An architecture for altering the content of a menuing system with little or no change to existing firmware of an electronic device is disclosed. A menu text file is generated and the menu text file is compiled into source code. Menu firmware is compiled and liked using the source code into a downloadable binary for the electronic device. The downloadable binary does not alter existing firmware of the electronic device.

Electronic devices such as signal management systems, media management systems, Digital Video Disk ("DVD") players, televisions, etc. generally have firmware that controls their operation. Conventional menuing systems of such devices require existing firmware source code changes when a new menu item needs to be added, a menu requires a change, and the like. Changing firmware source code increases development time for Graphical User Interfaces ("GUIs") by programmers. Further, non-software developers generally cannot make complex firmware source code changes. Accordingly, a menuing system that reduces or eliminates the necessity of existing firmware source code changes may be beneficial.

Data-driven menuing system for providing a flexible user interface on an electronic device


In a method for producing a semiconductor device using a dual tube reactor, inert gas is fed into the vertical reaction-tube, a reaction gas is introduced into the vertical reaction-tube, the inert gas is exhausted through the annular channel formed between the inner tube and the outer tube at a bottom portion of the vertical reaction-tube; and, a wafer is heat treated in the vertical reaction-tube by means of a heating furnace. In order to decrease the number and size of the particles, the wafer is displaced upward and then positioned at a level substantially the same as or above the top end of the inner tube, and the reaction gas is introduced into the vertical reaction-tube at or above the position of the wafer. Furthermore, the inert gas is caused to flow from a bottom portion of the inner tube toward the wafer positioned as above. As a result, inflow of the reaction gas into the inner tube is impeded, and the generation of particles there can be lessened.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing a semiconductor device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a vertical type apparatus for producing, by using a silicon- or compound-semiconductor, devices such as a memory device, a logic circuit IC, a thin-film transistor IC, and the like, as well as relates to a method for producing a semiconductor device in such an apparatus.
In such an apparatus, a film or a layer consisting of semiconductor material, insulating material, metallic material, super-conducting material or the like is formed on a wafer using a reaction gas under normal or reduced pressure. Such heat treatments as diffusion, improvement of the film properties, and flattening of a film are also carried out under the presence of a protective gas. The present invention provides a method for decreasing the particles in such an apparatus and method as described above.
The "reaction gas" herein means, as usual: gases which react with one another to form the film or layer; gas or gases which decompose to form the film or layer; gas or gases which react with a wafer to form the film or layer. The gas or gases mean not only the atom or molecule as usual but also the species in the state of ions or radicals. The "inert gas" herein means the gas, whose reaction with the wafer is not intended or which does not impede the function of the reaction gas as described above. The inert gas may be Ar or the like or may be nitrogen which does not react with a wafer under a certain kind of the heat treatment.
2. Description of Related Arts
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 53-51187 and 65-20282 disclose apparatuses for producing a semiconductor device. These apparatuses are rather old and incur a considerable temperature fall at one of the ends of a reaction tube, i.e., the exhaust end. The film incidentally formed on the inner wall of the exhaust end has a quality considerably different from the one formed on a wafer as a result of the reaction. As a result, the particles sprinkle in the reaction chamber.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, an evacuated CVD apparatus usually referred to as Anicon was frequently used. In this apparatus, a vertically movable upper furnace of an electrical resistance heating type and a stationary lower heating furnace are fixed air-tight to one another, but are also separable. An exhaust tube is aligned to the central axis of the upper and lower furnaces. The lower furnace is fixed to a lower portion of the exhaust tube. The upper portion of the exhaust tube protrudes into the inner space of the upper furnace. Small inlet tubes of reaction gas are fixed in the exhaust tube concentrically. A wafer carrier made of quartz is held above the exhaust tube in a central portion of the furnace. The wafer carrier is in the form of a drain board and can carry a number of wafers. The attained dispersion in thickness of the film formed on the wafers is .+-.2% which is excellent in the above-mentioned era. However, when the upper and lower furnaces are separated to take out the wafers, a great temperature difference is generated between the interior and exterior of the apparatus. A considerable hot air blast therefore generates and deposits particles of reaction product particles on the wafers in a great amount.
Contrary to this, a dual-tube type apparatus for producing a semiconductor device is recommended, because the generation of particles is very slight. More specifically, in the dual-tube type apparatus the outer tube has a top closed except for the gas inlet where a gas conduit opens, and an annular channel is formed between the inner and outer tubes. The annular channel is communicated with the tubular space of the inner tube via a space above the top end of the inner tube. According to the so-formed furnace structure, the reaction gas is withdrawn through the annular channel, and almost all of the particles can be confined in this annular channel, as is disclosed in European Patent Publication 0538874 filed by the present applicant.
FIG. 17 is a drawing illustrating a conventional method and apparatus for producing a semiconductor device using a dual-tube type apparatus.
Referring to FIG. 17, a method for heat treating a wafer in an apparatus disclosed in said European publication is illustrated. A dual reaction-tube 1 comprises an outer tube 1a and an inner tube 1b. An inlet conduit of the reaction gas 2 opens at the bottom of the inner tube 1b. The exhaust tube 3 opens at the bottom of the outer tube 1a. The annular channel 4 is formed between the concentrical, outer tube 1a and inner tube 1b and guides the reaction gas into the exhaust tube 3. The heating furnace is denoted by 5. The wafer holder is denoted by 6 and holds a wafer 8. The wafer 8 held at the position shown in FIG. 17 is brought into contact with and caused to react with the reaction gas which is caused to flow upward in the inner tube 1b. The intended reaction thus occurs. After the reaction, the reaction gas is caused to flow downward through the annular channel 4 and is withdrawn through the exhaust tube 3. Any particles, which may result from the reaction, therefore deposit on the tube wall of the annular channel 4. Since the vertical wall of inner tube 1b is present between the annular channel 4 and the tubular space of inner tube 1b, into which and from which the wafer 8 enters and is taken out, the influence of the particles on the wafer 8 can be decreased.
Allegedly, a large diameter wafer, for example a 12-inch wafer, is necessary for producing a 64M-DRAM in order to fulfill the multiple rule for cost reduction. Therefore, approximately 200 chips must be produced on a 12 inch wafer ("Nikkei Microdevice" November 1992). The integrating degree of a semiconductor device thus increases more and more. Since the particles have a coefficient of thermal expansion different from that of the quartz and, further, the adhesive force of the particles on the quartz is small, the number and size of the particles should be decreased as much as possible along with increase of the integration degree. This in turn makes it necessary to produce a semiconductor device in a small batch or in a treatment of a single wafer. The plant cost of an apparatus used for such production should not be increased.
Usually, when such treatment as CVD is carried out tens of times in a quartz reaction tube, the reaction product deposits thickly on the inner wall of the reaction tube to a thickness of approximately several tens of microns. The thus deposited reaction product peels due to the difference between the coefficient of thermal expansion of quartz of the reaction tube and that of the reaction product. In order to prevent the formation of particles, the reaction product deposited on the inner wall must be decomposed before it results in the formation of particles. The decomposition is carried out, for example, by plasma, which must be frequently carried out. This cleaning method is published in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-196,820, in which it describes a method to permanently install between a heater and the outer tube an electrode for generating plasma.
In the heat-treating method of a wafer disclosed in such a dual-tube type apparatus for producing a semiconductor device shown in FIG. 17, the reaction gas is caused to flow within the inner tube 1b, in which a wafer 8 is situated. The reaction therefore occurs within the inner tube 1b. As a result, the reaction product deposits somewhat on the inner wall of the inner tube 1b. The reaction occurs most actively at a location of the inner tube where the wafer 8 is positioned during the reaction, while the reaction occurs less actively deeper within the inner tube 1b where the wafer 8 is introduced and withdrawn. The superfluous reaction product deposits on the inner wall of the inner tube 1b. When the wafer 8 is withdrawn from the dual type reaction tube 1 by means of driving the mechanisms 30-33 described below, the wafer 8 is contaminated by the particles deposited on the inner wall of the inner tube 1b. The wafer 8 is also contaminated by the particles, when it is inserted into the dual type reaction tube 1. In FIG. 17, a magnet coil is denoted by 30, an outer tube is denoted by 31, and, a driving mechanism is denoted by 32. The wafer holder 6 is elevated or lowered by the mechanism 33, together with the shielding plate 11 and the pedestal 12.
According to a known method for cleaning the dual-tube type apparatus by plasma, the electrodes for cleaning are permanently installed between the outer tube and the heating furnace. The plasma generates, therefore, most intensively in the space between the inner and outer tubes, with the result that the inner wall of the inner tube is not cleaned effectively. Note that the inner wall should be cleaned, since the amount of deposition of the particle source there is great. The known cleaning method is therefore not satisfactory.

