A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a method and apparatus for allocating and using IP addresses in a network of client systems. More specifically, the present invention includes a DHCP server that leases IP addresses to the client systems. The DHCP server works in combination with a secure DHCP relay agent and a secure IP relay agent. Broadcast DHCPREQUEST messages are forwarded to the DHCP server by the secure DHCP relay agent. Before forwarding, the secure DHCP relay agent embeds in each DHCPREQUEST message. The trusted identifier is an unforgeable object specifically associated with the client system sending the DHCPREQUEST message. When the DHCP server receives a DHCPREQUEST message, the DHCP server extracts the trusted identifier. The trusted identifier is then used by the DHCP server to prevent client systems from accessing the IP address leases of other client systems. The DHCP server also counts the number of IP addresses leases assigned to each trusted identifier. In this way, each client system is prevented from leasing more than a predetermined number of IP addresses. Unicast DHCPREQUEST messages received by the DHCP server include a source address that corresponds to the client system sending the unicast DHCPREQUEST message. The validity of the source address is ensured by the secure IP relay agent. The DHCP server uses the source address to prevent client systems from accessing the IP address leases of other client systems.

Computer networks that use the Internet protocol are commonly referred to as "IP networks." Within IP networks, host systems and other objects are identified by thirty-two bit numbers, known as Internet Protocol Addresses (IP addresses). IP addresses provide a simple mechanism for identifying the source and destination of messages sent within IP networks.
Increasingly, IP addresses within IP networks are assigned using the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) defined in Internet RFC 1541 which is incorporated herein by reference. In networks that use the DHCP protocol, client systems request IP addresses from a DHCP server. The DHCP server allocates an IP address for use by the requesting client system and sends the client a message telling the client system which IP address to use.
The IP address allocated by the DHCP server is "leased" to the client system for a fixed period of time. Subsequently, the client system is responsible for periodically renewing the lease of the IP address. The client system and the DHCP server use an object known as a lease identification cookie to identify the client's lease. The client system may choose the lease identification cookie by sending the DHCP server a client identifier. Alternatively, the DHCP server uses the client system's IEEE-style MAC address as the lease identification cookie. The client system periodically renews its lease by sending a lease renewal message to the DHCP server that includes the lease identification cookie.
Unfortunately, allocation of IP addresses using traditional DHCP servers is subject to several possible attacks. One such attack is known commonly as "IP address hijacking." IP address hijacking occurs when a first client system acquires the IP address of a second client system. The first client maintains the hijacked IP address by sending lease renewal messages to the DHCP server using the second client system's lease identification cookie. In fact, since host names are commonly used as lease identification cookies, it is even possible for this type of attack to happen inadvertently. IP address hijacking confuses the network since a single IP address is now used by more than one host. As a result, network performance is degraded.
A second type of attack is known as "IP address hogging." For an attack of this type, a client system attempts to exhaust the supply of IP addresses by repeatedly obtaining IP leases from the DHCP server. Once the client system has leased all of the available IP address leases, network performance degrades as legitimate users are forced to wait for IP addresses.
Based on the foregoing, it may be appreciated that there is a need for DHCP servers that discourage both IP address hijacking and IP address hogging.


A sealing arrangement for a plastic bottle includes a blow-molded bottle having a body and a mouth that includes an opening, an injection molded neck that includes a continuous wall that defines a top wall-opening and a bottom wall-opening. The top wall-opening provides a pour spout for liquid contained within the body of the bottle. The bottom wall-opening is fused to the mouth of the bottle so as to surround the bottle's opening. A removable flange is located generally within the bottom wall-opening and a frangible region connects the flange to the wall. A foil is secured to a side of the flange that is generally adjacent to the bottom wall-opening, and the foil is adapted to close the bottom wall-opening. A plurality of foil-cutting teeth are carried by the wall generally adjacent to the bottom wall-opening, generally adjacent to the side of the flange and generally adjacent to the foil. A pull member is secured to the flange. Manual operation of the pull member separates the flange from the wall, as at least a portion of the foil is cut by the teeth. An injection-molded cap removably closes the top wall-opening. The wall includes a weakened portion that will break upon an attempt to physically remove the wall from the bottle. The cap includes a cover plate that covers the top wall-opening and a skirt that extends from the cover plate to cover the weakened portion of the wall.

The present invention relates to fluid packaging.
The present invention particularly relates to packaging using thin-walled extrusion blow moulded plastics bottles for fluids such as milk, which require to be filled and closed in a resealable manner.
The invention also relates to resealable cap closures for use with plastics bottles or composite material cans, and more specifically to such closures which provide tamper evidence.
In the specification that follows problems of packaging milk are specifically addressed. However, it will be appreciated that other pourable fluids such as fruit juice present similar packaging problems. The present invention is, however, only concerned with fluids that are not required to be packed in a pressurised manner. Accordingly, the problems of packaging carbonated drinks are not addressed.
The present invention in one aspect is also specifically concerned with types of packaging where the weight of the container is an issue and therefore relates specifically to thin-walled blow moulded plastics bottles.
In another aspect, the invention is concerned with resealable cap closures that reveal when tampering has taken place
1. The Technical Background
Conventionally, milk has been packaged in cardboard, gable top packs, which are notoriously difficult to open and result in numerous consumer complaints about milk spillage and difficulty in pouring. The fibre carton was only suitable for packaging liquids up to a capacity of 1.5 liters.
In order to resolve these problems blow moulded plastics polyethylene bottles have been used. These bottles are provided with resealable caps. The resealable caps are normally injection-moulded items. Since weight is significant in the packaging of fluids such as milk, these caps must also be light in weight. A weight of 2 to 4 g is usually the maximum that can be tolerated.
There is also a fundamental problem in achieving a good seal between a blow moulded bottle neck and an injection moulded plastics cap. This is because the tolerance of the neck is of the order of 0.3 mm whereas the tolerance of an injection-moulded item such as the cap is 0.1 mm. This means that a proportion of caps will not seal tightly when fitted to their necks. For all designs of caps this results in difficulties of fitting on the production line and, for retailers and distributors, leakage problems. The ultimate consumer may also have difficulty in resealing the bottle or opening it in the first place if the cap is over-tight.
A number of designs of injection moulded caps have been developed in an attempt to address these problems. For example, in a cap design known as a valve seal or pliable seal closure, a plug is provided in the cap which pushes into the neck of the bottle and a multiple start thread is provided on the interior wall of the cap skirt. This type of cap provides a double seal. The plug provides the seal against the inner wall of the neck. The second seal is provided by means of an inwardly projecting ridge above the threads on the inner wall of the cap, which seals against the outer wall of the neck. A pliable pull away ring around the lower edge of the cap can provide tamper evidence for this type of cap. With a cap made of low density polyethylene, it is possible to prise off the cap with the ring attached so that this form of tamper evidence is not very secure.
Another design known as the induction heat seal closure (IHS) provides a foil insert seated into the base of the cap. On the production line the filled bottles with caps fitted are passed through an induction heater, which fuses the foil to the neck of the bottle. When the consumer unscrews the cap the neck of the bottle is still sealed by the foil. This foil seal is pulled off in a separate operation. Severing the seal results in small hairs of the plastics material being raised on the surface of the bottle neck which can inhibit a good seal being formed when the cap is replaced after initial opening. The setting of parameters for the bonding process using an induction heat seal closure is critical in order to achieve a bond which is weak enough to allow the consumer to be able to peel away the foil, yet strong enough to maintain a good primary seal with the container neck. Because the presence of the foil means that no plug can be provided, the susceptibility to leakage in the consumer's home is increased as the resealing of the cap is poor. The cap is also relatively expensive as the provision of the peelable foil insert can add as much as 20% to the cost of the container.
Another set of problems arises from the production line process of filling the bottles and sealing them. Since the maximum linear speed of milk is restricted by the speed at which the milk starts to froth, the rate of filling depends upon the size of the nozzle used to pour the milk into the bottles. The nozzle size is constrained by the dimensions of the neck. For a typical milk container this is 38 mm. Larger necks allow for quicker filling but present greater sealing problems and require larger caps.
In the present context the term blow moulding refers to extrusion blow moulding rather than injection stretch blow moulding. In many modern production lines, a blow moulding plant is adjacent the dairy. This allows the bottles to be formed, filled and sealed in a single continuous production process. The most complex stage in blow moulding is balancing each parison and controlling the material distribution. The parison is then inflated against the wall of a temperature regulated mould solidifying to assume the shape of the mould cavity. In one conventional design of blow moulding machine a block of moulds shuttles between an extrusion station and a blowing station. The number of die-heads provided is generally equal to the number of cavities in the block or some fraction thereof. These die-heads are fed by a head manifold that typically results in an imbalance in the delivery of plastics material to each of the resulting parisons. This process results in difficulties in forming consistently the neck-portion of thin walled containers, achieving at best tolerances of +/−0.3 mm with repeatable accuracy. To achieve good performance with valve seal closures, it is imperative to form a perfectly round neck-bore with a minimum amount of ovality in both bore and threaded portion. Two processes are known to achieve the above result in multi-cavity blow moulding. They are namely a "pull-up" process, which is the lifting of a blow pin through a shear-steel assembly to cut a round bore in a bottle neck, or a "ram-down" process, which is the forcing downwards of a blow pin into a shear steel assembly. The drawback with pull-up is that the neck component is physically weak in its construction leading to poor sealing with valve seal closures as the bore relaxes over time causing leakage. Ram-down however, gives a very rigid neck but this has a weight disadvantage causing ovality of the neck coupled with added cost of material wastage. Ovality causes poor sealing with valve seal closures. Neither of these two processes is suitable for moulding pour-lip features on bottle-necks. With the pull-up finish it is almost impossible to mould a pour-lip feature and with the ram-down finish, it requires significant amounts of extra material and is almost impossible to mould without significant ovality and imperfections in the bore.
The above processes described relate to moulding machinery manufactured by companies such as Uniloy, Techne and Bekum, for example.
An alternative type of machine made by companies such as Graham Engineering and Uniloy, which is particularly suitable for on-site blow moulding plants, uses a process which is commonly referred to as wheel blow moulding. Unlike the previous processes described, the wheel produces only one parison at a time extruded from a single die-head. The mould blocks are mounted on a rotary wheel structure and pass over the parison closing as the wheel rotates. A needle assembly pierces the parison and inflates the plastics until it solidifies against the wall of the temperature regulated moulds. Wheel blow moulding gives a high level of control in material distribution in containers produced in this way. The set up time for such a machine is significantly reduced, as only one die-head needs to be set up.
Where the inner wall of the neck provides one part of a seal, it may be necessary to provide a separate finishing station where the neck is either reamed or punch finished. The finishing step may produce swarf, which results in the risk that the swarf could enter inside the bottles and make them unsuitable for immediate filling.
For products such as milk where large quantities are required to be distributed through the retail chain, it is highly desirable to minimise the weight of the packaging. This has resulted in larger containers and thinner walls. Typical wall thicknesses for blow moulded high-density polyethylene (HDPE) are 0.4 to 0.6 mm. This results in a 4 pint (2.27 liters) bottle having a weight of around 40 g. Therefore any solution to the technical problems described must not increase the weight of the bottle and preferably would allow weight reduction.
2. Prior Art
For cardboard cartons it has been proposed to provide a separate spout assembly which is secured to the carton. An example is described in WO-A 96/14249 (Capitol Spouts Inc.). This spout includes a cap and an integral inner membrane seal and is assembled to an outer wall of a filled carton. The container may have a scored portion so that when the inner membrane seal is removed, it brings with it the scored portion of the container wall creating an opening through which the contents of the container can reach the spout. This assembly is not suitable for use with a plastics container where it would be impractical for the user to tear an opening in a plastics walled container. The cardboard carton will typically have a continuous inner lining. This type of spout must be fitted to the carton prior to filling and is not used for filling the container.
GB-A-2 108 464 (Container Corporation of America) describes an end closure arrangement wherein a membrane is sandwiched between and used to bond rim portions of a container body and end member to each other. The membrane has heat activatable sealing materials on both sides such as polyethylene, polypropylene or other similar types of material. The reader is told to use this type of closure with a container, which may be of all plastics, or a combination of paperboard and plastics materials. The exact method of production of the container body and end member is not further described. The specification is also silent as to the method of filling the resulting container. The specification particularly suggests use with a cylindrical cardboard container. Such containers would normally be filled from the base once the openable end had been completed and sealed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,618 (Gach) shows a tamper indicating closure for a bottle designed for dry contents. A base section has a skirt, which engages with the neck of the bottle and defines a spout. A foil is interposed between the neck of the bottle and an adjacent surface of an upper part of the base. A pull ring is attached to a disc, which is connected to the opening in the upper part of the base by means of breakable webs. The disc is bonded to the foil. Pulling on the pull ring, which tears the foil away from the spout, opens the closure. In an alternative embodiment of the Gach invention, the disc is not joined to the base section and the foil is provided with a circumferential score line to facilitate tearing at the edge of the inner surface of the spout. In either embodiment a clean opening is unlikely to be produced. This would not be a problem when the bottle is used for tablets or the like but a torn foil edge within the spout is unsuitable for the pouring of liquids. The material of the bottle is not disclosed.
Although these documents are referred to as the most relevant prior art they do not represent a natural starting point for those seeking to solve the technical problems described in relation to thin-walled plastics bottles, in which the teaching has hitherto been directed exclusively at integral formation of the bottle body and neck.
Therefore, although it is known to produce a separate component defining a neck as in GB-A-2 108 464, the possibility of using this approach to solve the long present technical problems of effective reclosable sealing of thin-walled blow moulded plastics containers for fluids had not hitherto been appreciated and cannot therefore be regarded as obvious.

