Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. In some examples, a base station may identify one or more communication paths to a user equipment (UE), and may determine an end-to-end signal quality for each communication path (e.g., a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)), one or more hop SNR values for each hop of each communication path, a ratio of the hop SNR values and the end-to-end SNR of each communication path, or a combination thereof. Based on the determined SNR values, ratios, or both, the base station may select a first communication path for a first type of communications (e.g., uplink, downlink, signal type, or the like) and a second communication path for a second type of communications (e.g., uplink, downlink, signal type, or the like), and may communicate with the UE using the selected communication paths.

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include one or more base stations or one or more network access nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
Radio access technology (RAT) that uses millimeter waves, such as NR, may be subject to obstructions that prevent the passage of waves from a transmitting entity to a receiving entity. In such cases, a wireless communications system may include one or more repeaters to amplify and forward the received signal from the transmitting entity to the receiving entity.

Techniques for multiple transmission/reception point (multi-TRP) operation via repeaters


Several methods and machines for continuously forming a fastener product having an array of fastener elements extending from a continuous, sheet-form base, employing a mold belt on which the sheet-form base of the product is formed and from which it is subsequently stripped. The belt defines an array of cavities extending from its outer surface, for molding either the array of fastener elements or an array of preform stems that are subsequently reformed into the fastener elements. In some cases the cavities are blind, such as for forming hook-type fastener elements; in other cases, the cavities extend through the belt, such as for forming mushroom-type fastener elements. Various belt constructions and fastener element shapes are also disclosed.

This invention relates to the continuous molding of fastener products, such as those having a multiplicity of miniature fastening elements extending from a common sheet-form base.
Touch fastener products have arrays of miniature fastener elements (for instance, hook-shaped or mushroom-shaped elements) extending from a common base. Typically, in order to be capable of engaging a loop fiber or another fastener element, these fastener elements have overhanging "crooks", such as the hook portion of a hook-shaped element or the underside of the head of a mushroom-shaped element. These crooks snag and retain loop fibers, for instance, to form a fastening, but can be challenging to mold in their fully functional form in non-opening mold cavities.
One solution for continuously molding such fastener elements for touch fasteners and other products was disclosed by Fischer in U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,028 (the full disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth). In commercial implementations of his solution, a cylindrical, rotating mold roll is composed of a large number (e.g., thousands) of thin, disk-shaped mold plates (or rings) and spacer plates which are stacked concentrically about a central barrel. Extending inwardly from the periphery of the mold plates are cavities for molding the hook elements. Molten resin is introduced to the rotating mold roll and forced into the cavities to form the fastener elements while a layer of the resin on the circumference of the roll forms the integral strip-form base. The mold roll is cooled (e.g., by circulating a liquid coolant through the barrel) to sufficiently solidify the fastener elements to enable them to be stripped from their cavities before making a complete revolution about the mold roll. Thus, in prior implementations of the Fischer process the production speeds obtainable for a given diameter mold roll have been limited by the required "residence time" of the cooling fastener elements in their cavities to enable successful withdrawal. Over-chilling the mold roll to reduce the required residence time can impede proper filling of the cavities by solidifying the resin as it is forced into the cavities.
Another implementation of the general Fischer process, also using stacked mold plates in the form of a multi-plate mold roll apparatus for continuously molding fastener products is described by Murasaki et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,441,687.
Multi-plate mold rolls are more prone to bending deflection caused by molding pressures than solid rolls of similar diameter. Such bending deflection can result in undesirable base thickness variation across the width of the fastener product at higher molding pressures.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,594,863 George Erb discloses a different method and apparatus for molding hook-type fastener elements without employing a mold roll. Erb forms his hooks in cavities partially defined by grooves cut into a moving belt, by injecting molten nylon against the belt (i.e., from the "hook side" of the resulting product), thereby forming narrow ribbons, each ribbon having only two rows of hooks, one row extending from each of its longitudinal edges. To form a useful sheet of fastener product having an entire two-dimensional array of hooks (i.e., of many rows of hooks), Erb laminates many individual ribbons to a preformed base sheet.


A blow mold is provided and includes a cavity mold composed of a pair of split molds for forming a cavity in which a preform is to be housed, a link member having one end side pivotably supported by a shaft member, and having on another end side a recess insert die which presses the preform during blow molding to form a grip portion, and a cam member which is provided lateral to the cavity mold so as to be linearly movable, and which presses the link member in accordance with a linear movement thereof to pivot the link member.

As a resin container for accommodating a seasoning or a beverage, for example, one equipped with a grip portion, i.e., a recess in a part of the container, for easy portability has been available (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
As described in Patent Document 1 as well, the resin container with the grip portion is generally formed by blow-molding a preform by means of a blow molding apparatus. The grip portion is formed by pressing the preform with the use of a grip molding section (movable insert die) when blow-molding the preform within a cavity of a blow mold.
Among various moving mechanisms present for the grip molding section is one, for example, which is configured to move the grip molding sections (plugs) forward in a mutually approaching direction from the right and left sides of the cavity by actuator devices operated by a hydraulic or pneumatic pressure (see Patent Document 2).


The described technology is generally directed towards adaptively changing which transmission scheme a user equipment is to use based on a Doppler metric (e.g. Doppler frequency) as evaluated against a threshold Doppler value. A network instructs a user equipment to use a Rank-1 precoder cycling transmission scheme if the Doppler metric of user equipment is above a threshold value, or to use a closed loop MIMO transmission scheme if the user equipment has a Doppler metric below the threshold value. The network can instruct the user equipment via a suitable message, or by switching off TPMI and notifying the user equipment thereof.

In wireless communication systems, multiple input multiple output (MIMO), is an antenna technique configured to improve the spectral efficiency and thereby boost overall system capacity. The MIMO technique uses a commonly known notation (M×N) to represent MIMO configuration in terms number of transmit (M) and receive antennas (N) on one end of the transmission system. MIMO systems can significantly increase the data carrying capacity of wireless systems. MIMO can be used for achieving diversity gain, spatial multiplexing gain and beamforming gain.
In new radio, sometimes referred to as 5G, user equipment computes channel estimates based on pilot or reference signals from the 5G system, and computes the parameters needed for channel state information (CSI) reporting. A CSI report, including channel quality indicator (CQI) data, is sent from the user equipment to a network device on demand via a feedback channel on request from the network, and/or the user equipment may be configured to send the CSI report periodically. A network scheduler uses this information in choosing the parameters for scheduling of this particular user equipment. The network sends the scheduling parameters to the user equipment in a downlink control channel. After that, actual data transfer takes place from the network to the user equipment.
While MIMO provides many benefits, in new radio, the performance of conventional MIMO systems degrades under certain conditions, including at high user equipment speeds. More particularly, when a mobile device is moving at high speeds, the receiver of a signal is moving in relation to the transmitter, resulting in the Doppler effect because the frequency of the signal is shifted, such that it is perceived to be different at the receiver than at the transmitter. The performance degradation is severe when the signal to noise ratio (SNR) is high. If the rank in transmission is high, it is also the case that the SNR is high. For high rank systems, the impact due to mismatch between the transmitter and receiver channel qualities is severe.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Adaptive multiple antenna transmission scheme for uplink data transmission in wireless communication systems


Metal-Semiconductor-Metal (“MSM”) photodetectors and methods to fabricate thereof are described. The MSM photodetector includes a thin heavily doped (“delta doped”) layer deposited at an interface between metal contacts and a semiconductor layer to reduce a dark current of the MSM photodetector. In one embodiment, the semiconductor layer is an intrinsic semiconductor layer. In one embodiment, the thickness of the delta doped layer is less than 100 nanometers. In one embodiment, the delta doped layer has a dopant concentration of at least 1×1018 cm−3. A delta doped layer is formed on portions of a semiconductor layer over a substrate. Metal contacts are formed on the delta doped layer. A buffer layer may be formed between the substrate and the semiconductor layer. In one embodiment, the substrate includes silicon, and the semiconductor layer includes germanium.