Method and apparatus for producing a semiconductor device


A liquid zoom lens mounted on a portable terminal is provided. In the liquid zoom lens, a cylindrical body has upper and lower openings to which one pair of lenses is coupled. An auto-focus lens part includes a first insulating liquid layer, a first electrolyte layer, and a first lens. The first insulating layer and the first electrolyte layer are disposed to form an interface at a lower portion of the body. The first lens is disposed on the first electrolyte layer and has a periphery closely attached to a lower portion of an inner periphery of the body. An optical zoom lens part includes a second insulating liquid layer, a second electrolyte layer, and a second lens. The second insulating liquid layer and the second electrolyte layer are disposed to form an interface on the first lens. The second lens is fixed to be movable within the second insulating liquid layer, such that a periphery is closely attached to the inner periphery of the body. Accordingly, the auto-focus function and the optical zoom function can be simultaneously achieved through a single liquid lens whose curvature is varied by the difference of the inherent refractive index between the electrolyte and the insulating liquid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid zoom lens for a portable terminal, and more particularly, to a liquid zoom lens that can provide an optical zoom function and an auto-focus function at the same time. In the liquid zoom lens, when a voltage is applied to the inside of a cylindrical body, the curvature of electrolyte and insulating liquid is varied. The electrolyte and the insulating liquid form a plurality of interfaces. Aspheric lenses are sequentially mounted to contact the interfaces or in the insulating liquid. The optical zoom function and the auto-focus function are achieved at the same time by the curvature variation of the electrolyte around the aspheric lens.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, cameras are built in portable terminals such as mobile phones or personal digital assistants (PDAs). Consumers give preference to the terminals with a built-in camera, which have high resolution and various functions. In these terminals with the built-in camera, lenses are attached to image pickup devices such as charge coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) elements. Thus, the terminals can take a picture of an object and can record data of the taken picture in a recording medium.
To provide the performance of mega-pixel cameras, the lens has to be designed to have sufficient resolution. In addition, the lens has to be designed to be larger than a real sensor size, considering the assembly tolerance.
A lens system is mounted on the portable terminal and used to take the image. In such a lens system, various kinds of aberrations are caused by incident light having different wavelengths when taking the image. The aberration causes the shape of the object to be distorted. Examples of the aberration include spherical aberration, astigmatism, and distortion. The lens system must be able to maximally prevent the aberration.
In the lens system, zoom is a function of providing a variable focal length. The zoom function is achieved by adjusting a distance between a front lens with a positive refractive index and a rear lens with a negative refractive index through their relative movement. To maximize the zoom function, a wide-angle lens or telephoto lens that can vary the focal length between an existing lens and an additional lens is separately attached to the camera. Therefore, the user can take the picture of the object at various viewing angles at one place without any movement.
The zoom can be classified into an optical zoom and a digital zoom. The optical zoom is to magnify the image of the object by a variable focal length while relatively moving an optical lens attached to the camera. The digital zoom is to magnify the image of the object within the CCD itself, as if the image is magnified using a graphic program such as Photoshop.
Unlike the optical zoom, because the digital zoom magnifies the image within the CCD, it needs no space for lens movement according to the variation of the focal length. Thus, the digital zoom is advantageous to the miniaturization and slim profile, but it cannot provide the high resolution.
On the other hand, because the optical zoom magnifies the image by the variation of the focal length between the lenses, it needs a space for the variation of the focal length. Due to a lens part and a lens barrel covering the lens part, the required space increases. However, the zoom lens provides the high resolution when zooming. Thus, in spite of the large volume of the terminal, the consumers prefer the optical zoom to the digital zoom.
As the currently available portable terminals tend to be smaller and slimmer, the digital zoom is preferred to the optical zoom because of the spatial limitation that can vary the focal length. Recently, the portable terminals that can provide the optical zoom function using the rear surface of the terminal are intermittently put on the market.
A technical structure of a conventional portable terminal that can provide the optical zoom is disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 2003-3948, entitled "Lens Barrel Structure of Zoom Camera and Zoom Assembly". In Korean Patent Application No. 2003-3948, an improved lens barrel structure of the optical zoom used in the digital camera is applied to the conventional portable camera. Therefore, the lens barrel and zoom assembly of the zoom camera is small-sized and easy to manufacture, and provides high resolution.
The conventional zoom assembly includes a front lens with a positive refraction index, a rear lens with a negative refractive index, an inner lens barrel, and an outer lens barrel. The inner lens barrel has a helicoid groove to guide helicoid locus motion of the front lens and the rear lens. The outer lens barrel is inserted outside the inner lens barrel and has an escape groove to guide the up/down motion of the front lens and the rear lens.
In such a conventional zoom camera, the inner lens barrel and the outer lens barrel are installed such that they are foldable in multiple stages on one side of the portable terminal. The inner lens barrel and the outer lens barrel are sequentially expanded by the driving of a motor within the terminal and thus the focal length is varied by the movement of the lenses, thereby achieving the optical zoom function. Consequently, there occurs the problem that a large space for the zoom function is occupied in the inside of the camera.
In addition, the motor installed in the camera has to be driven so as to move the inner and outer lens barrels with a plurality of lenses to the outside of the zoom camera. Power is dissipated in driving the motor and thus power dissipation of the battery increases.
To solve these problems, a liquid lens has been developed which occupies a small space and has low power dissipation in the portable terminal. The liquid lens achieves the zoom function using electrolyte and insulating liquid. A curvature of the electrolyte varies according to a voltage applied to a single lens barrel, and the insulating liquid forms an interface adjacent to the electrolyte.
A typical liquid lens that can provide the zoom function is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2005-33308, entitled "Zoom camera using the liquid lens for mobile phone, control system and method thereof." The conventional liquid lens will be described below with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a conventional liquid lens. Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional liquid lens includes a first lens group 310 having a first lens 311 with a positive refraction index and a second lens 312 with a negative refractive lens, a first liquid lens 300 in which a curvature radius of a contact surface between a conductive liquid and a non-conductive liquid is varied according to a zoom function control signal, a second lens group 330 having a third lens 331 with a positive refractive index and a fourth lens 332 with a negative refractive index, both sides of the third and fourth lenses 331 and 332 being aspheric, and an infrared filter 340 spaced apart from the second lens group 330 by a predetermined distance.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, the conventional liquid lens is based on an electrowetting phenomenon. The electrowetting phenomenon is caused because a surface tension of the interface is changed according to electric charges existing in the interface and thus its contact angle (α) is changed. A thin insulator is provided in the interface so as to increase the potential difference applied to the interface, and electric charges existing in the electrolyte are intended to move to the interface because of chemical properties.
At this point, when an external electric field is applied, the properties of the electric charges become stronger. Specifically, in a triple contact line (TCL) where the interfaces are overlapped, the concentration of the electric charges is greatly increased. Thus, the surface tension at the edge of the droplet is lowered.
Using the electrowetting phenomenon, it is possible to easily control micro droplets and micro particles within the liquid. Therefore, various products using the electrowetting phenomenon have been recently studied. The range of application includes liquid lenses, micro pumps, display devices, optical devices, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
Compared with a mechanical lens, a liquid lens for auto-focus has a small size, low power dissipation, and high response speed.
In spite of these advantages, because the conventional liquid lens achieves the zoom function by the variation of the curvature radius between the conductive liquid and the non-conductive liquid of the individual liquid lenses within the single lens barrel to which the lens groups and the liquid lens are connected, the spatial limitation just like in the optical zoom lens using the multistage barrel can be solved, but the single liquid lens performs only the zoom function by the variation of the curvature between the internal liquids.
Furthermore, the conventional liquid lens has a complex structure. To achieve other functions (e.g., the auto-focus (A/F) function) as well as the zoom function by using the single liquid lens, another liquid lens acting as a front lens has to be provided. Consequently, the structure of the liquid lens becomes more complex.


A method for improved handling of at least one communication exchange between a telecommunications network and at least one user equipment includes: in a first step, the at least one communication exchange is enabled by performing an attachment procedure of the at least one user equipment to the telecommunications network involving a first gateway entity; and in a second step, subsequent to the first step, the at least one user equipment transmits at least one subsequent data packet, the at least one subsequent data packet being received by a second gateway entity instead of the first gateway entity.

