A developing container configured to contain developer, the developing container including: a filter member which covers a communicating hole through which an inside and an outside of the developing container are communicated with each other; a fixing area where the filter member is fixed to the developing container; and a vibration regulating portion configured to regulate vibrations of the filter member on an inner side of the fixing area, wherein the filter member is configured to allow passage of air and regulate passage of the developer, and wherein the vibration regulating portion is provided so as to be hit by the filter member if the filter member is vibrated, in order to regulate the vibrations of the filter member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developing container configured to contain developer, a method of manufacturing the developing container, a developing device using the developing container, and an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image forming apparatus are typified by, for example, a copying machine, a printer (a laser beam printer and an LED printer), a facsimile machine, a multifunction peripheral combining those apparatus, and a word processor, which are configured to form an image on a recording medium through use of various image forming processes.
The various image forming processes are typified by, for example, an electrophotographic image forming process using an electrophotographic photosensitive member as an image bearing member on which a latent image is to be formed, an electrostatographic image forming process using an electrostatographic dielectric member as the image bearing member, and a magnetographic image forming process using a magnetographic magnetic member as the image bearing member. The image bearing member on which a latent image is to be formed includes a rotary member such as a drum and an endless belt, and a sheet member such as a photosensitive sheet and an electrostatographic sheet.
A developing device refers to a device configured to develop a latent image formed on the image bearing member with developer, and includes at least a developing container configured to contain the developer, and a developing member configured to develop a latent image by applying, to the image bearing member, the developer contained in the developing container.
A process cartridge refers to a cartridge detachably mountable to an apparatus main body of an image forming apparatus configured to form an image on a recording medium, and includes at least an image bearing member, and a developing device configured to develop a latent image formed on the image bearing member with developer. The developing device includes at least a developing container configured to contain developer, and a developing member configured to develop a latent image by applying, to the image bearing member, the developer contained in the developing container. The apparatus main body refers to a part of the image forming apparatus excluding the developing device or the process cartridge.
The recording medium refers to a recording material on which an image can be formed, and is typified by, for example, a recording sheet, a resin sheet, a cloth, an envelope, and a postcard. The recording medium also includes an intermediate transfer belt, an intermediate transfer drum, and a display of an image display apparatus.
In the following description, the developer is referred to as "toner." Further, the developing member configured to develop a latent image with developer by applying the developer to the image bearing member is referred to as "a developing roller."
The developing device, the developing cartridge, and the process cartridge as described above are provided with an elastic sheet member (toner seal member) which abuts against the rotating developing roller over the length in its axial direction (roller longitudinal direction) to prevent leakage of toner through a space between the developing container and the developing roller. Further, the developing container is provided with a developing blade configured to regulate the thickness of a toner layer.
In the above-mentioned structure, the developing container, the developing roller, or a toner supply roller configured to supply toner to the developing roller may be deformed due to a change in atmospheric pressure and an impact during distribution, and hence the volume inside the developing container may be reduced. In this case, the atmospheric pressure inside the developing container becomes higher than the atmospheric pressure outside the developing container, and hence toner may leak through a space between the developing roller and the elastic sheet member or between the developing roller and the developing blade. This is because air blows out of the developing container due to the difference between the atmospheric pressure inside the developing container and the atmospheric pressure outside the developing container, which causes toner leakage concomitantly.
Therefore, in the developing device, the developing cartridge, and the process cartridge disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2011/0103827 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-270939, a communicating hole through which the inside and outside of the developing container are communicated with each other is provided. Further, a filter member which allows passage of air and blocks passage of toner is provided so as to close the communicating hole. With this structure, the change in pressure inside the developing container is reduced.
However, when the developing container is formed of a plurality of frames such as a container and a cover, the communicating hole through which the inside and outside of the developing container are communicated with each other is provided in the container or the cover. After the filter member is bonded so as to close the communicating hole, the container and the cover are welded together by vibration welding, to thereby form the developing container. In this case, due to the vibrations generated in the vibration welding, the filter member bonded to the communicating hole vibrates like a drumbeat, and vibrational energy of the filter member is converted into thermal energy due to the friction and deformation occurring inside the filter member. The thermal energy raises the temperature of the filter member. As a result, the filter member may be melted.

Developing container, method of manufacturing the same, developing device using the same, and image forming apparatus


An umbrella includes an elongated stem having telescopically connected inner and outer tubular segments, a top hub secured to the inner tubular segment to define an upper annular space therebetween, a tubular runner surrounding the stem, slidable between upper and lower positions to spread-out or collapse a canopy and rib assembly, and spaced apart from the inner tubular segment to define a lower annular space therebetween, a tubular spacer slidably sleeved on the inner tubular segment to be inserted into the lower annular space when the runner is displaced to the upper position so as to prevent wobbling movement of the runner, and movable by the outer tubular segment to be thereby withdrawn into the upper annular space when the outer tubular segment is displaced to the retracted position, and a biasing member disposed to bias the spacer into the lower annular space.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an umbrella with a foldable stem, more particularly to an umbrella which includes a tubular spacer that is received in a tubular runner when the umbrella is stretched so as to prevent wobbling movement of the runner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional umbrella is shown to include an elongated stem 1, a top hub 2 secured on a top of the stem 1, a tubular runner 3 slidably mounted on the stem 1, and a canopy and rib assembly 4 connected to the top hub 2 and the runner 3. The stem 1 includes at least one outer tube 101 and at least one inner tube 102 which is telescopically fitted in the outer tube 101 so as to be extendable and retractable relative thereto.
Since the outer tube 101 and the inner tube 102 are employed to construct the stem 1, when the runner 3 is positioned on the inner tube 102 at an upper position to maintain the canopy and rib assembly 4 in a spread-out position, a gap (I) is present between an inner wall 301 of the runner 3 and the inner tube 102 to cause wobbling movement of the runner 3, thereby resulting in damage to the stem 1.


Disclosed is a novel two-step reaction method for preparing block copolyether-ester-amides. In the first step, caprolactam or other lactam is reacted with a polyether polyol in the presence of a catalyst to form an amino-terminated prepolymer with both a polyamide hard segment and a polyether soft segment. In the second step, the prepolymer is reacted with a dicarboxylic acid as a chain extender to form high molecular weight block copolyether-ester-amides.. The block copolyether-ester-amides prepared by this method are transparent, easily moldable by conventional processing methods such as extrusion and injection molding, and exhibit excellent mechanical properties.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method preparing block copolyether-ester-amides. In the first step, polyether polyol is reacted with caprolactam or other lactam in the presence of a catalyst to form an amino group-terminated prepolymer. The prepolymer is then reacted with a dicarboxylic acid to produce high molecular weight block copolymers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Methods of synthesizing block copolyether-ester-amides have been disclosed in various patents. French Pat. Nos. 1,444,437 and 2,178,205 disclose methods which comprise reacting a dicarboxyl-end polyamide with a polyoxyalkylene glycol to produce block copolymers used as anti-static agents. The molecular weight of block copolymers prepared by these methods, however, is rather low.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,920 (ATO Chimie, France) discloses a method which comprises reacting a dicarboxyl-end polyamide with a poly(tetramethylene ether) glycol (PTMEG) in the presence of a tetraalkylorthotitanate catalyst. The carboxy-end polyamide used in this method can be a polyamide with a carboxylic acid end group obtained from lactams or amino acids having 4-14 carbon atoms, or a condensation product of a dicarboxylic acid and a diamine, such as low molecular weight nylon-6,6, nylon-6,9, nylon-6,12, or nylon-9,6. The products exhibit good mechanical properties and can be processed by conventional machinery.
Japan Pat. No. 57-24808 discloses a single-step synthesis method. An amino acid having more than 10 carbon atoms, PTMEG, and dicarboxylic acid are copolycondensed in the presence of water to form block copolyether-ester-amides. Japan Pat. No. 58-21095 discloses a similar method in which aminocapric acid is used instead of higher amino acids.
The method disclosed in Japan Pat. 57-24808 involves reaction of an amino acid having more than 10 carbon atoms, PTMEG, and dicarboxylic acid in the presence of water. During the reaction process, carboxylic acid groups are first reacted with an amino group rather than the hydroxy group of PTMEG, due to the higher reactivity of the amino group. Thus, oligomeric polyamides with carboxyl end groups are first formed, and then condensed with PTMEG to form block copolyether-ester-amides. In fact, in the above methods, either one step or two step, a carboxy-end polyamide exists.
When a carboxy-end polyamide derived from caprolactam is used instead of one derived from higher lactams, the miscibility becomes a severe problem. The carboxy-end polyamide derived from caprolactam is immiscible with PTMEG. During the reaction, however, phase separation occurs, and the caprolactam-based block copolyether-ester-amide possesses low molecular weight, is opaque, and exhibits poor mechanical properties.
Japan Pat. No. 61-278530 discloses a method wherein the problem of immiscibility of carboxy-end polycaprolactam and PTMEG is solved by using a compatibilizer. In this method, carboxy-end polycaprolactam is reacted with PTMEG in the presence of at least 70 wt% of caprolactam (base on polyamide segment) which is used as a compatibilizer. The presence of caprolactam renders the reaction mixture homogeneous, and a transparent product is obtained. The use of such a high percentage of caprolactam, however, reduces the conversion.
West German Pat. No. 213,577 discloses another method for preparing nylon-6 based block copolyether-ester-amides. In this method, polyether polyol is first reacted with dicarboxylic acid, and the polyether with carboxyl end group is then reacted with caprolactam. The resultant product, however, is very brittle.
Clearly, the miscibility of carboxy-end polyamide and polyether polyol poses a substantial problem in preparing the block copolyether-ester-amides by the above method. When the reaction mixture is homogeneous, as is the case when carboxy-end polyamide is derived from higher carbon atom raw material such as nylon-11 and nylon-12, or a compatibilizer is present, a good result is observed. Otherwise, the result is a low molecular weight block copolyether-ester-amide with less than desirable properties. The immiscibility problem is particularly severe between carboxy-end polycaprolactam and PTMEG.

