A method for checking proper functioning of a fill-level measuring device working according to the travel time principle. For this purpose, in predetermined or selectable time intervals (ta), a current measured value curve at a current fill level (hactual) is ascertained; on the basis of the current measured value curve, a current wanted echo signal is determined. Subsequently, on the basis of the current wanted echo signal, an expected value (E) for quality of a wanted echo signal at least one predetermined fill level (hdesired) is ascertained. The ascertained expected value (E) for quality of the wanted echo signal at the predetermined fill level (hdesired) is compared with a predetermined critical value for quality, and an error condition is diagnosed, when the ascertained expected value falls below the critical value for quality.

Travel time methods make use of the physical law, whereby the traveled distance is equal to the product of travel time and propagation velocity. In the case of fill level measurement, the traveled distance corresponds to twice the distance between a reference point of the transmitter and the surface of the fill substance. The useful, or wanted, signal, thus the signal reflected on the surface of the fill substance, and its travel time are preferably ascertained on the basis of the so-called echo curve, which represents, in analog or digital form, amplitude of the echo signals as a function of distance from the transmitter. The fill level itself is then obtained from the difference between the known distance of the reference point of the transmitter to the floor of the container and the distance of the surface of the fill substance to the reference point of the transmitter as determined by the measurement.
All known methods can be applied, which enable relatively short distances to be ascertained by means of reflected measuring signals. If the measuring signals are microwaves, then both the pulse radar method and also the frequency modulation continuous wave radar method (FMCW-radar) can be used. Microwave measuring devices using freely radiated, pulsed measuring signals are sold by the assignee, for example under the mark, MICROPILOT. Microwave measuring devices, which guide measuring signals along a conductive element, into, and out of, a container, are sold by the assignee under the mark, LEVELFLEX.
A device type, which works with ultrasonic signals, is sold by the assignee, for example, under the mark, PROSONIC.
Measurement accuracies in the millimeter range are obtained with fill-level measuring devices ascertaining fill level of a medium in a container via the travel time of measuring signals. Apart from the providing of highly accurate measured values, travel-time, fill-level measuring devices are also used in increasing degree for obtaining measured values in areas where very high safety requirements must be fulfilled. By way of example, referenced here are measuring devices fulfilling requirements for functional safety according to IEC 61508 or measuring devices serving for overfill protection according to the German water management law (WHG).
In order, in the case of such critical applications, to assure that the measuring device functions, as such, truly reliably, repeated checking of the correct functioning of the measuring device is an absolute necessity. Especially, it must be regularly checked whether the measuring device is delivering a correct measured value, in the case of use as overfill protection, as characterized by a maximum allowable fill level, or in the case of use as protection against running empty, as characterized by a minimum allowable level.
According to long established practice, in the checking of the measuring device, a certain fill level of the fill substance in the container—in the mentioned cases, the maximum or minimum allowable fill level—is approached in regular increments. In such case, it is checked whether the measuring chain is functioning properly, thus, for example, whether the required alarm is being triggered. Fill-level measuring devices of today can be applied in containers of height up to 30 m. If one takes into consideration the size of the container to be monitored, then it is easy to see that this known and practiced method is very complicated and thus expensive. Especially disturbing is the fact that, for performing the known test method, the running process must be interrupted for the length of the review.

Method for checking the proper functioning of a level indicator


The present disclosure relates, according to some embodiments, to methods and systems for purifying proteins, carbohydrate rich products, and polysaccharide products from a microcrop (e.g., photosynthetic aquatic species) and compositions thereof. For example, the present disclosure relates, in some embodiments to methods and systems for extracting proteins, dry biocrude, carbohydrate-rich meal, and polysaccharide products from Lemna.

An ever-increasing global population continues to fuel a plethora of sustainability concerns including sufficient and affordable access to carbohydrate sources for human and animal consumption among other uses. Additionally, concerns relating to climate change and fossil fuel consumption continue to drive innovators to develop and improve both carbohydrate sources and extraction efficiency. Moreover, water conservation concerns—particularly in equatorial and arid regions—are a driving factor in identifying suitable processes and sources for the production of carbohydrates.

Methods and systems for extracting a polysaccharide product from a microcrop and compositions thereof


The present invention is a spike converter providing a special mode of operation of a low power fly-back converter in a very narrow duty cycle range in particular. This spike operation minimizes the size of the required reactive components such as that of the power transformer and output capacitance. The present invention automatically achieves low idle power consumption due to the nature of the feedback under fixed, narrow duty cycle or spike operation. The spike operation is defined by the lower limit of the on time of the switching element being generated by the sum of the propagation delays of a current sense comparator and an off time pulse generating comparator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to power converters. Specifically, the present invention relates to power converters for applications where power requirements are on the order of a few watts. More specifically, the present invention relates to those power converters having a universal input voltage range and needing to meet the requirements of "green" power, very low power consumption, under light load conditions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art embodiments customarily use a light or no load detection system by sensing one of the parameters related to loading and then initiating burst mode operation to reduce standby power and to increase light load efficiency. One such embodiment is a method whereby a comparator is used to monitor a feedback voltage relative to a reference level which, if exceeded, causes a burst mode block to be activated in order to keep idle power consumption low. Customarily, the starting point of a prior art converter design is to set the duty cycle around 50% for low line full load conditions which unnecessarily increases the size and cost of the components and thus the converter for low power applications.


A method is disclosed of forming an air gap using etch back of an inter layer dielectric (ILD) with self-alignment to metal pattern. The method entails forming a first metallization layer deposited on a first dielectric, forming a second metallization layer deposited on a second dielectric, wherein the second metallization layer is spaced apart from the first metallization layer, forming a sacrificial ILD between the first and second metallization layers, forming a diffusion layer over the first and second metallization layers and over the sacrificial ILD, and removing the sacrificial ILD to form an air gap between the first and second metallization layers. This method is particular applicable for dual copper damascene processes.

A continuing and ongoing trend in the semiconductor field is the ever-increasing density of circuit components in integrated circuits. More and more circuit components are being designed within a given integrated circuit area. Thus, techniques have been developed to substantially reduce the sizes of active devices, metal lines, and inter layer dielectrics, among other components.
With the reduction of circuit component sizes comes a host of problems due to the closer proximity of circuit components. One such problem is cross-talk or electromagnetic interference between adjacent circuit components. For example, a signal present on a metallization line may interfere with another signal present on an adjacent metallization line. Another problem associated with the close proximity of circuit components is the potential increased signal delay and reduction in frequency bandwidth. That is, the presence of a grounded metallization layer in proximity to a metallization layer carrying a signal may decrease the signal propagation speed leading to possible delay errors. Also, a close proximity grounded layer may reduce the frequency bandwidth of the signal on an adjacent metallization line. These problems stem from the capacitive coupling between adjacent circuit components.
The capacitive coupling between adjacent circuit components is proportional to the relative dielectric constant of the material separating the circuit components and inversely proportional to the distance separating the circuit components. Thus, in order to reduce the capacitive coupling between the adjacent circuit components, the relative dielectric constant of the material separating the circuit components should be decreased and/or the distance separating the two components should be increased. Since the latter is in contradiction with the trend of further miniaturizing of circuits, the viable solution for decreasing capacitive coupling between adjacent circuit components is to use materials with lower relative dielectric constants to separate the circuit components.
Present dual damascene copper integration schemes typically use silicon dioxide (SiO2) or silicon oxyfluoride (SiOFx) as the inter layer dielectric (ILD) material with an underlying etch stop layer (ESL). In order to reduce the capacitive coupling from line-to-line and layer-to-layer, two broad classes of materials with lower relative dielectric constants are being investigated. The first class of material consists of organic ILD materials such as SILK® or FLARE®. The second class of material consists of carbon doped oxides in which the —Si—O—Si—O— matrix of SiO2 is disrupted with the addition of hydrocarbon groups such as CH3. However, these two classes of materials still have relative dielectric constants ranging from 2.8 to 3.3., which in many cases is still undesirably high.
Some in the relevant art are further reducing the relative dielectric constants of materials by developing porous versions of the low dielectric constant materials. The incorporation of air filled voids lowers the dielectric constant of the material, since air or vacuum are the ultimate low capacitance materials. Using this approach, they have reduced the relative dielectric constant of such porous material to 2.0 to 2.4. However, all of these low dielectric constant materials are structurally inferior to SiO2 and SiOFx, which complicates packaging and assembling the integrated circuit die. An embodiment of the invention includes a method for generating air filled gaps between metal lines, further reducing the line-to-line and layer-to layer capacitive coupling.

