A developer cartridge is configured to be installed and removed in a direction orthogonal to a rotating shaft of a developing unit main body and the image forming apparatus main body is configured to provide an operation hampering member for hampering at least a portion of a developer cartridge which is not disposed at the interchanging position and which is exposed from a space for taking out the image forming unit from being installed or removed when the image forming unit is removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus of a copier, a printer, a facsimile or a composite machine thereof in full color applied with an electrophotography system. In particular, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus capable of preventing a developer cartridge used in the image forming apparatus from being mistakenly installed or removed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus of this kind of a copier, a printer, a facsimile or a composite machine thereof or the like in full color applied with an electrophotography system, there is an image forming apparatus of so-called tandem type constituted such that a plurality of image forming portions in correspondence with respective colors of yellow, magenta, cyan, black and the like are arranged in parallel, and toner images of respective colors of yellow, magenta, cyan, black and the like formed at the respective image forming portions are directly transferred onto a record sheet, or secondarily transferred onto a record sheet via an intermediate transferring belt or similar means to thereby form an image in full color.
Further, in an image forming apparatus of a copier, a printer or the like in full color, mentioned above, there is an image forming apparatus of so-to-speak 4 cycle type constituted such that a plurality of developing units with respective colors of yellow, magenta, cyan, black and the like are arranged along the periphery of a developing unit main body contiguously to a single photosensitive drum, the developing units of the respective colors are moved to a developing position opposed to the photosensitive drum by rotating the developing unit main body, and rotating the photosensitive drum by a predetermined number of times to thereby form toner images of the respective colors of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black on the photosensitive drum, and the toner images of the respective colors of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black formed on the photosensitive drum are directly transferred onto a record sheet or secondarily transferred onto a record sheet via an intermediate transferring belt or similar means to thereby form an image in full color.
In the image forming apparatus of the tandem type and the 4 cycle type, the image forming apparatus of the 4 cycle type is characterized in being able to be downsized since only the single photosensitive drum is used.
There have already been proposed technologies with regard to the 4 cycle image forming apparatus disclosed in, for example, JP-A-2001-83765 and JP-A-2001-83766.
A color image recording apparatus according to JP-A-2001-83765, mentioned above, includes a rotating member arranged to assemble with a plurality of developing units including toner containing portions and developing rollers substantially in a circular ring shape in a state of disposing the developing rollers always on an outer peripheral side and rotating to move the developing units to an image forming position, and a photosensitive member containing unit integrally including a photosensitive member, a charging roller for charging the photosensitive member, and a cleaner portion for cleaning to recover a toner remaining on the photosensitive member for transferring an image developed on the photosensitive member by the developing roller to a record sheet via an intermediate transferring member. Whereas the developing unit is inserted into the apparatus from a lid portion of an upper face of the apparatus in the vicinity of the developing roller on the upper side of the rotating member from a direction orthogonal to an axis of the rotating member, the photosensitive member containing unit is inserted into the apparatus from an opening and closing position on a front side of the apparatus and guided to the image forming apparatus from a direction orthogonal to the developing roller, and constituted to carry out two kinds of rotation controls for rotating the rotating member by 90° at respective steps of forming images of the respective colors and rotating the rotating member to dispose the developing unit at the interchanging position when there is not the toner of any of the developing units.
Further, a color image recording apparatus according to JP-A-2001-83766, mentioned above, is a color image recording apparatus including a rotating member arranged to assemble a plurality of developing units having toner containing portions and developing rollers substantially in a circular ring shape in a state of disposing the developing rollers always on an outer peripheral side and rotating to move the developing units successively to an image forming position, and a photosensitive member containing unit constituted by integrally including a photosensitive member, a charging roller for charging the photosensitive member, a cleaner portion for cleaning to recover toner remaining on the photosensitive member for transferring an image developed on the photosensitive member by the developing rollers to a record sheet via an intermediate transferring member. Whereas the developing unit is inserted into the apparatus from a lid portion at an upper face of the apparatus to be mounted to the rotating member from a direction orthogonal to an axis of the rotating member, the photosensitive member containing unit is constituted to be inserted into the apparatus from an opening and closing portion on a front side of the apparatus to be guided to the image forming position from a direction orthogonal to the developing roller and constituted to be able to be able to simultaneously contain the toner remaining on the intermediate transferring member to the cleaner portion.
In the case of the color image recording apparatus according to JP-A-2001-83765 and JP-A-2001-83766, mentioned above, as shown in FIG. 27, the apparatus are constituted such that when any of developing units 100 runs out of toner, a rotating member 101 arranged with the four developing units 100 is rotated to move the developing unit 100 in which the toner is not present is moved to an interchanging position and the developing unit 100 is interchanged by opening a lid portion 102 at an upper face of the apparatus.
Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 27, the developing unit 100 which is not disposed at the interchanging position is disposed at a position opposed to a photosensitive member containing unit 103 and therefore, there poses a problem that there is a concern that in a state of taking out the photosensitive member containing unit 103, the developing unit 100 which is not disposed at the interchanging position is exposed to outside and is taken out erroneously.
In the case of the color image recording apparatus according to JP-A-2001-83765, mentioned above, as shown in FIG. 27, there is present an obstacle 104 for preventing the developing unit 100 which is not disposed at the interchanging position from being able to attach or detach.
However, although it is conceivable to arrange the photosensitive containing unit over an outer periphery of the rotating member arranged to assemble with the plurality of developing units when the color image recording apparatus is downsized, in the case of being constituted in this way, there poses a problem that there is not a space of arranging the obstacle for preventing the developing unit which is not disposed at the interchanging position from being attached or detached when the photosensitive containing unit is removed and the developing unit which is not disposed to the interchange position cannot be prevented from being erroneously attached or detached.

Device for preventing a developer cartridge of an image forming apparatus from being mistakenly installed or removed


In an arrangement located between input and output paths to carry out a broadcast operation, an input virtual channel identifier (VCI; is included in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cell and given to a selected one of parameter production elements to access a conversion table connected to the selected parameter production element and to read a specific intermediate conversion parameter indicative of the broadcast operation out of the conversion table. The specific intermediate conversion parameter is sent to a first switch together with the ATM cell and to a second switch to be delivered to a plurality of the output paths. On the plurality of the output paths, the specific intermediate conversion parameters are converted into output VCI's which are different from and independent of one another. Thus, the broadcast operation is favorably carried out in the arrangement.

This invention relates to an arrangement for use in a broadband integrated services digital network (ISDN) to arrange a connection path or a route between a plurality of input paths and a plurality of output paths.
Such a broadband ISDN is effective to provide a wide variety of services for communication of an audio signal, a video signal, and a data signal. Recently, it has been pointed out that the broadband ISDN is preferably operable in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) wherein a transmission data signal to be delivered to an identical destination asynchronously or unperiodically appears on a transmission line. In this event, each transmission data signal is transmitted in the form of a cell. Such a cell may be called an asynchronous transfer mode cell.
In order to identify a logical path of each asynchronous transfer mode cell, a virtual channel identifier (VCI) is included in each asynchronous transfer mode cell to relatively specify a logical channel number used in the logical path. In other words, the virtual channel identifier never specifies a physical channel number or a physical path. This shows that, when identical virtual channel identifiers are produced from different terminal units, such identical virtual channel identifiers are transmitted through different transmission paths. From this fact, it is readily understood that each identical virtual channel identifier is regardless of each other as long as such identical virtual channel identifiers are transmitted through different transmission paths.
At any rate, each asynchronous transfer mode cell is given to an asynchronous transfer mode exchange, namely, an arrangement which is located between a plurality of input paths and a plurality of output paths to arrange a connection path or a route between the input and the output paths. In this case, an input asynchronous transfer mode cell is sent to the asynchronous transfer mode exchange through one of the input paths along with an input virtual channel identifier and is transmitted through a selected one of the output paths that is determined by the asynchronous transfer mode exchange. Thus, an output asynchronous transfer mode cell is sent from the asynchronous transfer mode exchange together with an output virtual channel identifier. In this event, the asynchronous transfer mode exchange carries out a self-routing switching operation so as to decide the route between the input and the output paths.
Herein, it is to be noted that the input virtual channel identifier is usually different from the output virtual channel identifier and should therefore be converted in the asynchronous transfer mode exchange into the output virtual channel identifier which is sent through one of the output paths.
To this end, conversion of the input virtual channel identifier into the output virtual channel identifier is performed before the self-routing switching operation in a conventional asynchronous transfer mode system that is described in a paper contributed by K. Hajikano et al and entitled "Asynchronous transfer mode switching architecture for broadband ISDN" (pages 911 to 915) to IEEE International Conference on Communications '88. Such conversion is effective to selectively connect a single one of the input paths to a single one of the output paths. A connection between a single input path and a single output path and its operation will be called a one-to-one connection and a one-to-one connection mode.
Herein, the connection is not always restricted to the one-to-one connection but may be made between a single input path and a plurality of output paths which are equal in number to N, where N is a natural number. The connection between the single input path and the N output paths and its operation will be referred to as a one-to-N connection hereinafter. The one-to-N connection lends itself to simultaneously transfer information from a single terminal unit or transmitting end to a plurality of terminal units or receiving ends. Stated otherwise, it is possible to broadcast the information to the plurality of the receiving ends during a mode of the one-to-N connection. Such a mode may therefore be called a broadcast mode.
Let the conventional asynchronous transfer mode system be operated in the broadcast mode in response to the input asynchronous transfer mode cell which includes the single input virtual channel identifier and which is given through a single one of the input paths. Under the circumstances, the single input virtual channel identifier should be converted before the self-routing switching operation into a plurality of output virtual channel identifiers which are different from and independent of one another.
However, it is difficult to convert the single input virtual channel identifier into the plurality of the output virtual channel identifiers on the single input path. Accordingly, the conventional asynchronous transfer mode system is not effectively operable in the broadcast mode.