Thin-walled plastics bottle, closure and bottling process


A template pulse generating circuit that generates a template pulse used for detection of a received pulse in pulse communication includes an output mode switching circuit for switching an output mode in accordance with a supplied control signal between a continuous output mode that continuously outputs the template pulses and an intermittent output mode that intermittently outputs the template pulses so that the template pulse is generated in either one of the continuous output mode and the intermittent output mode.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a template pulse generating circuit, a communication device, and a communication method well adapted to ultra wide band (UWB) communication, and in particular to a template pulse generating circuit, a communication device, and a communication method arranged to achieve low power consumption in a receiving system.
2. Related Art
In the UWB communication, very wide-band communication method using very short-period pulses is also called UWB impulse radio (UWB-IR) communication. In the UWB-IR method, modulation/demodulation can be performed only by a time base operation without using a past modulation method, and consequently, it is conceivable that simplification of the circuit and low power consumption can be expected (see e.g., JP-T-2004-528776 (paragraphs 0035-0040, FIG. 5) (hereinafter, Document 1), and JP-T-2005-517355 (paragraphs 0015-0020, FIG. 20) (hereinafter, Document 2)).
Further, it is proposed that in a receiving device for receiving a transmission signal composed of a pulse signal train, a template pulse with substantially the same generation interval as the transmission pulse is generated by a pulse generating section, the generation position of the template pulse is shifted in phase a predetermined distance by a phase shifting section, each of the template pulses thus shifted in phase and the received pulse are correlated with each other by a correlation section, and the synchronization capturing to the received signal is performed based on the correlation result (see JP-T-2004-241927 (paragraphs 0025-0028, FIG. 1) (hereinafter, Document 3)).
Further, there is presented a propose for achieving reduction of power consumption by controlling the generation position of the template pulse and stopping the receiving circuit in a period when no receiving pulse arrives (JP-A-2005-217899 (paragraphs 0023-0026, FIG. 1) (hereinafter, Document 4)).
As described above, although in the UWB communication, owing to the nature thereof, low power consumption communication can be realized, in the proposals described in the Documents 1 through 3 mentioned above, there is presented neither recognition of a technical problem of reducing the power consumption beyond the extent normally obtained by applying the present communication method, nor a particular proposal regarding a solution to such a technical problem, consequently.
Further, although the proposal for achieving reduction of the power consumption is disclosed in the Document 4, it seems impossible for the technology described in the document to achieve lower power consumption in a process for capturing synchronization by searching presence of the pulse itself from the condition in which timing of the arriving pulse is unknown.
In other words, also in the Document 4, there remains a technical problem that since in the process for capturing synchronization by searching presence of the pulse itself, the timing of the incoming pulse is searched while sequentially shifting the phase of the template pulse generated on the receiving side, the synchronization capturing takes time, and the power consumption is also increased correspondingly to the time.

Template pulse generating circuit, communication device, and communication method


