A recording/reproducing device includes an optical head unit which performs writing and reading of information expressed by marks and spaces on an optical recording medium by irradiating laser light onto the optical recording medium, a laser driving pulse generating unit that generates a laser driving pulse according to the recorded information to supply a laser driving signal to the optical head unit, and executes the irradiation of the laser light onto the optical head unit for recording, an evaluation value calculating unit that calculates a quality evaluation value, which is an index of recording signal quality based on a signal read from the optical recording medium by the optical head unit, and an adjustment controlling unit that performs an adjustment setting of the laser driving pulse generated in the laser driving pulse generating unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording/reproducing device and a laser driving pulse adjusting method for optical recording media, for example, recording optical discs.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the recording technology for optical discs, a recording parameter constituting a recording waveform formed by a laser is generally referred to as a write strategy, and a laser is driven to be emitted based on the write strategy so that information is recorded. In the recording of information on an optical disc, adjusting a parameter of the write strategy in order to attain high recording quality is called write strategy adjustment.
The write strategy adjustment is generally performed by making corrections to a reference strategy. The reference strategy is a basic write strategy, which is used as a predetermined reference, and a specific numerical value of the reference strategy can be set by a media manufacturer (recorded in advance on a medium) or stored in advance in a drive.
Here, generally, the write strategy adjustment can be performed for each optical disc to be loaded in a drive. That is, the write strategy is known to be closely related to the material and thickness of the recording film of an optical disc, the configuration of the grooves, and the like, and it is thus necessary that the write strategy be optimized for each optical disc to be used.
In addition, the write strategy adjustment is necessary for reducing variations in drives.
In this case, there are the following reasons that each of the drives performs the write strategy adjustment.
That is, in the market, many types of optical discs that are difficult to be handled by drive manufacturers are distributed, and so much research effort is necessary for preparing appropriate write strategies in advance for all optical discs distributed in the market. This is time-consuming and also raises the cost of drives. Additionally, measures such as firmware updates for drives are necessary in order to respond to media distributed after the drives are shipped, which is also time-consuming.
Due to the reasons described above, it is necessary that the write strategy adjustment is performed by drives during recording.
An example of a specific technique of the write strategy adjustment is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-200418.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-200418 described "Standard recording pulse conditions specifying recording pulse positions for plural possible mark length and space length combinations are read from a writable optical disk. These standard recording pulse conditions are used for test writing. The standard recording pulse conditions are changed uniformly or individually, and a best recording pulse condition is obtained, thereby reducing jitter".
Disclosed is the simplest technique that the write strategy is changed several times based on the reference strategy, and subjected to test writings. Then, signal quality evaluation values for the test writings are acquired, and a write strategy with the most excellent signal quality is used in actual recording.
By employing such a technique, variations of individual optical discs and drives are reduced, thereby adjusting to an optimized write strategy.
However, since the amount and orientation of variation of the optimized write strategy from the reference strategy vary depending on the combination of optical disc drives, in order to realize strategy adjustment with high accuracy in the technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-200418, test writing is supposed to be performed which is assigned with adjustment values of the write strategy in a relatively extensive range. In other words, from this point, the technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-200418 tends to have a large amount of test writing to be performed for the strategy adjustment, and there is a problem that a long adjustment time is necessary accordingly.
It is effective to use calculation by linear approximation to achieve reduction in the adjustment time, and for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2008-84376 and 2007-521183 disclose an example of the specific technique.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-84376 discloses "When setting of two or more levels of power of laser light, a recording operation is performed for adjustment in an optical recording medium in different conditions of adjustment settings for a recording pulse, signals recorded by the recording operation are read to calculate a quality evaluation value, which is an index of recording signal quality, based on the setting conditions of the recording pulse. Thereby, quality evaluation values can be obtained for each of the setting conditions under each power setting, and an adjustment setting of the recording pulse is determined based on the quality evaluation values for each of the setting conditions of power. Accordingly, it is thus possible to determine the write strategy that can improve the total recording quality under the condition that a plurality of levels of recording power is set".
In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-521183 discloses "By using each of three recording pulse conditions, particular recording patterns are continuously recorded onto an optical disc for test and the recording patterns are continuously reproduced. An edge shift amount of a mark corresponding to each of the three recording pulse conditions is measured from each reproduction signal, and from the measured value, a correction value of the recording pulse condition is calculated by linear approximation".
In both of the techniques, test writing is performed for a plurality of write strategy and each of the signal evaluation values is obtained. Then, calculation is performed based on the result by using an arithmetic expression by a predetermined linear approximation, and the write strategy is adjusted.
Here, with reference to FIGS. 16A, 16B, and 17, a specific example of the flow of a series of adjustment processes including laser recording power adjustment when write strategy by such calculation is to be elicited will be explained.
FIGS. 16A and 16B show an example of the content (position) and arrangement order of each recoding on an optical disc in an adjustment operation, and FIG. 17 shows an example of the order of a process to be performed in order to realize an adjustment operation in such a case.
A writable optical disc medium, for example, Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, Blu-ray Disc (BD: registered trademark)-R, or BD-RE, is provided with areas to be subjected to adjustment such as laser power or write strategy (adjustment area, test area) in innermost circumferential part and outermost circumferential part thereon. In the drawing, a case where adjustment using a test area in the outermost circumferential side is performed is exemplified.
In this case, each medium as described above is regulated such that the test area is used from the side of higher address numbers. A position A shown in FIG. 16A corresponds to a position A shown in FIG. 16B, and in the same manner, a position B shown in FIG. 16A corresponds to a position B shown in FIG. 16B.
In addition, in FIG. 16A, the arrow indicates a direction of writing and reading.
Moreover, on each medium as described above, a test area in the outermost circumferential part has about 5 clusters (a cluster is a unit of error correction) for one cycle.
In the example shown in FIGS. 16A, 16B, and 17, prior to an adjustment operation of the write strategy, adjustment operation of laser recording power, as so-called Optimum Power Control (OPC), is performed. Specifically, recording for recording power adjustment (Step S1001 in FIG. 17) as the recording power adjustment recording <1> shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B, acquisition of the evaluation value of the recording spot for <1> (S1002), and recording power adjustment based on the evaluation value (S1003) are performed.
As described above, since the case is regulated such that the test area is used from the side of higher address numbers, the recording power adjustment recording <1> is performed such that a cluster with the highest address number (a cluster in the outermost circumference in this case) within an unrecorded area is used in the test area. In this case, since the recording power adjustment recording <1> has a recording length of one cluster as shown in FIG. 16A, the recording power adjustment recording <1> is performed for the cluster with the highest address number.
Then, trial writing and acquisition of evaluation values are performed for strategy calculation. Specifically, as the strategy calculation and recording for reproduction pull-in (S1004), recording from reproduction pull-in recording <5> to strategy calculation recording <4> to <2> in FIGS. 16A and 16B is performed, and then, evaluation values of each recording spot of strategy calculation recording <4> to <2> are acquired (S1005).
Here, the reproduction pull-in recording <5> is a process for performing signal recording for a pull-in process necessary for reproducing data, such as pull-in of, Phase Locked Loop (PLL), Auto Gain Control (AGC), or the like. It is needless to say that the reproduction pull-in recording <5> is used as a pull-in area when the recording spots of the strategy calculation recording <4> to <2> are reproduced in the acquisition of evaluation values.
In addition, the strategy calculation recording <4> to <2> is a process for performing signal recording by changing each of the write strategies several times.
After the evaluation values are acquired for each of the strategy calculation recordings <4> to <2>, an optimized write strategy is calculated based on the evaluation values (S1006). In other words, an optimized write strategy is calculated based on a predetermined arithmetic expression (an arithmetic expression by linear approximation) and the evaluation values.
Then, a write strategy calculated as such is set (S1007).