Preparation of block copolyether-ester-amides

Industrial Technology Research Institute


The occurrence of an upward streamer is effectively suppressed by reducing a positively charged region formed around a lightning protection device as much as possible.

A lightning strike is a discharge phenomenon that occurs in the atmosphere. Lighting discharges include an intracloud discharge, a cloud-to-cloud discharge, and a cloud-to-ground discharge. Among the lighting discharges, the cloud-to-ground discharge (hereinafter referred to as lightning strike) causes great damage. The lightning strike is a phenomenon that occurs when the electric field strength between a thundercloud (cloud base) and the ground or a structure built on the ground or the like becomes extremely high and the charge becomes saturated and breaks down the insulation of the atmosphere.
When a lightning strike phenomenon is observed in detail, in a case of a general lightning strike (summer lightning) that occurs in the summer, as a thundercloud matures, a stepped leader from the thundercloud seeks out a place where the atmosphere is likely to be discharged and approaches the ground.
When the stepped leader reaches a certain distance from the ground, an upward streamer (streamer) of a weak current develops from the ground, a building (lightning rod), a tree, or the like toward the stepped leader.
When this streamer and the stepped leader are coupled to each other, a large current (return current) flows between the thundercloud and the ground through the coupling path.
This is the lightning strike phenomenon.
As a conventional lightning protection concept against such a lightning strike phenomenon, from the viewpoint that a lightning strike cannot be prevented, in most cases, a method in which a lightning strike is received by a pointed lightning rod (Franklin rod) and conducted to the ground is used.
Contrary to this, the present inventors have proposed a lightning strike suppression type lightning protection device described in Patent Document 1 in order to protect an object to be protected by suppressing the occurrence of a lightning strike as much as possible.
The lightning strike suppression type lightning protection device includes an upper electrode body and a lower electrode body with an insulator interposed therebetween, and is constructed by grounding only the lower electrode body.
In addition, for example, when a thundercloud with a negative charge distributed at the cloud base approaches, the opposite charge (positive charge) is distributed on the surface of the ground and the positive charge gathers also in the lower electrode body which is grounded.
Then, the upper electrode body which is disposed via the insulator has a negative charge due to the action of a capacitor.
By this action, the occurrence of an upward streamer in the lightning protection device and its surroundings is hindered, so that the occurrence of a lightning strike is suppressed.

Lightning strike suppression type lightning protection device and lightning arrestor

Abstract: The lightning protection device includes: an inner electrode body 2 which is grounded; an outer electrode body 3 which is provided so as to enclose the inner electrode body 2 with a predetermined gap G from the inner electrode body 2; an electrical insulator S which is provided in the gap G to hold the inner electrode body 2 and the outer electrode body 3 in a state of being electrically insulated from each other; and a support body for the inner electrode body, in which the inner electrode body 2 is formed in a substantially spherical shape, the outer electrode body 3 is formed in a spherical shell shape similar to an outer surface shape of the inner electrode body 2, and substantially an entire surface of the inner electrode body 2 is covered by the outer electrode body 3.


A method and system for assessing keyword usage based on frequency of usage of the keywords during various periods is provided. A keyword usage measurement system is provided with the frequency of keywords during various periods. The measurement system then calculates a recent usage score for a keyword by combining a frequency impulse score for the keyword with a frequency weight for the keyword. The frequency impulse score for a keyword indicates whether a recent change in the frequency of the keyword has occurred. The frequency weight for a keyword indicates a recent measure of the frequency of the keyword.

Many search engine services, such as Google and Yahoo!, provide for searching for information that is accessible via the Internet. These search engine services allow users to search for display pages, such as web pages, that may be of interest to users. After a user submits a search request (i.e., a query) that includes search terms, the search engine service identifies web pages that may be related to those search terms. To quickly identify related web pages, the search engine services may maintain a mapping of keywords to web pages. This mapping may be generated by "crawling" the web (i.e., the World Wide Web) to identify the keywords of each web page. To crawl the web, a search engine service may use a list of root web pages to identify all web pages that are accessible through those root web pages. The keywords of any particular web page can be identified using various well-known information retrieval techniques, such as identifying the words of a headline, the words supplied in the metadata of the web page, the words that are highlighted, and so on. The search engine service identifies web pages that may be related to the search request based on how well the keywords of a web page match the words of the query. The search engine service then displays to the user links to the identified web pages in an order that is based on a ranking that may be determined by their relevance to the query, popularity, importance, and/or some other measure.
Search engine services typically track all search requests submitted by users by storing the search requests and their corresponding search results in a search log. A search log also includes an indication of a date and time associated with the search request (e.g., the time the search request was submitted). For example, when a user submits the search request "earthquake tsunami," the search engine service identifies matching documents (e.g., web pages), ranks those documents, and displays to the user links to the documents ordered based on the rank of the documents. The search engine service may also add an entry to the search log that contains the search request "earthquake tsunami" and the links of the search result.
Search logs may also be generated by search systems that are unrelated to web page searching. For example, a web site of a company that sells the company's products may allow users to search for products of interest using search requests. When a user submits a search request, a search system of the web site may search an electronic catalog of the products to identify products that best match the search request. The web site then generates a web page that identifies the matching products and provides that web page to the user. The web site may maintain a search log of the product search requests. As another example, a web site of a provider of a database of patents may provide a search system to search the content of the patents. When a user submits a search request, the search system of the web site searches the database of patents to identify the patents that best match the search request. The web site then presents those patents to the user. The web site may also maintain a search log of the patent search requests.
Because the search logs contain the search requests of users, they may contain valuable information on what is currently of interest to users. For example, when a current event occurs, users of a search engine may submit search requests relating to that event in hopes of locating information about the event. If the event is an earthquake, then the users may enter search requests such as "seismograph," "Richter scale," "tsunami," and so on. Although techniques have been developed to identify keywords whose popularity is increasing rapidly, these techniques may not provide an effective and easy-to-calculate measure of this increase.

Keyword usage score based on frequency impulse and frequency weight


A non-pull cord operated window blind structure comprises a head rail with a blind body attached to the underside and actuated by a collecting cord wherein a cord-winding control device actuated by an operating cord, and a fixed seat are respectively mounted at both ends of the head rail with a movable seat situated there-between. One end of the operating cord is attached to the movable seat, and both ends of the collecting cord are synchronically wound through the fixed seat and the movable seat and located at the fixed seat, permitting the operating cord and the collecting cord to associate with each other in linking operation. Therefore, a bottom rail is simply pushed or pulled by hands to loosen or tighten the collecting cord and actuate the operating cord therewith, permitting a state of counterbalance formed there-between for easy adjustment of the blind body into a desirable position thereby.

The present invention relates to a non-pull cord operated window blind structure, comprising a head rail with a blind body attached to the underside and actuated by a collecting cord wherein both ends of the head rail have a cord-winding control device with an operating cord linked thereto and a fixed seat respectively mounted thereto with a movable seat situated there-between; whereby, the operating cord and the collecting cord are reciprocally associated with each other in linking operation so that a bottom rail is simply pushed or pulled by hands to loosen or tighten the collecting cord wound onto the movable seat and actuate the operating cord therewith, permitting a counterbalance formed there-between for easy adjustment of the blind body into a desirable position thereby.
A conventional window blind structure is usually made up of a blind body, an operating drive assembly, and a pull cord. In operation, the pull cord is drawn by force exerted by the hand of a user, and the small frictional surface of the pull cord tends to rub against the hand exerting force thereon and, thus, leave strained marks on the contact area of the hand thereof. Besides, in case of an excessive down-pulling force exerted onto the pull cord or a sudden release at great speed, the blind body cannot be accurately positioned in a desirable position and the adjustment process must be repeated over again, which is quite inconvenient in operation.