A method for wet processing of a semiconductor-containing substrate that reduces contamination in the wet process by removing undesired sources of gas contamination, the method comprising: pumping a processing liquid through a degasifier, exposing the semiconductor wafer, in a vessel, to the degasified processing liquid; and optionally recirculating the processing liquid through the degasifier and back into the vessel.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for reducing contamination in wet processing of semiconductor substrates. More particularly the invention relates to a method to remove unwanted sources of gas contamination from a wet process fabrication step in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.
2. Background
A large variety of thin films are used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices. Current design rules for integrated circuits (ICs) demand that many features be reduced to submicron levels resulting in, for example, smaller linewidths and higher aspect ratio contact holes. These submicron size demands impact the specifications and requirements of many of the fabrication processes. The flatness of a wafer must be tightly maintained throughout the entire fabrication process in order to allow such increasingly fine and microscopic geometric features to be precisely printed. Every layer deposited on the top surface of the wafer that possesses irregularities and variations in its uniformity has an adverse affect during all subsequent processing steps that the wafer undergoes. Uniformity of the layers has become a critical factor in semiconductor wafer production. It is, therefore, essential that the wafer surface be as clean and well conditioned as is technically possible before each fabrication process in order to obtain the precision and high yields in semiconductor fabrication.
To accomplish these fabrication goals, wet process wafer cleaning and etching procedures are carried out prior to many process steps. An important change in light of these factors is a need for dramatic improvement in contamination control. Contamination control includes, for example, reducing the particulate matter present and the purity of the grade of chemicals used in IC manufacture. There is a direct correlation between device yield and performance with the purity of the chemicals used to fabricate the device. This direct correlation between defects and chemical purity spotlights the need to increase the purity of the chemicals used in all of the fabrication processes, as a means to reduce contamination.
The potential exists to decrease contamination, lower defect density and increase chemical purity over that which can be obtained by simply purchasing the highest purity grade of chemicals available. Even slight improvements in defect density, and therefore device performance, are likely to enable considerable cost savings. A significant use of chemicals in IC fabrication occurs in wet processing steps, such as wafer cleaning and wet etching processes. Wet chemical surface preparation methods have been the preferred techniques for many wafer processing methods for the last 30 years and are likely to have wide popularity and application for the foreseeable future. Wet chemical cleaning technologies are favored because of many inherent properties of aqueous solutions, such as the high solubility of metals, etc.
There are also recognized disadvantages associated with current wet chemical surface preparation methods. For example, to minimize the problems associated with contamination, chemicals are being replaced frequently, thereby generating large amounts of chemical wastes. Stringent environmental regulations decrease the options for disposing of these chemicals. Legislation like the Clean Air and Water Acts, Pollution Prevention Act Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Source Reduction and Hazardous Waste Management Review Act, Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendment etc., prohibit easy off-site disposal of these chemicals. Difficulty in disposal makes the option of simply introducing a steady stream of unused, high purity chemicals problematical and contributes to escalating cost, etc. Some of these environmental, safety and health issues are being addressed by reducing the concentration of liquid based chemicals, process improvements and equipment improvements, as well as the recycling of chemicals. There is an ongoing need for new, improved and innovative processes that address many of these challenges.
One resolution that has been tried to control contamination in wet chemical processes is to have the chemical generation system located very close to the wet station, but still beyond the boundaries of the cleanroom area itself. This proximity to the wet station for the creation of the chemicals is believed to improve their purity.
Closer to the wet chemical processes, there are other steps that can be examined and changed, for example, how often the tank in the wet benches or wet station must be dumped and refilled, the amount of recirculation that should be tolerated and other protocols that should be considered, such as the injection of ozone to help keep the bath fresh. Another very important factor to be considered is whether or not using filters will positively affect the process, and if so where in the processes should those filters be utilized. Generally, filters are not used with point-of-use (POU) chemical delivery systems. These delivery systems use clean piping and valves that minimize the generation of particles and make POU filtration unnecessary, the belief being that point-of-use filtration is not necessary if the wet bench is fed by a properly designed bulk chemical distribution system. On the other hand, filters are widely used with recirculated bath applications. Here, particles are generated by the processing of wafers and must be removed to prevent their adherence to the wafer surface.
What benefit filters ultimately confer is a point of controversy in many semiconductor processes. Filtration by its nature, can remove particles that are present in the chemical, but cannot ensure purity. A filter can function to prevent introduction of further extractable species (ionic or organic) to that chemical, but cannot upgrade the starting level of purity for a chemical substance passing through the filter. Under some operating conditions, filters can actually add to the particulate contamination. For example bacteria trapped in a filter can actually break up in small pieces and be jettisoned through to the clean side of the filter, increasing rather than decreasing the amount of particulate contamination present.
Overall, the use of filters and POU chemical systems help reduce the problem of particle contamination in the liquids used in semiconductor fabrication. There is an existing need for new, improved processes that address the issue of contamination by gaseous species in processing liquids.

Method for reducing gaseous species of contamination in wet processes


A packing as a porous body for burners, in particular for heating systems, is provided with a housing having an inlet for a gas/air mixture as a combustable gas mixture, a combustion chamber, an ignition device in the combustion chamber and an exhaust gas outlet. The combustion chamber is at least partly filled with a three-dimensional ordered packing of heat resistant ceramic material, foil material, or sheet metal material having continuous hollow cavities for the formation of a defined flame zone.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a burner, and more particularly, to a burner for heating systems.
2. Description of Prior Art
Various concepts are known from the prior art for the reduction of the noxious substances, such as NO.sub.x or CO, which arise during combustion. Since the NO.sub.x production is large at high combustion temperatures, one attempts, for example, to keep the flame temperature low. For this purpose a heating boiler has been proposed, for example in EP 0 256 322 B1, in which a fuel gas is burned at a temperature of less than 700.degree. C. through the use of a catalyst of the platinum group, whereby the creation of nitrogen oxides is prevented. However, such catalysts have only a relatively low working life and are, moreover, very costly. The essential disadvantage of catalytic combustion, however, lies in the fact that its flame temperature is too low, which does not permit any effective exploitation of the heat and thereby only allows the construction of a burner with a low power density.
In addition to this, there are burners which operate in accordance with the process of exhaust gas recirculation. Here a part of the exhaust gas is returned into the flame, whereby an optimized, pollution reduced combustion is achieved. A stable flame arises with the burner model "RotriX" of the Viessmann company through an intentional decay of the turbulent fuel/air mixture, which has been set into rotation. The exhaust gas recirculation rate can be further increased by a flameless oxidation at a free surface. According to the specialist paper by J. A. Wunning and J. G. Wunning: "Brenner fur die flammlose Oxidation mit geringer NO-Bildung auch bei hochster Luftvorwarmung" (Burner for the flameless oxidation with low NO-formation even with the highest air pre-heating), in GASWARME International, Vol. 41 (1992), No. 10, pages 438 to 444, the flameless oxidation is usable in burners with process temperatures over 850.degree. C. This process, however, involves high constructional cost and complexity because auxiliary burners are required, for example, for the heating up of the fuel/air mixture to ignition temperature.
A further concept is present in the form of the "Thermomax-Burner" of the company Ruhrgas AG, which is treated in the specialist paper by H. Berg and T. Jannemann "Entwicklung eines schadstoffarmen Vormischbrenners fur den Einsatz in Haushalts-Gaskesseln mit zylindrischer Brennkammer" (Development of a low-pollution pre-mixing burner for use in domestic gas boilers with a cylindrical combustion chamber), in GASWARME International, Vol. 38 (1989), No. 1, pages 28 to 34. The combustion takes place there in a flameless manner at the surface of a metallic, apertured sheet, which transmits the heat energy produced out of the reaction zone principally by radiation. The combustion temperature is kept to approximately 800.degree. C. through this giving off of heat, which in turn has the consequence of a reduction of the emission of pollution. Burners of this type of construction typically have a thermal surface loading of 300 kW/m.sup.2.
An increase of the thermal loading to approximately 3000 kW/m.sup.2 is achieved by a burner which is known from DE 43 22 109 A1. There, a part of the combustion chamber, in which a flame propagates, is completely filled with a porous material whose porosity changes along the flow direction of the fuel gas/air mixture in such a way that a critical Peclet number results at a boundary surface, or in a specific zone of the porous material, from which point on a flame can arise. With regard to the Peclet number, the following should be explained:
With a specific pore size of the porous material, the production of heat by chemical reactions in the flame and the dissipation of heat by the porous medium are equal so that beneath this pore size no flame can arise but above it a free ignition occurs.
This condition is described with the aid of the Peclet number, which recites the ratio of heat production to heat dissipation. In this way a critical Peclet number results for the flame propagation. A self-stabilizing flame within the supercritical zone results through the provision of a subcritical zone and a supercritical zone with respect to the Peclet number.
Through the arrangement set forth in DE 43 22 109 A1, the problem of the stability of a flame burning in a porous medium is solved under the side conditions of a low temperature and thus a low emission of pollution. Ceramic foams or bulk fillings of balls are proposed as porous material. These materials have, however, a relatively low porosity, whereby combustion space is wasted and the gas/air mixture is exposed to a higher flow resistance. Moreover, these materials restrict, as a result of their low optical permeability, the energy transport on the basis of the thermal transport mechanism of thermal radiation which dominates in the present temperature range. This leads to a situation--from a specific constructional size of a burner of this kind onwards--in which the heat produced cannot be dissipated sufficiently well outwardly from the inner region of the combustion space. The local overheating in the porous material brought about in this way leads to material damage by thermal strains and an increased output of pollutants.


A drop safe for receiving and temporarily storing currency or other valuables from a cash register or point-of-sale terminal. The drop safe uses bill acceptors to transfer cash into sealed cassettes within the safe. An envelope drop assembly allows transferring into the safe currency or non-cash items not accepted by the acceptor. The drop safe door has a door control assembly including a gas spring to counterbalance the weight of the door for controlled movement during opening. The door is locked by a pair of door bolts linked to a lock cam, which is secured by a dead bolt against movement. An electronic control unlocks the dead bolt in response to entry of correct numbers, allowing a rotary dial of the outside of the safe to move the lock cam and release the door bolts. The drop safe includes a processor programmed to control the unlocking operation and to maintain and produce various reports of deposits into the safe, enabling easy correlation of those deposits with business-day operation of the drop safe.

