A region surrounded by two gate wiring and two drain wiring includes pixels and when there is a defect of short-circuit in adjacent pixel electrodes, the short-circuited portion is removed by irradiating a laser via a mask having a transmission pattern, which corresponds to a pattern of the gate wiring, drain wiring and pixel electrodes in the short-circuited portion. The above short-circuited portion is identified and removed in comparison to a normal pattern, by use of information from an inspection apparatus, and the pattern defect formed on the substrate is automatically repaired. By applying the above method to a manufacturing process of display apparatus, in particular, to a resist pattern forming process, a display apparatus having a highly qualified display property may be achieved.

The present invention relates to a technique for repairing with laser a convex portion of pattern shapes on a substrate on which a predetermined pattern is formed, and which repairs a defective portion by coating wiring material thereon. This technique is suitable for use in a method for manufacturing a display apparatus. In addition, the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing the display apparatus, and in particular, it relates to a technique which prevents a failure in the circuit pattern from occurring in the case where the circuit pattern has already been built on a TFT (thin-film transistor) substrate and the like.
A liquid crystal display has a structure in which liquid crystal is interposed between two glass substrates. On one of the glass substrates, also referred to as "color filter (CF) substrate", there is formed a color filter on which blue, green and red resin (color resin) are alternately coated. On the other glass substrate, also referred to as "active matrix substrate" or "thin film transistor (TFT) substrate", pixel circuit constructed of thin film transistor, wiring, a drive circuit, and the like are formed.
A pattern defect in the color filter and/or wiring may cause a display abnormality, resulting in that the liquid crystal display becomes a defective product. This display abnormality includes, for example in the case of the color filter substrate, a color defect (mixed color) caused by the color resin, being coated on the color filter, which runs over the adjacent pixel, or an uneven coating caused by non-uniformity in the resin film thickness. As for the active matrix substrate, the display abnormality may include short-circuit in wiring and a break in wiring.
The color filter and wiring of the liquid crystal display are formed by superimposing several layers of patterns on one another. Therefore, it is necessary to repair the pattern defect before an upper layer pattern is formed. As a method for detecting a pattern defect, it is possible to use a general pattern inspection apparatus utilizing image processing.
As a method for repairing such run-over of color resin on the color filter or short-circuit in wiring, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. H09-307217 discloses a general method, where the short-circuited portion is irradiated with laser beam to remove this portion. If a pattern of the same shape is formed in repeated manner as in the case of liquid crystal display, the Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. H05-27111 discloses a repairing technique where the laser beam is irradiated via a mask having a standard pattern shape, and a part different from the standard pattern is removed and the repair is performed. As a method for coating wiring material onto the pattern defective part, there is a method as disclosed by Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. H08-66652 where coating is performed by use of a hollow pipette with a narrow tip diameter.
In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. H10-177844 discloses a technique to repair a short-circuit defect occurred in a circuit pattern in a semiconductor device, by opening the defect with laser processing. In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. H10-324973 discloses a technique to repair an open-circuit defect occurred in a circuit pattern in a semiconductor device, by changing a metallic material such as palladium (material of the circuit pattern) into liquid state or gaseous state, and by coating or spraying thus converted metallic material onto the open-circuit defective part.

Apparatus for repairing circuit pattern and method for manufacturing display apparatus using the same


By modifying existing methods for synthesizing polyaniline, a polyaniline polymer having a new constellation of material properties has been produced. The material properties of the polymeric compositions disclosed herein enhance the use of polyanilines in a wide variety of processes that use such materials, for example processes used in the formation of filtration membranes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to compositions useful for making filtration membranes, for example those used to separate materials in fluids.
2. Background
Freshwater scarcity, widespread pollution, and stricter governmental regulations have created an increased need for the development of advanced water treatment technologies including fluid separation processes. Fluid separation processes are also widely used in a variety of academic and industrial environments. Consequently, compositions, devices and associated techniques that facilitate the efficient separation of components in fluid mixtures have an expanding variety of applications. For these reasons, improved materials and techniques for the separation of components of fluid mixtures are highly desirable.
Filtration is a common separation technology that is typically used to remove constituents such as particulates (e.g. organisms, colloidal matter and the like) from fluids. Two basic filter types exist: media (depth) filters and membrane (sieving) filters. Media filters are a well established technology for use in water purification which typically rely on cheap, natural media such as sand, anthracite, crushed magnetite, garnet, etc. to treat wastewater (see, e.g. Droste, Theory and practice of water and wastewater treatment. 1997, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: New York, N.Y. p. 416-451). While membrane filtration also has been used to purify drinking water for over 50 years, the vast majority of modern water and wastewater treatment plants continue to use granular media filters.
Granular media filters have limitations in a number of contexts. For example, particle removal in depth filters is limited by the effectiveness of coagulation. Moreover, as the media in such systems is not fixed within the filter bed, the presence of some contaminating constituents in such systems can occur. Contaminations of drinking water such as the Cryptosporidium protozoan outbreak in Milwaukee in 1993 have resulted in epidemics of waterborne disease that highlighted this Achilles heel of media filtration, i.e. their intrinsically poor removal of particles in the micrometer size range especially when coagulation is sub-optimal (see, e.g., Corso et al., 2003, 9, 426-431). Such contamination events have forced public health officials and the water industry to consider replacing granular media filters with membrane filtration, which (relative to media filtration) can offer an enhanced barrier to a wide variety of contaminants. In addition, in other types of separation processes, membranes offer a greater ability to selectivity tailor filtration characteristics by, for example, modifying the surface pore structure and surface chemistry.
In view of the wide variety of technologies in which the use of membranes for the separation of components in a fluid medium is desirable, there is a need in the art for membrane materials having enhanced properties that optimize their use in such contexts.

Membrane compositions and methods for making and using them

The Regents of the University of California


It is difficult properly to perform correction processing such as white balance adjustment and exposure compensation for all types of images. This invention provides a way in which white balance adjustment and exposure compensation are performed in accordance with image features by considering the arrangements of pixel values in the highlighted and shadow areas of an image. Proper correction processing can therefore be performed for any types of images.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method and, more particularly, to an image processing apparatus and method which performs correction processing such as exposure compensation and white balance adjustment for digital images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of image processing apparatuses having the functions of performing various processes and correction processing in forming multivalued digital images have been proposed and put into practice.
For example, some of these apparatuses are designed to perform exposure compensation for images. Exposure compensation in a conventional image processing apparatus is implemented by adjusting the luminance of an original image by increasing/decreasing the overall luminance.
In addition, some of the above image processing apparatus perform so-called white balance adjustment to obtain an image with high contrast by adjusting the luminance of a highlight portion which is the brightest portion of an image or a shadow portion which is the darkest portion. In white balance adjustment in the conventional image processing apparatus, the average luminances of R, G, and B pixels, except for pixels having luminances higher than a predetermined threshold, in a predetermined high-luminance area corresponding to a high-luminance range several % from the maximum luminance of an image are calculated, and the respective pixels are corrected on the basis of the average luminances.
In the above image correcting apparatus, exposure compensation does not take contrast information such as the highlight or shadow point of the image into consideration.
For this reason, the exposure state of the original image cannot be properly checked, and proper exposure compensation cannot always be performed.
Likewise, white balance adjustment in the conventional image processing apparatus does not take image features such as the scene features presented by a target image into consideration. For this reason, if, for example, all the pixels in a high-luminance area of the image have luminances equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold, since there are no pixels from which average luminances are calculated, white balance adjustment cannot be performed.
For example, a photographic image including a fluorescent lamp in a room as an object image has a so-called blue cast, i.e., the tone of the picture darkens in portions other than the fluorescent lamp. Even if white balance adjustment is performed for such a photographic image, since all the pixels corresponding to the fluorescent lamp have luminances equal to or higher than the predetermined threshold, effective adjustment cannot be performed. Hence, the blue cast cannot be corrected.
In addition, when white balance adjustment is uniformly performed for any scenes, some scene may deteriorate in image quality. If, for example, strong white balance adjustment is performed for a xe2x80x9csunsetxe2x80x9d scene or xe2x80x9cflower gardenxe2x80x9d scene, the scene is bleached out, and the xe2x80x9csunsetxe2x80x9d scene may not look like a sunset.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus and method which can perform proper white balance adjustment for any images.
According to the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing an image processing apparatus comprising an image processing apparatus comprising extraction means for extracting a highlight area on the basis of a color distribution of an input image; calculation means for calculating white balance of the input image on the basis of pixels having luminances less than a predetermined highlight point in the highlight area; and setting means for setting a gradation correction condition on the basis of the white balance and the highlight point.
With this arrangement, proper white balance adjustment can be performed in accordance with image features.
And it is another object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus and method which can perform proper exposure compensation for any images.
According to the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing an image processing apparatus comprising an image processing apparatus comprising; extraction means for extracting highlight and shadow areas on the basis of a color distribution of an input image; calculation means for calculating an average luminance on the basis of the color distribution of the input image and calculating a target luminance on the basis of the average luminance and the highlight and shadow areas; and setting means for setting an exposure compensation condition on the basis of the target luminance.
With this arrangement, proper exposure compensation can be performed in accordance with image features.
And it is another object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus and method which perform proper white balance adjustment in accordance with the scene presented by an image.
According to the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing an image processing apparatus comprising an image processing apparatus comprising: extraction means for extracting a highlight area on the basis of a color distribution of an input image; calculation means for calculating white balance of the input image on the basis of pixels having luminances less than a predetermined highlight point in the highlight area; highlight correction means for correcting the highlight point in accordance with a first image feature; white balance correction means for correcting the white balance in accordance with a second image feature; and setting means for setting a gradation correction condition on the basis of the corrected highlight point and white balance.
With this arrangement, proper white balance adjustment can be performed in accordance with the scene presented by an image.
The invention is particularly advantageous since white balance adjustment and exposure compensation can be performed in accordance with image features by considering the arrangements of pixel values in the highlight and shadow areas of an image, and proper correction processing can be performed for any images.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.


