According to an embodiment, a gas insulated electrical equipment includes: a high-voltage conductor to be electrically charged; a hermetically sealed tank to be filled with insulating gas, one or more insulating spacers for dividing the hermetically sealed tank into gas compartments and supporting the high-voltage conductor; and a pressure release device equipped with a mouth of flow channel adapted to allow the inside and the outside of the hermetically sealed tank to communicate with each other so as to release the pressure in the hermetically sealed tank, which maintains the hermetically sealed state in an ordinary condition where the pressure in a gas compartment does not exceed the working pressure but releases the pressure in the hermetically sealed tank in an abnormal condition where the pressure in the gas compartment exceeds the working pressure.

Various devices (to be collectively referred to as gas insulated electrical equipment hereinafter) including gas insulated switchgears, gas circuit breakers, gas disconnecting switches, gas insulated transformers and gas insulated transmission lines that utilize sulfur hexafluoride gas (to be expressed as SF6 gas hereinafter) as insulation medium for high-voltage insulation are being employed in power transmission/distribution and transformation systems. SF6 gas is employed not only as insulation medium for high-voltage insulation but also as cooling medium for cooling various parts being heated by electricity by way of convection thereof and also as arc extinguishing medium for extinguishing arc discharges that can take place during switching operations of such devices as gas circuit breakers and gas disconnecting switches that involve electric current switching operations.
SF6 gas is a very stable inert gas. It is a gas that is non-toxic and non-inflammable and, at the same time, shows excellent electrical insulation performances and discharge extinguishing performances (to be referred to as arc extinguishing performance hereinafter). Thus, it has been and still is greatly contributing to realization of high performance and compact gas insulated devices for handling electric power to be used in power transmission/distribution and transmission equipment.
While SF6 gas is very suited for use in gas insulated electrical equipment, it is also known that SF6 gas has a strong global warming effect and hence the amount of use of SF6 gas has been desired to be reduced in recent years. The extent of global warming effect of a substance is generally indicated by a global warming potential, which is the ratio to the potential of CO2 gas that is equal to 1. It is known that the global warming potential of SF6 gas is as large as 23,900. For this reason, the use of gases other than SF6 that is a man made gas having a very large global warming potential has been proposed for use in gas insulated electrical equipment.
More specifically, the use of N2 gas, CO2 gas and mixture gases containing either of them as main components has been discussed and studied. N2 gas and CO2 gas are gases existing in nature and friendly to the environment. Since their global warming effects are very small and not greater than one 23,900th of that of SF6 gas, the influences of the use of insulation gases on global warming can significantly be suppressed by using N2 gas and CO2 gas instead of SF6 gas in gas insulated electrical equipment. While the insulation performance and the arc extinguishing performance of N2 gas and those of CO2 gas are inferior to those of SF6 gas, studies are being made to enhance the performances of those substitute gases by using higher filling pressure and improving the structures of devices using such gases. In other words, it is possible to provide gas insulated electrical equipment that generally shows excellent performances and is friendly to the environment and less global warming by using N2 gas and CO2 gas instead of SF6 gas.
While gas insulated electrical equipment is in operation, an arc (to be referred to as internal arc hereinafter) can take place in a hermetically sealed tank that contains the equipment. Once the internal arc occurs, excessive short-circuit currents flow there so that the pressure in the gas compartment in the hermetically sealed tank rapidly rises due to the large amount of heat generated by the short-circuit currents.
When the hermetically sealed tank is ruptured under such high pressure, it is very hazardous to the environment. For this reason, there are instances where a hermetically sealed tank is provided with a pressure release device for releasing the internal pressure of the hermetically sealed tank when the internal pressure abnormally rises. However, as pointed out above, SF6 gas that is being popularly employed at present is a substance that adversely affects the environment after discharged to the atmosphere and it is known that SF6 gas produces toxic decomposition products when SF6 gas is dissociated by the high temperature produced by the internal arc. Thus, hermetically sealed tanks and insulating spacers to be used therein are more often than not designed to show a considerably high mechanical strength in order to withstand the pressure produced by the internal arc in gas compartments and prevent gas from being released to the outside of hermetically sealed tanks even when the internal arc occurs in the inside of the tanks. Such efforts are desirable from the viewpoint of protecting the environment.


The invention relates to a method for operating a wind turbine connected to a utility grid during a utility grid disturbance. The method comprises the steps of controlling active current in dependency of the frequency deviation from a reference frequency, and controlling reactive current in dependency of the voltage deviation from a reference voltage. The invention also relates to a wind turbine and wind park.

When a wind turbine generator or wind park connected to the utility grid in a point of common connection (PCC) experiences a disturbance on said grid e.g. a voltage drop, it always has a major impact on the operation and control of the wind turbine and/or wind park.
In order to support the grid during said disturbance, recent grid codes require that different power parameters is controlled according to the severeness of the grid disturbance.
Various methods have been suggested for controlling wind turbines during the grid disturbance. European patent no. EP 1 493 921 discloses an example of a method for controlling the phase angle between active and reactive power in dependency of measured voltage level.
A problem with the solutions of the above mentioned EP-patent is that it may not sufficiently support the utility grids during utility grid disturbances due to the complexity of said disturbances.
It is an object of the present invention to describe a flexible strategy for operating a wind turbine during a disturbance on the utility grid.

Method for operating a wind turbine connected to a utility grid during a utility disturbance, wind turbine and wind park


A semiconductor device includes a plurality of pixels arranged in a two-dimensional array, each pixel of the plurality of pixels including a photoelectric conversion film configured to photoelectrically convert light of a first wavelength and pass light of a second wavelength, and a photoelectric conversion unit configured to photoelectrically convert the light of the second wavelength. The semiconductor device may further include a charge storage unit configured to store charge received from the photoelectric conversion unit of each pixel in a pixel group, wherein the pixel group includes adjacent pixels among the plurality of pixels, a plurality of through electrodes, and a wiring layer coupled to the photoelectric conversion film of each pixel of the plurality of pixels by at least one through electrode of the plurality of through electrodes. The present technology can be applied to a solid-state imaging element.

A solid-state image sensor in which pixels are arranged in a two-dimensional lattice to capture images has been used. To improve the resolution of such a solid-state image sensor, a layered pixel structure, in which a photoelectric conversion film and a photodiode are layered, is used. In the layered pixel structure, light having a certain wavelength (e.g., green light) is subject to photoelectric conversion by a photoelectric conversion film, while light having other wavelengths (e.g., red light or blue light) are transmitted through the photoelectric conversion film. The transmitted light is then subject to photoelectric conversion by a photodiode. Photoelectric conversion can be performed for multiple colors of light, whereby the resolution is improved.
To improve sensitivity as well as resolution, a backside-irradiation-type solid-state image sensor, in which the photoelectric conversion film is disposed on a surface (backside) opposite to the surface on which the circuit is disposed in the layered pixel structure, has been proposed (e.g., see PTL 1). In such a solid-state image sensor, a through electrode is provided for each pixel, such that the through electrode penetrates through a silicon layer between the photoelectric conversion film and the circuit surface to transmit an electric signal from the photoelectric conversion film located on the backside to the circuit surface.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Semiconductor device and electronic apparatus

Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation


A method and graphical user interface (GUI) are provided. The method includes generating a file of executable code in a dynamically typed programming language that regenerates computations and results of a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI includes a data GUI for importing data, viewing data, generating data and generating exclusion sets for data, a fitting GUI for fitting models to data, a plotting GUI for controlling the plotting of data and fitted models, and a display window for previewing a plot.

Software that is written for a technical computing environment, such as MATLAB® from The Mathworks of Natick, Mass., may have a graphical user interface (GUI) as well as a command line interface. The GUI allows the user to interact with the software without knowing the commands of the command line interface. The user might provide input to the GUI such as data. Additionally, the user will make a series of choices by interacting with the GUI by pressing buttons, selecting from pull down menus, clicking on checkboxes, typing in text boxes, etc. Based on these selections, the GUI might apply some algorithms to the data and display some results based on these computations. For example, these results might be in the form of a plot or graph, or could also be text results possibly in a table.

