosure is lockable with an enclosure cover combination locking mechanism that includes a receiving tube cavity formed into the molded alarm clock housing member, a locking solenoid with a normally extended retractable locking bolt, three rotary combination wheels each having a shaft receiving aperture and a shaft conductor contact, a split conductor wheel shaft including three nonconducting gaps along the length thereof, and left and right rotary shaft contacts each with a conducting lead wire. The normally extended retractable locking bolt is sized and positioned to be extendable into the locking bolt receiving tube when the pivoting enclosure cover is pivoted into the closed position.

Many individuals find it difficult to set the time and/or the desired alarm time on electronic alarm clocks. It would be a benefit to these individuals to have an alarm clock housing that included a time/alarm entry keypad that was interfaceable with an alarm clock circuit through which the time and alarm times could be input to the alarm clock circuit. Because it can be desirable to prevent unauthorized people from altering the time and or alarm time of an alarm clock it would also be desirable to have an alarm clock housing that included a lockable keypad enclosure. Because keys can be lost or misplaced, it would be a further benefit to have an alarm clock housing that included a lockable keypad enclosure that was lockable with a combination locking mechanism.

Alarm clock housing with lockable keypad enclosure


A vinyl chloride resin composition for powder molding containing 100 wt. parts of a granular vinyl chloride resin having an average polymerization degree of between 1000 and 1200, 75 to 81 wt. parts of a trimellitate plasticizer, and 2 to 20 wt. parts of a fine powder vinyl chloride resin having an average polymerization degree of between 600 and 1000, which has excellent powder-dropping and melting properties, and can be readily powder molded to give molded articles having good elongation at low temperature and also very low glass-hazing properties.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vinyl chloride resin composition suitable for powder molding and a method for preparing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As covering materials of interior parts of automobiles, resinous molded articles with high quality appearance are used which have light weights and good soft feeling, and also leather grain, stitch and the like on their decorative surfaces.
Such molded articles are produced by powder molding a vinyl chloride resin composition for powder molding comprising a granular vinyl chloride resin in which, plasticizers, stabilizers, pigments and the like are dry blended and also a fine powder vinyl chloride resin is uniformly dispersed.
A typical example of the interior parts of the automobiles which uses such molded articles as the covering materials is an instrument panel.
In these years, automobiles installing an air bag for an assistant seat in an instrument panel have been widely used. As such air bags, air bags are proposed which are installed under the covering materials of instrument panels for hiding and break the covering materials to inflate in operation.
It is required for molded articles used as such covering materials of instrument panels under which such an air bag is installed to break the covering materials by inflation, and also to prevent the scattering of broken pieces on breaking at low temperature and form the broken pieces having less sharp edges, that is, to have a sufficient elongation at low temperature. An example of such covering materials is a molded article produced by powder molding a vinyl chloride resin composition for powder molding which has been prepared using a relatively large amount of a plasticizer during dry blending.
Instrument panels are often heated to high temperature. Thus, molded articles used as the covering materials of such instrument panels are required not to contain materials which evaporate at high temperature and adhere to and cloud windshields. That is, the molded articles should have low glass-hazing properties.
In general, vinyl chloride resin compositions for powder molding are required to be easily molded and to provide molded articles having less irregular thicknesses. Thus, such resin compositions should have good powder-cutting off and melting properties.
However, there have been no vinyl chloride resin compositions for powder molding which have a sufficient elongation at low temperature, provide molded articles having low glass-hazing properties, and have excellent powder-dropping and melting properties.

Vinyl chloride resin composition and method for producing the same


The present invention provides an adjusting method of a tilt meter. First, multiple holding signals of the same direction output from a tilt sensor, respectively, are differentiated to obtain at least a tilt signal. Then, a first judging step is performed to determine whether the tilt signal is in a predetermined range or not and a rough tuning step is executed to limit the voltage of the tilt signal in the predetermined range. Then, the voltage of the tilt signal in the predetermined range is amplified by a predetermined multiple. Afterwards, a second judging step is performed to determine whether the tilt signal after amplification is equal to a level voltage or not and a delicate tuning step is proceeded to adjust the voltage of the tilt signal to become equal to the level voltage.

Tilt sensors have a variety of applications due to their accurate measurements of levelness. Tilt sensors also have good reliability and are easy to obtain, so they were originally designed for the aim of weapons and the navigation of aircraft; and now they are also applied to the alignment of automobile wheels and even the detection of earthquakes and the facilitation of laser tilt meters. The principle of how the tilt sensor works is illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the tilt sensor 100 includes an electrolyte 102 and four electrodes (104, 106, 108, 110). Well known is that the conductivity between two electrodes is proportional to the length of electrode immersed in an electrolyte. Even if the ground is not horizontal to the sensor, the surface of the electrolyte in the tilt sensor remains level due to gravity. The electrolyte is electrically conductive, and since the conductivity between the two electrodes is proportional to the length of electrode immersed in the electrolyte, the resistance changes in proportion to the tilt angle. Therefore, the slant of the tilt sensor is derived from the resistance corresponding to the tilt angle.
In the tilt sensor, signals with the same single electrical property are sent to the four input pins of the tilt sensor alternately and multi-directionally in turn to measure the level of the two directions. The output pin of the tilt sensor generates a series of output signals composed of a plurality of output signals according to the slant status. Then, a microcontroller unit (MCU) separates the series of output signals composed of a plurality of output signals into four independent and continuous signals, wherein the four signals contain the tilt information of both directions. Next, the microcontroller unit transfers the four signals into four corresponding voltages, differentiates the signals of the same direction, and then analyzes the result to obtain the slant information of the two directions. Furthermore, based on the slant information, the microcontroller unit determines the horizontal status and then accordingly drives a level-adjusting device, such as a motor. After many recursions and modifications, the surface of the electrolyte in the tilt sensor will become level at last.
However, the microcontroller unit may need to repeatedly drive the motor to adjust the position of the tilt sensor. Moreover, since the position of the tilt sensor changes, the output data has a lag, thus prolonging the adjusting time for the tilt sensor to become level. In current practice, about 15 seconds are spent for the tilt sensor to become level, wherein the time needed is related to the difference between the initial position of the tilt sensor and the position of being level.


Ethernet capability of a device under test is tested. A diagnostic tool is connected to the device under test. Menus displayed by the diagnostic tool are used to select an Ethernet test. The diagnostic tool discovers network settings of the device under test. Then the diagnostic tool configures an Ethernet connection between the diagnostic tool and the device under test.