Currently, dimensions of integrated circuits continue to be scaled down while signal frequencies continue to increase. Scaling down the dimensions of integrated circuits and higher frequencies may put limitations on use of the electrical interconnects, especially for the longer global interconnects. On-chip optical interconnects have the potential to overcome limitations of the electrical interconnects, especially limitations of the global electrical interconnects. A typical optical interconnect link includes a photodetector. Two of the critical parameters of the photodetector are the dark current and the signal-to-noise ratio ("SNR"). The dark current is generally defined as a current that flows in the photodetector when there is no optical radiation incident on the photodetector and operating voltages are applied. Generally, the signal-to-noise ratio ("SNR") may be defined as a ratio of a photocurrent ("signal") to a dark current ("noise"). Therefore, a low dark current is essential for the photodetectors to have a high SNR.
One of the key components of an on-chip optical interconnect link is a photodetector. In order that optical interconnects be useful with today's prevailing microelectronic processes, it is important that such a photodetector can be fabricated using silicon process-based technology and that the method of fabrication can be incorporated in a silicon process flow. A metal-germanium-metal ("MGM") photodetector grown on a silicon substrate is one such example. Due to the presence of high density of interface energy states, the work function of a metal at a metal-germanium ("M-Ge") interface is pinned at an energy level within approximately 50 meV of the Ge valence band edge independent of the type of contacting metal. Such pinning of the work function renders a metal germanium interface ohmic. Generally, the ohmic type contact has linear and symmetric current-voltage characteristics. The ohmic MGe interface results in a high value of the dark current. The dark current of the MGM photodetectors having such ohmic contact increases by several orders of magnitude and leads to a poor SNR, which is not desired for the performance of MGM photodetectors.
Currently, one way to reduce the dark current of the MGM photodetector involves passivating the surface of Ge by depositing an insulating silicon oxide on a surface of germanium. Another way to reduce the dark current of the Ge photodetector involves inserting an insulating amorphous Ge ("α-Ge") layer between the metal (e.g., silver) contacts and a germanium channel layer. FIG. 1 shows a cross sectional view 100 of an MGM photodetector having an insulating amorphous germanium ("α-Ge") layer 103 between silver contacts 104 and a germanium channel layer 102. As shown in FIG. 1, an epitaxial germanium channel layer 102 is grown on a silicon substrate 101. As shown in FIG. 1, an insulating amorphous α-Ge layer 103 is inserted between silver contacts 104 and germanium channel layer 102. Insulating amorphous α-Ge layer 103 forms an insulating tunnel barrier at the interface between germanium channel layer 102 and silver contacts 104.
Inserting an insulating layer between the metal contacts and the germanium channel layer, however, may reduce the photocurrent that flows through the metal-semiconductor interface. Reduction in the photocurrent affects the overall performance of the MGM photodetectors. Additionally, inserting the insulating layer between metal contacts and the germanium channel layer may reduce the electric field available in the germanium channel region thus reducing the photocurrent and possibly the SNR further.

Schottky barrier metal-germanium contact in metal-germanium-metal photodetectors


The present invention relates to acylated GIP analogues which have GIP agonist activity, and their use in the treatment of metabolic disorders.

Diabetes and obesity are increasing health problems globally and are associated with various other diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases (CVD), obstructive sleep apnea, stroke, peripheral artery disease, microvascular complications and osteoarthritis. There are 246 million people worldwide with diabetes, and by 2025 it is estimated that 380 million will have diabetes. Many have additional cardiovascular risk factors including high/aberrant LDL and triglycerides and low HDL. Cardiovascular diseases account for about 50% of the mortality in people with diabetes, and the morbidity and mortality rates relating to obesity and diabetes underscore the medical need for efficacious treatment options.
Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide ("GIP", also known as "gastric inhibitory polypeptide") is a 42-residue peptide secreted by enteroendocrine K-cells of the small intestine into the bloodstream in response to oral nutrient ingestion. GIP inhibits the secretion of gastric acid, and it has been shown to be a potent stimulant for the secretion of insulin from pancreatic beta cells after oral glucose ingestion (the "incretin effect") (Creutzfeldt, W., et al, 1979, Diabetologia, 16:75-85).
Insulin release induced by the ingestion of glucose and other nutrients is due to both hormonal and neural factors (Creutzfeldt, W., et al, 1985, Diabetologia, 28:565-573). Several gastrointestinal regulatory peptides have been proposed as incretins, and among these candidates, only GIP and glucagon-like peptide 1 ("GLP-1") appear to fulfill the requirements to be considered physiological stimulants of postprandial insulin release (Nauck, et al, 1989, J. Clin. Endocrinol Metab., 69:654-662). It has been shown that the combined effects of GIP and GLP-1 are sufficient to explain the full incretin effect of the enteroinsular axis (Fehmann, H. C, et al, 1989, FEBS Lett, 252: 109-112).
As is well known to those skilled in the art, the known and potential uses of GIP are varied and multitudinous. Thus, the administration of the compounds of this invention for purposes of eliciting an agonist effect can have the same effects and uses as GIP itself. These varied uses of GIP may be summarized as follows: treating a disease selected from the group consisting of type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes (Visboll, T., 2004, Dan. Med. Bull, 51:364-70), insulin resistance (WO 2005/082928), obesity (Green, B. D., et al, 2004, Current Pharmaceutical Design, 10:3651-3662), metabolic disorder (Gault, V. A., et al, 2003, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 308:207-213), central nervous system disease, neurodegenerative disease, congestive heart failure, hypoglycemia, and disorders wherein the reduction of food intake and weight loss are desired. In pancreatic islets, GIP not only enhances insulin secretion acutely, but it also stimulates insulin production through enhancement of proinsulin transcription and translation (Wang, et al, 1996, Mol Cell. Endocrinol, 116:81-87) and enhances the growth and survival of pancreatic beta cells (Trumper, et al, 2003, Diabetes, 52:741-750). In addition to effects on the pancreas to enhance insulin secretion, GIP also has effects on insulin target tissues directly to lower plasma glucose: enhancement of glucose uptake in adipose (Eckel, et al, 1979, Diabetes, 28: 1141-1142) and muscle (O'Harte, et al, 1998, J. Endocrinol, 156:237-243), and inhibition of hepatic glucose production (Elahi, D., et al, 1986, Can. J. Physiol. Pharmacol, 65:A18).
Recently, it has been reported that body weight loss associated with GLP-1 agonist treatment, is enhanced when GLP-1 and GIP are co-administered (Finan, Sci Transl Med. 2013; 5(209):209ra151. Irwin N et al, 2009, Regul Pept; 153: 70-76. Gault et al, 2011, Clin Sci (Lond); 121:107-117). For instance, Finan and colleges demonstrated significant body weight loss in diet-induced obese (DIO) mice after sub-chronic co-administration with an acylated GIP agonist and an acylated GLP-1 agonist. The co-administration decreased body weight and fat mass to a greater extent than either mono-agonist alone. Evidence also suggests that GLP-1 and GIP have additive effects on glycemic control (Gault et al, 2011, Clin Sci (Lond); 121:107-117). A study by Gault et al showed that sub-chronic co-administration with a GLP-1 analogue, and an acylated GIP analogue resulted in greater glucose-lowering and insulinotropic actions during an intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test in ob/ob mice than injection with the GLP-1 agonist or the GIP agonist alone. Thus, GIP agonists may be particular effective in improving glycaemic control and reducing body weight when they are administered in combination with a GLP-1 receptor agonist (as part of the same pharmaceutical formulation or as separate formulations).
The use of unmodified GIP as a therapeutic, however, is limited by the short in vivo half-life of about 2 minutes (Said and Mutt, 1970, Science, 169:1217-1218). In serum, both incretins, GIP and GLP-1, are degraded by dipeptidyl peptidase IV ("DPPIV"). Improving the stability of GIP to proteolysis not only maintains the activity of GIP at its receptor but, more importantly, prevents the production of GIP fragments, some of which act as GIP receptor antagonists (Gault, et al., 2002, J. Endocrinol, 175:525-533). Reported modifications have included protection of the N-terminus of GIP from proteolysis by DPPIV through modification of the N-terminal tyrosine (O'Harte, et al, 2002, Diabetologia, 45: 1281-1291), mutation of the alanine at position 2 (Hinke, et al, 2002, Diabetes, 51:656-661), mutation of glutamic acid at position 3 (Gault, et al, 2003, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 308:207-213), and mutation of alanine at position 13 (Gault, et al, 2003, Cell Biol. International, 27:41-46), The following patent applications have been filed related to the effects of GIP analogues on the function of various target organs and their potential use as therapeutic agents: PCT publication WO 00/58360 discloses peptidyl analogues of GIP which stimulate the release of insulin. In particular, this application discloses specific peptidyl analogues comprising at least 15 amino acid residues from the N-terminal end of GIP(I-42.
PCT publication WO 03/082898 discloses C-terminal truncated fragments and N-terminal modified analogues of GIP, as well as various GIP analogues with a reduced peptide bond or alterations of the amino acids close to the DPPFV-specific cleavage site. This application further discloses analogues with different linkers between potential receptor binding sites of GIP. The compounds of this application are alleged to be useful in treating GIP-receptor mediated conditions, such as non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus and obesity. Moreover, among other therapeutic effects of the compounds of the present invention as illustrated herein, tighter control of plasma glucose levels may prevent long-term diabetic complications, thereby providing an improved quality of life for patients. In addition to improving blood glucose control, GIP may also enhance GLP-1-mediated body weight loss.
Conjugation of GIP analogues to e.g, PEG (poly ethylene glycol) has been shown to extent in vivo half-life, but potential side-effects of pegylated pharmaceutical products such as inteferon-beta and ribavirin has been reported (J Clin Gastroenterol. 2004 September; 38(8):717-22, Gut 2006; 55:1350-1359 doi:10.1136/gut.2005.076646).
Thus, there still exists a need for improved and safe analogues of GIP, which are stable in formulation and have long in vivo half-life, resulting from decreased susceptibility to proteolysis and decreased clearance, while maintaining binding affinity to a GIP receptor to elicit agonistic effects.