Generated code from graphical user interface


An object is to provide an element structure of a semiconductor device for increasing an etching margin for various etching steps and a method for manufacturing the semiconductor device having the element structure. An island-shaped semiconductor layer is provided over an insulator having openings. The island-shaped semiconductor layer includes embedded semiconductor layers and a thin film semiconductor layer. The embedded semiconductor layers have a larger thickness than that of the thin film semiconductor layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a manufacture method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A thin film transistor (TFT) is formed using a semiconductor film.
In order to achieve high performance in a semiconductor device in which thin film transistors are used, various technologies have been examined.
For example, the following technology can be given: by thinning a channel formation region of a semiconductor layer, improvement in field-effect mobility and a field-effect subthreshold property, and reduction in leak current can be achieved.
A channel formation region, a source region, and a drain region of a thin film transistor are formed using the identical semiconductor film in many cases.
In such a case, when the channel formation region of the thin film transistor is thinned, the source and drain regions are also thinned unintentionally.
If the source and drain regions are thinned, in etching when the source and drain regions are used as a base, a margin for overetching (an etching margin) is reduced drastically. Consequently, there arises a problem that contact holes reach bottom portions of the source and drain regions in forming the contact holes through an interlayer insulating film.
In this specification, the "margin" means a permissible range of process conditions in a production process. If a process is carried out under a process condition beyond the permissible range in the production process, a defect occurs in the semiconductor device. Therefore, as the margin increases, the incidence of defects decreases, so that restrictions on the process conditions decrease. On the other hand, as the margin decreases, the incidence of defects increases, so that restrictions on the process conditions increase.
When a contact hole reaches a bottom portion of a source region (or a bottom portion of a drain region), it is possible to contact a side of the contact hole with a contact electrode. However, an area of a side of the thinned source or drain region is close to zero. Therefore, contact resistance of the source region (or the drain region) and the contact electrode cannot sufficiently be lowered, so that a sufficient voltage cannot be applied to the source region (or the drain region). As a result, the thin film transistor cannot operate.
In order to solve the above problem, Reference 1 (Japanese Published Patent Application No. H5-13762) discloses a method in which a contact hole is formed by plural times of etching under different etching conditions.

Semiconductor device and manufacture method thereof

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


Provided is a photographing apparatus (CMOS image sensor) that enables enlarging the area that the PD occupies by making simple the layout within a pixel wherein a photo-electric conversion element and a plurality of CMOS transistors are laid out. The photographing apparatus is the one 1 wherein a photo-diode 11 constituting the photo-electric conversion element and a plurality of transistors 12, 13, 14, and 15 are laid out in parallel in the column arrangement direction of the pixels 10 that are arrayed in the form of a lattice. In the apparatus, further, the pixels 10 are each arrayed in the way of being shifted half the length of the pixel 10 in the column arrangement direction every row. Within the pixel 10, by arraying the photo-diode 11 and the plurality of transistors 12, 13, 14, and 15 in parallel in the way that either arrangement thereof is positioned in one vertical column, it is possible to increase the occupied-area percentage of the photo-diode 11 as well as the width of the gate electrode of the transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid state photographing apparatus which is used to recognize an image as in the case of, for example, a digital camera and in which there are arrayed on a semiconductor substrate a plurality of cells each constructed using a combination of a photo-electric conversion element and transistors.
2. Prior Art
When roughly classified, small-sized photographing apparatuses are so done mainly into a type that each uses a CCD and a type that each uses a CMOS image sensor. Attention has nowadays been drawn toward a CMOS photographing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as "the CMOS image sensor") that enables manufacturing a transistor part for driving a photo-electric conversion element, the use of that is needed for the photographing apparatus, by performing almost the same process steps as those for manufacturing an ordinary CMOS transistor. Further, compared with the CCD type, that CMOS photographing apparatus has the merit of its relevant portions' being able to be converted into a one-chip arrangement by being integrated on the same substrate when they are in the manufacturing process steps. The apparatus therefore has the merit of the drive's thereof being relatively small in power consumption. The apparatus further has the merit of being made small in size and low in cost.
However, compared with the CCD type, the CMOS type had the demerit of its being low in sensitivity. An example of a circuit structure of that CMOS image sensor is shown next. FIG. 30 is a plan view showing a conventional layout of the array wherein CMOS transistors are arrayed. As shown in FIG. 30, an active region is provided on a semiconductor substrate by means of element-isolating films thereon. The active region has at the center of the pixel a rectangular region as the photo-diode region and, further, has a substantially horizontally thrown U-shaped region connected thereto. The gate electrode of each CMOS transistor is formed in the way of crossing the active region of FD like the shape of the substantially horizontally thrown letter U. For enabling making great the saturated amount of electric charge of the photo-electric conversion element such as the photo-diode in that CMOS transistor arrangement, the occupied area of the photo-diode within the pixel is enlarged. By doing so, it is possible to enhance the sensitivity. However, in the above-mentioned circuit structure, the percentage of the area occupied by the photo-diode within the pixel is 29%, and, therefore, if the layout of the array of the CMOS transistors remains unchanged, it is difficult to make again higher the percentage of the area occupied by the photo-diode.
Also, by making large the size of the CMOS transistors within the pixel, especially the width of the gate electrodes thereof, it is possible to lessen the variation in characteristic of the CMOS transistors and, in consequence, to enhance the sensitivity of the CMOS image sensor. However, if the above-mentioned layout of the array of the CMOS transistors remains unchanged, it is difficult to make large the width of the gate electrodes.


A mechanism is disclosed for storing one or more chunk-specific sets of executable instructions at one or more predetermined offsets within chunks of a chunked heap. The mechanism provides for storing a chunk-specific set of executable instructions within a portion of a chunk, where the set of executable instructions begins at a predetermined offset within the range of virtual memory addresses allocated to the chunk. The set of executable instructions, when executed, is operable to perform one or more operations that are specific to the chunk.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
When an Operating System (OS) initializes a process for execution, the OS assigns to the process a memory address space which begins at virtual address 0x0 and which may go up to the maximum memory address space that the particular OS can assign to a process. The memory address space assigned to a process is a virtual memory address space which, during the execution of the process, is mapped by the OS to physical memory address space. (The physical memory address space used by a process during the process' execution typically does not begin at physical address 0x0.) For example, the virtual memory address space of a process may be divided into virtual memory pages that are mapped by the OS to physical memory pages. When a process is executing (i.e. during the runtime of a process), the OS also maps virtual addresses used by the process to the corresponding physical addresses in the physical memory. For example, when a process requests to access data at a particular virtual memory address, the OS translates the particular virtual memory address to the physical address in physical memory where the requested data is located.
When a process starts up, the process typically includes in its virtual memory address space all the executable code of the process and all other data needed by the process. Examples of process data include, but are not limited to, heaps, stacks, and other permanent or temporary data structures. In addition, a process may provide one or more components for managing the virtual memory address space assigned thereto and for dynamically allocating virtual memory when needed (e.g., by making calls to a malloc( ) function that is included in a C runtime library).
One example of a process is a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). A JVM process would typically provide one or more threads that are operable to manage the virtual memory address space of the JVM, for example, garbage collectors and other memory management threads. In current JVM implementations, JVM processes are operable to use contiguous heaps. For example, when a JVM process starts, the JVM process would typically allocate an object heap as a range of contiguous virtual memory addresses, where the size of the range is a parameter that may be pre-configured by a user or set by the JVM process itself. As used herein, "heap" refers to a portion of virtual memory that is managed by the process associated therewith. "Object heap" refers to a heap that is operable to store objects, which are any entities that may be instantiated by a process.
Contiguous heaps are widely used in process implementations because they allow for offset-based indexing into side data structures, which are used to manage the heaps and any information stored therein. (As used herein, "side data structure" refers to a portion of virtual memory that stores metadata information about a heap.) For example, a JVM process may use one or more side data structures to facilitate traversals and garbage collection of the objects stored in a contiguous heap.
The use of contiguous heaps, however, has some disadvantages. One disadvantage is that once a process allocates a contiguous heap (usually at start-up), the process cannot thereafter dynamically increase or decrease the size of the heap. This disadvantage is serious because the process cannot utilize its virtual memory address space efficiently. For example, if a process allocates a contiguous heap that is too big, the process may run out of virtual memory when it attempts to allocate memory for non-heap data. If a process allocates a contiguous heap that is too small, the process may not have enough heap space for the heap data that it needs during execution. This disadvantage is exacerbated for processes (e.g. servers and JVMs) that may need to run for relatively long periods of time under uneven workloads.
To address this disadvantage of contiguous heaps, some process implementations may use chunked heaps. (As used herein, "chunked heap" refers to a heap that comprises a plurality of chunks, which chunks are not allocated in a contiguous range of virtual memory addresses.) For example, a process may allocate the chunks of a chunked heap only when heap space is needed, and may de-allocate any heap chunks that are no longer needed. In this way, a process may manage its virtual memory address space more efficiently and may adjust the use of virtual memory space to the process' current workload.
Because chunked heaps include multiple chunks, chunked heaps do not allow for efficient offset-based indexing into side data structures. For example, according to one approach for using side data structures with a chunked heap, a header is included in each chunk. Any information related to a chunk (e.g. the size of the chunk, the location of side data structures associated with the chunk, etc.) is stored in a chunk table that is pointed to by a pointer stored into the chunk header. The chunk table is an associated array that indexes the side data structures for all chunks in the chunked heap based on the base address of each chunk. Look-ups into the chunk table for a particular chunk involve using the pointer stored in the header of that particular chunk to locate the associated array. A look-up is performed by using the base address of a chunk as an index into the associated array, where the look-up returns a pointer to a virtual memory address at which a side data structure associated with that chunk begins.
The disadvantage of the above approach for utilizing side data structures with chunked heaps is that the approach uses at least one level of indirection in order to get from a chunk to a side data structure associated with that chunk. Using indirection to access a side data structure is relatively slow because it involves at least one, and possibly more, memory accessing operations. For example, in order to access a side data structure for a particular chunk, a process needs to perform multiple memory accessing operations to determine a pointer to the side data structure (e.g. at least one memory accessing operation to locate the chunk table, and at least one memory accessing operation to perform a look-up into the chunk table). Such memory accessing operations are expensive and tend to hinder the process' performance if they are performed often.
Each chunk in a chunked heap may be specialized for storing a particular type of information such as, for example, a particular type of objects. Thus, prior to performing operations on a specialized chunk, a process may need to determine the type of the chunk in order to locate the executable instructions for the operations that need to be performed on that chunk. Determining the type of a chunk, however, may involve one or more expensive memory accessing operations. For example, according to one approach the type of a chunk may be stored in the chunk header or in a chunk table pointed to by a pointer stored in the chunk header—either way, a process needs to perform at least one memory accessing operation to determine the type of the chunk. In addition, after determining the type of the chunk, the process may need to perform at least one branching operation in order to get to the executable instructions for the specific operations that need to be performed on chunks of that particular type. However, branching operations are also very expensive and tend to hinder the process' performance if they are performed often.
Based on the forgoing, there is a clear need for techniques that efficiently utilize chunked heaps and overcome the disadvantages of the approach for utilizing chunked heaps that is described above.