Semiconductor device formed with an air gap using etch back of inter layer dielectric (ILD)


This invention relates generally to a system for differentiating material characteristics using a Computed Tomography imaging system. More particularly, it relates to a detector module for use with a hybrid-scintillator/photo sensor and direct conversion imaging system comprised of an x-ray transparent top layer; an electrode on said top; a block of direct conversion material, the electrode providing a common bias to the direct conversion material; a substrate material electrically connected with the direct conversion material; a signal processing chip electrically connected with the substrate; and a connector element electrically connected to the substrate.

This invention relates generally to a system for differentiating material characteristics using an imaging system. More particularly, it relates to a detector module for use with a hybrid-scintillator/photo sensor and direct conversion imaging system.
In at least one known computed tomography (CT) imaging system configuration having single and/or multi slice scintillator/photodiode rays, an x-ray source projects a fan-shaped, or cone-shaped, beam which is collimated to lie within an x-y-z volume of a Cartesian coordinate system. That x-y-z volume is generally referred to as an "imaging volume" and usually includes a set of x-y planes generally referred to as the "imaging planes." An array of radiation detectors, wherein each radiation detector includes at least one detector element, is disposed within the CT system so as to receive this beam. An object, such as a patient, is disposed within the imaging plane such that the x-ray beam passes through the object. As the x-ray beam passes through the object being imaged, the x-ray beam becomes attenuated before impinging upon the array of radiation detectors. The intensity of the attenuated beam radiation received at the detector array is responsive to the attenuation of the x-ray beam by the object. In turn, each detector element produces a separate electrical signal responsive to the beam attenuation at the detector element location. These electrical signals are referred to as x-ray "attenuation measurements".
In addition, the x-ray source and the detector array may be rotated by means of a gantry situated within the imaging volume and around the object to be imaged so that the angle at which the x-ray beam intersects the object constantly changes. A group of x-ray attenuation measurements, or, "projection data", from the detector ray at one gantry angle is referred to as a "view." A "scan" of the object comprises a set of views made at different gantry angles during one revolution of the x-ray source and the detector array. In an axial scan, the projection data is processed so as to construct an image that corresponds to two-dimensional slices taken through the object.
One method of reconstructing an image from a set of projection data is referred to as the "filtered back-projection technique." This process converts the attenuation measurements from a scan into discrete integers, ranging from −1,024 to +3,072, called "CT numbers" or "Hounsfield units" (HU). These HUs are used to control the brightness of a corresponding pixel on a cathode ray tube or a computer screen display in a manner responsive to the attenuation measurements. For example, an attenuation measurement for air may convert into an integer value of −1,000 HUs (corresponding to a dark pixel) and an attenuation measurement for very dense bone matter may convert into an integer value of +3,000 (corresponding to a bright pixel), whereas an attenuation measurement for water may convert into an integer value of 0 HUs (corresponding to a grey pixel). This integer conversion or "scoring" allows a physician or a technician to determine the density of matter based upon the intensity of the computer display and thus locate anatomical landmarks and identify areas of concern.
Typically, radiation detector rays that are used in imaging systems, such as the T imaging described herein, include single and/or multi-slice scintillator/photodiode etectors. A scintillation detector is constructed of scintillation material, such as cadmium tungstate (CDW04) or rare earth ceramics and operates by receiving x-ray photons emitted by an x-ray source and by converting these x-ray photons into a digital signal that is proportional to the attenuated x-ray energy received. These digital signals are then processed and turned into image data.
One goal of CT imaging is to utilize multi-energy scanning techniques to differentiate tissues and/or materials having varying atomic number and densities, such as calcium and/or iodine. Historically, this has been accomplished using an imaging system having a scintillation detector either by taking single slice images with a single slice CT imaging system having two different x-ray beam filters, or by taking single slice images with a single slice CT imaging system having two different x-ray tube kVp's that exactly overlap spatially, but at a slightly later time, and then processing these two images to separate materials having varying atomic numbers and densities, using suitable known methods such as image subtraction.
For example, using a single slice CT imaging system, a first single slice image would be obtained. The x-ray kVp or the filter at the x-ray tube would then be changed and a second single slice image would be obtained at the same patient location. As mentioned above, the two slices of image data would then be processed to separate the materials of varying atomic numbers and densities within the obtained sliced plane.
Unfortunately, this is an expensive, time consuming and involved process and although a CT imaging system having a direct conversion (DC) detector could conceivably be utilized as the CT imaging system for performing the above-mentioned process, the DC detector would not be able to count the x-rays fast enough to support CT flux rates and/or scan times. Thus, if used in the current mode, the obtained information would suffer from a very high amount of non-linearities that would be very difficult or even impossible to correct in order to achieve artifact free scanning.
The above discussed and other features and advantages of the embodiments will be appreciated and understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and drawings.


A cooling device for cooling electronic components mounted on a substrate, comprising a radiating member having a pair of mounting plates formed of a conductive sheet metal member in generally channel shape in cross section and positioned parallel with each other and a connection plate for connecting the pair of mounting plates to each other and a cooling fan mounted on one of the mounting plates of the radiating member, wherein the other of the mounting plates of the radiating member is formed so as to be mountable on the substrate in an abutting state thereof on the electronic components mounted on the substrate.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a cooling device, a substrate, and electronic equipment.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, various structures for cooling a heat generating electronic component such as a CPU have been proposed.
For example, a portable computer 1 shown in FIG. 18 is equipped with a box-shaped housing 10 formed of synthetic resin, a TCP (tape carrier package) 11 which is accommodated in the housing 10 and which is a CPU generating heat during operation, and a heat sink 12 accommodated in the housing 10 and adapted to dissipate the heat conducted from the TCP 11.
The heat sink 12 has a radiating portion 13 exposed to the exterior of the housing 10. In FIG. 18, reference symbol 10a indicates an upper housing, reference symbol 10b indicates a lower housing, and reference symbol 13a indicates an electric fan (refer to, e.g., Patent Document 1).
The portable computer 1 can efficiently dissipate the heat of the circuit element to the exterior of the housing 10, and is reasonably compatible with a reduction in the size of the housing 10.
A personal computer 2 shown in FIG. 19 has an equipment main body 15 containing a main printed circuit board 18 on which semiconductor packages 16, 17 are mounted as heat generating components, and a cooling unit 19 for cooling the heat generating components.
The cooling unit 19 has a radiating plate 20 arranged so as to oppose to the heat generating components and the main printed circuit board 18, and a cooling fan 21 mounted to the radiating plate 20.
The cooling fan 21 sucks in the air within the equipment main body through the periphery of the heat generating components and the radiating plate, and discharges it to the exterior of the equipment main body through an exhaust port 22. The cooling fan 21 is arranged such that the exhaust port 22 directly communicates with exhaust holes 23 formed in the equipment main body (refer to, e.g., Patent Document 2).
This small-sized electronic equipment can efficiently cool the heat generating components and achieve a reduction in noise.
FIG. 20 shows an information processing equipment 3, in which there is arranged a tubular radiating duct 25 formed of a material of high heat conductivity, with its ends being air-tightly connected to an intake port 26a and an exhaust port 26b of a cabinet 26 through the intermediation of gaskets 27, etc.
Inside the equipment, the radiating duct 25 is arranged so as to be in contact with heat generating components 28 and by forming an external air flow inside the radiating duct 25 by using a fan motor 29 or the like, heat radiation from these components is realized, and isolation from the external air is possible, thus achieving an enhancement in waterproof and dustproof performance (refer to, e.g., Patent Document 3).
In the information processing equipment 3, it is possible to cool the heat generating components 28 inside the equipment while achieving an enhancement in dustproof and waterproof performance, so that it is applicable to an information processing equipment that is often used outdoors.
Further, FIG. 21 shows an electronic equipment 4, which has a cooling unit 30. In the cooling unit 30, heat is transferred to a heat sink 34 by an endothermic plate 32 and a heat pipe 33, and the heat sink 34 is heated through this heat transfer.
The heat sink 34 thus heated receives an air flow formed by a cooling fan 35 inclined by a fan support portion 34a thereof to be thereby forcibly cooled, and the air warmed through this forced cooling is guided substantially in the horizontal direction by an exhaust passage 34e before being discharged to the exterior of the housing through an exhaust port provided in the housing.
Through this exhaust, it is possible to prevent local heating of a portion situated above the CPU mounted to the endothermic plate 32, with the result that it is possible to prevent an unpleasant feeling from being given to the fingertips of the operator (refer to, e.g., Patent Document 4).
[Patent Document 1]
JP 10-11174 A
[Patent Document 2]
JP 2001-14067 A
[Patent Document 3].
JP 11-194859 A
[Patent Document 4]
JP 2000-227822 A
However, in the conventional portable computer 1 shown in FIG. 18, the TCP 11 and the heat sink 12 are at positions spaced apart from each other, so that when a CPU of large heat generation amount as used in present-day notebook personal computers is used, there is a fear of this CPU not being cooled to a sufficient degree.
In the personal computer 2 shown in FIG. 19, it is necessary to cut out the portion where the cooling fan 21 of the main printed circuit board 18 is to be installed, which leads to a decrease in the mounting area of the main printed circuit board 18.
In the information processing equipment 3 shown in FIG. 20, the heat generating parts 28 are cooled by the air passing through the interior of the heat radiating duct 25, resulting in a poor cooling efficiency.
In the electronic equipment 4 shown in FIG. 21, it is possible to effect cooling by using the axial flow cooling fan 35 of low unit cost while achieving a reduction in installation height. However, the CPU and the cooling fan 35 are mounted on the same surface of the substrate, which leads to a problem in that the mounting area of the substrate is reduced.