Arrangement favorably carrying out a connection by the use of an intermediate conversion parameter between input and output virtual channel identifiers (VCI's)


A shift register, a display apparatus, a gate driving circuit and a driving method, the shift register comprises a plurality of stages of shift register circuits (SR0-SRn), a Nth stage shift register circuit among the plurality of stages of shift register circuits (SR0-SRn) comprises: a pre-charging circuit (1), a pulling-up circuit (2), a resetting circuit (3) and a retaining circuit, the retaining circuit is equipped with an eighth transistor (M8) whose gate is connected with a first control signal terminal (CK), source and drain are connected with each other. Not only a shift registering is realized, but also the operation period of the circuit is decreased, which can address the problem of shift in the voltage thresholds. Further, with the transistor whose source and drain are short-circuited, a control of the control signal on the pulling-down node is realized, so that a potential at the pulling-down node rises rapidly when the first control signal is in the high level and has a reduced descending range when the first control signal is in the low level, which can realize a better control of the circuit.

In a Thin Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD), the basic principle for displaying a frame of image is that signals required for each row of pixels are output from up to down sequentially by a data driver, and each row of pixels is gated by inputting thereto a square wave with a certain pulse width from up to down sequentially by a gate driver. An existing manufacture method is to bond a gate driving IC and a data driving IC on a glass panel by means of a chip on glass (COG) process. When a resolution is high, the thin film transistor liquid crystal display with a small size has more outputs of the gate driver and the data driver, and lengths of the driving ICs would increase, which makes against to a laminating process for a module driving ICs. Recently, the gate driving IC is manufactured on the glass panel with an array substrate process without adding any processes and cost to the existing process, by designing of a gate driving circuit. A circuit principle diagram of a shift register unit in a basic gate driving circuit is illustrated in FIG. 1. However, the circuit has a relatively long operation period, has the problem of voltage threshold shift, and fails to control the circuit well by control signals.

Shift register, display apparatus, gate driving circuit, and driving method

CHENGDU BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A concave diffraction grating for integrated optics is constructed by replacing the reflective metallic part by either multiple thin elements of metal or multiple elements of dielectric material, each partially reflecting the light, and arranged on elliptical fashion in order to distribute the diffraction/reflection of light and provide aberration-free focusing, by combining diffraction condition and Bragg condition of these curved reflectors.

Multiplexing and demultiplexing in optical communication systems are implemented in multiple different forms. Early implementations included using: 1) bulk optics with a diffraction grating and lens to spread wavelengths angularly; 2) cascading dielectric thin film interference filters which each let through one wavelength and reflect others to eventually separate all the wavelengths; and 3) fiber Bragg gratings in which one wavelength is reflected in the fiber, which can be cascaded to extract wavelengths of interest. These early implementations are bulky and suffer from problems relating to size, alignment, packaging, and instability over time. More recently, further implementations have been developed that are integrated assemblies to overcome the above-identified problems. These more recent implementations include: 1) Mach-Zehnder filters, which obtain wavelength separation information due to wavelength dependant phase differences between two arms of the device; 2) concave diffraction gratings, which use a metal coated diffraction grating to spread the wavelengths; and 3) arrayed waveguide gratings, which use an array of waveguides to create phase differences so that wavelengths recombine at different locations. Such implementations have lead to substantial improvements compared to the earlier technologies, but each of these new techniques still has some limitations.
Cascaded Mach-Zehnder filters have a large footprint compared to arrayed waveguide gratings and concave diffraction gratings, especially for large numbers of channels.
Concave diffraction gratings (CDG) need a relatively deep etching to make the grating. Furthermore, the grating needs to be metalized to improve efficiency. The smoothness and verticality of the grating is a limiting factor, but the continuous improvement of fabrication technologies will make it less problematic over time. The metallization of the grating is delicate in the fabrication process, as it requires an angled deposition. Although metalized, the grating configuration has losses, and the efficiency is limited. Some other configurations have been proposed to avoid metallization, like using a retro-reflector with total internal reflection. These alternatives have their own theoretical sources of loss as well as losses due to fabrication, such as rounding of corners at the facets of the grating.
Arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG) have a larger size than concave diffraction gratings. FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an arrayed waveguide 100 which includes an input waveguide 110 coupled to a first slab free space region 120, a second slab free space region 140, an array of waveguides 130 having different lengths between the first and second slab free space regions 120, 140 and multiple waveguides 150 coupled to the second slab free space region 140.
CDGs are reflection based devices, which reduces the size by a factor of two as compared to AWGs, which are transmission based devices. Furthermore, AWGs use an array of curved waveguides to produce phase differences, which takes a major portion of the overall device size, whereas a CDGs use only the grating. Also, as the number of channels increases, limitations such as phase errors, and crosstalk occur, which restrict performance. In addition, the physical size of the device increases with the number of channels, making the device larger than desirable for some uses. The efficiency of AWGs has a further limitation, namely due to the fact that there is a field distribution mismatch at a connection between the first slab free space region 120 and the array of waveguides 130, a part of the transmitted light is lost and may propagate as stray light causing deteriorating crosstalk with other channels. CDGs do not suffer from this.
Since worldwide telecommunications traffic is still growing (and is forecasted to continue), the potential of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) plays an important role in this growth. Indeed, WDM components allow many channels to be transmitted simultaneously on the same fiber, and they can be added to already deployed optical fibers to increase their capacity, without the need to replace or add fibers (which would represent a huge cost). Consequently, the number of channels a WDM system can handle is an important parameter, and higher numbers will be in demand to sustain the ever increasing traffic.
In alternative uses to optical communication systems, such as integrated spectrometer devices, increased capacity for multiplexers translates into higher resolution and the span of the spectrum that can be analyzed simultaneously. Trying to improve the efficiency and capacity of the multiplexers is a subject of current research in this area.
Overall size of devices is also a major issue driving improvements in this field. Smaller packaged devices will occupy less space in telecom cabinets or for hand-held spectrometers. As the cost of production of a chip is roughly proportional to the space it occupies on a wafer (packaging omitted), prices will drop by making devices smaller. For example, if the size of a device can be reduced by a factor 10, it can be made 100 times cheaper.

High efficiency mono-order concave diffraction grating


A layered semiconductor structure with a width in a lateral direction, having an operating area covering part of the width of the semiconductor structure, comprises a semiconductor substrate with majority charge carriers of a first polarity; and a first dielectric layer with inducing net charge of the first polarity on the semiconductor substrate. An induced junction is induced in the semiconductor substrate by an electric field generated in the semiconductor substrate by the inducing net charge. The semiconductor structure is configured to confine the electric field generated in the semiconductor substrate in the operating area.

Various types of semiconductor photodetectors such as photodiodes are widely used in different light sensing applications, for example, in imaging and non-imaging light sensing systems for medical, security, and industrial applications.
Typically, a semiconductor photodetector comprises a photodiode based on a p-n junction. A p-n junction is commonly formed by implanting foreign impurities on a semiconductor substrate surface, i.e. impurities of different conductivity type than the semiconductor substrate, and annealing the implanted region.
As an alternative approach, instead of a conventional p-n junction, photodetectors have been proposed which are based on an induced junction. An induced junction may be created in a structure comprising a semiconductor substrate and a dielectric layer with a fixed net charge on the semiconductor substrate. With sufficiently high fixed net charge of the same polarity as the majority carriers of the substrate, an inversion layer may be created close to the surface of the substrate, separated from the bulk of the substrate by a depletion region. This may effectively result in a p-n type junction formed between the inversion layer and the bulk of the substrate. For example, Juntunen et al reported photodetectors based on induced junction created by a dielectric layer of Al2O3 on an n-type Si substrate in "Near-unity quantum efficiency of broadband black silicon photodiodes with an induced junction", Nature Photonics 10, 777-781 (2016).
In addition to photodetectors, an inversion layer and a depletion region induced by external fixed net charge of a dielectric layer may be utilized in other types of semiconductors structures and devices, such as diodes and transistors.
Usually, a semiconductor structure with an induced junction has an operating area in which the induced junction is to be utilized. On the other hand, outside such operating area, the effects of the induced junction are typically undesirable. For example, for photodetectors utilizing an induced junction, various guard rings and other types of "channel stopping" structures have been proposed for cutting off the horizontal channel formed by the inversion layer outside the active area of the photodetector. However, prior art channel stopping structures are non-ideal and may also require additional processing steps.