Stores receive millions of dollars of returns of products. Sometimes the returns result from defective products. Other times the returns result from customer dissatisfaction with a product despite no product defect. If a product is defective, the product is generally returned to the manufacturer. If the product is not defective, it is advantageous to both the stores and the manufacturer if the product can be resold without returning the product to the manufacturer.
Before reselling a returned product, it is desirable that a store be able to test the product to assure proper operation. For example, Hewlett-Packard Company provides a diagnostic tool to stores that allow stores to perform tests to aid in the determination of whether returned printers are faulty.
Many printers include the capability to be directly connected to a network such as an Ethernet network. Currently available diagnostic tools do not include the capability to perform simple and efficient field testing for Ethernet functionality. Therefore, to test Ethernet functionality of a printer, it is typically required to connect the Ethernet port of the printer to the Ethernet port of a personal computer. The network settings of the personal computer need to be configured to properly communicate with the printer.
For example, a printer under test can be in two general states depending upon how a customer has configured the printer. For example, the printer can be configured in a "Manual Mode", so that all parameters such as IP address, Subnet Masks, and Gateways need to be set manually by a user. Alternatively, the printer can be configured in "Automatic Mode", in which the printer relies on a server connected to the network to send an IP address and other appropriate configuration settings to the printer.
When the printer is in manual mode, configuration of the network settings requires a user to know the internet protocol (IP) address of the printer. When the printer is in automatic mode, the user is required to configure the printer with a static IP address. Once the personal computer and the printer are configured correctly, the user causes the personal computer to send a print job directly to the printer. The configuration process described above requires a user to have a significant amount of familiarity with networking in order to configure the printer and perform testing.

Diagnostic tool with ethernet capability

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A slide focus flashlight has a container with an aperture therein, a lamp disposed within the container, a reflector disposed within the container, and an actuator disposed in the opening of the container for sliding therein and having a first angled surface. A conductive shaft is disposed within the container, and a slide interface is coupled to the conductive shaft. The slide interface has a second angled surface for sliding against the first angled surface of the actuator. A power switch is provided for selectively energizing the lamp. The slide interface, actuator and power switch allow for single-handed focusing and energizing of the flashlight.

Flashlights with a power switch and mechanisms to adjust the beam of light have been developed. For a couple examples, see the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 5,158,358 and 4,916,588. These devices, however, have certain disadvantages. One disadvantage in many such devices is that they are awkward or impossible to turn on and focus without requiring two hands. This deficiency was recognized and some effort was made to resolve it.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,086 to Baloochi is an example of an effort to address some of the deficiencies. Baloochi shows a hand-held adjustable focus flashlight involving numerous parts and complexity, which typically translates into relatively high manufacturing costs and issues of reliability with all the moving parts. As another example of a complex attempt to address problems in creating a focusable flashlight for operation with one hand, some have proposed using devices with pinned cams that at the extremes operate the power switch and in intermediate positions use the cam to move the lamp relative to the reflector to focus the flashlight.


A method and apparatus are described for performing Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) operation. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) registers an IMS service priority with an IMS network. The IMS service priority indicates the WTRU's priority in receiving IMS services. The WTRU may receive an IMS service from the IMS network based on the WTRU's IMS service priority. The IMS service priority may be indicated using a priority value and the WTRU may use Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) messaging to signal with the IMS network. The WTRU may register the service priority value using a q-value parameter in an SIP Contact field header. The WTRU may also register a public user identity with the IMS network and the public user identity may be shared with other IMS-capable WTRUs.

Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is an architectural framework for providing multimedia services across a variety of access platforms. IMS facilitates multimedia service creation and deployment based on Internet protocols allowing IMS subscribers to access personalized interactive, multimedia services, on any device, and anywhere. IMS is access-agnostic, whereby service delivery is independent of the underlying access platform and the use of Internet protocols in IMS allows for interoperability among the access platforms. IMS also leads to savings in network infrastructure, administration and management. Further, IMS allows for the migration of Circuit Switched (CS) services like voice telephony to the Packet Switched (PS) domain by using separate control and bearer functions and featuring an overlay service delivery network on top of a packet switch network infrastructure.
In IMS, media sessions may be directed to any one of multiple IMS-capable devices communicating via an IMS network. An IMS network may therefore face decisions regarding the routing of media sessions and how to signal such determinations. Additionally, multiple IMS-capable devices may be served by multiple IMS networks and the networks' functional entities, whereby the various networks may face decisions regarding the management of IMS sessions that they may seek to resolve without creating unnecessary signaling traffic.
It is therefore desirable to have a method and apparatus for IMS-capable devices to indicate routing preferences to an IMS network. It is further desirable to have a method and apparatus for IMS networks and IMS-capable devices to efficiently identify and transfer their roles.

Method and apparatus for identification and transfer in internet protocol multimedia subsystem collaborative sessions


A method for implementing a media content store includes providing a set of exemplary storefronts for the media content store; receiving a designation of a selected storefront and media content in an origination format; transforming the media content into a distribution format; and offering the transformed media content to a prospective customer through the selected storefront.

An entrepreneur who wishes to sell goods over the internet typically creates a web site, which functions as a virtual store. The web site displays or otherwise describes the goods on sale and provides controls for causing execution of certain software. These controls enable the virtual store to accept orders for goods, process payments, and receive instructions for delivery.
The fulfillment of such orders, however, involves more conventional methods for delivery. Software executing in connection with the virtual store generally sends a message that ultimately causes the selected goods to be physically transported to their destination. This greatly simplifies the tasks inherent in creating a virtual store for sale and/or distribution of goods over the internet.
For those who wish to sell content, the internet provides a way to deliver the actual content. Virtual stores for content distribution typically maintain collections of computer-readable files containing data representing content. Using the internet, the virtual store either downloads or streams this data to a client. This fulfillment method is particularly useful for distributing media content, such as audio and/or video, text, or other multimedia presentations.
The construction of a virtual store for facilitating the sale and/or distribution of media content is made far more difficult by the need to provide software for processing the media content, delivering it on demand, playing selected portions of the content upon request, and enforcing intellectual property rights in the content. Virtual stores for content distribution are often expected to cope with efficiently delivering content to a great many clients who collectively use a variety of internet protocols, including, but not limited to, http, ftp, and mms. Individual creators of media content often lack the technical skills for creating such a virtual store, or the resources to hire someone to create such a store on their behalf.
As a practical matter, the difficulties inherent in creating a virtual store for distribution of media content all but force the creator of such content to seek assistance from an established distributor. However, established distributors are often wary of committing their marketing and distribution resources on behalf of unknown talent. Moreover, even when persuaded to lend their assistance, there is a price exacted by such a distributor, both in terms of revenue sharing and in the loss of control over the marketing and distribution of content.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Dynamically fabricated store for distribution of media content


