Various systems and methods are described for controlling operation of engine cylinders, where each cylinder has a first and second injector for delivering fuel. One example method maintains air-fuel ratio in the exhaust by adjusting fuel injection of a common fuel injector type among the cylinders, where different cylinders operate with different combinations of injectors.

Engines may use various forms of fuel delivery to provide a desired amount of fuel for combustion in each cylinder. One type of fuel injection, or delivery, uses a port injector for each cylinder to deliver fuel to respective cylinders. Another type of fuel injection uses a direct injector for each cylinder. Engines have also been described using more than one injector to provide fuel to a single cylinder in an attempt to improve engine performance.
One such example (US 2007/0119422 A1) describes a flexible multiple-fuel engine using both port and direct injection, where different fuel types are provided to the injectors. For example, direct injection of ethanol may be used with port injected gasoline to address knock limitations, especially under boosted conditions. In this example, a desired setting for the various fuels may be predetermined using engine maps, and then adjusted based on feedback from a knock sensor, along with a spark retard, to mitigate the knock. Specifically, the effective knock suppression of the fuels can be varied responsive to operating conditions to improve engine efficiency while meeting engine output requirements.
However, the inventor herein has recognized several issues with such an approach. As one example, one particular cylinder may be more prone to knocking and consequently may start to develop knock before other cylinders within the engine, especially under certain operating conditions. If direction injection of ethanol is used in all of the cylinders to address knock when less than all of the cylinders may be prone to knock, ethanol may be over-used, and thereby overly depleted.
Thus, in one example, the above issues may be addressed by a method for controlling engine operation of an engine having a plurality of cylinders, each cylinder including a first and second injector for delivering fuel to the cylinder, the method comprising: operating a first cylinder to combust fuel delivered from both the first and second fuel injector of the first cylinder, and operating a second cylinder to combust fuel delivered from only one of the first and second fuel injectors of the second cylinder.
In one example, each of the plurality of cylinders of the engine may be capable of operating with a port injection of gasoline and a direct injection of ethanol. As such, a first cylinder may be more prone to knock as compared to the remaining cylinders. Accordingly, a direct injection of ethanol may be enabled at a lower torque, in the first cylinder. Consequently, under similar operating conditions, the first may be operating with direct injected ethanol in addition to port injected gasoline, while the remaining cylinders may be operating with port injected gasoline only. In another example, a first and second cylinder may be more prone to knock as compared to the remaining cylinders. Accordingly, the first and second cylinders may be adjusted together as a cylinder group and a direct injection of ethanol may be enabled in the knock-prone cylinder group at a lower torque, compared to other cylinders or cylinder groups. In this way, by specifically enabling direct injection of ethanol in knock-prone cylinders, or cylinder groups, engine knock may be abated without overly depleting ethanol.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.


A water treatment system combines a microfiltration or ultrafiltration membrane system with a downstream reverse osmosis membrane system. The MF or UF system has multiple trains of immersed membrane modules. The trains are connected to a common permeate pump. The permeate pump discharges directly into the inlet of an RO feed pump. The membrane trains are each subjected to the same suction. The permeate pumps are operated to provide the required flow to the RO feed pump at or above the minimum inlet pressure of the RO feed pump.

The following discussion is not an admission that anything discussed below is common general knowledge or citable as prior art.
Some water treatment processes use multiple membrane treatment steps in series. In particular, microfiltration (MF) or ultrafiltration (UF) membranes may be used to pre-treat water prior to a nanofiltration (NF) or reverse osmosis (RO) step. Such combined processes are used for example in sea water desalination, wastewater recovery and in some industrial water treatment plants.
For example, a presentation entitled "Desalination Technology Overview" presented by James C. Lozier at the April 2011 Water Resources Research Center Conference in Yuma, Ariz., USA, describes a seawater RO plant. In this plant, there are three trains of UF or MF immersed membranes each having a suction pump delivering permeate to a break tank. From the break tank, water is pumped through a set of parallel RO trains. The RO permeate is stored in tanks and then transferred to a distribution system.

Combined microfiltration or ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis processes


A waste removing method capable of easily carrying out a waste removing operation to peel a label sheet waste off a base sheet. A label sheet 4b of label paper 4 being conveyed along a path of label paper conveyance 1 is formed with a cut line 4h for peeling-off; an upstream side portion 4i of label sheet bordered and starting with the cut line 4h is peeled off a base sheet 4a, and the portion of label sheet 4b peeled off is carried to and wound onto a waste take-up member 20 whereby winding the peeled-off portion of label sheet 4b onto the waste take-up member 20 causes a label sheet waste 4g of succeeding label paper 4 to be peeled off the base sheet 4a and taken up onto the waste take-up member. The waste removing operation can be carried out automatically.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a label paper waste removing method and apparatus for peeling off and removing from a base sheet of label paper, a portion of waste, i.e. a portion that is becoming unnecessary, of a label sheet of label paper.
2. Background Art
Label manufacturing machines have hitherto been proposed in which a label sheet (label medium) of label paper is printed on whereafter the label sheet is die-cut to form label pieces. A portion of waste, i.e. a portion that is becoming unnecessary, of the label sheet, except label pieces, is peeled off and eliminated, i.e. removed from a base sheet to yield a label product having label pieces stuck to the base sheet.
Waste removing apparatuses for peeling off and removing from a base sheet, a portion of waste as mentioned above have been disclosed in JP H05-124136 A and JP 2009-23094 A. The waste removing apparatus disclosed in JP H05-124136 is of a structure having a path of label paper conveyance (path of supply of tack paper) midway of which a peeling-off roller and a waste take-up unit (punching waste take-up unit) above the roller are disposed.
The waste removing apparatus disclosed in JP 2009-23094 is of a structure having a path of label paper conveyance (path of conveyance of label material) midway of which a waste removing-up roller and a waste take-up unit (waste removing take-up unit) above the roller are disposed.
In both these waste removing apparatuses, a waste portion is removed as follows:
Continuous label paper conveyed along a path of conveyance is printed on by a printing unit and thereafter half-cut (a label sheet alone being cut along contours of a label piece) by a die cutting unit. Then, in the state that the half-cut portion of label paper has been passed through the peeling roll and the waste removing roll, the label paper conveying and the printing and the die cutting units are suspended of their driving operations. In this stage, a portion of waste of label sheet is peeled manually off a base sheet and an end of the waste portion peeled off is manually passed up to a waste take-up unit and manually fastened to the waste take-up unit.
Subsequently, the label paper is conveyed and the printing and die cutting units are driven, waste then being continuously peeled off the base sheet and taken on the waste take-up unit, namely removed.
By removing a waste of a label sheet as mentioned above, there have been manufactured a label product having label pieces stuck on a base sheet.
A waste removing method using the conventional waste removing apparatus, which requires as mentioned above that when waste removing is commenced a waste of label sheet be manually peeled off, and an end portion of the peeled-off waste be manually passed up to the waste take-up unit and be fastened manually to the waste take-up unit, entails cumbersome manual operations at the time that waste removing is commenced, and hence is poor in efficiency of waste removing operation.
In view of problems as mentioned above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a label paper waste removing method and apparatus which eliminates the need to manually operate at the time that waste removing is initiated.

Label paper waste removing method and apparatus


An image display apparatus is composed of a substrate on which an electrode receiving the supply of a power source is formed. By providing an electroconductive member which adheres to the electrode through a hole and seals the hole, the formation of a hermetic lead-in terminal is made to be easy.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus used for displaying characters and images, such as a display of a television receiver or a computer, and a message board, and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Related Background Art
As an image display apparatus which has been generally spread widely, a color cathode ray tube (CRT) can be cited. Because the driving principle of the color CRT is that electron beams from the cathode thereof are deflected to make phosphors on the screen thereof emit light, the color CRT needs a depth according to the screen size thereof. Because the depth becomes long as the screen becomes large, the color CRT has problems of the expansion of the setting space thereof and of the increase of the weight thereof. Consequently, a thin-shaped flat type image display apparatus capable of being made to be light is strongly desired.
As the flat type image display apparatus, there are ones using plasma discharge, using a liquid crystal device, and using a vacuum fluorescent display. As the flat type image display apparatus attracting attention owing to its high picture quality and its low power consumption, a displaying apparatus using electron-emitting devices can be cited. The displaying apparatus using the electron-emitting devices is a displaying apparatus using a phenomenon of causing luminescence by the collision of electrons emitted in the inside of a vacuum chamber to a phosphor, to which a high voltage is applied. Accordingly, it is necessary to perform hermetic sealing of a voltage supplying path in the vacuum chamber. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-92075 discloses concrete means of the hermetic sealing.
The configuration of the voltage supplying path to the phosphor disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-92075 is schematically shown in FIG. 11. In FIG. 11, reference numeral 100 denotes a leading wire, reference numeral 101 denotes a lead-in wire, reference numeral 102 denotes an insulating member, reference numeral 103 denotes a hermetic lead-in terminal, reference numeral 104 denotes frit glass, reference numeral 105 denotes a stand-alone wire, reference numeral 106 denotes a pressure structure, reference numeral 110 denotes a face plate, reference numeral 111 denotes a rear plate, reference numeral 112 denotes an electron source area, reference numeral 114 denotes an outer frame, and reference numeral 120 denotes an image-forming member.
In the configuration of FIG. 11, a hermetic container is formed by sealing the face plate 110, the rear plate 111 and the outer frame 114 with the frit glass 104. A voltage is applied to the leading wire 100 lead from the image-forming member 120 provided with the phosphor through the lead-in wire 101 lead-in from the outside. The lead-in wire 101 is configured as the hermetic lead-in terminal 103, in which the insulating member 102 is disposed around the lead-in wire 101. The hermetic lead-in terminal 103 adheres to a through-hole formed in the rear plate 111 with the frit glass 104, and thereby the hermetic sealing of the hermetic lead-in terminal 103 is performed.
However, because the calcination temperature of the frit glass is 350° C. or more, which is very high, in the above-mentioned method, in which the hermetic lead-in terminal 103 adheres with the frit glass, the process cost of the method is high, and the high process cost is the primary factor of raising the cost of an article. Moreover, because the frit glass contains lead, the frit glass has a problem on environmental health.