Semiconductor structures and manufacturing the same


The present invention provides for a technique for taking advantage of the intrinsic electrical non-linearity of processing plasmas to add additional control variables that affect process performance. The technique provides for the adjustment of the electrical coupling circuitry, as well as the electrical excitation level, in response to measurements of the reactor voltage and current and to use that capability to modify the plasma characteristics to obtain the desired performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of plasma processing and, more particularly, to the use of plasma equipment for modification of materials.
2. Prior Art
Plasma processing equipment is used extensively in the industry for the modification of materials. These modifications include etching and deposition of films for fabrication of microelectronic circuits in semiconductor devices. The modification may also include implantation of chemical species that change the friction and wear properties of surfaces.
Plasmas generated by high-frequency electrical discharges have important technological applications, including the processing of materials for the fabrication of microelectronic circuits. As technology advances due to competition, industry requires and benefits from improving control over the properties of these plasmas.
A plasma is a gas (or a gas mixture) which is energized so that it is partially decomposed into species that are electrically charged. A variety of techniques are known for energizing the gas. One commonly used technique is the energizing of the gas by imposing on the gas an electric field from an external source. A common practice is to use high frequency alternating current (AC) fields to energize or excite the gas. Techniques for utilizing radio frequency (RF), as well as microwave fields of higher frequencies are well-known in the art. In some instances, these electric fields are utilized in combination with magnetic fields which are used for the purpose of confining the plasma. Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma processing is one technique for controlling the plasma with the use of electric and magnetic fields.
Plasmas are normally contained in chambers called reactors that separate the plasma from the surrounding work environment. Electrical energy sources and raw-material sources are coupled to the reactors through a variety of interfaces and control circuits. The resulting plasmas are characterized by many properties. Typically, the plasmas contain electrons along with a neutral and charged atoms and molecules of a variety of gas-phase species, all of which have unique, spatially dependent velocity distribution functions. The plasma properties determine the performance of industrial plasma processes.
To achieve certain desired plasma properties, an operator of a plasma-processing system can adjust several controls, each of which is indirectly related to the plasma properties. These controls typically include gas-flow rates, total pressure, and electrical excitation level. The controls also can be modulated and timed during a particular process. It is generally appreciated in the industry that (1) plasma properties are related to such controls in complex ways; that (2) there are a greater number of properties of importance than there are independent controls; and that (3) there is much need for improvement in the ability to control plasma properties. One area for improvement is in developing additional controls so that an operator can have greater capability of achieving desirable set of plasma conditions. The present invention provides for one of these improvements in controlling a set of plasma conditions.

Control of plasma process by use of harmonic frequency components of voltage and current


In a navigation system, e.g., for a motor vehicle, for determining the route from a location of the navigation system to a destination point, the navigation system includes an output device for outputting the route and/or a direction indication that corresponds to the route, and an input device for inputting the destination point, graphics or images of selectable destination points being representable for the input of a destination point.

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0164412 describes a system for 3D-navigation for motor vehicles, which includes an arrangement that combines a first motor vehicle and an environment scanner to generate a three-dimensional image of an environment of the first motor vehicle or at least a part of the environment of the first motor vehicle, as well as at least one second motor vehicle and a communication connection between the first motor vehicle and the second motor vehicle for transmitting to the second motor vehicle the three-dimensional image of the environment around the first motor vehicle or at least a part of the environment around the first motor vehicle.
European Published Patent Application No. 0 875 730 and German Published Patent Application No. 698 15 940 describe a map data display device for use in a vehicle navigation device which has a data-conversion device for recording points of map data according to a map, from a viewpoint through a viewing line that originates from the viewpoint and has an angle of depression with respect to the plane of the map; and for perspectively projecting the points of the map data onto a viewing plane, which is fixed perpendicularly to the viewing line and is a predefined distance from the viewpoint, in order to generate map display data. This produces a bird's eye view of a surrounding area. A navigation system having a bird's eye view of an environment is also described in French Published Patent Application No. 2 634 707 as well as in the document "autoconnect 2005," Vereinigte Motor-Verlage GmbH & Co. KG, Leuschnerstr. 1, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany, pages 18 and 21.


An air bubble (23) in the core (3) of an optical fiber (1, 1') constitutes a broad band reflector to light waves propagated in the fiber. A fiber end (3) is first stripped and cut in the conventional way, after which in the end surface, a pit (13) in the core region is produced by etching. The fiber end is therefor treated with e.g. diluted hydrofluoric acid, that etches the higher doped core (3) more rapidly than the cladding (5). The etched fiber end (1) is then welded to a standard fiber so that a splice (21) is obtained where the desired air bubble (23) is enclosed in the fiber core. The magnitude of the reflectance of the produced reflector can then be changed by repeated heating steps, in the same way as in welding, of the splice (21) and/or by filling the bubble (23) with another medium than air or by coating one of its walls with a suitable material, e.g. a metal.

Internal reflections in optical fibres have several applications, such as for sensor purposes and for verifying the function of a fibre optical network. Light transmitted in an optical fibre is reflected at the reflector and the reflected light can be detected.
Optical reflectors for generating internal reflections in optical fibres and methods for producing such reflectors are previously known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,892,388 and 4,400,056. However, the prior methods are rather complicated and there is thus a need for providing simple production methods for reflectors in optical fibres.
In the patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,801 optical components are disclosed constructed of flat wave guides or wave guides having rectangular cross-sections, where a cavity is arranged located adjacent a wave guide core, however never so located that the material of the wave guide core is located directly at the cavity. The production of the components is made by means of the conventional, process technological, relatively complicated and costly methods which are used for manufacturing electronic integrated circuits and optical planar circuits.


A wire cord for reinforcing rubber items, more particularly pneumatic tires for cars and trucks, comprises at least three wire filaments 2 arranged about a continuous core filament 3. The core filament 3 consists of a non-metallic material capable of longitudinal contraction when the rubber item 5 to be reinforced is vulcanized, this material being more particularly non-drawn nylon. On vulcanization of the rubber item 5 to be reinforced the core filament 3 contracts and expands in diameter.

Wire cords comprising at least three wire filaments arranged about a continuous core filament are known, they serving, more particularly, for reinforcing pneumatic tires such as, for example, car and truck tires. Such wire cord inserts in tires are known as belted cord inserts.
When employed in van and truck tires such wire cord inserts or strengthenings are subjected to higher stresses than when used in car tires, this being the reason why the demands on wire cords reinforcing truck tires being higher. Accordingly, when cheap-production steel cords having a simple configuration, as employed for example in car tires, are used in van and truck tires belt edge detachment may easily occur.
Such simply configured steel cords consist, for example, of a core composed of three wire filaments having a diameter of 0.2 mm as well as six 0.35 mm diameter wire filaments arranged about this core. Producing such a steel cord is simple and in general presents no problem in processing. As already mentioned, however, due to its stiffness, detachment of the belt edge may easily occur in the tire, making the tire useless.
This risk of the belt edge becoming detached is significantly diminished in the case of cords produced at more expense having a higher number of wires (for example steel cords having a core cord of three wire filaments wrapped by nine wire filaments and a sheathing ply of a further fifteen wire filaments each having a diameter of 0.22 mm as well as a spiral wire of 0.15 mm diameter surrounding this structure). However, due to the geometric assignment of the individual wires relative to each other inner cavities automatically materialize in the case of such wire cords having a higher wire number, it then no longer being possible for the embedding rubber to penetrate therein so that the adhesive bond of the embedding rubber remains limited to the outer casing sections. On top of this, moisture contained in the entrapped air has a corrosive effect on the wire cords from within and contributes towards the wires becoming prematurely aged and ruined.
Known from DE 26 48 524 A1 is a wire cord as a medium for strengthening rubber items which is configured of three or more solid metal wires twisted together about a continuous core of a non-metallic compressible material. More particularly this non-metallic compressible material is a vulcanizable rubber, a thermoplastic, an aromatic polyamide or a natural or man-made fiber material. By employing such a non-metallic compressible material as the core of a wire cord the vacant space otherwise existing in the wire cord is practically or substantially filled out, as a result of which displacements of individual outer wires under the influence of lateral compressive forces are avoided. Filling out the vacant spaces in the wire cord in this way is achieved by the elastomer or textile core yielding to the steel wires grouped about the core when the steel cord is processed in the tire so that the steel wires are able to approximate each other and slightly deform the core wire.
Known from DE-PS 816 308 is a reinforcing insert for items made of rubber, the wire cords of which comprise a non-vulcanized or prevulcanized rubber core in which the individual wires are located spaced away from each other. Due to these rubber cores the cords are endowed with a high elastic strain so that the wire cord features higher flexibility.
Known from DE-OS 2 209 752 are wire cords as reinforcing inserts in conveyor belts consisting, for example, of wire filaments arranged about an elastomer core.


A method and system for high bandwidth, high gain offset compensation in a read channel integrated circuit includes zeroing the analog read signal applied to the signal path at a first location in the read channel integrated circuit path prior to a first amplifier which has a first gain and a first bandwidth magnitude characteristic with a high frequency boost; coupling a signal from the first amplifier to a second amplifier which has a second gain larger than the first and a second bandwidth magnitude characteristic having high frequency roll-off; and further coupling the signal further from the second amplifier to a storage device and feeding back the signal stored in the storage device to the first amplifier to apply the high frequency boost of the first bandwidth magnitude characteristic to compensate for the high frequency roll-off of the second bandwidth magnitude characteristic; decoupling the signal from the storage device and removing the zeroing of the analog read signal applied to the signal path.