Retail sales outlets such as convenience stores and gas stations often receive a significant volume of cash receipts and need to secure those receipts from robbery or theft on the premises. Many such outlets, particularly those anticipating a high volume of cash receipts throughout their times of operation, contract with an armored-car service to pick up the receipts from the premises. Those services typically transport a merchant's receipts to a central location where the currency is counted, and then deposits the currency in a bank account for the benefit of the merchant. By thus arranging for periodic cash pickups, the reduced amount of cash remaining at the retail facility may present a less-inviting target for robbers and reduces the amount of money at risk if a robbery does take place.
Although armored-car pickups or other periodic cash deposits will reduce the maximum amount of currency on the premises, many retail sales establishments still prefer to maintain a relatively secure location for storing currency while awaiting pickup or deposit. This need is particularly desirable for facilities such as convenience stores, gas stations, and other facilities having substantial receipts in cash or other negotiables, and remaining open around the clock with little or no staff apart from the cashiers on the premises. Those cashiers close out their cash registers or other point-of-sale terminals at the end of their shifts, and usually transfer the receipts to a secure location within the premises for subsequent pickup or deposit. However, cashiers often are encouraged or instructed to remove currency from their cash drawers from time to time during a shift, to reduce the amount of money at risk if a robbery occurs. This removed currency likewise is transferred to a relatively secure location on the premises, awaiting pickup. In most retail facilities, it is desired to segregate the cash receipts for which each cashier is responsible, so as to maintain personal accountability for the cash removed from their cash drawers.
The conventional safe, equipped either with a combination lock or a key lock, is one possible secure location for temporarily storing currency awaiting pickup from a retail facility or other location. The obvious disadvantage of the conventional safe in that environment, however, is that the cashier or other store personnel must know the combination or have a key that opens the safe, in order to make periodic transfers of currency into the safe. That requirement significantly diminishes the benefit of transferring currency from cash registers to the safe, because an armed robber may coerce the store personnel into opening the safe.
So-called drop safes have become known in the art, to overcome the security problems associated with using a conventional safe for temporary storage of currency. A drop safe typically has a slot into which the cashiers may insert an envelope containing currency removed from the cash drawers during or at the end of each shift. The combination or key required for opening the safe is not available to anyone on the premises; only the armored-car personnel or the store manager can open the safe. An armed robber thus can, at most, steal only the currency in the cash drawers at the time. Moreover, cashiers must remember to transfer currency to the drop safe at certain times or upon checking cash-drawer receipts to see whether currency on hand exceeds some set amount. Although conventional drop safes thus are an improvement over the conventional safe for temporary secured storage of currency, such safes still require each cashier to place receipts in a separate envelope, preferably marked with the cashier's name, before placing the currency into the drop slot of the safe. The cashier or store manager also must keep a log showing the amounts deposited and the name of the person making each deposit. That procedure is time-consuming and thus may not be followed, especially by cashiers who must serve a steady volume of customers.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved drop safe for receiving currency or other valuables.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a drop safe that can automatically inspect currency presented for deposit, accept and count those bills that meet a predetermined minimum standard of quality, and reject those bills that fail to meet the quality standard.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a drop safe that maintains a running tally of currency accepted for deposit into the safe.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a drop safe that permits the manual deposit of rejected bills or other items not acceptable or readable by a currency acceptor mechanism.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a drop safe having a manual drop for envelopes or the like in addition to one or more currency acceptors for transferring currency into the safe.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a drop safe having an improved locking mechanism.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a drop safe having an improved mechanism for controlling the opening of a door to the safe.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a drop safe that can identify and count currency placed in the safe by several persons or at different times.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a drop safe in which currency placed into the safe becomes disposed in at least one separate removable container within the safe.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved drop safe that interacts with a point-of-sale terminal.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following description of the invention arid the preferred embodiment thereof.


The invention relates to the compounds of formula I, their preparation and the pharmaceutical compositions containing the compounds. The invention also relates to the use of the compounds of formula I in preparing medicines, which can treat sexual dysfunction of animals including human (male and female), especially erectile dysfunction of male and the diseases in which the function of phospholipase 5 (cGMP PDE5) is involved.

Sildenafil, disclosed in WO9428902, is first kind of orally-administrated potent inhibitors of phosphodiesterase 5 in treatment of the erectile dysfunction of man. By inhibiting the phosphodiesterase 5 in corpus cavernosum, it can achieve the purpose of relaxing smooth muscle in human corpus cavernosum, improving penile hyperemia so as to result in erection. The effective rates of sildenafil in treating male sexual organs erectile dysfunction amount to 80%.
Also, Pfizer Ltd. has developed a series of 1,6-dihydropyrrol[4,3-d]pyrimidin-7-one derivatives, and broadened their therapeutic area where such indications was thought to be treated by inhibiting phosphodiesterase 5. All of these compounds are disclosed in EP0951098, WO9849116, U.S. Pat. No. 6,251,904, and WO0024745, and the latter two of patents include the compounds whose substituted phenyl on C-5 is replaced by the substituted pyridin-2-yl. On the basis of the structure of Sildenafil, DONG A PHARMA Co. Ltd. of Korea developed a series of mono substituted derivatives in the nitrogen atom of sulfonylamino group, as disclosed in WO0027848 and WO0198304. Presently, as described in WO0216364, in order to further enhance water-solubility, LG Chem. Invest. Ltd. disclosed the derivatives of 1,6-dihydropyrrolo[4,3-d]-pyrimidin-7-one with polyethylene glycol. In addition, 1,5-dihydropyrrolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4-ones and 1,9-dihydropurin-6-ones were developed by Pfizer Ltd. for the treatment of sexual dysfunction (U.S. Pat. No. 6,100,270). WO0160825 disclosed 3,5-dihydropyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidin-4-ones are useful for the treatment of impotence. Recently, 3H-imidazo[5,1-f][1,2,4]triazin-4-ones was disclosed by Bayer Co. Ltd. in the patent application DE19881732.

2-Substituted phenyl-5, 7-dihydrocarbyl-3, 7-dihydropyrrolo [2, 3-D] pyrimidin-4-one derivatives, the preparation and the pharmaceutical use thereof

Yangtze River Pharmacuetical (Group) Co., Ltd.


An electrolytic plating apparatus includes a plating tank that is filled with plating liquid; a moving mechanism configured to vertically move a processing target substrate in a direction normal to a surface of the plating liquid; a seal member that is disposed at a peripheral edge portion of a processing target surface of a processing target substrate and is configured to seal the plating liquid to a center side of the processing target surface when the processing target substrate is immersed in the plating tank; and a contact member that is separated from the seal member and is electrically connected to the processing target surface.

An electrolytic plating apparatus for a semiconductor device may be compatible with a substrate that includes various materials. For example, silicon, glass, a compound semiconductor, or the like can be considered as a material of the substrate. In addition, plating may be performed on a substrate formed by bonding a plurality of substrates (e.g. formed of different materials).
Since the semiconductor substrate is immersed in a plating tank, the electrolytic plating apparatus may include a seal member such that plating liquid does not intrude into an undesired portion of the substrate. In some comparative configurations, the seal member is provided on a patterned resist layer, and a contact member for a ground potential is made to contact a low-resistance metal seed layer.
However, an optimum value of a pressing force of the seal member greatly varies depending on a material, a film thickness, or a pattern opening ratio which depends on a contact area of a resist. If the pressing force of the seal member is too strong, there is a possibility that a wafer is stuck to the seal member and the wafer is broken. In addition, if the pressing force of a contact member is too strong, there is a possibility that the semiconductor substrate is chipped or cracked.
The seal member and the contact member in the electrolytic plating apparatus can be provided as an integrally molded structure, and thus it is difficult to separately control pressures of the seal member and the contact member.
In addition, an edge of a wafer which is the semiconductor substrate to be plated may be cut, and if the contact member comes into contact with the edge of the wafer, a contact area may not be sufficiently secured. In this way, if the seal member and the contact member are integrally molded, the seal member and the contact member may not be placed in separate places, and thus, there may be restrictions on places where the seal member and the contact member are disposed.