A method, system, computer system, and computer-readable medium to perform root cause analysis of failure of an application program in a clustering environment. Upon the occurrence of a problem or event of interest, cluster configuration data can be obtained to provide a common context for events occurring at different software layers supporting an application. Diagnostic information produced by the different software layers can be obtained from various log files, which are typically in different formats and on different nodes in the cluster. The diagnostic information can be viewed in the context of the cluster and filtered to identify events related to the failure. The related events can be presented in a time-ordered sequence to assist in analysis of the event of interest. Patterns of events that led to the failure can be identified and documented for use in further problem analysis and for taking preventative and/or corrective measures.

As businesses increasingly rely on computers for their daily operations, managing the vast amount of business information generated and processed has become a significant challenge. Most large businesses have a wide variety of software application programs managing large volumes of data. Such data may be stored on many different types of storage devices across various types of networks and operating system platforms. These applications typically have different hardware resource requirements and business priorities, and one application may depend upon other applications.
Often coordination is needed between several different "layers" of software to provide all of the communication needed to support an application. An application therefore can be considered to operate in a "stack" of software layers that underlies communication with hardware devices. The bottom layer of the stack, typically an operating system operating in conjunction with device driver software, can communicate directly with hardware devices. Higher-level layers of the stack operate on a logical set of data, shielded from the details of communication with the actual hardware devices. These higher-level layers, such as file systems or database server software, use services of the underlying layers to perform functions on their behalf. Each software layer can be considered to operate within its own "context" based upon the logical representation of data available at that layer.
For example, an application program managing an employee database may involve various computer systems and software components, including an application component and a database component. Each of the components may run on a different type of computer system having one of several operating systems and/or file systems. As a result, a failure of the employee database application may be caused by a failure at one or more software layers and/or the underlying hardware running a process for that software layer. For example, a fault on one of the computer systems may be detected only by the operating system of that computer system, whereas corruption of a storage device for the database may be detectable by the database software. Insufficient processing resources of one of the computer systems may be detectable by the application software itself.
Adding to the complexity of application programs is a strategy known as clustering. In a clustered environment, computer systems and storage devices are interconnected, typically using a high-speed dedicated connection, to provide better performance, reliability, availability, and serviceability of applications. Redundant interconnections between the computer systems are typically included as well, and the collection of computer systems (also referred to as nodes), storage devices, and redundant interconnections is referred to herein as a cluster. The cluster may appear to perform as a single highly available system even though different software layers may be running on different nodes within the cluster. Furthermore, different types of clusters may be established to perform independent tasks, to manage diverse hardware architectures performing similar tasks, or when local and backup computer systems are far apart physically.
In such a multi-layered environment, determining the cause of failure of an application is very difficult. Each layer of software typically produces diagnostic information (often referred to as a log) when something goes wrong; however, each layer typically records this diagnostic information in its own layer-specific location and layer-specific format. Furthermore, diagnostic information is often recorded on different machines by different layers, a problem that is exacerbated when processes running a given layer of software can move from one node in a cluster to another. The logistics of combining all of this diagnostic information into a sequence of events and filtering out irrelevant data has heretofore been too difficult to perform in an automated fashion. Typically, whenever a problem occurs, someone who is familiar with all the layers of software related to the application manually analyzes the various log files and figures out what went wrong. Even if the expert can determine the source of the problem, no easy way exists for the expert to express the problem in a way that can be compared against events to detect and forestall similar failures.
Some software vendors have provided tools to assist with problem analysis, such as OpenView® provided by Hewlett-Packard® and Netcool® from Micromuse®. However, most existing tools focus on root cause analysis for networking components in a given networking environment and not root cause analysis for applications involving several layers of components in a heterogeneous environment. Furthermore, most existing tools focus on "online" root cause analysis; for example, the tools try to identify the root cause of a problem as events happen, but do not analyze historical log files.
What is needed is a tool that can be used to analyze diagnostic information produced by several software layers supporting an application in a clustering environment. Preferably, the tool should enable the user to obtain information from various log files in different formats and on different machines in a cluster. In addition, the tool should help to identify patterns of events that lead to failure for use in further problem analysis.

Integration of cluster information with root cause analysis tool


A display input device includes a storage unit which stores a program for controlling to display a screen for setting a set item that is selected and registered in advance by calling, an input unit which accepts a setting input, and a display unit which displays a combination image in which a position display image for indicating a current position of the display in the program when the program is called, and a screen number display image indicating the number of setting screens that are displayed or have been displayed for setting the set item included in the program are combined, for each set item included in the program, arranged in the display order of the set item in the program.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display input device including a display unit and an input unit such as a touch panel. The present invention also relates to an image forming apparatus with the display input device, such as a copier, a multifunction peripheral, a printer, or a fax machine.
2. Description of Related Art
For instance, an image forming apparatus such as a copier or a multifunction peripheral is equipped with many functions (e.g., scaling, aggregate print, two-sided print, and the like). The image forming apparatus may be equipped with a display input device having a screen with a liquid crystal display unit and a touch panel so as to select easily a function to be used among the many functions (set items). In addition, for example, a personal computer usually includes an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and a display device such as a monitor, so that many processes can be performed by using application software or the like.
Here, there is a limitation in the size of the liquid crystal display unit or the display, so that only limited information can be displayed in one screen. Therefore, in a computer, for example, a plurality of pages of data are arranged, and the pages are changed for viewing the contents (e.g., electronic document file). For instance, as to a computer, there is known a positional information display program for displaying positional information with respect to the entire electronic data, including a step for an electronic data processing unit to perform a predetermined process on the basis of unit data, a step for a link spot graph display unit to display a link spot graph in which a plurality of link spots associated with a plurality of unit data have the same arrangement as the electronic data, a step for a mark position deciding unit to decide a mark position that is a display position of the link spot corresponding to the unit data specified as a mark target, and a step for a mark display unit to display a mark at the mark position. This program is aimed at informing a position of noted unit data easily with respect to the entire electronic data.
Here, in a screen display of an operation panel of the image forming apparatus, set items to be displayed and the sequence thereof are registered as a program in advance. Then, when the program is called, setting screens for the preselected set items are sequentially displayed in the order of the set items included in the program so as to set the same. Thus, predetermined set items can be set easily.
When this program is called, it is preferable that a position of the current setting screen with respect to the entire program and the progress thereof can be grasped. Therefore, it is considered to display one image indicating a setting screen (e.g., icon that corresponds to the link spot in the conventional method) that is displayed until the setting is finished, for one setting screen, so as to be arranged on the operation panel of the image forming apparatus. However, a display area of the operation panel of the image forming apparatus is smaller than a display area of the computer display. Therefore, there can be problems in that all the icons cannot be displayed, or that a size of the icon is too small if all the icons are displayed, or that a ratio of the area of the icons to the entire display area is too large.
In addition, when setting of one set item is performed, a plurality of setting screens may be displayed for the setting. Therefore, it is considered to arrange and display images (e.g., icons) indicating set items on the operation panel not for each setting screen but for one unit of set items in the program in the screen display by the program.
However, the number of setting screens displayed for one set item (function) is different depending on set items. Therefore, even if the icons are display simply for each set item as one unit so as to display to indicate the current position with respect to the icon indicating set items, the progress in setting with the program cannot be grasped. For instance, it is impossible to grasp the entire workload, the number of screens left to be displayed for completion, the number of times of setting set values left, and the like. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to grasp correctly an overview of the program or the current progress of setting in the program.
Here, in the above-mentioned known invention, the unit data corresponding to the link spot is each data obtained by dividing the electronic data arbitrarily. Usually, sizes of the unit data are not uniform. For instance, if only a part of the plurality of unit data is peculiarly large, the current position display is not always exact. Therefore, the conventional technique cannot solve the above-mentioned problem.