Non-pull cord operated window blind structure


A printer controller receives PDL data from a host computer, which is then analyzed by a PDL analysis program in the order received, and converted to an intermediate-language data, and stored in an intermediate-language-data buffer. When an overlay-registration start command is read, generated intermediate-language data is stored in a file system until an overlay-registeration end command is read. The levels of overlapping between one stored intermediate-language element and the other elements are calculated for each element. When overlapped, the size required to develop the overlapping elements together with the corresponding image data is calculated. The calculated size of the image data is compared with the total size of the original intermediate-language data. When the image data is smaller in size, the image data is developed and registered as intermediate-language data, thus reducing the total size of the intermediate-language data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to printing apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printers for printing and recording data at a high resolution are used for multimedia processing in fields such as computer aided design (CAD), computer graphics (CG), design and business desktop publishing (DTP) and are now commercially available.
Such a printer receives page-description-language (PDL) data sent from a host computer, analyzes it, creates the corresponding intermediate-language data, holds one page of that data, and renders (rasterizes) the held intermediate-language data at a high speed using hardware and/or software.
Intermediate-language data can be handled at high speed even if hardware is used. It includes a run-length object which has a set of the coordinates of the rightmost and leftmost points in the longitudinal direction in an object and an image object which includes image data as is.
Form overlay printing means that the same form data, such as a line and a logo, is repeatedly printed without frequently sending the data from the host computer, by storing the form data in a file system in the printer as intermediate-language data, and specifying the stored data when the form is drawn on a plurality of pages.
Form overlay printing can be implemented by three PDL commands, a form-registration start command, a form-registration end command and a form designation command. PDL data disposed between the form-registration start command and the form-registration end command is converted to the intermediate-language data, is assigned a unique name, and is registered in a file system of the printer as form data.
Intermediate-language data is created by manipulating PDL data such that the image data corresponding to the PDL data is readily created.
When a form designation command is detected in PDL data, the form data (intermediate-language data) having the specified name is copied to a memory space in which other intermediate-language data is stored, analyzed, converted to the image data and stored in a page buffer.
Since a form designation command can be called many times, a page having the same format can be repeatedly rendered (rasterized) by calling the command at different pages.
Some recently available printers receive PDL data sent from the host computer, analyze it, create the corresponding intermediate-language data, hold one page thereof, and perform rendering (rasterization) of the intermediate-language data at high speed by hardware or software with the alternate use of two band memory units when paper is discharged.
A simple intermediate language can be used at high speed even if hardware is used. It includes a run-length intermediate language which has a set of the coordinates of the rightmost and leftmost points in the longitudinal direction in an object, an image intermediate language which includes image data as is and a compressed image intermediate language which includes compressed images. Some image intermediate languages handle multiple-valued images having two, four, or eight bits per pixel, and draw images at the gray-scale levels of the printer according to positions where images are drawn.
Some intermediate languages create inverted black-and-white characters by applying a logical drawing method to the destination image already rendered (rasterized) on memory when intermediate-language data is rendered (rasterized).
Such a conventional printing apparatus has the following problems.
Since intermediate-language data is analyzed each time a form designation command is called, the data is analyzed at the same time rasterizing is performed, resulting in a long processing time. Although the size of intermediate-language data is generally smaller than that of the corresponding PDL data, the corresponding rendered (rasterized) data may be smaller when images are drawn at the same position.
Multiple-valued intermediate-language data is larger in size than two-valued-image intermediate-language data. When a plurality of intermediate-language data items are drawn at the same position, the size of an intermediate-language storage area needs to be very large.
When a number of intermediate-language data items are drawn in the same band, or there is a plurality of intermediate-language data items which require a long rasterization time, the development speed for intermediate-language data may be slower than the printer engine speed.
In the cases described above, degraded image data is created with lower resolution or a lower number of gray-scale levels, a memory area of one page for storing the image data is obtained, all intermediate-language data items are developed on that page, and paper discharge processing is performed. The output of the printer may become degraded depending on the data.

Printing apparatus, data registration method, and storage medium


A voltage reset method may include: acquiring a voltage that is changed with time by using an input photon; determining a timing for resetting the acquired voltage by using time information in a period where the acquired voltage increases; and/or resetting the acquired voltage on a basis of the determined voltage reset timing. A voltage reset apparatus may include: an acquisition unit configured to acquire a voltage that is changed with time by using an input photon; a determination unit configured to determine a timing for resetting the acquired voltage by using time information in a period where the acquired voltage increases; and/or a reset unit configured to reset the acquired voltage on a basis of the determined voltage reset timing.

1. Field
Some example embodiments may relate to methods and/or apparatuses for adaptively determining voltage reset timings.
2. Description of Related Art
An X-ray image photographing system, which is medical imaging equipment using radiation, is undergoing a change from an analog type to a digital type. With such a trend, an X-ray detector that may be an element of a digital X-ray system is also undergoing a change. Digital X-ray detection technology may be generally categorized into an indirect method, that may convert X-ray into visible light and then converts the visible light signal into an electrical signal to generate an image, and a direct method, that may convert an X-ray signal into an electrical signal to generate an image.
The indirect method may be categorized into an integrating method, that accumulates a converted electrical signal for a certain time to generate an image signal, and a photon counting detection (PCD) method, that counts the number of X-ray photons to generate an image signal. Here, the PCD method generates an image, that may enable an X-ray energy level to be distinguished, through one-time photographing, and acquires a high-quality image of an object although the object is slightly exposed to X-rays.
Although some example embodiments will be described with relation to a medical imaging system, those skilled in the art will appreciate that some example embodiments may be applied to other types of systems, such as an imaging system not used in the medical field, a more general purpose readout circuit, or a voltage reset apparatus.

Methods and apparatuses for adaptively determining voltage reset timing


A transaction terminals reports information regarding operation of terminal to a server-based analyzer. The analyzer labels the information and normalizes the labeled information into a model format. The analyzer reports the model format to a problem identifier/resolver. The problem identifier/resolver identifies a closest likely problem and a resolution for that closest likely problem based on the labeled information in the model format and reports the likely problem and resolution back to the analyzer for resolution on the transaction terminal.

Retail environments include many different types of transaction terminals, such as: Customer Self-Service (CSS) terminals (e.g., Self-Service Terminals (SSTs), Automated Teller Machines (ATMS), kiosks, Kitchen Production System (KPS) terminals, travel kiosks, grocery kiosks), etc.), Point-Of-Sale (POS) terminals, and fuel pump terminals. Each of these transaction terminals may include different configurations and hardware and software resources, which means that many instances of terminal builds are managed by each retail site or environment.
Significant human resources are needed to maintain these transaction terminals in proper working condition for servicing customers at each retail site. Furthermore, the information provided to service personal during initial installs, updates, and/or scheduled or unscheduled maintenance activities from the terminals is cryptic and difficult to understand, especially for relatively new or junior service technicians.
Additionally, when a particular hardware or software resource problem is resolved for a particular problem, the maintenance and support staff are relied upon for filling out forms or logs that another service personnel and presumably use in similar problem scenario. This assumes that the original technician sufficiently fills out the forms or logs, which typically does not occur, and this assumes that there is a sufficient searching mechanism or tool that can assist subsequent technicians is quickly finding the original technician's notes; such tools are not uniformly provided and are generally considered cumbersome and difficult to use by the service technicians. Plus, the problem history documentation is usually confined to a single retailer's site and not readily available across multiple sites of the retailer or across different sites of different retailers.
As a result, much problem identification and resolution remains ad hoc, proprietary, and are not fully leveraged with knowledge of the service technicians and software developers.

Automated terminal problem identification and resolution


Manually operated invertible pump for dispensing atomized liquids, the pump having a very compact structure and an aperture which can be intercepted by the pump piston to control liquid entry into the pump when this is in a downwardly inverted position.

Many types of invertible pumps are known, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,636, U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,079, U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,001, U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,252, EP-A-0648545 and EP-A-1029597, however such pumps have serious drawbacks which limit their production and use. In this respect, some are of very complex structure with many component parts difficult to mould and assemble; others entrust the seal to small, light sleeves slidable on the surfaces of a holed cylindrical body, the mobility of such sleeves being very precarious and unreliable; still others are of considerable size below the seal gasket of the ring cap for fixing the pump onto the mouth of a liquid container, either axially (see the two said European patents and U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,001 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,079) or transversely (U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,636), making them unsuitable for use on small-dimension containers such as required, for example, in the perfumery field.
The operation of an invertible pump depends on the fact that the liquid enclosed in a container must be able to penetrate into the pump compression chamber by rising along a dip tube (of which one end is mounted on the pump and the other end is free and is positioned in proximity to the container base) when the pump is positioned above the container, but to penetrate directly into said compression chamber from a hole provided in the pump body, and of which the opening is controlled by a unidirectional valve which opens only during pump intake and only when the pump is inverted, i.e. positioned below the container.

Simplified invertible pump for dispensing atomized liquids


Disclosed is a container for transporting a biopharmaceutical fluid, the container including a leak-tight wall having an outer portion and an inner portion, the outer portion and the inner portion delimiting between them an intermediate space that may be inflated under pressure with an inflation gas, the container being adapted to be alternately in: a non-inflated state in which the container is empty of pressurized inflation gas; an inflated state in which the wall of the container is inflated and delimits an internal cavity adapted to contain the biopharmaceutical fluid. The wall includes a peripheral lateral wall around the internal cavity, the peripheral lateral wall being completely rigid or semi-rigid when the container is in the inflated state so as to ensure a protection of the biopharmaceutical fluid.