In conventional read channel integrated circuits offsets caused by the elements of the read channel integrated circuits introduce errors into the signal. To offset these errors autozeroing techniques have been used which zero the analog read signal applied to the signal path at a first location in the read channel so that the signal in the path is now the undesired offset. Then a signal at a location downstream from the first location is fed to a storage device which is coupled to a point between the first and second locations to cancel the offset. The storage device is then decoupled from the second location and the zeroing of the read signal is ended. Such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,648,738 (disc drives) and 5,508,656 (tape drives).
Separately, another problem is that in such read channels the input to the analog to digital converter (ADC) is preferably large but the output from the preceding filter is typically small. If the output was made larger such as by a prior amplification then the filter output would contain more distortion. Placing an amplifier between the filter and ADC adds another set of problems. If that amplifier introduces substantial amplification then the bandwidth will be narrowed and harmonic distortion will be increased. If the gain is decreased then bandwidth can be broader and harmonic distortion lower but the signal to noise ratio will be poorer at the input of the ADC.
One approach is to simply place a capacitor in series between the filter and ADC but that capacitor must be very large in order to block the d.c. offset yet pass the high frequency signal. Such a capacitor would be too large for implementation in an integrated circuit chip.

High band width, high gain offset compensating amplifier system for a read channel


Novel tools and techniques for implementing remote control of image and video capture devices, and/or for implementing remote control of processing and sharing functions associated with captured image and/or video data. In accordance with some techniques, a first image capture device (“ICD”) at a customer premises and/or another computer (such as a control server) can identify and/or authenticate a user. Once identified and/or authenticated, the user is provided options to remotely control one or more second ICDs over the network. The user may also be provided options for displaying, processing, creating time lapse videos of, or sharing captured image data or video data.

The proliferation of capable user devices, pervasive communication, and increased bandwidth has provided opportunity for many enhanced services for users. One example is video calling. Once the domain of high-end, dedicated systems from vendors such as POLYCOM®, video calling has become available to the average consumer at a reasonable cost. For example, the Biscotti™ device, available from Biscotti, Inc., provides an inexpensive tool to allow video calling using a high-definition television and an Internet connection. More generally, a class of devices, which have been described as "video calling devices" but are referred to herein as video communication devices ("VCDs") can be simultaneously connected to a display (such as a television, to name one example) and a source of content (such as a set-top box ("STB"), to name an example) in a pass-through configuration and can have a network connection and/or sensors such as a camera, a microphone, infrared sensors, and/or other suitable sensors. Such devices present a powerful platform for various applications. Examples include, without limitation, video calling, instant messaging, presence detection, status updates, media streaming over the Internet, web content viewing, gaming, and DVR capability. Another example of such value added services is the introduction of online gaming. Rather than playing a game by him- or herself, a user now can play most games in a multiplayer mode, using communication over the Internet or another network.
Enabling such services is a new class of user device, which generally features relatively high-end processing capability (which would have been unthinkable outside supercomputing labs just a few years ago), substantial random access memory, and relatively vast non-transient storage capabilities, including hard drives, solid state drives, and the like. Such user devices can include, without limitation, the VCDs mentioned above, the presence detection devices ("PDD") described in the Mobile Presence Detection Application, various video game consoles, and the like. Such devices generally have a reliable, and relatively high-speed, connection to the Internet (to enable the value added services) and significant amounts of downtime, in which the processing and other capabilities of the devices are unused.
Additionally, several vendors provide security cameras that are capable of communicating over a network. An example of such a device is the Samsung WiFi Surveillance Camera™ available from Samsung Electronics. Such devices enable a user to remotely monitor a scene via images transmitted over a network.
Existing devices, however, do not allow access to live images or live videos from the camera via the Internet, nor do such devices allow the storage of captured image and/or video data on the Internet for future retrieval. Generally, such devices further require the camera to be connected to a display device and require configuration using an interface on that display device, rather than via the Internet.
Hence, there is a need for solutions that allow for more flexible remote access to video and image capture devices, and/or for more flexible configuration options thereof, as well as for more flexible access to remotely captured video and image data, and some such solutions can employ the powerful user devices already resident in many users' homes.

Video capture, processing and distribution system


Two pieces of fabric sandwiching an elastic core therebetween are stitched together along the periphery of the core to form a stitch line and confine the core. The fabric pieces project outward beyond the stitch line over the entire circumference thereof to form a finger protecting portion.

The scrubbing utensils heretofore proposed are prepared from various materials in many different shapes. Typical of such utensils are those in the form of a short bundle of fibers and prepared by bundling straw, hemp palm or like plant fibers or synthetic resin fibers in an elliptical shape, those made from metal by bundling thin narrow strips of aluminum or like metal, and those in the form of a piece of sponge for use as it is or as wrapped in netting. FIG. 16 shows such a scrubbing utensil as an example. The utensil is prepared by sandwiching a sponge 2a between two flexible sheets 1, 1a of cloth, and stitching the two sheets 1, 1a together as at 15 along their edges while pressing the periphery of the sponge (see Unexamined Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 55551/1994).
When the article to be cleaned is scrubbed with a conventional scrubbing utensil, the outer periphery of the utensil is held with the fingers of the hand, with the fingertips projecting outwardly of the utensil. While the utensil is being used for scrubbing in this state, it is likely that the fingertip will be forced against the article or come into striking contact with a sharp portion of the article to become damaged or injured. Further scorched soils on a pan or solid greasy soils are likely to lodge inside the nail tip, necessitating much time for removal.

Scrubbing utensil having brim of large width


A device for providing an illumination of an object includes first and second optical integrators disposed on an optical axis in spaced-apart relationship. Light rays emitted from a point light source formed by an elliptical reflector mirror having a light-emitting source are incident on the first optical integrator, which forms a plurality of secondary images of the point light source. The second optical integrator receives luminous fluxes emitted from the secondary light source images to form a multiplicity of secondary images of the secondary light source images formed by the first optical integrator. Luminous fluxes from the secondary images formed by the second optical integrator are superimposed by a condenser lens on the object for illuminating the latter with light beams of uniform intensity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light illumination device for illuminating an object with light rays uniform in intensity, and more particularly to a light illumination system suitable for use in an exposure device for fabricating semiconductor devices such as ICs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Exposure devices for transferring integrated-circuit patterns on reticles or photomasks onto substrates need a light illumination device for providing an illumination by light rays having a flat or uniform intensity distribution in order to project an image of the fine circuit patterns onto a substrate with a higher resolution.
One such light illumination device is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,296,923 issued on Jan. 10, 1967 to J. R. Miles.
The light illumination device as described in the above-mentioned U.S. Patent has a collimating lens for collimating a luminous flux or light beam from an elliptical reflector mirror, first and second lenticular lenses for forming a plurality of secondary light sources from the luminous flux from the collimating lens, and a large aperture condenser lens disposed between the lenticular lenses and a substrate. This prior art light illumination device is capable of correcting luminous flux having an annular intensity distribution pattern weaker in the vicinity of the optical axis and stronger at the peripheral edge in the opening of the elliptical mirror, into luminous flux having a substantially flat intensity distribution on an object surface disposed behind the condenser lens. With the conventional device, however, the luminous flux of flat intensity distribution is available only on a plane corresponding to the object surface, and the annular intensity distribution pattern is left unremoved anywhere behind the condenser lens except for the object surface. This is because the luminous flux per se emitted from the first and second lenticular lenses have such an intensity distribution pattern.
For providing an illumination of the object with luminous flux rom the known device, it is necessary to position the object extremely critically along the optical axis so as to attain a desired flat intensity distribution pattern on the object. Where the conventional system is employed, for example, as a light projection system for projecting an image of the object onto a projection surface with a projection lens, there is provided a flat intensity distribution pattern on focal points of the projection lens, that is, the object surface and the projection surface. However, an annular intensity pattern is produced at other planes, in particular, the pupil plane of the projection lens. As a result, the light projection system suffers from various difficulties such as a reduction in the resolving power of the projection lens, a reduction in the depth of focus thereof, and the like.


A power transmitting apparatus can be configured to switch between 2-wheel drive mode and 4-wheel drive mode and to lock and unlock a differential device. The power transmitting apparatus can comprise an input shaft connected to a driving power source i.e. an engine of vehicle and rotated around one rotational axis, a pair of output shafts of left and right sides for driving front wheels or rear wheels of vehicle when driving force is transmitted from the input shaft, a differential device arranged between the input shaft and the output shafts for absorbing the difference of rotation between the output shafts by differential action thereof, an operational shaft for performing connection and disconnection between the input shaft and output shafts by connecting and disconnecting the input shaft and the output shafts and also performing locking and unlocking of the differential means, a driving means for arbitrarily driving the operational shaft, and a case mounted on a vehicle and containing the differential means and the operational shaft characterized in that the input shaft extends from a rear side of the case facing toward the engine substantially in parallel with the operational shaft; and that the driving means is arranged on the rear side of the case.