Display input device that displays navigation screens for assisting in user creation of workflows, image forming apparatus incorporating such display input device, and display method of using such display input device


A chamber (10) is divided into a reaction zone (20) and a sublimation zone (30). A gaseous mixture (41) is supplied through a conduit (21) into the reaction zone (20) and heated by a heater (27). The components in the gaseous mixture (41) are reaxcted with each other to synthesize solid-phase SiC (42). The solid-phase SiC (42) is heated and evaporated by a heater (35), and condensed as a single crystal (43) on a seed crystal attached to a mount base (37). The mount base (37) is rotated and lowered in response to the growth of the SiC single crystal (43) by a rotary shaft (38). Since the SiC single crystal (43) grows from SiC synthesized by the vapor-phase reaction, the obtained product is of very high purity without the substantial inclusion of impurities. In addition, a single crystal having a large diameter or length can be obtained without any restrictions originated in a crucible.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing a high-purity SiC single crystal by the continuous sublimation and condensation of SiC prepared by vapor-phase synthesis. The apparatus is especially suitable for manufacturing a long and large-sized single crystal.
SiC single crystals which have been produced by the sublimation process are useful as functional materials, e.g. semiconductor devices, in various industrial fields.
In a method belonging to the sublimation process, a powder SiC material is received in a graphite crucible having covers, a seed crystal is attached to the cover plate at a position facing to the powder SiC material, which is heated at a temperature of 2000.degree.-2500.degree. C. The heated material is evaporated from the crucible and condensed on the surface of the seed crystal. The condensed SiC grows to a single crystal having a crystalline orientation aligned to that of the seed crystal.
In another method, a seed crystal is attached to the bottom of a graphite crucible, a perforated graphite hollow cylinder is located in the crucible, a cavity between the inner surface of the crucible and the hollow cylinder is filled with a powder SiC material, and the powder material is heated at a high temperature. The heated powder material is evaporated, let permeate through the holes formed in the hollow cylinder, and condensed on the surface of the seed crystal at the bottom of the crucible.
The crucible to be used in these methods is made of high-purity graphite to inhibit the contamination of an obtained SiC crystal with inclusions. Even when graphite material of highest purity available on the market is used for the crucible, it contains impurities in an amount of approximately 5 ppm. The impurities are evaporated from the wall of the crucible during high-temperature heating, and mixed in a growing SiC crystal. The impurities included in the obtained single crystal causes various problems such as the deterioration of function and malfunction, when the single crystal is used as an active material such as a semiconductor device.
It is postulated that the impurities in the crucible material are introduced into the single crystal according to the mechanism of: When the powder SiC material is evaporated in the crucible, the sublimation product, i.e. SiC gas, does not always have a stoichiometric composition, but contains Si, Si.sub.2, C, SiC.sub.2, Si.sub.2 C, etc. in a mixed state. These components are reacted with each other to form SiC gas, and consumed for the growth of the SiC single crystal. In addition, SiC is also produced by the reaction of the gaseous components such as Si, Si.sub.2, SiC.sub.2 and Si.sub.2 C with C in the wall of the crucible. During the reaction with the crucible, the impurity elements in the crucible are evaporated at the same time and introduced into the growing single crystal.
The graphite crucible itself is consumed with the evaporation of C, so that the crucible changes its structure and the thickness of its wall. The changes in the structure and the wall thickness exhibits influences on the temperature gradient along the longitudinal direction of the crucible. Consequently, conditions for crystal growth fluctuate, so that an obtained single crystal has poor homogeneity and lower reliability in quality.
In the sublimation process using a graphite crucible, there are restrictions on the size of a usable crucible and the volume of a powder SiC material capable of being charged in the crucible. Due to the restrictions in a conventional method, it is practically impossible to produce a SiC single crystal having a diameter above approximately 30 mm or a length of several tens millimeter.
On the other hand, a single crystal larger in both diameter and length is required for enhancing productivity in the processing line of semiconductor devices. A SiC single crystal produced in the conventional process does not have a size sufficient to meet the requirement. In this regard, the production of SiC single crystals does not come onto the practically full-scale stage.

Apparatus for continuous growth of SiC single crystal from SiC synthesized in a vapor phase without using graphite crucible


A method for reducing the influence of a DC component in a load current of an asynchronous three-phase motor, in which the voltages of two of the three phases are controlled by adjusting firing angles of semiconductor devices of the type turning-off at zero-crossing of the current therethrough comprises the steps carried out for each said controlled phase: detecting turn-off times of the semiconductor devices, calculating a value of a change of firing angle of the semiconductor devices needed for changing the length of the time period between two subsequent turn-off times for compensating for the influence of a DC component, and determining the firing angle of said semiconductor devices in dependence of the result of this calculation.

Starter devices for asynchronous three-phase motors comprising semiconductor devices for controlling the voltage applied to the motor in one, two or three of the phases by adjusting firing angles of semiconductor devices of the type turning-off at zero-crossing of the current therethrough, two connected in anti-parallel to each other in each phase, have been used for some time. By controlling said voltage in the respective phase a reduction of the torque and current provided to the motor is achieved during start and stop operation. The firing angle of the semiconductor devices is used for controlling the amount of energy supplied to the motor.
These types of starter devices, often called softstarters, are normally provided with three such pairs of semiconductor devices, such as thyristors. However, these semiconductor devices have become the cost-determining factor of such starter devices, so that such starter devices having only one pair of such semiconductor devices for two of the phases are also used. This means that the remaining third phase is in the form of a conductor, which cannot be switched. The present invention is occupied with this type of starter devices.
By adjusting the firing angles of the semiconductor devices in two of the three phases the voltage across the motor may be controlled from zero to 100% of the maximum voltage thereacross. This is done by changing the firing angle of the semiconductor devices, such as to reducing it for increasing said voltage. However, when the control takes place in only two of the phases, unwanted effects in the form of for example a DC component in the motor current appear. During start up operation a smooth and gradually increasing torque is desired, but this DC component appearing during start up sometimes creates a braking or oscillating torque. This can be both disturbing and damaging to the controller system, the electric motor, and to the motor driven load.
The present invention is directed to a method and an apparatus for reducing the influence of such a DC-component in a load current of an asynchronous three-phase motor, in which the voltages of two of the three phases are controlled according to the aforesaid. The invention is not restricted to such methods and apparatuses for any particular such electric motor with respect to the motor voltage, but 200-600 V may be mentioned as a typical motor voltage, or the power delivered by such a motor, which is often in the range of 1-30 kW. Nor is the present invention restricted to such motors for any particular type of load, but the motor may be used to drive all types of equipment, such as pumps, turning machines and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,930,459 discloses a method and an apparatus for reducing the influence of a DC component in the load current of an asynchronous three-phase motor, in which the voltages of two of the three phases are controlled by adjusting the firing angles of semiconductor devices as described above. However, the methods described therein are rather complicated with respect to measurements and calculations. Turn-on as well as turn-off times of the different semiconductor devices have to be detected and considered during the calculations of how the firing angle of the semiconductor devices shall be changed for reducing the influence of a said DC component.