Image display apparatus and manufacturing method thereof


Image data of an image including an eye is input (S1), and band limitation is performed (S2). Then, a predetermined feature such as moment is extracted from the band-limited image data (S3), and recognition as to whether the eye projected in the image is a counterfeit eye or a living eye is performed based on the extracted feature (S4).

As conventional counterfeit discrimination methods of an iris image, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 disclose methods in which a plurality of near-infrared light sources are selectively lighted and an eye of a living body and a counterfeit eye are discriminated based on a biological reaction of the time-varying iris diameter or positional change of a bright spot caused near the iris.
(Patent Document 1) Japanese Patent No. 3312303
(Patent Document 2) Japanese Patent No. 3315648

Artificial eye distinguishing method and device, artificial eye distinguishing program, iris recognition method, false printed matter distinguishing method, and image distinguishing method


A transport device for transporting goods, preferably on pallets or the like, along a transport path has at least two lateral peripheral traction elements (2), especially transport chains. To this end, support elements (3) are fixed, preferably articulated, to the peripheral traction elements (2), the goods to be transported or the pallets being supported on the support elements. The support elements (3) are arranged tightly in a row along the traction element, and especially cover the peripheral traction element (2), each peripheral traction element (2) having its own support element (3).

Pallets have hitherto been transported either on rollers or on chains. Rollers function in case of the longitudinal transport of the pallets only, but, depending on the spacing of the rollers, the run is not particularly smooth. Chains can be used for longitudinal and transverse transport. The support surface to the pallet is relatively small. The pallets are correspondingly also spared only slightly, especially in case of heavy loads. The chain must always be lubricated and such chains become "dirty" as a result and this also contaminates the load.

Transport device for transporting goods, preferably on pallets, comprising two laterally peripheral traction elements, especially transport chains


A method and apparatus for the anaerobic methane fermentation treatment of a wastewater containing a sulfur compound. An oxidizing agent is added to an organic wastewater to oxidize the sulfur compound contained therein to molecular sulfur before the anaerobic treatment step. The wastewater is then introduced into the anaerobic treatment step for the methane fermentation treatment thereof. The amount of the oxidizing agent to be added to the wastewater is controlled using as an indicator the concentration of the residual oxidizing agent in the water flowing into the anaerobic treatment step and/or the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in a biogas generated. The oxidizing agent may be ozone, hydrogen peroxide, sodium hypochlorite or a bromine based oxidizing agent. When the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in a biogas generated in the anaerobic treatment step is used as said indicator, the oxidizing agent may be suitably added such that the concentration of hydrogen sulfide is 3% or less.

A methane fermentation treatment method in which an organic wastewater or an organic waste is decomposed by methane fermentation is superior with respect to energy savings as compared with an aerobic treatment such as an active sludge process, because it does not require an energy for aeration, it produces little surplus sludge and it permits energy recovery from a biogas generated. However, since the amount of proliferation of methane producing bacteria or methane fermentation bacteria is small and since sedimentation efficiency thereof is not high, the bacteria are apt to be discharged together with the treated water. Therefore, it is difficult to increase the concentration of bacteria within a fermentation reactor used for the methane fermentation treatment. Further, the methane fermentation treatment method has a problem with respect to costs and sites.
When a sulfur-containing waste water from a craft pulp cooking step, which contains sulfur-based foul odor substances, such as hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan, that will hinder the methane fermentation, is treated by a medium temperature methane fermentation process using an anaerobic sludge blanket method, it is necessary to remove such foul odor substances and organic matters by steam stripping or air stripping. Thus, the above method has a problem because of increased operation costs.
Also known is a method which includes adding an agent for inhibiting the formation of hydrogen sulfide to a sulfate-containing organic wastewater, in which hydrogen sulfide has been formed, to produce a sulfide. The thus formed sulfide is then precipitated and removed from the wastewater. In the above method, the hydrogen sulfide is precipitated and removed as a sulfide formed by a heavy metal contained in the agent for inhibiting the formation of hydrogen sulfide. This method, however, has a problem, for example, that the methane fermentation is hindered by the heavy metal which is contained in the agent for inhibiting the formation of hydrogen sulfide which has been added in an excessive amount to the wastewater.
Thus, the conventional anaerobic active sludge treatment method for wastewater, such as chemical industry waster water (e.g. paper and pulp industry effluent), containing sulfur compounds, for example, hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan, in high concentrations has the following problems.    (1) When a sulfur-containing organic substance is anaerobically decomposed, hydrogen sulfide is generated. When the pH is lowered, non-dissociable hydrogen sulfide, namely molecular hydrogen sulfide is generated. Such molecular hydrogen sulfide hinders methane fermentation.    (2) The excessive addition of the agent for removing hydrogen sulfide not only increases the process costs but also greatly damages anaerobic bacteria, when streaming in the methane fermentation reactor.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a high performance anaerobic methane fermentation treatment method and apparatus which can solve the problems of the above-described conventional technique and which can be applied to a sulfur compound-containing wastewater.

Method and apparatus for the methane fermentation treatment of wastewater containing sulfur compound