1. Field of the Inventions
The present inventions relate to power transmitting apparatuses for switching between 2-wheel and 4-wheel modes and locking and unlocking differential devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Four-wheel buggies, also known as "ATVs" (All Terrain Vehicles), usually include power transmitting apparatuses for connecting and disconnecting power from an engine to the front wheels, which are not-driven wheels, and also switching between 2-wheel and 4-wheel drive modes. Such a vehicle is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 191768/2003.
Generally, the power transmitting apparatus is provided with a differential means (differential gear set) to provide smooth turning of vehicle by absorbing the difference of rotation between left and right wheels. Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 509409/1994 discloses another type of differential system that does not a differential gear set.
Some known designs can limit the differential action of one wheel by incorporating a power transmitting apparatus provided with means for locking the differential means (differential-locking means) in order to prevent a reduction of driving torque under circumstances in which one of left and right wheels of vehicle would be mired in a slippery road such as mud. A more recently proposed design of a power transmitting apparatus include a motor for connecting and disconnecting the driving force and locking and unlocking of a differential means.
For example, one prior art power transmitting apparatus includes an electric motor arranged in either of the left or right sides of a case forming a box of the power transmitting apparatus. The connection and disconnection between an input shaft connected to an engine and an output shaft connected to a front wheel as well as the locking and unlocking of a differential means are performed by actuating a fork connected to an actuator driven by the electric motor.


Upon fixing fine particulate active element members, which are carbon nanotube, rod-shaped semiconductor crystal, or the like, in an electronic device at predetermined positions thereof respectively, a method for producing an electronic device includes: dispersing the fine particulate active element members in a dielectric liquid and filling the liquid in a space between a process-objective substrate and a mask which is placed opposite to the substrate and which has predetermined pattern electrodes formed therein; and applying a predetermined voltage to the predetermined electrodes to concentrate the fine particulate active element members at positions which correspond to positions of the pattern electrodes, respectively. In this state, a light is irradiated to the substrate and the fine particulate active element members in the liquid so as to fix the fine particulate active element members to the substrate by a photochemical reaction. Thus, a high-performance electronic device using carbon nanotubes or rod-shaped semiconductor crystal can be manufactured at low cost.

The electronic device, which includes, for example, semiconductor integrated circuits and liquid crystal display devices, is produced by forming a semiconductor element on a substrate such as glass or semiconductor. The semiconductor material, which is to be used for forming the semiconductor element, is formed as a thin film on a glass substrate or a semiconductor substrate itself. The semiconductor material is finely processed by using the lithography technique, and thus a desired semiconductor element such as a transistor is formed on the substrate.
The semiconductor integrated circuit, which is included in the electronic device, is generally formed by forming a microcircuit on a substrate (wafer) composed of silicon single crystal by using the lithography technique. In order to realize the high integration and the high speed of the integrated circuit, it is effective to microfabricate the circuit pattern in the microcircuit. The fine pattern or the micropattern is formed by using the lithography technique. At present, it is also possible to form a fine pattern having a minimum line width of not more than about 100 nm. Accordingly, a semiconductor integrated circuit, which has an operation frequency of 2 to 3 GHz, is also produced.
In recent years, it is investigated to adopt the carbon nanotube as a material for the active element such as a transistor for constructing the semiconductor integrated circuit. The electrical resistance of the carbon nanotube is smaller than that of silicon. Therefore, it is expected to realize an integrated circuit which has a higher speed and which consumes a smaller amount of electric power, as compared with an integrated circuit constructed of a transistor made of silicon.
On the other hand, the liquid crystal display device, for which the light transmittance is required, is formed on a light-transmissive substrate such as a glass substrate. The material for the transistor for controlling the brightness/darkness of the display element is a thin film semiconductor such as amorphous silicon which is uniformly formed as a film on a glass substrate. Portions of the film, other than predetermined portions thereof, are selectively exfoliated by using the lithography technique. The thin film semiconductor, which exists at the remaining portions, is processed as the transistor. After performing the steps as described above, the liquid crystal display device is produced.
The high degree of integration and the high speed operation performance, which are required to such an extent that the semiconductor integrated circuit requires, are not required for the liquid crystal display device. Therefore, no problem arises in relation to the performance including, for example, the high speed operation performance even in the case of the device constructed of the thin film semiconductor based on the use of amorphous silicon. However, in order to form the amorphous silicon on the glass substrate, the following condition is required for the glass substrate to construct the liquid crystal device. That is, it is necessary to use relatively expensive glass which endures a high temperature of about 700° C. during the film formation of amorphous silicon.
In view of the above, it has been suggested that a transistor for the liquid crystal display device is formed by arranging, for example, semiconductor crystal at a predetermined position on the glass substrate, the semiconductor crystal being previously formed at any place other than those on the glass substrate, rather than forming the film of semiconductor on the glass substrate. In this procedure, for example, a fine particulate powder of rod-shaped semiconductor crystal, which has a diameter ranging from about 100 nm to about several μm and which has a length of about several tens of μm, is formed at any place other than those on the glass substrate. The fine particulate powder is arranged while providing predetermined orientation to the fine particulate powder at a predetermined position on the glass substrate, which is used to form a transistor for controlling the display element. An idea is suggested in Non-patent Document 1 in which a fine particulate powder of semiconductor crystal is arranged at a predetermined position on a glass substrate while providing predetermined orientation to the fine particulate powder.
Non-Patent Document 1: a document known on the internet (http://www.nanosysinc.com/technology.html)

Method for producing electronic device and electronic device


There is disclosed a method and a network node for handling signals transmitted from one or more wireless devices in a wireless network when Time Division Duplex (TDD) is employed such that two successive uplink subframes of a radio frame are separated by an intermediary time interval. The signals are received during a subframe reserved for uplink transmissions, and a sending time interval with a length of at least a subframe is selected. Then, the received signals are sent to a transport network such that the signals are distributed over the selected sending time interval instead of being sent virtually at the same time as in conventional procedures. Thereby, the signals will be distributed over a longer time when arriving at the transport network which will have time to handle the signals properly such that any loss of packets can be avoided or at least reduced.

In a network for wireless communication, downlink signals are transmitted from serving nodes in the network to wireless devices and uplink signals are transmitted from the wireless devices to their serving nodes. In this communication, a Time Division Duplex, TDD, configuration may be used where the uplink and downlink signals are transmitted on the same common frequency band. In TDD, uplink and downlink signals are not transmitted at the same time to avoid interference between the uplink and the downlink. The third Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP, has defined a wireless communication technology called Long Term Evolution, LTE, where TDD can be employed. A network for wireless communication is referred to as a "wireless network" herein for short. Further, the term "wireless device" is used herein to denote any communication equipment that is capable of wireless communication with a wireless network. Some non-limiting examples of wireless device include mobile phone, smartphone, tablet, laptop computer and Machine-to-Machine, M2M, device.
Different TDD configurations have been defined for uplink and downlink transmissions in specific time intervals called subframes which are comprised in a radio frame that is repeated over time. A subframe is basically defined by a preset time period and a radio frame comprises a predefined number of consecutive subframes, e.g. 10 subframes. FIG. 1 illustrates a radio frame of 10 milliseconds comprising 10 subframes 0-9 of 1 millisecond each. A TDD subframe can also be seen as a radio resource that can be allocated for a transmission.
In TDD, each subframe is reserved for either uplink transmissions from wireless devices or downlink transmissions from nodes in the wireless network such that the uplink and downlink transmissions do not occur at the same time. In such a wireless network that employs TDD, it is possible to use different uplink-downlink, UL-DL, configurations of subframes, e.g. depending on the current need for uplink and downlink radio resources. The same UL-DL configuration is typically used in a synchronized manner over an extensive area with many cells and serving nodes, sometimes even across the entire wireless network, to avoid interference between uplink and downlink transmissions.
A set of different UL-DL configurations predefined for LTE is shown in the table of FIG. 2, including seven UL-DL configurations 0-6 each having ten subframes 0-9 comprised in a repeatable radio frame. Subframes reserved for downlink transmissions are denoted D and subframes reserved for uplink are denoted U. There are also "special" subframes denoted S which are divided into three parts including a downlink part, a guard period, and an uplink part.
TDD is useful for adapting the allocation of subframes to asymmetric traffic, i.e. when the needs for uplink and downlink transmissions are not the same. For example, if there are many users engaged in streaming services for music and movies, the downlink traffic of data will be more intense and require more radio resources than the uplink traffic which may comprise acknowledgements of correctly received data. Such traffic needs can be handled in the wireless network by selecting a UL-DL configuration with more downlink subframes than uplink subframes. In terms of asymmetry, the UL-DL configurations 0-6 range from only one uplink subframe per radio frame in UL-DL configuration 5, i.e. 10% resources available for uplink, to six uplink subframes per radio frame in UL-DL configuration 0, i.e. 60% resources available for uplink.
In some service protocols, the wireless device is required to send an acknowledgement of correctly received data that has been sent in packets to the wireless device from a data source. For example, streamed media transmitted from a data source such as a streaming server over the Transport Control Protocol, TCP, and received by the wireless device on a downlink subframe, must be acknowledged by the wireless device by sending one or more acknowledgments, denoted TCP ACKs, on an uplink subframe. The wireless network then sends the TCP ACK(s) to a transport network for further transportation to finally reach the data source, e.g. a streaming server. The wireless device is typically required to transmit a TCP ACK in an individual packet to acknowledge correct reception of one or more packets with data. A common procedure is that two data packets are acknowledged by one TCP ACK. Even though TCP is used herein as an example, it can be understood that this disclosure may also be valid for other communication protocols for data packets.
However, it is a problem that the transport network may become overloaded with signals sent from the wireless network when TDD is employed and there is a risk that some packets transmitted from one or more wireless devices, such as TCP ACKs, may be lost before reaching their respective destinations, due to the overload in the transport network. If a packet from a wireless device is lost, it may be necessary for the wireless device to retransmit the packet. Further, if the lost packet contains an acknowledgement to a server of correctly received data, e.g. two data packets, that data must be retransmitted from the server to the wireless device even though it was in fact correctly received. It can thus be understood that any lost uplink packets may result in increased consumption of radio resources in the wireless network and possibly also more delays and poorer service performance due to the above retransmissions.