Method and device for reducing the influence of a DC component in a load current of an asynchronous three-phase motor


A traction drive tool adapter is adapted to detect an overload on a planetary roller speed increasing mechanism which occurs due to an excessive depth of out, and prevent the breakage of the planetary roller speed increasing mechanism and the imperfect processing of a workpiece. It consists of a rotary portion, and a tool mount portion rotatable with respect to the fixed portion and rotary portion and adapted to attach a tool to a front end section thereof, all of these three portions are put together via a planetary roller speed increasing mechanism. The traction drive tool adapter is further provided with a first revolution speed detecting means provided on the fixed portion and adapted to detect the number of revolutions per unit time of the rotary portion, a second revolution speed detecting means provided on the fixed portion and adapted to detect the number of revolutions per unit time of the tool mount portion, and an abnormal rotation judgement means which is connected to the first and second detecting means so that output signals from these detecting means are input thereinto, and which is adapted to generate an abnormality signal when a speed increasing ratio, is lower than a predetermined level.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a traction drive tool adapter to be connected to a main shaft of a machine tool.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A prior art traction drive tool adapter consists of a rotary portion to be inserted firmly into a main shaft of a machine tool, such as a machining center, a fixed portion to be joined detachably to a fixed part of a machine tool, for example, a main shaft head thereof, and a tool mount portion to which a tool is to be attached, all of which three portions are put together via a planetary roller speed increasing mechanism.
In the rotary portion, a hollow shaft provided at the front end thereof, a grooved flange provided at the intermediate section thereof, and a taper shank provided at the rear end thereof are formed unitarily in coaxial relation.
The hollow shaft is provided at its intermediate portion with three cross-sectionally rectangular planetary roller inserting holes extending radially from the outer circumferential surface thereof into a central bore thereof so as to be spaced from one another at a central angle of 120.degree., and planetary rollers are fixed in these holes fixed rotatably to the hollow shaft via driving pins.
The rotary portion is supported rotatably on the fixed portion via ball-and-roller bearings. A housing of the fixed portion has an annular fixed raceway surface on the inner circumferential surface thereof, and the outer circumferential surfaces of the planetary rollers are engaged with this raceway surface.
The tool mount portion consists of a rotary shaft inserted rotatably in the central bore of the hollow shaft via ball-and-roller bearings, and a rear end portion, which projects rearward from a support region of the ball-and-roller bearings, of this rotary shaft constitutes a sun roller, the outer circumferential surface of which contacts the planetary rollers, a front end portion of the rotary shaft projecting from the front end of the rotary portion so that a tool can be mounted thereon.
After all, the annular fixed raceway surface, planetary rollers and sun roller form a planetary roller speed increasing mechanism, whereby the rotational speed of the rotary portion is increased to cause the tool mount portion to be rotated.
When the prior art traction drive tool adapter described above is used for a cutting and grinding operation, the depth of cut becomes excessively large due to an erroneous operation of an operator or an abnormal shape of a workpiece, so that an overload is imparted to the planetary roller speed increasing mechanism of small dimensions to cause the same mechanism to be broken.
The present invention is adapted to detect an overload on a planetary roller speed increasing mechanism in a traction drive tool adapter and prevent the same mechanism from being broken, for solving the above-mentioned problems.


A method and system to manage user access to resources and computing tasks on servers located on a network. The preferred embodiments of this system would enable a resource provider to manager user access to resources based on user specific criteria and resource specific criteria. The invention creates user associated access session(s) and generates tokens corresponding to such access session(s) to allow user access. The system is able to manage any type or any combination of licensing criteria, to manage different licensing criteria associated with the same user, to manage different licensing criteria associated with the same resource, and to manage different licensing relationship among users and resources. The system is scalable as additional sets of license managers can be added to manage additional users and resources. Optionally, secondary access sessions are provided to users to allow for completion of a current task when initial access session(s) are depleted.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a distributed computing system, particularly to a system that manages user access to resources residing on a network.
2. Description of Related Art
As more and more computers are connected via the Internet or a network such as an intranet or wide-area-network (WAN), resources such as databases, software applications, hardware devices, and electronic appliances can be shared among users within a network. Specifically, an application service provider (ASP) model, in which applications residing on a remote server are provided to a plurality of users who pay for such applications, requires a system to verify and manage user access to such applications.
Presently, various licensing managing methods have been developed to address the management of user access. For example, many software applications are licensed on a computer-by-computer basis or by user basis, in which each computer or each user is given a unique license key to initiate access to a resource. However, this sort of licensing management system is limiting, as it cannot accommodate other licensing criteria such as by usage basis, by time basis, by user-to-user relationship, or by priority basis. This extensibility to manage any type or combination of license criteria is especially important in an ASP model, as the service provider is required to handle numerous different licensing policies for each application and each user.
Licensing management systems have been developed to accommodate additional licensing criteria such as a pay-per-user licensing system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,789, Frison, et al., in which a licensing manager monitors usage and bills the user accordingly for use. However, the system lacks the flexibility to handle different licensing policy criteria associated with a same user or among a group of different users, and different licensing policy criteria associated with a same application or among a group of different applications. In addition, prior art license management systems need to be programmed to handle different license policies and often are not compatible with each other.
Therefore, it is advantageous to have an extendible and flexible system to manage any combination of license criteria that a resource provider requires.

Managing user access of distributed resources on application servers


A cable assembly includes a cable having a first end and a second end. The cable has an electric conductor and a cooling conduit, each of which extends from the first end to the second end. The cooling conduit is adapted to convey a fluid that cools the electric conductor. The cable assembly includes a leak detection module to detect a leak of the fluid from the cooling conduit. The leak detection module includes a power source to generate an input voltage signal which is applied at a first node contact with the fluid. The leak detection module includes a controller to monitor an output voltage signal at the first node and to detect a leak of the fluid from the cooling conduit based on the output voltage signal.

The advancement of electric vehicles has created an increased need for charging equipment that delivers electric power to rechargeable batteries of the vehicles. Some such applications, such as high current, fast-charging vehicle chargers, are designed to work with continuous currents of 350 amps or more. To transfer energy more quickly and decrease charging times, the cable assembly (including cable and charging connector) should be capable of withstanding high current loads. Generally, the higher the current flow that passes through the charging equipment, the more heat is generated.
To mitigate the problem of excessive heat generation, the cross section of the current carrying conductor may be increased to reduce loss. However, such an increase in cross section requires an increased cable cross section, which makes the cable difficult to handle. Alternatively, the cable assembly may include a cooling conduit disposed near the conductors. The cooling conduit may carry a coolant fluid that can take away some or all of the heat generated in the conductors. However, the presence of the coolant fluid in the cable assembly poses new problems. For example, the coolant fluid may leak from the cooling conduit and may come in contact with electrical conductors, or a shield of the cable assembly. This may result in damage to the cable as well as to the charging equipment and the vehicle.


A seat slide apparatus includes: a lock plate axially attached to a side surface of an upper rail of which a portion near a base portion is axially attached in a freely rotatable manner; a lock hole formed in a lower portion close to a free end of the lock plate; and a lock spring engaging the lock hole with a lock tooth of a lower rail by using an urging force. In the construction, the engagement of the lock hole with a lock tooth prevents a seat main body mounted to the upper rail from moving in a longitudinal direction and canceling the engagement makes the seat main body freely move in the longitudinal direction. A lock plate guiding long hole is formed in the upper rail. A lock spring locking means is provided on the lock plate at a portion corresponding to the lock plate guiding long hole in such a manner that the lock spring locking means is inserted into the lock plate guiding long hole and projects from the lock plate guiding long hole so as to lock the lock spring. Furthermore, a lock plate holding means is provided at a position corresponding to the free end portion of the lock plate in such a manner as to slidably hold the free end side of the lock plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a seat slide apparatus for a vehicle seat in which a seat main body can be moved in a longitudinal direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
In this kind of seat slide apparatus, a lock plate has a portion near a base portion axially attached to a side surface of an upper rail in a freely rotatable manner. Since the lock plate has a significantly great length to a free end in which a lock tooth is formed, the free end side of the lock plate tends to move apart from the side surface of the upper rail when a load acts on the upper rail. Accordingly, the upper rail moves in a direction of releasing from a lock groove of the lower rail, so that there has been a risk that a lock function of the seat slide apparatus decreases.
The prior art has attempted to prevent the free end side of the lock plate from swinging in a direction of moving apart from the side surface of the upper rail. As shown in FIG. 1, a rivet 3 with a flange 3b having a locking portion 3a for locking a lock spring 2 is loosely fitted to a long hole 1a formed on a side surface of the upper rail 1. Lock plate 4 is mounted to the rivet 3 by caulking, and the upper rail 1 is held between the lock plate 4 and the flange 3b of the rivet 3. The above construction is required other than the rotatably mounted pivot portion of the lock plate 4.
However, in the seat slide apparatus mentioned above, the rivet 3 has a complex configuration integrally formed with flange 3b. This not only increases cost, but also increases the number of assembling processes for the lock plate 4.


A hole boring device includes a housing including a proximal end, an open distal end, and a bore extending longitudinally from the distal end to the proximal end. An inlet connectable to a pressurized water source is disposed on the proximal end of the housing. A spraying device in fluid communication with the inlet is disposed in the bore and is oriented towards the open distal end of the housing. The spraying device is configured discharge a stream of water passing therethrough so as to form a boring stream configured to bore a hole in a ground surface. In some embodiments, the spraying device is configured to rotatably discharge the pressurized stream of water. A depth collar disposed annularly about the housing defines the depth of the bored hole. A slot disposed along the housing allows debris from the boring process to exit the housing, leaving an empty bored hole.