Recording/reproducing device and laser driving pulse adjusting method


A print head and a detector are mounted on a carriage of a serial printer. An information acquiring portion acquires information for determining whether to detect a print medium. An existence-detection determining portion determines whether to detect existence of the print medium based on the information acquired by the information acquiring portion. An existence-detection controlling portion controls, when the existence-detection determining portion determines that detection should be performed, the carriage to move to a position at which the detector confronts a print-medium conveying path and controls the detector to detect the existence of the print medium prior to printing. A print controlling portion controls the print head and the carriage to print the image based on the print data. The print controlling portion prohibits the print head and the carriage from printing the image based on the print data when the detector detects no print medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a serial printer, an inkjet serial printer, and a serial printer with a facsimile function, and more particularly to the aforementioned serial printers that execute a process to prevent images from being printed on a platen of the printer.
2. Description of Related Art
In conventional serial printers, printing is performed regardless of whether a print medium is present over the platen, resulting in wasteful ink consumption. If ink or another printing material is left deposited on the platen, this ink may become deposited on subsequently conveyed print media, soiling the underside hereof. A printing device was proposed in Japanese examined patent-application publication (kokoku) No. HEI-7-108593 to resolve this problem. In this printing device, a sensor is provided on the print head for detecting the print medium. The sensor detects the existence of the print medium prior to the printing operation, and the printing device only executes the printing operation when paper is present.

Serial printer with print-medium detecting function


Sucker rod guide clamping devices which in a first embodiment include a scissor clamping device provided with a pair of pivotally-disposed clamping jaws pivotally attached to corresponding pivoting jaw arms. One of the clamping jaws is provided with a projecting plate for engaging a sucker rod and the oppositely-disposed clamping jaw includes a pair of engaging flanges for receiving and seating a slotted sucker rod guide, wherein the sucker rod guide is installed on the sucker rod by pressure applied to the jaw arms. In a second embodiment a piston clamping device includes a C-shaped frame, in which is mounted a fluid cylinder, with a pair of engaging flanges provided in the frame for receiving a sucker rod guide and a fluid cylinder piston adapted to engage a sucker rod. Operation of the fluid cylinder extends the piston, forces the sucker rod into the sucker rod guide slot and installs the sucker rod guide on the sucker rod.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to sucker rod guides mounted on sucker rods for spacing the sucker rods from well tubing while pumping oil from a well. More particularly, the invention relates to clamping devices for attaching slotted sucker rod guides to sucker rods in a fast and efficient manner. In a first preferred embodiment of the invention the clamping device is characterized by a scissor clamping apparatus which includes a pair of pivotally disposed jaws, one of which is fitted with a concave jaw insert for engaging the sucker rod and the other having a V-shaped engaging seat shaped by a pair of flanges, for receiving and seating a slotted sucker rod guide. A pair of elongated arms are pivotally attached to each other and to the clamping jaws, such that pressure applied to the arms forces the sucker rod into the slot provided in the sucker rod guide and installs the sucker rod guide on the sucker rod. In a second preferred embodiment the sucker rod guide clamping device is characterized by a piston-operated clamping device that includes a generally C-shaped frame, one end of which is fitted with a V-shaped engaging seat. A fluid-operated cylinder is mounted in the frame with the piston facing the engaging seat and the cylinder piston is shaped to engage the sucker rod, force the sucker rod into the slot in the sucker rod guide and mount the sucker rod guide on the sucker rod.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One of the problems encountered in mounting slotted plastic sucker rod guides on sucker rods in the oil field is the minimal resiliency of the sucker rod guides, especially in cold weather. In a typical application, the sucker rod guides are positioned with the guide slots located adjacent to the sucker rod and the guides are sharply struck with a hammer, mallet or other tool to momentarily "spring" the walls of the sucker rod guide slot and force the sucker rod into the sucker rod guide bore. This procedure is not recommended because of the possibility of the impact fracturing the rod, which could cause the rod to part at a later time due to the down-hole stresses in the producing operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,435, dated Apr. 17, 1979, to Gordon E. Smith, details a "Key Slug Knockout Tool" which includes a pair of jaws mounted on handles pivotally connected adjacent to the jaws. One jaw has a seat to locate the end portion of the head of a key which is positioned beyond the slug and the other jaw having a pair of spaced lugs positioned to straddle the key ring and engage the opposite portions of the slug that are on opposite sides of the hole in the slug, to punch the slug from head of the key when the jaws are moved toward each other. Pliers for plastic radiator tank replacement are detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,273, dated Oct. 12, 1982, to Gerald A. Freberg. The pliers include a special hook-configured jaw adapted to grip and bend separate tabs on a radiator header. The pliers for reattaching the header plate includes opposed identical jaws, each having a concave, arcuate face adapted to engage and close separate locking tabs. U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,483, dated Oct. 6, 1987, to Herman R. Rodgers, details a tool for attaching and detaching a spring clip from a shaft. The tool includes two jaws, the first having a seat for receiving a shaft, to which a split ring clip is to be attached or detached. The second jaw includes a head with two selected indexed positions, the first positioned for detaching the clip and having prongs adapted to contact the ends of the clip and the second positioned for attaching the clip and including a seat for holding the clip with its open side facing the first jaw. The tool also includes a receptacle to catch tile clip when detached and a mechanism for moving the jaws together in a meshing relationship. Pipe tongs are detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,578, dated May 14, 1991, to Melvin L. Flentge. The pipe tongs include a fixed handle having a removable pipe clamp at one end and an adjustable screw at the other end. A movable jaw member with a removable pipe clamp is provided at one end thereof and a movable handle is connected to the movable jaw member at one end and has a latch with an operating lever at the other end. A linkage is connected between the movable handle and the adjustment screw to provide an adjustable toggle or locking mechanism for the handles and movable jaw member of the tongs. A catch on the fixed handle is engaged by the latch to secure tile movable handle in a locked, closed position. A tool for installation of clip is detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,292, dated Jun. 11, 1991, to Russell C. Hammer, et al. The tool is characterized by a plier-type hand tool for assembling a cable fitting to a manually-operable gearshift mechanism by means of a spring metal clip retainer. The tool includes adjustable "channel lock" type jaws for engaging a cable and fitting.
The sucker rod guide clamping devices of this invention eliminate the requirement of striking the sucker rod guide, in favor of clamping the sucker rod guide on the sucker rod. The mechanism by which this is accomplished is dual jaws in the scissor clamping device and the fluid-operated piston in the piston clamping device.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide sucker rod clamping devices for clamping slotted sucker rod guides on sucker rods.
Another object of the invention is to provide a scissor clamping device having a pair of pivoted clamping jaws, one of which jaws engages the sucker rod and the other of which engages the sucker rod guide, with pivotally connected arms pivotally attached to the jaws for forcing the jaws together and clamping the sucker rod guide on the sucker rod.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a scissor clamping device for attaching slotted sucker rod guides to sucker rods, which scissor clamping device includes a pair of pivoted clamping jaws, one of which is fitted with a concave jaw insert for engaging a sucker rod and the other with a V-shaped pair of engaging flanges for receiving and seating a sucker rod guide, wherein closing of the jaws forces the sucker rod into the slot provided in the sucker rod guide.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a piston clamping device for securing a sucker rod in a slotted sucker rod guide, which piston clamping device includes a C-shaped frame provided with a fluid-operated cylinder having a piston shaped for engaging the sucker rod, the frame also provided with V-shaped engaging flanges for seating the sucker rod guide, such that operation of the fluid-operated cylinder extends the piston and forces the sucker rod into the slotted sucker rod guide.


A peroxidase gene derived from Arthromyse ramosus and its cloning and expression in E. coli and yeast is disclosed. The peroxidase encoded by this gene is not-specific and does not contain isozymes and hence is suitable as a diagnostic reagent or as a marker enzyme in enzyme innunoassays.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cDNA encoding a peroxidase originating from a microorganism (Arthromyces ramosus) and a process for producing the peroxidase by use of host cells containing said gene.
2. Prior Art
In recent years, peroxidases, which are enzymes capable of oxidizing various compounds in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, have been used in the same way as various other oxidases as a clinical diagnostic reagent in assays of glucose, cholesterol, phospholipids, urea and so forth. These enzymes have also been used as a labelled enzyme in enzyme linked immunoassays. They have mainly been produced from plants such as horseradish and Japanese radish. However peroxidases originating from these plants contain isozymes having slightly differing properties from each other, and which therefore require considerable labour costs in order to purify them to such a degree that they are usable as a diagnostic reagent.
On the other hand, some peroxidases of microbial origin have been known. However cytochrome c peroxidases and NADH peroxidases produced by bacteria or fungi are unsuitable as a clinical or diagnostic reagent from the viewpoint of the specificity thereof, since they are generally less specific than the common ones originating from horseradish or Japanese radish. Recently, peroxidases capable of acting on o-dianisidine as a hydrogen donor have been produced from Eschelichia coli or microorganisms belonging to the genus Myrothecium. However this enzyme is also unsuitable for the aforesaid diagnostic use due to the carcinogenic nature of o-dianisidine.
Under these circumstances, the present inventors conducted research to obtain a naturally occurring peroxidase of microbial origin, which is usable as, for example, a clinical diagnostic reagent or a labelled enzyme in enzyme linked immunoassays similar to conventional ones originating from horseradish or Japanese radish. The inventors have already reported a peroxidase produced by a fungus belonging to the genus Arthromyces, which peroxidase has the desired properties (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 43987/1986). They further clarified that the peroxidase of the genus Arthromyces is far superior to conventional peroxidases in terms of chemiluminescence generating activity in the case of determining with chemiluminescent reagent, for example, peroxides, as a clinical diagnostic reagent or a labelled enzyme in an enzyme linked immunoassay (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 219398/1988).