The present invention provides a transflective liquid crystal display device having at least one switching element having at least a drain electrode, a first passivation layer formed over the switching element with the first passivation layer defining a drain contact hole exposing a first portion the drain electrode, a transparent pixel electrode contacting the drain electrode through the drain contact hole and defining a contact opening that exposes a second portion of the drain electrode, the contact opening being defined in a portion of the transparent pixel electrode in the drain contact hole, and a reflective pixel electrode contacting the transparent pixel electrode in the drain contact hole and contacting the drain electrode through the contact opening.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transflective liquid crystal display (LCD) device. And more particularly, it relates to an array substrate for use in a transflective LCD, which is used in a transmissive mode or/and a reflective mode.
2. Description of the Related Art
The cathode-ray tube (CRT) was developed and is mainly used for display systems. However, flat panel displays are beginning to be incorporated into display systems because of their small dimension, low weight and low voltage power consumption. Presently, thin film transistor-liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCD) having a high resolution are being developed.
In general, LCD devices have various advantages in that, for example, they are relatively thin and require low power for operation, when compared to CRT display devices. Therefore, such LCD devices are good candidates to replace CRT display devices and have been a matter of great interest in a variety of technical fields.
The LCD devices are generally divided into three types: transmissive LCD devices; reflective LCD devices; and transflective LCD devices. The transmissive LCD device utilizes a back light device as a light source, while the reflective LCD device utilizes ambient light instead of a back light device. The transflective LCD device has both transmissive and reflective modes.
The transflective liquid crystal display (LCD) device selectively acts as the transmissive LCD device and as the reflective LCD device. Due to the fact that a transflective LCD device can make use of both internal and external light sources, it can operate in bright ambient light utilizing low power consumption.
FIG. 1 shows a typical transflective liquid crystal display (LCD) device 11. The transflective LCD device 11 includes upper and lower substrates 15 and 21 with a liquid crystal 23 interposed therebetween. The upper 15 and lower 21 substrates are sometimes referred to as a color filter substrate and an array substrate, respectively.
On a surface facing the lower substrate 21, the upper substrate 15 includes a black matrix 16 and a color filter layer 17. The color filter layer 17 includes a matrix array of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) color filters that are formed such that each color filter is bordered by the black matrix 16. The upper substrate 15 also includes a common electrode 13 positioned beneath the color filter layer 17 and the black matrix 16.
On a surface facing the upper substrate 15, the lower substrate 21 includes an array of thin film transistors (one of which being designated "T" in FIG. 1) that individually act as switching devices. The array of thin film transistors is formed to correspond with the matrix of color filters. A plurality of crossing gate lines 25 and data lines 27 are positioned such that a TFT is located near each crossing of the gate lines 25 and data lines 27. The lower substrate 21 also includes a plurality of pixel electrodes 18, each in an area defined between the gate lines 25 and the data lines 27. Such areas are often referred to as pixel regions "P."
Each pixel electrode 18 includes a transmitting portion "A" and a reflective portion "C". The transmitting portion "A" is usually formed from a transparent conductive material having good light transmissivity, for example, indium-tin-oxide (ITO) or indium-zinc-oxide (IZO). Alternatively, the transparent portion "A" can be a hole. Moreover, a conductive metallic material having a superior light reflectivity is used for the reflective portion "C".
FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-section of one pixel of the typical transflective LCD device 11 to facilitate an understanding of the operation of such devices. As shown in FIG. 2, the transflective LCD device 11 includes lower 21 and upper 15 substrates and a liquid crystal layer 23 interposed therebetween. The upper substrate 15 includes a common electrode 13. However, in FIG. 2 the color filter layer 17 and black matrix 16 (see FIG. 1) are not depicted because FIG. 2 shows just one pixel of the typical transflective LCD device, and the color filter layer 17 does not affect the polarization state of light. The lower substrate 21 includes a transparent electrode 18a formed thereupon. On the transparent electrode 18a, an insulation layer 14 is formed. A reflective electrode 18b having the transmitting portion "A", i.e., the hole, is formed on the insulation layer 14. The transparent 18a and reflective 18b electrodes function together as the pixel electrode 18. The transflective LCD device 11 also includes a backlight device 41.
The transflective LCD device 11 described above uses artificial light "F" generated from the backlight device 41 when operating in the transmissive mode, while the transflective LCD device 11 uses ambient light "D" from surroundings when operating in the reflective mode. Namely, as shown in FIG. 2, the transparent electrode 18a transmits light "F" irradiated from the backlight device 41, while the reflective electrode 18b reflects the ambient light "D."
The transflective LCD device 11 is operable in both the reflective mode and the transmissive mode. In the reflective mode, the ambient light "D" passes through the upper substrate 15 and is reflected from the reflective electrode 18b back toward the upper substrate 15. With an electrical signal applied between the common electrode 13 and the pixel electrode (reflective electrode 18b and transparent electrode 18a) by the switching element "T" (see FIG. 1), the phase of the liquid crystal layer 23 changes. Thus, the light "D" passing through the liquid crystal layer 23 is colored by the color filter (see reference element 17 of FIG. 1) and is displayed as a colored pixel.
In the transmissive mode, the light "F" from the backlight device 41 passes through the transparent electrode 18a. With an electrical signal applied between the common electrode 13 and to the pixel electrode (reflective electrode 18b and transparent electrode 18a) by the switching element "T" (see FIG. 1), the alignment state of the liquid crystal layer 23 changes. Accordingly, the light "F" passing through the liquid crystal layer 23 is colored by the color filter 17 (see FIG. 1) and is displayed as a colored pixel.
As described above, since the transflective LCD device 11 has both transmissive and reflective modes, the transflective LCD device can be used anytime, day or night. It also has the advantage of being battery powered for an extended time due its low power consumption.
FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrating one pixel of an array substrate for a conventional transflective liquid crystal display device. As shown, gate lines 25 are arranged in a transverse direction, and data lines 27 are arranged in a longitudinal direction perpendicular to the gate lines 25. A thin film transistor (TFT) "T" is arranged at a crossover point of the gate lines 25 and the data lines 27. The TFT includes gate 61, source 63 and drain 65 electrodes. The gate electrode 61 extends from the gate line 25, and the source electrode 63 extends from the data line 27. The drain electrode 65 is spaced apart from the source electrode 63. A pixel electrode 19 is arranged on a region defined by the gate lines 25 and the data lines 27. The pixel electrode 19 includes a transparent pixel electrode 19a that is made of a transparent conductive material such as indium-tin-oxide (ITO) or indium-zinc-oxide (IZO), and a reflective pixel electrode 19b that is made of a reflective conductive material such as aluminum (Al) or Al-alloy (for example, AlNb). The transparent pixel electrode 19a is usually formed under the reflective pixel electrode 19b and contacts the drain electrode 65 through a first contact hole 67. The reflective pixel electrode 19b that is usually formed over the transparent pixel electrode 19a is divided into a transmitting portion "A", i.e., usually a hole, and a reflective portion "C." Through a second contact hole 71, the reflective pixel electrode 19b contacts the transparent pixel electrode 19a, and is electrically connected with the drain electrode 65.
FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the lines IV-IV and V-V of FIG. 3, and illustrates layer elements of the array substrate for use in a conventional transflective LCD device. The manufacturing process of the array substrate of FIG. 3 will be briefly explained hereinafter.
In the first manufacturing step, the gate electrode 61 and the gate line (see reference element 25 of FIG. 3) are formed by depositing and patterning a first metal on a substrate 10. A gate insulation layer 26 is formed on the substrate 10 to cover the patterned first metal layer.
In the second manufacturing step, a semiconductor layer 64 is formed on the gate insulation layer 26, particularly over the gate electrode 61. The semiconductor layer 64 is comprised of an amorphous silicon layer (a-Si) and an impurity-doped amorphous silicon layer (n+/p+a-Si).
In the third manufacturing step, the source and drain electrodes 63 and 65 are formed on the semiconductor layer 64, and are made of the conductive metallic material selected from a group consisting of chromium (Cr), aluminum (Al), aluminum alloy (Al alloy), molybdenum (Mo), tantalum (Ta), tungsten (W), and antimony (Sb), and the like. By depositing and patterning these materials, not only are the source 63 and drain 65 electrodes formed, but the data line 27 is also formed on the gate insulation layer 26 such that the source electrode 63 is extends from the data line 27. The source 63 and drain 65 electrodes are spaced apart from each other and respectively overlap opposite ends of the gate electrode 61.
In the fourth manufacturing step, a first passivation layer 28 is then formed on and over the intermediates by depositing an organic or inorganic insulating material. After that, the first contact hole 67 that exposes a portion of the drain electrode 65 is formed by patterning the first passivation layer 28.
In the fifth manufacturing step, a transparent conductive material such as indium-tin-oxide (ITO) or indium-zinc-oxide (IZO) is deposited on the first passivation layer 28 having the first contact hole 67 and then patterned to form the transparent pixel electrode 19a. Accordingly, the transparent pixel electrode 19a contacts the portion of the drain electrode 65 through the first contact hole 67.
In the sixth manufacturing step, a second passivation layer 69 is deposited on the first passivation layer 28 to cover the transparent pixel electrode 19a, and then patterned to form the second contact hole 71 over the first contact hole 67. The second contact hole 71 exposes a portion of the transparent pixel electrode 19a over the drain electrode 65. When performing the patterning process to form the second contact hole 71, a photo mask used for forming the second contact hole 71 is the same mask as used for forming the first contact hole 67.
In the seventh manufacturing step, the reflective pixel electrode 19b is formed by depositing and patterning a reflective conductive material such as aluminum (Al) or Al-alloy (for example, AlNB) on the second passivation layer 69 having the second contact hole 71. Accordingly, the reflective pixel electrode 19b contacts the transparent pixel electrode 19a through the second contact hole 71, thereby electrically interconnecting with the drain electrode 65. When patterning the reflective conductive material, the transmitting portion "A" (i.e., the hole) is formed at a nearly central portion of the pixel region.
However, the structure of the array substrate mentioned above has some problems and is limited. The reflective pixel electrode 19b is usually made of aluminum-based material because of its low resistance and high light reflectivity. However, from this reason, the aluminum-based material is easily oxidized and thus converts to aluminum oxide (Al2O3).
Accordingly, aluminum oxide (Al2O3) comprises an oxidized layer in an interface between the transparent pixel electrode 19a and the reflective pixel electrode 19b. Moreover, due to the aluminum oxide (Al2O3), the contact resistance in the interface between the transparent 19a and reflective 19b pixel electrodes becomes higher thereby deteriorating operating characteristics of the device.
To overcome this problem, another structure is proposed as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating one pixel of an array substrate for another conventional transflective liquid crystal display device. Although FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 3, the array substrate of FIG. 5 has a different structure from that of FIG. 3, and thus the differences between them are explained hereinafter.
As shown in FIG. 5, a pixel electrode 20 includes a transparent pixel electrode 20a made of a transparent conductive material such as indium-tin-oxide (ITO) or indium-zinc-oxide (IZO), and a reflective pixel electrode 20b made of a reflective conductive material such as aluminum (Al) or Al-alloy (for example, AlNb), much as the pixel electrode 19 of FIG. 3. However, the transparent pixel electrode 20a is smaller in size than the reflective pixel electrode 20b, and has a protrusion that overlaps the drain electrode 65. This protrusion makes contact with the drain electrode 65 through a first contact hole 72. The transparent pixel electrode 20a is usually formed under the reflective pixel electrode and the reflective pixel electrode 20b is usually formed over the transparent pixel electrode 20a, much like the transparent and reflective pixel electrodes 19a and 19b of FIG. 3. Also, the reflective pixel electrode 20b is divided into a transmitting portion "A", i.e., usually a hole, and a reflective portion "C", which is much different from the reflective pixel electrode 19b of FIG. 3. The reflective electrode 20b of FIG. 5 contacts the drain electrode 65 through a second contact hole 73, and is electrically communicated with the drain electrode 65. Namely, the array substrate depicted in FIG. 5 has two differently positioned contact holes 72 and 73 in different places over the drain electrode 65. Thus, both the transparent pixel electrode 20a and the reflective pixel electrode 20b respectively contact the drain electrode 65.
FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view taken along the lines VI-VI and VII-VII of the LCD device of FIG. 5 and illustrates layer elements of the array substrate for use in another conventional transflective LCD device. The manufacturing process of the array substrate of FIG. 5 will be briefly explained hereinafter. However, since the manufacturing process is similar to that of array substrate of FIG. 4, some explanations for the manufacturing steps are omitted.
The first to fourth manufacturing steps of the array substrate depicted in FIG. 6 are basically the same as those of the array substrate depicted in FIG. 4. Therefore, the manufacturing process of the array substrate depicted in FIG. 6 will be explained beginning from the fifth manufacturing step.
In the fifth manufacturing step, a transparent conductive material such as indium-tin-oxide (ITO) or indium-zinc-oxide (IZO) is deposited and then patterned on the first passivation layer 28 having the first contact hole 72 that is formed in an inner part of the drain electrode 65 during the fourth manufacturing step to form the transparent pixel electrode 20a. At this time, the transparent pixel electrode 20a has a protrusion that overlaps the drain electrode 65 as shown in FIG. 5. Thus, the protrusion of the transparent pixel electrode 20a contacts the portion of the drain electrode 65 through the first contact hole 72, and the transparent pixel electrode 20a is electrically communicated with the drain electrode 65.
In the sixth manufacturing step, the second passivation layer 69 is deposited on the first passivation layer 28 to cover the transparent pixel electrode 20a, and then patterned to form a second contact hole 73 in an outer part of the drain electrode 65. When forming the second contact hole 73, the first 28 and second 69 passivation layers are simultaneously etched. Thus, the second contact hole 73 penetrates the first 28 and second 69 passivation layers and exposes an outer portion of the drain electrode 65. In contrast to the patterning process of forming the second contact hole 73 in the array substrate depicted in FIG. 4, a photo mask used for forming the second contact hole 71 is not the same mask used for forming the first contact hole 72 because the first 72 and second 73 contact holes are formed in different locations above the drain electrode 65.
In the seventh manufacturing step, the reflective pixel electrode 20b is formed by depositing and patterning a reflective conductive material such as aluminum (Al) or Al-alloy (for example, AlNB) on the second passivation layer 69 having the second contact hole 73, much like the reflective pixel electrode 19b of FIG. 4. In the array substrate of FIG. 6, the reflective pixel electrode 20b, however, directly contacts the drain electrode 65 through the second contact hole 73, thereby being electrically connected with the drain electrode 65. When patterning the reflective conductive material, the transmitting portion "A" (i.e., the hole) is formed at a nearly central portion of the pixel region.
As described in FIGS. 5 and 6, the array substrate has two differently-placed contact holes 72 and 73 that connect the transparent pixel electrode 20a and reflective pixel electrode 20b to the drain electrode 65, respectively. As a result, the same photo mask can not be used for forming the first 72 and second 73 contact holes. Accordingly, an additional photo mask is required when forming the first or second contact hole 72 or 73.