The present invention relates to devices for boring holes into the earth. More specifically, the present invention relates to a hole boring device including a spraying device configured to connect to a pressurized water source, and further including a nozzle configured to rotatably discharge a stream of high pressure water for boring a hole in a ground surface.
There are a variety of situations which require making elongated and relatively deep holes into the ground. These include digging generally cylindrically-shaped holes for planting bulbs, receiving fence posts, sign posts and the like. Digging relatively deep, elongated holes such as bulb holes in the ground tends to be a tedious, slow, and labor intensive task when employing conventional manually operated or manually powered digging implements. One way to create such a hole is to utilize a manually powered clamshell-type hole digger, which includes a pair of shovels having generally semi-circularly curved blades. The shovel blades are fixed to the lower ends of upwardly protruding handles which are pivotably mounted to one another at a location between the shovel blades and the upper ends of the handles. The shovel blades are arranged so that the concave surfaces of the shovel blades face one another to define a generally cylindrically-shaped space corresponding to the shape a hole to be dug. While this device is widely used, using a clamshell-type digger is a labor-intensive process requiring manual operation of the handles and downward force exerted onto the earth in order to penetrate, loosen, and remove the earth with the shovel blades. Much repetition is required to complete a project in which numerous holes are required and in which a larger depth needs to be bored, which can be tiresome.
Another method of forming holes in the earth is to employ a large diameter auger that is rotated by an electric, hydraulic, or air-driven motor. Boring holes with a powered auger of this type is much quicker and easier than using a clamshell-type digger tool. However, these auger devices are overly bulky and difficult to handle by untrained individuals. Further, the auger devices are prohibitively expensive because they include electric or hydraulic parts, which limits the extent to which the auger can be used.
While the above devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives, and requirements, the devices in the known art are lacking, and further fail to provide a hole boring device adapted for household and simplified commercial use for the purpose of digging holes, such as bulb holes, fence or post holes, and removing the soil and debris therefrom. In light of the devices disclosed in the known art, it is submitted that the present invention substantially diverges in design elements from the known art and consequently it is clear that there is a need in the art for an improvement to hole boring devices. In this regard the present invention substantially fulfills these needs.


In a color electrophotographic printing system using a transfer belt, residual toner remains on the surface of the transfer belt after the printing of a page. To prevent print defects from occurring, the residual toner on the surface of the transfer belt must be removed. A transfer belt charge roller driven by a high voltage power supply is used to positively charge the residual toner to permit electrostatic transfer of the residual toner from the surface of the transfer belt to the surface of a photoconductor drum for removal by a cleaning blade. By applying an AC waveform and a positive DC offset, the residual toner is effectively positively charged for electrostatic removal from the transfer belt.

In some types of electrophotographic imaging processes, such as in a color electrophotographic printer, a transfer belt or transfer drum is used to accumulate the toner developed on the photoconductor prior to the transfer to the print media. This intermediate operation may be performed, for example, in a color electrophotographic printer which successively develops each color plane of an image onto the photoconductor drum and then transfers each developed color plane of the image onto a transfer belt. After the image is accumulated onto the transfer belt, the image is transferred onto the print media.
However, the process of transferring the image from the transfer belt to the print media is usually not complete. Residual toner which does not transfer to the print media must be substantially removed to prevent print quality defects from subsequently occurring. Attempts have been made to charge the residual toner in such a way that the residual toner can be electrostatically moved from the transfer belt back to the photoconductor. Residual toner which has been returned to the photoconductor can be removed by a cleaning blade. Previous attempts to remove the residual toner by mechanical or electrostatic means have not been sufficiently effective. A need exists for an apparatus which will properly charge residual toner to permit electrostatic removal from the surface carrying the residual toner.

System for charging toner on a toner carrying member for removing toner from the toner carrying member


An improved bidet device is set forth which includes a rotatable handle and capstan for positioning a spray tube and for opening the supply of water to the tube for spraying. A screw is received by the capstan to mount the handle and is further provided with a radial port. An actuator is coupled to the screw for rotation of the screw relative to the capstan to modulate the flow of water through the device. The actuator may be ergonometrically designed.

The present invention relates to bidet devices of the type which are added to an existing toilet.
Bidet devices are known as described in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,933,881 the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. This device of my prior patent provides a structure for attachment thereof to an existing toilet (water closet) and which supports a valve structure for (1) positioning the spray tube and for turning on the supply of water. The flow and pressure of water through the spray tube and the spray holes thereof are dependent upon the water line pressure at the toilet, less any friction losses through fittings and the spray holes. Thus, if the line pressure is relatively constant, the flow and pressure and hence velocity of the water emitted from the spray tube holes will remain relatively constant as well. For the user to decrease the flow/pressure/velocity of the water or to turn it off completely to prevent, for example, a child from playing with the device, the user would have to turn off the supply of water to the device and toilet at, for example, an on/off valve at the wall behind the toilet.
There is a need for an improvement which provides for a simple, economical means to control flow/pressure/velocity of the water emitted by the device and to turn off the flow. Since the device may be operated by handicapped individuals, there is also a need for a flow control device which is position for easy, one hand control. There is further a need for the flow control to be ergonomically incorporated into the bidet device.
There is, therefore, provided according to the present invention an improved bidet device which provides for modulating the flow rate and pressure of the liquid flowing though the spray tube when the spray is activated. The improved bidet includes the handle coupled to a hollow capstan rotatable with the handle. The capstan has at one end a first hole adapted to communicate with a supply of water and at the other end a second radial hole adapted to communicate with the tube. At the second end the capstan further has internal threads. A screw having a hollow shank with external threads is configured to be threadably received into and close said capstan second end and to couple a handle to the capstan for rotation of the capstan with the handle to position the tube and open and close the supply of water through the capstan and tube. The screw shank further includes a radial port to rotatably register with the capstan second hole. An actuator is coupled to the screw to rotate the screw relative to the handle to position the port between a closed position where the port is positioned to not register with the second opening to prevent the flow of water to a full open position where port is fully registered with the second hole for full flow of water through the tube to modulate the flow and pressure of water though the tube and spray holes of the tube.
Thus the user can set the actuator to moderate the pressure and flow of water through the tube and spray holes of r the comfort of the user. One the actuator is position, the user need only move the handle to open the supply of water through the capstan and tube at the flow/pressure set by the actuator. Further the actuator can be set to close the supply of water to prevent inadvertent actuation of the bidet as by, for example, children.
In a further embodiment, the actuator may be ergonometrically shaped having a tear drop-shaped plan to define an arcuate surface to mate with the thumb for actuation of the actuator apart from actuation of the handle.


A method for realizing network access authentication, wherein a network access authentication device pre-storing a system integrity value of a device waiting to access and a correspondence between each device waiting to access and its system integrity value. When the device waiting to access needs to access the network, it acquires its current system integrity value, and sends the current system integrity value to the network access authentication device; the network access authentication device judges whether the received current system integrity value of the device waiting to access and its stored integrity value of the device waiting to access are identical or not, and in a case where the received current system integrity value of the device waiting to access and its stored integrity value of the device waiting to access are identical, it determines that the network access is authenticated. As such, the network access device could determine the real status of the device waiting to access, and ensure the device accessing to the network is really secure, thereby ensuring the security of the network.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a field of network access authentication technique and trusted calculation technique, and more particularly, to a method for realizing network access authentication.
2. Description of Prior Art
Currently, authentication processing, which a network access authentication device performs on a device waiting to access, is implemented mainly based on the following technical protocols:
(1) Password Authentication Protocol;
(2) Protocol based on Sharing Key and Challenging Response;
(3) Protocol based on Dynamic One-Time Password;
(4) Authentication Protocol based on Public Key System.
The ideas of all the above authentication processing are: the network access authentication device determines whether the device waiting to access is allowed to access or not by judging whether the device waiting to access owns a password and/or a key required for the authentication protocols or not. The purpose of the above authentication processing is to ensure that the device accessing the network is not an attacker but a secure device. However, if the device waiting to access itself has been attacked (e.g., it has been imported a Trojan Horse virus program), when the device is accessing the network, the Trojan Horse virus program inside may listen to the authentication processing, and may steal key information on the device waiting to access through listening, then may personate the device waiting to access with other device or utilize the device waiting to access to attack the network.
It can be seen from above that only authenticating the password and/or key can not ensure that the device waiting to access is really secure and thus can not ensure the security of network.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for realizing network access authentication


A process and a binder for producing fibrous webs and fibrous web moldings, preferably in molding tools, in which fibrous webs are chemically bonded with powdered binders which consist wholly or partly of powder coating material, preferably recycled powder coating material.