A process for the alkylation of isobutane is disclosed wherein isobutane is fed to two separate alkylation systems. The effluent from the first alkylation system is fed to an interim debutanizer where the C4's are separated from the alkylate product. The overhead C4 product is then fed to the second alkylation system to provide the isobutane. The effluent from the second alkylation system is fed to a traditional deisobutanizer to prevent any build up of normal butanes in the system.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the alkylation of paraffinic hydrocarbon feed stocks wherein an olefin is reacted with isobutane to produce an alkylate product. More particularly the invention relates to a process wherein an intermediate debutanizer is utilized between two alkylation systems to provide a first alkylate product and a concentrated isobutane stream for use in a second alkylation system. The process eliminates the need for a second deisobutanizer.
2. Related Information
Alkylation is the reaction of a paraffin, usually isoparaffins, with an olefin in the presence of a strong acid which produces paraffins, e.g., of higher octane number than the starting materials and which boil in range of gasoline. In petroleum refining the reaction is generally the reaction of a C3 to C5 olefin with isobutane.
In refining alkylations, hydrofluoric or sulfuric acid catalysts are most widely used. For sulfuric acid catalyzed alkylation low temperature or cold acid processes are favored because side reactions are minimized. In the traditional process the reaction is carried out in a reactor where the hydrocarbon reactants are dispersed into a continuous acid phase. In view of the fact that the cold acid process will continue to be the process of choice, various proposals have been made to improve and enhance the reaction and, to some extent, moderate the undesirable effects.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A substrate bonding apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display (LCD) device includes stages, wherein the degree to which the stages are bent is minimized by the presence of elastic members.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to manufacturing apparatuses, and more particularly, to a substrate bonding apparatus for manufacturing liquid crystal display (LCD) devices formed via liquid crystal dispensing methods.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
With the expansion of the information society, a need has arisen for displays capable of producing high quality images in thin, lightweight packages and that consume little power. To meet such needs, research has produced a variety of flat panel display devices, including liquid crystal displays (LCD), plasma displays (PDP), electro luminescent displays (ELD), and vacuum fluorescent displays (VFD). Some of these display technologies have already been applied in information displays.
Of the various types of flat panel display devices, LCD devices, having excellent display quality, light weight, thin dimensions, and consuming low amounts of power, have been very widely used. In fact, in portable devices, such as notebook PC computers, LCD technology has already replaced cathode ray tubes (CRT) as the display of choice. Moreover, even in desktop PCs and in TV monitors, LCDs devices are becoming more common.
Despite various technical developments in LCD technology, however, research in enhancing the picture quality of LCD devices has been lacking compared to research in other features and advantages of LCD devices (e.g., light weight, thin profile, low power consumption, etc.). Therefore, to increase the use of LCD devices as displays in various fields of application, LCD devices capable of expressing high quality images (e.g., images having a high resolution and a high luminance) with large-sized screens, while still maintaining a light weight, minimal dimensions, and low power consumption must be developed.
Related art LCD devices can generally be fabricated according to either a liquid crystal injection method or a liquid crystal dispensing method. In fabricating LCDs using the liquid crystal injection method, a sealant pattern is formed on one of two substrates, wherein the sealant pattern includes an injection inlet; the other of the two substrates is bonded to the one substrate in a first vacuum chamber; and liquid crystal material is injected through the injection inlet in a second vacuum chamber. Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2000-284295 and 2001-5405 can be understood to disclose a method of dispensing liquid crystal material wherein, after liquid crystal material is dispensed onto one of two substrates, the other of the two substrates is then arranged over, and bonded to the one substrate in a vacuum. Generally, liquid crystal material dispensing methods are advantageous over liquid crystal material injection methods because they reduce the number of fabrication steps required to fabricate LCD panels (e.g., formation of the liquid crystal injection hole, injection of the liquid crystal material, sealing of the liquid crystal injection hole, etc., are omitted), thereby simplifying fabrication of LCD panels. Accordingly, fabricating LCD panels by dispensing liquid crystal material have been the subject of recent research.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a related art substrate bonding device used in fabricating LCD panels formed with dispensed liquid crystal material.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a related art substrate bonding device is provided with a frame 10, an upper stage 21, a lower stage 22, a sealant dispensing part (not shown), a liquid crystal material dispensing part 30, an upper chamber unit 31, a lower chamber unit 32, chamber moving system, and stage moving system.
The sealant dispensing part (not shown) and liquid crystal dispensing part 30 are typically provided at a side portion of the frame 10. Moreover, the upper and lower chamber units 31 and 32, respectively, can be joined to each other to bond substrates of an LCD panel.
The chamber moving system generally includes a driving motor 40 for moving the lower chamber unit 32 laterally to predetermined positions where the substrates are to be bonded (S2) and where the sealant material is to be coated and where the liquid crystal material is to be dispensed (SI). The stage moving system includes a driving motor 50 for raising and lowering the upper stage 21 to predetermined positions.
A method for fabricating an LCD panel using the related art substrate bonding apparatus will now be described in greater detail.
A first substrate 51 is positioned on the lower stage 22 of the lower chamber unit 32 and the chamber moving system 40 moves the lower chamber unit 32 under the upper chamber unit 31 such that the lower stage 22 is beneath the upper stage 21. Next, the driving motor 50 of the stage moving system lowers the upper stage 21 to a predetermined position such that the first substrate 51 is secured to the lowered upper stage 21. Subsequently, the upper stage 21, to which the first substrate 51 is secured, is raised to a predetermined position. The chamber moving system 40 then moves the lower chamber unit 32 to a position where a second substrate 52 is loaded on the lower stage 22. Subsequently, the chamber moving system 40 moves the lower chamber unit 32 to a first predetermined position S1 (as shown in FIG. 1). At the first predetermined position S1, sealant material coating and liquid crystal material dispensing processes are applied to the second substrate 52 using the sealant dispensing part (not shown) and the liquid crystal dispensing part 30, respectively. After the coating the sealant material and dispensing the liquid crystal material, the chamber moving system 40 moves the lower chamber unit 32 to a second predetermined position S2 (as shown in FIG. 2) where the first and second substrates 51 and 52, respectively, can be bonded together. Next, the upper and lower chamber units 31 and 32, respectively, are joined to each other such that the upper and lower stages 21 and 22, respectively, are arranged within an enclosed space. A vacuum is then created within the enclosed space using an evacuating means (not shown). After the vacuum is created, the stage moving system 50 lowers the upper stage 21 such that the first substrate 51, secured to the upper stage 21, contacts the second substrate 52 on the lower stage 22. The upper stage 21 is lowered until the two substrates become bonded, thereby completing the fabrication of the LCD panel.
Use of the aforementioned related art substrate LCD device substrate bonding device is disadvantageous, however, because the overall size of the aforementioned related art substrate bonding device is excessively large, especially when designed to fabricate large-sized LCD panels. The excessively large overall size of the related substrate bonding device creates problems when designing LCD device fabrication processes because an adequate amount of space must be provided to install the related art substrate bonding device while preserving the space in which other apparatuses of other processes are located.
Further, the space between the upper and lower chamber units 31 and 32 is excessively large and increases the amount of time required to create a vacuum during bonding of the substrates.
Finally, the related art substrate bonding apparatus cannot substantially prevent the stages from being bent. More specifically, the upper and lower stages may be bent due to the weight of the stages themselves and due to a difference in pressure between the interior and the exterior of the substrate bonding apparatus. When the stages become bent, the first and second substrates are bonded together poorly.

Substrate bonding apparatus for manufacturing liquid crystal display device


A virtual LAN (VLAN) has a number of segments connected by connections in a connection-oriented network. The topology of the VLAN is defined by a spanning tree. Cell sources on the connections send continuity checking cells in a direction toward the spanning tree root to corresponding cell sinks. The cell sinks can trigger a change in the topology of the VLAN if the reception of continuity checking cells is interrupted. The connection-oriented network may be an ATM network. The continuity checking cells may be OAM cells.