Array substrate for use in a transflective liquid crystal display device and a method of fabricating the same


An improved on-chip storage memory and method for storing variable data bits, the memory including an on-chip storage memory system for storing variable data bits that has a memory for storing data bits, a wrapper for converting the memory into a first-in first-out (FIFO) memory, and a controller for performing operations on the memory. In operation, the memory is converted into a FIFO memory after storing data, and output logic selects data to be output in a serial manner.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved on-chip storage memory for storing variable data bits.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many memory instances are used in system on chips for storing data of variable lengths. FIFO (first in first out) or SRAM (static read/write memory) are primarily used for storing the data bits and also for high speed data buffering. Since the width of the memory is fixed and data to be stored is of variable length, memory is not efficiently utilized.
In conventional system on chips, there are number of memories utilized in the chip for data storage. The data bits may be processed by a particular block and used by either another block or their results are stored inside the chip after performing different operations. The data bits can be of different lengths. If some compression technique is used, the variation in number of bits to be stored is large.
FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) depict two conventional methods of memory storage. FIG. 1(a) shows a method in which different memory instances (11) of different possible widths are used. Addressing is done by Virtual Address Decoding (10).
FIG. 1(b) depicts an SRAM/FIFO (12) with width equal to maximum data bits to be transferred. The data with less width is stored after 0 stuffing.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,032 a dual-port, static random access memory (DPSRAM) is described as a virtual first-in-first-out (FIFO) register under the control of a microprocessor executing a stored program or similar circuit to allow both conventional random access data buffering between the data source and the data receiver and FIFO-type data buffering in which the data source and data receiver need not generate an address for each data word transferred, but these addresses may be automatically generated in sequence by the buffer using special circuitry.
It provides a high-speed data buffer for connecting a data source to a data receiver, the data buffer having a first interface receiving data from the data source and a second interface outputting the data to the data receiver. A dual port random access memory has a first port, with first address and first data lines, communicating with the first interface, and a second port, with second address and second data lines, communicating with the second interface. First address counter circuitry communicates with the first address lines to accept a first starting address and increment the first starting address applied to the first address lines as data is received from the first interface. Second address counter circuitry communicates with the second address lines to accept a second starting address and increment the second starting address applied to the second address lines as data is transmitted to the second interface.
This approach thus uses a virtual first-in-first-out memory along with a controller utilizing a fixed algorithm.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 6,467,021 presents a data system having a store, a memory, a user interface and a memory controller where the memory is used to buffer all data transferred between the user interface and the store, the memory controller copying data directly between the store and the memory, whereas the memory controller re-organizes data when the data is transferred between the memory and the user interface. The arrangement described above for management of the storage of data with variable block size relies on the principles of partitioning of a data block to locate it efficiently in a storage medium and relocation of a data block to compensate for any change in size of the stored data blocks. It demands multiple random accesses to the storage medium for data block read and write operations and hence can only provide a high performance data storage system if fast memory is used for the storage device.
Therefore, although block sizes are of fixed size in a data storage system before compression but after data compression the size may vary over a very wide range. An efficient storage management arrangement must be able to cope with the dynamic nature of the block size distribution.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,703,812 describes a multi-bit data output buffer for transferring multi-bit data from a semiconductor memory device to the peripheral circuit. It includes a data input circuit for inputting at least two bit data, at least two bit data buffering circuits, each of at least two bit data buffering circuits buffering a corresponding one of at least two bit data from the data input circuit, and a bit data comparison circuit for controlling the amount of current flowing to at least two bit data buffering circuits according to logic values of at least two bit data from the data input circuit. The multi-bit data output buffer is capable of minimizing the generation of noise in the output data and enhancing a response speed of the output data with respect to the input data.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,478 relates to an arrangement for interfacing a microprocessor with a memory external thereto wherein the data size and the width of the interface both may vary.
A memory interface unit for coupling a microprocessor to a memory external to the microprocessor is described, the memory being utilized for the storage of data therein and the retrieval of data therefrom, and the memory being provided in one or more memory banks, each of the banks being provided with a set of address lines and a byte enable line, data being transferring to and from each of the memory banks on a group of data lines. The memory banks are provided in one or more banks whereby the group or groups of data lines, as the case may be, provide a memory data path having a physical transfer width for transfer of data to and from the memory, and the data being stored and retrieved over the memory data path in two or more data types, each type having a different size. The memory interface unit is provided with a set of address pins and a set of strobe pins, and it includes a first element for providing an indication of a physical transfer width of a memory coupled to the memory interface unit.
Also included is a second element for providing an indication of a data type to be transferred to or from the memory. A third element, responsive to the first element and the second element, depending on the data type indication, provides to the address pins an address, shifted in position, with at least some of the address lines used for coupling to the address lines of the one or more banks of memory, as the case may be, and with one or more of the address pins used for activation of the byte enable line or lines, as the case may be, for data to be transferred, or, alternatively, providing to the address pins an address, unshifted in position, for coupling to the address lines of the one or more banks of memory, as the case may be, for addressing data to be transferred. Depending on the physical transfer width indication, the third element also causes one or more of the strobe pins to be used as additional address pins.
But in these methods a large portion of memory is not utilized. Since a large portion of the chip is taken by these memories, proper utilization is needed. Moreover the memory devices discussed above either use memory for dumping variable data bits or as a data buffer.

On-chip storage memory for storing variable data bits


A nucleotide detector 10 includes: metal particles 12 having a size of the order of nanometers (diameter: about 6 nm) placed on a surface of a substrate 11 at high density with high precision (with spaces of about 12 nm between adjacent particles); and single-stranded DNAs (thiol DNAs) 13 having sulfur atoms at ends bonded to the gold particles 12. The thiol DNAs 13 are placed uniformly over the entire substrate 11 at high density with high precision. Therefore, once a fluorescence-labeled single-stranded DNA is hybridized with any of the thiol DNAs 13, high fluorescence intensity is stably obtained. This detector is therefore usable as a high-performance DNA sensor with a high SN ratio.