Chunk-specific executable code for chunked java object heaps


Staple-length fibers of spandex are blended into compounded natural rubber to improve the mechanical properties of the rubber.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a blend of compounded natural rubber and staple fibers. More particularly, the invention concerns such a blend in which the staple fibers are spandex.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to blend fibers into rubber compositions. Typically, fibers of high-strength and high-modulus, such as fibers of nylon, polyester, glass, steel, or aramid fibers, are used in the blends. The blending of other types of fibers in various rubber compositions also is known.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 4-13792 discloses elastomeric sheet compositions containing 1 to 15 weight percent of plastic fibers of ultra-fine denier (i.e., 0.001 to 0.9 denier) mixed in a rubber binder composition. Numerous kinds of plastic fibers, as well as numerous kinds of synthetic rubbers and natural rubber, are listed as being suited for use in the composition. The ultra-fine plastic fibers are derived from composite fibers which comprise two or more polymers, preferably nylon and polyester. The composite fibers are splittable into fibers of very fine-denier. Among the many polymers listed as being suited for one of the polymers in the composite bicomponent fibers polyurethane is included.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-63508 discloses the mixing of polyurethane fibers (spandex) in a liquid silicone rubber matrix, heating the mixture and then pressing the mixture into sheets. A special treatment is employed to adhere the fibers to the silicone rubber.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 62-112618 discloses mixing 0.5-cm-long, 40-denier spandex into a liquid polybutadiene diol, reacting the mixture with diphenymethane diisocyanate to form a polyurethane elastomer matrix containing the spandex, and then casting a tire therefrom.
The present inventor found that significant improvements are made in the tensile strength, tear resistance, and elongation at break of a vulcanized sheet of natural rubber, if polyurethane staple fibers (i.e., spandex) are blended into the natural rubber.


A method of operating slot machines to limit a player's losses is provided. The method comprises the steps of identifying a player; tracking an amount played and an amount paid out to the player by a first slot machine; determining if the player has lost more than a predetermined loss amount; and if the player has lost more than the predetermined loss amount after one of a predetermined number of plays, a predetermined amount played, a predetermined time of play, and the player stopping further play, crediting the player the difference between the predetermined loss amount and the player's actual loss.

The present invention relates to gaming machines, and more particularly, to a method of limiting a player's losses to increase player usage.
Gaming machines or slot machines are generally known in the art. However, due to low expected player win percentages, slot machines are underutilized since players for the most part feel that the slot machines result in quick losses and provide too short a period of play prior to the player losing their stake. During the last year, the largest 19 Las Vegas area casinos averaged a daily win of about $81.77 per slot machine for 25.cent. slot machines, and the average statewide for Nevada was $65.89 per day. It would be desirable to increase player utilization of slot machines in order increase casino earnings while at the same time providing players with more incentives to play slot machines.
One known slot machine design includes a special win cycle to ensure that a player wins at least one game in each of a predetermined number of games. This keeps the player interested in the game if a win occurs prior to the player losing interest. However, nothing ensures that the amount the player wins is high enough for the player to feel that the entertainment value for the time and money spent would encourage repeat usage.
In another known gaming machine, pay-out tables are selected so that the expected return of the machine is 80%, and the hit ratio of the machine is around 40% to 50%. This is accomplished by using payout tables which can pay-out less than what was wagered in a given play, with the possibility of receiving pay-outs from more than on pay table in a given play. This provides a high number of win opportunities, but a certain number of players will still lose their stake more quickly than the average over a long period of time, resulting in those players not being repeat slot machine users.
It would also be desirable for casinos to encourage more people to play during lower usage time periods to at least generate some income from the slot machines.


In an infrared detection element 15, a first substrate 36 is bonded to a front side of a pyroelectric substrate 20. Since the thermal expansion coefficient of the first substrate 36 is lower than that of the pyroelectric substrate 20, deformation of the pyroelectric substrate 20 due to thermal expansion can be suppressed by the first substrate 36. Further, since a thermal expansion coefficient difference D is 8.9 ppm/K or less, the thermal expansion coefficient between the first substrate 36 and the pyroelectric substrate 20 is not excessively large, and this can suppress deformation of the infrared detection element 15 due to the thermal expansion coefficient difference between the first substrate 36 and the pyroelectric substrate 20.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an infrared detection element, an infrared detection module, and a manufacturing method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pyroelectric elements have been used as infrared detection elements in infrared detection modules for security and gas detection purposes. A pyroelectric element includes a pyroelectric substrate and a pair of front-side and back-side electrodes provided on front and back sides of the pyroelectric substrate, respectively. When a surface of the pyroelectric element is irradiated with infrared light, the temperature of the pyroelectric substrate increases. Then, the change in temperature changes spontaneous polarization, disturbs the balance of electric charge on the surface of the pyroelectric substrate, and causes generation of electric charge. By extracting the generated electric charge through conductive wires connected to the pair of electrodes, the infrared light is detected. As an infrared detection module including such a pyroelectric element, an infrared detection module is known in which a pyroelectric element is fixed to a circuit board with conductive adhesive materials and electric charge generated on the pyroelectric substrate is extracted to the circuit board via the conductive adhesive materials (for example, PTL 1).

Infrared detection element, infrared detection module, and manufacturing method therefor


An apparatus is provided for dividing a long dough mass into dough portions, each of which has a predetermined length, and forming a continuous dough strip from the respective dough portions. A first transporter transports the long dough mass that exceeds the predetermined length along a first conveying path. The first transporter includes a rotary cutter for dividing the long dough mass into a plurality of dough portions each having the predetermined length. A second transporter receives the dough portions from the first transporter and transports them along a second conveying path. The first and second conveying paths are arranged so that the predetermined length of each respective dough portion extends in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of the width of the continuous strip. A joining device receives the dough portions and joins them to form the continuous dough strip.

Dough, as used in a known machine for producing bread, confectionery, or the like, often takes the form of a continuous strip. In a process for forming the continuous dough strip and for dividing the strip into smaller portions to produce food products, a production lot in one cycle of the process is a continuous dough strip of a certain length or a number of products produced from a dough mass supplied in one cycle.
In the border between a preceding and a following supplied dough mass there are various and unavoidable losses, e.g., the loss caused by a border of an irregular shape and the loss caused by the waiting time for the following dough mass, etc., which generate various disadvantages.
Such disadvantages have led to the use of a method and apparatus exemplified in Japanese Patent Early-Publication No. 63-245631 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,883,417 and 4,902,524, issued to Morikawa et al.), assigned to the same assignee of the present application, in which a long dough mass is divided into a plurality of dough portions, which are then caused to overlap and join in series to form a continuous dough strip.
The disadvantage of such prior art, however, is that a border between the preceding long dough mass and the following long dough mass cannot be properly joined. The border often has a narrow width or uneven thickness or both as compared to the remainder of the dough strip. Thus, the border tends to generate the losses, and this has been a problem in producing a continuous dough strip.
It is thus necessary to design a process, and to construct an apparatus which, when forming a continuous dough strip by joining a plurality of dough portions, will provide means for smoothly and properly joining dough portions and for forming a continuous dough strip with a substantially constant width.

Method and apparatus for forming a continuous dough strip of a constant width


The present invention provides modified metal surfaces, methods of preparing the same, and intermediates thereto. These materials are useful in a variety of applications including biomaterials.