In an electronic parts packaging structure of the present invention, an electronic parts is mounted or formed on a silicon circuit substrate having a structure in which wiring layers on both sides thereof are connected to each other through a through electrode, and a protruded bonding portion which is ring-shaped and is made of glass, of a seal cap having a structure in which a cavity is constituted by the protruded bonding portion, is anodically bonded to a bonding portion of the silicon circuit substrate, thus, the electronic parts is hermetically sealed in the cavity of the sealing cap.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic parts packaging structure and a method of manufacturing the same. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electronic parts packaging structure having a structure in which an electronic parts is mounted in a state that the electronic parts is hermetically sealed with a sealing cap, and relates to a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, there have been electronic parts packaging structures having a structure in which an electronic parts is mounted in a state that the electronic parts is hermetically sealed on a circuit substrate with a sealing cap. For example, in a micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) device, a MEMS device formed on a substrate is mounted in a state in which it is hermetically sealed with a sealing cap.
In Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-235044), an acceleration sensor having a structure in which a glass cap is bonded to the top of a sensor chip is described, and a recessed portion is formed in the glass cap in order to ensure a space for the swinging of a weighting portion.
Furthermore, in Patent Document 2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-7346), a method of manufacturing an external force sensor (FIG. 1) is described, and it is described that after a sensor device is made by anodically bonding a device substrate having a recessed portion provided in a lower central portion thereof to a supporting substrate and by forming through holes in the device substrate, a lid portion made of glass which includes a recessed portion may be further provided on the device substrate by anodic bonding.
On the other hand, in interposers on which various electronic parts is mounted or formed, silicon substrates are used instead of ceramic substrates and glass epoxy resins to meet a demand for higher densities. Moreover, interposers which have a structure in which through electrodes are provided in a silicon substrate to enable conduction between the two sides of the silicon substrate are proposed.
In recent years, there is a demand for mounting or forming various electronic parts on such a silicon substrate (interposers) having through electrodes provided therein and further hermetically sealing the electronic parts with a sealing cap. However, the technology in which a sealing cap is provided on a silicon substrate having through electrodes provided therein has not been fully established. Currently, it is under the situation in which such a technology is aspired.

Electronic parts packaging structure and method of manufacturing the same


A content addressable memory device is provided which may include a novel CAM cell structure which reduces the total power dissipated by the CAM and improves the match time for the CAM. The novel CAM cell stnictuire may include a CMOS implemented compare cell and a wide AND gate which combines the match decisions for each CAM cell into a match decision. The CAM cell structure may be implemented in a variety of different CAM devices, including dual port CAM devices, CAM devices with individual bit masking, event co-processors and database co-processors.

This invention relates generally to semiconductor memories and in particular to a memory, known as a content addressable memory, in which the data is accessed and modified based upon the content of the stored data.
A content addressable memory (CAM) semiconductor device is a well known device which permits the contents of the memory to be searched and matched instead of having to specify one or more particular memory location(s) in order to retrieve data from the memory. A CAM may be used to accelerate any application requiring fast searches of a database, list, or pattern, such as in database machines, image or voice recognition, or computer and communication networks. A CAM provides a performance advantage over conventional memory devices with conventional memory search algorithms, such as binary or tree-bascd searches, by comparing the desired information against the entire list of entries simultaneously, giving an order-of-magnitude reduction in the search time. For example, a binary search through a database of 1000 entries may take ten separate search steps whereas a CAM device with 1000 entries may be searched in a single operation resulting in a search which takes ten times less time. One example of an application in which CAM devices are often used is to store a routing table for high speed switching systems which need to rapidly search the routing table to look for a matching destination address so that a data packet may be routed to the appropriate destination address.
To better understand a CAM and its operations the CAM structure and operation may be compared to conventional well-known random access memory (RAM) devices. A RAM device is an integrated circuit that temporarily stores data in an array of memory cells. In the RAM device, each stored piece of data may be accessed independently of any other piece of data. The data in a RAM is stored at a particular location called an address so that any piece of data in the RAM may be accessed by indicating the address at which the data is located. The RAM devices are often used for memory of a computer. Typical RAM devices may be organized as 262,144 memory locations (commonly called 256K) by four bits wide, or 1,048,576 memory locations (commonly called 1 Megabyte) by eight bits wide, but other different organizations also exist.
Typical RAM devices are composed of an array of memory cells wherein each memory cell may store a bit of information. Each memory cell may have one or more transistors depending on the type of RAM which may include a static RAM (SRAM) or a dynamic RAM (DRAM). A typical complementary metal on silicon (CMOS) implemented SRAM may have six transistors per memory cell in which four of the transistors are cross-coupled to store the state of the bit, and two transistors are used to alter or read out the state of the bit. For a SRAM, the state of the bit remains at one level or the other until deliberately changed or power is removed. DRAMs, on the other hand, have a dynamic storage unit which typically may include a single transistor and a capacitor which stores the bit information. During a read, the charge on the capacitor is drained to the bit line, requiring a rewrite of the bit, called a restore operation. Additionally, because the DRAM capacitor is not perfect, it loses charge over time, and needs to have its charge refreshed at regular intervals. Thus, dynamic memories are accompanied by controller circuits to rewrite the bit and refresh the stored charge on a regular basis.
A content addressable memory (CAM) device is organized differently from typical SRAM or DRAM devices. In particular, data in a CAM is stored in memory locations in a somewhat random fashion. The memory locations may be selected by an address bus or the data can be written directly into the first empty memory location because every location has a pair of special status bits that keep track of whether the location has valid information in it or is empty and therefore available for overwriting. As opposed to RAM devices in which information is accessed by specifying a particular memory location, once information is stored in a memory location of the CAM, it may be located by comparing every bit in the memory with data placed in a special register known as a compare register. If there is a match of every bit in particular memory locations with every corresponding bit in the register, a Match Flag is asserted to let the user know that the data in the register was found in the CAM device. A priority encoder may sort out which matching memory location has the top priority if there is more than one matching entry, and makes the address of the matching memory location available to the user so that the user may access the matching data. Thus, with a CAM device, the user supplies a piece of data he wants to match to the CAM and get back the address of any matching pieces of data in the CAM.
Known CAM devices are based on typical SRAM or DRAM memory cells that have been modified by the addition of extra transistors that compare the state of the bit stored in each memory cell with the state of a bit of a register. Logically, CAM devices perform an exclusiveNOR function so that a match is only indicated if both the stored bit and the corresponding, register bit have the same state (i.e., "1" or "0"). Generally, CAM devices use a ten transistor memory cell including a six transistor SRAM memory cell and four pull-down NMOS transistors which accomplish the exclusive-NOR functionality and the match line driving. These CAM devices using the ten transistor memory cell may have approximately a 70 to 180 nanosecond (ns) match time and a power dissipation of approximately 0.6 to 1.9 watts. These CAM devices may have sizes which are 256k and smaller since larger sizes may cause power dissipation problems. These CAM devices as described above, however, have a number of problems, drawbacks and limitations.
One drawback is that known CAM devices have very small storage capacities as compared to other memory devices, such as DRAM devices and SRAM devices. These smaller storage capacities are due to the fact that the CAM storage size is principally limited by the large amount of power dissipated by each match line in the CAM. Each match line may have one or more NMOS pull-down transistor associated with it so that for a CAM having 4096 memory locations, a match request causes power dissipation from 4095 match lines transistors since all of the non-matching match lines output low signals, e.g., logic 0. Therefore the associated NMOS pull-down transistors will dissipate power. Another drawback is that attempts to increase the speed performance of conventional CAM devices causes other problems since the faster CAM device leads to increased power dissipation. The problem is that the power dissipation cannot be increased very much without exceeding maximum power dissipation levels. Thus, conventional CAM devices are limited in size and perfonmance because of the power being dissipated by the transistors associated with the match lines.
Another drawback of conventional CAM devices is that the memory devices themselves do not have much built-in intelligerce or management functions so that, for each new operation environment, a piece of software must be written which is then responsible for management of the functions of the CAM device. The CAM management functions may include disabling unused CAM memory cells, maintaining a list of available CAM memory cells and checking for and avoiding insertion of duplicate data in more than one CAM memory cell.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a content addressable memory which overcomes the above described drawbacks, problems and limitations of conventional CAM devices and it is to this end that the present invention is directed.