An Edge Compute Network (“ECN”) may provide compute devices with configurable compute resources at different network edges for selective localized and low latency execution of user-defined operations. A user may provide a set of operations in any of several supported programming languages, and the ECN may create an executable environment that can execute the set of operations using the compute resources of any ECN compute device. A function manager for a compute device may selectively initialize, based on requests to execute the set of operations and an initialization policy, the executable environment so that the set of operations can be directly executed using the compute resources of that compute device upon request. The function manager may also selectively remove initialized executable environments based on compute device resource utilization, executable environment usage, and a removal policy.

A Content Delivery Network ("CDN") may include Points-of-Presence ("PoPs") that are deployed to different geographic regions and/or network locations. Each PoP may include one or more servers that cache content from one or more remote origin sources, and each PoP, via the caching servers, may redistribute the cached content to users that operate from geographic regions near the PoP with less latency than if the same content was requested and/or served from the remote origin sources. The CDN therefore uses the memory and/or storage resources of the servers to accelerate content delivery. However, other resources of the servers may be underutilized or unavailable to the users by virtue of the CDN's focus on accelerating content delivery.

Function manager for an edge compute network


A manual air pump includes a cylinder defining a chamber therein. A piston rod includes a handle mounted to a first end thereof and a piston mounted to a second end thereof, the piston being slidably received in the chamber of the cylinder. An adaptor includes a first end and a second end that is communicated with the first end. The first end of the adaptor is communicated with the chamber of the cylinder. A pressure gauge includes a tubular plug formed thereon. The second end of the adaptor is mounted around the tubular plug such that air in the chamber of the cylinder is flowable to the pressure gauge via the second end of the adaptor. A hose includes a first end for inflation and a second end for sealingly receiving the tubular plug of the pressure gauge such that air in the chamber of the cylinder is flowable to the first end of the hose for inflation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an anti-leakage device for a manual air pump with a pressure gauge.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 of the drawings illustrates a conventional manual air pump with a pressure gauge. The manual air pump includes a pressure gauge seat 95 with a passage 96 defined therein. Defined above the passage 96 is a receptacle 97 for securely engaging with an engaging tube 99 of a pressure gauge 98. Glue is applied to fill a clearance existing between the engaging tube 99 and the receptacle 97 to prevent leakage. A screw 100 with a hexagonal socket (not shown) is provided to enclose an open end (not labeled) of the passage 96, and glue is also applied to seal a clearance between the screw and the open end of the passage 96. Nevertheless, application of the glue is difficult to control and requires a skilled worker. Insufficient glue results in leakage, yet over-application of the glue results in a waste in material and causes an aesthetically unpleasing appearance.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an anti-leakage device for a manual air pump with a pressure gauge to allow easy, direct assembly and provide reliable leakage-proof effect.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a manual air pump comprises:
a cylinder defining a chamber therein;
a piston rod including a handle mounted to a first end thereof and a piston mounted to a second end thereof, the piston being slidably received in the chamber of the cylinder;
an adaptor including a first end and a second end that is communicated with the first end, the first end of the adaptor being communicated with the chamber of the cylinder;
a pressure gauge including a tubular plug formed thereon, the second end of the adaptor being mounted around the tubular plug such that air in the chamber of the cylinder is flowable to the pressure gauge via the second end of the adaptor; and
a hose including a first end for inflation and a second end for sealingly receiving the tubular plug of the pressure gauge such that air in the chamber of the cylinder is flowable to the first end of the hose for inflation.
The cylinder includes a lower end to which a base is securely mounted. The cylinder further includes an upper end with an outer threading. An end cap is mounted to the upper end of the cylinder for preventing disengagement of the piston. The end cap has an inner threading for engaging with the outer threading of the cylinder, the end cap including a longitudinal hole through which the piston rod extends.
The cylinder includes a transverse slot defined in a lower end thereof. A connector includes a first end mounted in the transverse slot and communicated with the chamber of the cylinder. The connector further includes a second end that communicates the first end of the connector with the first end of the adaptor. In an embodiment of the invention, the second end of the connector and the first end of the adaptor are communicated with each other by a conduit and an elbow.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cylinder includes a transverse slot defined in a lower end thereof. An L-shape connector includes a horizontal section mounted in the transverse slot and communicated with the chamber of the cylinder. The connector further includes a vertical section that is located outside the cylinder and communicates with the horizontal section. The vertical section provides intercommunication between the first end of the connector and the first end of the adaptor. The horizontal section of the connector includes at least one O-ring mounted therearound to provide a sealing effect between the horizontal section of the connector and the cylinder.
The tubular plug includes a first end that is adjacent to the pressure gauge and a second end that is distal to the pressure guage. The first end of the tubular plug includes at least one O-ring mounted therearound to provide a sealing effect between the tubular plug and the second end of the adaptor. The second end of the tubular plug is preferably conic.
A pressure gauge seat is securely attached to the cylinder for receiving the pressure gauge. The pressure gauge seat comprises a through-hole through which the tubular plug extends.
In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, a manual air pump comprises:
a cylinder defining a chamber therein;
a piston rod including a handle mounted to a first end thereof and a piston mounted to a second end thereof, the piston being slidably received in the chamber of the cylinder;
an adaptor including a horizontal section and a vertical section that is communicated with the horizontal section, the horizontal section of the adaptor being communicated with the chamber of the cylinder, the vertical section including a first end and a second end;
a pressure gauge including a tubular plug on an end thereof, the vertical section of the adaptor being mounted around the tubular plug such that air in the chamber of the cylinder is flowable to the pressure gauge, the tubular plug including an outer threading and a conic end;
a hose including a first end for inflation and a second end mounted around the conic end of the tubular plug of the pressure gauge such that air in the chamber of the cylinder is flowable to the first end of the hose for inflation; and
a hollow attaching member including an inner threading for engaging with the outer threading of the tubular plug, the hollow attaching member including a conic section for preventing leakage between the conic end of the tubular plug and the second end of the hose.
Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Anti-leakage device for a manual air pump with a pressure gauge


Medical adhesive dressings are disclosed having handle members adhered to polymeric film layers by a layer of adhesive which adheres firmly to the polymeric film layer, but does not adhere to skin or to the silicone coated surface of a release liner. A portion of the handle extends beyond an edge of the polymeric film to facilitate separation of the film from the release liner, and handling thereof during application to a patient. The adhesive adhering the polymeric film to the patient's skin is more aggressive with respect to the patient's skin than the adhesive on the undersurface of the handle is to the polymeric film, whereby the handle can be peeled away from the polymeric film after the film has been applied to the patient.

The present invention generally relates to medical adhesive dressings including wound dressings, intravenous hold-downs and drapes.
A typical medical adhesive dressing comprises a relatively thin film, such as a thin urethane film, adhered to some type of handling portion which is somewhat stiffer and thus facilitates handling the thin polyurethane film. The handling portion of the dressing must extend beyond, i.e. overhang an edge or edges of the film, so that the dressing can be handled by the applicator, without the applicator's fingers contacting the adhesive coated surface of the thin film. Since the handling portion is adhered to the upper surface of the thin film, the manufacturer must either apply adhesive only to those portions of the handling member which actually engage the top surface of the thin film, or alternatively the manufacturer must adhesively coat the entire undersurface of the handling portion, and put a separate release liner on the exposed adhesive coated undersurface portions which extend beyond the perimeter of the thin film. This is necessary so that the handling portion does not stick to the fingers of the applicator, or to the release liner. Adherence of the handling portion to the release liner would make it difficult to separate the release liner from the dressing.
In yet another variation, manufacturers use heat sealed bonds to bond a carrier material to a backing material. Heat sealed bonds are controlled by manipulating the temperature and the duration of the heating process.
Any of these variations creates substantial expense in manufacturing the medical adhesive dressings. Selective adhesive coating of the handling portion requires cutting handling portions from a web stock material, then aligning and selectively coating the handling portions with an adhesive. Other known variations require the cost of adding a release liner, or the additional step of nonpermanently heat sealing a carrier to the top face of the backing.


An arm (10c) of a manual lever (10) is formed with a pushing portion (10f). A ratchet pawl (17) making reciprocal movement in synchronization with the manual lever (10) is formed with a resilient portion (17a) to be pushed by the pushing portion (10f) and a pawl portion (17b) which makes contact with a tooth of the ratchet wheel (19). A printer (P) is disposed at tip ends of the arms (10c, 10d). The ratchet wheel (19) is integral with the transfer drum (18). In the step of gripping the manual lever (10), the resilient portion (17a) is made to deform, and the pawl portion (27b) makes slide movement toward a tip end of a tooth. At the moment when the pawl portion (17b) gets over the tip end of a tooth, a resistive force against the manual lever (10) is significantly reduced, and as a result, the printer (P) makes impact contact with a label and prints marks on the label. When the label tape (12) is to set, the bottom cover (14) is made open. The bottom cover (14) can be surely open due to a biasing force accumulated in resilient portions (15d, 15e) by pressing a finger-placed portion (15a) of an engagement member (15).