In this disclosure the term virtual LAN ("VLAN") means a data communication network which comprises a number of segments which are connected together by links which operate according to a networking protocol different from that of the network segments. For example, two segments of an ethernet network may be connected by way of a connection in a connection-based network. The connection may be, for example, a virtual circuit in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network or a path in an MPLS network. Each of the network segments may be interfaced to the connection-based network by a bridge.
Data may be delivered between the segments in any of a wide number of ways. For example, where the segments comprise ethernet segments and the network which connects the segments comprises an ATM network, then ethernet frames may be carried between the segments according to standards such as local area network emulation ("LANE"), multi-protocol over ATM ("MPOA") or IP over ATM. The particular format by which data is conveyed between network segments is not important to this invention.
The topology of a VLAN is typically initially established using a protocol such as the spanning tree protocol (STP). STP generates a network topology which is defined by a spanning tree. The spanning tree defines a topology which does not include any loops. After the topology has been established, a bridge at a root of the spanning tree generates and sends toward the leaves of the spanning tree bridge protocol data units BPDUs. If a bridge at a leaf in the spanning tree fails to receive a BPDU within a defined time period, the bridge can trigger a request for a topology change. If a new path to the bridge exists then the topology change will incorporate the new path into the network.
IEEE standard 802.1Q provides a set of capabilities which permit media access control (MAC) bridges to define and manage networks in which multiple broadcast domains can co-exist on a single physical medium. This IEEE standard uses the term "VLAN" to describe such networks. In this disclosure the term VLAN is not used in the same sense as it is in IEEE 802.1Q (although this invention may be applied to networks which operate, or which include portions which operate, according to IEEE 802.1Q). IEEE standard 802.1D describes the operation of MAC bridges.
There are various standards applicable to ATM networks in which operations, administration, and management ("OAM") cells are used for monitoring connections within the ATM network. These include Bellcore UNI specification 3.1 and ITU-I.610.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,181,680 describes a method for testing ATM networks using OAM cells.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,141 discloses a method for identifying those nodes passed through by a virtual connection which joins two end nodes. The method sends trace cells downstream from a monitoring node toward an endpoint. Each downstream node either loops back a trace cell identifying itself to the monitoring node or forwards the trace cell further.
There exists a need for cost-effective methods and apparatus for providing fault tolerance mechanisms in VLANs.

Method and apparatus for checking continuity of leaf-to-root VLAN connections


Communications between a device and a debugging system are effectuated by programming an ICE with a first logic set, which enables the ICE to establish communications with the device and determine a unique identifier thereof. The ICE communicates the device's unique identifier back to a host computer. The host computer matches the unique identifier to a second logic set and a plug-in module. The host computer then programs the ICE with the second logic set and activates the plug-in module. The second logic set allow the ICE and the device to execute program instructions downloaded with the second logic set in lock-step fashion. The plug-in module allows the host computer to interact in the debugging process as necessary. This achieves flexibility, because any ICE may be programmed to communicate with any device.

Debugging software (e.g., done with debugger equipment) effectuates correction of problems in software by finding errors in program logic, and in hardware by finding errors in circuitry. Debuggers stop programs at certain breakpoints and display various programming elements regarding the machine's internal state. This allows programmers to step through program source code statements individually and sequentially, while corresponding machine instructions are being executed and observed, and correct and/or modify the code as necessary.
Debuggers may deploy an in-circuit emulator (ICE) to follow certain functions and features of a device, such as a microcontroller or other integrated circuit (IC). The ICE thus allows debugger software to place code within a device under test, set breakpoints and other debugging functions therein, and prompt the device under test to implement supervisory and other debugging operations. These ICE functions further allow the debugger software to "look into" memory, registers, and other internal resources of the device under test to observe the effects corresponding to the execution of the program code.
An IC device, such as a microcontroller, may be deployed upon a pod for testing. The pod electrically interconnects the microcontroller or other IC to be tested with the ICE. There are many varieties of microcontrollers and other IC's in existence and under development. Information may change with each different device. Such information may include the way in which decoding of supervisory operational codes are performed. The types of information that might change with each different device may also include the reset sequence of the device. Further, the types of information that might change with each different device may include the way in which the device is programmed.
As a result, separate ICE's are typically required for each different microcontroller or other IC that needs to be tested and debugged. Further, if the same microcontroller or other IC to which a particular ICE corresponds is deployed upon a different pod, yet another separate ICE may be required. In general, a particular emulator is limited to operating with a single type of microcontroller or other IC.
A user of a conventional debugging system, may thus be forced to access and maintain a variety of different ICE's for each and every microcontroller or other IC they test. Also, each time a user of a conventional debugging system changes the microcontrollers or other ICs to be tested, they must acquire the corresponding ICE. Further, a user of a conventional debugging system who is developing new microcontrollers or other ICs must develop corresponding ICEs to test them. A user may thus find a conventional debugging system problematic for a number of reasons.
For instance, a conventional debugging system may require access to a variety of different ICEs for each and every microcontroller or other IC they must test. This may limit the flexibility of the conventional debugging system, especially when microcontrollers or other ICs in use change. Also, ICEs are not inexpensive, and upon acquisition, they must be properly selected, stored and maintained. This adds expense to the cost of a debugging system.
As new microcontrollers or other ICs are developed, a unique, corresponding ICE must be also be individually developed to some degree. This adds complexity to the development of the associated microcontroller or other IC. It also affects the cost of development of that device. This is because the cost of developing the associated ICE must be factored in with that of the development of the microcontroller or other IC, adding to their expense, also.
Each version must also be correctly matched to a particular pod and/or microcontroller or other IC. This adds complexity to the debugging or other test process in general, and to the component matching process in particular. These problems render debugging in a distributed hardware environment by conventional means expensive, time consuming, resource intensive, and laborious.

System and method for automatically matching components in a debugging system


Printing with a single colorant a security feature imperceptible to the naked eye. For a digital security image having a first region formed by a first pattern of binary pixels and a second region formed by a different second pattern of binary pixels, the first and second patterns are printed with the single colorant. A darker one of the first and second printed patterns is determined. The security image is printed with the single colorant, the region corresponding to the darker printed pattern printed at a reduced gray level such that the printed first and second regions appear substantially indistinguishable to the naked eye.

It is desirable to prevent unauthorized or counterfeit reproduction or forgery of many types of original documents. Such documents may include paper currency, negotiable instruments, event tickets, official records, medical prescriptions, diplomas, and many others.
As copier technology has improved, it has become easier to make realistic-looking copies of many of these original documents. In many cases, a copy can be difficult to distinguish from the original. In response, producers of these documents have added features to documents that make them harder to copy. These features often take the form of a security background printed on the original document by a high resolution printing process such as offset printing. Offset printing is typically an analog printing operation performed at a resolution that is equivalent to between 2,400 and 10,000 dots per inch (dpi). This security background on the original document is substantially indistinguishable to the naked eye at a normal viewing distance. However, a typical copier has scanning and printing capabilities that are of lower resolution than that of offset printing, often in the range of 300 to 1200 dpi. In addition, the optical scanner of a typical copier perceives and captures the security background differently from the human eye. As a result, the security background is readily detectable by the human eye on a reproduced document.
Nonetheless, in many applications it is desirable to print original documents on digital printing systems that are of lower resolution than offset printing, and of comparable resolution to copiers. Offset printing typically has high setup costs, and thus is cost-effective for printing large quantities of the identical document. However, many original documents are not printed in large quantities, and often original documents are printed in single quantity. For example, even if a set of diplomas for a particular university is printed in a single print run, the name of the graduate on each diploma will be different. Thus digital printing systems would be better suited to such applications than offset printing systems.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A high impedance surface having a reflection phase of zero in multiple frequency bands and a method of making same. The high impedance surface includes a ground plane; a plurality of conductive plates disposed in a first array spaced a distance from the ground plane, the distance being less than a wavelength of the radio frequency beam, said first array having a first lattice constant; and a plurality of conductive elements associated with said plurality of conductive plates, said plurality of conductive elements defining a second array, said second array having a lattice constant greater than the lattice constant of the first array.