A vehicle steering input device includes a fixed housing, a steering input shaft rotatable relative to the housing by a vehicle operator, a hub non-rotatably mounted on the input shaft, a friction member frictionally engaging the hub, a resilient member biased to maintain the friction member in engagement with the hub member, a movable locking ring meshingly coupled to the friction member, and an electromagnet. When the electromagnet is energized it moves the locking ring into meshing engagement with the housing, thus limiting rotation of the friction member and creating an additional friction force which makes it more difficult to rotate the hub and the input shaft. The magnitude of this friction force depends on the bias of the resilient member and is not limited by the strength of the electromagnet.

The invention relates to a steering input device with controllable feel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,846 shows a steering apparatus which creates a steering feel in a steering system for controlling a vehicle with steerable wheels. The feel is provided by an electromagnetic friction brake which is controlled by an electronic control unit in response to a steering wheel position sensor and a steered wheel position sensor. The amount of friction force depends upon and is limited by the strength of the electromagnet. Rotation of the steering wheel shaft is mechanically limited to 1 1/2 turns in either direction from a center position by a gear mechanism which includes a pair of end stops. Furthermore, in the '846 design the steering wheel position sensor is a linear potentiometer type sensor which limits the range of positions of the steering wheel shaft which can be sensed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,011,579 shows a steering apparatus which creates a steering feel in a steering system for controlling a vehicle with steerable wheels. The '579 system has a feel servo system which includes a hydraulic motor drivably connected to a steering input shaft through a gear arrangement.
It would desirable to provide a steering input device wherein the feel is not directly limited by the capabilities of an electromagnet and wherein the feel mechanism does not require a hydraulic motor and gear arrangement.


A three-dimensional printing apparatus includes a shaping head to discharge a resin material, a table to retain the discharged resin material, a carriage mechanism fitted to the shaping head and moving the shaping head relative to the table, a rotatable member disposed outward of the table, a first horizontal rotary shaft rotatably supporting the table, a first motor to rotate the first horizontal rotary shaft, a second horizontal rotary shaft fitted to the rotatable member and extending in a direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the first horizontal rotary shaft, a second motor to rotate the second horizontal rotary shaft so as to rotate the table, the first horizontal rotary shaft, and the first motor, along with the rotatable member, around the second horizontal rotary shaft, and a microcomputer configured or programmed to control the shaping head, the first motor, and the second motor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a three-dimensional printing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A three-dimensional printing apparatus for shaping a three-dimensional printed object by successively stacking layers of a resin material each having a predetermined cross-sectional shape and curing the resin material is conventionally known. For example, JP H6(1994)-98689 B discloses a technique of forming a three-dimensional printed object by discharging a photo-curable resin from a shaping head and curing the photo-curable resin based on three-dimensional data that represent the shape of the three-dimensional object to be manufactured.
In the present description, the term "three-dimensional data" refers to data of a plurality of cross-sectional images created from a three-dimensional model representing the shape of a three-dimensional object or a three-dimensional printed object to be manufactured.
This type of three-dimensional printing apparatus includes a shaping head for discharging a resin material, and a table for retaining the discharged resin material. Layers of the resin material are successively stacked on the table. The shaping head and the table are configured to be movable relative to each other. As the shaping head moves relative to the table while discharging the resin material, a layer of the resin material having a predetermined cross-sectional shape is stacked on the table or on a layer of the resin material that has been already cured.
The layers of the resin material are stacked upwardly. For this reason, when the three-dimensional printed object to be manufactured has an arch-shaped configuration, the three-dimensional printed object results in a bent shape due to the weight of the resin material itself. In view of this problem, it is necessary to shape support members 110 for supporting a three-dimensional printed object 100 so that the arch-shaped configuration does not collapse while shaping the three-dimensional printed object.
However, the support members 110 are unnecessary for the three-dimensional printed object 100 after having been completed. The support members 110 need to be removed after the three-dimensional printed object 100 has been shaped. Thus, the conventional three-dimensional printing apparatus requires a process of removing the support members 110 and also results in waste of the resin material.


A protective cover for the ends of reinforcing bars has a cylindrical tube having upper and lower ends. A cap is mounted on the upper end of the tube and is comprised of a continuous circular wall extending upwardly and outwardly from the upper end of the tube, with a bottom covering the top of the tube. A post extends upwardly from the center of the bottom, and a plurality of spaced rib elements are secured to and extend radially outwardly from the post for connection to the wall. A canopy is secured to the upper edge of the wall and extends slightly downwardly therefrom. The canopy has a circular perimeter which has a downwardly extending circular flange extending therearound. The ribs are tied together by secondary ribs. Friction bars are located within the tube to create friction between the tub and a bar upon which it is mounted.

During construction of buildings, bridges and the like, it is common to have the ends of steel reinforcing bars protruding from walls, columns and the like during various stages of the construction. The protruding ends of the reinforcing bars present a hazard to workmen who might fall on the bars.
Certain safety regulations in most locations now require that caps or covers be placed on the ends of the protruding bars so as to protect workers that might fall onto the bars. Occupational Safety and Health Standards Boards (OSHA) have established certain standards for such caps to insure that they are of sufficient strength and durability that the cap will maintain its integrity even under all reasonable conditions that a person might fall on the protruding bars. A typical standard would require that the caps be able to withstand the impact of a 250 pound weight dropped from a height of 10 feet without the protruding rod penetrating the cap. Minimum sizes of the cap are also established so that the top of the cap is substantially greater than the diameter of the bar on which it is mounted.
A typical existing cap for these purposes is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,708.
Some existing caps have a steel plate incorporated within a molded plastic cap to add strength thereto and to further resist puncturing of the cap when a load is imposed on the top of a rod. Such caps are relatively heavy for handling in bulk quantities, and the shipping costs thereof are obviously expensive. The incorporation of a metal plate in the plastic molding adds to the expense of manufacture through both cost of material and assembly expense.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide a reinforcing bar cover that will withstand existing drop tests without having a steel plate inserted therein.
A further object of this invention is to provide a protective cover for reinforcing bars that is relatively light in weight, and efficiently and economically capable of being manufactured.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Concrete reinforcing bar protective cover


An optical waveguide device comprising a free space region, suitably provided by a slab waveguide, having optical signal ports for coupling to input and output waveguide sections and an optical waveguide grating including an array of grating waveguides coupling the free space region to a reflector surface to provide a folded structure. Dielectric waveguide structures are preferred. The grating includes tapered optical waveguide sections laterally spaced and optically isolated from each other which extend from the free space region, with the grating waveguides continuing as extensions of the tapered waveguide sections. Each of the grating waveguides differs in length from a neighboring grating waveguide by a constant increment, preferably an optical path length increment. The grating waveguides also include intermediate curved portions having respective curvatures which increase progressively, preferably in an approximately parabolic manner, according to the sequential location of the grating waveguides from a reference grating waveguide in the array.