The exchange of packetized information in broadband communication systems or telecommunications networks, both in fixed-line as in wireless communication systems (or fixed-line communication networks and mobile communication networks) has already grown dramatically and probably will also grow in the future due to the rapid spread of different data services in such communication networks.
Broadband networks make extensive use of subscriber sessions that are set up and maintained between a client, typically a user equipment, and a gateway device (or gateway entity). A session is usually implemented as a tunnel carrying data packets, typically IP (Internet Protocol) data packets (or IP packets), and making use of in-band control plane activity like session setup and periodic keep-alive messages. In fixed line networks, usual deployments make use, e.g., of the PPPoE protocol (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet, RFC 2516) between the user equipment (typically the home gateway in this case) and the gateway which is typically the BRAS (Broadband Remote Access Server) or BNG (Broadband Network Gateway). Alternatively to the use of PPPoE, DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, RFC2361) may be used. In case IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) is present, DHCPv6 (RFC 3315 et al.) or SLAAC (Stateless Address Autoconfiguration (SLAAC), RFC 4862 et al.) and IPoE (Internet Protcol over Ethernet) are common too.
Most presently used technologies have to ensure a "split horizon" with a dedicated endpoint for IP-routing in the telecommunications network, typically the infrastructure of a network provider. Thereby, it is ensured that any-to-any connectivity on the IP layer (Internet Protocol layer) is only available northbound (i.e. upstream) of this endpoint for IP-routing, and that user traffic is separated in the access network in the sense that data packets related to a specific session tunnel are separated from data packets related to other session tunnels. The separation is dependent on the used access network technology.
Likewise for access technologies in mobile communication networks, i.e. for mobile access, the protocols and tunnels are similar but as an additional feature, a mobility function is added (compared to fixed-line telecommunications network). Tunnels are being handed over in case a device (or user equipment) moves from one location to another. Such handovers may imply a change of the gateway (or gateway entity) handling the respective session (i.e. the respective data transmission tunnel) or not. In case such a change of the gateway entity is required, a number of different handover steps (also called handover states) are typically used, e.g., a handover preparation phase, a handover execution phase and a handover completion phase. For example, in the handover preparation phase (of a X2 handover), typically the source gateway entity (or source base station entity such as an Evolved Node B (eNodeB) in a mobile communication network) decides to handover the user equipment to the target gateway entity (or target base station entity), which, inter alia, involves creating a tunnel for downlink data packets between the source and target base station entities, performing a transfer of the downlink and uplink data packet status to the target base station entity, etc. Protocols usually used in mobile communication networks are GTP (GPRS (General Packet Radio System) Tunneling Protocol) and Proxy Mobile IP. Proxy Mobile IPv6 is specially used in handover scenarios in multi RAN (Radio Access Network) deployments.
In essence, this means that via using sessions (comprising tunnels) the telecommunications network able to provide (1) network attachment/detachment to provide layer 3 (or Internet Protocol) access, (2) anchoring for user equipment mobility, (3) keepalives (OAM, Operations, administration and management), (4) session re-establishment in case of failure, (5) interaction with backend systems during session setup to provide service profiles/information, and (6) identification of subscribers using the tunnel identifiers.
Hence, such tunneling technologies are widely used in telecommunications networks, and rather complex architectures have been designed and standardized building upon this principle such as the 3GPP Evolved Packet Core (EPC).
However, all these approaches lead to a single point of failure (i.e. lack a viable redundancy scheme), as sessions are being pinned to a gateway (or gateway entity) acting as IP anchor point. As these gateways are usually implemented as expensive hardware-based routers that are comparatively slow in writing and copying state information, it is difficult and/or costly to provide redundancy for such gateways (or gateway entities). The support of mobility requires a huge amount of signaling for tunneling the layer 3 packet in between the user equipment and the IP-anchor point.
In case a device moves and needs to be connected to a different gateway, an extremely complex handover procedure is executed to move the subscriber session tunnel from the source to the target gateway (or gateway entity).

Handling at least one communication exchange between a telecommunications network and at least one user equipment


A disclosed apparatus ay include (1) a wireless receiver that facilitates communicatively coupling to a wireless transmitter of an access point connected to a network switch of a service provider, and (2) at least one processing device of a router communicatively coupled to the wireless receiver, wherein the processing device of the router (A) activates a wireless mode that (I) causes the router to establish a wireless connection with the access point via the wireless transmitter and the wireless receiver and (II) facilitates remote configuration of the router by a remote user who has gained access to the router via the wireless connection, (B) receives, via the wireless connection, at least one command from the remote user, and (C) applies, to an out-of-band management interface of the router, the command received from the remote user via the wireless connection. Various other apparatuses systems, and methods are also disclosed.

Data centers are often filled with telecommunication devices (such as routers and/or switches) that facilitate the flow of traffic within and across networks. For example, a data center may include and/or accommodate various rows of telecommunication cabinets and/or racks. In this example, each cabinet and/or rack may hold and/or house multiple routers and/or other telecommunications devices that service and/or handle the network needs of users and/or service providers. These routers and/or other telecommunications devices may be connected to one another and/or to external devices or networks by cables (e.g., Ethernet cables, fiber optic cables, etc.).
Many conventional routers within a data center may be equipped with a management interface that relies on a dedicated wired connection (e.g., an Ethernet cable connection) for remote user access. For users to access the management interface of these conventional routers, a dedicated wired connection may be established and/or made with each conventional router at the data center. Unfortunately, the cumulative effect of all these wired connections may add to the congestion arising from the cables running among the various routers and/or other telecommunications devices installed in the cabinets and/or racks.
Furthermore, the space available in some data centers may be limited due to tight quarters and/or numerous telecommunication cabinets and/or racks. The combination of limited space and large quantities of cables strewn throughout these data centers may lead to and/or result in a potentially messy, unorganized, and/or hassle-prone environment. The cost of maintaining and/or provisioning all the telecommunication cabinets and/or racks as well as their corresponding cables may be expensive.
The instant disclosure, therefore, identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved apparatuses, systems, and methods for wirelessly accessing management interfaces of routers.

Apparatus, system, and method for wirelessly accessing management interfaces of routers


There is provided a method for the prevention and control of fungus infestation of a plant which comprises contacting the fungus or plant, or the soil or water in which the plant is growing, with a 1-(substituted)thioalkylpyrrole compound of formula I ##STR1##

Copending patent applications Ser. Nos. 07/803,289 and 07/803,294 filed on Dec. 4, 1991, concurrently herewith describe certain trifluoromethylsulfonylpyrroles useful as insecticidal and fungicidal agents, respectively. Copending patent application Ser. No. 07/804,260, filed Dec. 4, 1991 concurrently herewith describes the insecticidal, acaricidal and molluscicidal use of 1-(substituted)thioalkylpyrrole compounds.
Although certain arylpyrrole compounds have been described as antifungal agents, no pyrrole compounds having a (substituted)thioalkyl moiety on the pyrrole ring nitrogen atom have been so described.

Method and composition for the control of phytopathogenic fungi


There is provided a system for remote monitoring a plurality of security systems connected to the Internet, the security systems being assigned dynamic IP addresses, each of the security systems comprising a remote monitoring server module, the system comprising a central alarm monitoring service connected to the Internet for periodically communicating with the plurality of security systems and determining a status thereof to generate an alarm signal as a function of the status, the alarm monitoring service storing a current IP address of the plurality of security systems in an IP address database, and a remote monitoring gateway providing authenticated or unauthenticated dynamic domain name service (DDNS) server functionality to connect a given remote monitoring client to a desired one of the security systems, the gateway being connected to the IP address database and to the Internet. There is further provided a method of remote monitoring a security system.

Generally, electronic devices connected to the Internet are assigned dynamic IP addresses by their ISP's, as it is customary. In order to communicate with a desired device, the transmitter should have knowledge of the current IP address thereof at the moment of the transmission. Traditionally, Dynamic Domain Name Service (DDNS) has been used to track current IP addresses of Internet connected devices having dynamic IP addresses. Using this service can require from the user to regularly access and program his Internet connected device to suite the Internet connection. This can be inconvenient for the user. Besides, it can be inconvenient, for security reasons, to certain companies providing certain type of services to give such an option to the user.

System and a method for remote monitoring customer security systems


Provided is an organic EL display device in which a large amount of a moisture absorbent is formed in a limited narrow region. An organic electroluminescence display device includes a rectangle element substrate having a display region; and a sealing substrate firmly adhered to the element substrate at a protrusion formed on the periphery thereof, in which a moisture absorbent is formed in a region of a concave surface surrounded by the protrusion so as not to overlap the display region, and the moisture absorbent includes moisture absorbents which are formed of a plurality of linear pattern set each joined to adjacent another moisture absorbents so as to be disposed in parallel with each other, and the crosssections of the moisture absorbents intersecting the longitudinal direction of the moisture absorbents are formed in the shape of a plurality of mounds joined to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescence display device (hereinafter sometimes referred to as an organic EL display device). More particularly, the present invention relates to an organic EL display device in which an element substrate having a display region with organic EL elements being arranged therein is sealed with a concave translucent sealing substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
An organic EL display device of this kind has a structure in which light emitted from the organic EL elements of the display region is irradiated on an observer side through the sealing substrate, which is a so-called top emission structure.
In such a structure, an organic light-emitting layer may be disposed above wirings used for driving control of respective pixels (wirings such as a scanning signal line and data signal line). Therefore, there is no fear of forming a light shielding region due to the wiring, thereby being capable of increasing an aperture ratio of the respective pixels, which is suited for attaining higher definition.
In an organic EL display device having such a structure, when moisture enters the display region with the organic EL elements being arranged therein, characteristics of the organic EL elements are sometimes degraded, and a so-called dark spot (non-light-emitting portion) occurs in the display region.
Therefore, generally, by applying a moisture absorbent (desiccant) for absorbing the moisture on the concave surface of the sealing substrate, and by sealing the element substrate with the sealing substrate, space around the display region is made to be a low moisture concentration atmosphere to prevent the entry of the moisture into the organic EL elements.
As such a structure, for example, there is known a structure in which the moisture absorbent is applied in a linear pattern to a region of the concave surface of the sealing substrate which does not overlap the display region of the element substrate, that is, to a region which is outside the display region, so as to surround the display region (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-6286).
However, in the above-mentioned organic EL display device, the moisture absorbent is applied in a linear pattern so as to surround the display region, the amount of the moisture absorbent is limited, there are cases in which the characteristics of the organic EL elements can not be sufficiently stabilized.
The above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-6286 discloses that a moisture absorbent in a linear pattern runs around the display region in a spiral manner, and is wound multiple turns so as to be spaced from one another. By increasing the number of the turns of the wound moisture absorbent, the amount of the moisture absorbent may be increased accordingly.
However, in this case, the width of the region where the moisture absorbent is formed outside the display region has to be large, and a so-called frame (a region between an outer periphery of the display region and an outer periphery of the element substrate) of the display device has to be large.
In other words, the technology disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-6286 is inappropriate for a case where a large amount of a moisture absorbent has to be formed in a limited narrow region.