This invention relates to the field of antennas, and particularly to the area of high impedance (xe2x80x9cHi-Zxe2x80x9d) surfaces and to dual band, or multiple frequency band antennas.
A high impedance (Hi-Z) surface is a ground plane which has been provided with a special texture that alters its electromagnetic properties. Important properties include the suppression of surface waves, in-phase reflection of electromagnetic waves, and the fact that thin antennas may be printed or otherwise formed directly on the Hi-Z surface.
An embodiment of a Hi-Z surface is the subject of a previously pending provisional application of D. Sievenpiper and E. Yablonovitch, xe2x80x9cCircuit and Method for Eliminating Surface Currents on Metalsxe2x80x9d, U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/079,953, filed on Mar. 30, 1998. Several improvements have been described in recently filed U.S. patent applications, including Ser. No. 09/520,503 for xe2x80x9cA Polarization Converting Reflectorxe2x80x9d filed Mar. 8, 2000; 09/537,921 entitled xe2x80x9cAn End-Fire Antenna or Array on Surface with Tunable Impedancexe2x80x9d filed Mar. 29, 2000; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/537,922 entitled xe2x80x9cAn Electronically Tunable Reflectorxe2x80x9d filed Mar. 29, 2000, the disclosures of all of which are hereby incorporated herein by this reference.
This invention relates to techniques that extend the usefulness a Hi-Z surface by providing it with multiple-band operation, while preserving the inherent symmetry of the structure. This is an important development because it will allow for thin antennas operating in multiple bands. For example, one antenna could cover both GPS bands (1.2 and 1.5 GHz). A single antenna could also cover both the PCs band at 1.9 GHz. and the unlicensed band at 2.4 GHz, which is becoming increasingly important for such platforms as Bluetooth, new portable phones, and satellite radio broadcasting.
The present invention permits multiple band antennas to be much thinner than an ordinary Hi-Z surface having the same overall bandwidth, and also extends the maximum possible bandwidth of such surfaces by allowing them to have multiple high-impedance bands.
A high impedance (Hi-Z) surface consists of a flat sheet of metal covered by a periodic texture of metal plates which protrude slightly from the flat sheet. The Hi-Z surface is usually constructed as a two-layer or three-layer printed circuit board, in which the metal plates are printed on the top layers, and connected to the flat ground plane on the bottom layer by metal plated vias. One example of such a structure, consisting of a triangular lattice of hexagonal metal plates, is shown in FIG. 1 (the printed circuit boards are omitted in FIG. 1 for the sake of clarity in depicting the conductive elements). The metal plates have finite capacitance due to their proximity to their neighbors. They are linked by conducting paths which include the vias and the lower metal plate, and these paths contribute inductance. The result is a pattern of LC resonators, whose resonance frequency depends on the geometry of these elements. Each pair of adjacent metal plates in combination with their plated metal vias and the metal ground plane define a xe2x80x9ccellxe2x80x9d of the Hi-Z surface. A typical Hi-Z surface can have hundreds or even thousands of such cells.
The conventional high-impedance surface shown in FIG. 1 consists of an array of identical metal top plates or elements 10 disposed above a flat metal sheet or ground plane 12. It can be fabricated using printed circuit board technology with the metal plates or elements 10 formed on a top or first surface of a printed circuit board and a solid conducting ground or back plane 12 formed on a bottom or second surface of the printed circuit board. Vertical connections are formed as metal plated vias 14 in the printed circuit board, which connect the elements 10 with the underlying ground plane 12. The vias 14 are centered on elements 10. The metal members, comprising the top plates 10 and the vias 14, are arranged in a two-dimensional lattice of cells, and can be visualized as mushroom-shaped or thumbtack-shaped members protruding slightly from the flat metal surface 12. The thickness of the structure, which is controlled by the thickness of substrate 16, which is preferably provided by a printed circuit board, is much less than one wavelength xcex for the frequencies of interest. The sizes of the elements 10 are also kept less than one wavelength xcex for the frequencies of interest. The printed circuit board 16 is not shown in FIG. 1 for ease of illustration, but it can be readily seen in FIG. 2a. A large number of metal top plates may be utilized in forming a Hi-Z surface and only a small portion of the array of top plates 10 is shown in FIG. 1 for ease of illustration.
This structure has two important properties. It can suppress surface waves from propagating across the ground plane, and it provides a high surface impedance, which allows antennas to lie flat against it without being shorted out. However, these two properties only occur over a particular frequency band. The frequency and bandwidth of the high impedance region can be tuned by varying the capacitance and the inductance of the surface. The inductance depends on the thickness, which directly determines the bandwidth. The bandwidth is equal to 2xcfx80t/xcex, where t is the thickness, and xcex is the wavelength at resonance. For structures operating in the range of tens of GHz, a few millimeters of thickness provides bandwidth approaching an octave. However, for the important frequency regimes of S-band, and L-band, this thickness provides a bandwidth of only 10-20%. For UHF frequencies, several centimeters of thickness t provide no more than a few percent bandwidth.
Multiple band antennas often do not need to cover the entire frequency range spanning all bands of interest. However, with a multiple band Hi-Z surface such as that described herein, it is possible to cover several narrow bands that are separated by relatively wide bands of unused frequencies. In fact, this may be advantageous for suppressing out-of-band interference. For multiple band antennas, it is desirable to have a surface which provides a high impedance condition in multiple bands, where the bandwidth of each individual band is much less than the total frequency separation between them. This results in a thinner structure than one designed to cover all bands simultaneously, and can also suppress reception in other undesired signals. This is illustrated by FIGS. 2a and 2b. FIG. 2a shows a conventional two layer Hi-Z surface 1 with a relatively thick dielectric substrate 16. FIG. 2a-1 is a diagram of the single band gaps afforded by the Hi-Z surface of FIG. 2a. FIG. 2b shows an embodiment of a Hi-Z surface according to the present invention. FIG. 2b-1 is a diagram of the two band gaps afforded by the Hi-Z surface of FIG. 2b. The combined thickness of the two substrates 16 and 22 of the embodiment of FIG. 2b is less than the thickness of substrate 16 typically used in the prior art with Hi-Z surfaces.
Since the dual band embodiment of FIG. 2b has two bands each of which has a relatively small bandwidth compared to the embodiment of FIG. 2a, the dual band Hi-Z surface of FIG. 2b can be significantly thinner than the prior art structure of FIG. 2a. Thus dual band Hi-Z surface is both thinner than a comparable prior art surface, it is also better at suppressing out-of-band interference.
Techniques for producing multiple band Hi-Z surfaces might be summarized as providing multiple resonant structures in which local asymmetry splits a single mode into multiple modes, so that different internal regions of the Hi-Z surface can be identified with each distinct resonance. An important feature of these multiple band Hi-Z surfaces is that they are able to retain the same degree of overall symmetry as a traditional, single-band Hi-Z surface, although often with a larger unit cell size. This can be important because it has been found experimentally that conventional Hi-Z surfaces with at least threefold rotational symmetry allow a surface-mounted antenna to have any desired orientation without affecting the properties of the received or transmitted wave. Thus, using symmetrical structures simplifies the design of certain types of antennas, such as beam-switched diversity antennas. Conversely, if polarization control or adjustment is desired, the symmetry of the surface can also be broken, as is described U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/520,503 noted above. This may be useful, for example, to allow conversion between linear and circular polarization. The present invention can be used with both symmetrical Hi-Z structures and with non-symmetrical Hi-Z structures.
In one aspect the present invention provides a high impedance surface having a reflection phase of zero in multiple frequency bands, the high impedance surface comprising: a ground plane; a plurality of conductive plates disposed in a first array spaced a distance from the ground plane, the distance being less than a wavelength of the radio frequency beam, said first array having a first lattice constant; and a plurality of conductive elements associated with said plurality of conductive plates, said plurality of conductive elements defining a second array, said second array having a lattice constant which can be the same as, or different than, the lattice constant of the first array.
The plurality of conductive elements can be provided by another array of conductive plates and/or by an array of conductive members which couple the plurality of conductive plates disposed in a first array to the ground plane.
In another aspect the present invention provides a method of making a high impedance surface exhibit a zero phase response at multiple frequencies, the method comprising the steps of: defining a high impedance surface having a ground plane and a plurality of conductive plates disposed in a first array spaced a distance from the ground plane, the distance being less than a wavelength of the radio frequency beam, defining a plurality of conductive elements associated with said plurality of conductive plates, said plurality of conductive elements connecting said plurality of conductive plates to said ground plane; and locating each of said plurality of conductive elements spaced a distance from a geometric center of an associated conductive plate and with all conductive elements associated with predetermined clusters of conductive plates being spaced in a direction pointing towards a common point for a given cluster.