This invention relates to optical waveguide transmission devices and more particularly to optical waveguide devices suitable, for example, for employment in optical multiplexer and demultiplexer, and router applications employing Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) which may find application in optical fiber based communication networks.
Increasingly, state-of-the-art optical transmission devices for wavelength division multiplexing utilize waveguide gratings. In a typical device structure a waveguide grating may be placed between input and output slab waveguides. Multi-wavelength light from a point source, the end of the input waveguide, is transmitted through the grating and different individual wavelengths are focused on different points of the output waveguide surface. The grating itself may include a number of different physical length waveguides with a constant length increment. This results in a wavefront rotating with the wavelength change. The grating can be also used to focus an output waveform and to collimate an input waveform. For this purpose the ends of the grating may be located on a circular surface provided by each slab waveguide, at which the waveguides are located close to each other to assure strong coupling needed for high efficiency. However, in the grating itself, coupling between individual waveguides is not desirable, so that the waveguides are spaced relatively far apart from each other. This implies a relatively large grating structure. In an optical multiplexer, multi-wavelength light from a point source, the end of the input waveguide, is transmitted through the grating and different individual wavelengths are focused on different points of the output waveguide surface.
Close coupling between waveguides, at the interface between the slab waveguide and the grating, has typically been considered essential to the efficiency of the device. To alleviate concerns about resulting aberrations, it has been proposed to position the foci of interface arcs between the input waveguide and the slab region, and the slab region and the waveguide grating, some distances from the arcs themselves. This approach of positioning the focal points of the arc boundary (center of the interface arc) away from the opposite arc, originating from the desire to maintain strong coupling, has continued. The emphasis on strong coupling was consistent with grating based multiplexer designs for handling a small number of channels (for example, 1xc3x974 to 1xc3x978) and high efficiency, i.e. low transmission loss.
Another desideratum in multiplexer design is a compact device, and in particular a compact waveguide grating section. This is driven by cost reduction associated with reduced size, as well as lower sensitivity to material non-uniformities. One approach addressing the compactness issue has been to introduce a reflector in the grating section. Possible reflecting arrangements include waveguide Bragg reflectors and mirrors, including mirrors with stepped surfaces. However, such approaches have only partially addressed the overall issue of compactness and transmission efficiency.
The present invention addresses these concerns by providing an optical waveguide device comprising a free space region having a plurality of optical signal ports for coupling to input and output waveguide sections and an optical waveguide grating including an array of laterally spaced grating waveguides coupling the free space region to a reflector surface to provide a folded structure. The optical waveguide grating includes tapered optical waveguide sections laterally spaced apart from each other and extending from the free space region, each of the tapered optical waveguide sections having a wider end adjacent to the free space region and an opposite, narrower end extending to a respective one of the array of optical grating waveguides extending between the narrower ends of the tapered optical waveguide sections and the reflector surface. Each of the grating waveguides differs in length from a neighboring grating waveguide by a constant increment, preferably an optical path length increment. The grating waveguides also include intermediate curved portions having respective curvatures which increase progressively according to the sequential location of the grating waveguides from a reference grating waveguide in said array.
An advantageous feature of the invention is that the tapered waveguide sections and the grating waveguides are laterally spaced apart sufficiently to provide optically isolated transmission paths for light waves between said free space region and said reflector surface. The tapered waveguide sections can be suitably configured to enhance collection of light waves transmitted across the free space region and to separate the collected light waves into optically isolated paths, even at the interface between the wider ends of the tapered waveguide sections and the free space region.
The free space region preferably has arcuate first and second end surfaces. The optical signal extend radially from the arcuate first end surface and the tapered waveguide sections extend radially from the arcuate second end surface. Advantageously, the arcuate first end surface has a radius of curvature originating on the arcuate second end surfaces, and said arcuate second end surface has a radius of curvature originating on the first arcuate end surface.
In the waveguide grating section, the curved portions of the grating waveguides preferably have radii of curvature that decrease in an approximately parabolic manner as the numerical sequential location of a said curved portion increases from an intermediate grading waveguide location, suitably at or close to the central region of the grating waveguide array, to respective locations at opposite sides of the grating waveguide array. The rate of sequential decrease in the radii of curvature of said curved portions may be modified to result in preferential attenuation of optical signal reflection at said curved portions located near the edges of the grating waveguide array to implement apodization.
By implementation of features of the invention, an optical waveguide device can be designed which is particularly compact. For example the overall length of the optical waveguide grating readily can be designed to be less than the overall length of the free space region, both measured along the general direction of transmission of light wave signals.
Structures embodying the invention may be used to implement a WDM device capable of handling a larger number of channels (e.g. 40 channels with a channel separation as close as 50-100 GHz) while giving rise to low cross talk between adjacent channels (e.g. less than 50 db) and significantly reduced variation of transmission efficiency across the response spectrum of the device. An important contribution to the improved functionality device is the decoupling of the waveguide sections along the length of the waveguide grating, and in particular at the ends of the waveguide sections at the waveguide slab end. The particular mode of deployment of the tapered waveguide sections described above significantly contributes to this desired separation without adversely affecting overall transmission efficiency.


The present invention aims to provide a leukocyte depletion filter that has both higher leukocyte removal performance and higher blood permeability than conventional filters. The leukocyte depletion filter according to the present invention includes a filter material having an average fiber diameter of 0.30 to 1.60 μm and a coefficient of variation of fiber diameter of at least 0.40 but not more than 1.20.