Organic electroluminescence display device


There is disclosed a device adapted to provide water purified to human consumption level, and arranged for connection to a water supply. The device comprises a water purifier, a container for purified water and connections between the water purifier and the purified water container, The water purifier includes a filtering system that removes particles present in water to be purified as well as any undesirable adsorbable material, The filtering system is in fluid communication with the water supply on the one hand, and the container, on the other hand. The device also includes an ozone generator and a venturi for injecting ozone into filtered water downstream of the filtering system, but before introduction of the purified water into the container. A pump is arranged to draw water from the water supply, to feed same to the filtering system, and thereafter to the container. The container includes a bottle adapter imperviously mounted on the container and adapted for introducing purified water into the container as well as for recycling purified water to the water purifier, back to said container. An ozone destruction unit is provided to remove excess ozone that may escape from the purified water and controls are provided to operate the device.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable water purifier. More specifically, the invention is concerned with a device that can provide water that is purified to human consumption level, and that uses ozone to purify water obtained from a source of water of unknown purification state.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Treating water with ozone is well known, as well as by using a number of filtering systems that are designed to remove undesirable matter from water intended to be purified.
A plurality of more or less complicated systems, mostly adapted for the industrial treatment of water, have been described in the following U.S. patents:                U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,180        U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,118        U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,986        U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,574        U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,693        U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,864        U.S. Pat. No. 5,900,143        U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,473        U.S. Pat. No. 6,312,588
However, these systems are either very complicated or are not suitable for providing a portable package that is capable of providing water that is very suitable for drinking purpose and that is cheap to operate and manufacture.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a portable device that can produce high quality water for human consumption.


Octahydro-pyrrolo[3,4-b]pyrrole derivatives are useful in treating conditions or disorders prevented by or ameliorated by histamine-3 receptor ligands, Octahydro-pyrrolo[3,4-b]pyrrole compounds, methods for using such compounds, compositions for making them, and processes for preparing such compounds are disclosed herein.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to octahydro-pyrrolo[3,4-b]pyrrole compounds, compositions comprising such compounds, particular salts and polymorphs thereof, methods for making the compounds, salts, and polymorphs, and methods of treating conditions and disorders using such compounds and compositions.
2. Description of Related Technology
Histamine is a well-known modulator of neuronal activity. At least four types of histamine receptors have been reported in the literature, typically referred to as histamine-1, histamine-2, histamine-3, and histamine-4. The class of histamine receptor known as the histamine-3 receptor (also sometimes called the histamine H3 receptor or the H3 receptor) is believed to play a role in neurotransmission in the central nervous system.
The histamine-3 (H3) receptor was first pharmacologically characterized on histaminergic nerve terminals (Nature, 302:832-837 (1983)). The histamine H3 receptor is able to regulate the release of neurotransmitters in the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system, and also in peripheral organs such as the gastrointestinal tract. Histamine H3 ligands have been shown to be able to modulate the release of histamine, dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine, and other neurotransmitters. The existence of H3 receptors and their established role in modulating neurotransmitter release activity in animal models of disease indicate the utility of histamine H3 ligands for the treatment of disease. This has motivated a search for, and the development of, selective H3 receptor agonists and antagonists ((Leurs, et al., "The histamine H3 receptor: From gene cloning to H3 receptor drugs" Nature Reviews Drug Discovery (2005) v. 4, p 107-120; Arrang, et al. Nature, 327:117-123 (1987); Leurs and Timmerman, ed. "The History of H3 Receptor, a Target for New Drugs," Elsevier (1998)).
The activity of histamine H3 receptors can be modified or regulated by the administration of histamine H3 receptor ligands. The ligands can demonstrate antagonist, inverse agonist, or partial agonist activity, For example, histamine H3 receptors have been linked to conditions and disorders related to the central nervous system involving memory, cognitive and other neurological processes, obesity, and also peripheral and systemic activities, such those involved in asthma and allergic rhinitis. Although various classes of compounds demonstrating H3 receptor-modulating activity exist, it would be beneficial to provide additional compounds demonstrating activity at the H3 receptors that can be incorporated into pharmaceutical compositions useful for therapeutic methods.


A method of protecting a cementitious mixture from freeze damage is provided. The method consists of incorporating an entrainment air composition into the cementitious mixture to form air voids in the concrete, and further adding an effective agent for nucleating ice, preferably, in the air voids, such that upon the freezing of concrete formed from the cementitious mixture, ice is nucleated in the air voids. In one embodiment, the air entrainment composition includes ceramic shells, which could be impregnated with an agent for nucleating ice such as metaldehyde.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process whereby the nucleation of ice within concrete is controlled. It is current practice to protect concrete against frost damage by introducing air voids, which are generated by adding surfactants with the cement paste. Those voids protect against one mechanism of damage (hydraulic pressure), but not against crystallization pressure. By introducing nucleating agents into the voids, ice can be forced to occur only in the voids, and this will further reduce frost damage.
Concrete, like all porous media, has the ability to retain and absorb moisture. Under freezing conditions, ice can grow within the concrete pores, leading to significant internal cracking of the cement matrix and/or scaling of the concrete surface. While the precise mechanisms of frost action are not known, concrete deterioration is believed to result from three important forces: crystallization, hydraulic and diffusion/osmotic pressures. These mechanisms are thought to produce flows of metastable water in the concrete pores that generate sufficiently high stresses to induce fracture of the cement matrix. To reduce the internal pressures, air-entrained voids are often placed within the cement matrix to provide escape boundaries for the flow of unstable water.
From experimental evidence, properly air-entrained concrete samples have given consistently good results in terms of the ASTM C 666 standard freeze-thaw tests. However, in practice, the technique of air entrainment has several disadvantages such as inconsistencies in spacing factors (means half-distance between voids) and uncertainties in bubble stability. Both issues have caused frequent discrepancies between expected and actual frost durability.
Numerous references in this area are discussed in the Detailed Description section of this application.
It is a primary object of this invention to protect concrete from freeze damage.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a simple, inexpensive, and easy to use method of protecting concrete from freeze damage.
It is another object of the present invention to add an effective amount of nucleating agent to a cementitious mixture to nucleate ice in concrete.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a nucleating agent in concrete which can be added during mixing.
It is even a further object of the invention to provide porous ceramic or clay shells for air entrainment in concrete, and to provide a method of making such shells.
These objects and others are achieved by the method of protecting a cementitious mixture from freeze damage according to the present invention. The method comprises incorporating air into a cementitious mixture to form air pores in the cementitious mixture, including an air entrainment agent, and adding an effective amount of, preferably, metaldehyde, or an equivalent nucleating compound for nucleating ice in the air pores upon the freezing of concrete. The nucleating agent is added to the cementitious mixture during the normal mixing process. Other nucleating agents may be used. Preferably the air entrainment composition contains a surfactant. Because ice nucleating agents are hydrophobic, when mixed with a surfactant, which is normally used for forming air voids, the metaldehyde particles associate themselves with the surfactant and become incorporated within air voids formed in the concrete. Optionally, the air entrainment is achieved by using porous ceramic shells, which could be used alone or which could be impregnated with metaldehyde or another ice nucleating agent. Preferrably, the metadehyde consists of tetrameric units (CH3CHO)4, rather than polyacetaldehyde chains.