Cooling device, substrate, and electronic equipment


A multi-functional coping including a base with a channel for securing a rubber dam, and an engagement section for engaging an impression or for use as a scan body, or for use as a temporary cylinder in a provisional dental prosthesis. The channel may include a first seating surface that is substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the multi-functional coping. The multi-functional coping may include engagement grooves and wings in the engagement section, and a cutting groove between two parts of the engagement section.

The disclosed subject matter relates to the field of dental implants, and to copings used for dental implants.
In recent years procedures using copings and other devices have been developed for using one or multiple implants to replace teeth with prosthetic devices. There is a need for an improved coping and methods of using an improved coping as summarized, discussed in detail, and claimed in the following text and accompanying illustrations.


An exercise machine is disclosed herein comprising: a frame; a lower crank mounted on the frame; a substantially identical upper crank mounted on the frame above the lower crank; a right moment arm pivotably connected to both upper and lower right crank arms; a left moment arm pivotably connected to both upper and lower left crank arms; a pedal pivotably connected to the bottom end of each of the moment arms; and right and left pedal connecting rods pivotably connected to right and left secondary crank arms, respectively, and to the right and left pedals, respectively. Simultaneous rotation of the lower crank in a forward direction and the upper crank in a reverse direction generates forward orbital motion of the pedals and flexion-type motion of the pedals, thereby simulating the movements of a user's feet during running and/or walking. The disclosed exercise machine may also provide for arm movements appropriate for running and/or walking. This may be achieved by an exercise machine further comprising right and left upper reciprocating arms with handles that are pivotably connected to the frame above the upper crank and coupled to the upper crank by arm connecting rods, so that rotation of the upper crank causes reciprocating motion of the arms and handles. Alternatively, an exercise machine may further comprise handles connected to the top ends of the moment arms. The simultaneous rotation of the upper and lower cranks generates reverse orbital motion of the handles.

A myriad of exercise machines are on the market today. These machines are used to simulate a wide variety of exercise motions, and may be used for a range of physical training regimens, including, for example, resistance training and aerobic endurance training. Machines may be purchased for simulating weight lifting motions, running motions, stair-climbing motions, skiing motions, cycling motions, walking motions, and others. A particular advantage of many of these machines is the reduction of the bodily impacts associated with many exercise activities. Cycling simulators, ski simulators, and stair simulators may be particularly noted for the elimination of impacts affecting the hips, knees, ankles, and feet. These machines generally do not reproduce what to many are the most natural exercise motions: walking and running.
Most currently available exercise machines for simulating walking and/or running are treadmill-type devices. While these machines allow walking and/or running exercise motions while remaining stationary, treadmills do not reduce or eliminate impacts inflicted on the user's lower limbs. There exists, therefore, a need for an exercise machine which simulates a natural running motion while eliminating the impacts on the user normally associated with walking and/or running. Previous devices producing low- or no-impact leg motions often produce unnatural reciprocating-type motions of the feet, and do not produce an orbital-type motions of the feet normally associated with running and/or walking. In addition, the ankle flexion normally associated with walking and/or running should be simulated. Further, treadmill devices generally do not provide for upper limb motions normally associated with walking and/or running. Typically a user will place his/her hands on a stationary bar while walking/running on the treadmill. There exists, therefore, a need for an exercise machine which simulates natural motion of the upper limbs associated with walking and/or running.
Exercise machines may also be utilized for the training of athletes in the proper form for walking and/or running. Treadmills, however, do nothing to constrain the motions of the athlete's feet and/or hands. There exists, therefore, a need for an exercise machine for simulating walking and/or running motions while constraining the motions of the user's hands and/or feet to follow predetermined and well-defined paths.


A circuit board according to the present disclosure includes a substrate that includes a through hole, and a penetrating conductor positioned inside of the through hole. The substrate is made of a ceramic. The penetrating conductor contains silver and copper that are main components; at least one selected from a group A of titanium, zirconium, hafnium, and niobium; at least one selected from a group B of molybdenum, tantalum, tungsten, rhenium, and osmium; and a first alloy made of one of (i) silver and indium and (ii) silver and tin.

There has been known an electronic device including a metal layer in a circuit board, on which various electronic components such as a semiconductor element, a heating element, and a Peltier element are mounted. A circuit board employed for such a use includes (i) a substrate having a through hole and (ii) a conductor (hereinafter, may be referred to as "penetrating conductor") positioned inside of the through hole, and the penetrating conductor is electrically bonded to the metal layer. An electric signal is input, via the penetrating conductor, from the outside to the electronic component mounted on the metal layer (see Patent Literature 1, for example).

Circuit board and electronic device including circuit board


The invention proposes a method, in a carrier aggregation transmission-based radio communication network, of controlling uplink transmission of a user equipment over a plurality of secondary cells in a group of secondary cells, the user equipment being configured with a group of primary cells and at least one group of secondary cells, and the group of secondary cells belonging to the at least one group of secondary cells, wherein in the event that the group of primary cells and the at least one group of secondary cells each is configured with a time alignment timer, the method comprises the steps of: terminating the uplink transmission of the user equipment over at least one activated secondary cell in the group of secondary cells when the time alignment timer of the group of primary cells expires; in the event that the group of primary cells and the at least one group of secondary cells are configured with a common time alignment timer, the method comprises the steps of: determining whether a time alignment value of the group of secondary cells is valid when the time alignment timer is in operation; and if not, terminating the uplink transmission of the user equipment over the at least one activated secondary cell in the group of secondary cells and transmitting a notification message to a base station.

In a communication system, a user equipment (UE) shall keep uplink synchronization with a base station (e.g., eNodeB) through time alignment (TA), that is, uplink signals transmitted from all user equipments of the base station shall arrive in synchronization at the base station to thereby avoid serious interference with the other user equipments.
In a Carrier Aggregation (CA) transmission-based radio communication network, a base station can configure a user equipment with a plurality of Component Carriers (CCs) so that the user equipment can communication with the base station over these component carriers, where one of the component carriers is referred to as Primary Cell (Pcell) and the other component carriers are referred to as Secondary Cell (Scell).
Unlike the 3GPP Release 10 in which respective cells of a user equipment share the same time alignment, the concept of Time Alignment Group (TA Group) has been proposed in the 3GPP Release 11. Respective cells of a user equipment are divided into one or more time alignment groups, and the cells in each time alignment group share the same time alignment. Time alignment groups are further divided into two categories: the Primary Cell Group (Pcell Group) including the primary cell and the Secondary Cell Group (Scell Group) including no primary cell.
Such a solution has also been proposed in the 3GPP Release 11 that each time alignment group of a user equipment is configured with a Time Alignment Timer (TAT). As for this solution, each time alignment group is configured with a time alignment timer, so such a scenario may arise that the time alignment timer of the primary cell group has expired while the time alignment timer of the secondary cell group is still in operation, and this scenario may require the definition of a new behavior of the user equipment.
Furthermore such a solution has been proposed in the 3GPP Release 11 that a user equipment is configured with a time alignment timer, that is, all of primary cell group and secondary cell groups of the user equipment share the time alignment timer. As for this solution, the time alignment timer operates based upon the primary cell group to guarantee the validity of time alignment of the primary cell group. Specifically upon reception of a time alignment instruction (e.g., to initially set time alignment or to update time alignment) of the primary cell group, the user equipment adjusts time alignment and restarts the time alignment timer in response to the received instruction; and upon reception of a time alignment instruction of the secondary cell group, the user equipment just adjusts time alignment but will not restart the time alignment timer in response to the received instruction. Since the time alignment timer operates only based upon the primary cell group, such a scenario may arise: although time alignment of the secondary cell group has actually been invalidated because a time alignment instruction of the secondary cell group has not been received for a long period of time, the time alignment timer has not expired because a time alignment instruction of the primary cell group has been received continuously, so that the user equipment considers that time alignment of the secondary cell group is still valid and thus continues sending uplink transmission, thus resulting in serious interference with other user equipments.