An automatic washer having a wash tub in which a rotatable wash basket is disposed. A wash plate is rotatably mounted in the wash basket and is capable of independently rotating or co-rotating with respect to the wash basket. The wash plate has at least two ripples integrally formed in its surface whereby upon the rotation of the wash plate, any clothing in contact with the ripple will be directed vertically to impart mechanical energy to the clothing instead of carrying the clothing with the wash plate as it is rotated.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a vertical axis clothes washer and more particularly to a vertical axis clothes washer having a rotating bottom plate for agitating clothing in the washer.
2. Description of the Related Art:
Attempts have been made to provide an improved automatic clothes washer which uses less energy and water, while providing comparable or superior wash results of present commercially available automatic washers. For example, such an improved washer may advantageously employ the system and processes shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,784,666, 4,987,627, and 5,460,018, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and incorporated herein by reference.
The basis of these systems stems from the optimization of the equation where wash performance is defined by a balance between the chemical (the detergent efficiency and water quality), thermal (energy to heat water), and mechanical (application of fluid flow through--fluid flow over--fluid impact--fabric flexing) energy inputs to the system. Experience has shown that any reduction in one or more energy forms requires an increase in one or more of the other energy inputs to produce comparable levels of wash performance.
Typically, a conventional vertical axis washer functions by loading fabric items to be washed into a vertically oriented wash basket disposed within a wash tub and further having a vertically orientated agitator centrally supported within the wash basket. Detergent and water are supplied into the tub and basket for forming a wash liquid such that the fabric items are completely submerged in wash liquid, and wherein the oscillation of the agitator causes the clothes to move in the wash liquid within the wash basket. In this configuration, the detergent provides a chemical energy input, the introduction of hot/warm water for mixing with the detergent provides a thermal energy input, and the action of the agitator provides a mechanical energy input, whereby all of these energy inputs act together to remove soil from the fabric items.
Traditionally, this system of washing requires a large amount of water, as much as 46 gallons for one clothes load, to suitably wash clothes. This is due to the fact that for the oscillating agitator to properly apply mechanical energy to the clothes without damaging them, all of the fabric items must be substantially submerged in wash liquid. The agitator imparts mechanical energy to the clothing by direct contact and agitation of the water. This complete submersion of the fabric items occurs during the wash cycle and each of the subsequent rinse cycles.
In addition to an oscillating agitator, it is also known for automatic washers using a submersion method to include a rotatable plate having one or more paddles disposed at the bottom of the wash basket to agitate the circulation of water within the wash basket to increase the movement of the clothing and their frictional interaction to add mechanical energy to the system. These systems are commonly referred to as impeller automatic washers. In impeller washers, very little, if any, of the mechanical energy is imparted from the impeller directly to the clothing. Almost all of the mechanical energy is imparted to the clothing through the agitation of the water. Examples of such impeller-type automatic washers are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,239,847, issued Aug. 31, 1993, 4,862,710, issued Sep. 5, 1989, and 2,575,691, issued Nov. 20, 1951.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,087,776, issued Apr. 30, 1963, discloses an automatic washer having a rotatable tub with an integral ramp whereby upon the rotation of the tub, clothing is dropped over the end of the ramp to agitate the clothing as it falls downwardly. Further, a transducer is positioned in the end of the ramp to impart vibratory movement via sound waves to the wash liquid to further agitate the clothing falling beyond the end of the ramp.
To substantially reduce the amount of wash liquid used in a vertical axis washer, alternate means for inputting mechanical energy to the wash load have been contemplated that do not require complete submersion of all the fabric items. Pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/815,781, Kovich et.al., assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference, discloses a vertical axis washer utilizing a system for imparting mechanical energy into the fabric items wherein a substantial reduction in water consumption may be achieved. In this system the washer is provided with a basket having a ramp and baffle extending inwardly from the basket.
Other systems for imparting mechanical energy into fabric items clothes load in a vertical axis washer are also known. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,802,356 to Kirby, a vertical axis washer is provided wherein a wash basket is disposed within a tub. No agitator is provided for agitating the clothes, rather, the wash basket is mounted for providing a wobbly motion within the tub such that during the wash cycle, the basket is filled with wash liquid and is given a wobbling motion which agitates and distributes the clothes and thoroughly washes them.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,145,453 to Miller a vertical axis washer is provided having a bottom plate mounted for gyratory motion within a wash tub. No wash basket is provided. During wash, the bottom plate is driven in a gyratory oscillating movement such that the clothes are agitated. Miller teaches the complete submersion of the fabric item within wash liquid during the wash cycle.
Significantly greater savings in water usage and energy usage than is achieved by heretofore disclosed vertical axis wash systems are highly desirable and would be an improvement in the art. Furthermore, it would be a significant improvement in the art to provide a system for imparting mechanical energy to fabric items in a vertical axis washer without requiring complete submersion of the clothes with wash liquid.

Vertical axis washer and a rotating washplate therefor


The present invention relates to an image heating device comprising, a first belt which heats an image on a recording material at a nip, a second belt which forms the nip with the first belt, a first pressure member and a first rotating member which press the first belt at the nip, the first pressure member and the first rotating member being provided while not being in contact with each other; and a second pressure member and a second rotating member which press the second belt at the nip, the second pressure member and the second rotating member being provided while not being in contact with each other. The nip is formed by a region where at least one of the first pressure member, the first rotating member, the second pressure member, and the second rotating member is in contact with the corresponding belt.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image heating device which heats an image on a recording material. A fixing device which fixes the image formed on the recording material using an electrophotographic type or an electrostatic recording type or a gloss imparting device which enhances glossiness of the image by re-heating the image fixed to the recording material can be cited as an example of the image heating device. Specifically the image heating device is used for a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic apparatus or an electrostatic recording apparatus, the image is formed by transferring and fixing a toner image to a sheet. A roller fixing type is usually used as the fixing device which performs the fixing by heating and melting the unfixed toner image. In the roller fixing type, a pressure roller is pressed against a fixing roller having a heater therein, and a nip is formed to perform the fixing.
In order to output the highly glossy image, it is necessary that a time during which the sheet passes through the nip is lengthened to sufficiently melt the toner. At this point, in the roller fixing type, a roller diameter is required to be increased when the nip is enlarged, which results in upsizing of the apparatus. When a rotating speed of the roller is decreased, the toner is sufficiently melted. However, the speed of the fixing cannot be increased.
Therefore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 11-174878 and 05-072926 disclose an upper-and-lower-belt fixing type in which a sufficient width of pressure contact portion (length in conveyance direction) while the miniaturization and speed enhancement of the apparatus are achieved compared with the roller fixing type. In the above disclosures, the fixing device includes two opposing belt members, and the large width of the pressure contact portion is obtained by sandwiching and conveying the sheet with the belt members.
However, in the fixing device disclosed in JP-A Nos. 11-174878 and 05-072926, a region where high pressure is generated by pressing support members against each other and a region where the pressure is absent because no support member presses the belt from both sides of the belt exist in the pressure contact portion. Therefore, when the unfixed toner image is fixed, a conveyance speed difference of the sheet is generated between the high-pressure region and the pressure-absence region. Because the belt member has flexibility to some extent, there is a problem that the belt is expanded and compressed by the conveyance speed difference to shift the image on the sheet. Further, because air and moisture in a toner layer cannot be suppressed in the pressure-absence region, image disturbance is easy to occur in the sheet such as a coated sheet in particular having low permeability.

Image heating apparatus including pads and belts forming a pressurized nip


An information processing device, apparatus, method and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium are disclosed. An information processing device may include a memory storing instructions, and at least one processor configured to process the instructions to generate a comparison image by transforming a reference image, associate the comparison image with a class variable representing an object included in the reference image, calculate a degree of difference between an input patch which is an image representing a sub-region of an input image and a comparison patch which is an image representing a sub-region of the comparison image, estimate a displacement vector between the input patch and the comparison patch, calculate a first degree of reliability corresponding to the displacement vector and the class variable on the basis of the displacement vector and the degree of difference, calculate a second degree of reliability for each comparison patch on the basis of the first degree of reliability, and identify the object is represented by the class variable associated with the comparison image including the comparison patch whose second degree of reliability is greater than a predetermined threshold value, as a recognition target.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relate to image recognition.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image recognition in a digital image, such as recognition of people, characters, or objects existing in the digital image may be widely performed. A template matching technique may be one of recognition techniques for digital images. In the template matching technique, a target object included in an image may be identified (recognized) based on the degree of similarity between a recognition target in the image and an image for reference, referred to as a template image.
In some aspects, the position and direction of the target object in the image may not be fixed. For example, when a character in a landscape image is to be recognized, the shape of the character may be recognized as being geometrically transformed in such a way that the gradient of the character may be recognized as being changed. When the recognition target image is recognized as being geometrically transformed compared to the template image, the appearance of the template image and the appearance of the recognition target image may differ from each other. In such a case, the accuracy of matching may decrease in the template matching technique.
In some aspects, there may be a method for solving this decrease.
A degree-of-similarity calculating device in a related technique may include a displacement vector estimating part, a geometric transformation parameter estimating part, a displacement vector correcting part, a voting part, a peak detecting part, and a degree-of-similarity calculating part. The degree-of-similarity calculating device may operate as described below. In some aspects, the displacement vector estimating part may estimate a displacement vector between a first sub-region set in a first image and a second sub-region most similar to the first sub-region in a second image. The geometric transformation parameter estimating part may estimate a geometric transformation parameter by which the first image is geometrically transformed to the second image, based on multiple displacement vectors. The displacement vector correcting part may subtract displacement based on the geometric transformation from each of the displacement vectors, on the basis of the geometric transformation parameter, and thereby correct the displacement vectors. The voting part may perform voting for the displacement vectors corrected by the displacement vector correcting part in a two-dimensional space determined based on elements of the displacement vectors. The peak detecting part may detect a peak on the two-dimensional space in which the voting is performed. The degree-of-similarity calculating part may calculate the degree of similarity between the first image and the second image based on the magnitude of the peak. The degree-of-similarity calculating device in the related technique may identify (recognize) the target object by using the calculated degree of similarity.
In the degree-of-similarity calculating device in the related technique, it may be assumed that the image quality of the recognition target image is sufficiently high, i.e. the image may have high resolution. Further, in the degree-of-similarity calculating device in the related technique, it may be assumed that the geometric transformation from the template image is the cause of image degradation.
In some aspects, there may be many causes of image degradation, other than the geometric transformation. For example, causes of degradation in recognition of characters in a landscape image may include decrease of resolution of a captured object, generation of blur, and compression noise or sensor noise in an image, in addition to the geometric transformation.
Further, appearance of a template pattern of one class (for example, a certain type of character) in the recognition target image may be sometimes similar to appearance of a template pattern of another class (for example, another type of character) due to the causes of degradation described above. In such a case, the related technique may be difficult to identify the template image corresponding to the recognition target image from the template images.