Textured surface having high electromagnetic impedance in multiple frequency bands


A piezoelectric resonator has a substantially rectangular-parallelpiped-shaped base member including a plurality of laminated piezoelectric layers. The piezoelectric layers have different dimensions in the longitudinal direction of the base member. The piezoelectric layers are polarized in the longitudinal direction of the base member such that the direction of polarization differs at every other piezoelectric layer. At both surfaces of the piezoelectric layers, a plurality of internal electrodes are disposed. The internal electrodes are alternately covered by at least two insulating films disposed on opposing side surfaces of the base member such that the at least two insulating films cover different electrodes. External electrodes are provided on the opposing side surfaces of the base member and the external electrodes are connected to internal electrodes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel piezoelectric resonators and electronic components containing the same, and more particularly, to a novel piezoelectric resonator which maximizes the effective use of the mechanical resonance of a piezoelectric member, and electronic components containing such a novel piezoelectric resonator, such as an oscillator, a discriminator, and a filter.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 34 is a perspective view of a conventional piezoelectric resonator. A piezoelectric resonator 1 includes a single piezoelectric substrate 2 having, for example, a rectangular plate shape as viewed from above. The single piezoelectric substrate 2 is polarized in the thickness direction. On two opposite major surfaces of the single piezoelectric substrate 2, electrodes 3 are provided. When a signal is input between the electrodes 3, an electrical field is applied to the single piezoelectric substrate 2 in the thickness direction and the single piezoelectric substrate 2 vibrates in the longitudinal direction. In FIG. 35, there is shown a piezoelectric resonator 1 in which electrodes 3 are provided on two opposite major surfaces of a single piezoelectric substrate 2 having a square plate shape as viewed from above. The single piezoelectric substrate 2 of the piezoelectric resonator 1 is polarized in the thickness direction. When a signal is input between the electrodes 3 in the piezoelectric resonator 1, an electrical field is applied to the single piezoelectric substrate 2 in the thickness direction and the single piezoelectric substrate 2 vibrates in a square-type vibration mode (in the plane direction).
These piezoelectric resonators shown in FIGS. 34 and 35 are unstiffened type resonators, in which the vibration direction differs from the direction of polarization and the electrical field direction. The electromechanical coupling coefficient of such an unstiffened piezoelectric resonator is lower than that of a stiffened piezoelectric resonator in which each of the vibration direction, the direction of polarization, and the direction in which an electrical field is applied are the same.
An unstiffened piezoelectric resonator has a relatively small frequency difference .DELTA.F between the resonant frequency and the anti-resonant frequency. This leads to a drawback in which a frequency-band width in use is narrow when an unstiffened frequency resonator is used as an oscillator or a filter. Therefore, the degree of freedom and flexibility in resonator characteristics design is limited in such a piezoelectric resonator and electronic components including such resonators.
The piezoelectric resonator shown in FIG. 34 uses the first-order resonance in the longitudinal mode. Because of its structure, the piezoelectric resonator of FIG. 34 also generates large spurious resonances in odd-number-order harmonic modes, such as the third-order and fifth-order modes, and in a width mode. To suppress these spurious resonances, some solutions have been considered, such as polishing, increasing mass, and changing the shape of the electrode. These solutions increase manufacturing cost.
In addition, since the single piezoelectric substrate has a rectangular plate shape, the single substrate cannot be made thinner without sacrificing required strength. Therefore, the distance between the electrodes cannot be reduced and a capacitance between terminals cannot be increased. This makes it extremely difficult to achieve impedance matching with an external circuit. To form a ladder filter by alternately connecting a plurality of piezoelectric resonators in series and in parallel, the capacitance ratio of the series resonator to the parallel resonator needs to be made large in order to increase attenuation. Because a piezoelectric resonator has the shape and structural restrictions described above, however, large attenuation cannot be obtained.
In the piezoelectric resonator shown in FIG. 35, large spurious resonances such as those in the thickness mode and in the triple-wave mode in the plane direction are generated. Since the piezoelectric resonator must have a large size as compared with a piezoelectric resonator using the longitudinal vibration in order to obtain the same resonant frequency, it is difficult to reduce the size of the piezoelectric resonator shown in FIG. 35. When a ladder filter is formed by a plurality of piezoelectric resonators, in order to increase the capacitance ratio between the series resonator and the parallel resonator, the resonators connected in series must have an increased thickness and electrodes are formed only on part of a piezoelectric substrate to make the capacitance small. In this case, since the electrodes are only partially formed, the difference .DELTA.F between the resonant frequency and the anti-resonant frequency as well as the capacitance is reduced. The resonators connected in parallel are accordingly required to have small .DELTA.F. As a result, the piezoelectricity of the piezoelectric substrate is not effectively used, and the transmission band width of the filter cannot be increased.
The inventors developed a piezoelectric resonator having small spurious resonance and a large difference .DELTA.F between the resonant frequency and the antiresonant frequency. In such a piezoelectric resonator, a plurality of piezoelectric layers and a plurality of electrodes are alternately laminated to a base member, and the plurality of piezoelectric layers are polarized in the longitudinal direction of the base member. This laminated piezoelectric resonator is a stiffened type resonator, and the piezoelectric layers are arranged such that the vibration direction, the direction of polarization, and the direction in which an electric field is applied are the same. Therefore, as compared with an unstiffened piezoelectric resonator, in which the vibration direction differs from the direction of polarization and electric field, the stiffened piezoelectric resonator has a larger electromechanical coupling coefficient and a larger frequency difference .DELTA.F between the resonant frequency and the antiresonant frequency. In addition, vibrations in modes such as the width and thickness modes, which are different from the basic vibration, are unlikely to occur in a stiffened piezoelectric resonator.
Since in a piezoelectric resonator having this lamination structure, each piezoelectric layer constituting the base member has the same length in the longitudinal direction of the base member and each electrode has the same area, the capacitance between each pair of adjacent electrodes is the same and the driving force piezoelectrically generated by each piezoelectric layer is also the same.
In longitudinal basic vibration, a stronger driving force is required at a portion located closer to the center of the base member in the longitudinal direction because of the large mass extending from this portion to an end of the base member in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, the piezoelectric resonator has an insufficiently large electromechanical coupling coefficient and thus .DELTA.F is not sufficiently large.
In the piezoelectric resonator, high-order-mode vibration is unlikely to occur. Since the capacitance between each pair of adjacent electrodes is constant because each piezoelectric layer has the same length in the longitudinal direction of the base member and each electrode has the same area, however, charges generated in each piezoelectric layer by odd-number-high-order-mode vibration, such as the third-order and fifth-order vibrations, are not sufficiently canceled, causing high-order-mode spurious vibrations.

Piezoelectric resonator and electronic component containing same


A temporary holder for a physiologic mitral valve includes a structure which releasably clamps the annulus of the valve between the rim of a plate and a snap ring. The structure also includes a pair of papillary head holders which hold the papillary heads of the valve at a predetermined distance and angle from the annulus plate for optimum surgical positioning. The papillary heads are temporarily sutured to their holders and can be released by a simple scalpel stroke.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,704 issued Sep. 2, 1997 and entitled "Physiological Mitral Valve Bioprosthesis" describes the selection, preparation and positioning of a xenograft such as a porcine mitral valve for valve replacement surgery in the human heart.
As will be readily appreciated from that discussion, the orientation of the annulus and papillary heads of a xenograft mitral valve is three-dimensional in nature. This also holds true for a stentless physiological mitral valve (PMV). Both the PMV's annulus and papillary heads are free to distort when the valve is held in one's hand or when the valve is implanted in the mitral position of a recipient. If the valve is implanted in a distorted geometry, both hemodynamic performance and long term durability could suffer. It is therefore desirable to hold the prosthesis temporarily in its optimum geometric configuration so that the valve may be implanted properly. Once the valve's implantation orientation is set relative to the patient's left ventricular geometry, the temporary holder is removed. The implantation position of the valve in the left ventricle then provides the necessary rigidity and structure for valve function.
Temporary holding systems for holding implants have previously been used in annuloplasty. They have not, however, been used in stentless mitral xenografts because that type of surgery poses more complex problems than does annuloplasty. Consequently, a need exists for a temporary holder system suitable for the placing of non-stented chordally supported mitral xenograft valves, or pericardial and synthetic derivatives of the natural mitral valve in which temporary geometric positioning is necessary to facilitate implantation.