Modification of inorganic substrates with polymeric materials has been utilized in a range of applications across numerous scientific disciplines including analytical chemistry, biology, and electronics. (Mansky, P., et. al. Science 1997, 275, 1458-1460; Huang, Z. Langmuir, 1997, 13, 6480-6484. Granick, S. et. al. J. Polym. Sci. B. 2003, 41, 2755-2793.) Inorganic substrates can be coated with polymers or other molecules using a number of currently available methods. One popular, simple method involves the physical adsorbtion of a polymer to a substrate through coating or other deposition techniques. Other methods utilize covalent or ionic bonding between functionality on a polymer, or small molecule, and functionality present on the substrate surface to achieve modification. (Denes, A. R. et. al. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2001, 81, 3425-3438). While simple adsorption of polymers to metal substrates has proven successful in many cases, this procedure does not produce mechanically robust coatings with long-term stability. Post-adsorption crosslinking (Dong, B. et. al.; J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2005, 97, 485-497.) of the polymer coating may increase the toughness and short-term performance of the resulting film, but such crosslinking can also result in cracking and flaking of the polymer films over time, resulting in mechanical failure and a dramatic reduction in film properties. The chemical attachment of functional polymers to a metal substrate introduces a stable, robust linkage between polymer chains and the metal substrate and represents a more desirable scenario for many applications where the long-term stability of the coating is required for optimal performance. (Hara, H. et. al. Adv. Drug Del. Rev. 2006, 58, 377-388.) However, the methodologies to prepare covalent attachment of polymers to metallic and non-metallic substrates has thus far been limited to only a few examples of suitable substrates and complimentary chemical functionalities. Such examples include the near-covalent interaction between gold substrates and thiol-functionalized molecules, covalent bonds formed between silica and alcohol, silyl chloride, or silyl alcohol-functionalized compounds, and covalent bonds formed between hydrogen-functionalized silicon surfaces and alkene-substituted molecules. (Mansky, P., et. al Science 1997, 275, 1458-1460, Pesek, J. J.; Matyska, M. T. Interface Science 1997, 5, 103-117.)
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a method of modifying metal surfaces to provide a metal substrate capable of forming covalent bonds with appropriately functionalized polymers or small molecule derivatives.


The present disclosure provides a method and device for storing a video image. The method includes the follows. For each frame of image collected, a confidence value is generated after passing M frames of image each time, in which M is a positive integer. A target encoding frame rate may be determined based on the confidence value latest generated, after passing N frames of image each time. The N frames of image may be encoded and recorded, based on the target encoding frame rate determined, in which N is a positive integer. By adopting the technical solutions of the present disclosure, adaptive capability and availability of system may be improved.

Accompanying with people's increasing attention to safety, more and more places have installed monitoring equipment (such as camera), meanwhile monitoring system gradually develops towards high definition (HD). Correspondingly, storage space occupied by monitoring video is greater, and costs on hard disk are higher.
However, in practical applications, what is captured by a monitoring device in most of the time throughout the day is invalid data, without occurrence of a focused-on target. Thus, there is an urgent problem to be solved about how to effectively reduce such invalid data, so as to save storage space and costs.
Regarding the foregoing problem, the following processing modes are generally adopted in the prior art. The motion detecting or intelligent analysis technologies may be employed, to analyze whether a focused-on target exists in a video, and output a determination result about "yes" or "no". When the determination result is "yes", encode and record the video; otherwise, encoding and recording are not executed.
However, some problems may occur when applying the foregoing modes in practical applications, for example, no matter employing the motion detecting or intelligent analysis technologies, as long as "yes" or "no" is used in the judgment, the probability of misjudgment and missing judgment may exist under technical conditions. When the misjudgment occurs, additional storage space may be consumed. When the missing judgment occurs, key data may be lost. Subsequently, adaptive capability and availability of system may be lowered.

Method and device for storing video images

HANGZHOU HIKVISION DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A color photographic element is disclosed comprised of a transparent film support and, coated on the support, a red recording layer unit containing the radiation-sensitive silver halide grains in a plurality of emulsion layers with each emulsion layer located to receive exposing radiation prior to an underlying emulsion layer containing silver halide grains of higher sensitivity than the silver halide grains located in the underlying emulsion layer. The red recording layer unit includes a red light reflective layer free of red absorbing dye and containing tabular silver halide grains having a thickness in the range of from 0.03 to 0.12 .mu.m, an average aspect ratio of greater than 20, and a coating coverage of 0.5 to 1.25 g/m.sup.2, and formed of greater than 50 mole percent bromide, based on silver, is located in the red recording layer unit interposed between two emulsion layers. Improvements in imaging speed and/or gamma with relatively low losses in image sharpness are realized.

Photographic images that allow recreation or approximation of the natural hues of a subject are conventionally captured on photographic film mounted in a camera. Camera speed films typically employ high bromide silver halide emulsions. Separate images of each of blue, green and red exposures are captured in blue, green and red recording layer units within the film. The blue recording layer unit contains chemically sensitized high bromide grains that may rely on native blue sensitivity or be sensitized to the blue region of the spectrum with one or more blue absorbing spectral sensitizing dyes. The green recording layer unit contains chemically sensitized high bromide grains that are sensitized to the green region of the spectrum with one or more green absorbing spectral sensitizing dyes. The red recording layer unit contains chemically sensitized high bromide grains that are sensitized to the red region of the spectrum with one or more red absorbing spectral sensitizing dyes. Dye-forming couplers are typically included in the layer units to allow dye images of distinguishable hue to be formed upon color processing. When the photographic film is intended for reversal processing to produce a viewable color positive image or when the photographic film is intended for use in exposing a color paper, the blue, green and red recording layer units contain couplers that form blue absorbing (yellow), green absorbing (magenta), and red absorbing (cyan) image dyes, respectively. When the dye image information is intended to be retrieved from the photographic film by digital scanning, the dye images can be of any hue, provided they are distinguishable. The layer units in a camera speed film are coated so that exposing radiation is first received by a blue recording layer unit, then a green recording layer unit, and finally a red recording layer unit. When two or more layer units differing in speed are provided for recording in a single spectral region, the exposing radiation receiving coating sequence of the slower, but not the faster recording layer units, is sometimes varied.
The high bromide silver halide grains incorporated in the green and red (minus blue) recording layer units of camera speed films have significant blue sensitivity. Coating the blue recording layer unit over the minus blue recording layer units protects the latter from blue light contamination.
The components used to construct color photographic films are disclosed in Research Disclosure, Vol. 389, September 1996, Item 38957. Research Disclosure is published by Kenneth Mason Publications, Ltd., Dudley House, 12 North St., Emsworth, Hampshire P010 7DQ, England. The following topics of Item 38957 are particularly pertinent to the present invention:
I. Emulsion grains and their preparation (most particularly the last sentence of paragraph (1) of B. Grain morphology); PA1 II. Vehicles, vehicle extenders, vehicle-like addenda and vehicle related addenda; PA1 IV. Chemical sensitization; PA1 V. Spectral sensitization and desensitization PA1 X. Dye image formers and modifiers (except A. silver dye bleach); PA1 XI. Layers and layer arrangements; PA1 XII. Features applicable only to color negative; PA1 XIII. Features applicable only to color positive (except C. Color positives derived from color negatives); PA1 XV. Supports. PA1 Daubendiek et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,310; PA1 Abbott et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,426; PA1 Wilgus et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,226; PA1 Maskasky U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,501; PA1 Kofron et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,520; PA1 Solberg et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,433,048; PA1 Evans et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,570; PA1 Yamada et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,528; PA1 Daubendiek et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,027; PA1 Daubendiek et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,964; PA1 Sugimoto et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,012; PA1 Daubendiek et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,027; PA1 Yamada et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,745; PA1 Daubendiek et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,964; PA1 Maskasky U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,320; PA1 Nottorf U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,886; PA1 Sugimoto U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,456; PA1 Goda U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,617; PA1 Saitou et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,354; PA1 Ellis U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,522; PA1 Ikeda et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,461; PA1 Ohashi et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,095; PA1 Makino et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,322; PA1 Daubendiek et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,914,014; PA1 Aida et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,015; PA1 Ikeda et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,350; PA1 Piggin et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,609; PA1 Piggin et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,616; PA1 Tsaur et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,771; PA1 Tsaur et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,772; PA1 Tsaur et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,773; PA1 Tsaur et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,659; PA1 Tsaur et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,013; PA1 Antoniades et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,403; PA1 Kim et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,048; PA1 Delton U.S. Pat. No. 5,310,644; PA1 Chang et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,793; PA1 Sutton et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,469; PA1 Black et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,495; PA1 Chaffee et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,840; PA1 Delton U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,927; PA1 Daubendiek et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,168; PA1 Olm et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,171; PA1 Deaton et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,965; PA1 Maskasky U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,085; PA1 Reed et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,086; PA1 Eshelman et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,175; PA1 Levy et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,177; PA1 Wilson et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,358; PA1 Eshelman et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,359; PA1 Maskasky U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,840; PA1 Wen et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,618; PA1 Irving et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,954; PA1 Maskasky U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,955; PA1 Maskasky U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,131; PA1 Maskasky U.S. Pat. No. 5,693,459; PA1 Black et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,988; PA1 Jagannathan et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,723,278; PA1 Deaton et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,726,007; PA1 Irving et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,515; PA1 Bryant et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,517; PA1 Maskasky U.S. Pat. No. 5,733,718; PA1 Jagannathan et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,736,312; PA1 Antoniades et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,750,326; PA1 Brust et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,151; and PA1 Maskasky et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,602.
A. Sensitizing dyes;
Sutton et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,413 discloses high bromide {111} tabular grain emulsions with grain dispersities and thicknesses controlled to facilitate red light reflection.