Information processing device, information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program


A circuit for the detection of a fuse with oxide vertical fusing has another fuse that is of the same type but cannot be blown and, in parallel with each of the fuses, a voltage reference circuit. The output of each of the voltage reference circuits is an input of a differential comparator. This differential comparator is preferably provided with a voltage reference circuit that is independent of the supply voltage Vcc.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit for the detection of fuses with vertical oxide fusing.
Fuses are used in integrated circuits, for example for the definition of functions or access paths, or to fulfil an access-locking function in tamper-proof circuits. They have two possible states: the initial state, when they are intact, and the irreversible, final state when they are fused or blown.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The fuses currently used in integrated circuits may be made:
- of metal. Their drawback then is that they can be short-circuited.
- of polysilicon. Their drawback then is that the blown fuse can grow back.
- on the basis of two EEPROM cells. The blank or virgin cells are in a same unknown state. One may be only erased and the other may be only programmed. The blowing is obtained, for example, by activating the programming of the double cell. Since only one cell may be programmed, the combined OR output of the two cells changes state. But a circuit such as this takes up a great deal of space.
- with one EEPROM cell, the blowing of which consists in the evaporation of its oxide tunnel by the sending, for example, of one or more programming signals with very steep front edges. However, the writing and reading cells are then complex, and a fuse such as this is bulky
There is a known association of a very thin oxide zone with a transistor. The purpose of the oxide zone is to change the state of the transistor. This type of a use is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,780.
This use is substantially equivalent to that of an EEPROM cell with tunnel oxide fusing.

Circuit for detection of the state of an integrated circuit fuse in a balanced fuse configuration


A breakaway assembly for use in combination with a fuel dispenser apparatus is disposed between a segment of the hose attached to a fuel dispenser unit and a second segment of the hose terminating in a nozzle. The breakaway assembly has body portions with a first, assembled condition and a second condition in which the body portions are separated. A fuel valve located in each of the body portion permits flow of fuel when the body parts are assembled and prevents flow upon separation. An element securing the body portions together releases engagement upon application of tension force to the hose, across the breakaway assembly, above a maximum level. In a preferred embodiment, the hose is coaxial and a vapor valve is also disposed within the breakaway assembly.

The invention relates to hoses for dispensing fuel and other flammable liquids.
Fuel dispensers such as those used for filling vehicle tanks at gasoline stations include a hose extending from the dispenser and terminating in a fuel delivery nozzle. Not infrequently, inattentive vehicle operators have been known to drive their vehicles from the refueling area without disengaging the fuel nozzle from the vehicle fillpipe, resulting in damage to the dispenser and/or the vehicle, and often resulting is spillage of fuel and escape of fuel vapors.


The present invention provides a system and apparatus for inspecting tendons and cable stays in bridges and structures using multi-frequency excitation of an ECVT sensor.

Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) is the reconstruction of material concentrations of dielectric physical properties in the imaging domain by inversion of capacitance data from a capacitance sensor.
Electrical Capacitance Volume capacitance imaging or ECVT is the direct 3D reconstruction of volume concentration or physical properties in the imaging domain utilizing 3D features in the ECVT sensor design. ECVT technology is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,614,707 to Warsito et al. which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Adaptive Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography (AECVT) provides higher resolution volume imaging of capacitance sensors based on different levels of activation levels on sensor plate segments. AECVT is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication US2013/0085365 A1 to Marashdeh et al. which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Post-tensioning is a method of reinforcing concrete, or other materials, with high strength steel strands or bars. Post-tensioning tendons are assemblies comprised of an outside sheathing or duct, the strands or bars, and any grout or other coating surrounding the strands or bars. Post-tensioned tendons systems are often used to reinforce segmental concrete structures and provide load bearing capacity. The tendons are typically anchored, stressed, and pumped with grout. The tendon forms a continuous bond along its length with the grout surrounding it. The bond is achieved through a cementitious matrix which surrounds the steel strands. The matrix acts with the polymer cylindrical container (duct) which encases the concrete member to complete the bond path between the prestressed strands and the grout member. When the grout hardens, through its bond to the steel strands, it locks the movement of the strands within the tendon to that of the grout surrounding it. Hence, the force in a bonded tendon becomes a function of the deformation of the concrete surrounding it. Long term reliability of the tendon requires continuous grout and bonding throughout the tendon. Discontinuities like air pockets (e.g., voids), un-cured grout (e.g., water), and partially-cured grout (e.g., bleeding grout) along the tendon weaken the tendon's ability to maintain its load and may eventually result in failure of the tendon. Discontinuities within the tendon's grouting system can lead to section loss (e.g., corrosion of the steel), broken wires and cables, undermining the integrity of a tendon system.
To assure tendon structural integrity, tendons must be inspected after grouting and periodically throughout the life of the structure. This requires an imaging technology that is able to make three-dimensional images of the inside of the tendon, to detect air, water, and bleeding grout pockets, to estimate volume of detected pockets, and to identify their location. The technology must be economical to employ and capable of producing acceptable images of discontinuities. Ideally, it should not use radiation that would require shielding to protect the operator and the users of the structure. Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography (ECVT) satisfies these criteria. It's features include safety, high imaging speeds, light weight sensor design, and higher resolution imaging with use of AECVT sensors.
The present invention provides an innovative ECVT sensor and supporting features for inspecting tendons and cable stays in bridges and structures. The present invention can also be used to image other similar construction-type structures such as pipelines. It also provides a method for using ECVT sensor results for locating discontinuities in structures and rusted steel, and estimating their volume and location. The preferred embodiment of the present invention also involves an innovative design for the construction of an ECVT sensor that has the ability to travel along the length of a tendon using wireless control. The developed ECVT sensor preferably surrounds, or substantial surrounds, the tendon in order to make three-dimensional images and is adapted to open up easily for mounting and dismounting. In the preferred embodiment, it has modular design and can be fitted with a traction (movement) module to make it capable of autonomous travel. The design is scalable to accommodate larger and smaller tendons. It preferably incorporates a suspension mechanism that accommodates a specified range of tendon diameters. It also preferably employs a position tracking mechanism based on counting rotations of tractor wheels.
The present invention also provides an AECVT design using capacitance plates having a plurality of individually addressable segments with variable voltage distribution for detection of steel degradation using multi-frequency excitation. The integrative and adaptive data acquisition method is used to activate the ECVT sensor plates with different frequencies for detection and volume identification of rusted steel or broken steel cable strands.

Electrical capacitance volume tomography sensor for inspection of post-tensioned tendons


A pitch bearing assembly for a wind turbine having a stiffener is disclosed. The pitch bearing assembly may include an outer race and an inner race rotatable relative to the outer race. The inner race may define a mounting surface and an inner circumference. The mounting surface may extend generally perpendicular to the inner circumference. In addition, the stiffener may include a body and a mounting flange. The body may extend axially within a volume defined by the inner circumference of the inner race. Further, the mounting flange of the stiffener may be coupled to the mounting surface of the inner race.

Wind power is considered one of the cleanest, most environmentally friendly energy sources presently available, and wind turbines have gained increased attention in this regard. A modern wind turbine typically includes a tower, generator, gearbox, nacelle, and one or more rotor blades. The rotor blades capture kinetic energy from wind using known airfoil principles and transmit the kinetic energy through rotational energy to turn a shaft coupling the rotor blades to a gearbox, or if a gearbox is not used, directly to the generator. The generator then converts the mechanical energy to electrical energy that may be deployed to a utility grid.
To ensure that wind power remains a viable energy source, efforts have been made to increase energy outputs by modifying the size and capacity of wind turbines. One such modification has been to increase the length of the rotor blades. However, as is generally understood, the loading on a rotor blade is a function of blade length, along with wind speed and turbine operating states. Thus, longer rotor blades may be subject to increased loading, particularly when a wind turbine is operating in high-speed wind conditions.
During the operation of a wind turbine, the loads acting on a rotor blade are transmitted through the blade and into the blade root. Thereafter, the loads are transmitted through a pitch bearing disposed at the interface between the rotor blade and the wind turbine hub. Typically, the hub has a much higher stiffness than the rotor blades. Thus, due to the varying (or non-homogeneous) stiffness, the loads are often not evenly distributed around the pitch bearing. As a result, the unequal load distribution may create areas of high loading in the pitch bearing, thereby resulting in higher stress and/or damage to the pitch bearing.
Accordingly, a pitch bearing assembly having a stiffener configured to distribute loads and, thus, reduce the localized stress within the pitch bearing would be welcomed in the technology.