Method and apparatus for controlling uplink transmission of a user equipment over a plurality of secondary cells in a group of secondary cells


Flap track fairing systems are split into a forward immovably fixed portion and an aft movable portion. The fixed forward portion is immovably attached to the main wing structure of an aircraft while the movable aft portion is attached either to the movable components of the flap deployment mechanism or to the lower surface of the flap. A separation line between the forward movable portion and the aft fixed portion is provided such that the movable portion does not interfere structurally with the flap fairing structure during a flap extension/retraction cycle. An airflow deflector is positioned near a forward separation edge of the aft fairing portion so as to be positioned within a gap defined between the forward edge of the aft fairing portion and a rearward edge of the forward fairing portion when the flap is in the deployed configuration thereof to thereby deflect airflow away from the interior space of the fairing.

When a Fowler-type motion associated with flap extension is desired (i.e., rearward and rotational downward flap movement), most of the low-weight flap deployment mechanisms need to cross the aerodynamic shape of the clean wing configuration. These flap mechanisms do not have an aerodynamically friendly shape and thus the mechanisms induce drag forces when exposed to the airflow (especially during cruise flight phase). It is therefore typical for fairings to be provided so as to house the flap operating mechanisms (conventionally termed "flap track fairings"). Flap track fairings have two main functions, that is (1) to reduce the drag that would be caused by the flap deployment mechanism exposed to the airflow during the cruise flight phase (e.g., by smoothing the change in cross-sectional area of the mechanism), and (2) to protect the mechanism thus reducing the probability of hazardous events that may preclude deployment when needed. The flap track fairing must be provided with minimal profile so as to be more aerodynamically clean thereby promoting more economical (lower) fuel burn for the aircraft and improving the lift force during take-off and landing.
A flap track fairing needs to be designed such that it absorbs the movement of the flap deployment mechanism by avoiding structural interference during the flap extension/retraction cycle. Aircraft with swept wings commonly have a flap mechanism that is not aligned with the airstream such that there is some lateral travel of the deployment mechanism's movable components relative to the oncoming airstream that occurs with the flap extension. The outcome of such a scenario is usually addressed by designing a pivoted flap track fairing such that the lateral travel of the deployment mechanism's movable components is confined within the width of the flap track fairing. When appropriately designed and sealed, such a flap track fairing solution has the benefit of providing more efficient fuel burn as well as generating low ambient noise during the approach and landing flight phase when flaps are deployed.
Although, both the fuel burn benefit and the wing flap lift force efficiency of the conventional pivoted flap track fairing is limited by the width of the flap track fairing, it follows that, because of the restriction of a minimum width that will accommodate the lateral travel of the deployment mechanism's movable components, an increase in the flap track fairing frontal profile thickness is necessary thereby producing more drag force and more detached flow area on the suction side of the wing flap. The embodiments disclosed herein overcome the fuel burn benefit limitation and recovery of effective wing flap area that are found in conventional systems thereby making it possible for flap track fairings to have a relatively thinner frontal profile as compared to conventional proposals.

Airfoil flap assembly with split flap track fairing system


There is provided a semiconductor device having a converter circuit, a brake circuit and an inverter circuit and manufacturable by a simplified manufacturing process. the semiconductor device has a plurality of die pads, IGBTs, diodes, freewheel diodes, an HVIC and LVICs mounted on the plurality of die pads, a plurality of leads, and an encapsulation resin body that covers these component parts. In a manufacturing process, a single-plate lead frame having the above-described plurality of die pads and leads connected together can be prepared. The semiconductor device may be manufactured by using this single-plate lead frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same.
2. Background Art
A semiconductor device is known which has circuits for inverter drive integrated into one package, as described in Japanese Patent laid-Open No. 2012-256803 for example. More specifically, a power module having a converter circuit, a brake circuit, an inverter circuit and a control circuit board for driving and controlling these circuits housed in one package has been proposed. A module having a converter circuit, a brake circuit and an inverter circuit integrated into one device is generally called a CIB power module.
Other prior art includes Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-277433.
The semiconductor device according to the related art described above uses a lead frame and a control circuit board in combination. That is, power semiconductor elements are die-bonded on the lead frame and an integrated control circuit is mounted on the control circuit board. The control circuit board referred to herein represents various well-known control circuit boards having a circuit pattern provided on an insulating circuit board so that an integrated control circuit can be mounted. Use of a lead frame and a control circuit board in combination as in the above-described conventional semiconductor device necessitates an assembly process in which both the control circuit board and the lead frame are handled, thereby making the manufacturing process complicated.


A new cultivar of Zantedeschia plant named ‘Captain Reno’ that is characterized by green leaves with light spots and purple violet colored flowers.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Zantedeschia plant botanically known as Zantedeschia Spreng. and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Captain Reno'.
'Captain Reno' is a hybrid that originated from the induced hybridization of the female or seed parent Zantedeschia Spreng. 'Zaailing 60' (not patented) and the male or pollen parent Zantedeschia Spreng. 'Zaailing 35' (not patented). The cultivar 'Captain Reno' was selected by the inventor in June of 2001 as a single plant within the progeny of the stated cross in Breezand, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction by tissue culture of the new cultivar 'Captain Reno' was first performed in November of 2001 in De Goorn, The Netherlands. Since that time, under careful observation, the unique characteristics of the new cultivar have been uniform, stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.


In a food management system for managing a food carried by a food plate carrier put on the conveyor line, the food plate carrier comprises a mounting platform having a plate resting portion for resting thereon a plate, and a cover for covering the plate resting portion, the cover being attached to the mounting platform in such a manner as to open and close with respect to the plate resting portion, and the food management system comprises an IC tag attached to the food plate carrier, a reader for reading data on the food from the IC tag, an open-close detector for detecting opening and closing of the cover of the food plate carrier, and a controller for computing data on the food, based on the data read by the reader and the data on the opening and closing of the cover detected by the open-close detector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a food management system for managing food carried by a food conveying apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
A restaurant commonly known as a revolving self-service sushi restaurant adopts a food conveying apparatus including a conveyor line to encircle tables. In this type of restaurant, a cook puts food such as sushi on e.g. a plate and then feeds the plate into the encircling conveyor line of the food conveying apparatus to transport it to the tables in order. A customer selects the food such as sushi of his/her choice from the foods conveyed in order, taking it out from the conveyor line.
The sushi restaurant having this food conveying apparatus involves the problems that the sushi conveyed is easy to dry and may possibly be touched by mistake by other customers. It is accordingly desired to provide the sushi sanitarily and prevent the sushi from drying.
To solve the problems, the applicant previously proposed a food plate carrier comprising a mounting platform having a plate resting portion for resting thereon a plate on which food is put, a cover which is attached to the mounting platform in such a manner as to open and close with respect to the plate resting portion, to cover the plate resting portion of the mounting platform, and an open and close mechanism for allowing the cover to close when the plate is rested on the plate resting portion and open when the plate is removed therefrom.
Meanwhile, in the case of the food conveying apparatus mentioned above, if the cook(s) in the kitchen can get the data on the number and the kind of the food taken out from the food plate carriers among the number of the served food on an as-needed basis, he/she can do the cooking and serving more smoothly.
Also, the food conveying apparatus mentioned above involves the problem that the food fed onto the conveyor line continue to go around along the encircling conveyor line until being taken out by the customers. If not taken out from the conveyor line for a long time, the food served will lose freshness as the time passes, and as a result, the food that is beginning to lose freshness may be provided for the customers.
Under the circumstances, according to a related art, for example an IC tag is attached to each plate on which the food is served and the data written in the each IC tag of the plate conveyed is read out by a reader, so that the contents of the food eaten are discriminated on an as-needed basis by a controller and then are informed to the kitchen, to provide an improved efficiency of the kitchen work, or the food remaining in excess of a predetermined time can be discriminated from the foods fed on the conveyor line so that it can be removed from the conveyor line (See JP Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 8-414).
However, since for example a restaurant of the size of about 200-seats usually needs a large number of plates of the order of 1,600 plates, if the IC tags are attached to all the plates, there arises the problem of increase in initial cost as a whole.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A solution of precursor of a pyroelectric material, e.g. BaSrTiO.sub.3, is coated on a surface of a silicon wafer having an array of mesas corresponding to infrared sensor elements to be formed thereon, and the pyroelectric material precursor coating is dried and then is subjected to a heat treatment for converting thereof into a pyroelectric thin film (sol-gel process). The internal stress in the pyroelectric thin film formed as thick as 1 .mu.m by repeating the process concentrates in the region (groove) between the mesas, hence cracks occurring in the film in connection with the stress are limited within the region and the portions of the film on the mesas can be free from the cracks. The pyroelectric thin film in the groove is selectively removed. An infrared image sensing device comprising sensor elements of uniform characteristics and high reliability is provided.