Color photographic film exhibiting increased red speed and sharpness


Characteristic lines A to D of lateral acceleration G-required torque T in determination of required torque T are used as switched according to increase/decrease of the absolute value of the lateral acceleration, and the direction thereof. The lines A, C used in increase of the absolute value of the lateral acceleration G are so set that the absolute value of required torque T becomes larger at the same lateral acceleration G (G≠0) than that with the lines B, D used in decrease of the absolute value of the lateral acceleration G. The difference between line A and line B (the difference between line C and line D as well) at the same lateral acceleration G is so set that the difference near the lateral acceleration of 0 is smaller than that in the other regions. Particularly, it is preferable to set the required torque T to 0 at the lateral acceleration G of 0.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a steering assist apparatus and method for vehicle arranged to apply an appropriate steering assist torque, in order to assist driving along a driving lane.
2. Background Art
The steering assist apparatus for a vehicle so as to assist driving of the vehicle along a driving lane has disclosed (e.g., JP A 2001-10518). This assist apparatus first acquires an image of a lane on which the host vehicle is running with a CCD camera or the like. Boundary lines to zone the driving lane are detected by image recognition process from the acquired image to acquire driving lane information which the host vehicle must be running. A steering torque necessary for steering to maintain the driving along the lane is determined based on the acquired driving lane information, and an appropriate steering assist torque is applied so as to assist driver's steering.

Steering assist apparatus and method for vehicle


A semiconductor wafer wet processing device which includes a chamber, a process tank body containing walls and disposed within the chamber, and defining a channel therebetween, at least one of the walls of the process tank body containing a plurality of apertures for providing lateral access between the channel and the interior of the process tank body, a wafer-carrying device disposed within the process tank body, an inlet for introducing a processing liquid into the channel and an outlet for removing the processing liquid from the interior of the process tank body, wherein upon the introduction of the processing liquid through the inlet into the channel, the processing liquid flows over the top of the walls of the process tank body into the interior thereof and laterally through the apertures in the walls of the process tank body for treating the contents thereof and is removed through the outlet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer wet processing device used in wet processes such as the cleaning of a semiconductor wafer during the fabrication of a semiconductor device.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The fabricating process of a semiconductor device includes various kinds of wafer wet processes. Particularly, a semiconductor wafer cleaning technique is of importance in a semiconductor device fabricating process. Accordingly, there has been developed an apparatus for a wafer wet process including wafer cleaning. Also, there is the overflow method of U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,373 applied to a conventional semiconductor wafer wet processing device which performs the wet process cleaning of a semiconductor wafer while a semiconductor wafer is inserted in a processing tank body. In the overflow method, the process solution, such as cleaning water, overflows onto the floor.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional wafer wet process device utilizing the overflow method.
The conventional wafer wet process device utilizing the overflow method comprises a container A provided with a supply line 12 containing a supply hole 11-2, a processing tank body 11 which contains a process solution which overflows over a wall 11-1, and a wafer carrying bucket 13 such as a boat or a cassette disposed in the processing tank body 11. The supply hole is formed at the bottom of the processing tank body. A plurality of wafers 10 are erectly arranged in the wafer carrying bucket 13, and a wafer contact 13-1 such as an inserting groove is formed on the lower side of the wafer carrying bucket 13 for mounting the wafer, as shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 1 (a). Since the wafer carrying bucket 13 has holes through its bottom and top, a cleaning water or a chemical solution such as a process solution introduced into the processing tank body 11 cleans the wafers and can perform chemical reactions such as etching, by passing a chemical solution between the wafers.
The process solution overflowing the wall of the processing tank body 11-1 through conduit 15 is recycled after the process solution is filtered by a filter 16. A pump 17 is used for supplying the processing solution, for instance, for circulating the process solution. A problem is caused when a conventional apparatus employs the overflow method in which the process solution flows up and down. Thus, the contaminant materials always remain on the wafer contact 13-1 formed on the lower side of the wafer carrying bucket 13, that is, the inserting groove for fixing the wafers. These contaminant materials move up and down according to the flow of the process solution, and as a result, there is the problem that the contaminant materials come into frequent contact with the surface of wafer 10.
For solving these problems, a conventional semiconductor wafer wet processing device utilizes a down-flowing method in which a process solution flows downward (see 24th Symposium On ULSI ULTRA Clean Technology, Japan)
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional semiconductor wafer wet processing device which utilizes the down-flowing method. As shown in FIG. 2, a conventional semiconductor wafer wet processing device which utilizes a down-flow method comprises a container A which houses a processing tank body wall 21-1, a conduit 25 which surrounds the wall 21-1, and an exhaust hole 21-3 formed at the bottom of the body 21 through which the solution is exhausted. The process solution enters the processing tank body from the conduit 25 and flows up and down. This conventional device using a down-flow method has considerably improved the contaminant problem since the wafer contact 23-1 of the wafer carrying bucket 23 is positioned at or near the hole 21-3 of the processing tank body and thus the contaminant materials come into less contact with the wafer 20.
However, in the above-described conventional devices of the overflow and down-flow methods as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively, there is the disadvantage that they are insufficient in achieving an effective processing effect for the side and corner of the wafer. Because the process solution flows only in a uniform direction in these two methods, the cleaning and wet processing effect is reduced for that portion of the side or corner of the wafer which is not directly under the influence of the flow.

Semiconductor wafer wet processing device


A prosthesis for the replacement of the cartilaginous structures of a spine motion segment is described. The prosthesis comprises an intervertebral disc prosthesis in combination with a facet joint prosthesis.

Traumatic, inflammatory, metabolic, synovial, neoplastic and degenerative disorders of the spine can produce debilitating pain that can have severe socioeconomic and psychological effects.
One of the most common surgical interventions today is arthrodesis, or spine fusion, in which two or more adjacent vertebral bodies are fused together in order to alleviate pain associated with the disc(s) located between those vertebral bodies. Approximately 300,000 such procedures are performed annually in the U.S. alone. Clinical success varies considerably, depending upon technique and indications, and consideration must be given to the concomitant risks and complications.
For example, while spine fusion generally helps to eliminate certain types of pain, it has also been shown to decrease function by limiting the range of motion for patients in flexion, extension, rotation and lateral bending. Furthermore, it is believed that spine fusion creates increased stresses on (and, therefore, accelerated degeneration of) adjacent non-fused motion segments. Additionally, pseudoarthrosis, resulting from an incomplete or ineffective fusion, may reduce or even totally eliminate the desired pain relief for the patient. Also, the fusion device(s) used to effect fusion, whether artificial or biological, may migrate out of the fusion site, thereby creating significant new problems for the patient.
Recently, attempts have been made to recreate the natural biomechanics of the spine through the use of an artificial disc. Artificial discs are intended to restore articulation between vertebral bodies so as to recreate the full range of motion normally allowed by the elastic properties of the natural disc, which directly connects two opposing vertebral bodies. Various artificial discs are described by Stefee et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,437; Gill et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,637; Bryan et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,130; Hedman et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,769; Ray in U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,312; Ray et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,093; Buttner-Janz in U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,269; and Serhan et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,094; all which documents are hereby incorporated herein by reference. Still other artificial discs are known in the art.
Unfortunately, however, artificial discs alone do not adequately address all of the mechanics of the motion of the spinal column.
In addition to the intervertebral disc, posterior elements called the facet joints help to support axial, torsional and shear loads that act on the spinal column. Furthermore, the facet joints are diarthroidal joints that provide both sliding articulation and load transmission features. However, the facet joints can also be a significant source of spinal disorders and, in many cases, debilitating pain. For example, a patient may suffer from arthritic facet joints, severe facet joint tropism or otherwise deformed facet joints, facet joint injuries, etc. There is currently a lack of good interventions for facet joint disorders. Facetectomy, or the removal of the facet joints, may provide some relief, but it is also believed to produce significant decreases in the stiffness of the spinal column (i.e., hypermobility) in all planes of motion: flexion and extension, lateral bending, and rotation. Furthermore, problems with the facet joints can also complicate treatments associated with other portions of the spine. By way of example, contraindications for artificial discs include arthritic facet joints, absent facet joints, severe facet joint tropism or otherwise deformed facet joints.
A superior vertebra with its inferior facets, an inferior vertebra with its superior facets, the intervertebral disc, and seven spinal ligaments together comprise a spinal motion segment or functional spine unit. The spinal motion segment provides complex motion along three orthogonal axes, both in rotation (lateral bending, flexion and extension, and axial rotation) and in translation (anterior-posterior, medial-lateral, and cranial-caudal). Furthermore, the spinal motion segment provides physiological limits and stiffnesses in each rotational and translational direction to create a stable and strong column structure to support physiological loads.
As mentioned above, compromised facet joints are a contraindication for disc replacement, due to the inability of the artificial disc (when used with compromised facet joints, or when used with missing facet joints) to properly restore the natural biomechanics of the spinal motion segment. It would therefore be an improvement in the art to provide a spine implant system that facilitates concurrent replacement of the intervertebral disc and facet joints where both have been compromised due to disease or trauma.
U.S. Pat. No. Re. 36,758 (Fitz) discloses an artificial facet joint where the inferior facet, the mating superior facet, or both, are covered with a cap. This cap requires no preparation of the bone or articular surfaces; it covers and, therefore, preserves the bony and articular structure. The capping of the facet has several potential disadvantages, however. If the facet joint is osteoarthritic, a cap will not remove the source of the pain. Additionally, at least in the case of surface replacements for osteoarthritic femoral heads, the capping of articular bone ends has proven to lead to clinical failure by means of mechanical loosening. This clinical failure is hypothesized to be a sequela of disrupting the periosteum and ligamentum teres femoris, both serving a nutrition delivery role to the femoral head, thereby leading to avascular necrosis of the bony support structure for the surface replacement. It is possible that corresponding problems could develop from capping the facet. Another potential disadvantage of facet capping is that in order to accommodate the wide variability in anatomical morphology of the facets, not only between individuals but also between levels within the spinal column, a very wide range of cap sizes and shapes is required.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,464 (Martin) discloses a spinal facet joint prosthesis that is supported on the lamina (which is sometimes also referred to as the posterior arch). Extending from this support structure are inferior and/or superior blades that replace the cartilage at the facet joint. Like the design of the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. Re. 36,758, the prosthesis of U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,464 generally preserves existing bony structures and therefore does not address pathologies which affect the bone of the facets in addition to affecting the associated cartilage. Furthermore, the prosthesis of U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,464 requires a secure mating between the prosthesis and the lamina. However, the lamina is a very complex and highly variable anatomical surface. As a result, in practice, it is very difficult to design a prosthesis that provides reproducible positioning against the lamina so as to correctly locate the cartilage-replacing blades for the facet joints.
Another approach to surgical intervention for spinal facets is disclosed in International Patent Publication No. WO9848717A1 (Villaret et al.). While this publication teaches the replacement of spinal facets, the replacement is interlocked in a manner so as to immobilize the joint.
Thus it will be seen that previous attempts to provide facet joint replacement have proven inadequate.
In some circumstances, additional structures of a vertebra beside the facets may have been compromised by disease or trauma. For example, the lamina, the spinous process and/or the two transverse processes may have been compromised by disease or trauma. In such a circumstance, it would be useful to have a prosthesis which would allow the replacement of the same.