A handy labeler is required to be smaller in size and lighter in weight than conventional ones, because it is gripped when used. However, a handy labeler has been widely used in retail stores as well as big grocery stores, it is now further required to fabricate at lower costs. In addition, as a handy labeler has been widely used, it is used in a variety of ways. Specifically, it is often used roughly, and those who are not used to handling a handy labeler use it. Hence, a handy labeler is required to be tough, and to be able to print at a certain printing concentration, even if it is used in whatever ways. To this end, there have been suggested a lot of pressure adjusting systems for printing at a certain printing concentration without being influenced by a speed of gripping of an operator. One of them is suggested in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6171636.
However, the pressure adjusting system suggested in the Publication includes a manual lever an operator grips, an arm (manual arm), a separate part from the manual lever, for handling a printer, and a spring (impact spring) or an intermediate member disposed between them. Namely, the system is quite complicated in structure. In addition, it is necessary to make the manual lever and the arm move in synchronization with each other, and to set various conditions for forces of springs acting on the arm. It is difficult to fabricate a handy labeler so that it can withstand harsh use. Above all, the pressure adjusting system in question has a problem that it is high at costs to fabricate.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a handy labeler which is capable of providing a printing concentration sufficiently stable for practical use without problems, and has a quite simple structure.


A method and a terminal are provided for performing a Teletype/Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TTY/TDD) service where the wireless terminal changes to a vibration mode when the TTY/TDD service is performed. If a called party number and a call key are input, a call connection request signal is transmitted and a first vibration is generated. A second vibration is generated if a call ready signal is received after the call connection request signal is transmitted. A third vibration is generated if an absence signal is received. Accordingly, the TTY/TDD service can be supported in the wireless terminal without the aid of other external devices, and a hearing-impaired user can immediately recognize a TTY/TDD text reception or transmission state by generating a different vibration when the call connection request signal, the call ready signal, or the absence signal is detected and generating a vibration, text messages, and/or an image when TTY/TDD text messages are received or transmitted during the TTY/TDD service.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an additional service in a communication system. In particular, the present invention relates to a method for providing a Teletype/Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TTY/TDD) service using a wireless terminal, and a wireless terminal implementing such a method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Communication technologies, particularly mobile communication technologies, have been developed to provide data service as well as voice service. Communication systems provide additional services to satisfy various user demands. One of the additional services is a TTY/TDD service. The TTY/TDD service is a service by which hearing-impaired people can make/receive a telephone call.
A TTY/TDD device is required for the TTY/TDD service. The TTY/TDD device comprises a keyboard, a modem, and a display unit connected to a wired/wireless phone via the modem. The TTY/TDD device converts voice received from another subscriber to text messages and displays the converted text messages on the display unit, and converts text messages input through the keyboard to voice and transmits the converted voice to the wired/wireless phone. By using this, hearing-impaired people also can make/receive a telephone call.
Recently, it has become fundamental in many countries to provide a phone call service to hearing-impaired people based on the TTY/TDD service, and a TTY/TDD function has become popular in mobile communication standards. Thus, the TTY/TDD service has been provided by wireless terminals.
As well known, 13K Qualcomm Code Excited Linear Prediction (QCELP) and Enhanced Variable Rate Code (EVRC) vocoders are representative voice compression techniques widely used in 2 G and 3 G mobile communication systems. In these vocoders, the TTY/TDD function is implemented as IS-733-3 and IS-127-4, respectively. That is, the TTY/TDD function of the EVRC vocoder is defined in IS-127-4 which is incorporated herein by reference, and the TTY/TDD function of the QCELP vocoder is defined in IS-733-3 which is also incorporated herein by reference.
The encoder of such a vocoder processes voice samples in 20-ms frame basis and transmits the processed voice information. The decoder of the vocoder receives voice information and reproduces voice samples in a reverse order to the encoder operation. The encoder in which the TTY/TDD function is implemented determines whether input Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) samples are voice or TTY/TDD text. In case of voice, the encoder transmits voice information, and in case of TTY/TDD text, the encoder transmits text information. The decoder also determines whether received information is voice information or text information by analyzing the received information and reproduces voice samples or TTY text tones according to the result of the determination. The TTY/TDD function supports voice carryover/hearing carryover (VCO/HCO). The VCO allows TTY/TDD text receiving and speaking to be switched, and the HCO allows TTY/TDD text transmitting and hearing to be switched. A communication system equipped with the encoder and decoder of the vocoder in which the TTY/TDD function is implemented enables communications between a hearing-impaired person and a person without any speech or hearing disabilities and a hearing-impaired person or between hearing-impaired persons.
However, since current wireless terminals provide none of a call connection request signal, a call ready signal, and an absence signal during a TTY/TDD service, hearing-impaired people cannot immediately recognize whether a call is in a connection state or in an absence state.

Method for offering TTY/TDD service in a wireless terminal and wireless terminal implementing the same


In a seat belt pretensioner device, comprising a seat belt buckle which is supported in a moveable manner, a power generator for moving the buckle in a direction to increase a tension of the seat belt, and a reverse preventing device for preventing the reversal of the movement of the buckle, the reverse preventing device consists of a ball-type one-way clutch defining a plurality of chambers between an inner race and an outer race, each of said chambers narrowing in a rotational direction and receiving a ball and a spring urging the ball toward a narrower part of the corresponding chamber, and the springs are formed by bending a plurality of projections integrally formed in a peripheral part of a single disk shaped plate member into a wavy form. Thus, the multitude of springs are formed by a single member, and not only the management of component parts is simplified but also the assembly work for the one-way clutch is facilitated even when the one-way clutch is not adapted to be formed as a subassembly.

The present invention relates to a pretensioner device for automatically increasing the tension of an automotive seat belt.
An automotive seat belt is typically equipped with a seat belt for restraining the vehicle occupant with the aim of preventing the occupant from being thrown forward in case of a vehicle crash or the like. Oftentimes, the seat belt is provided with an emergency locking retractor (ELR) device for locking the winding shaft for the seat belt only in case of an abrupt stop or a vehicle crash without excessively restraining the vehicle occupant in normal situations. Such an ELR device is required to be capable of detecting a deceleration exceeding a prescribed level, and locking up the winding shaft in an extremely short time to prevent the seat belt from being paid out any further.
Simply locking up the winding shaft cannot prevent the seat belt from being paid out by an amount created by tightening the seat belt wound on the winding shaft. In view of this problem, proposals have been made (for instance, in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,296) to provide a pretensioner device which can increase the restraining capability of the seat belt by rapidly pulling the buckle which is attached to the seat belt in the direction to increase the tension of the seat belt. Also, to prevent the buckle which has been pulled in this manner from being pulled back by the tension of the seat belt, it has been proposed to provide a means for preventing such a reversing movement, such as a ratchet device or one-way clutch, in addition to the ELR device.
A reverse preventing means may be formed by a ratchet device or one-way clutch, and the one using a one-way clutch in the form of a ball-type one-way clutch was disclosed in Japanese patent application No. 8-350702 (kokai publication No. 10-181529) filed by the common assignee.
In this ball-type one-way clutch, a plurality of small chambers are defined between an inner race and an outer race each of which gets progressively narrower in a circumferential direction and receives a ball therein. Each ball is urged by a spring toward a narrower part of the chamber.
Typically, the springs consist of compression coil springs. Because the springs and balls are needed as many as the number of the chambers, a large number of components are required, and this complicates the management of component parts. In particular, when the inner race and/or the outer race is integral with other parts of the pretensioner device, and the reversing preventing device cannot be therefore formed as a subassembly, the assembly work tends to be complicated because of the need to install a ball and spring in each of a large number of small chambers.
The present invention was made in view of such problems of the prior art, and its primary object is to provide a seat belt pretensioner device which requires a small number of component parts thereby simplifying the management of component parts and facilitating the assembly work.
According to the present invention, such an object can be accomplished by providing a seat belt pretensioner device, comprising a seat belt buckle which is supported in a moveable manner, a power generator for moving the buckle in a direction to increase a tension of the seat belt, and a reverse preventing device for preventing the reversal of the movement of the buckle, characterized in that: the reverse preventing device consists of a ball-type one-way clutch defining a plurality of chambers between an inner race and an outer race, each of said chambers narrowing in a rotational direction and receiving a ball and a spring urging the ball toward a narrower part of the corresponding chamber; and the springs are formed by bending a plurality of projections integrally formed in a peripheral part of a single disk shaped plate member into a wavy form.
Thereby, the multiplicity of springs can be formed with a single member, and properly positioned simultaneously.