It is known practice to use rigid containers, for example made of stainless steel, in order to transport biopharmaceutical fluids. Such containers make it possible in particular to transport biopharmaceutical fluids over great distances, by ship or by aeroplane, from the place where the containers have been filled to the place where the fluids will finally be used. Since these biopharmaceutical fluids are often of high financial value, even often of high value for the health of individuals since they may be used for example to manufacture medicines intended for human health, it is essential that they reach their place of destination safely and without contamination.
However, one drawback with these rigid containers is that they need to be washed and sterilized, for example by autoclaving, before they may be reused in order to avoid any subsequent risk of contamination. Such a cleaning step is particularly costly and lengthy to implement, notably because of the specific features of certain steels, notably of stainless steel, that form the containers, and always presents the risk of leaving traces of contamination.
Also known are containers made of rigid plastic material. However, these containers cannot have a great capacity, notably greater than 500 litres, because of resistance problems, and cannot be washed by autoclaving. Nor may plastic containers be combined with systems for cooling and/or heating the biopharmaceutical fluid. Furthermore, such containers take up a significant space even once emptied of biopharmaceutical fluid. Also, they require a lot of space in order to be stored between two uses.
The document US 2010303387 describes an inflatable, reusable and foldable plastic structure for storage or transportation. A plurality of air chambers forms an exterior frame of the structure, while a flexible coating forms the interior.
However, the flexible coating of such a structure is not rigid enough to effectively protect the content of the container, in particular a biopharmaceutical fluid during transport operations and in order to ensure that the container is kept stable once the latter is filled with the biopharmaceutical fluid.
Consequently, there is, in the specific field of the invention, the need to be able to transport a biopharmaceutical fluid safely, simply and economically, with a high capacity container.

Inflatable container for transporting a biopharmaceutical fluid and system and method implementing such a container


A process and electronic assembly for conducting heat from a semiconductor circuit device mounted to a substrate. The substrate is supported by a housing member equipped with a heat-conductive member. A surface of the device opposite the substrate is bonded to the heat-conductive member with a solder joint formed of indium and optionally one or more alloying constituents that increase the melting temperature of the solder joint above that of indium. The housing member, substrate, and device are assembled so that an indium-containing solder material is present between the heat-conductive member and the surface of the device opposite the substrate. The solder material is then reflowed to form the solder joint. The alloying constituent(s) are preferably introduced into the solder joint during reflow.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to thermal management of semiconductor devices. More particularly, this invention relates to a process and electronic assembly for increasing the dissipation of heat from semiconductor circuit devices, such as power flip chips.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Power flip chips and certain other semiconductor devices require thermal management in order to minimize their operating temperatures. A variety of approaches have been developed for dissipating heat generated by power flip chips. Notable techniques are disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,180,436 and 6,365,964 to Koors et al., which involve conducting heat from a circuit device with a heat-conductive pedestal brought into thermal contact with a surface of the device, e.g., the non-active "topside" surface of a flip chip opposite the solder connections that attach the chip to its substrate. A thermally-conductive lubricant, such as a silicone grease, is placed between the topside of the device and the pedestal to fill gaps between the device and pedestal in order to promote thermal contact, as well as decouple lateral mechanical strains that arise as a result of different thermal expansions and movement between the device, substrate and pedestal. An elastomer or other suitable biasing member urges the device into contact with the pedestal, promoting intimate contact between the device and pedestal to minimize the interface thermal resistance therebetween.
To further reduce induced stresses and to eliminate the need for thermally-conductive lubricants, co-pending U.S. Pat. No. 6,700,195 to Mandel discloses mounting a power flip chip (or other circuit device) within a first region of a substrate. The first region is peripherally supported by a second region of the substrate surrounding the first region, which in turn is supported by a third region of the substrate surrounding the second region. The second region is fabricated to be more flexible than the first and third regions. The device is contacted by a heat-conductive member, and a biasing member contacts the first region of the substrate to bias the device into thermal contact with the heat-conductive member. An important advantage of the assembly disclosed by Mandel is that the more flexible second region of the substrate improves the mechanical decoupling of strains that arise as a result of different thermal expansions and movement between the device, substrate, and heat-conductive member, thereby reducing the induced stresses that can cause fracturing of the device and its solder connections.
While the teachings of Koors et al. and Mandel provide significant improvements for thermally managing circuit devices, further improvements would be desirable, particularly as higher power densities are sought for circuit assemblies.

Electronic assembly with solder-bonded heat sink


Projection lenses for use with pixelized panels (PP) are provided. The projection lenses have a first unit (U1) separated from a positive second unit (U2). The lenses are telecentric on the short conjugate side, have a large field of view in the direction of the long conjugate, have low aberration levels, and include a space between two of the lens elements making up the lens which is sufficient to accept a reflective surface (RS) for folding the lens' optical axis. The second or rear lens unit (U2) includes at least a first color-correcting lens subunit (SU2/CC1) which has a positive-followed-by-negative form and contributes to the correction of the chromatic aberrations of the projection lens, including the correction of lateral color.

A. Definitions
As used in this specification and in the claims, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(1) Telecentric
Telecentric lenses are lenses which have at least one pupil at infinity. In terms of principal rays, having a pupil at infinity means that the principal rays are parallel to the optical axis (a) in object space, if the entrance pupil is at infinity, or (b) in image space, if the exit pupil is at infinity.
In practical applications, a telecentric pupil need not actually be at infinity since a lens having an entrance or exit pupil at a sufficiently large distance from the lens' optical surfaces will in essence operate as a telecentric system. The principal rays for such a lens will be substantially parallel to the optical axis and thus the lens will in general be functionally equivalent to a lens for which the theoretical (Gaussian) location of the pupil is at infinity.
Accordingly, as used herein, the terms "telecentric" and "telecentric lens" are intended to include lenses which have a pupil at a long distance from the lens' elements, and the term "telecentric pupil" is used to describe such a pupil at a long distance from the lens' elements. For the projection lenses of the invention, the telecentric pupil distance will in general be at least about 20 times the lens' focal length.
(2) Effective Back Focal Length
The effective back focal length (BFL) of a projection lens/pixelized panel combination is the distance between the front surface of the pixelized panel and the vertex of the back surface of the rearward-most lens element of the projection lens which has optical power when (1) the image of the pixelized panel is located at infinity and (2) the projection lens is located in air, i.e., the space between the rearward-most lens element of the projection lens and the pixelized panel is filled with air as opposed to the glasses making up the prisms, beam splitters, etc. normally used between a projection lens and a pixelized panel.
(3) Q-Value
As described in J. Hoogland, "The Design of Apochromatic Lenses," in Recent Development in Optical Design, R. A. Ruhloff editor, Perkin-Elmer Corporation, Norwalk, Conn., 1968, pages 6-1 to 6-7, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, Q-values can be calculated for optical materials and serve as a convenient measure of the partial dispersion properties of the material.
Hoogland's Q-values are based on a material's indices of refraction at the e-line (546 nanometers), the F′ line (480 nanometers), and the C′ line (643.8 nanometers). The wavelengths used herein, both in the specification and in the claims, are the d line (587.56 nanometers), the F line (486.13 nanometers), and the C line (656.27 nanometers).
More particularly, as described in Hoogland, the Q-value for a lens element is determined using the indices of refraction Nd, NF, and NC of the material making up the element at the d, F, and C lines, respectively, and the equation:Q=(y−yn)×106where y is given by:y=(NF−Nd)/(Nd−1)and yn is determined from an equation of the form:yn=ax+bevaluated at the x-value for the material making up the lens element, where x is given by:x=(NF−NC)/(Nd−1)and a and b are determined using x and y values for SK16 and SF2.
(4) V-Value
V-values (also known as Abbe constants) are for the d, F, and C lines and are given by:V=(Nd−1)/(NF−NC)
(5) Effective V-Value
The effective V-value (Ve) of one or more lens elements is given by:Ve=ΣVi·fiwhere the summation is over the one or more lens elements and Vi and fi are, respectively, the V-values and focal lengths of the individual lens elements.
(6) N-Value
Indices of refraction (N-values) are for the d-line (587.56 nanometers) in Table 9. All focal lengths and other calculated values which depend on a single value for the index of refraction for individual elements are for the e-line (546.1 nanometers).
(7) Vignetting
The vignetting of a projection lens in percent is defined as 100 minus 100 times the ratio, in the long conjugate focal plane, of the illuminance at the full field to the illuminance on-axis at the projection lens' working f-number. Since projection lenses normally do not include an adjustable iris and are used "wide open," the working f-number will typically be the full aperture f-number.
B. Projection Systems
Image projection systems are used to form an image of an object, such as a display panel, on a viewing screen. Such systems can be of the front projection or rear projection type, depending on whether the viewer and the object are on the same side of the screen (front projection) or on opposite sides of the screen (rear projection).
FIG. 11 shows in simplified form the basic components of an image projection system 17 for use with a pixelized imaging device (also known in the art as a "digital light valve"). In this figure, 10 is an illumination system, which comprises a light source 11 and illumination optics 12 which transfer some of the light from the light source towards the screen, 13 is the imaging device, and 14 is a projection lens which forms an enlarged image of the imaging device on viewing screen 15. For front projection systems, the viewer will be on the left side of screen 15 in FIG. 11, while for rear projection systems, the viewer will be on the right side of the screen.
For ease of presentation, FIG. 11 shows the components of the system in a linear arrangement. For a reflective imaging device and, in particular, for a DMD imaging device of the type with which the present invention will typically be used, the illumination system is arranged so that light from that system reflects off of the imaging device, i.e., the light impinges on the front of the imaging device as opposed to the back of the device as shown in FIG. 11. Also, for such imaging devices, one or more prism assemblies (see "PR" in FIGS. 1–10) will be located in front of the imaging device and will receive illumination light from the illumination system and will provide imaging light to the projection lens. In addition, for rear projection systems which are to be housed in a single cabinet, one or more mirrors are often used between the projection lens and the screen to fold the optical path and thus reduce the system's overall size.
The linear arrangement shown in FIG. 11 can also be modified in the case of a transmissive imaging device. Specifically, in this case, the optical path between the imaging device and the screen can include two folds to reduce the overall size of the cabinet used to house the system, e.g., a first fold mirror can be placed between imaging device 13 and projection lens 14 and a second fold mirror can be placed between the projection lens and screen 15.
Image projection systems preferably employ a single projection lens which forms an image of: (1) a single imaging device which produces, either sequentially or simultaneously, the red, green, and blue components of the final image; or (2) three imaging devices, one for red light, a second for green light, and a third for blue light. Rather than using one or three imaging devices, some image projection systems have used two or up to six imagers. Also, for certain applications, e.g., large image rear projection systems, multiple projection lenses are used, with each lens and its associated imaging device(s) producing a portion of the overall image. Irrespective of the details of the application, the projection lens generally needs to have a relatively long effective back focal length to accommodate the prisms, beam splitters, and other components normally used with pixelized panels. In the preferred embodiments of the present invention, a single projection lens is used to form an image of a single imaging device, e.g., a DMD panel. For this application, the projection lens needs to have a relatively long effective back focal length to accommodate the one or more prism assemblies used with such a panel.
A particularly important application of projection systems employing pixelized panels is in the area of rear projection systems which can be used as large screen projection televisions (PTVs) and/or computer monitors. To compete effectively with the established cathode ray tube (CRT) technology, projection systems based on pixelized panels need to be smaller in size and lower in weight than CRT systems having the same screen size.