Method and apparatus for spine joint replacement


In a chemical mechanical polishing system, a platen shield cleaning assembly is installed on a rotatable platen in a gap between the rotatable platen and a platen shield. The assembly includes a sponge holder attached to the platen and a sponge. The sponge is held by the sponge holder such that an outer surface of the sponge is pressed against an inner surface of the platen shield.

An integrated circuit is typically formed on a substrate by the sequential deposition of conductive, semiconductive, or insulative layers on a silicon wafer. One fabrication step involves depositing a filler layer over a non-planar surface and planarizing the filler layer. For certain applications, the filler layer is planarized until the top surface of a patterned layer is exposed. A conductive filler layer, for example, can be deposited on a patterned insulative layer to fill the trenches or holes in the insulative layer. After planarization, the portions of the conductive layer remaining between the raised pattern of the insulative layer form vias, plugs, and lines that provide conductive paths between thin film circuits on the substrate. For other applications, such as oxide polishing, the filler layer is planarized until a predetermined thickness is left over the non planar surface. In addition, planarization of the substrate surface is usually required for photolithography.
Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is one accepted method of planarization. This planarization method typically requires that the substrate be mounted on a carrier or polishing head. The exposed surface of the substrate is typically placed against a rotating polishing pad. The carrier head provides a controllable load on the substrate to push it against the polishing pad. A polishing liquid is typically supplied to the surface of the polishing pad.
The polishing pad is typically supported on a rotatable platen. As the platen and polishing pad rotate, centrifugal force tends to urge the polishing liquid off the polishing pad. A platen shield can be placed around the platen to prevent the polishing liquid being thrown off the polishing pad from contaminating the work area.


A safety trocar is provided in which the cannula is reciprocally mounted to the cannula housing and reciprocates into the cannula housing when a proximally directed force is applied thereto. The piercing tip is maintained in the exposed position by a latching mechanism associated with the obturator shaft, and is automatically withdrawn into the cannula under the force of a spring when the proximal force is removed from the cannula, the cannula thus advancing distally and releasing the latching mechanism. Penetration force is maintained at a minimum, and safe and efficacious trocar entry is facilitated.

This invention relates to a surgical trocar and more, particularly to a safety trocar in which the sharp cutting tip retracts into the cannula so as to minimize the likelihood of inadvertent injury to viscera and other internal tissue.
Trocars are sharp pointed surgical instruments used to puncture a body cavity. Trocars are generally adapted to be used together with a tubular trocar sleeve or cannula. Once the body cavity has been punctured by the trocar, the sharp trocar is removed from the cannula, thereby leaving the cannula extending into the body cavity. Endoscopic surgical procedures are then performed through the cannula with accessory instrumentation such as laparoscopes, dissectors, graspers, etc.
Commercially available safety trocars include a spring-loaded safety shield which is adapted to cover the trocar tip once the body cavity has been entered so as to provide an increased level of protection to internal structures from puncture or laceration. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,710 to Moll describes a trocar assembly which consists of two subassemblies: a trocar subassembly which includes a sharp-tipped trocar and a spring-loaded tubular safety shield positioned therearound, and a cannula subassembly.
When ready for use, the trocar and safety shield of the trocar subassembly are inserted through the cannula. The safety shield is initially in its distal-most position covering the trocar tip. Exertion of pressure against the skin with the trocar causes the shield to be pushed rearwardly against the spring to expose the piercing tip of the trocar. The tip penetrates the skin and underlying tissue with continued pressure. Once the tip has penetrated through the wall and has entered the cavity, the force against the front end of the shield ceases and the shield is automatically moved back to its distally extended position. Viscera and other internal tissue are thus protected from contact with the sharp piercing tip and potential damage therefrom.
An article entitled xe2x80x9cNeedle for the Puncture and Lavage of the Abdominal Cavityxe2x80x9d authored by F. S. Subairov discloses a safety device for puncturing the abdominal cavity which consists of a hollow tube, a stylet and a spring. The spring is soldered to the stylet and threaded into the rear of the hollow tube. The distal end of the stylet is exposed from the hollow tube by pressing the stylet toward the tube, thereby compressing the spring. Once the stylet and tube enter a body cavity, the tube is advanced under spring force to cover the distal end of the stylet. A similar device is disclosed in EP 350,291 (see FIGS. 1-4).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,773 to Yoon suggests several alternative safety trocar designs. In-one embodiment (see FIGS. 22-28), a spring-loaded blunt probe is provided within the trocar shaft, as with conventional Verres needles. The blunt probe is adapted to reciprocally slide through an aperture in the trocar tip such that when the trocar tip enters a body cavity, the blunt probe springs distally forward through the aperture to prevent contact between the trocar tip and body organs. In a second embodiment (see FIGS. 33-36), pressure sensors or transducers are fitted into the trocar blade surfaces and the distal end of the cannula. Sets of electrical leads run through the trocar shaft and communicate with an alarm network in the proximal portion of the device. A further modification is suggested in which the trocar shaft is initially manually extended and maintained in its extended position by a detent which protrudes through a hole in the surrounding tubular structure. The hole aligns with a solenoid socket. When the instrument is fully assembled and the trocar tip is forced through a body wall, the electrical leads running through the trocar shaft send electrical signals to the solenoid which, at the appropriate instant, forces the detent from the hole, allowing the trocar tip to withdraw into the cannula. Additional mechanisms for effecting withdrawal of cutting implements are also known. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,375,815 to Burns; 3,657,812 to Lee; and 3,030,959 to Grunert.
It has now been found that an improved safety trocar may be provided which includes:
(a) a cannula assembly comprising a cannula and a cannula housing;
(b) a trocar assembly comprising a sharp trocar tip, an obturator shaft, and a trocar housing;
(c) means associated with the obturator shaft which releasably maintains the trocar tip in an extended position;
(d) means associated with the cannula assembly for releasing the releasable obturator means; and
(e) biasing means for retracting the trocar tip from the extended position to a retracted position in response to release of the releasable obturator means.
The safety trocar of the present invention is adapted to be armed by the surgeon immediately prior to use. Arming may be accomplished by advancing a button which extends through the trocar housing, by compressing the trocar housing toward the cannula housing, or by like means. Once armed, the trocar tip releasably protrudes beyond the distal end of the cannula.
As the surgeon presses the trocar, and more particularly the trocar tip, against the body wall of a patient, an incision into and through the body wall is begun. With continued pressure by the surgeon, the distal end of the cannula comes into contact with the body wall. The initial counterforce exerted by the body wall against the cannula causes a mechanism associated with the cannula to set the obturator shaft (together with the cutting tip) for immediate retraction upon entry of distal end of the the cannula into the body cavity. Thus, removal of the counterforce from the distal end of the cannula, e.g., upon entering the body cavity, results in immediate and automatic withdrawal of the trocar tip into the cannula under the force of a biasing means, e.g., a spring.
In a preferred embodiment of the trocar, a latch is associated with the obturator shaft to which the trocar tip is mounted, the latch being biased radially outward and being adapted to engage an internal shelf formed in the cannula when the trocar is armed. The cannula is reciprocally mounted to the cannula housing and biased, e.g., by a compression spring, distally relative to the cannula housing. As the trocar tip enters the body cavity and the body wall exerts force on the distal end of the cannula the cannula reciprocates proximate into the cannula housing. This cannula reciprocation repositions the cannula""s internal shelf relative to the latch such that, upon distal movement of the cannula upon entry into the body cavity, the latch is released from engagement with the internal shelf. A spring which was loaded upon arming the trocar is thus free to immediately retract the trocar tip into the cannula. In a particularly preferred trocar embodiment, abutment means are provided on the exterior of the cannula toward its distal end to facilitate reciprocation thereof through contact with the body wall.
The trocar of the invention is also designed to permit manual retraction or disarming of the cutting tip, if so desired. This is accomplished by manually reciprocating the cannula relative to the cannula housing and releasing, thereby disengaging the latch from the internal shelf. The trocar is also typically provided with an indicator which signals the surgeon as to whether the trocar is armed or disarmed. For example, the relative position of the button used to arm the trocar may be calibrated or indexed to communicate the trocar tip position or a window may be provided through which a trocar tip position indicator is visible.
The trocar of the present invention provides a safe and efficacious means for gaining access to body cavities to permit minimally-invasive diagnostic and surgical procedures to be accomplished. The trocar is equipped with a reliable mechanism for effectuating immediate, automatic retraction of the cutting tip into the cannula. Penetration force is kept to a minimum through the unique internal mechanism for releasably maintaining the trocar tip in the armed position.