A circuit for detecting a difference in capacitance between a first capacitor and a second capacitor provided in a sensor includes an oscillator configured to generate an oscillating signal, a phase comparator coupled to the oscillator to output a signal responsive to a phase difference between the oscillating signal delayed by the first capacitor and the oscillating signal delayed by the second capacitor, an integration circuit coupled to the phase comparator to output an integrated signal made by integrating the signal responsive to the phase difference over a time period equal to a predetermined number of cycles of the oscillating signal, and a sample-and-hold circuit coupled to the integration circuit to output a signal made by sampling and holding the integrated signal at substantially an end of the time period.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to detection circuits which detect a minute change in capacitance responsive to a physical parameter for the purpose of measuring the physical parameter, and particularly relates to a detection circuit which detects a relative difference in the capacitances of a plurality of capacitors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sensors that detect a minute change in the capacitance of a capacitor to measure a physical quantity causing such a capacitance change include a pressure sensor, an acceleration sensor, an angular rate sensor (gyroscope), etc. FIG. 1 is an illustrative drawing showing an example of the construction of a pressure sensor. A beam 13 provided inside a casing 10 for the pressure sensor partitions the interior of the casing 10 into a measured pressure room 14 in an upper half and a reference pressure room 15 in a lower half. Openings 10a and 10b are provided for the measured pressure room 14, thereby connecting an external gas pressure with an internal gas pressure inside the measurement pressure room 14. The reference pressure room 15 is sealed, and is filled with gas that generates a reference pressure. A detection electrode 11 provided on an inner wall of the casing 10 and a detection electrode 12 provided at a portion supported by the beam 13 constitute a capacitor comprised of a pair of opposing electrodes. A rise in the external pressure causes a pressure inside the measurement pressure room 14 to become greater than the pressure of the reference pressure room 15, thereby pressing down a portion of the beam 13 that is elastic, as shown in FIG. 2. This results in a capacitance change. Such capacitance change is electrically detected to measure the pressure.
A pressure sensor is generally implemented by use of a single capacitor as shown in FIG. 1. When calculating speed based on a difference between a static pressure (atmospheric pressure) and a dynamic pressure (pressure applied in the travel direction) as in an airplane or the like, two sensors each as shown in FIG. 1 are provided, and a relative difference between the capacitances of the two capacitors is detected. Accordingly, there is a need for a circuit that can accurately detect a relative difference in capacitance.
FIG. 3 is an illustrative drawing showing an example of the construction of an acceleration sensor. Detection electrodes 21a and 21b provided on an inner wall of a casing 20 for the acceleration sensor and detection electrodes 22a and 22b provided at a portion supported by a beam 23 constitute two capacitors comprised of two pairs of opposing electrodes. An weight 24 for use in detecting acceleration is attached to the beam 23. When acceleration is present, the weight 24 supported by the elastic beam 23 swings around the supporting point, tilting in response to acceleration as shown in FIG. 4. This causes a change in the relative capacitances of the two capacitors. This relative capacitance change is electrically detected to measure the acceleration. Accordingly, there is a need for a circuit that can accurately detect a relative difference in capacitance.
FIG. 5 is an illustrative drawing showing an example of the construction of an angular rate sensor (gyroscope). Electrodes 31a through 31c provided on an inner wall of a casing 30 for the angular rate sensor (gyroscope) and electrodes 32a through 32c provided at a portion supported by a beam 33 constitute three capacitors comprised of three pairs of opposing electrodes. The electrodes 31a and 31c and the electrode 32a and 32c are detection electrodes, and changes in the capacitances of the two capacitors formed by these electrodes are detected to measure angular rate. The central electrode 31b and the central electrode 32b are drive electrodes. They receive an alternating voltage to cause a simple harmonic motion of the weight 34 attached to the elastic beam 33 in a vertical direction as shown by an arrow A.
When angular rate is present with respect to the angular rate sensor (gyroscope), a Coriolis force is applied to the weight 34 that is exhibiting a simple harmonic motion. As a result, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the weight 34 tilts in response to the Coriolis force. Even when the angular rate is constant and maintains the same direction, a Coriolis force applied to the weight 34 that is moving downward (FIG. 6A) is in a different direction than a Coriolis force applied to the weight 34 that is moving upwards (FIG. 6B). Because of this, the side toward which the weight 34 tilts varies depending on whether the movement is upward or downward. Relative capacitance changes generated in this manner is electrically detected to measure the angular rate. Accordingly, there is a need for a circuit that can accurately detect a relative difference in capacitance.
FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram showing an example of the construction of a detection circuit that detects a relative capacitance difference in the case of an acceleration sensor. The detection circuit of FIG. 7 includes an oscillator 40, buffers 41 and 42, an XOR gate 43, and a low-pass filter 44.
FIG. 8 is a signal waveform diagram for explaining the operation of the detection circuit of FIG. 7. Signals A through E shown in FIG. 8 are identified with their respective positions in the circuit of FIG. 7. For the sake of convenience of explanation, signal waveforms B′ and C′ having cleaner shapes equivalent to the signals B and C are also illustrated. When the oscillator 40 of FIG. 7 generates the signal A comprised of repeated pulses as shown in FIG. 8, the signals B and C output from the respective buffers 41 and 42 are delayed according to the capacitances of the respective capacitors 45 and 46. The way such a delay occurs is shown as the time differences of rising edges and falling edges between the cleaner shaped signals B′ and C′ equivalent to the signals B and C.
The XOR gate 43 performs an exclusive logical sum between the signals B and C, thereby generating the pulse signal D having a pulse width responsive to the delay time difference. The low-pass filter 44 integrates the pulse signal D, thereby generating a DC voltage having a voltage responsive to the delay time difference. This delay time difference is attributable to a capacitance difference between the capacitors 45 and 46, which is in turn responsive to acceleration. Accordingly, the DC voltage output from the low-pass filter 44 has a voltage level responsive to the acceleration.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-229784    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-227644
In sensors such as a pressure sensor, an acceleration sensor, an angular rate sensor (gyroscope), etc., a generated capacitance difference responsive to a physical quantity to be measured is minute. A conventional detection circuit such as that shown in FIG. 7 has a problem in that acceleration or the like cannot be accurately measured because a change in the output DC voltage becomes small when a capacitance change is small.
Accordingly, there is a need for a detection circuit which can accurately detect a minute capacitance difference.

Circuit for detecting difference in capacitance


Printing machine with a machine frame (10) and at least two cylinders (16, 20) which cooperate during printing, and which are mounted in a framing (12, 14; 24) formed by the machine frame (10). The framing (12, 14; 24) includes a material which has, at least in a direction transverse to the axes of rotation on the cylinders (16, 20), a linear thermal expansion coefficient that is less than 2×10−6 K−1. The material can be a composite material, particularly a carbon fiber reinforced plastic.

The invention relates to a printing machine with a machine frame and at least two cylinders that cooperate during printing and that are mounted in a framing formed by the machine frame.
In printing machines, the cylinders which cooperate during printing usually are mounted at each of both ends of each cylinder in a side member of the machine frame. In a flexographic printing machine, for example, several printing units with printing cylinders are arranged around an impression cylinder. To achieve high quality printing results it is necessary that an optimal distance between the impression cylinder and the individual printing cylinders of the printing units is precisely adjusted. An expansion or a contraction of the impression cylinder caused by temperature variations would notably impair the printed image due to the large diameter of the impression cylinder, which can be in the range from 2 m to 3.5 m, for example. For this reason, the impression cylinder usually is temperature-regulated by a liquid coolant system, so that the overall size is kept with the required precision.
From the European patent specification EP 0 150 047 of the applicant the problem is known that, within a short period of time after starting the printing machine, intermittent printing occurs due to temperature variations of the machine frame in spite of a temperature stabilized impression cylinder. Given a linear thermal expansion coefficient of cast iron of approx. 9×10−6 K−1, a variation of the temperature of the machine frame by 10° C. results in a change of the distance between the printing cylinder and the impression cylinder by an amount of approximately 90 μm to 160 μm, depending on the diameter of the impression cylinder.
As a solution to this problem, the EP 0 150 047 suggests a temperature stabilized machine frame. For these purposes, the printing machine frame may, for instance, be provided with water channels for a temperature-regulating system. With a temperature-regulating device with a liquid coolant system, for example, the temperature variation of the machine frame can be limited to an amount of ±1° C. or ±0.5° C., given a variation of the ambient temperature in the print shop between 15° C. and 35° C., so that the required dimensional stability of the distance between the cylinders is ensured.


A method for recovering hydrocarbon trapped in a hydrate formation, comprising the steps of (a) contacting the hydrate formation with an aqueous solution comprising from 10% to 75% by weight of a salt such as potassium formate or acetate salt to liberate hydrocarbon from the hydrate formation and producing a mixture of hydrocarbon and water vapour; (b) transporting the hydrocarbon/water vapour mixture and the aqueous solution to a separator, whereby the said aqueous solution absorbs water vapour from the mixture during the transportation step, to form a more dilute aqueous solution of the alkali metal salt, thereby inhibiting formation of hydrocarbon hydrates; (c) separating hydrocarbon from said dilute aqueous solution; (d) regenerating the aqueous solution of step (a) by heating said dilute aqueous solution to remove absorbed water vapour; and (f) recycling the regenerated aqueous solution to step (a).