First Prior Art
Presently, thanks to the international human genome project and efforts of researchers involved in the project, it is definite that the genome DNA sequence of the human species will be completely clarified in coming several years. However, the genome DNA sequence (base sequence (gene arrangement)) concerned is a genome DMA sequence of a specific person, and not that of an individual. The genome DNA sequence of an individual is slightly different from that of the specific person, where substitution, deletion, insertion, and the like of a base may have occurred in a gene. Normally, such a slight difference is not critical and does not cause any trouble in the life of the individual.
However, it has also been clarified that the difference in genome DNA sequence as described above determines the predisposition of an individual. For example, this difference causes predispositions of individuals such as those who are tolerant to alcohol, those who do not mind the heat, and those who have a low body temperature.
In particular, it is recognized that reaction of the body against a drug differs among individuals, and for this reason, the difference in genome DNA sequence as described above is considered as significantly important information from the standpoint of medical treatment. Therefore, it is strongly desired that the difference in DNA sequence among individuals as described above be detected after the coming determination of the DNA sequences of all the human genes by the human genome project. If genetic information on an individual is made available, it is possible to provide medical treatment optimal for the individual.
To detect the slight difference in genome DNA as described above, a conventional DNA base sequence determination method by use of electrophorasis may be employed. However, this method requires an exceedingly long time and therefore is not practical as a method for detecting genetic information on many subjects.
In addition, it has been discovered that for predispositions prone to genetic diseases and cancers, for example, only a slight difference in base sequence (difference of one base pair, for example) has a critical indication. For example, it has been discovered that sickle cell anemia, which is a lethal genetic disease, is caused by mutation of only one base pair. From this point, also, it is clear that the conventional determination method is not practical.
The basics in detection of the DNA sequence of a gene of an individual are that the DNA sequence of a target gene has been determined and that how the gene of the individual is different from the so-called human gene DNA sequence is sought, as in the instance of sickle cell anemia described above.
As a method capable of detecting the above difference in a short time, a technique using a DNA chip has been proposed, and the effectiveness thereof has been presented.
For example, first, 1000 types of single-stranded DNAs slightly different from the human gene DNA sequence (base sequence) are synthesized in advance, and placed on a substrate. One type of DNA is placed on one section of the substrate, and the position is recorded.
Next, DNA of the subject is taken, and the double helix structure of the DNA is released into single-stranded DNAs. The DNA is then cut into pieces of an appropriate length, and the DNA pieces are fluorescence-labeled.
Subsequently, the fluorescence-labeled DNAs are allowed to hybridize (conjugate) with the single-stranded DNAs placed in advance on the substrate.
After excess DNA and fluorescent dye are washed away, any position/section of the substrate that emits fluorescence is detected. The DNA placed in advance in the section that emits fluorescence is determined to be the DNA sequence that has hybridized with the DNA of the subject. In other words, by detecting the position emitting fluorescence, it is clarified in a short time how the DNA sequence of the subject has mutated from the human gene DNA sequence.
In the technique described above, it is comparatively easy to increase the number of types of single-stranded DNAs placed in advance on the substrate to more than 1000. However, in this case, to attain precise testing, 1000 types or more of single-stranded DNAs must be placed on extremely fine sections of a chip allocated for the respective types of DNAs at high and uniform density so that each section has a uniform amount of DNAs. In particular, in the case that the area of the section allocated for each type of single-stranded DNA becomes finer with increase of the number of types of single-stranded DNAs to be placed, it will become necessary to realize the requirement described above by manipulating a trace amount of single-stranded DNAs.
Second Prior Art
Particulates have a large ratio of the surface area to the volume, and therefore exhibit behaviors generally different from materials that are small in this ratio. For example, particulates of an inorganic material such as titanium oxide and zinc oxide have ultraviolet removal function, antimicrobial function, catalytic function, and the like. Among particulates of an inorganic material, those having a diameter of the order of nanometers (ultra-fine particles) are expected to provide a quantum effect.
Such particulates having the above functions have received attention for their use in the industrial field. In particular, as for ultra-fine particles having a diameter of the order of nanometers, it is urgently required to develop a technique for manufacturing devices using the quantum effect in the industrial scale.
Particulates of protein having a diameter of about 10 to 20 nm have received attention for their use for biosensors and the like. In particular, among a variety of protein particles, there exist particles capable of containing an inorganic material inside. Such protein particles are provided with natures of both the inorganic material and the protein particles.
The particulates described above are normally available in the form of a colloid solution. However, the form of a colloid solution is disadvantageous when the functions of the particulates are to be effectively used. Therefore, search has been made for a technique that permits effective use of the functions of the particulates in the industrial field using the colloid solution as a raw material.
At present, as such a technique permitting effective use in the industrial field, placing the particulates on a substrate is considered most effective. Therefore, desired is establishment of a technique in which an idealistic two-dimensional film made of particulates placed regularly at high density can be easily formed on a substrate.
Various techniques have been proposed so far for placing particulates on a substrate. Some of such techniques handling comparatively large particles have even been commercialized.
For example, Nagayama et al. have disclosed the following method in "Formation of Holoferritin Hexagonal Arrays in Secondary Films Due To Alder-Type Transition", Lanbgmuir 1996, vol. 12, pp. 1836–1839. That is, as shown in FIG. 18, a substrate 11 is put in a solution 18 containing particulates 15 (polystyrene spheres having a diameter of about 1 to 2 μm) dispersed therein, and then gradually lifted in the position vertical to the liquid level, forming a wet film 19 on both surfaces of the substrate 11. In this way, a film made of polystyrene spheres having a diameter of about 1 to 2 μm is formed on the surfaces of the substrate 11.
However, when it is intended to apply the above method to ultra-fine particles having a diameter of about 10 nm, the substrate 11 must be lifted at a very low rate. It is difficult to keep the lifting rate constant when the rate is low. In addition, the array of ultra-fine particles of the film may possibly lose uniformity due to vibration and the like that may be generated during lifting of the substrate 11. For these reasons, it is difficult to apply the above method to ultra-fine particles. To solve this problem, Nagayama et al. disclose a method for forming a two-dimensional crystal film made of protein (ferritin, diameter: about 12 nm). This method will be described with reference to FIG. 16.
FIG. 16 is a view illustrating the method for forming a two-dimensional crystal film made of ferritin. Referring to FIG. 16, first, a platinum blade 21 is placed in the position vertical to the surface of a substrate 11 that is mounted on a base 20. A liquid 16 containing ferritin dispersed therein is then dropped into a small space between the substrate 11 and the blade 21, so that the liquid 16 is held in and around the space (hatched portion in FIG. 16) due to the surface tension of the liquid 16. Thereafter, while the blade 21 is kept fixed, the base 20 (that is, the substrate 11) is moved in the direction shown by the arrow at a constant speed (2 μm/sec. in this case). This results in the liquid 16 being applied to the substrate 11. The water content of the liquid 16 is evaporated gradually as the liquid 16 is sequentially applied to the substrate 11, allowing formation of a thin film 22 made of ferritin. The thin film 22 has a thickness of about 10 layers of ferritin particles.
Problems to be Solved
If the above requirement described in relation with the first prior art fails to be realized, the DNA chip causes various problems. To state specifically, if the density of DNAs placed in a certain section is too low, the intensity of fluorescence emitted from hybridized DNAs decreases, deteriorating the signal to noise (SN) ratio. In other words, the fluorescence from hybridized DNAs may possibly be buried in background fluorescence inevitably generated.
Moreover, if the absolute amount of DNAs placed varies with the sections, a plurality of sections may emit fluorescence at different intensities when the DNA of the subject hybridizes in two or more sections. In this event, it is unknown why the fluorescence intensity is low in one section compared with that in another section. Specifically, it is difficult to determine whether the fluorescence intensity is low because the absolute amount of DNA placed is small or because the absolute amount DNA placed is so large that emission of fluorescence is allowed despite of weak non-specific adsorption. This may results in mistake of the determination. Furthermore, the variation in the absolute amount of DNAs placed among chips indicates that the reproducibility of the chip quality is poor. This may results in generation of defective DNA chips.
To overcome the above problems, it is necessary to place types of DNAs on the substrate at high density (about 1012 pcs./cm2) by a uniform amount for each type.
As for the second prior art, in order to realize uniform-quality particulate films with high reproducibility by use of the technique disclosed by Nagayama et al., it is necessary to ensure the movement of the base 20 (that is, the substrate 11) while maintaining a constant ultra-low speed of 2 μm/sec. However, in this movement maintaining a constant ultra-low speed, the speed tends to be greatly influenced by a subtle variation in the environment. For example, the moving speed changes with a slight vibration in the environment. A fluctuation in an atmosphere (such as wind and operator's respiration) changes the amount of evaporation of the ferritin solution. By these changes, the reproducibility of the quality of the particulate films deteriorates. It is therefore necessary to provide a means for ensuring the movement of the base 20 while maintaining a constant ultra-low speed and a means for keeping the surrounding atmosphere constant. However, it is not easy to actually provide these means. Therefore, the method disclosed by Nagayama et al. finds difficulty in providing particulate films with a uniform quality, and thus is not suitable for applications to formation of a particulate film over a large-area substrate and to mass production of particulate films.
In addition, using a large-size blade 21 made of platinum costs high. However, if the blade 21 is made of a material other than platinum, it may possibly be corroded. Moreover, it is very difficult to produce a large-size rigid blade having nanometer-order surface precision.
Other methods have also been proposed, including a method in which a substrate surface is treated in various ways and a particulate film prepared in advance is transferred to the substrate surface (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-155379), a method in which amphiphilic molecules such as casein molecules are used as a binder and a particulate thin film is automatically formed on the binder (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-229474), and a lithographic method using a particulate film as a substrate (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-234450). However, all of these methods are not suitable for mass production.

Method for manufacturing a nucleotide detector

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A roller skate including a quarter pivoted to a shell connected to a frame supporting wheels; a brake pad is supported by a support; a cable guides a flexible actuator adapted to actuate the support upon a rearward rotation of the quarter with respect to the shell.