Method and network node for handling signals transmitted from wireless devices


A track tensioning assembly for a track laying vehicle. The track tensioning assembly includes an idler plate assembly coupled to a hydraulic actuator at a first end and coupled to a front idler assembly at a second end. The hydraulic actuator is configured to apply a pressure on the front idler assembly with the idler plate assembly to achieve a desired tautness. The track tensioning assembly also includes a removable cross pin positioned to prevent loosening of track while in a first location or configured to allow removal of tracks while in a second location.

The present invention relates to a track laying vehicle. In particular, the present invention relates to a track tensioning assembly.
Track laying vehicles include a pair of tracks which revolve about track frames to move the vehicle forward and backward. Such vehicles are steered by causing the tracks to revolve at different speeds or proceed straight forward by causing the tracks to revolve at the same speed.
Track laying vehicles have been well known for years and generally employ a driving force to cause the tracks to revolve about their track frames and generally employ a track tensioning assembly to keep the revolving tracks at a desired tautness. A driving force is transmitted to a track by a track driving sprocket. A sprocket or guide roller will guide the track in a path of movement as it is driven and provide tension in the track in combination with the track tensioning assembly. The track tensioning assembly includes at least one idler roller which normally supports the track and is coupled to a movable idler assembly. The movable idler assembly is coupled to a device that applies pressure to the idler assembly. For example, the device can include springs, threaded adjusters, hydraulic actuators and the like.
In some instances, however, it is possible that the track tensioning assembly does not provide enough tautness to the tracks in a track laying vehicle. The tracks can become loose enough such that the track will jump a cog on the drive sprocket or the track will roll off the idler roller during operation. In a machine equipped with hydraulically tensioned tracks, the track can become loose during absence of hydraulic circuit pressure in the track tensioning assembly when the track laying vehicle is not operating. For example, the track laying vehicle can lose hydraulic circuit pressure if it is parked on a steep grade or being towed.
There is a need for an improved track tensioning assembly in a track laying vehicle that overcomes one or more of the above-described limitations, or other limitations not described. A track tensioning assembly that addresses these deficiencies would be particularly advantageous.


Described are a system and method of providing quality of service assurances for transmitting packets over a channel capable of transmission at a nominal bandwidth. A plurality of classes is defined. Each class represents an aggregate behavior of packets and is allocated a nominal departure rate at which the packets of that class are transmitted when an available bandwidth of the channel is substantially at the nominal bandwidth. Each class is assured a minimum allocation of the available bandwidth for transmitting packets of that class if the available bandwidth of the channel is operating at less than the nominal bandwidth. The minimum allocations to each of the classes can be proportionally different than the nominal departure rates allocated to these classes.

For applications that require quality of service (QoS) assurances, the best effort service model commonly used to transmit information over the Internet is proving inadequate. In general, assuring QoS entails providing differentiated services for certain packet-level or session-level treatment; that is, some users receive higher priority treatment or have a greater bandwidth allocation than other users.
Approaches to managing data traffic for providing differential services fall into two categories, those with network-wide reservations that include explicit signaling and those without such network-wide reservations. Reservation-based traffic management explicitly identifies and reserves network resources. Network nodes categorize data traffic into classes and provide QoS using the network resources reserved for the particular class associated with incoming data traffic. One example of network-wide reservation-based traffic management is the Integrated Services (IntServ) model, which uses the per-flow approach to provide guarantees to individual data streams and makes reservations of resources at intermediate routers.
In traffic management that does not use network-wide reservations, but can use local reservations at a router, the network nodes classify data traffic into a set of classes and use the classes to grant priority-based treatment to the traffic. An example of such traffic management is the Differentiated Services (DiffServ) model. DiffServ provides aggregate assurances for a group of applications.
Today, many of the communication links between the various communications entities in networks are wire-line; that is, client and server systems are typically connected to other server and client systems by wires, such as twisted-pair wires, coaxial cables, fiber optic cables, and the like. Notwithstanding this wired infrastructure, wireless networks such as cellular and Personal Communication Systems (PCS) and wireless local area networks, microwave links, infrared (IR) links, and satellite links are becoming more prevalent. Wireless devices connected to such networks are typically mobile. Such mobility creates frequent, dynamic changes to the network topology. Moreover, the peculiarities of signal propagation over wireless links cause frequent changes to the state of such communication links between the devices on the network. Consequently, nodes in wireless networks need to deal with higher data losses and frequent bandwidth reallocations.
The initial designs of the IntServ and DiffServ models, however, contemplated wired networks only and are not suited for the various characteristics of wireless networks. Thus, there remains a need for a system and a method that can manage traffic in a wireless network to provide QoS assurances despite the aforementioned difficulties associated with the mobility of the communication devices and propagation conditions encountered in the wireless networks.

Per hop behavior for differentiated services in mobile ad hoc wireless networks


A system and method for detecting artifacts in a video having a sequence of pictures is described. The method comprises the steps of calculating a motion vector cost and a variable threshold for each of the pictures. In case, the motion vector cost for the picture is greater than the variable threshold of the picture, then a first scene change profile and a second scene change profile for the picture is computed and analyzed for determining the character of the variation in the motion vector cost. An artifact metric for the picture is also calculated and the artifact metric for the picture is compared with a programmable artifact reporting threshold for ascertaining if an artifact is present in the video. The described approach is generic in nature and takes into account various exceptions that may be present within a picture that may be similar in character as an artifact.

A video can be defined as a sequence of a plurality of frames or fields being displayed at a certain frame rate. During the early days of video production technology, a video was captured and broadcasted using a tape based media. With the development of computer related technologies and substantial reduction in the cost related to storage memory and processing power, the tape based media began to be replaced by a file based technology. The adoption of file-based media has spearheaded many advantages for broadcasters. There is ease of media storage and retrieval. There is the enhanced flexibility, speed, and sophistication of non-linear editing. File-based content has even changed the way media is delivered. In the tape-based workflows, many of the processes were handled manually and were cumbersome. With the newfound flexibility of file-based flows, the media files are being compressed and formatted using a wide range of compression technologies, file format types, and delivery formats.
With the flexibility of digital data, complex operations are possible to create various types of output files using sophisticated editing techniques, repurposing, and transcoding. The increase in complex operations on media files increases the possibility of injecting errors into the content. These errors can manifest in metadata of file formats. There may be errors with respect to the non-conformance to variety of compression standards. There may be errors related to degradation of video and audio quality. There may also be errors introduced during digitization of tape-based media. In addition, the advancement of HDTV has led to the consumer being media quality aware and more concerned in terms of the value for their money. In traditional tape-based workflows, the concept of quality control (or QC) had a specific point of applicability and in the context of a specific activity. With file-based workflows, the concept of quality expands to content readiness. Content readiness spans multiple points of applicability in multiple contexts of activities across the content lifecycle. The disruption in content lifecycle due to file-based workflows now expands beyond faster lifecycle and new transformation activities to a third dimension—that of content readiness.
Broadly the video quality issues can be divided into three categories namely sequence error, global error in a frame, and a localized frame error. Sequence error means that there is an issue with the sequence in which the frames are displayed. Global error in a frame means that a major part of the video frame has error; a few examples are Corrupted blocks, luminance/chrominance noise, distorted content, Bit/Packet loss, partial or complete temporal loss. Localized Frame Error means that a few areas of the frame have error; a few examples are block error, misplaced block, DC Coefficient error, Slice/Line error, Scratches and Blotches. Such errors may also be termed as an artifact. There exist a few methods for identifying various types of artifacts that may exist in a video frame. Such methods are generally referred to as Bottom-up Approach as they are detection methods for detecting specific type of issues. In the Bottom-up Approach each issue is handled independently with the advantage of a relatively less number of false positives. Though such an approach is able to detect errors, however, there are certain issues with the approach. Since, the bottom up approach is concerned only with specific types of errors, the approach is unable to handle new types of errors when they arise and lacks global perspective. Although, false positives in a Bottom-up Approach are low but false negatives are very high. Moreover, since the Bottom-up Approach caters to individual issues, its performance degrades with every enhancement to handle a new case.
There is an increasing uncertainty in the quality of content that reaches the consumer. The consumer expectation of HD video and the increasing competition in media industry further add to the quality requirements of media content. Therefore, file-based broadcasting has to deal with constantly evolving technical complexities on one hand and expectations of quality by the consumers on the other. In this scenario, the legacy methods of quality control are inadequate. Manual checks become inconsistent, subjective, and difficult to scale in a globally accessible media workflow. Hence, there exists a need for an error detection approach that is robust and effectively identifies various types of errors that may exist in a video file.