The present invention relates to methods for recovering hydrocarbons trapped in hydrate formations, and in particular to methods for the recovery of natural gas.
Hydrate formations are an example from a class of chemical compounds known as clathrates. A clathrate is a form of compound in which one component is enclosed within the structure of another. In a hydrate formation, hydrocarbon (such as natural gas) is trapped in molecular cage-like structures formed by frozen water. Although the water molecules and the hydrocarbon molecules do not interact chemically, the hydrocarbon molecules are completely surrounded by the water molecules. The structure of the hydrate must therefore be disassociated in order to free the hydrocarbon. A cubic meter of natural gas hydrate contains typically 160 cubic meters of natural gas.
Hydrate formations can be found in vast quantities in the earth's crust, principally in seabed sediments and in permafrost regions of the world. Conventional natural gas accumulations are thought to underlie many of these hydrate formations, the hydrate formations possibly having been formed when rising natural gas met subterranean water deposits, which then froze form hydrates and enclose the gas.
It is estimated that subterranean hydrate formations, either sub-sea or on land contain over twice the quantity of natural gas, as all the existing provable reserves of conventional accumulations of natural gas. Accordingly, there is a huge potential source of energy if the trapped natural gas can be recovered from these hydrate formations.
Although sub-sea hydrate formations can be located relatively easily by methods such as seismic profiling of the seabed, it has proved difficult or at least very expensive to extract the gas from hydrate formations. Various methods have been developed to address this problem, which employ heat, solution, and reduction of pressure or a combination of the three processes.
Heat can be used to disassociate natural gas from hydrate formations by the introduction of heated solutions into the hydrate formation. Such methods are often somewhat impractical however, due to the heat loss associated with transferring a heat-transfer in order to heat a formation which is located hundreds of metres under the permafrost, or thousands of metres under sea level. U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,866 discloses a method of recovering natural gas from gas hydrate formations by pumping a hot supersaturated solution of calcium chloride or calcium bromide under pressure into the hydrate formation so as to fracture the formation hydrostatically, dissolve the solid hydrate and release the gas. In an alternate heating method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,416, an acidic liquid and a basic liquid are combined and react exothermically to form a hot salt solution, which is injected into a gas hydrate formation in order to decompose the hydrate and release the gas. Both of these methods are uneconomical.
An alternative solution, which is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,787 involves the introduction into the gas hydrate formation of freezing point depressants such as methanol, in order to disassociate the hydrate and free the natural gas. However, this method is also expensive, due to the cost of the freezing point depressant. It is also inefficient, since the depressants suggested do not lower the freezing point of the hydrate by an extent sufficient to liberate sufficient natural gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,787 disclose a pressure reduction method in which the hydrate is disassociated by reducing the ambient pressure. The advantage of this method is that the structure of the hydrate can be broken down without the need to increase the temperature. However, depressurisation methods are also considerably more expensive than conventional gas production methods.
GB-A-2250761 discloses the use of aqueous polysaccharide compositions in well-drilling and oil and gas recovery operations. The compositions can comprise ionic salts. The presence of the alcohol in the aqueous solution allows control of the transition temperature, without substantial variation in composition density. This reference does not address the problem of the recovery of hydrocarbons from hydrate formations.
WO-A-9726311 discloses the use of various mixed salt systems for use as various fluids concerned with drilling operations, such as hydraulic fracturing. This reference is not concerned with the particular problems which arise in the recovery of hydrocarbons from hydrate deposits.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,866,560 is concerned with a method for dehydrating gases, using solutions of calcium chloride. Again, it does not disclose any particular problems which arise in the extraction of hydrocarbons from hydrate formations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,965 is also concerned with a method of dehumidifying gas, in which a salt solution is employed that contains salt crystals, so that the concentration of the salt will not be substantially reduced during absorption This reference is not concerned with hydrocarbon recovery from hydrate deposits.
WO-A-9818542 is concerned with dehydrating natural gases, using a dehydrating composition comprising a glycol and a dissolved salt. The reference is not concerned with hydrocarbon recovery from hydrate deposits.
Even if gaseous hydrocarbon can be extracted from the hydrate by one of the above processes using heat, solution or depressurisation, further problems can arise in transporting the liberated gas back to the ship or rig for refinement and storage. The difficulty is that the liberated gas will be wet, i.e. it will carry with it a proportion of water and water vapour from the hydrate formation, and, at sub-sea temperatures and pressures, the water vapour is likely to freeze, thereby re-forming gas hydrates, which can block the pipeline.

Method for the recovery of hydrocarbons from hydrates


In a ferroelectric liquid crystal element, in order to excite a reverse electric field within the element in response to a waveform of a non-rewriting voltage, properties of the ferroelectric liquid crystal material, an element structure, driving waveforms, or other factors are adjusted so that molecules of the ferroelectric liquid crystal are allowed to switch between bistable states in response to a waveform of a rewriting voltage, while the ferroelectric liquid crystal exerts an anti-memory phenomenon in response to a waveform of a non-rewriting voltage.

Recently, tremendous research efforts have been directed toward various display modes using smectic phases in addition to research efforts toward liquid crystal elements using the nematic phase, and in particular surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal elements have been considered highly prospective since they have superior features, such as a wide angle of view, fast response and bistability, and are applicable to passive-matrix-type displays with large display capacities. The surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal elements are disclosed in, for example, Appl. Phys. Lett., 36,899 (1980) by N. A. Clark et al.
The passive-matrix-type displays have a construction wherein an insulating substrate having a plurality of scanning electrodes that are formed in parallel with one another and an insulating substrate having a plurality of signal electrodes that are formed in parallel with one another are placed so that the scanning electrodes and the signal electrodes orthogonally intersect each other, and a liquid crystal is sandwiched between the insulating substrates. Regions at which the scanning electrodes and the signal electrodes intersect each other form respective pixels. Thus, the difference voltage between a voltage applied to each of the scanning electrodes and a voltage applied to each of the signal electrodes is applied to each of the pixels.
During a period when, upon driving, a certain scanning electrode is selected, a selection-voltage waveform is applied to the scanning electrode, and signal-voltage waveforms, which correspond to states to be displayed on the respective pixels on the scanning electrode, are applied to the signal electrodes that correspond to the respective electrodes. In this manner, the scanning electrodes are successively selected while at the same time the pixels on the respective scanning electrodes are allowed to have desired display states, thereby forming a display of one frame. Therefore, the signal-voltage waveforms that correspond to the display states on the scanning electrode that is currently being selected are also applied to respective pixels on scanning electrodes that are not selected; however, a driving waveform which prevents these signal-voltage waveforms from changing the display state is adopted.
In the case of the surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal element, only two states of display, "bright" and "dark", are basically displayed because of its bistability. Therefore, with respect to signal-voltage waveforms for driving the surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal element, only two types of waveforms are necessary; a signal-voltage waveform that instructs "rewriting" for making a switchover from one stable state to the other stable state and a signal-voltage waveform that instructs "non-rewriting" for retaining the stable state that was held immediately before. Therefore, the driving operation of the surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal element is carried out by using a driving-voltage waveform that satisfies the following conditions:
(1) the display state should be rewritten by a rewriting-voltage waveform that is applied to a pixel by the combination of the signal-voltage waveform that instructs "rewriting" and the selection-voltage waveform, PA0 (2) the display state should not be rewritten by a non-rewriting-voltage waveform that is applied to a pixel by the combination of the signal-voltage waveform that instructs "non-rewriting" and the selection-voltage waveform, PA0 (3) during the non-selection period, the display state should not be rewritten by any of the states "rewriting" and "non-rewriting" of the signal-voltage waveforms.
In general, whichever display state, "rewriting" or "non-rewriting", the voltage waveform to be applied to a pixel may instruct, the display state is maintained when the voltage or pulse width within the voltage waveform does not reach a threshold value, and the display state is rewritten when both the voltage and pulse width exceed the respective threshold values.
Actually, since the threshold value has variations to a certain extent for each minute region of a pixel, a driving margin ranges from not less than a threshold value for completely switching all the region of a pixel by using the rewriting-voltage waveform to not more than a threshold value for completely retaining the display state of all the region of a pixel by using the non-rewriting-voltage waveform. The driving margin is greatly dependent on the difference between the rewriting-voltage waveform and the non-rewriting-voltage waveform, that is, the degree of the mutual difference between the signal-voltage waveforms that instruct "rewriting" and "non-rewriting".
Various properties including response speed, etc. in liquid crystal materials used for ferroelectric liquid crystal elements are greatly dependent on temperature, and the driving margin also varies depending on temperature changes in service environments. In other words, if the driving margin is narrow, the temperature range in which a liquid crystal element is operable also becomes narrow; therefore, it is necessary to provide an element and a driving method by which a wider driving margin is obtained.
Moreover, in the case of formation of a display element with a large display capacity by utilizing a high-speed response which is one of the features of a ferroelectric liquid crystal element, a problem of heat generation of the element is raised since a high-frequency voltage is required as the driving voltage. This is mainly because upon application of a high-frequency voltage, charging and discharging with high frequencies are carried out on the liquid crystal that is a dielectric so that the electrode lines through which the charging and discharging currents flow generate heat.
For example, in the case when a writing operation is carried out on 2000 scanning lines at 60 Hz per 1 frame by using a driving waveform whose unit pulse width constituting a driving-voltage waveform is a 1/2 of the selection period, a writing period of time per scanning line comes to 8.3 .mu.s so that a signal-voltage waveform is applied to the signal electrode lines with a frequency of as high as 120 kHz. Moreover, in the case of gray-scale display using time division, a further high- frequency operation is of course carried out depending on the number of gradations.
The quantity of heat generation of an element due to the application of a high-frequency voltage resulted from utilization of such a high-speed response is dependent on factors, such as the frequency and voltage value of a signal-voltage, the electrostatic capacitance of the element and the value of the electrode resistance. One method for easily reducing the heat generation is to reduce the signal voltage; however, this method reduces the mutual difference between the signal-voltage waveforms instructing "rewriting" and "non-rewriting", thereby failing to provide a preferable method since the driving margin is narrowed.
Furthermore, in order to achieve a ferroelectric liquid crystal element with such a large display capacity, a ferroelectric liquid crystal material allowing for a high-speed response is required. For this purpose, it is necessary to reduce the viscosity of the ferroelectric liquid crystal material or to increase the spontaneous polarization thereof. However, the excessive increase of spontaneous polarization causes problems, such as malswitching, thereby making it difficult for the ferroelectric liquid crystal material to be applied to display elements.