Mouldings based on fibrous webs are widely used in industry. These comprise felts made of fibres of various types which may be mixed with binders. Preliminary products, which are termed prepregs (chemically bonded fibrous webs) can be produced from these fibrous webs, and are then moulded, cured and optionally cut to size using corresponding processing tools. It is also possible to produce corresponding continuous products made of fibrous web directly from the fibres and binder powders. These mouldings or flat goods have a wide range of uses. In the automobile industry, for example, these products are used as mouldings, e.g. as an insulating material for engine compartments or wheel guards, or as boot compartment insulation. Another area of use is their use as flat goods, e.g. as an insulating material in washing machines, linen dryers or loudspeakers, in sound-absorbing walls. They can be provided with additional coatings, e.g. by flock coating, covering or laminating. These mouldings or flat parts which are thus provided with a visually stable and decorative surface coating can then be used, for example, as door trims, hat racks or roof linings in the automobile industry.
A fibrous web material is understood to be a bonded textile material which is produced by the consolidation of fibrous web, particularly spun-bonded web (e.g. parallel, crossed or matted fibrous web), by a wet or dry route. In the course of this procedure, consolidation is effected mechanically (e.g. needled felt) or in the manner of paper manufacture with the aid of cellulose fibres, or chemically by adhesive bonding, bonding or dissolution. The present invention relates to the last-mentioned case, in which a binder is added for the chemical consolidation of the fibrous web.
Methods of producing fibrous webs and mixing these webs with binder powders are known. In the course of these methods, the fibrous material is homogenised, e.g. in a fibre mixing chamber, and is deposited on a conveyor belt as a loose fibrous layer.
The binder mixture is then applied to the fibrous material, e.g. by metering rolls or vibrating troughs, and is homogeneously mixed. The homogeneous mixture of fibres and binder powder is deposited to form a continuous fibrous web. The components of this mixture may either be adhesively bonded to each other by slight heating and subsequent cooling, whereupon prepregs are formed, or flat or rolled goods may be produced which are already fully cured. The prepregs are not yet finally cured, but are stable on storage. After processing into their final form, these prepregs are thermally crosslinked under the action of heat at temperatures up to 210.degree. C., whereupon three-dimensional thermosetting plastics mouldings are obtained.
Thermosetting plastics, and particularly phenolic resins here, are nowadays used as binders in many cases. Fibrous webs and fibrous web mouldings are used in many areas of daily life, and are also used in the automobile industry in particular. Difficulties can arise in use, since phenolic resins contain the chemical compound hexamethylene tetramine, abbreviated to hexa, as a curing component, which can result in an odour nuisance if insufficient reaction takes place.

Binder composition for producing fibrous webs and a process for producing fibrous web mouldings


This invention relates to a mesoporous carbon material in the form of filaments having a high surface area. A process is also provided to produce mesoporous carbon material of high surface area. The process comprises drying a carbon material, surface oxidizing the dried material, stabilizing the surface oxidized material, and activating the stabilized material to produce a highly activated, mesoporous material.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the area of activated carbons. More particularly, this invention provides a mesoporous carbon material in the form of filaments having a high surface area. This invention also provides a process for the preparation of activatd mesoporous carbon material.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, research on porous carbon materials has been very active. The forms of porous materials include the conventional activated carbon bulk [Dubinin et al., 1993, Adsorption Science Tech., vol 10:17-26; Chiang et al., 1995, Toxicological Environmental Chem., vol 47:97-108; Takeuchi and Itoh, 1993, Sep. Technol., vol 3:168-175], activated carbon fibers [Alcaniz-Monge et al., 1994, Carbon, vol 32:1277-1283; Oya et al., 1996, Carbon, vol 34:53-57], fine carbon particles [Ghosal et al., 1995, Materials Research Society Symp. Proc., vol 371:413-423], and carbon aerogels [Fung et al., 1993, Materials Res., vol 8:1875-1885], which are a solid network of carbon atoms strung along various directions thereby enclosing pores. Activated carbon materials are used not only as adsorbents for purification and chemical processing, but also as catalytic materials, battery electrode materials and biomedical engineering materials. Activated carbon materials are obtained by increasing the porosity of carbon.
According to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, pores are classified into four types, namely macropores (diameter>500 .ANG.), mesopores (20 .ANG.<diameter <500 .ANG.), micropores (8 .ANG.<diameter<20 .ANG.) and micro-micropores (diameter<8 .ANG.). In conventional activated carbons, most pores are micropores. The pores in activated carbon fibers (including pitch-based, polyacrylonitrile-based and rayon-based carbon fibers) are mainly micropores with some micro-micropores. Carbon aerogels mainly contain mesopores with some micropores. Thus although carbon aerogels contain mesopores, the specific surface area of carbon aerogels is generally about 650 m.sup.2 g which is relatively low compared to activated carbons having specific surface areas as high as about 3000 m.sup.2 /g.
One of the requirements of porous activated carbons in biomedical engineering and other applications is that the activated material have mesopores and/or macropores. Many macromolecules and ions encountered in catalysis and batteries cannot penetrate the surface of carbons devoid of large percentages of such pores. A problem often encountered is how to fabricate a porous carbon material with a high specific surface area and good mechanical and physical properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,238,470 to Tolles et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,527 to Dimitri describe a method for producing highly activated and highly densified mesoporous carbon particles from lignocellulosic carbonaceous material. The patents also describe a method in which a carbonaceous material is treated with an activating agent to produce a plasticated carbonaceous material which is then densified to produce the activated carbon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,879 to Abe et al. describes active carbon materials having an average pore radius of about 15 .ANG. to 30 .ANG., prepared from waste material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,349 to Everett et al. describes mesoporous carbon wherein the interparticle distances are of mesoporous size.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,742 to Lee describes activated carbon fibers produced by exposure to graphite oxide former followed by exposure to CO.sub.2 former.
While activated carbon particles are useful in many applications, the filamentous form of activated carbon according to the present invention is preferred in some applications. Filamentous activated carbon like cotton wool clings together to form a mat without the need for a binder. The mat structure facilitates handling, sandwiching, rolling and cutting. Thus filamentous activated carbon according to the present invention is much more processeable than activated particles which require a binder and cannot be easily made into a thin flexible sheet. Further, a mat or compact of the present filamentous activated carbon resembling cotton wool has macropores between adjacent filaments. The macropores enhance the hydrodynamics of the mat as they provide channels for the flow of fluids thereby enhancing process kinetics.