The present invention relates to an infrared detection device utilizing the spontaneous polarization change caused in a pyroelectric thin film with the temperature rise thereof by the irradiation of infrared rays, in particular, to an infrared image sensing device having a linear or two-dimensional array of a plurality of sensor elements each comprising a pyroelectric thin film.
It is well-known that infrared sensors comprising a crystal of a semiconductor such as HgCdTe or InSb are used as a high sensitivity and high response speed infrared detection device for 4- to 5- micron band and 8- to 12- micron band. These sensors generally have to be operated at the liquid nitrogen temperature or lower. Moreover, these sensors need an optical scanning mechanism in order for obtaining picture elements of infrared images. Accordingly, the infrared image sensing device using these sensors is expensive and comparatively large-sized, and the application thereof is limited to special fields such as medical, military and others.
On the other hand, a low-cost infrared image sensing device suitable for monitoring a human body or machine under operation in a room during night, for instance, is demanded for security purposes. The sensor for these purposes is required to be neither high sensitivity nor the high response speed compared with those required in the above-mentioned special fields.
Infrared sensors comprising a pyroelectric material are being developed, aiming at the application as mentioned above. The pyroelectric infrared sensors are operable in the room temperature, and hence, can comply with the low-cost requirement, while offering a sensitivity and response speed enough for the application.
Pyroelectric material is a kind of ferroelectric material such as PbTiO3 and the spontaneous polarization thereof changes when the temperature of the material is raised by the irradiation of infrared rays. According to the change in the spontaneous polarization, the surface charge of pyroelectric material changes. The change in the surface charge is detected as a voltage or a current. The sensor elements each comprising a pyroelectric material are arranged as a linear or two-dimensional array. The signal output from the sensor elements constitute the picture elements of an infrared image.
Various pyroelectric infrared sensor elements are reported, including 1) a structure comprising a thin plate of pyroelectirc ceramics (R. E. Flannery et al., SPIE Vol. 1689 Infrared Imaging System (1992)/379) and 2) another structure comprising a pyroelectric thin film formed by sputtering a pyroelectric material (R. Takayama et al., National Technical Report Vol. 39 No. 4 Aug. 1993, p.122).
In addition, although being not limited to the application to the infrared sensors, reported is a method of forming a pyroelectric thin film by using a solution of a precursor of a pyroelectric material (J. Chen et al., J. A. Phys. 71 (9), 1 May 1992, p.4465; N. Tohge et al. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 74 (1) 67-71 (1991)).
The above third method is referred as a sol-gel process. That is, a solution composed of the precursor of a pyroelectric material is coated to form a layer on a surface, and the coated layer is then converted into a pyroelectric thin film by a heat treatment. Since the procedure and equipment necessary for such sol-gel process are relatively simple compared with those for the conventional thin film technology such as sputtering and chemical vapor deposition, the advantage of forming a pyroelectric thin film at a low-cost can be offered.

Infrared detection device comprising a pyroelctric thin film and method for fabricating the same


An iron powder composition comprising an iron powder coated with a substantially uniform coating of a thermoplastic material and admixed with a boron nitride powder and a method of utilizing the mixture to produce a magnetic core component is provided. The iron powder mixture is formulated with up to about 1% by weight of boron nitride which reduces the stripping and sliding die ejection pressures during high temperature molding and also improves the permeability of the magnetic part over an extended frequency range.

The study of magnetic core components used in electrical/magnetic energy conversion devices such as generators and transformers requires analysis of several physical and electromagnetic properties for the core component. Two key characteristics of an iron core component are its magnetic permeability and core loss characteristics. The magnetic permeability of a material is an indication of its ability to become magnetized, or its ability to carry a magnetic flux. Permeability is defined as the ratio of the induced magnetic flux to the magnetizing force or field intensity. When a magnetic material is exposed to a rapidly varying field, a resultant energy loss in the core occurs. The core losses are commonly divided into two categories: hysteresis and eddy current losses. The hysteresis loss is brought about by the necessary expenditure of energy to overcome the retained magnetic forces within the iron core component. The eddy current loss is brought about by the production of electric currents in the iron core component due to the changing flux caused by alternating current (AC) conditions.
Early magnetic core components were made from laminated sheet steel, however, these components were unsatisfactory due to large core losses at higher frequencies and due to manufacturing difficulties. Application of these lamination-based cores is also limited by the necessity to carry magnetic flux only in the plane of the sheet in order to avoid excessive eddy current losses. Sintered metal powders have been used to replace the laminated steel as the material for the magnetic core component, but these sintered parts also have high core losses and are restricted primarily to direct current (DC) operations.
Research in the technology of magnetic core components has recently been centered around the use of unsintered iron-based powders which contain various coatings upon the iron powder particles. This research has strived to develop iron powder compositions which enhance certain physical and magnetic properties without detrimentally affecting other properties. Desired properties include a high permeability through an extended frequency range, high pressed strength, low core losses, and suitability for compression molding techniques.
When molding a core component for AC power applications, it is generally required that the iron particles have an electrically insulating coating to decrease core losses. The use of a plastic coating (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,935,340 to Yamaguchi) and the use of doubly-coated iron particles (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,765 to Soileau et al.) have been employed to insulate the iron particles and therefore reduce eddy current losses. However, these powder compositions require a high level of binder, resulting in decreased density of the pressed core part and, consequently, a decrease in permeability. Moreover, if the use of such iron powder mixtures in a compression molding operation requires heating the die, high stripping and sliding ejection pressures are generated in the absence of an appropriate lubricant. This results in increased die wear and scoring of the pressed component. The use of conventional die wall lubricants such as zinc stearate, which were effective at room temperature compression molding, are not useful at the higher temperature compression conditions required to generate resin flow necessary for the molding of coated powder compositions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,473 to Ochiai et al discloses an iron-based powder composition whose particles are covered with an insulating layer of an inorganic powder such as boron nitride. These coated particles are used to form a magnetic core by compression molding techniques. The coated iron particles do not contain any outer coating or second coating of a thermoplastic resin, the absence of which, it has now been found, leads to lower core strength.
A need therefore exists in the art for an iron powder composition which is characterized by properties which include a high permeability through an extended frequency range, a relatively high pressed strength, reduced core losses, and reduced stripping and sliding ejection pressures when molded.

Thermoplastic coated magnetic powder compositions and methods of making same


Beams are used to communicate in a wireless network including mobile and stationary receivers. The network operates according to the IEEE 802.11p in wireless access to vehicular environments (WAVE). A direction from the mobile transceiver to the stationary receiver is predicted using geographic information available to the mobile transceiver. A set of signals are received in the mobile transceiver from the stationary transceiver, wherein the signals are received by an array of antennas, and wherein the signals are received using a set of beams, and wherein each beam is approximately directed at the stationary receiver. A signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is measured for each beam, and the beam with an optimal SNR is selected as an optimal beam for communicating data between the mobile transceiver and the stationary transceiver.

Vehicular Communications and the WAVE Standard
The IEEE 802.11p specifies wireless access to vehicular environments (WAVE). This standard supports intelligent transportation systems (ITS). The current standard specifies transceivers with a single antenna, and orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) for the modulation technique at the physical layer (PHY). WAVE transceivers include mobile transceiver in vehicles, and stationary road side units (RSUS). The WAVE network can also be used in other mobile environments, such as railways, and water ways.
Multi-Antennas
Generally, multiple antennas transceivers improve throughput and reliability. A number of wireless standards specify OFDM and multiple nput multiple output (MIMO) technologies. These include IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.11n, and 3GPP LTE (long term evolution).
However, MIMO requires accurate channel state information (CSI), and complex digital processing at the receiver. Providing CSI to the transmitter can require large overhead due to time varying nature of the channel caused by the fast velocity of WAVE transceivers.
Beam forming improves the reliability of focusing an array pattern in a directed beam. That is, the antenna array has a spatially dependent gain that amplifies signals based on there angle of arrival, see Godara "Applications of Antenna Arrays to Mobile Communications, Part I: Performance Improvement, Feasibility, and System Considerations", Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 85, No. 7, pp. 1031-1060, 1997.
The goal of the invention is to improve reliability in WAVE networks using multiple antennas.

Beamforming in wireless vehicular networks

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


Stacked receptacles in a connector that each provide side-by-side differential signal contacts, are attached to a circuit board without additional width to accommodate multiple layers of differential signals by using connector wafer inserts that rotate the side-by-side positioned differential signal contacts to front-to-back contacts.