The present invention provides a PTC device having a laminate which includes a PTC component having a laminar PTC element defined by main surfaces which are facing each other, laminar electrodes extending on the main surfaces, and a first insulation layer, the PTC component, and a second insulation layer laminated in this listed order. The laminate has a first end and a second end, and a first side electrode and a second side electrode are disposed on the first end and the second end, respectively; one of laminar electrodes of the PTC component extends while being separated from the first side electrode and the second side electrode; the other is separated from the first end, and extends to the second end and is electrically connected to the second side electrode. At least the first side electrode extends at the first end along an entirety of a thickness direction of the laminate and further extends on a first edge portion of one of the insulation layers; and the first edge portion has a through-hole which reaches the one laminar electrode. The through-hole has an electrically conductive element which electrically connects the one laminar electrode and the first side.

The PTC device as described above is widely used as a protection device to protect electrical elements constituting various electrical apparatuses, for example a secondary battery cell, or circuits constituting electrical apparatuses when an excessive current flows through the electrical apparatuses. The PTC device is also widely used as a protection device to interrupt an electrical current flowing through the electrical apparatus when the electrical element fails, as a result of which a temperature of the electrical apparatus rises abnormally high.
Such PTC device is disclosed, for example, in the Patent Reference 1 shown below, an example of which is shown in FIG. 8 as a schematic cross-sectional view. The PTC device 200 comprises a PTC component 212 and a first insulation layer 214a and a second insulation layer 214b which are disposed on both sides thereof. The PTC component 212 comprises a PTC element 210 and a first laminar electrode 212a and a second laminar electrode 212b which are disposed on both sides thereof. The laminar electrode 212a is connected to a first side electrode 220, and the laminar electrode 212b is connected to a second side electrode 222. In the PTC device, the first side electrode 220 and the second side electrode 222 are formed of metal plated layers.
The first side electrode 220 is formed by integrating, in addition to an electrode section present at one end of the PTC element 210 along its thickness direction, an electrode section 216 which is positioned on a section of said one end of the first insulation layer 214a and an electrode section 216 which is positioned on a section of said one end of the second insulation layer 214b together. The second side electrode 222 is formed by integrating, in addition to an electrode section present at the other end of the PTC element 210 along its thickness direction, an electrode section 218 which is positioned on a section of said other end of the first insulation layer 214a and an electrode section 218 which is positioned on a section of said the other end of the second insulation layer 214b together. The intermediate regions between the electrode sections 216 and 218 are coated with solder masks 224a and 224b (insulating bodies).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,377,467 is a prior patent reference.


A determination is made that an archive that includes at least one file is present in association with an operating system file system. An additional file system is generated for accessing the archive. The generated additional file system is included in the operating system file system. An application is allowed to access the at least one file via the generated additional file system.

1. Field
The disclosure relates to a method, system, and article of manufacture for managing an archived file system.
2. Background
A file archiver is an application that may combine one or more files into one archive file, or a series of archive files. Many file archivers use data compression in order to reduce the size of the archive file. Certain file archivers take a plurality of files and concatenate the contents of the plurality of files sequentially into the archive file. The process of generating an archive file may be termed archiving or packing. Reconstructing the original files from an archive file may be termed unarchiving, unpacking or extracting.
One or more files or directories may be compressed and stored in an archive. The archive may have to be decompressed before an application can access the files or directories that are compressed and stored in the archived. For example, in certain versions of the Unix operating system the "tape archive" (TAR) file format may be used. On certain Windows platforms, the ZIP archive format may be used to archive files.
Different archiving software may use different compression and decompression algorithms, and may also use different encryption and decryption mechanisms to restrict access to the files or directories stored in the archive. In addition, different archiving software may provide different interfaces to add files to an archive, and to extract and access the files from the archive.
If an application needs to access files or directories that have been stored in an archive, the archive may have to be uncompressed and/or unarchived by the archiving software before the application can access the files or the directories. The archive file cannot be directly used by the application or by operating system commands for manipulating files or directories, such as, commands for copying files, listing the files in a directory, etc.

International Business Machines Corporation


A thru-tubing gravel packing operation utilizing inflatable packing elements and a flow cross-over assembly which selectively opens flow ports for effecting steps in the gravel packing operation and which further provides concentric flow paths through the cross-over assembly for transmitting fluid pressure to valving means and the interior of the packing element or elements to move them to set and sealed condition, whereby the outer diameter of the inflatable element in the sealed condition may preferably expand to at least twice the outer diameter of such element in the initial or run-in condition, for the sequential setting thereof while also transmitting a variation in the pressured fluid to actuate a valve for circulation of the gravel packing fluid exterior of the assembly and for permitting return of fluids through the assembly without the gravel. When plural packing elements are incorporated, the device includes valving components which permit the setting of the lower or sump packer prior to the setting of the gravel pack packer as well as the opening of the gravel packing sleeve valve and a valving component within the gravel packing screen for circulation. The device is mechanically manipulatable after the setting operation for various steps in gravel packing of a subterranean well through tubing introduced through production tubing disposed through a Christmas tree.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a gravel packing apparatus and method for use in a subterranean well in a "thru-tubing" operation.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Of considerable magnitude in the production of hydrocarbons, such as oil and gas, from a producing well is the problem of sand flow into the wellbore from unconsolidated formations. Production of sand with the flow of hydrocarbons will cause the wellbore to gradually fill-up with minute sand and silt particles until production perforations in the casing and, often times, the end of production tubing inserted therein, are covered, resulting in a significant reduction in fluid production. In many instances, sand production will cause the well to stop producing.
While such problem is frequently encountered in oil and gas wells, it will be appreciated that such problems are equally encounterable in water wells. Accordingly, it is contemplated that the invention has utility in abating this problem in water wells as well as oil and gas wells. Accordingly, by use of the term "subterranean well" herein, I mean to refer to and identify water, oil, gas, and other subterranean wells of similar nature. Accordingly, the use of the phrase "production zone" will refer to and mean a zone within any such well in which a fluid desired to be produced may be encountered, such as water, gas, oil, and/or mixtures thereof.
In addition to reduction of fluid production, flow of sand may also cause severe damage to equipment, such as pumps, chokes and the like. In flowing wells, fluid velocity may be sufficient to scavenge sand within the wellbore and produce it with the fluid hydrocarbon, resulting in holes being cut in the tubing and flow lines, as well as in valving components, such as the Christmas tree disposed at the top of the well through which production tubing and casing are communicated, connected or disposed.
When, referring to "Christmas tree" herein, I mean to refer to an assembly of valves and fittings which are attached to the upper most connection of the tubing head, used to control well production and which may be distinguished from a "wellhead" which includes all permanent equipment between the upper most portion of the surface casing and the tubing head adapter connection. A tubing head adapter adapts the upper most connection of a tubing head to the lower most valve of the Christmas tree.
One well known means of controlling flow of sand into the wellbore is the placement of gravel around the exterior of a slotted, perforated, or other similarly formed liner, isolation means, or screen. When used herein, all such references and constructions are the equivalent of the others and can be generally referred to as production or gravel pack screens. The selected construction of such components is not particularly significant to the present invention but the function of filtering out the sand produced with the oil or gas or water is common to all such constructions to thus prevent its entry into the wellbore and thence to the top of the well. It is important to size the gravel for proper containment of the sand. Additionally, the slotted liner, perforated pipe, or screen must be designed to prevent entry of the gravel or sand itself into the production tubing.
Most gravel pack assemblies incorporate two vertically spaced apart versions and sections of such "screens," with the lower section being commonly referred to as the "tell-tale" screen, and the second or higher screen assembly being referred to as the gravel pack screen. Two separate sections of screen bridge the perforated or production zone with the tell-tale screen being the first to receive the fluid returns interior of the apparatus during the gravel packing operation. As gravel is packed upwardly around the tell-tale screen and to the top of the gravel pack screen, an increase in fluid pumping pressure will be detected at the top of the well.
As described below, production of produced fluids in the zone will be conducted through the upper gravel pack packer, through the interior of the outer housing of the assembly remaining in the well after retrieval of the mandrel and cross-over tool components, thence through the opening in the lower end of the production conduit extending into the producing zone through the bore of a set production packer.
Although other fluids have been used, treated and filtered water with a desired concentration of chlorides plus a synthetic polymer or other shear thinning or viscosity controlling substance, is preferably used in most gravel packing processes during the packing and cleaning or flushing procedures. The water is treated to remove contaminants such as cement particles, scale, and other foreign material generally resulting from the circulation of fluid in the wellbore before recirculation into the well with additional gravel, or during any cleaning or flushing procedure.
Gravel packing may be effected as a portion of the initial completion operation or may be provided during a workover operation. Some present day workover operations contemplate the use of "thru-tubing" operations in which the production tubing remains in the well and the remedial or workover operation is effected through the production tubing by use of tubular conduits such as continuous coiled tubing, or the like. Such "thru tubing" tubular conduits may, of course, include a workover string of tubing made up of a series of tubing sections which are threaded or otherwise secured one to another and which are introduced into the well with the Christmas tree in place and through a selectively openable passageway through the Christmas tree and then concentrically disposed through the production tubing.
The present invention includes incorporation of expandable elastomeric packing elements which, because the operation will be performed "thru-tubing," preferably must be of a construction in which the sealing element of the inflatable packer is capable of expanding from the initial outer diameter during the running-in condition to the outer diameter when such packer is in the fully expanded condition of at least a ratio of two or more. Such packers are commercially available and are identified as the Model 373 Inflatable Packer made available by High Pressure Integrity, Inc., of New Orleans, La. The configuration of such packers is illustrated in Product Publication entitled "I-HIP Inflatable Tools" dated 1993, of High Pressure Integrity, Inc. New Orleans, La.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,318, there is shown and disclosed a one trip gravel packing operation incorporating a fluid flow cross-over assembly which is moved to various positions by tubing manipulation. This patent contemplates traditional gravel packing operations and does not utilize an inflatable packer element, nor is the cross-over assembly utilized to provide a passageway to set the packer or to thereafter provide a passageway for introduction of the gravel and carrier fluid in the well nor to manipulate valvings by application of pressure subsequent to the setting of the packer. Moreover, tubing rotation is required during certain steps in the packer setting operation, as well as disengagement of the work string when it is desired to leave the gravel pack components in the well. Thus, where coiled tubing is to be the "thru tubing" component, the '318 tool cannot be used.
Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,158, discloses the use of a similar device in concert with packing elements for multi-zone gravel packing and perforating of a well.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,488, discloses an isolation gravel packing system utilizing conventional mechanically set packers having slips and a cross-over tool disposed within the interior of the device for conventional isolation gravel packing with the device carried on a conventional work string into the well.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,590, utilizes coiled tubing in a thru-tubing operation, but utilizes a pre-packed screen apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,361, incorporates a coiled tubing string that does not require utilization of a cross-over assembly or multiple packers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,025, incorporates a cross-over assembly to facilitate pumping of a gravel slurry in a wellbore and is of limited construction with respect to the configuration of the cross-over assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,280, shows a variation of gravel packing incorporating a gravel packer which provides sequential locking and sealing of the packer in the well and includes a releasing mechanism for mechanically disconnecting it from the packer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,379, discloses a single trip gravel packing and perforating operation typical of the prior art in such combination.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,038, discloses a gravel packing system incorporating a combination packer and setting tool for the packer which is mechanically set. U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,953, discloses a thru-tubing recirculating device incorporating a cross-over assembly and a gravel packing screen.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,749, teaches the introduction of coiled tubing through a wellhead and the utilization of a mechanically set packer with a flow control cross-over assembly for providing a fluid flow path for gravel packing only. The packer disclosed in this patent is of extremely restricted expansion and requires mechanical manipulation of the tubing string for the setting.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,176, is directed to a device for repairing a gravel packing screen already in place, and incorporates a mechanically set packing device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,204, discloses a gravel packing device incorporating a cross-over assembly and a mechanically set packer with a washpipe stabbed into a seal bore bridging the production screen.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,050, discloses a method for setting a hydraulic packer used in a gravel packing operation on remedial coiled tubing disposed through a wellhead. The packer is set hydraulically. This patent discloses hydraulic actuation of a conventional non-elastomeric expansible packer which incorporates slips for purposes of anchoring the packer against the inner wall of the well. Moreover, this patent does not use a flow control cross-over assembly with concentrically disposed flow passageways therethrough that can be used to both set the packer and open certain valves to circulate the gravel and carrier fluid.
Promotional literature entitled "Eclipse Series Packers/Plugs for Coiled Tubing" discloses the use of a conventional non-inflatable packer with slips and a cross-over assembly in which a passageway in the cross-over assembly is utilized to transmit pressure to mechanically move the slips and the conventional packer into set position. Only one packer is utilized and the cross-over assembly cannot be used to provide setting of plural packers because one of the concentric passageways through the cross-over assembly permits fluid flow therethrough in only one direction, i.e., to the top of the well, for returns.
Electric line gravel packing is an alternative to the thru-tubing concept, and is typified in U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,549. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,860 discloses a similar method of implementing a thru-tubing gravel packing operation.
Finally, Society of Petroleum Engineers Paper No. 23130 entitled "Thru-Tubing Sand Control Techniques Reduce Completion Costs," presented at Offshore Europe Conference held in Aberdeen, Scotland, Sep. 3-6, 1991, generally discloses commercially available gravel packing components and tools as well as various types of perforated tubing, screens, and slotted liners, which may be incorporated into the present invention.