Methods of protecting concrete from freeze damage


Disclosed are an ultrafine particle film which is effective for the prevention of an electrostatic charge and reflection and can be applied to a large area at a low cost, a cathode ray tube to which the ultrafine particle film is applied, and image display plate to which the ultrafine particles is applied, and a process for producing the ultrafine particle film which comprises attaching a coating solution bath to a Braun tube surface and the like, introducing a containing solution containing anti-reflection SiO.sub.2 ultrafine particles and antistatic SnO.sub.2 ultrafine particles, and elevating up or down on the Braun tube surface and the like at a constant rate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transparent plate, a process for the production thereof and a transparent plate-applied screen display plate, and a Braun tube (cathode ray tube) and a process for the production thereof. In particular, it relates to a transparent plate using ultrafine particles capable of effectively functioning as an antistatic and anti-reflection film for a screen display plate, a process for producing the same and a transparent plate-applied screen display plate, and a Braun tube (cathode ray tube) and a process for the production thereof.
2. Related Art
Films to reduce the reflectance of a transparent plate surface has been long studied, and have been applied to lenses for cameras and ophthalmic glasses. At present, such films are used as an anti-reflection filter for reducing the reflected light on VDTs (visual display terminal). A variety of anti-reflection films have been considered, and mainly used now are multi-layered films and heterogeneous films.
A multi-layered film-has- a structure in which a material having a low reflectance and a material having a high reflectance are alternately stacked to form at least three layers. Its anti-reflection effect is a synergistic effect produced by the optical interference function of each layer. Multi-layered films are discussed in Physics of Thin Films, 2 (1964), pp. 243-284.
A heterogeneous film having a reflectance distribution in the film thickness direction works as an anti-reflection when the film has a lower refractive index than a glass base plate. A heterogeneous film is generally formed by rendering a transparent plate surface porous.
Apl. Phys. Lett., 36 (1980), pp. 727-730 discusses a method of reducing the reflectance in which a heterogeneous film is produced by forming an insular metal deposition film on a-glass surface and forming a fine uneven surface by sputter etching.
Solar Energy 6 (1980), pp. 28-34 discusses a method of reducing the reflectance in which a soda glass surface is rendered porous by dipping it in an H.sub.2 SiF.sub.6 solution oversaturated with SiO.sub.2.
On the other hand, in a cathode ray tube, it is required not only to form an electrically conductive film for prevention of electrostatic charge but also to use devices for prevention of reflection.
Meanwhile, it is known that the front panel surface (image display plate) of a cathode ray tube such as a Braun tube is electrostatically charged. The reason therefor is as follows. Aluminum is generally deposited to form a thin and uniform film on a phosphor 43 applied to an inner surface 42 of a Braun tube 41 as shown in FIG. 4. In the application of a high voltage to the aluminum film 44, an electrostatic charge occurs on a front panel 45 of the Braun tube due to electrostatic induction when the high voltage is applied and cut off.
JP-A-61-51101 discloses a method of forming an antistatic and anti-reflection film for prevention of both electrostatic charge and reflection on such a display tube surface. In this method, first, an electrically conductive film is formed on a glass base plate by a physical gas phase method or a chemical gas phase method such as a vacuum deposition method and a sputtering method, and then, an anti-reflection film is formed thereon.
In the above prior arts, the film forming method is limited to a sputtering or vacuum deposition method, and it is required to control the film thickness highly accurately. There is therefore a defect in that a high cost is required and it is difficult to apply these prior art methods to a base plate having a large surface area.
In particular, the above prior art method uses a two-layer structure, in which an electrically conductive film and an anti-reflection film are formed, respectively. There have been therefore problems in productivity and a cost. Further, when such films are formed on the surface of a display tube such as a Braun tube which limits the firing temperature for forming films to low temperatures, there have been problems in film strength and reflectivity.
In a reflection film containing ultrafine particles, a minimum reflectance is obtained when the ultrafine particles are highly densely and regularly arranged on a base plate.
FIG. 5 schematically shows a cross-sectional view of a film in which ultrafine particles are systematically and regularly applied to a transparent base plate. In FIG. 5, numeral 46 indicates ultrafine particles, numeral 47 indicates a binder layer, and numeral 48 indicates a base plate. In this Figure, n.sub.0 is the refractive index of air, n.sub.1 is the refractive index of an ultrafine particle layer, da, on the air side, n.sub.2 is the refractive index of the da layer on the ultrafine particle side, n.sub.S is the refractive index of a layer formed from ultrafine particles and a binder, and n.sub.G is the refractive index of the transparent base plate. In this case, the reflectance, Ra, of the da layer is represented by the equation (expression 1), and the reflectance index, Rb, of the db layer, by the equation (expression 2). ##EQU1##
When the reflectance of a portion where no ultrafine particles are present is taken as Rc, the total reflectance is represented by the equation (expression 3), EQU R=(1-.alpha.)(Ra+Rb)+Rc (Expression 3)
in which .alpha. is the ratio of an area where no ultrafine particles are present.
When the binder is a vitreous binder, Rc is generally 4.2%.
Ra is about 0.19% at .lambda.=550 nm on the assumption that n.sub.0 =1.0, n.sub.1 =1.10, n.sub.2 =1.38 and n.sub.S =1.47. When the transparent plate is glass, Rb is about 0.04% at .lambda.=550 nm on the assumption that n.sub.G =1.53 and that the other refractive indexes are the same as those in Ra.
The consequence is (Ra+Rb)<Rc. That is, it is understood that the smaller a is, the smaller the reflectance is. In other words, when ultrafine particles are regularly and densely applied, the reflectance is the lowest.
The present inventors have already proposed the application of ultrafine particles to an anti-reflection film and filed on Sep. 8, 1989 as U.S. Pat. No. 07/404553 whose content is incorporated herein by reference. As a result of a further study, it has been also found that a coating solution level is elevated up or down on the base plate surface at a constant rate, whereby ultrafine particles contained in the coating solution are regularly arranged on, and applied to, the base plate surface to give a low reflectance close to a theoretical value.
It has been also found that, in the above case, ultrafine particles having an uneven surface are used, whereby there is obtained a film which shows a decrease in diffuse reflection and is not opacified.
It has been further found that, in the above case, antistatic ultrafine particles of which the diameter is not more than 1/10 of that of the anti-reflection ultrafine particles are incorporated, whereby antistatic ultrafine particles are arranged in a network form in gaps among the anti-reflection ultrafine particles to form an electrically conductive film.
The present invention provides an antistatic and anti-reflection film which can be applied to a large area at a low cost and an image display to which the film is applied.
The present invention is achieved either by filling a coating solution containing uniformly dispersed ultrafine particles in a bath positioned on the side of a surface of a base plate and pulling up the base plate at a constant rate, or by filling the above coating solution in a bath positioned on the side of a surface of a base plate at a constant rate.
The present invention is achieved by making uneven surfaces of anti-reflection ultrafine particles, or by at least making the surfaces porous. Otherwise, uneven portions may be formed by aggregating ultrafine particles to form fine particles which have gaps formed of the ultrafine particles on surfaces of the fine particles.
The process for producing a transparent plate, provided by the present invention, has a characteristic feature in that a film composed of ultrafine particles and a binder to be filled in gaps among said particles is formed on a transparent base plate by resting the base plate against a container, introducing a mixed coating solution containing said particles and said binder into the container to elevate the mixed coating solution level up on the base plate surface at a constant rate, or lowering the mixed coating solution level on the base plate surface at a constant rate, to form the ultrafine particle film on the base plate surface.
The transparent plate of the present invention has the following characteristic features. In a transparent plate obtained by forming an ultrafine particle film of ultrafine particles and a binder filled in gaps among the ultrafine particles on a transparent base plate, a coupling agent having a functional group to a material of the base plate is incorporated into the ultrafine particle film and/or allowed to present in the interface between the ultrafine particle film and the transparent base plate, and/or a coating liquid composed mainly of ethyl silicate is further applied onto a coating of the ultrafine particles.
The image display plate and the image display protection plate provided by the present invention have a characteristic feature in that the above-prepared transparent plate is applied to the surface of the transparent base plate or that the ultrafine particle film is directly formed on the image display plate surface.
The Braun tube of the present invention has a characteristic feature in that it is formed from the above image display plate or the above image display protection plate. In addition, the present invention can be also applied to other cathode ray tubes, liquid crystal display devices, window glass for automobiles and ophthalmic glasses, and the like.
The process for producing the Braun tube, provided by the present invention, has a characteristic feature in that the transparent base plate surface of the Braun tube is exposed through an opening portion provided on the side of a container, and a mixed solution containing ultrafine particles and a binder is introduced into the container to elevate the mixed coating solution level up on the base plate surface at a constant rate, or lowering the mixed coating solution level on the base plate surface at a constant rate, to form an ultrafine particle film on the base plate surface.
The process for producing the window glass for an automobile has a characteristic feature in that the transparent base plate surface of the window glass for an automobile is exposed through an opening portion provided on the side of a container, and a mixed solution containing ultrafine particles and a binder is introduced into the container to elevate the mixed coating solution level up on the base plate surface at a constant rate, or lowering the mixed coating solution level on the base plate surface at a constant rate, to form an ultrafine particle film on the base plate surface.

Transparent plate, process for the production thereof and their applied screen display plate, and cathode ray tube and process for the production thereof


A display device includes: a signal controller which receives an input image signal and generates a changed image signal, where the signal controller divides the inputted image signal into red, green and blue image signals, changes the blue image signal to a first blue image signal or a second blue image signal, matches white balance of the red, green, first blue or second blue image signals, and generates the changed image signal by compensating a gamma value of the red, green, first blue or second blue image signals; a display panel which displays an image corresponding to the changed image signal, where the display panel includes a pixel including red, green, first blue and second blue sub-pixels; and a data driver which receives the changed image signal from the signal controller and applies a data voltage corresponding to the changed image signal to the display panel.

(a) Field
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to a display device and a driving method of the display device. More particularly, Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to a display device and a driving method of the display device, in which a blue image signal is changed to a deep blue image signal and a cyan blue image signal.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In general, in a conventional display device including an organic light emitting diode ("OLED"), as the color of blue pixels in the display device approaches deep blue, light emitted from the blue pixels typically becomes substantially close to an ultraviolet ("UV") light, such that OLED molecules therein may be deteriorated, and a life-span of the display device may be thereby decreased.
In such a conventional display device, deep blue has a relatively lower luminance, and life-span of the display device may be decreased when the luminance of the deep blue is increased to maintain a white balance.

Display device and display device driving method


Methods and apparatus for executing an application are disclosed. In accordance with one embodiment, a request is received. One or more of a plurality of module types are instantiated such that a plurality of module objects are generated. A query plan linking the plurality of module objects is executed such that a response to the request is generated. The response is then returned.

The present invention relates generally to computer implemented execution of applications using query plans.
Companies typically dedicate enormous resources to implementing software applications. Often, companies dedicate a team of programmers to each application being implemented. Moreover, each team of programmers typically spends a great deal of time on designing and implementing a particular solution. A desire to create applications to take advantage of modern architectures such as the multi-core central processing unit (CPU) architecture make design and implementation of a solution even more complicated and technically challenging. As a result, the development of software applications is typically a costly endeavor.

Composition model for cloud-hosted serving applications


A dielectric member that is attached to a lower surface of a stage is provided. The stage includes a base provided with a base channel through which a heat exchange medium passes. The dielectric member includes at least one first component including a passage that is connected to the base channel, and a second component surrounding the first component.

