A method, access point device and a perpherical device provide low complexity dynamic persistence for random access in a wireless communication system. The peripheral device includes: A) a block assignment receiver, for receiving a block assignment having a source address which contains a contention address and a persistence level and identifying the contention address and reading the persistence level; B) a random number generator, coupled to the block assignment receiver, for generating a random number based on the persistence level; and C) a persistence based transmitter, coupled to the random number generator, for transmitting a payload burst containing a resource request based on the random number and the persistence level.

In a wireless communications system comprising of multiple devices sharing a common RF channel to transmit data, a medium access protocol governs the which peripheral has access to the RF channel at a specific moment of time and for a specified duration. Many medium access protocols are distributed where each peripheral operates as a peer performing identical algorithms to access the channel. In other protocols, one device may act as the master receiving requests for the channel access and granting service. In all these, systems their is opportunity for the RF transmissions from two peripheral devices to occur simultaneously, colliding and destructively interfering such that no information may be communicated. The medium access protocol must reduce the probability of collision to maximize the data transfer rate of the system as whole.
The amount of data each peripheral device has to transfer varies with time. Peripherals are generally bi-modal and exist in active or standby mode. Peripheral devices are active when they have data to send and inactive when no data is awaiting transmission. When active, the peripheral device accesses the channel transmits the data and returns to a standby mode. The probability of collision is a function of the number of peripherals in the system and the arrival rate of data to send.
A simple method for reducing the collisions is by not having each peripheral transmit with absolute certainty in the active mode. Rather, each peripheral will transmit with a fixed probability. This probability is known as a persistence level. It has been shown, that persistence level can significantly reduce the probability of collision when the number of devices and their respective arrival rates are known. However, a fixed persistence level appropriate for a given number of devices may become sub-optimal if the number of devices or arrival rates change.
Most systems also employ a busy-tone or carrier sensing to improve the data transfer rate by insuring that once one peripheral device has seized the channel, no other peripheral device will begin transmitting. This method reduces the probability of collision by shortening the period that peripheral devices may contend for access to the system. Once peripheral device has seized the channel all other devices will defer transmission until that peripheral completes. During that transmission, many peripherals will transition from the standby to active mode and be ready to transmit data. The probability of collision immediately following a transmission is greatly increased. Collisions following the transmission compound the problem allowing a larger number of peripherals to transition to the active mode starting a catastrophic spiral where the newly active peripherals further contribute to the collisions such that no data is successfully transmitted.
In a multipurpose communication system, the channel may be shared by other types of transmissions which cause the channel to appear busy and the phenomenon described may occur whenever the channel transitions from busy to ideal.
A random back-off algorithm is nearly always employed to avoid the catastrophic cycle following the busy period. In a random back-off algorithm each peripheral device detects if the channel is busy or if there has been a collision and the waits a random period, called a back-off period, before attempting transmission. Subsequent collisions may require that the peripheral back-off for longer period which each successive collision. This type of algorithm is effective, however, it is complex. It requires that each contending peripheral maintain has a memory of the previous collisions requiring a complex state machine.
maymaymay Thus there is a need for a method, an access point device and a peripheral device for providing low complexity dynamic persistence for random access by a peripheral device in a wireless communication system.

Method, access point device and peripheral devices for low complexity dynamic persistence mode for random access in a wireless communication system


A seat belt retractor includes a take-up drum with webbing wound therearound, a torsion bar coupled to a first end of the take-up drum non-rotatably relative thereto, and a ratchet wheel coupled to a second end of the torsion bar non-rotatably relative thereto. The seat belt retractor further includes a deformable member provided on a second end of the take-up drum for rotating integrally therewith, an internal tooth element (8) provided non-rotatably relative to the torsion bar, and planet gears in mesh with a gear surface of the internal tooth element and in engagement with the deformable member, the planet gears being assembled non-rotatably relative to the torsion bar. The planet gears revolve around the deformable member while biting into the surface of the deformable member to plastically deform the deformable member when the webbing is paid out to cause the sun element and the internal tooth element to rotate relative to each other after an emergency locking member is locked.