Blood products for use in blood transfusions include, for example, whole blood products prepared by adding an anticoagulant to blood collected from donors, as well as red blood cell products, platelet products and plasma derivatives which are prepared by separating blood components required by a particular recipient from the whole blood products. The leukocytes contained in these blood products, however, are known to cause side effects (e.g. fever response, transfusion-related acute lung injury) and cytomegalovirus infections, and also act as an alloantigen to induce a recipient to produce antileukocyte antibodies, leading to platelet refractoriness.
In order to prevent these incidents, the so-called leukocyte-depleted blood transfusion, in which a blood product is transfused after the removal of the leukocytes contained in the blood product, has become common. The methods for removing leukocytes from a blood product includes two methods, namely a centrifugation method that utilizes the specific gravity difference between the blood components, and a filtration method that utilizes a porous material as a filtering medium. The filtration method has been widely used because it has high leukocyte removal performance, allows easy operation, and costs low.
Meanwhile, long storage of blood products can cause the leukocytes to produce pyrogenic cytokines during the storage, and can lead to death and breakage of the leukocytes that have engulfed viruses or bacteria, allowing pathogens to be spread in the blood for transfusion. Transfusion of such blood containing viruses or bacteria may cause infection in the recipient. Hence, leukocytes need to be removed before storage of blood products.
For prevention of such side effects related to blood transfusion, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare notified the Japanese Red Cross Society of the draft guidance on prestorage leukocyte reduction (to a number of residual leukocytes of not more than 1×106/product) for all products for transfusion in 2003. Then leukocyte depletion filters started to be used for platelet products from donated platelets in 2004, for plasma derivatives from donated plasma in 2005, and for red blood cell products from whole blood in 2006.
Currently used leukocyte depletion filters have leukocyte removal performance (−Log 4) enough to give a number of residual leukocytes of not more than 1×105/product (Non-Patent Literature 1). Still, there is a market demand for filters having higher leukocyte removal performance than the currently used filters so that critical side effects that can be caused by leukocytes transfused into a patient can be completely prevented.
To prevent such side effects, the amount of a filter material to be used has been increased. With the conventional leukocyte depletion filters, however, it is difficult to achieve high leukocyte removal performance enough to completely prevent side effects when the amount of a filter material to be used is just increased.
The following methods for solving such a problem by using a nonwoven fabric as the filter material are known in the art: a method of reducing the average fiber diameter, a method of increasing the pack density, and a method of employing a nonwoven fabric with a more uniform fiber diameter distribution (Patent Literature 1). If these methods are actually employed to enhance the performance so as to give a number of residual leukocytes of not more than 1×104/product, the pressure loss in the filter part when a blood product passes through the filter is increased as the leukocyte removal performance is enhanced. As a result, unfortunately, the blood processing speed extremely decreases before completion of processing for the expected amount of blood.
Moreover, in many cases, the following approaches for blood filtration for prestorage leukocyte reduction are employed in parallel: room-temperature filtration which involves filtering at room temperature within one day after blood collection, and cold-storage filtration which involves filtering after storage for about one to three days in a refrigerator. The cold-storage filtration tends to take more time for filtration. Therefore, leukocyte depletion filters are required to have shorter time for filtration in cold-storage filtration.


A thienotriazolodiazepine compound of the following formula (I)

When an antigen is presented by a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on an antigen-presenting cell such as dendritic cell, macrophage, B cell and the like, T cells recognize the antigen via a T cell receptor (TcR/CD3 complex) and are activated. However, an antigen specific signal (first signal) from the T cell receptor alone is not sufficient for the normal activation of T cells, and a second signal called costimulatory signal is essential. Solely with the stimulation by the first signal via TcR, sufficient activation of T cells does not occur, and moreover, T cells fall into the condition called antigen specific T cell unresponsiveness in which T cell cannot respond to the antigen stimulation after the second. As a most important molecule (costimulatory molecule) for transmitting the second signal, CD28 on the T cell is known (Cell, 71, 1065-1068, 1992. Immunology Today, 15, 321-331, 1994). CD28 binds with B7-1 (CD80)/B7-2 (CD86) expressed on an antigen-presenting cell and inserts the second signal into T cells. In fact, stimulation of mouse T cells only with an anti-CD3 antibody does not induce growth of T cells and interleukin (IL)-2 production. However, by the addition of an anti-CD28 antibody in addition to the anti-CD3 antibody, the growth and IL-2 production are drastically enhanced. Therefore, creation of a drug inhibiting the costimulatory signal enables induction of antigen specific immunological tolerance, which possibly leads to the provision of a basic therapeutic drug for various autoimmune diseases.
As a molecule binding with CD80/CD86 like CD28, CTLA-4 is known to be present (Immunity, 1, 405-413, 1994. Biochem. J., 318, 361-377, 1996). While CD28 is constantly expressed in T cell, but CTLA-4 is belatedly expressed after the activation. It has been clarified that the signal from this molecule suppressively acts on the signal from CD28, and regulates the signal from CD28. A fusion protein (CTLA-4-Ig) of an extracellular region of CTLA-4 and immunoglobulin constant region inhibits binding of CD28 and CD80/CD86. The inhibitory action on the CD28 signal has been evaluated using CTLA-4-Ig or an antibody to CD80/CD86 in various mouse disease models. As a result, it has been reported that the inhibition of the CD28 signal shows a striking effect on transplantation (organ transplantation, transplantation of pancreatic islet cell/neuron or bone marrow and the like), autoimmune disease model (collagen induced arthritis, lupus nephritis) and allergic disease model (asthma, dermatitis) (J. Exp. Med., 178, 1801-1806, 1993. J. Exp. Med., 181, 1869-1874, 1995. Nature, 381, 434-438, 1996. J. Immunol., 154, 1481-1490, 1995. Igakuno Ayumi, 193, 787-792, 2000.)
Incidentally, a thienotriazolodiazepine compound is disclosed in WO 94/06801 and WO 94/06802 as a compound having a CCK antagonistic action or gastrin antagonistic action. In addition, WO 93/07129 discloses a compound useful as a therapeutic drug for osteoporosis, WO 93/12117, WO 94/06802, WO 94/22872 and WO 98/11111 disclose a compound having a cell adhesion inhibitory action, WO 97/47622 discloses a compound having a cytokine production suppressive action, and JP-A-1-156982, JP-A-2-243691, JP-A-2-256681, JP-A-2-256682 and JP-A-3-215489 disclose a compound having a platelet-activating factor (PAF) inhibitory activity. However, these publications do not describe or suggest inhibition of costimulatory signal from CD28.    Non-patent reference 1: Cell, 71, 1065-1068, 1992    Non-patent reference 2: Immunology Today, 15, 321-331, 1994    Non-patent reference 3: Immunity, 1,405-413, 1994    Non-patent reference 4: Biochem. J., 318, 361-377, 1996    Non-patent reference 5: J. Exp. Med., 178, 1801-1806, 1993    Non-patent reference 6: J. Exp. Med., 181, 1869-1874, 1995    Non-patent reference 7: Nature, 381, 434-438, 1996    Non-patent reference 8: J. Immunol., 154, 1481-1490, 1995    Non-patent reference 9: Igakuno Ayumi, 193, 787-792, 2000    Patent reference 1: WO 94/06801    Patent reference 2: WO 94/06802    Patent reference 3: WO 93/07129    Patent reference 4: WO 93/12117    Patent reference 5: WO 94/22872    Patent reference 6: WO 98/11111    Patent reference 7: WO 97/47622    Patent reference 8: JP-A-1-156982    Patent reference 9: JP-A-2-243691    Patent reference 10: JP-A-2-256681    Patent reference 11: JP-A-2-256682    Patent reference 12: JP-A-3-215489

Thienotriazolodiazepine compound and medicinal use thereof

Abstract: a pharmaceutical agent containing the compound as an active ingredient, and a production intermediate and a production method of the thienotriazolodiazepine compound.