Research Foundation of State University of New York at Buffalo


An electrostatic discharge protection device includes a first well comprising a MOS transistor; a second well comprising a first impurity region to which a first voltage is applied, and a second impurity region connected to an input/output pad, the second well being disposed adjacent to the first well; and a third well comprising a third impurity region to which the first voltage is applied, the third well being disposed adjacent to the second well.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device for protecting internal circuits from ESD.
ESD is the sudden electric current flowing between two insulating objects when placed under a large electric potentials caused by direct electrical contact.
When a high voltage caused by ESD flows into semiconductor devices, internal circuits may be damaged. Thus, most semiconductor devices include an ESD protection device between a pad and an internal circuit in order for protecting the internal circuit from being damaged.
As semiconductor devices are being operated at higher speeds and highly integrated, a low pin capacitance may be required and a gate dielectric layer is getting thinner.
Junction capacitors of a semiconductor device occupy more than 50% of the pin capacitance. In particular, a parasitic junction capacitance of an ESD protection device located at an input/output pad occupies a significant portion of the pin capacitance. Since the pin capacitance has a negative influence on signal input/output speed and signal retention, a reduction in the pin capacitance is desired in high-speed products. Much effort has been made to reduce a parasitic junction capacitance of an ESD protection device.
One such attempt has been to use a silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) as an ESD protection device that has high ESD efficiency and may reduce parasitic capacitance by a junction region.
Since the junction region of the SCR has an N-well and a P-well, parasitic junction capacitance is small and a large ESD current is discharged even in a small area due to operations of two parasitic bipolar transistors.
However, when an SCR operating at a high voltage is used as an ESD protection device, a gate dielectric layer of an internal circuit may be damaged before operation of the SCR because the gate dielectric layer of the semiconductor device in high-speed, high-integrated products is getting thinner and the breakdown voltage of the gate dielectric layer is also decreasing.
Thus, a low voltage triggered SCR (LVTSCR) operating at a lower voltage than the SCR has been used.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a typical ESD protection device using an LVTSCR. Referring to FIG. 1, the typical ESD protection device includes an SCR 10 and an NMOS transistor 12. The SCR 10 includes two parasitic bipolar transistors Q1 and Q2 connected between an input/output (I/O) pad and a ground voltage pad VSS in a latch structure. The NMOS transistor 12 is connected between a base of the parasitic bipolar transistor Q2 and the ground voltage pad VSS in order to reduce an operating voltage of the SCR 10.
The typical ESD protection device can reduce the operating voltage down to the breakdown voltage of the NMOS transistor 12, while maintaining a relatively superior ESD effect.
However, when a negative ESD is applied, the typical ESD protection device does not maintain the relatively superior characteristic of SCR.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the typical ESD protection device of FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2, an N-well 21 is formed in a P-well 20. An NMOS transistor having N-type impurity regions 23 and 25 and a gate 24, and a P-type impurity region 22 for applying a bias voltage to the P-well 20 are formed in the P-well 20. A device isolation layer (STI) is formed between the NMOS transistor and the P-type impurity region 22. N-type impurity regions 25 and 27 and a P-type impurity region 26 are formed in the N-well 21. The N-type impurity region 25 corresponding to a drain of the NMOS transistor is formed over the P-well 20 and the N-well 21.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, a parasitic NPN bipolar transistor Q1 is formed in the P-well 20, and a parasitic PNP bipolar transistor Q2 is formed in the N-well 21. Due to these wells 20 and 21, resistors RP and RN exist.
When excessive ESD is applied to the input/output pad, electron hole pair is generated by junction breakdown in reverse junction of the N-type impurity region 25 and the P-type impurity region 22 having the same potential as the N-well 21. The generated holes move to the P-type impurity region 26, and the generated electrons move to the N-type impurity region 23. Thus, a voltage rise and a voltage drop occur across the resistor RP of the P-well 20 and the resistor RN of the N-well 21, respectively. As a result, the parasitic bipolar transistors Q1 and Q2 are turned on. In this case, even if either of the parasitic bipolar transistors Q1 and Q2 is turned on, the ESD protection device changes to a low impedance state by a positive feedback, and performs an SCR operation to make a large current flow.
However, when negative ESD is applied, parasitic diodes are operated. For example, an excessive ESD voltage may be applied to the ground voltage terminal VSS. In this case, the P-type impurity region 22 functions as an anode, and the N-type impurity region 27 functions as a cathode. Thus, a parasitic diode is formed. Since a current drivability of the diode is inferior to the SCR, the ESD device may not operate normally when a relatively large negative ESD current is applied, resulting in damage of the internal circuit.
That is, although the SCR has a high ESD protection capability, the ESD capability of the SCR may be limited by characteristics of a diode formed when a negative ESD current is applied.

Electrostatic discharge protection device


Computerized systems and methods for identifying a table in a document include: removing from a document content other than text characters and associated size, position and format information; converting each text character into a block covering the corresponding text character; converting each page of the document into a corresponding image file; drawing a set of horizontal lines spanning a width of the document, each block super-scored and under-scored by at least one of the horizontal lines; drawing a set of vertical lines spanning all or a portion of a length of the document; removing a subset of redundant vertical lines; and determining, based on the set of horizontal lines and the subset of vertical lines, (i) a set of table coordinates corresponding to a table in the document, and (ii) one or more sets of cell coordinates corresponding to one or more cells in the table.

Documents that include data tables do not always have the data included in those tables available in structured form (e.g., in cases where the documents were stored as static files such as image scan files or "locked" PDF files). Certain processing operations require this data to be extracted in structured form before processing begins. One such situation occurs frequently in the municipal bonds market. Today, issuers of municipal bonds often create their bonds as static or locked form documents that do not make structured tabular data available to the holder. In addition, the municipal securities markets often issue their financial statements in locked PDF and scanned image form. As a result, capital markets and brokerages, which need to analyze the tabular data contained in these documents (e.g., as part of their risk assessments), must perform intensive pre-processing to re-create these tables in structured form before analyzing them.
Prior approaches to extracting this data automatically have utilized certain optical character recognition (OCR) techniques. However, when these techniques are applied to tabular data, they tend not to capture important information, e.g., formatting information, structural identification information and/or table identification information. Encoding issues can also be encountered when certain files (e.g., PDF files) are created using internal and/or custom encoding, instead of more conventional Unicode or ASCII encoding. In such cases, the retrieved text can appear in a garbled or incomprehensible form, and retrieval of text can fail using manual copy and pasting operations. As a result, conversion of static tabular data today is performed through a significant amount of manual work (e.g., human beings re-typing the information in structured tabular form). What is needed is a system that can scan static documents and identify tables automatically, outputting the tables in a structured form that is usable for a variety of types of further processing.

Systems and methods for table extraction in documents


An illumination device of a motor vehicle includes one or more multi-aperture projection displays, where a respective multi-aperture projection display contain a luminous means for illuminating a plurality of object structures and an array of projection lenses. Each projection lens is assigned to an object structure which is projected by the respective projection lens into at least one projection plane extending perpendicularly or obliquely with respect to the ground in an area surrounding the motor vehicle. The one or more multi-aperture projection displays are configured such that an overall image containing symbols perceivable by a driver of the motor vehicle is produced in the at least one projection plane by the projected object structures.