Ferroelectric liquid crystal element and ferroelectric liquid crystal material

The Secretary of State for Defence in Her Britannic Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland


The present invention provides a component mounting sequence optimizing method, a component mounting device, a program for executing the component mounting sequence optimizing method, and recording medium in which the program is recorded, in the component mounting device with a component holding head capable of holding a plurality of components and having a component recognition camera. The invention includes a component mounting sequence optimizing device and a mounting sequence for components is determined on basis of a result of comparison between conveyance times for the components and recognition times required for recognitions of the components. Thus cycle time for mounting can be reduced, in comparison with conventional arts, in mounting of components with a component holding head having a plurality of component holding members and having a component recognition camera.

In component mounting machines for mounting electronic components on boards such as printed circuit boards, a sequence of mounting of object components is optimized for achieving shorter processing time (mounting time). Methods of the optimization often differ with specifications of component mounting machines; however, component mounting machines having a highly productive multiple placement head for sucking a plurality of components in a sucking step and mounting the components on a board have recently been developed due to a steep increase in demand for electronic equipment such as portable telephones and notebook PCs, and new methods of optimizing component mounting sequence that correspond to such high-function component mounting machines have been demanded.
Among conventional arts for such a purpose is a component mounting sequence optimizing method that improves an efficiency of suction of a multiple placement head capable of simultaneously sucking a plurality of components and that minimizes a moving amount of the multiple placement head (see Japanese unexamined patent application No. 2002-171097, for example). In accordance with the optimizing method, optimization of a component mounting sequence can be achieved that is suitable for the component mounting machine having the highly productive multiple placement head.
Flow from suction to mounting of components in the component mounting machine in the component mounting sequence optimizing method will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 11. In a step S1, a plurality of components are sucked by the multiple placement head from component feeding sections. In a next step S2, the components sucked in the step S1 are conveyed to a recognition section and are then recognized. In a next step S3, one of the sucked components is conveyed to a mounting position. In a next step S4, the component conveyed to the mounting position in the step S3 is mounted onto a board. In a next step S5, a number of components still sucked on the multiple placement head is determined, and the step S3 and the step S4 are then repeated until all the sucked components are mounted. Herein, the step S1 will be referred to as a suction operation, and the step S2 as a recognition operation, the step S3 and the step S4 together as a mounting operation.
Since the operations of suction, recognition, and mounting are independent of one another as apparent from FIG. 11, and completion of the last operation precedes initiation of the next operation, a processing time can be therefore determined as a total length of time required for each of the operations. As for the mounting operation, the processing time is determined by a travel of the multiple placement head in the repetition of the conveyance to the mounting points and the mounting operation. In the conventional art, therefore, a component mounting sequence is determined so as to minimize the moving amount of the multiple placement head.
Herein, the "processing time" refers to a total time required for mounting of object components.
In the above conventional optimizing method, however, the recognition section for recognizing sucked components is provided separately from the multiple placement head as described above, and no consideration is given to a structure in which a head camera for component recognition is installed on the multiple placement head so as to allow conveyance and recognition of components to be performed in one step. Therefore, application of the conventional optimizing method described above to a component mounting machine in which the head camera is installed disables the characteristic of the head camera that allows the conveyance and recognition of components to be performed in one step.
In FIG. 12 is shown a working head in which the head camera is installed. As shown in FIG. 12, the working head 1 has a plurality of component suction nozzles 2 and one head camera 3, which stands by at the left or right end of the working head 1, propels itself along array directions 4 of the component suction nozzles 2, and recognizes a suction status of electronic components held on the component suction nozzles 2. With this configuration, the suction status of the components can be inspected while the components are conveyed by the working head 1.
Flow from suction to mounting of components in the component mounting machine in which the head camera 3 is installed will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 13. In a step S11, components are initially sucked by the working head 1 from component feeding sections. In a next step S12, a component fed in the step S11 is conveyed to a mounting position and recognition of the components by the head camera 3 is started. In a next step S13, whether recognition of the component that is to be mounted has been completed or not is determined on the basis of a status of the component recognition and, if not completed, standby in the mounting position lasts until the recognition of the object component is completed. In a next step S14, the component conveyed in the step S12 is mounted on the board. In a next step S15, a number of components held by the working head 1 is determined. Then the step S12 (except the component recognition, which has already been started), the step S13, and the step S14 are repeated until mounting of all the components is completed.
As is evident, particularly from the step S13 shown in FIG. 13, the operations are not independent of one another, and the mounting operation is influenced by the recognition operation. Accordingly, a component mounting sequence that minimizes a travel of the working head 1 is not necessarily an optimal mounting sequence.
FIG. 14 shows a comparison of processing time between a component mounting machine in which the head camera 3 is installed and a component mounting machine in which the head camera 3 is not installed. Herein, characters "A," "B," and "C" represent components, "CONVEYANCE X" denotes a conveyance operation for a component X to a mounting position, "MOUNTING X" denotes a mounting operation for the component X, and "RECOGNITION X" denotes a recognition operation for the component X. The "X" denotes any of the "A", "B", and "C". The conveyance X and the recognition X are required to be completed before the component X is mounted. With use of the head camera 3, as shown in FIG. 14, recognition time for components can be removed from processing time, and thus the processing time can greatly be reduced.
If a mounting sequence of A→B→C is changed to a mounting sequence of C→B→A on the basis of a reason that a travel of the working head 1 following the latter sequence is shorter than a travel of the same following the former sequence, a given length of time is still required for the component recognition for the components A, B, and C though a length of time required for the conveyance of the component C is reduced as shown in FIG. 15. Accordingly, the working head 1 is obliged to postpone starting the mounting of the component C until the component recognition is completed. Such simple determination of the mounting sequence according to amount of travel of the working head 1 may result in worse processing time because of addition of recognition time to the processing time.

Component mounting sequence optimizing method, component mounting device, program for executing component mounting sequence optimizing method, and recording medium in which the program is recorded

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Novel processes permit integrating thin film semiconductor materials and devices using epitaxial lift off, alignment, and deposition onto a host substrate. One process involves the following steps. An epitaxial layer(s) is deposited on a sacrificial layer situated on a growth substrate. Device layers may be defined in the epitaxial layer. All exposed sides of the epitaxial layer is coated with a transparent carrier layer. The sacrificial layer is then etched away to release the combination of the epitaxial layer and the transparent carrier layer from the growth substrate. The epitaxial layer can then be aligned and selectively deposited onto a host substrate. Finally, the transparent carrier layer is removed, thereby leaving the epitaxial layer on the host substrate. An alternative process involves substantially the same methodology as the foregoing process except that the growth substrate is etched away before the sacrificial layer.

The monolithic integration of gallium arsenide (GaAs) photonic and electronic materials and devices with host substrates, such as silicon (Si), glass, and polymers, will enable the fabrication of the next generation of integrated circuits, particularly, integrated circuit "cubes" having a massive three dimensional communication network and optoelectronic integrated circuits. A standard technique for GaAs on Si integration is heteroepitaxial growth, which is described in H. Choi J. Mattia, G. Turner, and B. Y. Tsauer, "Monolithic Integration of GaAs/AlGaAs LED and Si Driver Circuit", IEEE Electron Dev. Lett., vol.9, pp. 512-514, 1988, incorporated herein by reference. However, the crystal quality of this heteroepitaxial material is often inadequate for many optical applications.
An integration method which seeks to preserve the high material quality of lattice-matched growth is the epitaxial lift-off process developed by Bell Communications Research, Inc., (Bellcore), as described in E. Yablonovitch, T. J. Gmitter, J. P. Harbison, and R. Bhat, "Double Heterostructure GaAs/AlGaAs Thin Film Diode Lasers on Glass Substrates", IEEE Phot. Tech. Lett., 1, pp. 41-42, 1989, incorporated herein by reference. Essentially, a thin aluminum arsenide (AlAs) sacrificial layer is grown on a GaAs substrate, and then GaAs/AlGaAs device epitaxial layers are grown on top of the AlAs layer. The GaAs/AlGaAs lattice-matched epitaxial layers are separated from the growth substrate by selectively etching the AlAs sacrificial layer. These device layers are then mounted in a hybrid fashion onto a variety of host substrates. The device layers are of high quality and are currently being used for the integration of GaAs/AlGaAs materials onto host substrates, such as Si, glass, lithium niobate, and polymers.
However, although the Bellcore epitaxial lift-off technique yields high quality material, use of the process is problematic. When using the Bellcore epitaxial lift-off technique, there is an inability to align and selectively deposit the thin film layers or devices.