A substrate processing apparatus is known, in which a substrate placed on a stage is subjected to plasma processing.
Patent Document 1 describes an electrostatic chuck device in which a cushioning material is provided in the gap between electrode supports, to relieve stress caused by thermal expansion and thermal contraction.

Dielectric member, structure, and substrate processing apparatus


The invention relates to compounds that inhibit thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) degrading ectoenzyme and/or enhance, and/or mimic the biological actions of TRH. The compounds find therapeutic application, particularly in conditions involving neuronal cell injury and disturbances in neurobiological function.

TRH has the structure

The nomenclature of Schechter and Berger is used to describe the positions of the peptide substrate residues (P) relative to the scissile P1—P1′ bond and the corresponding subsets (S) in the active site of the enzyme. In other literature, the right portion of the molecule is called the "prolineamide" or "C-terminal" portion; the centre portion of the molecule is called the "histidyl" portion; and the left portion of the molecule is called the "pyroglutamyl", or "N-terminal" portion.
Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) (pyroglutamyl-histidyl-prolineamide, Glp-His-ProNH2) is a naturally occurring neuroactive peptide with multiple actions in the central nervous system (CNS) that have been shown to be beneficial in the treatment of CNS disorders, including brain and spinal injury, stroke, epilepsy and spinocerebellar degeneration. While mechanisms underlying the therapeutic actions of TRH are not fully understood, it is recognized by the art that TRH has substantial beneficial effects due in part to its action in mitigating the secondary neuronal cell damage caused by a sequence of biochemical reactions triggered by the primary injury. This same sequence of reactions has been found to occur in both acute and chronic neurodegeneration and drugs capable of disrupting this sequence have potentially broad application as neuroprotectants. It is becoming evident that those targeting multiple components of the sequence may offer therapeutic advantages over pharmacological interventions targeted at single components. Notably TRH has been shown to antagonize the actions of multiple constituents of the sequence and also improve critical biochemical functions impaired by CNS trauma such as cell bioenergetics. TRH's neurotrophic actions may also be beneficial for restoring loss of function associated with neurodegeneration.
Recent literature highlights a growing recognition of the breadth of TRH functions and the potential widespread clinical applicability of this remarkable peptide. For example, it has been recognized recently that TRH may function as a core homeostatic regulator within four integrated CNS systems and as such may have extensive involvement and therapeutic application in human illnesses associated with disturbances in neurobiological function, including conditions as diverse as jetlag, obesity and depression. Other research strongly indicates a role for TRH in the physiology and treatment of mood disorders and epilepsy. In a recent paper (Luo et al., 2002) it was suggested that TRH might function as an endogenous neuroprotectant and that the low levels of TRH found in the hippocampus of Alzheimer's patients may possibly contribute to the pathogenesis of this disorder. In relation to epilepsy, the art shows that TRH is efficacious in treating patients with intractable epilepsy. In addition, the art indicates that the brain naturally releases TRH in response to seizures and that endogenous TRH has an anticonvulsant function in brain and plays a homeostatic role in reducing the potentially damaging effects of epilepsy.
The art shows that in human clinical trials TRH has a large therapeutic window and is well tolerated. The clinical utility of TRH is, however, severely limited by its susceptibility to enzymic degradation, which significantly reduces TRH bioavailability and duration of action (Kelly, 1995). This is reflected in a disappointing performance produced by native TRH in clinical trials. The short half-life of TRH, arising from enzymic degradation, is also a serious impediment to further investigation of the functions of TRH.
As a means to overcome the susceptibility of TRH to metabolism the art has, to date, concentrated largely on the development of improved delivery systems and degradation-stabilized TRH analogs, which target TRH receptors and act as TRH mimetics. U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,884 relates to thionated analogs of TRH type compounds, which selectively bind to TRH receptor binding sites in animals with high affinity and have potentially pharmacological advantages over TRH in treating pathological conditions in which the effects of TRH have been shown to be beneficial. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,112,804, 5,428,006 5,693,608, 5,804,212, 6,491,939, 6,524,557 describe methods for administrating a therapeutically effective amount of biologically active substances, including TRH. U.S. Pat. No. 5,686,420 describes a series of novel TRH analogs wherein the C-terminal prolineamide moiety has been preserved, the N-terminal moiety comprises one of five different ring structures and the histidyl moiety is substituted with CF3, NO2 or a halogen and use of these analogs in the treatment of neurological disorders. US patent application 20020004062 describes methods and compositions for providing prolonged release of therapeutic agents, including TRH. U.S. Pat. No. 6,475,989 relates to peptides with the general formula Glp-X-ProNH2 and their potential therapeutic application. Thus far, one degradation-stabilized analog has been approved for therapeutic use in humans; this was launched by Tanabe Seiyaku Co., Ltd., in 2000 for the treatment of spinocerebellar degeneration, an orphan drug designated disorder. In contrast to TRH analogs described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,686,420 and US patent application 20020004062, the C-terminal prolineamide moiety that is found in TRH and TRH-like peptides has not been preserved in compounds described in the present invention, described herein.
The art shows that many degradation-stabilised analogs that act as TRH mimetics contain modifications to the N-terminal pyroglutamyl residue of TRH (Kelly 1995, Horita 1998, Faden & Salzman 1992). For example, the N-terminal pyroglutamyl residue of TRH has been replaced by a 6-membered ring (e.g. TA-0910 i.e. Ceredist, CG3509, CG3703), a different 5-membered ring (e.g. DN1417, JTP2942) and a 4-membered ring (e.g. YM14673). Such analogs have been shown by the art to mimic the central actions of TRH, despite displaying reduced affinity for TRH receptors.
The following are a selection of known TRH analogs:

An alternative approach to facilitate the clinical use of TRH is to protect it from degradation by inhibiting its enzymic degradation. TRH-degrading ectoenzyme (TRH-DE) (EC 184.108.40.206), also known as pyroglutamyl aminopeptidase II (PAP-II, PP-II) is recognized by the art to be the enzyme responsible for degrading extracellular TRH. Thus, TRH-DE is an attractive therapeutic target because of the potential offered by TRH-DE inhibitors to enhance the therapeutic effects of TRH. TRH-DE catalyzes the removal of the N-terminal pyroglutamyl group from TRH and is located on the surface of neuronal cells. A soluble form of the enzyme, known as thryoliberinase, is present in serum. TRH-DE appears to be a rare example of a neuropeptide-specific peptidase in that it displays absolute functional specificity for TRH. Furthermore, TRH is not degraded by any other enzymes that are in a position to affect TRH signaling. Hence, the modulation of TRH-DE activity should, in principle, amplify TRH effects exclusively. The special relationship between TRH-DE and TRH should ensure that only the biological actions of TRH are amplified and thus, lead to minimal side effects.
To date, there is no crystal structure or homology model for TRH-DE on which to base the rational design of active site directed inhibitors. Nevertheless, through research carried out by the inventor named herein novel, potent. competitive inhibitors of TRH-DE have been identified (Kelly et al. 2000a, 2000b, U.S. Pat. App. 20030166944). Prior to this, few TRH-DE inhibitors had been reported—the most potent of these was N-[1-carboxy-2-phenylethyl]N-imidazole benzyl histidyl-β-naphthylamide (Ki of 8 mM) (Charli et al., 1989). A recent paper by Pascual et al., (2004) has described the isolation of a TRH-DE inhibitory activity from a marine invertebrate. However, the type of inhibition has not been defined, its molecular structure is not yet known, nor is it certain that inhibition is due to a single chemical entity.
The art indicates that actions of peptides, such as TRH, are mediated by specific receptors. Two TRH receptor subtypes have been described thus far: TRH receptor 1 (TRHR1) and TRH receptor 2 (TRHR2). These receptors have distinct amino acid sequences and distribution patterns, but both display a similar high-affinity for [3H][3-Me-His2]TRH. TRHR1 is highly conserved between species, including human. Unlike TRHR1, TRHR2 has not been identified in humans. In rat TRHR2 expression is restricted to the CNS. This contrasts with TRHR1, which displays very limited mRNA expression in the CNS. The regional distribution of TRHR2 mRNA has been found to be consistent with the possibility that this TRH receptor is involved in mediating the higher cognitive functions of TRH, as well as its effects on arousal, locomotor activity and pain perception. TRHR1 distribution on the other hand indicates that this receptor is involved in mediating the endocrine functions of TRH. Replacement or modification of the central histidyl residue of TRH has been shown by the art to severely reduce receptor affinity (Gershengorn and Osman, 1996). Only one exception has been identified that binds with greater affinity than TRH to TRH receptors and that is [3-Me-His2]TRH. Degradation stabilized analogs described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,906,614, 5,244,884 and 5,686,420 have all been found to bind to TRH receptor sites within the brain, albeit with less potency than TRH. The art indicates that the structural preferences for ligand binding to TRH receptors and TRH-DE are different (Kelly et al., 2002). For example, both Glp-Asn-ProAMC and Glp-Asn-ProNH2 have been shown to be potent inhibitors of TRH-DE, but display low affinity compared to TRH for [3H][3-Me-His2]TRH-labeled receptors in rat cortical membranes.
The present invention describes novel compounds that potently inhibit TRH-DE and or bind to TRH receptors with high affinity and substantially enhance TRH actions in rat. Potent TRH-DE inhibitors that also bind to TRH receptors and amplify TRH effects have not been previously described and are first in their class. These compounds are distinct from those described in U.S. Pat. Application 20030166944 because they inhibit TRH-DE and or bind to TRH receptor(s). Further, unlike the compounds disclosed herein, the amino acids contained within the structure of TRH-DE inhibitors described in U.S. Pat. Application 20030166944 are all in the L-configuration. Certain compounds of the invention are also different from other compounds that have been shown to bind to TRH receptors with the exception of 3-Me-His2TRH, in that they display greater affinity for TRH receptors than TRH. 3-Me-His2TRH is the only compound described thus far that also binds to TRH receptors with greater affinity than TRH.