A method for managing network traffic includes provisioning an internet protocol (IP) network for communicating traffic. The IP network comprises a plurality of nodes coupled by IP links. The method includes monitoring the IP network for a congestion event and, upon detecting a congestion event, selecting a label switched path (LSP) of the IP network for reroute. The method includes computing a hybrid path route for the selected LSP between a first node and a second node of the plurality of nodes. The hybrid path route comprises at least one lightpath of a wavelength division multiplex (WDM) topology coupled to the IP network. The method also includes determining whether performance of the hybrid path route for the selected LSP reduces costs and, if the hybrid path route reduces costs, activating a new IP link on each of the at least one lightpaths of the WDM topology and rerouting the selected LSP according to the hybrid path route.

Traffic engineering includes communication network management tasks that improve the efficiency of network resources, ensure quality of service of application traffic and enhance the reliability of network operation. Traffic engineering in an internet protocol network can be carried out through techniques such as topology design, load-balancing and traffic re-routing. Some traffic engineering solutions for internet protocol networks are designed to meet quality of service requirements of network traffic. Thus, the focus of these solutions has been on dealing with network congestion and link overload.

Method and system for managing network traffic


A fabrication method for providing a relatively smooth surface associated with lightning strike protection for composite materials joined with fasteners recessed below the surface is described. The method includes coating at least one of a head of the fastener and a preformed dielectric insert with an adhesive, inserting the preformed dielectric insert into the recess such that the adhesive engages both contours of the recess and the preformed dielectric insert, and removing any excess adhesive from the surface area of the composite material and a top surface of the insert.

This invention relates generally to lightning strike protection, and more specifically, to fabrication and installation of preformed dielectric inserts.
There are thousands of recessed fasteners in a typical aircraft surface. In one aircraft wing example, these fasteners penetrate from the skin exterior and extend into the fuel tank. One currently contemplated fabrication plan is application of an uncured sealant over the fasteners as part of an integrated lightning strike protection system. The sealant is cured in place, then shaved with a cutter to flushness with the surrounding wing skin. In composite aircraft structures, the sealant functions as a dielectric insulating layer, insulating the fasteners from lightning strikes.
Mechanical devices with reciprocating metal blades are known, and utilized to shave an upper portion of a cured in place dielectric sealant material such that it is substantially flush with a surface. However, these devices cannot be utilized in certain production environments. In one example, the number of places to be shaved in a given area may preclude use of the mechanical device. In another example, the surface where the sealant has been placed may be contoured, which also may not be easily compatible with the described shaving process.
The above described process is labor intensive, and the in-place curing and shaving of dielectric sealant may effect aerodynamic dimensional tolerances. Another issue is that sealant application is an integral step in the assembly process rather than prior to or concurrent with the assembly process (i.e., more labor, time, and interference with other production steps). Accordingly, there is continued effort in the art for improvement in regard to installation of dielectric materials in certain applications.

Fabrication and installation of preformed dielectric inserts for lightning strike protection


An apparatus and method which allows for testing a semiconductor device having contacts on multiple surfaces has a contactor assembly for holding a semiconductor device and for sending test signals from the test board to and from a first surface and a second surface of the semiconductor device. A latching device is removably coupled to the contactor assembly. The latching device is used to secure the semiconductor device to the contactor assembly and for sending test signals to and from the second surface of the semiconductor package to the contactor assembly.

The testing of an integrated circuit device is a very important step in the production of quality semiconductor devices. A number of different tests may be performed on the integrated circuit device to identify whether the circuit is operating correctly and whether or not the circuit is likely to malfunction in the future.
When testing an integrated circuit device, the integrated circuit device is placed in a test fixture. The test fixture is mounted on a device under test (DUT) board. The DUT board has contact pads that are electrically connected to the individual leads of the integrated circuit device. Electrical signal probes from the tester are brought into contact with the contact pads on the test board for coupling electrical signals to the integrated circuit device and for monitoring the signals from the integrated circuit device.
A problem arises when testing integrated circuit devices with contacts on multiple surfaces (i.e., top and bottom surfaces). Presently, testing these types of integrated circuit devices requires testing one side of the device at a time. Thus, one has to test a first side of the integrated circuit device, turn the integrated circuit device over and then test the second side. Testing integrated circuit devices with contacts on multiple surfaces in the above manner, results in increase test time and cost.
Therefore, a need existed to provide a device and method that will allow testing of semiconductor devices having contacts on multiple surfaces that overcomes the problems associated with the prior art.

Apparatus and method for testing integrated circuit devices having contacts on multiple surfaces