An arrangement for separating a fluid from admixtures has at least a first and a second separation unit. The separation units are of the type using an increased pressure or pressure difference for their function and have improved performance with increased pressure. The second separation unit is supplied with the fluid by a pressurising pump device. The first separation unit furnishes fluid of reduced concentration of admixtures to the pressurising pump device. It is supplied with supply fluid having reduced, the same, or elevated concentration of admixtures, preferably either taken directly from an outlet of the pump device or from an outlet of the second separation unit for fluid of increased concentration of admixtures. Overall, the concentration of admixtures in the fluid supplied to the second separation unit is decreased, leading to an increase in overall performance.

The present invention relates to a separating arrangement for the treatment of fluids, namely separating admixtures.
Double-cone devices are described in the WO-A-87/01770 whose content is incorporated in this description by reference. The double-cone device, amongst other things, allows one to upgrade the available pumping pressure of a modest conventional pump. When incorporated in a compressor loop, such as proposed in the aforementioned patent, numerous novel possibilities become evident.
The double-cone device essentially is comprised of two cones which are connected by their ends of small diameter.
At the interface, i.e. interspersed between the entry cone and exit cone, an orifice is provided. In the region of the orifice, the double-cone device, if penetrated by a fluid, builds up a surprisingly low pressure which allows another fluid to be drawn into the device with high efficiency. When included in a closed loop with a pump, the pressure in this loop can be increased in that the double-cone unit sucks in fluid until an equilibrium is attained. The term fluid refers to both liquids and gases.
The double-cone device is characterized by the angles θ1 and θ2 of the conicity of the entry cone with respect to the exit cone:F=(1+sin θ1)2*sin2θ2
The quality function F should always be less than 0.11. The ranges are detailed hereinafter:
FQuality<0.0035:best0.0035–0.0155very good0.0155–0.0250good0.0250–0.0500satisfying0.0500–0.1100still sufficient>0.1100 poor
One application where fluids must be pressurized, are reverse osmosis plants where admixtures are separated from a fluid, e.g. salt from water. However, other separation devices than reverse osmosis units, like cyclones, require a pressurized fluid as the working medium, too.
Generally, these separation units or devices need a certain throughput of the working medium to work properly over long periods. For instance, reverse osmosis units have to be "flushed" by the working medium.
The known separation arrangements, particularly those comprising reverse osmosis units, secure the required fluid throughput by additional measures like overdimensioned pumps, leading to a reduced overall performance.

Separating arrangement for treatment of fluids


The invention relates to a method and device for contactless assessment of fatigue of a user, in particular a vehicle operator. The invention is comprised of a seamless continuous evaluation of cardiac activity variability and uses this data as an input for evaluation and quantitative assessment of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity of the autonomic nervous system, which are reliable markers of the physiological condition of a user. The small device is fixed to a driver's safety belt or embedded in the back of driver's seat without direct contacts to a user's body. The device continuously monitors the fatigue level of a user and alerts the user if he/she unexpectedly drifts from wakefulness to drowsiness. The invention significantly improves the safety of a vehicle operator.

The present invention relates to the field of determining and evaluation of fatigue of a user, in particular to evaluation of fatigue of a vehicle driver and alerting the driver if the driver drifts from wakefulness to drowsiness.
The National Sleep Foundation's (NSF) 2002 Sleep in America poll shows that more than one-half of the adults in this country admit to driving while drowsy; seventeen percent say they actually fell asleep at the wheel in the past year.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conservatively estimates that 100,000 police-reported crashes are the direct result of driver fatigue each year, representing more than 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries, and $12.5 billion in economic costs. Studies show that young adults between the ages of 16 and 29 are the most likely to drive while drowsy. However, shift workers, commercial drivers, and people with untreated sleep disorders such as sleep apnea are also at higher risk.
Many physiological measures have been examined in earlier studies as predictors or indicators of driver fatigue.
An increased percentage of eyelid closure is one of the most reliable predictors of the onset of sleep. However, a camera and demanding eye-tracking software must be used to measure this percentage.
Spectral electroencephalogram (EEG) analysis is the most appropriate method for detecting the onset and different stages of sleep. But, this method is useful in laboratory settings only and in a large degree depends on the person's individual physiological factors.
The correlation between heart rate variability and fatigue is a proved fact, but it is difficult to implement in a real world environment. The change in skin potentials during the drift from alertness to drowsiness is a very challenging idea, but there are no reliable correlations still found. There are numerous methods of monitoring driver-vehicle relations as predictors of fatigue, but they are complicated and prone to false alarms.
The present invention offers an effective method and apparatus for monitoring the fatigue level of a driver and alerting the driver, or others, if the driver drifts to a predetermined state of drowsiness.

Method and system for contactless evaluation of fatigue of an operator


A lumbar support apparatus installed in a seat back of a vehicular seat has a panel which is movable in front-and-aft direction. A U-shaped spring member is connected at its bent middle portion to the panel and pivotably supported at its opposite ends to a bracket fixed to a seat back frame. A control mechanism for moving the panel in the front-and-aft direction is disposed between the spring member and a pipe frame of the seat back frame. The control mechanism is fixedly in contact with the pipe frame through a stopper member so as to transmit the force from the spring member to the seat back frame in the front-and-aft direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in a lumbar support applied to a seat back of a vehicular seat, and more particularly to a lumbar support apparatus which supports a lower back or lumbar section of a seated occupant so as to improve the comfort of the occupant.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of lumbar support apparatuses have been proposed and put into practical use in order to reduce fatigue of a seated occupant during long drives. A typical lumbar support apparatus is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Provisional Publication No. 51-163224 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-19965. Such a lumbar support apparatus is arranged such that the hardness of a cushion member in the seat back is continuously variable by controlling a screw adjusting device connected to a spring member in the seat back. With the conventional hardness adjusting device, the hardness of the seat back is continuously variable at a location corresponding to the lumbar portion of the seated occupant while at the same time the impact durability is improved.
However, the conventional lumbar support apparatus suffers drawbacks, since the assembly operation is complicated, large amount of parts are required and installation involves many steps. Therefore, this system is costly to produce.

Lumbar support apparatus for vehicular seat


Methods of operating a DU node of a radio access network are disclosed. The DU node is coupled to a CU node over an F1 interface, and the DU node performs a setup procedure with the CU node over the F1 interface for an RRC connection with respect to a wireless device UE. A setup request message is transmitted to the CU node, wherein the setup request message includes an indication of a latest RRC version supported by the DU node. A setup response message is received from the CU node, wherein this message includes an indication of an RRC version supported by the CU node and by the UE. An RRC connection is established with the UE using the RRC version indicated in the setup response message. Related methods of operating a CU node are also discussed.