Abstract: Since this compound has an inhibitory action on costimulatory signal from CD28 on T cell, it is useful for the prophylaxis or suppression of rejection reaction in transplantation of organ or bone marrow and the like, and the prophylaxis or treatment of autoimmune diseases or allergic diseases.


A measurement device including a light source with a first emitter and a second emitter, and a light intensity measurement unit. A controller configures the first emitter to emit a first light beam using a first operative parameter and the second emitter to emit a second light beam using a second operative parameter. The controller configures the light intensity measurement unit to measure a first light intensity value of the first light beam and a second light intensity value of the second light beam. The controller compares the measured first and second light intensity values with a target intensity value; and adjust the first operative parameter and the second operative parameter based on the comparison to derive a first adjusted operative parameter and a second adjusted operative parameter. The controller configures the emitters to use the adjusted operative parameters during a measurement and a first narrow band filter is arranged to filter the light beams received by the light intensity measurement unit and a second narrow band filter is arranged to filter the light beams emitted by the light source.

Autonomous cars need to detect their environments for other cars, pedestrians, animals, road lanes, road surface condition, traffic control devices and other road users. Autonomous cars make their real-time driving decision based on what they can perceive from the environment. A failure to perceive the surroundings may cause an immediate accident and hence the reliability of sensing and perception must be as high as possible. These autonomous cars, generally, position themselves and detect surroundings using a variety of sensor technologies. For example, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) devices are most commonly used sensors which uses light beams to make precise distance measurements over short and long distances.
LiDAR devices, generally, employs light emitting diodes (LEDs) as light emitters for generation of light beams. The LEDs are made of direct energy gap semiconductors. On forward biasing the LED, excess electron hole pairs are stored in the diode. These excess electron hole pairs recombine with each other producing photons of light which are emitted as light beams. The emitted light intensity is proportional to the excess charges which in turn increases linearly with the diode current.
It is known that two LEDs operating with same operative parameters (like same current supplied) and under same operating conditions (like same operating temperature) may generate light beams with different intensities due to their inherent features, such as the process variations in manufacturing of the LED in the factory or the like. Further, a change in the operating temperature can cause an LED to change its central wavelength, spectral bandwidth, and/or emitted power. This variation in the emission characteristics can cause ambiguity during processing of return signal (e.g., after reflection from an object) in the LiDAR device, and may result in an increased error and limits applicability of LEDs in the LiDAR devices.
Therefore, in light of the foregoing discussion, there exists a need to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks associated with measurement devices; and provide a measurement device and a method of operating the measurement device utilizing optimum operative parameters for different light emitters to provide narrow band light pulse even under different operating conditions.

Measurement device and method of operating therefor


In a belt transfer device according to an embodiment, rotation of a rear side detection roller or a front side detection roller, which contacts with a rib of a transfer belt and is rotated, is converted into linear driving by using a worm gear. The movement of a linear movement shaft is transmitted to a steering roller through a slider. The steering roller is tilted and meandering of the transfer belt is regulated.

In an image forming apparatus such as a tandem type multi function peripheral (MFP) or a printer, toner images of plural colors are sequentially superimposed and transferred on a transfer belt or on a sheet transferred by a transfer belt, and a color toner image is formed. And an image forming apparatus a tandem type MFP or a printer, toner images of plural colors are sequentially superimposed and transferred on a transfer belt, and a color toner image is formed. In this tandem type, when the transfer belt meanders, the image quality of the color toner image is remarkably deteriorated by color shift. Thus, hitherto, there are units for correcting the meandering of the transfer belt. As one of such units, for example, Japanese Patent No. 2868879 discloses a belt drive unit in which a steering roller to change the traveling direction of a transfer belt is tilted by using a balance between the elastic force of a spring and the rotation forces of guide rollers at both sides of the steering roller.
However, in the unit of the related art, since the elastic force of the spring is used for the movement of the steering roller, the high-speed property and reliability are insufficient. Thus, it is not appropriate to install the unit in a high-performance and high-speed MFP or the like in which high image quality is required.
Then, the development of a belt transfer device for an image forming apparatus is desired in which when the transfer belt meanders, the transfer belt is returned to a normal direction at high speed, and by this, a high quality color image without color shift can be obtained.

Belt transfer device for image forming apparatus


The invention concerns a process for joint synthesis and spatialization of multiple sound sources in associated spatial positions, including: a) a step of assigning to each source at least one parameter (pi) representing an amplitude; b) a step of spatialization consisting in implementing an encoding into a plurality of channels, wherein each amplitude (pi) is duplicated to be multiplied to a specialization gain (gim), each spatialization gain being determined for one encoding channel (pgm) and for a source to be spatialized (Si); c) a step of grouping (R) the parameters multiplied by the gains (Pim), in respective channels (pg1, . . . , pgM), by applying a sum of said multiplied parameters (pim) on all the sources (Si) for each channel (pgm), and d) a step of parametric synthesis (SYNTH(I), . . . , SYNTH(M)) applied to each of the channels (pgm).