Physiologic mitral valve implantation holding system


Systems disclosed herein provide objects that are capable of altering a configuration of touch points in contact with a surface of a touch-sensitive system. In one embodiment, an object includes an outer member, an intermediate member, and an inner member. The outer member has an opening between a top surface and a bottom surface. The intermediate member has an opening between a top surface and a bottom surface, where the intermediate member fits within the opening of the outer member. The inner member fits within the opening of the intermediate member and has a bottom surface. The bottom surface of each of the members includes a touch point. A contact with the surface for each touch point is coplanar when the members are fit together. Further, the configuration of touch points in contact with the surface defines an identifier for the object to the touch-sensitive system.

Touch-sensitive systems utilize specialized surfaces to allow a user to interact with the system using touches. For example, a tablet computer display may include a touch surface to allow the user to interact and control the tablet. Touch surfaces may be implemented by measuring resistance changes in the surface when the surface is touched, by measuring capacitance changes in the surface when touched, by measuring acoustical changes in the surface when touched, etc. One type of touch surface is a multi-touch surface. A multi-touch surface is capable of resolving multiple points of contact with the surface at once. For instance, a user of a multi-touch device may use two fingers to rotate a display, to zoom in on a portion of the display, etc.
When an object that includes multiple touch points is placed on a multi-touch-capable surface, the touch-sensitive system is able to resolve the touch points to identify the object. This allows a user to utilize a touch-sensitive system for game play. For instance, a user may place a number of game pieces onto a surface of a touch-sensitive system, and the touch-sensitive system is capable of identifying the pieces for interactive game play. Typically, the game pieces will include a number of touch points that contact with the surface in a particular configuration that is unique. However, the game pieces are often mass-produced, which may result in duplicate configurations of touch points across a variety of different game pieces. In this case, a touch-sensitive system may be easily confused when configurations between different game pieces are duplicated.

Reconfigurable objects for touch panel interaction


An improved knurling device (20) includes a body (21) having an axis of elongation (x-x), and has a first part (22) and a second part (23). The body first part has axially-spaced front and center plates (24, 25, respectively). The body second part is mounted on the center plate, and is selectively rotatable about the axis relative to the center plate. A plurality of knurl rolls (26, 26, 26) are mounted on the body first part between the front and center plates. An arbor (28) is axially mounted on the body second part, and is biased to move toward the front plate. The end of a rotating workpiece (W) is adapted to be axially inserted through the front plate and moved toward the body second part between the knurl rolls to roll a knurl pattern on the workpiece. The angular relationship between the knurl rolls is continuously maintained at all times.

Knurling devices are, of course, known.
One example of a prior art knurling device is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,250,893 B2.
Another type of prior art knurling device is made by Form Roll Die Company, and, more particularly, by Stafford Special Tools, 88 Webster Place, Worcester, Mass. 01603.
However, to make certain adjustments on this device, as many as twenty-three screws and three bolts must be removed and/or adjusted. This required as much as a day of down-time, and also required a highly-skilled operator to make the adjustments.
A structurally-similar thread-rolling attachment is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,988,388 B2.
Accordingly, it would be generally desirable to provide an improved knurling device that would be simple in structure, easy to use, and easy to adjust.


An augmented reality device operates in concert with an artificial intelligence (AI) voice assistance system, to generate and display an avatar for user interaction with the AI voice assistance system. The avatar displays animated traits and body language, based on the context and content of the user interaction, to enrich the user's interactive experience with the AI voice assistance system. The body language includes simulating eye-contact with the user.

The present invention relates generally to the field of augmented reality, and more particularly to emulating aspects of person-to-person conversational interaction between a user and a computer-generated human likeness (sometimes herein referred to as an avatar).
Artificial intelligence (AI) voice assistance systems are becoming very popular. A user submits a voice command, and in response, the AI voice assistance system carries out the command, such as performing a home automation activity (such as turning room lights on or off, locking a door, setting a thermostat, etc.), providing search results, scheduling meetings, ordering food, booking travel, making restaurant reservations, etc.

International Business Machines Corporation


Disclosed is a scanning apparatus having a cascade scanning optical system. The scanning apparatus includes: a first laser scanning optical system for deflecting a first scanning laser beam to scan a scanning surface to generate a first scanning line; a second laser scanning optical system for deflecting a second scanning laser beam to scan the scanning surface to generate a second scanning line, wherein the first and second laser scanning optical systems are arranged so as to align the first scanning line with the second scanning line in a main scanning direction to form a single scanning line, with opposing ends of the first and second scanning lines overlapping each other by a predetermined amount; and a device for delaying the commencement of the writing of each scanning line made by the second laser scanning optical system with respect to the commencement of the writing of each scanning line made by the first laser scanning optical system so as to align the first scanning line with the second scanning line at a point of contact therebetween in the main scanning direction without the first scanning line overlapping the second scanning line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cascade scanning optical system having a pair of laser scanning optical systems which are arranged along the main scanning direction and controlled to operate in synchronization with each other so as to realize a wide scanning line. More specifically the present invention relates to a scanning apparatus having such a cascade scanning optical system in which the rotation of a polygon mirror of one laser scanning optical system is synchronized with the rotation of a polygon mirror of the other laser scanning optical-system to prevent a pair of scanning lines that are to be aligned, respectively generated by the pair of laser scanning optical systems, from being deviated from each other in the main scanning direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
A cascade scanning optical system having a plurality of laser scanning optical systems arranged along the main scanning direction to realize a wide scanning line is known. Such a type of scanning optical system is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No.61-11720, published on Jan. 20, 1986. This publication discloses a cascade scanning optical system having a pair of laser scanning optical systems each having a laser beam emitter, a polygon mirror serving as a deflecting device, an f.theta. lens, etc. The pair of laser scanning optical systems are synchronously driven to emit respective scanning laser beams to a photoconductive surface (scanning surface) of a photoconductive drum on a common line thereon extending in parallel to the axial direction of the photoconductive drum. The pair of scanning laser beams respectively scan two adjacent ranges of the common line on the photoconductive surface so as to scan the photoconductive surface of the photoconductive drum in the main scanning direction in a wide range.
There is a fundamental problem to be overcome in such a type of cascade scanning optical system. Namely, how can a scanning line, made on the photoconductive drum by the scanning laser beam emitted from one laser scanning optical system of the cascade scanning optical system, be accurately aligned with another scanning line, made on the photoconductive drum by the scanning laser beam emitted from another laser scanning optical system of the cascade scanning optical system, so that the scanning lines are not apart from each other or overlap each other in the main scanning direction, i.e., so as to form a straight and continuous scanning line through the combination of the separate scanning lines.

Scanning apparatus having a cascade scanning optical system


A light-emitting device includes: a substrate; a plurality of light-emitting elements mounted to the substrate; and a phosphor layer provided on the plurality of light-emitting elements, the phosphor layer including: a plurality of phosphor particles, and a glass layer covering surfaces of the phosphor particles, wherein the phosphor particles are bonded to each other by the glass layer, and an air layer is formed between the phosphor particles.

An adaptive driving beam (ADB) has been developed in recent years for automobile headlamps to irradiate light only in selected regions. By applying the ADB to a high beam, for example, light is not projected toward regions where an oncoming vehicle, a preceding vehicle, or the like exists, and light can be projected only toward other regions. The visual field of the driver of a vehicle can be realized thereby without obstructing the operation of other vehicles.
In a light-emitting device used in an ADB, for example, multiple light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are mounted to a substrate, and the light that is emitted from each LED is irradiated only in a designated direction by the optical system of the headlamp. Only selected regions are illuminated by selecting which LEDs are switched on.
For the ADB, it is desirable to reliably project light toward the regions to be lit and to reliably stop the light projection toward regions to be unlit. To this end, in the light-emitting device used for the ADB, high contrast is desirable between the unlit and lit regions.

Light-emitting device and method for manufacturing same


Embodiments relate to a method of monitoring physiological parameters of a patient with renal dysfunction. The method includes electrically connecting one or more medical device electrodes with a measurement site of a patient, generating one or more first stimulation signals sufficient to provide input physiological parameters specific to the patient, measuring one or more first bioimpedance values from the generated signals, analyzing at least one of the input physiological parameters within the one or more first bioimpedance values and generating a personalized dialysis program. The systems and methods can further provide essentially real-time data of patient undergoing treatment and control of treatment to a patient.