This invention relates generally to high speed connectors that are used as vertically stacked receptacle connectors, and more particularly, to connectors utilizing insert wafers that incorporate differential signal terminals which are positioned alongside each other where they appear in the connector receptacle portions and which are turned at their tail portions for joining to a printed circuit board.
Electrical connectors are well known to those of ordinary skill in the electronic arts as generally reliable devices by which electrical signal paths can be extended into and obtained from a printed circuit board. Over the last several years, however, electronic devices and systems have gotten both smaller and faster, making reliable connectors more difficult to design, manufacture and install onto printed circuit boards.
In a connector used in high-speed applications, crosstalk that is likely to occur between closely spaced, high-speed signal paths can be reduced by using differential-voltage signals. A differential signal pair is a pair of terminals or other conductors that together carry a signal but neither of the two conductors is at ground or reference potential. Rather, the voltage on one conductor of a differential pair is, at any given instant, the same magnitude, but opposite polarity as the voltage on the other conductor. A differential pair therefore is analogous to a transmission line, the conductors of which are capacitively and inductively coupled to each other. Crosstalk between two or more differential signal pairs as well as interference of one differential pair on another can be significantly reduced if a good ground plane (or other fixed-voltage reference plane) is provided between the conductors of one differential pair and the conductors of another differential pair as a sort of shield between them.
Each differential signal pair requires at least two capacitively coupled conductors, and it is important for a connector that links a differential signal pair between devices or circuit boards to maintain capacitive coupling. When a connector is used to provide an edge connection for a circuit board or is used as a plug connector, arranging differential signal pairs in a connector so that they are alongside each other and next to each other on the same side of a circuit board can cause the connector width to increase, but when the connector is installed onto a circuit board, connector width should be minimized.

Circuit board via arrangement for differential signal connector


A torsional vibration damper is provided that is capable of increasing torsional rigidity without increasing a size of an elastic member in a radial direction. A torsional vibration damper includes a boss member and a disk plate provided coaxially with each other; an elastic member being elastically deformable in a rotation direction of the boss member; a cam member rotating integrally with the boss member; a torque transmission member transmitting rotation torque between the boss member and the disk plate; and a socket member provided between the torque transmission member and the elastic member and having a contact surface coming in contact with the torque transmission member. The torque transmission member is capable of entirely reciprocating in a radial direction of the boss member in accordance with rotation of the cam member, and elastically compresses the elastic member when it moves outward in the radial direction of the boss member.

Conventionally, driving sources such as an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, and wheels and the like are coupled via a drive transmission system having a reduction gear and the like, so that motive power is transmitted from the driving source through the drive transmission system to the wheels. However, in the drive transmission system coupled to the driving source, for example, "jara" sounds and muffled sounds are produced by torsional vibration resulting from rotation fluctuations caused by torque fluctuations in the internal combustion engine.
"Jara" sounds are abnormal sounds called "jarajara" caused by collision of an idling gear pair of a transmission gear set by the torsional vibration resulting from rotation fluctuations caused by torque fluctuations in the internal combustion engine. Furthermore, muffled sounds are abnormal sounds generated within a vehicle cabin by vibration caused by torsional resonance of the drive transmission system that results from torque fluctuations in the internal combustion engine. Torsional resonance of the drive transmission system exists in a normal region, for example.
A torsional vibration damper is conventionally known, by which a driving source such as an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, and wheels and the like are coupled to transmit rotation torque from the driving source while absorbing torsional vibration between the driving source and a drive transmission system having a transmission gear set (for example, see WO 2011/067815 (PTD 1)).
This torsional vibration damper includes a cam portion having a cam surface at its outer periphery and configured such that the curvature of the cam surface changes in the circumferential direction; a disk plate provided coaxially with the cam portion and rotatable relatively to the cam portion; and an elastic member provided between the cam portion and the disk plate and elastically deformed during relative rotation of the cam portion and the disk plate.
Furthermore, this torsional vibration damper includes an arm member having one end coming in contact with the cam surface of the cam portion and the other end biased by the elastic member. When the cam portion and the disc plate relatively rotate, this arm member rotates about the rotation shaft provided on the disk plate to elastically deform the elastic member, thereby transmitting rotation torque between the cam portion and the disk plate.
According to this torsional vibration damper, the arm member is swung in accordance with rotation of the cam portion to elastically deform the elastic member, so that the range of the torsion angle of the cam portion and the disk plate can be widened. Accordingly, the torsional rigidity of the cam portion and the disk plate can be entirely decreased, thereby sufficiently attenuating "jara" sounds and muffled sounds to allow improvement in vibration damping performance.


A method for creating a segmented alignment rod, the method including receiving a request for a segmented alignment rod, receiving at least one image of a deformed spine, generating, a normal spinal curvature, and generating a segmented alignment rod design.

Scoliosis is a disorder that causes an abnormal curve of the spine, or backbone. Patients with scoliosis develop abnormal curves to either side of the body's median line (lateral curve) and the bones of the spine twist on each other like a corkscrew.
The Greek physician Hippocrates coined the term scoliosis and devised various forms of external braces and benches to support or stretch the abnormally curved spine. Since animals can also suffer from scoliosis, there is little doubt it is an anomaly that has been around since the dawn of vertebrates. It is estimated that about 3% of humans are afflicted, meaning over 200 million people worldwide are living with this anomaly.
Females are much more likely to suffer from scoliosis than males and for idiopathic scoliosis the ratio is 10:1, respectively. Scoliosis can be seen at any age, but it is most common in those over ten years old. Present knowledge suggests a genetically predisposed growth asymmetry at the level of the vertebral body endplates as a potential underlying cause.
Minor degrees of scoliosis are treated with bracing or stretching of the spine, not that dissimilar to the prescriptions and descriptions dating back to the time of Hippocrates. While the materials and techniques have changed, the principals have evolved very little.
Severe degrees of scoliosis are largely treated by a major operation known as segmental instrumented spinal fusion, a lengthy procedure where the muscles are flayed from the spinal bone and metal rods are then implanted to straighten the spine and hold it in position until grafted bone products fuse the spinal vertebrae together into a solid tower of bone. Since the normal spine is segmented to permit functional motion, fusion in and of itself sets the stage for life long corollary problems directly related to the administered cure which precludes normal movement, and at times, even normal growth.
Because of the magnitude of the surgery, complications include death, paralysis, infection, and hardware failure. Late complications include stiffness, chronic back pain, late hardware failure, and breakdown of adjacent normal segments because of stress provided by the long fused spinal segment. This list of complications is illustrative and not exhaustive.
Since major scoliosis surgery is such a cataclysmic event, it is often employed as a last resort, meaning that simple curves are followed until major curves develop thereby increasing not only the magnitude of the surgery, but the potential risk of complications as well.
Present scoliosis treatment is rather eclectic, employing everything from techniques of bracing, essentially outlined in the time of Hippocrates, to the major robotic surgeries of present day. As with anything in medicine, whenever multiple solutions exist for a particular disease process, it generally means that no single solution is sufficiently effective.
Other spinal deformities include kyphosis, lordosis, and flatback. Kyphosis, lordosis, and flatback include deformities in the natural curvature of the spine, from a lateral view, or in the sagittal (front to back) plane, whereas scoliosis includes deformities in the straight-line arrangement of the spine, from a posterior view, or in the frontal (side to side) plane.
Kyphosis is an exaggerated, forward rounding of the back, and can occur at any age but is most common in older women. Age-related kyphosis is often due to weakness in the spinal bones that causes them to compress or crack. Other types of kyphosis can appear in infants or teens due to malformation of the spine or wedging of the spinal bones over time.
Lordosis is defined as an excessive inward curve of the spine. Lordosis is found in all age groups and it primarily affects the lumbar spine, but can occur in the neck (cervical). When found in the lumbar spine, the patient may appear swayback, with the buttocks more prominent, and in general an exaggerated posture. Lumbar lordosis can be painful and sometimes affect movement.
Flatback syndrome is a condition in which the lower spine loses some of its normal curvature. Normally, the spine has several gentle front-to-back curves. The lumbar (lower) spine has a lordosis, or inward curve. The thoracic (middle) spine has a kyphosis, or outward curve, and the cervical spine (neck) has a lordosis. These curves work in harmony to keep the body's center of gravity aligned over the hips and pelvis. If the lumbar lordosis is lost, the center of gravity can be put too far forward. This is the case in flatback syndrome.
Clearly, there is a need in the art to have a treatment that is simple and safe enough to employ such that spinal curvatures can be treated early in the pathologic process so that progression to major curvature can be avoided along with the attendant major interventional surgery required when the curves are extreme. There is also a need in the art to diminish or eradicate the requirement for fusing the spine such that normal motion can be maintained, and the deleterious consequence of a spinal fusion avoided. Additionally, there is a need in the art to develop a customized treatment based on the patient's size, age, sex, and extent of the spinal deformity, such that the treatment is optimized on a patient-by-patient basis.