The Provost, Fellows and Scholars of The College of The Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth Near Dublin


A list of graphics orders defining the graphics objects to be displayed is processed to generate a list of modified graphics orders representing those portions of the graphics objects not overlaid by an overlapping area. The mechanisms for clipping to the inside of a bounded area are adapted to determine what portion of an area of graphics lies outside a bounded area. The invention includes techniques for dealing with graphics in the form of lines, areas bounded by lines, and images including arrays of picture elements or symbol set characters.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of graphics display with data processing systems. More particularly, this invention relates to graphics clipping.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to provide graphics displays comprising a number of overlapping areas, such as the rectangular windows in the Operating System/2 (trademark) or Graphical Data Display Manager programs produced by International Business Machines Corporation. Each window contains graphics objects and as the user varies the size of the window the system determines what portion of the objects are inside the window and displays only that portion. This process is known as clipping. The commonly assigned application of applicant J. A. Herrod, Ser. No. EP 91306143.8, filed in the European Patent Office on Jul. 5, 1991, concurrently herewith and entitled "Graphics Processing Method and Apparatus" (Attorney Docket No. UK9-90-008), describes a number of clipping techniques.
In such displays each window can be thought to be assigned a priority, with windows of higher priority overlying windows of lower priority where they overlap. One known way of dealing with the overlapping windows is to start from the window of lowest priority, draw this and then proceed to draw the window with the next highest priority until all the windows have been drawn. By proceeding in such a way those portions of the lower priority windows that are overlapped by higher priority windows are first drawn and then overlaid.
Such a technique is disadvantageously slow and distracting for the user. Time is spent needlessly drawing portions of low priority windows that will subsequently be overlaid by the higher priority windows. Updates to an overlapped window require all the overlapping windows to be redrawn. In addition, such a screen cannot be readily printed or plotted on a printer or plotter since it is not possible to wipe out overlapped parts as you can on a screen.
An alternative way of dealing with overlapping windows would be to provide a clipper which assigns ownership of picture elements of a display to a particular window and only allows the window owning a given picture element to write to it. Such a technique requires a disadvantageous processing and data storage overhead resulting from the need to deal with each picture element separately. The relative inefficiency of this technique is particularly apparent when graphics orders (i.e. instructions defining graphics objects such as lines, areas, circles etc.) are being processed.
It will be seen that there exists a need for way of dealing with overlapping windows (areas of overlapping graphics--not necessarily rectangular or variable in size) which does not rely on first drawing and then overlaying the lower priority windows and yet does not introduce the disadvantages associated with the alternative.

Data processing system including method and apparatus for performing graphics clipping operations


A fan motor, including: a variable speed motor and a motor controller. The motor controller includes: a microprocessor, an inverter unit, a gear detection unit, and a power supply unit. The power supply unit supplies power for each circuit. The gear detection unit is connected to a plurality of power input lines. Each power input line receives AC power from an AC power supply. The gear detection unit includes: a plurality of voltage detection circuits, and a plurality of thermal resistors. Each power input line is connected to a thermal resistor in series and matches up with a voltage detection circuit. Each voltage detection circuit includes a thermo-sensitive resistor that is bound to the corresponding thermal resistor via a thermal conductive element. The thermo-sensitive resistor detects a temperature signal of the thermal resistor and adjusts the voltage of the output end of the voltage detection circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fan motor which is mainly used in civil heating and ventilation air-conditioning (HVAC) systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
The improvement of the efficiency of HVAC systems reduces energy consumption greatly. For example, the utilization efficiency of many high-efficient stoves, air conditioners, and air cleaners (AFUE rated value) now is above 90%. However, the efficiency of fan motors which are used to move the air in these systems doesn't improve obviously yet and is too low. As the total energy consumption of HVAC systems which belong to fan motors increases when the stoves and air conditioners are more efficient, the fan motors become larger contributors of the whole systems in terms of energy consumption.
The reason of the low efficiency is that the fan motors of HVAC systems are fixed-speed or multi-speed permanent-split capacitor (PSC) motors. These motors usually have at least two independent power connectors which are used to demodulate the heating or cooling mode of operation. The heating or cooling power input end is usually connected to different winding taps of the PSC motors, which can provide different operating speeds to some extent for different operational modes.
The PSC motor can be designed to have more than two taps, which allows OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) or installation mechanics to choose operating speeds by connecting the taps to heating or cooling power connecting wire respectively. The electric energy of these AC power connecting wires connected to the motor can be controlled by a temperature switch; the relays are driven by a thermostatic controller.
FIG. 1 shows other fixed speed PSC motors used for civil HVAC systems. The motor has four winding taps to demodulate the speeds of two heating fans and two cooling fans. The speeds of the fans are controlled by a stove control panel which has a cooling/heating relay, a high/low cooling relay and a high/low heating relay. Other HVAC systems consist of two heating stages and a single cooling stage, or some other combinations of heating and cooling revolving speeds.
When operating at a high speed, the PSC motor is reasonably efficient; when operating at a low speed, its efficiency can lower to within 20%. As the air flow needed by the evaporator coil of the air conditioner is faster than that of the heat exchanger of the stove, the efficiency of the fan motor running at a lower speed is low during the period of the operation of the stoves. During the period of continuous operation of the fan, the efficiency of the fan motor is lowest when it is still running at a lower speed.
Due to the low efficiency of the PSC motors, many updated HVAC systems apply variable speed motors such as brushless permanent-magnet motors (BPM) and corresponding variable speed motors with electronic controllers. The revolving speed of BPM can be controlled by electronic components, which is especially set to produce required air flow matching with each application. In addition, the power consumption of BMP is about in direct proportion to the cube of the motor speed, and the electrical work of the PSC motors is about in direct proportion to the motor speed. Hence, when the motor speed drops, the electrical work of BPM within the whole scope of motor speed is lower than that of BPM. As mentioned above, this is especially important when the fan runs continuously and repeatedly.
Variable speed motors are superior to PSC motors. To replace the existing PSC motors by variable motors, complicated changes in production cost, time consumption, machinery, wiring or system control configuration is necessitated. The variable motors which are used to replace the PSC motors in the existing HVAC systems have been developed already, but their control and sensing systems are relatively complex. In other alternative systems, to install alternative motors needs to supply continuous electrical power to the motors and directly send the lower-voltage control signals of the thermostatic controllers to the motors. It is very difficult to make these connecting wires in the existing HVAC systems. In addition, these systems known in the art are lack of sensitivity to the fan motors running at a low speed.
The restrictions of the existing PSC motors and BPM are that HVAC OEMs often need to configure motors with sole parameters (the torque load, the fan speed, the direction of rotation, etc.) and optimize the performance of HVAC components. Variable speed PSC motors and BPM provide some options; many operational parameters are set after manufacturing and are difficult to change. Therefore, motor manufacturers, installation mechanics and maintenance contractors have to have all kinds of stocks of fan motors to demodulate different modes of HVAC equipment.
Hence, it is hoped to provide an imbedded improved substitute for the PSC motors of the HVAC system which has advantages of the variable motors but doesn't change the original HVAC system obviously. More important is that it lowers the complexity of such alternative systems by using simple control circuits and cancels additional arrangements of wires which are usually used in connecting the regular variable speed motors and the existing alternative variable speed motors. Consequently, higher requirements are set on variable speed fan motors.

HUBEI QUEEN-OCEAN ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE MANUFACTURE CO., LTD.


An object of the invention is to provide a reliable gas turbine combustor that can provide lowered NOx and combustion stability. The gas turbine combustor includes a combustion chamber to which fuel and air are supplied; a first burner located on the upstream side of the combustion chamber, the first burner jetting fuel into the combustion chamber and jetting air into the combustion chamber in a swirling manner; a plurality of second burners arranged around the first burner and supplying a premixed gas of air and fuel to the combustion chamber; an annular bulkhead disposed between the first burner and the second burners and having an inclined surface formed to broaden toward the downstream side of the combustion chamber; and a plurality of air jet ports formed in the inclined surface of the annular bulkhead and adapted to jet air into the combustion chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gas turbine combustor and a fuel supply method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Gas turbine combustors need, as a critical requirement, to provide stable combustion for a period of time ranging from starting-up to rated load operation even if operating conditions such as an air flow rate, a fuel flow rate and the like significantly change. Also a combustion method is strongly demanded in which a discharge amount of nitrogen oxide discharged from a gas turbine combustor is decreased. Nitrogen oxide will be referred as NOx hereinafter.
A premixed combustion method is one example of combustion methods allowing a less NOx discharge amount to be discharged. The premixed combustion method is such that fuel is mixed with air prior to combustion reaction and the mixture is then burnt. In general, a NOx amount is exponentially increased as combustion flame temperature is made high. However, if the premixed combustion method is used for gas turbine combustors, a local increase in combustion flame temperature can be prevented from occurring. Further if the ratio of air to fuel is increased so that premixed gas is made lean, the combustion flame temperature can be decreased. As a result, reduction in an amount of NOx discharge can be achieved.
To cope with an increasing strong demand for NOx reduction, opportunity of operating a combustor based on a lean premixed combustion, in which a premixed gas is made far leaner, has recently increased when the premixed combustion method is applied. However, the lean mixed combustion generally has following characteristics: flames are more likely to blow off than those in diffusion combustion in which air and fuel are burnt while they are mixed with each other, and combustion oscillation is liable to occur. Therefore, the premixed combustion method has a limited operational range where stable combustion is possible.
In view of the above, the lean premixed combustion method is combined with the diffusion combustion method having high combustion stability to promote reduction of NOx while the stabilization of combustion is ensured.
JP-11-101435-A describes a method of suppressing the sway of flames, which is formed by a diffusion combustion burner even when a flow rate of fuel to be supplied to the diffusion combustion burner is reduced for the purpose of reducing a NOx discharge amount.