The present invention relates to a roller skate having a braking device.
Conventional skates are sometimes provided with a braking device constituted by an adapted block or pad, usually made of rubber, arranged at the toe or heel region of the skate; when the user tilts the skate forwards or backwards, the pad interacts with the ground and braking is thus achieved.
However, this braking device is not ideal, because the user has to rotate the skate, and this can cause loss of balance and consequent falls.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,465984 discloses a braking device for skates, comprising a shoe composed of a quarter that is articulated to a shell that is in turn associated with a frame for pivoting and supporting two or more wheels.
The device comprises a rod member connected to the quarter. The rod member can slide with respect to the shell, and is arranged above a braking element at one end. The braking element is articulated to the frame so that it can oscillate and interact selectively with the ground.
The rod member constrains the movement between the quarter and the braking element, which is constituted by a support for a brake whereon a rubber block that acts on the ground is connected.
The rod member, which connects the quarter to the brake support, can be likened to a linkage, since it is generally affected by a compressive stress; this forces the designer to use a rigid element, otherwise the rod member would bend without transmitting the force applied by the quarter.
The shapes and dimensions of the rod member must be studied as a function of the specific use and of the corresponding stresses to which it will be subjected during sports practice, taking also into account any accidental lateral impacts that it may suffer, increasing design costs and therefore the overall cost of the skate.
Finally, the aesthetic configuration of the skate is considerably worsened by the presence of the rod member located in the rear region of the skate.
EP-A-0600274 discloses a braking device comprising a traction element that connects the quarter to a braking element, so as to allow to achieve braking when a stress is applied to the quarter. The traction element is constituted by an actuation cable.
Due to braking stability reasons, the action of the braking element on the ground must be provided in the region lying to the rear of the frame. Furthermore, in order to allow the rotation of the quarter to tension the actuation cable and therefore allow the action of the brake on the ground, the cable must pass in front of the rotation point of the cuff on the shell.
This braking device has drawbacks; the location of the actuation cable in the front lateral region of the skate entails constructive and aesthetic constraints for the manufacture of said skate.
The actuation cable might in fact be inserted in a sheath that is fixed to the shell by appropriate means: in this case, however, the length of the sheath would have to be limited in any case, in order to allow the quarter to rotate with respect to the shell, and it would therefore be necessary to leave a portion of the cable exposed that could be damaged during sports practice.
As an alternative, the seat for the cable might be provided directly on the walls of the shell of the skate; however, in this case the thickness of the shell should be increased, thus increasing its rigidity in the median region of the foot, in contrast with the requirement of having a certain softness in order to allow the user to practice the sport in the best manner.
Another drawback that can be observed in the prior art resides in the fact that the presence of the rod member located in the rear region of the quarter can be a hindrance during sports practice and particularly when, especially in freestyle skating, one skate is passed behind the other.


Systems and methods for inventorying a broadband access network multiplexing element switch fabric are disclosed. The methods include establishing communication with an element manager from a remote location, gathering status information for the multiplexing element by issuing a first interface retrieve command to the element manager from the remote location, and gathering status information for the switch fabric by issuing a second interface retrieve command to the multiplexing element from the remote location. The systems include an element manager, a first communications path between the element manager and a multiplexing element, the first communications path carrying information and control commands between the element manager and the multiplexing element, an inventory tool at a location remote from the element manager, the inventory tool generating inventory commands and compiling status information received in response to the inventory commands, and a second communications path between the inventory tool and the element manager, the second communications path carrying the inventory commands and status information between the inventory tool and the element manager.

A. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly to systems and methods for managing resources in a broadband access network.
B. Description of the Related Art
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), a modem technology, converts existing twisted-pair telephone lines into access paths for multimedia and high-speed data communications. XDSL services promise to dramatically increase the speed of copper wire based transmission systems without requiring expensive upgrades to the local loop infrastructure. As used herein, xDSL refers to the numerous variations of DSL technology using the Bellcore acronyms such as ADSL (Asymmetric DSL), HDSL (high bit-rate DSL), RADSL (rate-adaptive DSL), and the like. New and improved versions of xDSL are in constant development and the invention is not intended to be limited to any single variation of the technology.
Most xDSL signals fall within the frequency range of 4 KHz to 2.2 MHz, with the range of 0 to 4 KHz reserved for the transmission of analog voice signals for plain old telephone service (POTS). The theoretical maximum amount of bandwidth between 4 KHz and 2.2 MHz is almost 70 Mbps of digital data spectrum. In practice however, only lab test conditions have ever reached higher than 60 Mbps and currently available products typically use 2 Mbps to 8 Mbps.
The different types of xDSL technologies may also be categorized as either symmetric EC xDSL or asymmetric (FDM) xDSL. A first class of EC xDSL includes Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), High-Bit-Rate DSL (HDSL), and Single-Line DSL (SDSL). A second class of EC xDSL includes Asymmetric DSL (ADSL) and Rate Adaptive DSL (RADSL). The modulation technologies employed with the various types of xDSL include 2-binary 1-quaternary (2B1Q) for ISDN and HDSL, carrierless amplitude phase modulation (CAP) for HDSL, SDSL and RADSL, and discrete multi-tone modulation (DMT) for ADSL and RADSL.
DMT essentially breaks up the upstream and downstream bands into smaller individual or discrete bands. The modems on either end listen to these discrete bands as smaller channels within the main upstream or downstream channel. Often, one of these smaller bands will be disrupted by noise, rendering the information carried within that band useless. Rather than toss away all the information sent at that instant across the entire upstream or downstream band, only that small part is lost and needs to be retransmitted. With CAP, the overall amplitude or power of the signal is modulated. The signal is not safeguarded against noise and often suffers from lost information, which accounts in part for the lower transmission speeds of CAP-based DSL technologies. With amplitude modulation, there is also more loss over longer ranges. The benefits of CAP over DMT are that it is simpler in design and therefore cheaper, requires less power, and generates less heat. Both power consumption and heat are serious factors when it comes to housing many of these systems together (as in a central office). DMT however, often provides the best results and maintains the full bandwidth at its maximum range of 18,000 feet. CAP signals degrade quickly after 10,000 feet.
Typical xDSL systems are implemented as follows. At the customer premises a splitter is provided which separates the xDSL signals (i.e., digital data signals) from the POTS analog voice signals. The main purpose of the splitter is to shield ordinary telephones from the high frequency xDSL signals that can have disastrous effects on the telephone or human ear. The data line from the splitter connects to an xDSL modem and the analog line connects to the telephone. With xDSL Lite and some other product models, there is no external splitter or it is combined into the xDSL modem unit. An Ethernet line will usually link the xDSL modem to the customer premises PC.
The twisted pair from the customer premises connects to an xDSL access multiplexer (DSLAM) typically located at the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) central office (CO). The twisted pair from the customer premise may also pass through a neighborhood wiring distribution frame, which is a central point where the wire pairs from several customer premises come together, and/or an ILEC remote terminal before reaching the CO. A DSLAM is a multi-module unit that houses many CO-side xDSL modems within a single shelf much like the analog modem racks of today. At the DSLAM the voice and data lines are split out along separate paths. The digital data signal goes into either an ATM concentrator or an Internet Protocol router. The analog voice signals are connected to the CO phone switch. Thus, the digital data packets go through the router out to the Internet, and the analog voice signals go through the phone switch and into the public switched telephone network.
ADSL is one particularly promising and popular form of xDSL. ADSL can transmit up to 6 Mbps to a subscriber, and as much as 832 kbps or more in both the downstream and upstream directions. Such rates expand existing access capacity by a factor of 50 or more without the need to install new wiring or cabling. An ADSL circuit connects an ADSL modem on each end of a twisted-pair telephone line, creating three information channels—a high speed downstream channel, a medium speed duplex channel, depending on the implementation of the ADSL architecture, and a POTS or ISDN channel. The POTS/ISDN channel is split off from the digital modem by filters, thus guaranteeing uninterrupted POTS/ISDN, even if ADSL fails. The high speed channel ranges from 1.5 to 6.1 Mbps, while duplex rates range from 16 to 832 kbps. Each channel can be submultiplexed to form multiple, lower rate channels, depending on the system.
ADSL modems provide data rates consistent with North American and European digital hierarchies and can be purchased with various speed ranges and capabilities. The minimum configuration provides 1.5 or 2.0 Mbps downstream and a 16 kbps duplex channel; others provide rates of 6.1 Mbps and 64 kbps duplex. Products with downstream rates up to 8 Mbps and duplex rates up to 640 kbps are available today. ADSL modems also can accommodate ATM transport with variable rates and compensation for ATM overhead, as well as IP protocols. Downstream data rates depend on a number of factors, including the length of the copper line, its wire gauge, presence of bridged taps, and cross-coupled interference. Line attenuation increases with line length and frequency, and decreases as wire diameter increases.
FIG. 1 shows an ADSL based broadband access architecture 100 currently employed by the assignee of the present invention. In order for an IP enabled device (e.g., personal computer 103 in home 102a) to establish a service session with a source on the Internet 115, the IP enabled device first establishes an access session with an Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model layer 2/3 communications element (e.g., router 114) in an Internet service provider (ISP) network (e.g., ISP network 113) through an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) based broadband access network (e.g., broadband access network 101) with a broadband access device (e.g., DSL modem 104) connected to the local loop (e.g., link 106a). An IP client (not shown) on the IP enabled device secures an IP address from the ISP using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) from a DHCP server (not shown) in communication with the ISP's router. The DHCP server temporarily allocates or leases a unique IP address to the IP client. The IP client may now obtain IP based services available on the ISP network and beyond by sending and receiving packets to and from the ISP's router through the broadband access network. Sources on the Internet 115 are reached by utilizing a communications link between the ISP network and the Internet 115 (e.g., communications link 117).
In addition to the layer 2 communications elements (e.g., asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switches 108 and 109), layer 2/3 communications elements also form a part of broadband access network 101. Specifically, a plurality of layer 2/3 communications elements (e.g., ingress broadband gateways 120a–n) reside after various layer 2 communications elements (e.g., ATM Switch 108) lying near ingress points for access device IP traffic (e.g., IP traffic from personal computer 103), and a plurality of layer 2/3 communications elements (e.g., egress broadband gateway 121a) reside after layer 2 communications elements (e.g., ATM Switch 109) lying near egress points for access device IP traffic destined for ISP networks (e.g., ISP network 113) linked to broadband access network 101.
Each of the layer 2/3 communications elements in broadband access network 101 supports the creation of layer 3 communications sessions between various communications elements within and without network 101 using layer 3 protocols such as IP. The layer 2/3 communications elements also support the creation of virtual layer 2 communications sessions or "virtual PVCs (vPVCs)" using one or more of the following protocols: Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) over Ethernet (PPPoE), PPP over ATM (PPPoA), Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP), Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), and/or Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS) Interface Protocol (SIP). A PVC is a "permanent" virtual circuit and provides an "always on" connection whether the subscribers is actively using it or not. Thus, a series of three layer 2 virtual PVCs (e.g., vPVC1a 125a, vPVC2a 126a, and vPVC3a 127a) extend from an access device (e.g., ADSL modem 104) to an ISP (e.g., ISP network 113) through broadband access network 101 (versus having a single layer 2 PVC extending from an access device to an ISP as in other broadband access networks).
The first layer 2 vPVC (e.g., vPVC1a 125a) extends from an access device (e.g., ADSL modem 103) to one of the ingress layer 2/3 communications elements (e.g., ingress broadband gateway 120a), and is the only vPVC devoted exclusively to a single IP subscriber. Typically the first layer 2 vPVC is a user authenticated PPP session. In one embodiment of the network 101 the first layer 2 vPVC is a user authenticated PPPoE session where the IP enabled device (or the operator thereof) supplies a username and domain (e.g., "user1@domain1"). Based on the domain provided, the first layer 2/3 communications element establishes a virtual layer 2 connection using L2TP over the remaining two layer 2 vPVCs to reach the appropriate ISP and the ISP provides the IP enabled device an IP address for obtaining IP based services. This model allows for the creation of access sessions with different ISPs depending on the domain provided by the 1P enabled device. This model also allows IP services to be billed to a particular user on a per access session basis.
The second vPVC (e.g., vPVC2a 126a) extends from the foregoing ingress layer 2/3 communications element (e.g., Ingress Broadband Gateway 120a) to one of the egress layer 2/3 communications elements (e.g., Egress Broadband Gateway 121a). Through the use of a tunneling protocol such as L2TP, PPP aggregation occurs at the layer 2/3 ingress communications element and the multiple PPP communications sessions between access devices (e.g., access devices in homes 102b–n) served by the ingress layer 2/3 communications element are funneled into the second vPVC. The third vPVC (e.g., vPVC3a 127a) extends from the foregoing egress layer 2/3 communications element (e.g., Egress Broadband Gateway 121a) to the layer 2/3 communications element in the ISP network. In this embodiment of the invention the layer 2/3 communications element in the ISP network is an LNS capable router (e.g., layer 2/3 communications element 114). Again, through the use of a tunneling protocol such as L2TP, PPP aggregation occurs at the egress layer 2/3 communications element and the multiple PPP communications sessions from multiple L2TP IBG tunnels are concentrated onto a single L2TP tunnel by the egress broadband gateway and are funneled into the third virtual PVC. The third virtual PVC delivers a large (doubly aggregated) L2TP tunnel to the LNS router 114 where the PPP sessions are terminated and IP packets are once again routed normally.
In one embodiment of network 101 ATM switch 108 comprises a Lucent CBX 500 multiservice WAN switch, ATM switch 109 comprises a Lucent GX 550 multiservice WAN switch, ingress and egress broadband gateways 120, 121 comprise Nortel 5000 Broadband Service Nodes, and DSLAM 107 comprises an Alcatel 7300 DSL Access Line Multiplexer.
As discussed, each twisted wire pair from a customer premises (e.g., homes 102a–n) housing an xDSL modem (e.g., ADSL modem 104) connects to a DSLAM (e.g., DSLAM 107), at which point the analog voice and digital data signals are split out along separate paths. The analog voice signals are forwarded to a POTS voice switch housed in the CO. The digital signals on the other hand are multiplexed, typically utilizing time division multiplexing (TDM), into a single digital stream that is subsequently placed into the ATM infrastructure of network 101. This multiplexing of xDSL signals into a single digital stream of data is accomplished through a plurality of cross-connects in the switching fabric of the DSLAM, at least one for each customer premises receiving xDSL service. Accordingly, it is quite important for network management and planning to know exactly how many cross-connects have been provisioned in each DSLAM. DSLAMs have a finite number of cross-connects that may be provisioned in their switching fabric and therefore have a direct impact on the number of customer premises that may be served in a particular region without installing additional network infrastructure.
Presently, the only method of inventorying the switching fabric in a particular DSLAM, and in the network as a whole, is for a technician to physically visit and log into each DSLAM. In a network having a small number of subscribers (and therefore a small number of DSLAMs) such an undertaking while inconvenient is nevertheless possible. However, as the size of the network grows to include large numbers of subscribers maintaining an accurate inventory of the number of cross-connects in a particular DSLAM and the network as a whole at any given point in time by physically visiting each DSLAM becomes wildly inconvenient and nearly impossible. Hence, there is a need for a system and method of inventorying the switching fabric in a DSLAM and a broadband access network as a whole that does not require physically visiting each DSLAM in that network.