Methods and systems for detecting video artifacts


A method for externally hanging speakers on computer monitor and a device thereof, in which the computer monitor is composed of a front and a rear casings mated with each other by screws. A hidden insertion hole is formed in each original passage of the rear casing for hooking the hanging hook of the speakers. After the speaker is removed, no track of damage of the appearance of the computer monitor will be seen. Therefore, the speakers can be hung on the computer monitor without breaking the appearance of the computer monitor.

The present invention relates to a method for externally hanging speakers on computer monitor and a device thereof, in which the computer monitor is composed of a front and a rear casings mated with each other by screws. A hidden insertion hole is formed in each original passage of the rear casing for hooking the hanging hook of the speakers.
An externally connected speaker has become an inevitable peripheral equipment of a computer. In order achieve a beautiful appearance, the manufacturers have tried to assemble the externally connected speaker with the computer monitor as an integral unit.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional measure for externally hanging the speaker on the computer monitor. The rear casing 10 of the computer monitor is formed with thread holes 14 for hanging the speaker 12. The speaker 12 is formed with a thread hole 16 corresponding to the thread holes 14 of the monitor, whereby a bolt 18 is passed through the thread hole 16 of the speaker 12 and tightened in one of the thread holes 14 of the monitor. Accordingly, once the speaker is removed, the deep and not hidden thread hole 14 will be left on the rear casing 10 of the monitor.
FIG. 2 shows another conventional measure for externally hanging the speaker on the computer monitor, in which the adjoining section of the front and rear casings 20, 22 of the monitor is formed with an upper and a lower openings 24, 26 for hanging the hanging hooks 30, 32 of the speaker 28. According to such arrangement, after the speaker is removed, two openings 24, 26 will be left on the lateral adjoining section of the front and rear casings 20, 22 of the monitor.
FIG. 3 shows still another conventional measure for externally hanging the speaker on the monitor, which is different from the measure of FIG. 2 in that the openings 36 are formed on back side of the rear casing 38 for hanging the hanging hook 34 of the speaker. Similarly, after the speaker is removed, the openings 36 will be clearly left.

Method for externally hanging speakers on computer monitor and a device thereof


A technique allows users to provide commentary by making monetary payments to a service provider who then publicly displays the company, product, or service's monetary commentary in an organized manner. In a computer implementation, a user selects a positive or negative rating category and can make a credit card payment to a service provider to thereby provide commentary on a particular business entity, organization, product, service, individual person, geographical location, or the like. The individual may also retrieve data to determine how other users have built the reputation up or down for a selected category. The amount of money provided in the positive or negative rating category is generally indicative of the individual satisfaction/dissatisfaction with an entity and is a public expression of that user's reaction.

Consumers who wish to purchase products or services from companies often have few resources available to determine the quality of the goods or services. Some publications provide third party reviews of products and/or services. However, such surveys and reviews are based on limited experiences with the products and/or services.
In other circumstances, consumers pass on commentary by word of mouth. For example, a consumer who enjoys a particular restaurant may provide favorable commentary about the restaurant to friends. The consumer may also pass along unfavorable commentary regarding food or service of a restaurant to friends. In both of these examples, the consumer commentary is provided by word of mouth.
In another example of existing consumer commentary using a computer network, consumers often exchange commentary via chat rooms, websites that only allow consumers to register complaints using words, email, or the like. However, the use of such commentary must be tempered with the knowledge that the consumer commentary cannot be as reliable as a consumers' reaction who is willing to spend money to build a company's reputation up or down.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there is a significant need for a system and method for a system and method to provide reliable consumer commentary in a monetary way. The present invention provides this and other advantages as will be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying figures.

System and method for recording and reporting consumer monetary commentary


A pipe assembly comprising a composite pipe, and end connector provided at an end of the pipe, and means for providing a visual indication of impact damage to the pipe, the means for providing a visual indication of impact damage to the pipe comprising a thin sleeve mounted around, but spaced from, a pipe body of the composite pipe, whereby at each end of the pipe body, the pipe body, the sleeve and the end connector are preferably sealingly fitted together, and wherein the sleeve is configured to provide a visual indication indicative of an impact acting on the sleeve even if the impact does not reach the pipe body.

Composite pipes e.g. comprising glass or carbon fibre composite materials have become common in applications where the pipes may be subjected to extreme loads and conditions such as in aircraft. Aircraft fuel pipes, for example, are often composite pipes. Such composites are strong and stiff and less liable to breakage or fracture than conventionally used heavy metals whilst also being lighter. In extreme conditions, the composite pipes need to be resistant to damage due to the mechanical and environmental conditions. Further, the structures have to be adapted to withstand misuse such as having a heavy load applied thereto or to material damage caused by impact. At the same time, manufacturers are under pressure to provide parts at lower cost and to provide lighter parts.
Safety is, of course, paramount for aircraft parts. It is vital to known when a part, such as a fuel pipe is damaged so that it can be immediately repaired and/or replaced. Damage which goes unnoticed but which could result in failure of a part, can have catastrophic consequences. The ability to promptly detect damage to the material or structure of a component, even if that damage is not immediately visible, is critically important.
Impact damage is one of the most commons forms of damage to composite fibre aircraft parts. Impact damage can occur during assembly, installation, maintenance or ordinary use. The components can themselves be dropped or heavy objects such as tools can fall on them or can collide with them. Often, after impact, no damage, or at least no significant damage, is visible at the surface of the component, but it may be that the impact has caused significant damage to the inner layers of the composite structure.
Barely visible impact damage (BVID) is damage, due to impact, that can only just be seen with the naked eye on a very close inspection. Airlines have strict requirements as to how BVID must be detected or monitored. This is usually achieved by providing additional layers of composite fibres in the component. This, however, adds considerably to the size, weight and cost of the component. DE 20 2015 006 737 describes providing a coating on a pipe to indicate damage.
FIGS. 1a and 1b show cross-sectional schematic views of conventional composite pipes such as fuel pipes. FIG. 1a is an external pipe with a pipe body 1. This is typically a single structural layer and can be provided with different finishes including textured, machined or painted. The ends of the pipe body are provided with grooves 2 to receive O-ring seals 3. End fittings 4,5 are mounted into the ends of the pipe body 1 and are sealingly held in place by the seals 3. The end fittings are usually made of metal e.g. aluminium, titanium or steel, but can also be made of composite materials.
FIG. 1b is an internal pipe which is similar in structure to the external pipe of FIG. 1a except that the fittings 4′, 5′ are mounted to the outside of the ends of the pipe body 1′ via O-ring seals 3′ mounted in grooves 2′ formed in the outer surface of the pipe body. The seals may typically be made of elastomeric material or nitrile or silicone rubber.
Visual inspections are essential in all aerospace, and many other applications.
To avoid or detect impact damage, some conventional pipes comprise a pipe body with a dual or multiple layer structure but this adds to the size and weight of the pipe. In other solutions, different textures or ribs may be provided on the outer surface of the pipe body which will provide visual evidence of impact damage.
There is a need for a composite component wherein impact damage can be more easily and quickly detected without significantly adding to the size, weight or cost of the pipe.


A manufacturing method for forming a semiconductor device includes: first, a substrate is provided, a fin structure is formed on the substrate, and a plurality of gate structures are formed on the fin structure, next, a hard mask layer and a first photoresist layer are formed on the fin structure, an first etching process is then performed on the first photoresist layer, afterwards, a plurality of patterned photoresist layers are formed on the remaining first photoresist layer and the remaining hard mask layer, where each patterned photoresist layer is disposed right above each gate structure, and the width of each patterned photoresist is larger than the width of each gate structure, and the patterned photoresist layer is used as a hard mask to perform an second etching process to form a plurality of second trenches.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of patterned structures, and more particularly, to a method for fabricating a patterned structure such as slot contacts in a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Integrated circuits (IC) are made of devices and interconnections, which are formed through patterned features in different layers. During the fabrication process of ICs, the photolithography is an essential technique. The photolithography is used to form designed patterns, such as implantation patterns or layout patterns, on at least a photomask, and then to precisely transfer such patterns to a photoresist layer by exposure and development steps. Finally, by performing several semiconductor processes such as etching process, ion implantation, deposition and so forth, complicated and sophisticated IC structures can be obtained.
With the continuous miniaturization of semiconductor devices and the remarkable advance in fabrication techniques of semiconductor devices, the conventional lithography process meets its limitation due to printability and manufacturability problems. To meet the requirements of device design rules which continue to push the resolution limits of existing processes and tooling, a double patterning technique (DPT) has been developed and taken as one of the most promising lithographic technologies for 32 nanometer (nm) node and 22 nm node patterning, since it can increase the half-pitch resolution up to twice higher by using current infrastructures. For example, the litho-etch-litho-etch (LELE) approach, also called 2P2E, is one of the most common DPTs for fabricating patterns in a semiconductor device. When a 2P2E approach is carried out, a target layer, such as a polysilicon layer, located on a substrate will first be covered with an etch mask in order to define regions for forming patterns. Then, a plurality of stripe patterned target layers, which are parallel to each other, are formed by performing the first litho-etch process. Finally, a second litho-etch process is performed in order to cut out or split a portion of the stripe patterned target layers. Through the preceding processes, structures with relatively high resolution can be obtained. However, there are still some drawbacks that need to be overcome. For example, when a misalignment issue occurs, the position shifting may occur during the etching process, and the size of each stripe patterned target layer cannot be controlled well. If the stripe patterned target layer becomes too small, it can be deemed as an "undesired dummy pattern", which cannot be used as a normal component, therefore influencing the performance and the reliability of the semiconductor device.
Accordingly, in order to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks, there is a need to provide a modified method of fabricating a patterned structure with improved reliability.