Projection lenses having color-correcting rear lens units


A referenceless self-clocking (n,k) bar code word allows conveyance of information without the need of any start and/or stop code pattern or other reference; a code word pattern is repeated at least in part without space therebetween according to a given n,k coding convention so that any k pair of adjacent data code elements sensed by any sensing means according to the n,k coding convention will consist of n units (e.g., bar code modules), thus allowing the data code elements of the code word to be decoded most accurately without any reference pattern. One application of this coding is on round or cylindrical objects like coins, casino chips and the like, and this coding is also well suited for linear or other coding applications wanting to convey coded information without the use of a start/stop code or reference pattern using n,k coding. This coding may or mayn't include error control, for example, as disclosed herein.

The invention disclosed herein relates generally to machine reading information from gaming chips, and more particularly to such machine reading during play of casino table games such as blackjack and baccarat. The invention has particular application to machine reading information from gaming chips for the purpose of ascertaining player betting, where the information read from the chips includes at least the denomination of the chips. That application allows a casino to rate players' betting activities in order to identify players that the casino wants to encourage to gamble in the casino, and to provide them with a commensurate level of free services, meals and merchandise such as accommodations, transportation, entertainment, food and beverages, known as "comping".
Comping is widely used by casinos to attract and hold gamblers. For example, Atlantic City and Nevada casinos comp players in the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars each year. However, even though casinos have attempted to track table player betting accurately, by pit bosses observations, a substantial portion of the comping inevitably goes to undeserving players while some deserving players go uncomped. In many cases today, ascertaining player betting for the purpose of comping is done manually by pit bosses. As described below, there has been movement in recent years towards automating information gathering and processing for the purpose of player comping. However, the prior art systems described below all have serious shortcomings and drawbacks which the invention disclosed herein avoids.
The "PitTrak Player Tracking System" as advertised by PRC Gaming Systems of Chico, Calif., is a player table game tracking system which receives player identification information on magnetic stripe cards read by readers mounted to the table, and betting information is entered by a pit boss using a touch screen mounted to the table.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,936 issued on Dec. 24, 1996 to Mikohn Gaming Corp. of Las Vegas, Nev., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,912 issued on Mar. 25, 1997 to Harrah's Club of Reno, Nev. disclose partially automated gaming table tracking systems which include magnetic stripe readers mounted to the table for entering player identification information on magnetic stripe cards. The system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,936 also includes a printer which prints player tracking cards having spaces for in which betting information can be entered manually by the pit boss, and a reader which reads the filled-in player cards.
Though both the "PitTrak Player Tracking System" and the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,936 machine read player identification information and facilitate entry of betting information, since they do not machine read information from the gambling chips but instead require a manual data entry step, they do not truly automate data collection for player comping.
International Patent Publication WO 9710577 of GRIPS Electronics GES, MBH dated Mar. 20, 1997 discloses an automated table monitoring system which includes readers mounted to the table for entering player information on cards, and employs sensors to detect chip presence for automated betting information data entry. Chip presence is detected by sensors mounted to the table at player betting locations and in a dealer chip rack, which in one embodiment may have a chip deposit area for each player. For use of the system with card games such as blackjack, a sensor is also provided for monitoring the status of the dealer's cards. By monitoring dealer card status and the flow of chips between the player betting locations and the dealer chip rack, winning and losing bets are automatically determined and entered into the system. However, the embodiment of the system described in this patent publication which does not include a chip deposit area for each player, does not provide for automatic entry of bet values for each bet. Instead, exact bet values are determined in blackjack only when a player busts or goes over, and these values are averaged and used as a basis for the bet value in other hands. In the embodiment which includes a dealer's chip rack with a chip deposit area for each player, exact bet values per player can only be entered if chips lost and won by a player are inserted and removed only from the chip deposit area assigned to that player. Thus, in one embodiment, exact bet information is not provided, and in the other, the dealer must be careful to associate chips won and lost by a player only with the specific deposit area of the chip rack assigned to that player, which precludes the dealer from mixing chips from losing bets to pay winning bets, as is typically done, and therefore substantially slows game play.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,187, issued to Joseph C. Uhland on Jul. 23, 1985, discloses a system for monitoring play at gambling tables which, in the case of a blackjack table, optically monitors the cards played and the chips bet. The Uhland patent states that the system is able to monitor plural tables, and that the overall results are sent to a central computing unit which generates reports and statistics of the day's play. As described in the Uhland patent, an ordinary video camera is mounted to the casino ceiling to look directly down upon the playing surface. According to the Uhland patent, the system identifies the chips bet based on color using the video camera, a scanner and certain generally described circuits. However, a system relying on a single ceiling-mounted camera to monitor all chip locations on a table below likely would not be able to determine how many chips (and their denomination) players bet because multiple chip bets are placed in vertical stacks and only the top chip can be seen.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,814,589 of Leonard Storch et al., issued on Mar. 31, 1989 and assigned to Cias Inc., the assignee of this application, discloses machine reading information (e.g., optically) from the periphery of gambling chips for many purposes, including player activity. This patent discloses fundamentals of automatic gaming chip reading and automatic management of many casino functions using machine read information. Additionally, this patent discloses machine reading chips bet by players using individual chip readers.
International Patent Publication WO 9607153 of John W. Strisower dated Mar. 7, 1996 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,482), like the Storch et al. patent, discloses readers which optically machine read information on the edges of a respective stack of gambling chips. However, other than a schematic association of the readers with a gaming table in a block diagram, there is no disclosure of what the readers are, or where or how they are mounted.
International Patent Publication No. WO 9713227 of Digital Biometrics, Inc. dated Apr. 10, 1997(U.S. Pat. No. 5,781,647) discloses a gambling chip recognition system which is described as having the ability to capture an image of a stack of gambling chips and automatically process the image to determine the number of chips in the stack and the value of each. As described in this publication, the system includes a conventional video camera for each gambling position on the gambling table. According to an article in Casino World, September, 1996, pages 42–44, a system known as "Trak 21 ", which is advertised by Digital Biometrics, Inc. and is believed to be related to the system described in International Publication WO 97/13227, the cameras are "positioned on the side of the dealer". As a result, the cameras are still located a distance from the chips, and face in the direction of the players.
Mikohn Gaming Corporation of Las Vegas, Nev. offered a system called "SafeJack" for player tracking and comping. According to a Mikohn advertisement, the SafeJack system employs special gaming chips that each carry an embedded computer microchip. According to an advertisement of the gaming chip manufacturer, Bourgogne et Grasset of Beaune, France, the computer microchip is an ASIC integrated circuit linked to a small coil, which receives energy and interrogation signals through electromagnetic waves emitted from an outside reader device and transmits data back to the reading device. The SafeJack system is advertised to read and display all bets and payouts, and to include a light at each player position to indicate a win, push or loss. Because the SafeJack system requires special gaming chips that each include an integrated circuit, and electronics which transmit, receive and process electro-magnetic energy, the SafeJack system is relatively complex and its overall cost is high and it involves exposure to rf energy.
Despite the previous disclosures and systems described above, there remains a need for automatically obtaining information from gaming chips during casino-style game play reliably, non-intrusively, and with little or no interference in or slowing of game play, for player comping and for other purposes. There is a concurrent need to provide a system to do so which is simple and inexpensive, and preferably which also enhances play for players. The invention disclosed herein fulfills these needs.