System and method for remotely inventorying multiplexing element switching fabric


A check valve having an elongated body with bore therethrough, the bore having a small diameter section abutting a downstream frustoconical section with an increasing diameter, a ball positioned downstream of the small diameter section and movable in the frustoconical section and a pin blocking the bore to keep the ball at or near the frustoconical section and near to the small section, such that a reversal in fluid flow will seat the ball within the frustoconical section and block the bore.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved check valve suitable for general purpose use or for use on instrument lines or valve operating accessories where the pressures encountered are very low (inches of water column) to very high (several thousand psi).
2. Related Art
Currently known check valves for low differential pressure application (low cracking pressure) are either not reliable after a few cycles of operation or the cracking pressure is too high for operating in the inches of water column pressure range.
Common check valves utilize a light force spring and a soft elastomeric seal to close the valve against backflow. Another method is to utilize a ball or piston as the moving/sealing member, with or without the aid of a spring.
Another method of construction is to use a member that is hinged on one edge (usually the top edge) which allows the member to swing closed or open depending on the pressure conditions in the valve. This type of construction is usually reserved for larger size valves.
A disadvantage of common check valves is that the elastomeric sealing material must be carefully selected for chemical compatibility with the service medium.
The Anderson-Greenwood diaphragm-type check valve (U.S. Pat. No. 3,534,768) was designed to overcome the relatively high inertia required to open instrument check valves available at that time. The design is plausible but after just a few cycles of operation, the teflon diaphragm takes a "set" (or loss of "memory") which renders the check valve incapable of stopping flow or leakage when the pressure condition is reversed.
It is an advantage of the present check valve that it is capable of withstanding high system pressure while allowing the seat to "crack" open or seal with just an inch or two of water column pressure. It is a simple three-piece design readily made from materials of construction that are compatible with most chemicals.

Check valve with a low inertia moving part for low or high pressure differentials


Methods and apparatus for an electrical panel are provided. The electrical panel includes a base having a back wall with a maintenance support member provided thereon, a cover configured to be joined to the base in a closed position and separately to be supported by the base in a maintenance position. The cover and base define an enclosed chamber there between when joined in the closed position. The chamber is configured to retain electrical components. The electrical panel also includes a retention element provided on the cover, the retention element engages the maintenance support member on the base to support the cover in the maintenance position at which an interior of the chamber is open and exposed. The retention element and the maintenance support member are disengaged from one another when the base and cover are joined in the closed position.

This invention generally relates to electrical components assembled on-site and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for facilitating installation and assembly of electrical components.
At least some known electrical control panels, for example thermostats, security system keypads, and fire detection system controls, include a base plate fixedly mounted to a surface, such as a wall. The control panel also typically includes a cover that is configured to couple to the base plate during normal operation. The cover may incorporate a keypad, control electronics, sensors and detectors, and indicators. A cable including a plurality of communication and/or power wires is channeled from the surface, through an aperture in the base plate, to the cover. The wires are terminated, for example, in a spade lug, which are then coupled to a terminal strip coupled to the cover. During installation, the installer is required to support the cover, position a spade lug on a termination of the terminal block, and tighten the termination screw to frictionally engage the spade lug in the termination. However, current keypads are difficult to assemble in this manner. Specifically, one hand is used to hold the cover and the other hand to insert the wire spade lug into the termination, which leaves no free hand to screw down the wire into the terminal block. Instead the installer often improvises a method of balancing the cover or wedging it between a part of his body and an available object, so that he frees up the use of a hand so that so that his second hand can be used to tighten the termination screw to frictionally engage the spade lug in the termination.
Some known attempts to solve the installation problem include using screwless terminal blocks, for example, spring activated terminations, to avoid the need to tighten down the wires. Others have used flying leads that the installer must solder his wires to. However, the wires not meet tightness specifications and come loose, and using flying leads requires excessive time and expertise to accomplish.

Methods and apparatus to facilitate component installation


A system and method for dispensing super absorbent material (SAM) to a machine manufacturing absorbent articles as part of a manufacturing processing operation. A first controller stores process control data relating to the manufacturing processing operation and provides a first control signal that corresponds to the stored process control data. A second controller is responsive to the first control signal provided by the first controller for providing a dispensing signal. A SAM dispenser is responsive to the dispensing signal for dispensing the SAM to the machine at a start-up dispense rate when the machine is in a start-up mode and at an operating dispense rate when the machine is in a operating mode.