The present invention relates to an audio processing and, more particularly, a three-dimensional spatialization of synthetic sound sources.
Currently, the spatialization of a synthetic sound source is often performed without taking account of the sound production mode, that is, of the way in which the sound is synthesized. Thus, many models, notably parametric, have been proposed for the synthesis. In parallel, numerous spatialization techniques have also been proposed, without, however, proposing a cross-check with the technique chosen for a synthesis.
Known among the synthesis techniques are the so-called "non-parametric" methods. No particular parameter is used a priori to modify samples previously stored in memory. The best known representative of these methods is the conventional wave table synthesis.
Contrasting with this type of technique are the "parametric" synthesis methods which rely on the use of a model for manipulating a reduced number of parameters, compared to the number of signal samples produced in the non-parametric methods. The parametric synthesis techniques typically rely on additive, subtractive, source/filter or non-linear models.
Among these parametric methods, the term "mutual" can be used to qualify those that make it possible to jointly manipulate parameters corresponding to different sound sources, to then use only a single synthesis process, but for all the sources. In the so-called "sinusoidal" methods, typically, a frequency spectrum is constructed from parameters such as the amplitude and the frequency of each partial component of the overall sound spectrum of the sources. Indeed, an inverse Fourier transform implementation, followed by an add/overlap, provides an extremely effective synthesis of several sound sources simultaneously.
Regarding the spatialization of sound sources, different techniques are currently known. Some techniques (like "transaural" or "binaural") are based on taking into account HRTF transfer functions ("Head Related Transfer Function") representing the disturbance of acoustic waves by the morphology of an individual, these HRTF functions being specific to that individual. The sound playback is adapted to the HRTFs of the listener, typically on two remote loudspeakers ("transaural") or from the two earpieces of a headset ("binaural"). Other techniques (for example "ambiophonic" or "multichannel" (5.1 to 10.1 or above) are geared more towards a playback on more than two loudspeakers.
More specifically, certain HRTF-based techniques use the separation of the "frequency" and "position" variables of the HRTFs, thus giving a set of p basic filters (corresponding to the first p values specific to the covariance matrix of the HRTFs, of which the statistical variables are the frequencies), these filters being weighted by spatial functions (obtained by projection of the HRTFs on basic filters). The spatial functions can then be interpolated, as described in the document U.S. Pat. No. 5,500,900.
The spatialization of numerous sound sources can be performed using a multichannel implementation applied to the signal of each of the sound sources. The gains of the spatialization channels are applied directly to the sound samples of the signal, often described in the time domain (but possibly also in the frequency domain). These sound samples are processed by a spatialization algorithm (with applications of gains that are a function of the desired position), independently of the origin of these samples. Thus, the proposed spatialization could be applied equally to natural sounds and to synthetic sounds.
On the one hand, each sound source must be synthesized independently (with a time or frequency signal obtained), in order to be able to then apply independent spatialization gains. For N sound sources, it is therefore necessary to perform N synthesis calculations.
On the other hand, the application of the gains to sound samples, whether deriving from the time or frequency domain, requires at least as many multiplications as there are samples. For a block of Q samples, it is therefore necessary to apply at least N.M.Q gains, M being the number of intermediate channels (ambiophonic channels for example) and N being the number of sources.
Thus, this technique entails a high calculation cost in the case of the spatialization of numerous sound sources.
Among the ambiophonic techniques, the so-called "virtual loudspeaker" method makes it possible to encode the signals to be spatialized by applying to them gains in particular, the decoding being performed by convolution of the encoded signals by pre-calculated filters (Jérôme Daniel, "Représentation de champs acoustiques, application à la transmission et à la reproduction de scànes sonores complexes dans un contexte multimédia", [Representation of acoustic fields, application to the transmission and reproduction of complex sound scenes in a multimedia context], doctoral thesis, 2000).
A very promising technique, combining synthesis and spatialization, has been presented in the document WO-05/069272.
It consists in determining amplitudes to be assigned to signals representing sound sources, to define both the sound intensity (for example a "volume") of a source to be synthesized and a spatialization gain of this source. This document notably discloses a binaural spatialization with delays and gains (or "spatial functions") taken into account and, in particular, a mixing of the synthesized sources in the spatialization encoding part.
Even more particularly, an exemplary embodiment which is targeted in this document WO-05/069272 and in which the sources are synthesized by associating amplitudes with constitutive frequencies of a "tone" (for example a fundamental frequency and its harmonics) provides for synthesis signals to be grouped together by identical frequencies, with a view to subsequent spatialization applied to the frequencies.
This exemplary embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 1. In a synthesis block SYNTH (represented by broken lines), to frequencies f0, f1, f2, . . . , fp of each source to be synthesized S1, . . . , SN are assigned respective amplitudes a01, a11, . . . , ap1, . . . , aij, . . . , a0N, a1N, . . . , apN, in which, in the general notation aij, j is a source index between 1 and N and i is a frequency index between 0 and p. Obviously, certain amplitudes of a set a0j, a1j, . . . , apj to be assigned to one and the same source j can be zero if the corresponding frequencies are not represented in the tone of this source j.
The amplitudes ai1, . . . , aiN relating to each frequency fi are grouped together ("mixed") to be applied, frequency by frequency, to the spatialization block SPAT for an encoding applied to the frequencies (binaurally, for example, by then providing an inter-aural delay to be applied to each source). The signals of the channels c1, . . . , Ck, derived from the spatialization block SPAT, are then intended to be transmitted through one or more networks, or even stored, or otherwise dealt with, with a view to subsequent playback (preceded, where appropriate, by a suitable spatialization decoding).
This technique, although very promising, still warrants optimizations.
Generally, the current methods require significant calculation powers to spatialize numerous synthesized sound sources.
The present invention improves the situation.

Joint sound synthesis and spatialization


In one aspect the present invention provides an AC/DC or DC/DC adapter, comprising circuitry to generate a signal proportional to the maximum adapter current. In another aspect, the present invention provides a portable electronic device, comprising circuitry to receive a signal proportional to the maximum current supplied to the portable electronic device and a charger controller. Still another aspect of the present invention provides an adapter topology system, comprising an AC/DC or DC/DC adapter comprising circuitry to generate a signal proportional to the maximum adapter current; and a portable electronic device adapted to receive power from said adapter and to receive said signal proportional to the maximum adapter current.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to adapter topologies, and more particularly, to adapter topologies that generate information related to available or maximum adapter current and to electronic devices configured to receive this information. Particular utility for the present invention is in portable electronic devices, however, the present invention is equally applicable to any device that uses an adapter to derive power.
2. Description of Related Art
Most portable electronic devices (e.g., portable computers, cell phones, PDAs, etc.) in use today utilize an AC/DC or DC/DC adapter that can be plugged into a wall outlet or cigarette lighter, etc., used to power the device, and possibly charge the batteries simultaneously. A typical adapter simply supplies power, and provides no information to the charger circuit as to the maximum available power that can be delivered by the adapter. To control the power delivered to the batteries (for charging) and to the device, a charger circuit is provided which regulates the flow of current from the adapter. An example of charger topologies are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,246,215 and 6,329,796; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/948,828, titled "Voltage Mode High Accuracy Battery Charger", all assigned to 02Micro International Limited, and incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. Such charger topologies dynamically allocate available adapter current between the batteries and the device.
FIG. 1 depicts a conventional topology that includes an adapter 1 and mobile equipment 2. The terms "mobile equipment" or "portable electronic device" as used herein mean a portable computer, cell phone, PDA, and/or any other device that uses an adapter to derive power. The adapter 1 generates a signal 90 indicative of the type of adapter used. This signal only has two states, and is used as an identification (ID) signal that represents the type of adapter used. The adapter 1 of FIG. 1 can be of two types: a high power adapter (e.g., 70W) or a low power adapter (e.g., 45W). The high power type of adapter generates no signal 90, while the low power adapter generates a signal 90 having a predetermined value. The mobile equipment is adapted with a switch 4, whose conduction state determines the type of adapter (low power or high power) present. Assuming that high power adapter is present, switch 4 is OFF. If a low power adapter is present, signal 90 turns switch 4 ON. Signal 90 is a signal representing the type of adapter present (low or high), and may be used by power management processors or charger circuits. Note that this topology only has two states representing the presence of a low power adapter or high power adapter, and thus cannot generate information related to the maximum or available power provided by the adapter. Note also that this topology requires that the adapter and mobile equipment be matched, such that the adapter could not be used with other mobile equipment and vice-versa.
Thus, there exists a need to provide an adapter topology that provides information related to maximum adapter current, which may be utilized by a charger to accurately allocate available current to batteries (for charging) and a device (for operation). There also exists a need for an adapter topology that permits the adapter to be used with a wide range of devices so that the adapter is can be used with many types of mobile equipment devices.