Self-clocking n,k code word without start or stop


A suction nozzle for use in a vacuum cleaner includes a floor nozzle and a mini nozzle having a suction head, a rotatable joint, and joint, to be detachably secured in the floor nozzle. Either of the suction head and the rotatable joint or the rotatable joint and the joint is vertically joined and the other rotatably joined. Moreover, the suction head is unrotatably secured onto the floor nozzle, and forms an air communication with the floor nozzle.

FIG. 21 represents an exemplary canister type vacuum cleaner including an extension tube 102 detachably attached to a suction nozzle 101 in a front distal end thereof and further coupled to a handle 103 and a hose 104 which extends from the handle 103 is connected with a main body 106 via a joint 105. Such an electric vacuum cleaner is capable of efficiently cleaning the floor with the wide surfaced floor nozzle 101, however, cleaning a surface that is smaller than the floor nozzle 101, e.g., when cleaning the stairs, creates a problem of using the floor nozzle 101. In general, such surfaces are cleaned with crevice nozzles and brush nozzles that are equipped with the electric vacuum cleaner as supplements to the floor nozzle 101 by removing the extension tube 102 from the handle 103 and engaging the supplement nozzle with the handle 103.
However, the exchange of the suction heads is a great inconvenience to a user. Furthermore, due to rollers provided on the floor nozzle 101 for facilitating transportability thereof and disengaged extension tube 102 attached thereto, the disengaged extension tube 102 and the floor nozzle 101 are prevented from being stationary against a wall, thus a problem of placement thereof rises while being disengaged. A floor nozzle 101 that can easily be adaptively exchanged with a compatt nozzle in a narrow vacuuming space can greatly enhance the vacuuming process. Such effort is realized in the prior art, as illustrated in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-314358.
Special features of such an electric vacuum cleaner are in a suction nozzle thereof. As illustrated in FIG. 22, a front distal end of an extension tube 213 is connected with a hollow brush nozzle 250 via a ball join 240 that enables a rotation in a vertical direction and a direction of rotation, wherein the brush nozzle 250 is detachably installed with an opening 211a that is communicated with a suction inlet of the floor nozzle 210. While the brush nozzle 250 is engaged with the floor nozzle 210 that is attached to the distal end of the extension tube 213, an air passage is formed through the hollow brush nozzle 250 and the floor nozzle 210, thereby enabling cleaning of the floor with the floor nozzle 210. The brush nozzle 250 can be disengaged from the floor nozzle 210 by stepping on a release 320. Such a configuration enables a user to manipulate settings of the brush nozzle 250 with the floor nozzle 210 without having to bend down, facilitating converting from cleaning the floor to cleaning the steps and narrow cleaning surfaces.
However, a height of the floor nozzle 210 of the conventional vacuum cleaner described above is high enough to be limited for usage thereof in a cleaning surface that has a low height clearance, consequently restricting the cleaning surfaces to be cleaned by the floor nozzle 210.
Furthermore, there is a great difficulty to reorient the floor nozzle 210 to a desired direction by rotating the extension tube 213, since the handle to operate the floor nozzle 210 is connected with the extension tube 213 which is connected at an incline with the ball joint 240 that is vertically placed on the floor nozzle 210, consequently hindering an efficient cleaning using the floor nozzle 210.
Moreover, since the brush nozzle 250 is connected with the extension tube 213 via the ball joint 240 that is vertically rotatable and also rotatable in the direction of rotation, when the brush nozzle 250 is disengaged from the floor nozzle 210 for cleaning, an instability of an angle at which the brush nozzles 250 rests creates a difficulty in cleaning.

Vacuum cleaner and suction nozzle employed therein

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A remote control portable traffic signaling device (10) and system (94) for controlling a flow of traffic. The remote control portable traffic signaling system (94) includes the portable signaling device (10) and a plurality of warning flashers (76). The portable signaling device (10) includes a remote control unit (42) and a signal head (11) having an LED display device (50) and a microprocessor (46). The remote control unit (42) transmits a control signal to be received by the microprocessor (46) for use in controlling a message communicated by the LED display device (50). A base unit (30) including a storage compartment for housing the power source (36) is connected to the signal head (11) for supplying power to the microprocessor (46) and LED display device (50) via a connection wire (38) extending through a pole (24) positioned therebetween. A device for adjustably connecting the pole (26, 27, 28, 29, 35, 64 and 65) between the signal head (11) and base unit (30) allows for height adjustment of the portable signaling device (10). A plurality of warning flashers (76) including a pair of high luminous LEDs (82) are positioned at a predetermined distance from the portable signaling device (10) to warn passersby of the presence of the portable signaling device (10).

1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates generally to remote signaling devices and, more specifically, to a remote control portable traffic signaling device and system for controlling a flow of traffic.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous portable signaling devices have been provided in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,829,362; 2,941,185; 5,252,969; 5,294,138; 5,400,019 and 5,493,292 all are illustrative of such prior art. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.

Remote control portable traffic control device and system


A network switch comprises a plurality of packet processing units configured to process a received packet through multiple packet processing stages based on search result of a table. The network switch further comprises one or more memory units configured to maintain the table to be searched and provide the search result to the packet processing units. The network switch further comprises a table managing unit configured to accept a plurality of rules on bulk update to the table specified by a control unit, and perform the bulk update on the table based on the rules specified by the control unit without the control unit accessing the table directly for the bulk update.

Network switches/switching units are at the core of any communication network. A network switch typically has one or more input ports and one or more output ports, wherein data/communication packets are received at the input ports, processed by the network switch through multiple packet processing stages, and routed by the network switch to other network devices from the output ports according to control logic of the network switch.
Table search has been widely adopted for the control logic of the network switch, wherein the network switch performs search/lookup operations on the tables stored in the memory of the switch for each incoming packet and takes actions as instructed by the table search results or takes a default action in case of a table search miss. Examples of the table search performed in the network switch include but are not limited to: hashing for a Media Access Control (MAC) address look up, Longest-Prefix Matching (LPM) for Internet Protocol (IP) routing, wild card matching (WCM) for an Access Control List (ACL) and direct memory access for control data. The table search in the network switch allows management of network services by decoupling decisions about where traffic/packets are sent (i.e., the control plane of the switch) from the underlying systems that forwards the packets to the selected destination (i.e., the data plane of the switch), which is especially important for Software Defined Networks (SDN).
During its operation, the condition and/or status of the network switch may change, which may require the tables in the memory of the network switch to be updated accordingly to reflect such change. For a non-limiting example, when one of the output ports of the network switch is down, all traffic/packets currently being routed to the port need to be rerouted to another port and all relevant entries in the routing tables of the network switch need to be updated with the destination (MAC) address of the new port. For another non-limiting example, if an enterprise user would like to switch all of its machines from one virtual local area network (VLAN) to another, all routing tables for packets from these machines need to be updated to reflect such change.
Traditionally, updates to the tables in the network switch are performed by an external control unit/controller, which monitors the status of the network switch and performs updates on the tables directly. Since a table to be updated may be huge in size (e.g., having over one million entries), identifying all entries in the table that need to be updated and replacing all the identified entries with new data would consume a lot of computing resources (e.g., CPU and memory) of the control unit. In addition, when the control unit is updating the table remotely over a communication network, the instructions from the control unit to the switch to search and update the relevant entries in the table one by one would cause communication bottleneck between the control unit and the network switch.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.

Apparatus and method for fast search table update in a network switch


In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method for concurrently processing at least a portion of a graphical model is provided. The method may include obtaining the graphical model; recognizing a pattern in the graphical model, the pattern suitable for concurrent processing; and employing concurrent processing using multi-thread, multi-core, or multi-processor computing device when executing the pattern in the graphical model.