Method of creating a customized segmented alignment rod for alignment of a spine


A appearance-changeable wallet includes an inner item-carrying section having an outer side and an inner side and at least two generally planar outer cover sections having inner and outer sides which is adapted to fit over and substantially cover the outer side of the inner item-carrying section, each of the outer sides of the at least two generally planar outer cover sections having a different outer side external appearance. A releasable fastening device is operative to releasably attach a selected one of the at least two outer cover sections having a first outer side external appearance to the outer side of the inner item-carrying section and by releasing the releasable fastening device and connecting another of the outer cover sections having a second outer side external appearance thereto, the external appearance of the appearance-changeable wallet is able to be changed and coordinated with other selected accessories.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to wallets and, more particularly, to a wallet incorporating an inner item-carrying section and an outer cover section, the inner item-carrying section attachable to the outer cover section by one or more fastening devices, such that the inner item-carrying section may be quickly and easily removed from connection with one outer cover section having a particular external appearance and connected to another outer cover section having a different external appearance to permit the inner item-carrying section and the materials carried therein to be coordinated with various fashions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wallets and purses are not only used for carrying personal items such as identification cards and credit cards, but also are used to accessorize the appearance of the person carrying the wallet and/or purse. The variety of wallets and purses currently being sold attests to the use of them for appearance enhancement, particularly among the rich and famous. However, for many persons, it is impractical or impossible to own a large variety of wallet types in various designs and colors, and thus the person is unable to coordinate the wallet with various fashions and purse styles. Even having a few wallets of different colors and designs would allow coordination of the wallet with the majority of purses and outfits, but this raises another issue, namely that one must transfer his or her personal items between the wallets each and every time that he or she wants to coordinate a different wallet with a purse or outfit. This greatly increases the opportunity for the personal items to be lost or misplaced during the transfer, and thus is not a practical solution to the above-described problem. There is therefore a need for an appearance-changeable wallet which will easily and quickly transfer personal items between wallets of differing appearances while still having a presentable and desirable appearance.
There are numerous examples from the prior art relating to purses which include interchangeable covers for modifying the external appearance of the purse, and these include such devices as found in McCreery, U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,499, Salz, U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,201, Sutton, U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,025, and Holden et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,975. While each of these prior art inventions disclose purses having external appearance-modifying devices such as replaceable outer shells, nowhere in the prior art is it currently found to provide such a modification system for a wallet which fits within the purse. There is a simple reason that most women have a plurality of purses yet only one wallet, and that is that the wallet may be quickly and easily transferred between the various purses when the purse is to be used by the owner, thus permitting the purse owner to keep all of her valuable credit cards, licenses and other items in one easily transportable carrying device. These various purses, however, will invariably include different external appearances, and therefore there is a need for a simple and effective device which will permit the external appearance of the wallet to be modified or changed to correspond to the purse in which the wallet is being carried.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved appearance-changeable wallet.
Another object is to provide an appearance-changeable wallet which incorporates an inner item-carrying section and outer cover section, the inner item-carrying section attachable to the outer cover section by one or more fastening devices such that the inner item-carrying section may be quickly and easily removed from connection with one outer cover section having a particular external appearance and connected to another outer cover section having a different external appearance.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an appearance-changeable wallet which can be used with many different outer cover sections which will generally correspond with the external appearance of any selected purse to be used by the user of the present invention.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an appearance-changeable wallet which may be constructed of cloth, leather, denim, or virtually any generally flexible wallet construction material in order to ensure that the appearance of the outer cover section will correspond to a selected purse style.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an appearance-changeable wallet in which the inner item-carrying section is connected to the outer cover section by a zipper, snaps, or another such releasable securement device in order to promote the simple and efficient swapping of outer cover sections when connected to the inner item-carrying section.
Finally, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved appearance-changeable wallet which is relatively simple and durable in design and construction and is safe, efficient and effective in use.


A camera module includes a supporting seat, a filter, and a lens assembly. The supporting seat defines a window passing through the supporting seat. An annular flange extending from an inner wall of the window towards the central axis of the window. The filter is fixed on the annular flange. The lens assembly is fixed on the supporting seat. The lens assembly includes a lens holder and a lens disposed in the lens holder. A surface of the supporting seat facing the lens assembly is recessed to form at least two receiving slots surrounding the window. A buffer layer is disposed in each of the at least two receiving slots. An orthogonal projection of the lens on a plane of the buffer layer at least partially overlaps with the buffer layer, and lens is spaced apart from the filter.

Camera modules may include lens unit, lens holders, optical filters, sensors, and circuit boards. The resolution of the camera module becomes higher. As a result, the sizes of the component (such as the optical filter) in such camera module also increase. However, when the optical filter becomes larger, when the electronic device falls to the floor, an impact force that the lens unit applied to the lens holder increases the risk of breaking the optical filter.
Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art.

Camera module and electronic device having buffer layer with the optical filter

TRIPLE WIN TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) CO. LTD.


A run-time monitor allows defining sets of run-time error criteria and corresponding diagnostic action to take when the run-time error criteria is satisfied. One way to define the run-time error criteria is to take a baseline measurement of run-time errors that occur during normal processing conditions. A run-time error criteria may then be defined that is based on the baseline measurement. In this manner, a rate of run-time errors that normally occur may be ignored, while a rate of run-time errors in excess of the run-time error criteria could automatically initiate diagnostic action. In this manner, the ability of a programmer to debug run-time errors is significantly enhanced.

1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to computer systems, and more specifically relates to apparatus and methods for diagnosing run-time problems in computer systems.
2. Background Art
Since the dawn of the computer age, computer systems have evolved into extremely sophisticated devices, and computer systems may be found in many different settings. Computer systems typically include a combination of hardware, such as semiconductors and circuit boards, and software, also known as computer programs. As advances in semiconductor processing and computer architecture push the performance of the computer hardware higher, more sophisticated computer software has evolved to take advantage of the higher performance of the hardware, resulting in computer systems today that are much more powerful than just a few years ago.
As the sophistication and complexity of computer software increase, the more difficult the software is to debug. Debugging is the process of finding problems, or "bugs", during the development of a computer program. Most modern programming environments include a debugger that provides tools for testing and debugging a computer program. Known debuggers allow the user to set one or more breakpoints in the computer program, which are points where the execution of the computer program is stopped so that the state of the program can be examined to verify that the program executed as designed.
Another type of problem that can occur is a run-time problem that is not a "bug" per se, but is a problem that arises due to run-time conditions at the time the computer program is executed. One such type of run-time problem is performance problems that arise due to excessive demand on computer system resources, such as performing an excessive number of I/O operations in a given period of time. Both bugs and run-time performance problems are collectively referred to herein as run-time errors. Most modern programming languages support defining an event known in the art as a software "exception" that represents a portion of code that is run when a defined run-time error occurs. Different exceptions may be defined to represent different run-time errors. For example, a "disk I/O exception" could be defined that is called if a write to a disk is not successful. A "class not found" exception could be defined that is called when an attempt is made to load an object oriented class that is not present. Exceptions provide a way to execute a desired portion of code when a run-time error occurs.
Programmers often use exceptions to debug their code and to find run-time errors. However, many complex computer systems in operation today routinely throw hundreds and even thousands of exceptions during normal operating conditions. When a real problem occurs, the number of exceptions can rise to even greater levels. A human programmer would have a hard time wading through thousands of logged exceptions to try to determine which occurred during normal processing and which occurred due to some unexpected problem. Without a mechanism and method for more specifically defining criteria for run-time errors, and automatically initiating diagnostic functions when the defined criteria are met, the computer industry will continue to suffer from inefficient methods and tools for locating the cause of run-time errors in a computer system.

Apparatus and method for initializing diagnostic functions when specified run-time error criteria are satisfied