The invention relates to a motor vehicle comprising an illumination device.
The prior art discloses driver assistance systems which indicate, to the driver of a motor vehicle, the distance between the vehicle body and objects in the surrounding area. In the case of parking assistance systems for example, the distance between the motor vehicle and possible obstacles is measured using ultrasound and is conveyed to the driver acoustically or visually on a display in the vehicle interior.
Conventional assistance systems for indicating the distance are costly since they require a multiplicity of sensors, cable harnesses, software logic and a display for visualizing the distance of the vehicle.
An object of the invention is to provide a motor vehicle comprising an illumination device in which the distance to objects in the area surrounding the vehicle is visualized in a simple manner.
This object is achieved by means of the motor vehicle according to patent claim 1. Developments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.
The motor vehicle according to the invention comprises an illumination device which comprises one or more multi-aperture projection displays. A respective multi-aperture projection display contains a luminous means for illuminating a multiplicity of object structures and an array of projection lenses, each projection lens being assigned to an object structure which is projected by the respective projection lens into at least one projection plane. The projection plane extends perpendicularly and/or obliquely with respect to the ground in the area surrounding the motor vehicle, in particular at an angle of 45° or more, preferably 80° or more, with respect to the ground. The multi-aperture projection display(s) is/are configured in such a manner that an overall image containing symbols which can be perceived by the driver of the motor vehicle is produced in the at least one projection plane by means of the projected object structures. According to the principle of projection, the overall image in the respective projection planes is visible to the driver when the surface of an obstacle or detector or screen is in the corresponding projection plane. Constructive superimposition of all individual images/projections of the object structures takes place in the respective projection plane, which results in sharp imaging of the target symbols. In one preferred variant, the multi-aperture projection display also comprises, in addition to the array of projection lenses, an array of field lenses which is arranged between the luminous means and the object structures.
The invention is distinguished by the fact that one or more multi-aperture projection displays known per se are used for the first time to indicate the presence of an obstacle in corresponding projection planes by imaging symbols and to hereby visualize the distance between the object and the motor vehicle. This provides a passive distance display purely by means of an illumination device without special logic. The multi-aperture projection displays disclosed in the document DE 10 2009 024 894 A1 and in the document DE 10 2011 076 083 A1 are preferably used in the motor vehicle according to the invention. The entire disclosure in said documents is incorporated in the present application by reference.
In one particularly preferred embodiment, the multi-aperture projection display(s) is/are configured in such a manner that different overall images containing different symbols which can be perceived by the driver of the motor vehicle are generated in a plurality of projection planes at a different distance from the motor vehicle. The distance between the projection planes and the motor vehicle should be understood as meaning the shortest distance between the corresponding projection plane and the outer surface of the motor vehicle. This variant of the invention has the advantage that a plurality of symbols can be used to convey to the driver of the motor vehicle how the distance between his motor vehicle and objects in the surrounding area changes.
In another preferred variant, one or more individual multi-aperture projection displays are configured in such a manner that different overall images containing different symbols which can be perceived by the driver of the vehicle are generated in a plurality of projection planes at a different distance from the motor vehicle using the respective individual multi-aperture projection display. In other words, in this embodiment, the function of representing different symbols in different projection planes is separately integrated in individual multi-aperture projection displays.
In one preferred embodiment, a plurality of projection planes are generated using an individual multi-aperture projection display by means of a suitable modification of the multi-aperture projection display described in the documents mentioned at the outset. According to this modification, the object structures of an individual multi-aperture projection display are the combination of a plurality of separate object arrays (also referred to as arrays below) of object structures consisting of transmissive and opaque regions. The separate object arrays are configured in such a manner that an overall image of a respective projection plane at a distance from the motor vehicle which differs in comparison with the other separate arrays is generated for each separate array. The separate arrays are combined here in such a manner that only those transmissive regions which occur in the object structures of all separate object arrays are represented. The object structures of the combination are opaque in all other regions. In one preferred variant of the embodiment just described, a respective projection lens for projecting the object structure is assigned to each object structure in each separate array, the center distance of adjacent object structures in each separate array differing from the center distance of adjacent assigned projection lenses and differing from the center distance of the corresponding object structures in the other separate arrays. The method of operation of the embodiment just described is explained in more detail again in the detailed description. This configuration of the invention makes it possible to sharply image different symbols at different distances from the motor vehicle in a simple manner using a single multi-aperture projection display.
In another preferred embodiment, at least some of the symbols (that is to say at least one symbol) respectively comprise one or more characters and/or pictograms and/or numbers. In order to accurately indicate the distance between objects and the motor vehicle, in another embodiment, at least some of the symbols respectively indicate the distance between the corresponding projection planes and the motor vehicle.
In another variant, at least some of the symbols respectively comprise a warning for the driver. In the case of a plurality of different symbols in different projection planes, the symbols in the projection plane at the shortest distance from the motor vehicle preferably comprise the warning. Provision may likewise be made for the symbols in those projection planes whose distance from the motor vehicle undershoots a predetermined threshold to comprise the warning for the driver. With the variant just described, a special suggestion is again produced for the driver in the case of shorter distances to other objects, thus further reducing the risk of an accident.
In another preferred embodiment, the projection plane(s) is/are in front of the vehicle front and preferably substantially perpendicular to the vehicle front for at least some of the multi-aperture projection displays. This variant of the invention is suitable, in particular, for implementing a parking assistance system or distance control with respect to vehicles traveling in front.
In another variant of the motor vehicle according to the invention, the projection plane(s) is/are behind the vehicle rear and preferably substantially perpendicular to the vehicle rear for at least some of the multi-aperture projection displays. In this case, a camera which captures the projection plane(s) is preferably provided in the vehicle rear, the image from the camera being displayed to the driver on a display in the vehicle interior. This variant is again suitably used to implement a parking assistance system or distance control with respect to vehicles traveling behind.
In another configuration of the motor vehicle according to the invention, the projection plane(s) run(s) parallel to the longitudinal axis of the motor vehicle and offset with respect to a longitudinal side of the motor vehicle laterally beside and/or in front of and/or behind the longitudinal side for at least some of the multi-aperture projection displays. This variant of the invention is suitably used to provide confined space light which is used to indicate, to the driver of the motor vehicle, the lateral distance between his vehicle and the confined space when driving through confined spaces. One or more projection planes are preferably provided on both longitudinal sides of the motor vehicle.
In one variant of the embodiment just described, the symbols comprise a line running parallel to the longitudinal axis of the motor vehicle. This is used to easily and intuitively convey to the driver the lateral distance between his vehicle and confined spaces. If a plurality of projection planes having different symbols are produced, the line with the smallest offset with respect to the longitudinal side is preferably solid, as a result of which a warning that the distance to the confined space is becoming very short is conveyed to the driver. In contrast, lines with a greater offset can be represented as dashed lines, for example.
In another preferred variant of the motor vehicle according to the invention, at least one multi-aperture projection display is provided in at least one headlight and/or at least one taillight of the motor vehicle. On account of the compact dimensions of multi-aperture projection displays in the range of a few centimeters, it is possible to integrate these displays in headlights or taillights without any problems.
In another configuration of the motor vehicle according to the invention, at least one multi-aperture projection display is respectively integrated in a left headlight and a right headlight and/or in a left taillight and a right taillight.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention are described in detail below using the accompanying figures, in which:
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Motor vehicle comprising an illumination device for projecting an image

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


A resilient mount for rotating warning light systems includes a mounting base having a plurality of mounting feet, each of which includes a special grommet mounted within an aperture formed therein. The grommets are selectively shaped so as to absorb and dissipate substantially all shock loads which would ordinarily be delivered to the rotating warning light system, and particularly, to the fragile bulb itself. The resiliently mount further prevents noise from being transmitted from the rotating light back into the vehicle to which the mounting base is connected.

The present invention relates, in general, to a rotating warning light system and particularly, to a shock mounting system for isolating and protecting the fragile light bulbs mounted to such rotating warning lights, thereby increasing the reliability of the system, especially when used on vehicles.
In the past, various arrangements have been employed to provide shock isolating mounts for rotating warning light systems mounted to vehicles. It will be appreciated by those familiar with the art that, a main component of failure for such warning light systems are shock transmitted from the chassis of the vehicle to the rotating warning lights, and particularly harmful, to the bulb itself and the very fragile filaments. Such recurring shock cycles, being absorbed by the rotating warning light system, quite frequently result premature in failure of the bulb. Quite frequently, such failures occur at most inopportune times which may result in a highly dangerous situation to those workers in, or near, the vehicle to which the warning light is mounted. Many operators of such vehicles realize that frequent bulb failure is a fact and, accordingly, replace the bulbs on a fairly frequent schedule. Thus many bulbs are replaced regardless of whether or not the bulb has failed. Obviously, replacing bulbs on such a schedule is time consuming, as well as expensive. The expense is particularly dramatic when halogen bulbs are utilized for their cost is substantially more than a standard filament bulb such as has been commonly used for many years.
Some examples of shock absorbing mounting systems for warning light assemblies may be seen in the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,302 issued to Cardarelli et al on Jan. 7, 1964; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,327,110 issued to Baldwin on Jun. 20, 1967; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,051 issued to Kulik on Jul. 8, 1980; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,145 issued to Roller et al on Mar. 13, 1984; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,955 issued to Beswick et al on Mar. 14, 1989; and PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,933 issued to Swanson on Jun. 4, 1996.
It is evident from a review of patents listed above that none deal with the combined problems of bulb breakage and the reduced life of the rotating motor assembly caused directly by shock loads transmitted to both the motor and bulb through the chassis of the vehicle to which the rotating light assembly is mounted.


Present embodiments are directed to a system and method capable of modulating light to at least one modulation frequency selected based on at least one blood parameter of a medium being monitored to generate photon density waves in a medium, detecting relative amplitude changes and phase shifts in the photon density waves, and determining at least one blood parameter related to scattering particles in the medium based on the phase shifts.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present embodiments, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the disclosed embodiments. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Pulse oximetry may be defined as a non-invasive technique that facilitates monitoring of a patient's blood flow characteristics. For example, pulse oximetry may be used to measure blood oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in a patient's arterial blood and/or the patient's heart rate. Specifically, these blood flow characteristic measurements may be acquired using a non-invasive sensor that passes light through a portion of a patient's tissue and photo-electrically senses the absorption and scattering of the light through the tissue. Typical pulse oximetry technology currently utilizes two light emitting diodes (LEDs) and a single optical detector to measure pulse and oxygen saturation of a given tissue bed.
A typical signal resulting from the sensed light may be referred to as a plethysmograph waveform. Such measurements are largely based on absorption of emitted light by specific types of blood constituents. Once acquired, this measurement may be used with various algorithms to estimate a relative amount of blood constituent in the tissue. For example, such measurements may provide a ratio of oxygenated to deoxygenated hemoglobin in the volume being monitored. It should be noted that the amount of arterial blood in the tissue is generally time varying during a cardiac cycle, which is reflected in the plethysmographic waveform.
The accuracy of blood flow characteristic estimation via pulse oximetry depends on a number of factors. For example, variations in light absorption characteristics can affect accuracy depending on where the sensor is located and/or the physiology of the patient being monitored. Additionally, various types of noise and interference can create inaccuracies. For example, electrical noise, physiological noise, and other interference can contribute to inaccurate blood flow characteristic estimates. Some sources of noise are consistent, predictable, and/or minimal, while some sources of noise are erratic and cause major interruptions in the accuracy of blood flow characteristic measurements. Accordingly, it is desirable to enable more accurate and/or controlled measurement of physiologic parameters by providing a system and method that addresses inconsistencies in physiologic characteristics of patients and issues relating to noise.

Photon density wave pulse oximetry and pulse hemometry