Techniques, such as graphical analysis and simulation may be used in modeling, design, analysis, and/or synthesis of engineered systems. These techniques may provide various classes of graphical models to describe computations that can be performed on application specific or general purpose computational hardware, such as a computer, microcontroller, field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or custom hardware. Classes of such graphical models may include time-based block diagrams, state-based and flow diagrams, entity flow network diagrams, and/or data-flow diagrams. A common characteristic among these various classes of graphical models is that they can define semantics that determine how a diagram is executed.
Graphical modeling has spawned a variety of software products that cater to various aspects of dynamic system analysis and design. Such products allow users to perform various types of tasks including constructing system models through a user-interface that allows drafting graphical models, allowing augmentation of a pre-defined set of blocks used in block diagrams with users' custom-built blocks, using the graphical model to compute and trace the temporal evolution of the dynamic system's outputs ("executing" the graphical model), and automatically producing either deployable software systems or descriptions of hardware systems that mimic the behavior of either the entire model or portions of it.

Distributed computations of graphical programs having a pattern


A dispenser for conduit and related components and tools is provided. In one form, the dispenser includes a first container configured to receive tubing and a second container configured to be connected to the first container. The second container has one or more compartments for containing one or more components or tools for use with the tubing.

Conduit, such as tubing, is available in numerous materials and sizes. Non-rigid tubing is generally made of a plastic material, such as vinyl or polyethylene. Tubing size is determined based on the inner diameter, which defines the cross section of the cavity within the tubing, and the outer diameter. The difference between the inner and outer diameter defines the tubing thickness.
Tubing generally has a smooth, annular inner surface configured to minimize pressure loss as a fluid passes therethrough. Further, the tubing may have a smooth outer surface for providing a tight seal between the tubing and a connecting member, such as a valve.
Tubing is generally sold in predetermined lengths, such as 50 or 100 feet. In order to conveniently deliver longer lengths, the tubing is generally packaged as a coil or wound around a spool. Coiled tubing includes a central opening with the tubing oriented around the central opening in a helical arrangement. The tubing is coiled around the central opening until the entire length of tubing is positioned around the central opening. Coiled tubing is packaged to maintain the coiled configuration of the tubing, such as with shrink wrap extending around the outer perimeter of the coiled tubing or with straps or bands extending around a section of the tubing. The resultant product is not easy to handle, as the securing packaging is prone being punctured or ripped, which compromises the ability of the securing packaging to maintain the coiled configuration of the tubing. Further, the securing packaging can be damaged by other elements, such as tools, sticks, and other sharp objects. It is also difficult to dispense because once the shrink wrap or bands are first removed the coil is unbound and free to unwind.
Tubing also can be wrapped about a central spool member. The spool includes a generally cylindrical body around which the tubing is wrapped and enlarged end stops to prevent the tubing from coming off the ends of the cylindrical body. The free end of the tubing extends out from the wrapped tubing and away from the spool. To maintain the wrapped configuration, the free end of the tubing can be further secured to the spool. If the free end is not secured after use, the tubing can come unwrapped from the spool.
Further, because the free end extends from the outer edge of the wrapped tubing, in order to remove the tubing from the spool the relative positions thereof must be manipulated. In other words, to remove the tubing from the spool, the spool must be rotated relative to the free end of the tubing. Alternatively, the free end of the tubing can be shifted around the spool in a direction opposite the wrapping direction. As a result, tubing can be difficult to remove from a spool, particularly where the work space is limited.
In addition, the packaging for the coiled tubing and the spool wrapped tubing is generally not reusable due to the costs and effort associated with reusing the packaging. As a result, the packaging used is configured to be cost effective and not for repeated field use. In particular, packaging usually includes shrink wrap, which is prone to punctures and tearing, and cardboard, which has little to no functionality after being exposed to water. As a result, the existing packaging for transporting and dispensing tubing are not well suited for field use, particularly when all the tubing in a given package is not utilized in a single use or in the presence of water, tools or other sharp objects.
Another problem with existing packaged tubing is that maintenance of irrigation systems, such as drip irrigation systems, is not always a one-time event. For example, a homeowner may need to repair or expand an installed drip irrigation system over time. This type of maintenance is inconvenient because small system components, tools, and tubing are stored in a garage, but most of the work is performed at various places throughout the yard. The homeowner may resort to several trips back and forth between the garage and the yard in order to complete the repair or expansion.
Yet another shortcoming of some existing packaged irrigation system components is that the components are often sold from cardboard displays in stores. Cardboard displays may be expensive to design, manufacture, and install. Further, cardboard displays are often not suitable for outdoor use because the displays may become wet and fall apart.

Dispenser for conduit, related components, and tools


The invention relates to communications systems, and particularly to enhancing tolerance to failures in network elements and transmission systems. The fault tolerance is achieved by providing two or more active ATM permanent virtual channel (PVC) connections between a core network element and an access network element, and providing a separate ATM interface unit for each such ATM PVC connection in the core network element. The user and signalling traffic is distributed among these active connections and interface units. In case of a failure in one of the ATM PVC connections or interface units, the communication is maintained over the other connection(s) and interface unit(s). Thus, only part of the transport capacity is lost, and a total block of communication is avoided. Any new communication will be setup over the other connections.

A mobile communications system generally refers to any telecommunications system wherein the access point (typically wireless access) to the system can change when users are moving within the service area of the system. A typical mobile communications system is a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN). Often the mobile communications network is an access network providing a user with a wireless access to external networks, hosts, or services offered by specific service providers.
Currently, third-generation mobile communication systems, such as the Universal Mobile Communication System (UMTS) and the Future Public Land Mobile Telecommunication System (FPLMTS), which was later renamed as the International Mobile Telecommunication 2000 (IMT-2000) are under development. The UMTS is being standardized by the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI), whereas the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standardizes the IMT-2000 system. These future systems are basically very similar. For example the UMTS, as all mobile communication systems, provides wireless data transmission services to mobile subscribers. The system supports roaming, which means that UMTS users can be reached and they can make calls anywhere as long as they are situated within the coverage area of the UMTS.
In the UMTS architecture the UMTS terrestrial radio access network, UTRAN, consists of a set of radio access networks RAN (also called radio network subsystem RNS) connected to a core network CN through the interface Iu. Each RAN is responsible for the resources of its set of cells. For each connection between a mobile station MS and the UTRAN, one RAN is a serving RAN. A RAN consists of a radio network controller RNC and a plurality of base stations BS. The RNC is responsible for the handover decisions that require signaling to the MS. The base stations are connected to the RNC through the Iub interface. The base station BS communicates with the mobile stations MS (or user equipments UE) over the radio interface Uu. The Uu and Iub interfaces are not relevant to the present invention and will not be described in more detail herein. Further information can be found in the UMTS specifications.
In the interface Iu between the radio network controller RNC and the core network the transfer technique is the ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode). The ATM transmission technique is a switching and multiplexing solution particularly relating to a data link layer (i.e. OSI layer 2, hereinafter referred to as an ATM layer. In the ATM data transmission the end users data traffic is carried from a source to a destination through virtual connections. Data is transferred over switches of the network in standard-size packets called ATM cells. The ATM cell comprises a header, the main object of which is to identify a connection number for a sequence of cells forming a virtual channel (VC) for a particular call through the transport network. A physical layer (i.e. OSI layer 1) may comprise several virtual paths (VP) multiplexed in the ATM layer. Each virtual path includes several VCs.
One core network which will use the UMTS radio access network is the general packet radio service (GPRS) which is a new service for the GSM system (Global System for Mobile communication), and a similar service is also being defined for the 3G mobile systems. A subnetwork comprises a number of packet data service nodes SN, which in this application will be referred to as serving GPRS support nodes SGSN (or 3G-SGSNs in the 3G systems). As illustrated in FIG. 1, each 3G-SGSN is connected to the RNC in the UTRAN over a transport network so that the 3G-SGSN can provide a packet service for mobile data terminals via several base stations, i.e. cells. The intermediate UTRAN provides a radio access and a packet-switched data transmission between the 3G-SGSN and mobile stations MS. Different sub-networks are, in turn, connected to an external data network, e.g. to a public switched data network PSPDN, via GPRS gateway support nodes GGSN. The GPRS service thus allows to provide packet data transmission between mobile data terminals and external data networks when the UTRAN (or the GSM) network functions as a radio access network.
In order to guarantee interoperability between different vendors of networks and network elements, the present 3G specifications specify that the RNC and the 3G-SGSN are connected using point-to-point ATM permanent virtual channel (PVC) connections. These signals can be carried over different transport networks, such as the ATM network or the Synchronous Digital -Hierarchy (SDH) network. The 3G specifications do not, however, specify how these ATM PVC connections are set up but allow the operators and vendors to use different solutions.
A problem in such a system may be fault tolerance of the ATM PVC connections. In the worst case, a failure in the PVC connections or in the interfaces at the RNC and the 3G SGSN may block all communication. The current 3GPP Iu interface specifications only specify that if redundancy of pathways of the ATM layer between the CN and the RNC is supported, it shall be implemented using ATM protection switching according to ITU-T recommendation I.630. Since I.630 does not support 1:n and m:n architectures another backup PVC connection is required for each ATM PVC connection, which doubles the number of ATM PVCs between RNC and 3G-SGSN.
Most present ATM switches do not support ATM layer protection according I.630. This means that the use of the ATM protection between ATM edge switch and RNC/3G-SGSN is not necessarily possible. Also the use of end-to-end ATM layer protection between the RNC and the 3G-SGSN is not possible, if the ATM network does not support ATM OAM according I.610 (i.e. does not generate end-to-end ATM-AIS cells in case of link failure).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Communications system having enhanced fault tolerance


Establishing and growth of a lunar or planetary surface base involves continuing to use landing spacecraft as docked modules of the base for habitation and work. A first spacecraft is landed at a specified surface site then doubles as first module of the base. A second (and later third and subsequent) spacecraft is landed at the site a safe distance from the existing base modules then moved over the surface into a side-by-side position to dock with selected base modules. At least some of the landing, surface transport, and operational electric power is supplied by micro-fusion using ambient cosmic rays and muons interacting with deuterium-containing particle fuel material to generate energetic reaction products.