International Business Machines Corporation


A lighting control system for controlling lights of buildings includes a computer server communicating with programmable master interfaces through an Ethernet communication link. The server is programmed to establish control commands responsive to environment status information. The master interfaces communicate through a primary communication link with programmable input devices which include input interfaces and smart switches, and with programmable output devices. The output devices communicate with a master interface through its primary communication link and also communicate with programmable relay/dimmer devices through a secondary communication link. The relay/dimmer devices control building lights responsive to control commands. The input interfaces communicate with a master interface through its primary communication link and also communicate with ambient light/occupancy sensor devices through a secondary communication link. The ambient light/occupancy sensor devices monitor building zones and establish environment status information. The smart switches include a touch screen LCD used by building occupants for also establishing environment status information. The environment status information and control commands are communicated through the interfaces for thereby controlling the building lights. Each of the interfaces and devices are identified with a unique ID established and maintained by the server. Each unique ID is linked to a virtual graphical representation by the server and displayed on a monitor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of lighting control systems typically used in buildings. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of centralized building lighting control systems for managing, controlling and maintaining lighting within and around a building.
2. Description of Related Art
Centralized building lighting control systems have conventionally been configured with a head-end central control panel. Output devices such as relay panels are connected via a multi-wire communication signal line to the head-end central control panel. Input devices such as switches are connected by either the same communication signal line or a separate communication line. FIGS. 1 and 2 depict both of these scenarios. In order to communicate with the head end controller, the input and output devices are addressed locally with either dip switches or selector switches as, for example, depicted in FIG. 3. Each device on the communication signal line must have a unique address. If a device is mistakenly addressed to another device's address it will cause errors on that communication signal line. Consequently, installers must keep track of what addresses have been assigned during the installation of the devices. As can be appreciated, this is a cumbersome and time consuming task.
Centralized lighting control systems have traditionally been controlled by a head-end controller. This controller is typically configured with a central processor that manages all of the devices on the communication signal lines. Because of this arrangement, a limited number of communication lines are able to be connected to the control system, thus limiting the number of input and output devices able to be controlled. Coordination and control of the entire system is accomplished in the head-end controller. Additionally, modifications to the control scheme need to be down loaded from a separate desktop or laptop computer. This computer is connected to the head end controller either directly or through an interface module as, for example, depicted in FIG. 4. This computer is fitted with a software package that is able to modify the central controller's input/output scheme or control sequence (i.e. to program the system). To make these modifications, the user connects the computer to the head end controller with either a serial connection (RS-232) or an Ethernet connection. The user then makes the appropriate modifications on the connected computer utilizing the software package residing on that computer. After the modifications are complete on the connected computer, they are downloaded to the head end controller. The computer is solely used for programming and/or monitoring the head end controller.
The traditional head end based control systems have several limitations including, for example, the following.
Head end control based systems, due to their architecture, have a limited number of inputs (i.e. switches) and outputs (relays). Although large scale control systems exist which are capable of handling a large number of inputs and outputs, those systems are suited for just that purpose—large scale control. They are typically relatively expensive and practically useable only for large scale control systems/applications. The head end control based systems are also typically very expensive and, although capable of controlling a relatively small input/output count system, they are generally cost "in-effective" for both small and large scale applications.
Head end control based systems do not effectively interface with the individual programming the system. Since the "programming" computer is not an integral part of the lighting control system, it requires the user (programmer) to develop the program and down load it to the head-end controller. At first glance, this may appear to be a benefit since the computer is not "required" for the system to function. But after further analysis it quickly becomes evident that it is not a benefit, but rather a hindrance. With the traditional head end based system a computer is still required for download of the program; it is simply not used for direct interaction or control of the system. The user can program, monitor and even manipulate the system but this is done through downloads and uploads from the head end controller that is the means of control for the system. FIG. 5 depicts the flow of communication for typical head end based systems.
It is noted that head end based systems exist that do not require a computer to program them. In this type of setup all of the information is stored and programmed directly on a keypad on the head end controller. These types of systems are worse yet, as they do not have the means to store the program on a separate device (i.e. computer's hard drive). Should the head end controller fail, the program is lost and must be "rebuilt" in a new head end controller.
As depicted in FIG. 3, traditional head-end based systems use a method of addressing devices on the network with dip switches or selector switches. This requires all of the devices connected to the system to be addressed prior to its installation. All devices need to be coordinated such that no two devices on a communication link share the same address. This may not seem like a monumental item at first, but after further examination this can be a daunting task. First of all, devices have to be mapped and coordinated prior to the installation. Devices on different communication links can share the same address with a device on another communication link. If a device is accidentally installed on the wrong communication link, duplication of addresses can exist. Secondly, good records of the system and how it is all connected must be maintained with this type of system. If the system is initially set up and at a later date modifications to the system are made, the records from the first installation must be coordinated with the modification to assure that no duplication of addressing is done on a communication link. However, as a practical matter, records can be lost or inaccurate leading to difficulties when making future modifications.
In head end control based systems, a paper directory card must be maintained and amended at the relay or dimming panels as the controlling loads are added and/or changed. This directory is used to describe what area or lighting circuit is controlled by a given relay or dimmer. Many times this paper card is lost, not maintained and/or contains incorrect entries. When an addition or modification is required, the installer must, therefore, trace out all of the unknown circuits and map out the wiring prior to the modification or addition. Additionally, when a relay or dimmer has failed or is not operating as intended, it can be difficult to rectify the problem without an accurate record of the circuitry. As a consequence, modifications and troubleshooting can be relatively time consuming and costly.
To conserve energy, modern facilities lighting control systems have incorporated occupancy sensors and ambient light level sensors. Occupancy sensors are used to detect motion in a given area. When motion is detected, a digital "on" signal is sent back to the head end controller to turn on a relay or dimmer. The occupancy sensor also starts an internal timer and, when the time cycle is completed, sends a digital "off" signal back to the same head end controller. The timer is continually reset by the motion sensor, thus maintaining the lights on as long as motion is detected. The deficiency with this type of control system is that all of the control settings are at the sensor. Should a different delay/cycle time be desired, it must physically be set at the sensing device/sensor. These devices are typically mounted to the ceiling of the controlled area and, in larger systems, there can be hundreds or thousands of them throughout the facility. Making a change to the delay/cycle time (a task frequently required to "calibrate" the system) can, therefore, take a substantial amount of time and be fairly costly.
The other component used in energy conservation of a lighting control system, the ambient light sensor, is typically a separate device with manual control of the set points. The user simply "picks" an event to occur (on or off of a lighting relay or level of a dimmer) based on the light level in the area. This can be cumbersome as the sensors are not self calibrating to the area of control and require the installer to manually set, and often reset them, until the desired set point is attained. Like the occupancy sensor, all levels of control and setpoints are at the device. Any adjustments and/or setting of the time delay, sensitivity to light, and set points in connection with both time and light must be made manually at the device. Similarly, adjusting, maintaining and repairing these devices can be relatively time consuming and costly.

Modular centralized lighting control system for buildings


The present invention relates to a clothing treatment device comprising: a tub body for providing a space in which water is stored; a tube cover that forms the upper surface of the tub body; an introduction opening provided to penetrate the tub cover; a door provided on the tub cover so as to open/close the introduction opening; a drum rotatably provided inside the tub body so as to contain clothing introduced through the introduction opening; a storage portion provided on the door so as to provide a space in which an additive is stored; a channel portion for guiding at least a part of water, which moves from the tub body toward the tub cover when the drum rotates, to the storage portion; and a discharge portion for discharging the additive inside the storage portion and the water, which has been introduced into the storage portion, to the tub body.

Generally, laundry treatment apparatuses include an apparatus that washes laundry (a washing object or a drying object), an apparatus that dries laundry, and an apparatus that is capable of performing both washing and drying of laundry.
Conventional laundry treatment apparatuses are divided into a front-loading type, in which laundry is introduced into the apparatus through an opening provided in the front surface of the apparatus, and a top-loading type, in which laundry is introduced into the apparatus through an opening provided in the top surface of the apparatus.
A top-loading-type laundry treatment apparatus includes a cabinet, a tub provided inside the cabinet and having an opening in the top surface thereof, a drum rotatably provided inside the tub, and a door configured to open and close the opening.
In the conventional laundry treatment apparatus described above, a detergent supply unit is provided inside the cabinet in order to supply detergent into the tub. The conventional detergent supply unit generally includes a storage unit in which detergent is stored, a discharge unit configured to guide the detergent inside the detergent storage unit to the tub, and a water supply unit configured to interconnect a water source and the storage unit.
That is, the detergent supply unit provided in the conventional laundry treatment apparatus has a structure in which water is supplied from the water source to the storage unit so that the detergent stored in the storage unit is supplied, together with water, to the tub. Accordingly, the conventional detergent supply unit may require the water supply unit to be configured so as to interconnect the water source and the storage unit, and it is necessary to provide the space for the installation of a device, which supplies water to the detergent supply unit, inside the cabinet.

Clothing treatment device and method for controlling clothing treatment device


A technique involves, in response to encountering a predefined number of consecutive I/O errors using a drive path to a storage drive, transitioning the drive path from online to quarantined to temporarily deny further I/O operations from being processed using the drive path. The technique further involves starting a quarantine timer that defines a quarantine time period. The technique further involves performing an update operation that updates the drive path. The update operation (i) changes the drive path from quarantined to removed to continue denying further I/O operations from being processed using the drive path when a removal notification is received before the quarantine time period expires, and (ii) changes the drive path from quarantined to back to online to allow further I/O operations to be processed using the drive path when a removal notification is not received before the quarantine time period expires.

A conventional data storage system includes storage nodes and storage devices. The storage nodes perform input/output (I/O) operations on the storage devices to manage data on behalf of one or more host computers.
Typically, each storage node has two paths to reach each storage device. If a storage node encounters a failure while performing an I/O operation on a storage device using a first path to that storage device, the storage node may retry the I/O operation on the storage device using the alternate path to that storage device.
There are a variety of reasons as to why an I/O operation on a storage device may fail. For example, the storage device itself may have failed. As another example, the storage device may be operating correctly, but a connector providing a portion of the path to the storage device may have failed. As yet another example, the storage device and the connector may be operating correctly, but the cable linking an enclosure containing the storage nodes to another enclosure containing the storage device may have failed or may have become disconnected.

Using path quarantining to identify and handle backend issues