Dialysis is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure. Dialysis may be used for those with an acute disturbance in kidney function or for those with progressive but chronically worsening kidney function (i.e., chronic kidney disease). The kidneys have important roles in maintaining health. When healthy, the kidneys maintain the body's internal equilibrium of water and minerals (sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulfate, for example). Those acidic metabolism end products that the body cannot get rid of via respiration are also excreted through the kidneys.
Dialysis treatment is often performed multiple times a week and for a number of hours per session. This is currently done on a fixed calendar schedule or according to physician discretion. Such discretion may be driven by symptoms or laboratory results, which require repeat health care visits. Often, such procedures are associated with increased morbidity rates.
If monitoring a patient's physiological conditions outside of a hospital setting, the devices utilized are often painful or uncomfortable for a patient to use and with which take measurements. Such intrusive devices and methods may lead to poor patient compliance. It is often difficult or not practical for a doctor to monitor a patient's health status remotely or to have access to long term measurements of a number of physiological parameters. Additionally, temporal measurements monitored within a patient may be susceptible to chronically changing proportions of fat and fluid that may mask the underlying deterioration in patient health status.

Medical device and methods of monitoring a patient with renal dysfunction


Decryption apparatus includes an input memory (48), which is coupled to receive encrypted data, and an output transducer (28), for presenting decrypted data to a user. A decryption processor (50) is coupled to read and decrypt the encrypted data from the input memory but is incapable of writing to the input memory, and is coupled to convey the decrypted data to the output transducer for presentation to the user.

Data encryption is widely used in preventing unauthorized access to data. Various methods of data encryption are known in the art. In general, these methods use a key to convert data to a form that is unintelligible to a reader (human or machine), and require an appropriate key in order to decrypt the data. Symmetric encryption methods use the same key for both encryption and decryption. Such symmetric methods include the well-known DES (Data Encryption Standard) and AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) algorithms. In asymmetric encryption methods, such as the RSA (Rivest Shamir Adelman) algorithm, a computer that is to receive encrypted data generates complementary public and private keys and transmits the public key to the sender. After the sender has encrypted the data using the public key, only the holder of the private key can decrypt it.


Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems are provided for shielding a signal pin. A signal pin, such as a signal pin within a probe card used to test electronic devices, such as integrated circuits, is shielded from interference signals, which are emitted from other signal pins within the probe card. Shielding the signal pin mitigates cross-talk issues and/or impendence control issues associated with signals that are carried by the signal pin. In one example, one or more shield pins are arranged with respect to the signal pin according to a shield configuration. For example, the shield configuration comprises a plane of signal pins, a substantially regular layout of signal pins, or a polygonal layout of signal pins, etc. In this way, one or more shield pins inhibit unintended interactions or effects that otherwise occur among two or more signal pins.

It is to be appreciated that an electronic device, such as an integrated circuit, can be tested to determine whether the electronic device operates as desired. An electronic device tester is configured to test an electronic device by sending signals to and/or receiving signals from an electronic device to determine whether the electronic device is operating correctly. Because an electronic device comprises a relatively small pitch, such as a distance between center points of data I/O ports, the electronic device tester interfaces with the electronic device through a probe card comprising a pitch corresponding to that of the electronic device. That is, the probe card comprises one or more signal pins configured to contact the electronic device. The electronic device tester sends input signals to the electronic device through one or more signal pins on the probe card that are in contact with the electronic device. The electronic device tester receives output signals from the electronic device through one or more signal pins on the probe card that are in contact with the electronic device. In this way, the electronic device tester tests the functionality of the electronic device by interfacing with the electronic device using the probe card.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited


A packaged sensor assembly and method of forming that includes a first substrate having opposing first and second surfaces and a plurality of conductive elements each extending between the first and second surfaces. A second substrate comprises opposing front and back surfaces, one or more detectors formed on or in the front surface, and a plurality of contact pads formed at the front surface which are electrically coupled to the one or more detectors. A third substrate is mounted to the front surface to define a cavity between the third substrate and the front surface, wherein the third substrate includes a first opening extending from the cavity through the third substrate. The back surface is mounted to the first surface. A plurality of wires each extend between and electrically connecting one of the contact pads and one of the conductive elements.

The trend for semiconductor devices is smaller integrated circuit (IC) devices (also referred to as chips), packaged in smaller packages (which protect the chip while providing off chip signaling connectivity). One example are image sensors, which are IC devices that include photo-detectors which transform incident light into electrical signals.
Image sensors are typically encapsulated in a package that protects the sensor from contamination, and provides the off chip signaling connectivity. One issue, however, is that transparent substrates used to encapsulate the optical sensor can adversely affect the light passing therethrough and onto the sensor (e.g. distortion and photon loss). Another type of sensor is a chemical sensor that detects physical substances such as gases and chemicals. However, in order to operate, the chemical sensor cannot be sealed off from the environment, yet it is still desirable to package such sensors for protection and off chip signaling connectivity.
Conventional sensor packages are disclosed in U.S. Patent Publications 2005/0104186 and 2005/0051859, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,627,864. Each of the disclosed sensor packages includes a sensor chip, a host substrate such as a silicon member, a PCB or a Flex-PCB, a window opening for the sensor area, and a transparent glass that hermetically seals the sensor area. Optionally and frequently, the sealed area is filled with transparent epoxy to improve bonding strength between the sensor die and the host substrate, which sacrifices at least some of the photon sensor's sensitivity. The transparent glass is to protect the sensor area from contaminants and moisture while also providing additional substrate strength and rigidity to the package. The sensor chip is usually mounted on to the host substrate by a flip-chip or wire bonding technique. This allows the sensor bond pads to connect with a plurality of metal traces on the surface of host substrate through an interconnect such as ball grid array (BGA). Metal traces are generally deposited on the surface of the host substrate, which typically consists of a single layer of circuitry. However, it is difficult to achieve reduced sizes with these configurations and prevent sensor area contamination during the assembly process.
There is a need for an improved package and packaging technique that provides the sensor with some protection with off chip signaling connectivity, yet leaves the sensor exposed to what is being detected. There is also a need for improved attachment and connectivity schemes with supporting host substrates.

Sensor package with exposed sensor array and method of making same


A photoelectric conversion element according to the present invention includes a photoelectric conversion layer. The photoelectric conversion layer includes a p-type semiconductor layer, an n-type semiconductor layer, and a superlattice semiconductor layer which is interposed between the p-type semiconductor layer and the n-type semiconductor layer. The superlattice semiconductor layer has a superlattice structure in which barrier layers and quantum layers are stacked alternately and repeatedly, and is provided so as to form an intermediate energy band between an upper end of a valence band of the barrier layer and a lower end of a conduction band of the barrier layer. The intermediate energy band is formed from a region of the superlattice semiconductor layer, which is near to the p-type semiconductor layer, to a region of the superlattice semiconductor layer, which is near to the n-type semiconductor layer, and the intermediate energy band has a region having a wide band width and a region having a narrow band width.

A photovoltaic element has attracted attention as a clean energy source which does not discharge CO2, and the photovoltaic element has come into wide use. Currently, the photovoltaic element most widespread is a single-junction solar cell which is manufactured by using silicon. However, in a silicon solar cell in the related art, it is difficult to photoelectrically convert light in a long wavelength region in the solar spectrum, and a large amount of solar energy is not used.
A solar cell having a superlattice structure in terms of efficiently using solar energy unused has attracted attention (for example, see NPL 1). The superlattice structure corresponds to a structure in which quantum layers (quantum dot layers or quantum well layers) having substantially a thickness of several nm to 100 nm and barrier layers are alternately stacked. In the superlattice structure, an intermediate energy band can be formed between an upper end of a valence band of the barrier layer and a lower end of a conduction band of the barrier layer.
A photoelectric conversion element which has a superlattice structure and in which an intermediate energy band is formed has a band diagram as illustrated in FIG. 15, for example. An electron in the valence band is photoexcited to an intermediate energy band 125 by incident light, and an electron 122 in the intermediate energy band 125 is photoexcited to a conduction band 130 by incident light. An internal electric field causes an electron 128 in the conduction band to move to an n-type semiconductor layer, and thus light energy can be converted into electrical energy.
The intermediate energy band 125 has a potential gradient which is formed by the internal electric field. However, the gradient is small in many cases. The electron 122 in the intermediate energy band 125 is subjected to any of the following processes: (1) moving in the intermediate energy band 125; (2) optically transitioning to the conduction band; and (3) recombining with a hole 123 in the valence band.