Gas turbine combustor and fuel supply method used for the same


A connector system is provided which enables a first connector (12), especially a rectangular one, to be quickly locked and unlocked from a second connector (14). A button (70) of a locking device (60), lies at a side (72) of the first connector housing (30), so access to it is not greatly limited by conductors (34) extending from the rear of the first connector. When the button is depressed, it operates a mechanism that allows retraction of lock balls (100) to unlock. Depression of the button causes a plunger (110) fixed to the button to move deeper into a slot (122) of a shaft (90) and to press against an inclined wall (112) at an end of the slot to move the shaft.

It is often considered desirable to provide a lock mechanism that locks a pair of connectors together after they have been mated. Threaded nuts lying around round connectors are commonly used to lock two connectors together, but it is more difficult to use this approach in holding two rectangular connectors together, the rectangular connectors having a greater height than width. Also, it can be tedious to properly threadably engage and turn a nut. Sometimes, screws are provided at the top and bottom of rectangular connectors, but turning both screws is tedious, and if they are not turned together then the connectors can be misaligned and the contacts damaged. Furthermore, in rectangular connectors, a large number of wires or other conductors extend from the rear of the connectors, and make it difficult to have access to the area behind a connector. A locking mechanism, especially for rectangular connectors, which was obvious to operate and which could be operated in a simple matter from a location other than the rear of the connector at the wires extending from the connector, would be of value.

Connector quick coupling/decoupling mechanism


A static random access memory (SRAM) cell array is provided that reduces leakage current. The SRAM cell array is configured in a plurality of columns. Each of the columns comprises: a column virtual ground node; a column switch for selectively coupling the column virtual ground node to one of a ground or a nominal low voltage; and a plurality of segments. Each of the segments comprises: a segment virtual ground node; a plurality of SRAM cells including a virtual ground signal coupled to the segment virtual ground node; and a virtual ground switch for selectively coupling the segment virtual ground node to one of either a nominal low voltage or the column virtual ground node. A method for operating the SRAM cell array is also described.

Embedded memories have been a vital component of system-on-chip solutions for decades. However, memory blocks occupy a significant portion of the chip's die area, making it an important component in terms of area and power consumption. With increasing demand for battery-operated applications, methods for reducing power consumption of the memory blocks have received significant interest. In particular, static random access memory (SRAM) has been receiving a lot of attention.
Six-transistor SRAM cells are preferred for many applications because of their high speed and small area. This configuration, however, suffers from high stand-by power consumption due to leakage. Additionally, the power consumption of the write operation is high because of a high swing of the bit-line voltages. Specifically, for a write operation, the swing of the bit-line voltage should be high enough to overwrite the cell's data. Such a swing makes the write operation a power consuming operation. To overcome these problems, several methods have been proposed.
One approach, as described by H. Mizuno and T. Nagano in "Driving source-line cell architecture for sub-1-v highspeed low-power applications," IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 31, pp. 552-557, 1996 teaches a virtual grounding scheme. As taught by Mizuno, the source of the drive transistors is connected to a virtual ground instead of to VSS. The drive capability of the drive transistors and the leakage current of the cell can be controlled by controlling the virtual ground voltage. For a data retention mode, the virtual ground is kept close to the supply voltage VDD to reduce the leakage current. This modification makes the voltage high and voltage low of the cell close to each other. For a read operation, the virtual ground decreases substantially. This operation boosts the strength of the drive transistors that need to discharge a bit-line voltage. For a write operation, the virtual ground goes to a high impendence mode and destroys the data of the cell. This operation charges up all node voltages of the cell to the supply voltage VDD, leaving the transistors in a weak cut-off operating region. Under this condition, a low voltage swing on the bit-line can produce sufficient charge within the cell nodes to write the data onto the cell. The virtual ground of a group of transistors can be connected to share the control circuitry for that node.
As described by N. Shibata in "A switched virtual-gnd level technique for fast and low power srams," IEICE Trans. Electron., vol. E80-C, pp. 1598-1607, 1997, a method for using the virtual grounding scheme to reduce the leakage current and bit-line voltage swing is proposed. As taught by Shibata, a virtual ground is shared among the cells in the same column and controlled using a column decoder. When the cells of a specific column are in the data retention mode, the virtual ground of that column is close to the supply voltage. When a cell is a target of the read operation, the virtual ground of the whole column is lowered to the actual ground VSS to increase the drive of the cell. However, since the virtual ground is connected to all cells in the column, it is highly capacitive. Accordingly, fluctuating the voltage of the virtual ground node is power consuming. Thus, the read operation of this scheme is a high-power consuming operation.
As described by K. Kanda, S. Hattori, and T. Sakurai, in "90% write power-saving SRAM using sense-amplifying memory cell," IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 93, pp. 929-933, 2004, an alternative virtual grounding scheme is proposed. As taught by Sakurai, the virtual grounds of the cells on the same row are connected and controlled using a row decoder. The virtual ground provides sufficient voltage swing for the cell to retain data in the data retention mode while keeping the transistors in a low-leakage operating region. In write operations, the swing of the bit-lines is reduced at the expense of destroying data of the cells in the same row. Therefore, this scheme is not useful in practical cases in which we are interested in having multiple words in the same row. Further, since the virtual ground is connected to all cells in the row, it is highly capacitive. Accordingly, fluctuating the voltage of the virtual ground for both read and write operations consumes significant power.
Thus it can be seen that there is a need for a virtual grounding scheme that overcomes at least some of the problems of the prior art.

Segmented column virtual ground scheme in a static random access memory (SRAM) circuit


An explosively actuated tool for driving a fastener into a substrate is of the type in which the tool is mounted to the end of a pole-like handle to permit manipulation and actuation of the tool from a remote position wherein actuation of the tool occurs by pushing the forward end of a barrel of the tool against the substrate using the handle and then pushing on the handle which loads and then releases the firing mechanism of the tool. A lock device is incorporated to prevent “air firing” of the tool by pushing the handle without the forward end of the barrel being pressed against the substrate. The lock device has a lock member which cooperates with the firing pin or firing pin spring support of the firing mechanism to lock one or other of those components unless the lock member is released by a prior displacement caused by retraction of the barrel when its forward end is pressed against the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an explosively actuated tool for driving a fastener, such as a pin, into a substrate, for example of concrete or steel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Explosively actuated tools for driving a fastener, such as a pin, into a hard substrate, such as of concrete or steel, are in common use and operate by detonation of an explosive charge. In most prior tools of this type, detonation of the charge drives a piston within a barrel of the tool and the piston, in turn, drives the fastener which is positioned within the forward end of the barrel prior to firing. Tools of this general type will typically have a pistol grip and the tool is actuated by operation of a trigger associated with the grip.
A version of the tool has been developed for driving fasteners into substrates remote from the operator, for example for driving a fastener into a ceiling while the operator is still standing on the floor beneath the ceiling or for driving a fastener into a remote wall. This version of the tool is designed to be mounted at one end of a long handle or pole held by the operator. This version of the tool is termed a "pole tool". Pole tools are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,893 and European patent application 1 197 301 (AU 6997/01). In these previously proposed pole tools, the barrel, which contains the fastener driving piston, is slidably mounted within the housing of the tool. The barrel is biased to a forwards position and when the forward end of the barrel is pressed against the substrate the barrel is caused to retract into the housing so that a charge chamber formed at the rear end of the barrel moves over and encloses the explosive charge. This occurs by the operator manipulating the pole so as to press the forward end of the barrel against the substrate. The pole itself is mounted to a firing pin mechanism of the tool and further pressing movement applied to the tool via the pole loads the firing pin mechanism which, when a predetermined loading is reached, releases the firing pin to detonate the charge.
With these previously proposed pole tools it is possible to fire the tool by holding the housing of the tool with one hand and pressing the pole inwardly with the other hand in order to load and then release the firing mechanism, so-called "air firing" of the tool. Although the consequences of this are unlikely to be particularly serious as, if the tool is operated in this mode, the barrel will not have been displaced rearwardly so that its charge chamber encloses the charge and as a result the power output of the tool will be greatly diminished, nevertheless the fact that the tool is able to be fired in this mode does give rise to concern.