Disposable absorbent articles have numerous applications including diapers, training pants, feminine care products, and adult incontinence products. A typical disposable absorbent article is formed as a composite structure including an absorbent assembly disposed between a liquid permeable bodyside liner and a liquid impermeable outer cover. These components can be combined with other materials and features such as elastic materials and containment structures to form a product which is specifically suited to its intended purposes.
For example, one such absorbent article is an infant's diaper, which typically includes components that are metered into the product in measured quantities. In particular, one such component generally included in an infant's diaper is SAM. Moreover, there is typically a target weight of the SAM in such articles. Achieving this target weight depends, in part, on the SAM dispense rate during a article manufacturing process. It has been discovered that the SAM dispense rate at machine start-up, and for some initial period thereafter, is often insufficient to achieve the target weight. Thus, a system is required for increasing the dispense rate of the SAM within this initial start-up period to reduce the number of articles produced containing insufficient amounts of SAM, and for maintaining the dispense rate at a level thereafter that reduces SAM waste.
Prior methods of controlling SAM specify the use of particulate regulating means such as a feed screw device which relies on gravitational forces to regulate the flow of particulate material such as SAM. Other methods include controlling the feed screw to yield an amount of particulate material to match a setting during a steady state operation. However, existing methods do not disclose controlling the feed screw to insure a proper amount of particulate material is dispensed during transient events such as machine startups.
In spite of past efforts, there is a need for improved methods and systems for controlling dispense rates of SAM during a manufacturing process.
The invention described below addresses one or more of these and other disadvantages and needs.

System and method for controlling the dispense rate of particulate material


The device integrates on the same glass substrate a passive monomode guide achieved by ion exchange in the substrate and an active monomode guide with lateral confinement by the substrate formed by an active thin layer deposited on the substrate and covering a zone in the form of a channel achieved by ion exchange in the substrate. The passive monomode guide constitutes the extension of the zone in the form of a channel of the active guide. The thin layer comprises a transition zone enabling adiabatic passage of the light from the passive guide to the active guide and vice-versa. The transition zone can be formed by an edge of the layer cutting the axis of the zone in the form of a channel obliquely or by a zone of variable thickness of the thin layer.

The invention relates to an integrated optic device comprising a glass substrate, a flat, active, thin, guiding layer deposited on a surface of the substrate, and a zone in the form of a channel achieved in the substrate by ion exchange and comprising a first section, of predetermined cross section, flush with said surface and covered by the thin layer in such a way as to laterally bound a confinement zone of a light wave in the thin layer to form a monomode guide with lateral confinement by the substrate.
A known active optic device achieved in integrated optics comprises a polymer film deposited on a glass substrate and forming a guiding layer for the light. A non-guiding channel, formed by ion exchange in the substrate underneath the polymer film, defines a lateral confinement of the light waves in the part of the thin layer covering the channel. It has been proposed to use this type of optic device for optic switches (Article by N. E. SCHLOTTER et al.: "Fabrication of Channel waveguides in polydiacetylenes: composite diffused glass/polymer structures", AppI. Phys. Lett. 56(1), (Jan. 1, 1990).

Integrated optic device with active and passive guide zones


Guide arrangement serving to guide a linear movement of a movable part (2) extending opposite a stationary part (1) along the movement axis and along a transverse direction oriented at a right angle to the movement axis, wherein the guide arrangement includes a support area belonging to the stationary part on which the movable part is slidingly supported and a roller guide arrangement (12) with a roller-guiding area belonging to the stationary part.

Guide arrangements of this kind belong to the known state of the art and are described for example in DE 34 35 593 A1 or in DE 34 29 692. Thus, according to the description in DE 34 39 692, a machine table extends in a horizontal plane above a machine bed and is held on the machine bed by, among other factors, the weight force of the machine table. A movement of the machine table against the direction of gravity is constrained inasmuch as the table at its lateral ends embraces projections in the form of guide rails that protrude in the transverse direction from the machine bed. In this way, with the use of roller guides, the machine table is reliably restrained in the vertical direction. DE 34 35 593 A1 teaches the concept to provide on both transversely opposite sides of a carriage part a roller guide which rolls in an undercut of a base part and is arranged for this purpose in a suitable reach-around portion of the carriage part together with an adjuster element allowing a play-free adjustment setting of the roller guide.
In a similar arrangement, which is disclosed in DE 195 00 786 A1, a transverse carriage is restrained from moving vertically against the direction of the cutting force by means of a reach-around portion of the transverse carriage embracing a transversely protruding guide flange of a longitudinal carriage, albeit not as a roller guide but as a sliding guide.
The foregoing state-of-the-art guide arrangements have not proven themselves to be totally satisfactory, particularly in regard to their rigidity under high loads. The present invention therefore has the objective to provide improvements, particularly in regard to rigidity, in a guide arrangement of the kind delineated in the introductory paragraph.

Guide arrangement and machine tool comprising such a guide arrangement


A disposable diaper has front and rear waist regions, a crotch region, and an absorbent chassis. The absorbent chassis includes an absorbent structure and a pair of side flaps. Each of the side flaps has layered sheet materials and includes a distal edge, a cuff branch line between the side edge of the absorbent structure and the distal edge, a leg-opening elasticized area between the cuff branch line and the distal edge, and a leakage-barrier cuff branched from the cuff branch line and intersecting with the leg-opening elasticized area. The leakage-barrier cuff has a free edge parallelly-spaced from the cuff branch line. The distance from the cuff branch line to the distal edge is larger than from the cuff branch line to the free edge. The number of sheet material layers included in the leg-opening elasticized area is larger than in the leakage-barrier cuff.

Conventionally, disposable diapers are well known. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a disposable diaper having a topsheet, a backsheet, an absorbent body and a pair of side sheets wherein the backsheet has a pair of outward extending parts extending in a lateral direction X beyond both end edges in the lateral direction of the topsheet. Of the paired side sheets, the parts laterally located to respective first joint parts, at which the respective side sheets are joined to the topsheet, are joined to the paired outward extending parts of the backsheet at second joint parts along the longitudinal direction of the outward extending parts. In addition, in the areas in which the paired side sheets are joined to the outward extending parts of the backsheet through the second joint parts, the paired side sheets respectively overlap in two or more layers on the side of the body-facing surface.


A turbine stator casing comprising a jacket and fastener hooks for fastening a turbine distributor nozzle, the hooks projecting from the inside face of the jacket, said jacket being made of a first alloy by hot isostatic compression using metal powder, said fastener hooks being made out of a second alloy that is more refractory than the first, and being secured to said jacket by diffusion welding during the hot isostatic compression. The casing also comprises inserts passing through the fastener hooks and through said jacket. These inserts, which are likewise secured to the jacket by diffusion welding, serve during manufacture of the casing to fasten the hooks to a mold portion inside which the jacket is formed. The invention is applicable to the turbines of airplane turbojets.

The turbine of an airplane turbojet has combustion gas that is very hot passing therethrough and therefore operates under temperature conditions that are particularly difficult. Thus, the fastener hooks which are in contact with the combustion gas stream are subjected to much greater heating is the jacket which, in any event, is cooled on its outside face by a cooling system, generally a system of perforated pipes, commonly referred to as "shower collars", blowing cool air onto said jacket.
As shown in European patent application EP 1 288 444, it is known to make such fastener hooks out of an alloy that is good at withstanding high temperatures and that might possibly differ depending on the locations of said hooks inside the jacket; it is also known to make the jacket out of a more ordinary alloy, an alloy that is less refractory than that of the hooks, and that is therefore easier and less expensive to form.
In that known embodiment, the hooks are fastened to the jacket by an interference fit, by conventional welding, or by bolting. Those various assembly methods nevertheless present drawbacks.
For example, conventional welding with melting encourages hot cracking in the melt zone and the appearance of cracks in the zone that is thermally affected during welding. Bolting complicates the structure of the casing and increases the number of parts making it up. And none of those assembly means generally presents satisfactory resistance to fatigue.

Turbine casing having refractory hooks and obtained by a powder metallurgy method


The present disclosure describes techniques for fabricating a textile article that incorporates bristle-like filaments that protrude away from a surface plane of the textile article. More specifically, a textile article is fabricated from a laminate formed by curing a reinforcement fiber matrix and a resin substrate. The resin substrate may include magnetic particles the react to a magnetic field introduced during the curing process. Prior to cure, the influence of a magnetic field may cause the magnetic particles within the resin substrate to protrude away from a surface plane of the wet laminate, thus causing the resin substrate itself to form bristle-like filaments. The shape and contour of a design (i.e., arrangement of bristle-like filaments) may be functionally controlled by an arrangement of magnets, and/or magnetic particles used to generate the magnet field that manipulates the resin substrate during the curing process.

Present day, modern fashion trends in clothing, upholstery, and textile design tend to gravitate towards adopting different textures on textile articles. Some trends explore smooth velvet-like textures on textile articles, while others prefer to emphasis designs and contours using more pronounced patterns that protrude away from a surface plane of the textile article. By way of example, pronounced patterns may include bristle-like filaments of varying thickness and density. Further, such pronounced patterns may resemble the outer skin layer of animals such as an echidna, a porcupine, or even a lion.
In each instance, the fabrication process of adding texture to a textile article can complicate a fabrication process. Whether the textile article relates to clothing, upholstery, or a product lining, designers and fabrication engineers are often tasked with embroidering or otherwise adding a textured layer to a base layer of a textile article. However, durability and flexibility of such layered garments can be difficult to maintain during normal wear and tear. Further, adding a textured layer to a base layer of a textile article can result in numerous seams for joining together multiple different areas and/or layers, which in turn increases production costs associated with cutting, piecework and sewing, as well as increasing waste. Seams are also prone to failure and can be uncomfortable to, and even change the skin of a wearer.

Adaption of magnetic particles within a resin substrate of a textile article