This invention relates to a high affinity recombinant humanized antibody fragment (scFv) specific for hepatitis B surface antigen having unique inter/intra chain bonding interaction because of 28 altered amino acid residues from the original mouse (5S) antibody and its chimeric Fab form, wherein fine tuning of the vernier zone residue makes it closer to the human sequence without any structural constraints.

HBV (Hepatitis B virus) is a major cause of acute and chronic hepatitis worldwide. Prevention of HBV infection may be achieved with active or passive immunization. Active immunization with recombinant HBV vaccines can prevent HBV infection if given before exposure. Despite the introduction of universal vaccination against hepatitis B in around 100 countries, persistent HBV infection is still a serious problem, with an estimated worldwide death rate of one million people per year. Protective antibodies that appear after natural infection are mostly directed against the major antigenic 'a' determinant of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). The immunodominant 'a' epitope is present in all serotypes. Antibodies against HBsAg are thus advocated for passive immunotherapy for managing chronic viral infection. Passive immunization with hepatitis B specific antibodies, given shortly after exposure, can decrease the incidence or severity of disease.
Currently, Hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG), collected from the blood of hyper immune human donors, is used for the post-exposure prophylaxis in cases of accidental needle stick injuries, liver transplant patients and for the prevention of vertical transfer of HBV infection form mother to child. This blood-derived product is not manufactured in India. However, such blood-derived products are costly and can cause cross contamination. Therefore, recombinant antibodies can be good substitutes for human serum antibodies.
Inventors developed a mouse monoclonal antibody (5S) against the 'a' epitope of the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). However such mouse antibodies often induce a significant human anti mouse antibody (HAMA) response when administered to patients and thus limiting their potential use for human therapy, especially when repeated administration is necessary. HAMA greatly reduces the in-vivo efficacy of mouse antibodies. Moreover, the half-life of a mouse antibody in human plasma is shorter compared with that of human antibody. Several recombinant anti-HbsAg antibody fragments have been reported in literature.
However most of them are of mouse origin and are not available for therapeutic purposes (1-15). To reduce the immunogenicity of murine antibodies, chimeric antibodies were constructed, which combine the variable region of a mouse antibody with a human antibody constant region, thus retaining the binding specificity of murine antibody while presenting less foreign amino acid sequence to the human immune system (16). Inventors also generated chimeric antibody against HBsAg (17-18). Some of the chimeric antibodies have proved less immunogenic in humans, whereas others are almost as immunogenic as murine antibodies. Moreover, in an animal study to evaluate the immunogenicity of chimeric antibodies, it was found that the anti-variable domain response was not attenuated in the chimeric antibodies, suggesting that the murine variable domain can still lead to a significant human anti mouse antibody (HAMA) response (19). Therefore, for therapeutic purposes it may be necessary to fully humanize a murine antibody by altering the variable domain to make them human like. It is well established that humanization of mouse antibody is desirable to reduce its potential product immunogenicity. However humanization is practical only if it does not reduce or destroy the binding affinity of antibody. Humanized antibodies are safer for therapeutic uses and currently several such humanized antibodies are in clinical uses for various diseases. Although some chimeric antibodies are in clinical use, it is worth noting that most of the antibodies in phase I, II and III clinical trials today are humanized antibodies.
All the mouse/humanized and human anti-HbsAg antibodies reported in literature have unique complementarily determining regions (CDRs) sequence and have unique antigen-antibody interactions which are different form the recombinant molecule of this invention.    1. Ehrlich P H, Moustafa Z A, Justice J C. Harfeldt K E, Kelley R L, Osterg L. Characterization of human monoclonal antibodies directed against hepatitis B surface antigen. Hum Antibodies Hybridomas. 1992 January; 3(1):2-7.    2. Kennedy R C, lonescu-Matiu I, Adler-Storthz K, Henkel R D Sanchez Y, Dreesman G R. Characterization of anti-hepatitis B surface antigen monoclonal antibodies. Intervirology. 1983; 19(3): 176-80.    3. Heijtink R A, Kruining J, Weber Y A, de Man R A. Schaim S W. Anti-hepatitis B virus activity of a mixture of two monoclonal antibodies in an "inhibition in solution" assay. Hepatology. 1995 October; 22(4 Pt 1): 1078-83.    4. Shouval D, Wands J R, Zurawski V R Jr. Isselbacher K J, Shafritz D A. Selecting binding and complement-mediated lysis of human hepatoma cells (PLC/PRF/5) in culture by monoclonal antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1982 January; 79 (2): 650-4.    5. Shin Y W, Ryoo K H, Hong K W, Chang K H, Choi J S, So M, Kim P K, Park J Y, Bong K T, Kim S H. Human monoclonal antibody against Hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HbsAg). Antiviral Res. 2007 August; 75 (2): 113-20.    6. Wands J R. Zurawski V R Jr. High affinity monoclonal antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg) produced by somatic cell hybrids. Gastroenterology. 1981 February; 80(2): 225-32.    7. Falero G. RodrAguez l, Sarracent J. Otero A J, RodrAguez B L, Rojas A, Ochoa E. Generation of murine triomas secreting bi-specific monoclonal antibodies that recognize HbsAG ad and ay subtypes. Hybridoma. 1992 December; 11 (6):815-23.    8. Shearer M H, Sureau C, Dunbar B, Kennedy R C. Structural characterization of viral neutralizing monoclonal antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen. Mol immunol. 1998 December; 35(18):1149-60.    9. Maeda F, Nagatsuka Y, lhara S, Aotsuka S, Ono Y, Inoko H, Takekoshi M. Bacterial expression of a human recombinant monoclonal antibody fab fragment against hepatitis B surface antigen. J Med. Virol. 1999 August; 58(4):338-45.    10. Lohman K L, Kieber-Emmons T, Kennedy R C. Molecular characterization and structural modeling of immunoglobulin variable regions form murine monoclonal antibodies specific for hepatitis B virus surface antigen. Mol. Immunol. 1993 October; 30(14):1295-306.    11. Heijtink R A, Kruining J, van Bergen P, de Rave S, van Hattum J. Schutten M, Osterhaus A D. Characterization of a human monoclonal antibody obtained after immunization with plasma vaccine and a booster with recombinant-DNA hepatitis B vaccine. J Med. Virol. 2002 March; 66(3):304-11.    12. Yano A, Maeda F, Takekoshi M. Transgenic tobacco cells producing the human monoclonal antibody to hepatitis B virus surface antigen. J Med. Virol. 2004 June; 73(2):208-15.    13. Desgranges C. Paire J, Pichoud C, Souche S, Frommel D, Trepo C. High affinity human monoclonal antibodies directed against hepatitis B surface antigen. J Virol Methods. 1987 July; 16 (4):281-92.    14. Ryu C J, Padlan E A, Jin B R, Yoo O J, Hong H J. A humanized antibody with specificity for hepatitis B surface antigen. Hum Antibodies Hybridomas. 1996; 7(3):113-22.    15. Eren R. Lubin l, Terkieltaub D, Ben-Moshe O, Zauberman A, Uhlmann R, Tzahor T, Moss S, llan E, Shouval D, Galun E, Daudi N, Marcus H, Reisner Y, Dagan S. Human monoclonal antibodies specific to hepatitis B virus generated in a human/mouse radiation chimera: the Trimera system. Immunology. 1998 February; 93(2):154-612.    16. Morrison S L, Johnson M J, Herzenberg L A, Oi V T. Chimeric human antibody molecules; mouse antigen-binding domains with human constant region domains. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1984 November; 81(21):6851-5.    17. Bose B, Khanna N, Acharys S K, Sinha S. High affinity mouse—human chimeric Feb against hepatitis B surface antigen. World J Gastroenterol. 2005 Dec. 28; 11(48); 7569-78.    18. Bose B, Khanna N, Acharya S K, Sinha S. Generation and characterization of a high-affinity chimeric antibody against hepatitis B surface antigen. Biotechnol Appl Biochem. 2006 February; 43(Pt2):93-101.    19. Khazaeli M B, Saleh M N, Liu T P, Meredith R F, Wheeler R H, Baker T S, King Secher D, Allen L, Rogers K, et al. Pharmacokinetics and immune response of 131l-chimeric mouse/human B72.3 (human gamma 4) monoclonal antibody in humans. Cancer Res. 1991 Oct. 15; 51 (20): 5461-6

Humanized high affinity recombinant antibody against Hepatitis B surface antigen

International Center for Genetic and Biotechnology