Processes for lift-off and deposition of thin film materials


The invention is related to nucleic acid arrays and methods of using nucleic acid arrays.

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic increase in the use of technologies that allow the detailed interrogation of individual biological macromolecules in aqueous environments under near-native conditions. This increase can be attributed to the development and availability of highly sensitive experimental tools, such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), laser and magnetic tweezers, and fluorescence-based optical detection, all of which have all been used to study biological phenomena such as protein folding and unfolding, DNA dynamics, and protein-nucleic acid interaction.

Geometric patterns and lipid bilayers for DNA molecule organization and uses thereof

THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK


The present invention provides a directly modulatable wavelength variable laser that enables long distance and large volume communication with a simple and compact configuration. The wavelength variable laser includes a semiconductor optical amplifier, an optical filter, and a frequency-amplitude converter. The semiconductor optical amplifier produces optical gain of the light signal. The optical filter configured by multi-stage connected waveguide ring resonators performs frequency modulation on the light signal. The frequency-amplitude converter performs amplitude modulation on the light signal frequency modulated in the optical filter.

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese patent application No. 2006-235539, filed on Aug. 31, 2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
The present invention relates to a wavelength variable laser suited for miniaturization and lowering the cost.
With wide spread use of the Internet, high speed and large volume optical communication system is being developed and being put to practical use. In particular, since wavelength fluctuation (hereinafter referred to as wavelength charping) in time of modulation limits the transmission distance in a long distance and large volume communication system, efforts have been made to alleviate such limitation.
FP laser is used for short distance and small volume communications, and DFB (Distributed Feed Back) laser that oscillates at a single wavelength is used for communications at a transmission speed of a few Gb/s. Furthermore, in communications that perform transmission of a few 10 Km at a transmission speed of 10 Gb/s, modulation is not applied to the laser, laser is continuously oscillated, and modulation using an external modulator is performed.
In recent years, WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) transmission technique in which a light signal having a bit rate of greater than or equal to 10 Gb/s is transmitted with one optical fiber is given attention, and introduction of such transmission technique to commercial system is being actively carried out.
However, a great number of light sources having different wavelengths are required in the WDM transmission system, and managing of such light sources is becoming a large issue. A wavelength variable laser that can oscillate in a single mode over a wide range is given attention as a measure for overcoming such problem. Normally, the wavelength variable laser is assumed to be used in combination with an external modulator when being applied to the long distance and large volume communication system. A symmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer using LN (Lithium Niobium) crystals is being widely used for the external modulator.


A computer system includes a memory device on the first data bus, a device that initiates on a second data bus a write transaction that can involve less than an entire cache line of data, and a bridge device that automatically converts the write transaction into one that requires an entire cache line of data and delivers the converted transaction to the first data bus.

The invention relates to receiving, via one data bus, at least one cache line of data along with a write request of a type that allows less than one cache line of data to be written to memory, and then placing, on another data bus, the data and a subsequent write request of a type that requires at least one cache line of data to be written.
Computer systems generally include one or more Peripheral Component Interface (PCI) buses that provide a special communication protocol between peripheral components, such as video controllers and network interface cards, and the computer system's main memory. When system memory and the peripheral components (PCI devices) reside on different buses, a bridge is required to manage the flow of data transactions between the two buses. PCI bus architecture is defined by the PCI Local Bus Specification, Revision 2.1 ("PCI Spec 2.1"), published in June 1995, by the PCI Special Interest Group, Portland, Oregon, incorporated by reference. PCI-to-PCI bridge architecture is defined by the PCI-to-PCI Bridge Architecture Specification, Revision 1.0 ("PCI Bridge Spec 1.0"), published in April 1994, by the PCI Special Interest Group, incorporated by reference.
Among the types of PCI transactions are writes to system memory. Memory write transactions, which under the PCI Spec 2.1 and PCI Bridge Spec 1.0 architectures are "posted" transactions (i.e., transactions that complete on the intiating bus before they complete on the target bus), include Memory Write (MW) and Memory Write and Invalidate (MWI) transactions. Memory Write (MW) transactions, involve the transfer of data ranging from a single byte to a multiple cache lines (eight double words) of data and require cache write back cycles from the CPU. Memory Write and Invalidate transactions require the transfer of an entire cache line of data and therefore eliminate the need for cache write back cycles. Memory Write transactions involving multiple dwords of data generally take longer to perform on the CPU host bus than Memory Write and Invalidate transactions because Memory Write cycles must transfer each dword of data individually and therefore experiences the inherent latency of the host bus with dword transfer. Memory Write and Invalidate transactions experience host bus latency only once for each cache line of data transferred.

Receiving a write request that allows less than one cache line of data to be written and issuing a subsequent write request that requires at least one cache line of data to be written


A distributed architecture allows for decoupling of mammographic image acquisition and review, thereby enabling more efficient use of resources and enhanced processing. In one embodiment, the system (100) includes a number of image acquisition stations (102) and a number of image review stations (110) all associated with a central server (104). The server (104) is operative to access an image repository (106), a patient information data base (108) and a number of DICOM tools (112). The invention allows for more efficient and/or more convenient use of the image acquisition equipment and image processing stations. Moreover, the distributed architecture including the central image repository provides certain processing and analysis advantages. The invention also provides certain processing and workflow enhancements that allow for a more full realization of potential digital mammography advantages.

Mammography, including x-ray imaging and other imaging modalities, is widely used in detection and analysis of cysts, lesions, microcalcifications and other areas of interest within a patient's breast. Because of its proved effectiveness in early detection and analysis, including detection of nonpalpable lesions, mammography continues to be recommended for many women. As a result, mammography equipment is available in many locations and such equipment, as well as clinicians and physicians experienced in using such equipment and analyzing the mammographic images, are typically kept busy meeting the demand.
Traditionally, mammography systems have been film-based. Film based mammography involves obtaining mammographic images on film which is typically loaded into a film tray positioned adjacent the patient's breast. The films can then be reviewed using a light box. More recently, digital mammography has been gaining acceptance. In digital mammography, images are acquired digitally and can be displayed on an electronic monitor.
A number of advantages associated with digital imaging have been recognized. First, digital imaging provides substantially real-time images. In some cases, follow-up views may be acquired based on real-time review of the digital images such that a return visit by the patient can be avoided. In addition, digital processing allows for image enhancement. In this regard, a physician may zoom in on an area of interest, adjust the image contrast or brightness or otherwise manipulate the image after acquisition. Moreover, it is sometimes possible to obtain improved diagnostic information by digital processing. For example, a digital image that is identified as being suspicious or is otherwise of interest can be exported to certain CAD systems that perform digital analyses. For example, such CAD systems may perform a pixel-by-pixel analysis of the digital image to identify areas of reduced intensity that may be missed upon review of the images using the naked eye. Such areas may indicate microcalcifications or other conditions of interest that the physician may desire to review more closely, such as by zooming in on that region of the image or otherwise enhancing the image.
Despite these advantages, certain perceived disadvantages have slowed the process of full digital acceptance. Some of the perceived disadvantages are specific to particular digital imaging equipment. In this regard, some current digital imaging systems do not provide a full field of view for a patient's breast. As a result, multiple images may be required for a screening analysis or the digital imaging system may be relegated to follow-up imaging of an area identified by film. In addition, some current digital imaging systems provide a limited resolution that may be deemed insufficient for certain applications. However, full field, high-resolution digital imaging systems are now being marketed, including the SenoScan system of Fischer Imaging Corp. of Thornton, Colo.
Other perceived disadvantages relate to operational restrictions of conventional digital mammography systems. Many conventional digital mammography systems are stand alone units that include the image acquisition equipment or gantry (e.g., the x-ray tube, compression paddles, detector and the like), a processor executing image processing logic and a display terminal that may include oversized high resolution monitors. In these cases, a physician may review images at the physical equipment site. This may tie up the equipment when needed, thereby reducing patient throughput or require that the physician plan around a schedule for accessing the equipment.
Moreover, the images available for review at the equipment may be limited. In this regard, physicians may desire to compare current images for a patient to images obtained for that patient at an earlier date, perhaps obtained using different equipment. Physicians may otherwise desire to review images obtained for multiple patients at different image acquisition sites, e.g., in connection with a large medical facility. In such cases, the images desired for a particular review session may not be readily available at the equipment site. Additionally, certain tools such as CAD processing or other diagnostic tools may not be available at each site where patient images reside.

Distributed architecture for mammographic image acquisition and processing