The current 5G Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) architecture is depicted and described in TS 38.401 as illustrated in the overall architecture of FIG. 1.
The next generation (NG) architecture can be further described as follows. The NG-RAN includes a set of 5G/NG base stations (gNBs) connected to the 5G core network (5GC) through the NG. A gNB can support frequency division duplex (FDD) mode, time division duplex (TDD) mode, or dual mode operation. gNBs can be interconnected through a logical interface, Xn. A gNB may include a gNB-CU and gNB-DUs (where CU is an acronym for central unit, and DU is an acronym for distributed unit). A gNB-CU and a gNB-DU are connected via a F1 logical interface. One gNB-DU may be connected to only one gNB-CU.
NG, Xn, and F1 are logical interfaces. For NG-RAN, the NG and Xn-C interfaces for a gNB can include a gNB-CU and gNB-DUs, and the NG and Xn-C interfaces can terminate in the gNB-CU. For EN-DC, S1-U, and X2-C interfaces for a gNB including a gNB-CU and gNB-DUs, can terminate in the gNB-CU. The gNB-CU and connected gNB-DUs may only be visible to other gNBs and the 5GC as a gNB. The NG-RAN is layered into a Radio Network Layer (RNL) and a Transport Network Layer (TNL). The NG-RAN architecture, including the NG-RAN logical nodes and interfaces between them, can be defined as part of the RNL. For each NG-RAN interface (NG, Xn, F1) the related TNL protocol and the functionality can be specified. The TNL can provide services for user plane transport and signaling transport. In NG-Flex configuration, each gNB can be connected to all AMFs within an AMF Region. The AMF Region can be defined in 3GPP TS 23.501.
An F1 interface can be open and can support the exchange of signaling information between endpoints. The F1 interface can support data transmission to respective endpoints. The F1 interface can be a point-to-point interface between endpoints. In some examples, a point-to-point logical interface can be feasible in the absence of a physical direct connection between the endpoints. The F1 interface can support control plane and user plane separation. The F1 interface can separate a RNL and a TNL. The F1 interface can enable exchange of UE associated information and non-UE associated information. The F1 interface can be defined to be future proof to fulfil different new requirements, support new services, and provide new functions. One gNB-CU and set of gNB-DUs can be visible to other logical nodes as a gNB. The gNB can terminate X2, Xn, NG and S1-U interfaces. The CU can be separated in a control plane (CP) and a user plane (UP).
With a base station implemented using separate central and distributed units, additional coordination between central and distributed units may be useful.

RRC version handling in a split base station


A webbing winding device includes a clutch mechanism interposed between a spool and an output shaft of a motor and has a simple structure and high operability. In an interference piece that has an interference portion interfering with a connection pawl when an input gear of a clutch is rotated in the winding direction, a base portion is disposed between an outer retaining ring and an inner retaining ring formed at a gear box, and the base portion comes into press contact with an inner peripheral portion of the outer retaining ring and an outer peripheral portion of the inner retaining ring. The interference portion keeps interfering with the connection pawl until a pressing force more than a maximum static frictional force generated between the inner peripheral portion of the outer retaining ring and the outer peripheral portion of the inner retaining ring, and the base portion is applied to the interference portion, thereby rotating the connection pawl.

The following Patent Document 1 discloses a webbing winding device that removes slight looseness, or so-called "slack" of a webbing belt in such a manner that a motor is operated when a distance with respect to an obstacle in front of a vehicle is less than a predetermined value, and a spool is rotated in the winding direction by a driving force of the motor so that the webbing belt fastened to a passenger's body is wound.
In the webbing winding device, a clutch is interposed between the spool and the output shaft of the motor. The clutch includes a base plate which is rotated by a transmitted driving force of the motor and a rotary disk which is rotatable relative to the base plate. When the base plate is rotated in the winding direction relative to the rotary disk, a pawl provided at the base plate is pressed by a pressing piece provided at the rotary disk to be rotated, and the pawl meshes with external teeth of an adapter which is not rotatable relative to the spool. Accordingly, a rotation force in the winding direction of the base plate rotated by the driving force of the motor is transmitted to the spool via the adapter, thereby rotating the spool in the winding direction.
Further, the webbing winding device includes a brake mechanism that is operated by the driving force of the motor. When the brake mechanism is operated by the driving force of the motor, a brake piece slides on a friction ring of the clutch so as to suppress the friction ring from being rotated in the winding direction. When the rotation of the friction ring in the winding direction is suppressed, the rotation of the rotary disk in the winding direction is suppressed. Accordingly, relative rotation occurs between the base plate that is rotated in the winding direction by the driving force of the motor and the rotary disk that is suppressed from being rotated in the winding direction, and as described above, the pawl is rotated so as to mesh with the external teeth of the adapter.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-42788.


The disclosed method and apparatus is adapted to attach a self-attaching fastener, such as a pierce or clinch nut or stud to a metal wall of an enclosed structure, such as a tube, from inside the structure. The method includes rigidly supporting the self-attaching fastener within the enclosed structure on an anvil with the fastening portion extending toward and located adjacent an inner surface of the wall. A die member is then driven against the outer surface of the wall to deform the wall into locking engagement with the self-attaching fastener. Where a pierce nut or stud is used, the nut simultaneously pierces the wall from inside the structure and clinches the wall as the die member is driven against the outer surface of the wall. The apparatus includes an expandable anvil assembly having opposed surfaces which conform generally to the opposed surfaces of the enclosed structure and a pocket which receives and rigidly supports the body portion of the self-attaching fastener. The anvil assembly further includes relatively movable parts having mating inclined surfaces and the parts are moved to expand or contract the anvil assembly. The method then includes inserting the body portion of a self-attaching fastener in the anvil pocket, inserting the anvil in the enclosed structure, then expanding the anvil to locate or position the fastener adjacent the inner surface of the wall. The die member then installs the nut in the wall. Finally, the anvil is contracted to remove the anvil from the assembly.

Self-piercing and clinching fastener have been used for many years in mass production applications, particularly by the automotive industry, to attach components, for example, to structural elements. Such self-attaching fasteners normally include a body portion and a projecting fastening portion. The installation apparatus includes an installation head having a reciprocating plunger and a die member or die button which rigidly supports the plate or panel to which the self-attaching fastener is to be installed. In a typical mass production application, the installation head and die button are installed in the opposed die platens of a die press which may simultaneously form the plate or panel into a contoured shape. Several self-attaching fasteners may be installed in the plate or panel with each stroke of the die press.
The body portion of the self-attaching fastener is supported in the reciprocating plunger of the installation head and the fastening portion extends axially from the plunger. When the die press is reciprocated to close the press, the plunger of the installation head drives the fastener into the panel. Where the fastener is a self-piercing fastener having a pilot or barrel portion, the fastener pierces a slug from the panel and the pilot or barrel portion is then received through the pierced panel opening. Such fasteners may also be installed in panels having a preformed panel opening. The die button then deforms the panel adjacent the panel opening into locking engagement with the fastener. Examples of pierce nuts and installation tooling are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,152,628, 3,648,747, 3,711,931, 4,242,793 and 4,971,499, all assigned to the assignee of the present application.
More recently, self-attaching stud and nut fasteners have been developed and commercialized having an annular barrel portion which projects from the body portion of the fastener. The barrel portion performs a similar function to the pilot portion of the pierce and clinch nuts described in the above-referenced U.S. patents; however the barrel portion of the fastener is deformed radially outwardly simultaneously with the deformation of the panel to form a very secure mechanical interlock between the fastener and the panel. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,711,021, 4,713,872, 4,915,558 and 4,831,698 disclose typical examples of such self-attaching studs and nuts and commercial embodiments of the installation tooling.
The installation tooling for such self-attaching fasteners, however, places certain limitations upon the use of such fasteners. Where the installation head is attached to the upper die shoe in a "down pierce" arrangement, the panel and die button are rigidly supported in the lower die shoe. In an "up pierce" arrangement, the pierce nut must be rigidly supported in the lower die shoe and the die button is in the upper platen. Thus, it is not possible to install a self-attaching fastener of the type described above in a tube or enclosed structure, particularly from inside the structure. The tube will collapse under the force of the installation unless the wall to which the fastener is being attached and die button are rigidly supported. However, structural metal tubes are now used in many applications, including automotive applications, requiring attachment of components and other structural members to the structural metal tubes. The thickness of the wall of the metal tube may be 1/8 inch or greater. In many applications, the structural tube is preferably flattened at the point of connection. Thus, attachment of a component to a structural metal tube may require flattening of the tube at the point of connection, then welding a weld nut to the flattened area, or use of a clamp. The method and apparatus of the present invention is particularly suitable for attaching self-attaching nuts of the type described above to structural metal tubes or the metal wall of an enclosed structure, from inside the tube or structure. The self-attaching fastener may be installed with one stroke of the press and the area surrounding the fastener is simultaneously flattened to form a cradle or saddle for attachment of a second structural element or component. Thus, the method and apparatus of this invention solves a difficult problem associated with prior methods and apparatus, permitting the use of conventional self-attaching fasteners in enclosed structures, such as structural tubes.

Apparatus for attaching a fastener to an enclosed structure