To establish a permanent presence on the Moon or on Mars, one needs livable habitats, a sustainable supply of food and clean water, sanitation, electric power, communication equipment, medical facilities, and the like. For example, one might set a goal to have an ongoing population level at a lunar or Martian surface base of about 50-100 people. Initially, one might allow for recurring resupply of necessary materials from Earth, but ultimately a stable base or colony would need to be largely self-sustainable with only occasional supply of otherwise unattainable materials.
There are clear differences between conditions on Earth and those on Mars. The extreme cold on Mars is roughly to Antarctica, but an extremely low atmospheric pressure on Mars means there is need for a pressure suit to survive outdoors. Additionally, the Martian atmosphere's composition is an unbreathable mix of about 95% CO2, less than 5% inert gases (mainly N2 and Ar), and essentially no O2. Mars' lack of a magnetosphere means that cosmic rays and solar particles easily reach the surface. Despite the low atmospheric pressure, the dry surface conditions still allow dust storms to occasionally block solar power and/or communications. One-way communication delays from 3 to 22 minutes between Mars and Earth mean that real-time conversations are impossible, and some time-critical decisions will need to be made independently of Earth. Also, direct communication with Earth is periodically blocked around the superior conjunction with the Sun for about 2 weeks or up to a month.
Numerous proposals for building a permanent human presence on either the Moon or on Mars have been made. For example, Mars Direct was a proposal made in 1990 by Robert Zubrin and David Baker of Martin Marietta. Among its many features was a multi-deck descent vehicle forming a Mars Habitat Unit, which is separate from an Earth Return Vehicle that would remain in Mars orbit. The Mars Habitat Unit would include individual sleeping quarters, a communal living area, hygiene facilities, exercise area, galley, storage space, and laboratory areas for scientific research. Airlocks would allow the crew to go out to the Mars surface after suiting-up in pressure suits. A dedicated radiation shelter in the Mars Habitat Unit's core would protect the crew during solar events.
Modifications of this proposal include various versions of NASA's Mars Design Reference Mission (DRM) from 1993 to present (now on version 5.0). A feature of DRM is that two Mars Habitat Units, one flown to Mars unmanned then later a second one with crew, would allow a dedicated laboratory facility in one unit connected to the living quarters in a second unit, plus a large rover vehicle for extra-habitat operations. The two units would be positioned alongside one another and docked together. Efforts to control costs have led to a NASA "Austere Human Missions to Mars" proposal with independent ascent vehicle and surface stay habitats. Space habitat module competitive development design processes, such as NASA's NextSTEP-2 habitation systems have resulted in several proposals, including an Inflatable Lunar Habitat by Bigelow Aerospace that maximizes usable interior volume.
SpaceX has active development for their Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) and spaceship (BFS) for eventually setting up of a human-occupied base on the Mars surface. The second stage BFS, as currently announced, is 55 m long, 9 m in diameter, and 85 t empty mass with 1000 m3 of pressurized cargo volume and capabilities for 100 t payload (50 t return payload). Most of the vehicle's 1335 t of gross mass is for 1100 t of chemical propellant.
Muon-catalyzed fusion was observed by chance in late 1956 by Luis Alvarez and colleagues during evaluation of liquid-hydrogen bubble chamber images as part of accelerator-based particle decay studies. These were rare proton-deuteron fusion events that only occurred because of the natural presence of a tiny amount of deuterium (about one part per 6400) in the liquid hydrogen. It was quickly recognized that fusion many orders of magnitude larger would occur with either pure deuterium or a deuterium-tritium mixture. However, John D. Jackson (Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Prof. Emeritus of Physics, Univ. of California, Berkeley) correctly noted that for useful power production there would need to be an energetically cheap way of producing muons. The energy expense of generating muons artificially in particle accelerators combined with their short lifetimes has limited its viability as an earth-based fusion source, since it falls short of break-even potential.
Another controlled fusion technique is particle-target fusion which comes from accelerating a particle to sufficient energy to overcome the Coulomb barrier and interact with target nuclei. To date, proposals in this area depend upon using some kind of particle accelerator. Although some fusion events can be observed with as little as 10 KeV acceleration, fusion cross-sections are sufficiently low that accelerator-based particle-target fusion are inefficient and fall short of break-even potential.
It is known that cosmic rays are abundant in interplanetary space. Cosmic rays are mainly high-energy protons (with some high-energy helium nuclei as well) with kinetic energies in excess of 300 MeV. Most cosmic rays have GeV energy levels, although some extremely energetic ones can exceed 1018 eV. FIG. 8 shows cosmic ray flux distribution at the Earth's surface after significant absorption by Earth's atmosphere. In near-Earth space, the alpha magnetic spectrometer (AMS-02) instrument aboard the International Space Station since 2011 has recorded an average of 45 million fast cosmic ray particles daily (approx. 500 per second within that instrument's effective acceptance area and measurement energy range). The overall flux of galactic cosmic ray protons (above Earth's atmosphere) can range from a minimum of 1200 m−2s−1sr−1 to as much as twice that amount. (The flux of galactic cosmic rays entering our solar system, while generally steady, has been observed to vary by a factor of about 2 over an 11-year cycle according to the magnetic strength of the heliosphere.) In regions that are outside of Earth's protective magnetic field (e.g. in interplanetary space), the cosmic ray flux is expected to be several orders of magnitude greater. As measured by the Martian Radiation Experiment (MARIE) aboard the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, average in-orbit cosmic ray doses were about 400-500 mSv per year, which is an order of magnitude higher than on Earth.
Cosmic rays are known to generate abundant muons from the decay of cosmic rays passing through Earth's atmosphere. Cosmic rays lose energy upon collisions with atmospheric dust, and to a lesser extent atoms or molecules, generating elementary particles, including pions and then muons, usually within a penetration distance of a few cm. Typically, hundreds of muons are generated per cosmic ray particle from successive collisions. Near sea level on Earth, the flux of muons generated by the cosmic rays' interaction by the atmosphere averages about 70 m−2s−1sr−1. The muon flux is even higher in the upper atmosphere. These relatively low flux levels on Earth reflect the fact that both Earth's atmosphere and geomagnetic field substantially shields our planet from cosmic ray radiation. Mars is a different story, having very little atmosphere (only 0.6% of Earth's pressure) and no magnetic field, so that muon generation at Mars' surface is expected to be very much higher than on Earth's surface.


According to one embodiment, a method includes preliminarily measuring the amount of overlay or alignment shift of the mark for overlay or alignment measurement while sequentially shifting a position of a measurement area relative to the mark for overlay or alignment measurement so as to position the mark for overlay or alignment measurement on each of a plurality of partial areas. The measurement area corresponds to a field angle of the optical measurement system, and an inside of the measurement area is two-dimensionally divided into the partial areas. The method includes calculating a tool-induced shift regarding a characteristic deviation of the optical measurement system for each of the plurality of partial areas based on a preliminarily measured result of the amount of overlay or alignment shift. The method includes determining a partial area to be used from among the plurality of partial areas on the basis of the tool-induced shift calculated for each of the plurality of partial areas.

In an image-based overlay measurement apparatus, with the decrease in the size of a measurement subject device, the requirement for the accuracy in overlay has intensified. Therefore, the number of sampling points has been increasing to perform accurate overlay measurement. In a case of disposing a mark for overlay measurement on a reticle used in a lithographic process, the mark is disposed on a scribe line in a shot area. With the heightened demand for the accuracy in overlay measurement, marks for overlay measurement that need to be disposed in the shot area are increasing in number. In order to increase the number of marks disposable on the scribe line, it is necessary to reduce the size of each mark for overlay measurement.
The image-based overlay measurement apparatus uses an optical microscope to perform overlay measurement. Therefore, if the size of the mark for overlay measurement is reduced, the lens aberration of an optical microscope is likely to influence the accuracy of overlay measurement. Specifically, in a case where the optical microscope (optical measurement system) has comatic aberration which is odd function aberration, there is a possibility that an optical image of the mark for overlay measurement will shift, thereby increasing an error of the overlay measurement.

Overlay/alignment measurement method and overlay/alignment measurement apparatus