In general, a seat belt system provided for a seat of a vehicle and the like is constructed so that webbing is wound into a retractor having an emergency locking device. In the event of a crash or the like, the emergency locking device operates to stop the rotation of a take-up drum around which the webbing is wound. This prevents the pay out of the webbing to restrain and protect an occupant.
There has also been proposed a seat belt retractor including an energy absorbing mechanism which, if a load acting on the webbing exceeds a preset predetermined value, causes a predetermined amount of pay out of the webbing under a predetermined load by the use of the twisting deformation of a torsion bar, thereby to absorb an impact energy occurring on the occupant.
A seat belt retractor of this type is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-310027 (1998), which comprises a substantially tubular take-up drum on which webbing is wound, an emergency locking means for coupling a locking base to a retractor base to stop rotation in a direction in which the webbing is paid out in the event of a vehicle emergency, and an energy absorbing means for allowing the pay out of the webbing after the operation of the emergency locking means while applying a predetermined load to the webbing.
If a tension equal to or greater than the predetermined load acts on the webbing in the event of a vehicle emergency, the pay out of the webbing causes the take-up drum to move in the direction in which the webbing is paid out into contact with an inner peripheral portion of the retractor base. As the take-up drum is rotated by the pay out of the webbing resulting from the subsequent twisting deformation of the torsion bar, a grinding means provided on the inner peripheral portion of the retractor base cuts an outer peripheral surface of the take-up drum to absorb the energy. Additionally, the twisting deformation of the torsion bar also absorbs the energy.
However, the seat belt retractor disclosed in the above-mentioned background art document is structured so that the cutting by the grinding means is done after a free end portion of the take-up drum supported at one end in cantilevered fashion by the retractor base is moved to the aforementioned inner peripheral portion in the event of a vehicle emergency. Such a structure causes the start of the energy absorption by the grinding to be delayed by a time interval required for the movement until the take-up drum comes into contact with the inner peripheral portion, thereby decreasing the energy absorption immediately after the start of the pay out of the webbing. This increases the amount of forward movement of an occupant to create a danger that a secondary crash or collision against a steering or an instrument panel occurs and a danger that the impact force of the occupant upon an inflated air bag increases.
Further, because of the cantilevered structure, the take-up drum has a support structure such that the center of rotation thereof on the free end is movable. Hence, the take-up drum might be removed from the aforementioned inner peripheral portion by the force of contact with the inner peripheral portion of the retractor base or be engaged deeply into the grinding means. Moreover, under normal conditions, there is a danger that the take-up drum inadvertently moves to roughen a surface to be ground. In such cases, a problem arises that the grinding by the grinding means is not performed uniformly whereby stable energy absorption is not achieved.


A vehicle suspension assembly includes a vehicle frame rail, a slide rail extending longitudinally along the vehicle frame rail and slidably adjustable thereto, a support bracket extending downwardly from the slide rail, a trailing arm pivotably coupled to the support bracket, a spring member positioned between the trailing arm and the slide rail, and an elastically resilient coupling arrangement coupling the slide rail to the vehicle frame rail, wherein the coupling member is configured to elastically deform during vertical displacement of the vehicle frame rail with respect to the slide rail.

The present invention relates to vehicle suspension assembly comprising in particular to a slider suspension assembly that includes an elastically resilient coupling arrangement that couples a slide rail to an associated vehicle frame rail thereby reducing the impact loading exerted on the associated components during a vertical displacement of the vehicle frame rail with respect to the slide rail.

Slider suspension assembly with compliant hold-down arrangement


A power tool system has a power tool, a replaceable rechargeable battery unit for the power tool, and at least one coupling unit for charging the battery unit while being replaceably connected to the power tool; also a replaceable rechargeable battery unit for a power tool, a charger for charging a replaceable rechargeable battery unit for a power tool, and a power tool with a replaceable rechargeable battery unit are provided.

The invention is based in particular on a replaceable rechargeable battery unit for a power tool which is provided for detachable connection to a power tool. For being charged, the replaceable rechargeable battery unit has a coupling unit, formed by charge contacts. The coupling unit is located on a part of the replaceable rechargeable battery unit that can be inserted into a receptacle region of a power tool. Once the replaceable rechargeable battery unit has been inserted into the receptacle region of the power tool, the coupling unit is covered by the housing of the power tool. For charging the replaceable rechargeable battery unit, this unit must be removed from the receptacle region of the power tool and inserted by the insertable part into a charger.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Replaceable rechargeable battery unit for a power tool, power tool, and charger


A two-axis actuator having a large stage area and including includes a substrate, an anchor unit having sides approximately in a rectangular shape, fixed on the substrate, a plurality of first actuating parts actuating in a first direction and separated from the substrate within regions of both sides of the anchor unit, a plurality of second actuating parts actuating in a second direction between the first actuating parts, a rectangular shaped stage that actuates in the second direction, disposed above the second actuating parts, a third actuating part formed on the first actuating part, and elevated at a predetermined distance from the stage and the anchor unit, first direction deformable springs that support the first actuating part in inner parts of the anchor unit, and second direction deformable springs formed to fix the second actuating part in an inner part of the third actuating part.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a two-axis actuator, and more particularly, to an X-Y stage micro-actuator for use in a data storing system employing a Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM) technique.
2. Description of the Related Art
A data storing system that uses scanning probe microscope (SPM) techniques generally includes a medium as information storage, an actuator for moving the medium in the X-Y directions on a stage, at least one probe having tips for recording information on the medium or for reading information from the medium, and a signal processor for processing information signals.
The multiple probes can read or record multiple information at the same time, and for this purpose, the tip of each probe must approach the medium. Therefore, the probe needs an actuator and a sensor. The actuator deforms the probe in the Z direction so that the tip of the probe can approach to the medium. Then, the sensor reads information on the medium by sensing the deformation of the probe that moves along the medium.
For two-axis actuation, an actuator needs at least three electrodes in case of unidirectional actuation and at least five electrodes in case of bidirectional actuation. According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,988, an actuating part having multiple electrodes in one silicon structure can be achieved by insulating a selected region using thermal oxidation. However, this approach requires a very complicated process.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,445,107, a single stage micro-actuator capable of actuating in two axes while using one electrode, is disclosed to solve the above-mentioned problem.
However, the actuators in the above patents have the drawback of stage inefficiency. The stage for locating the medium is at the same plane as the actuator for generating an electrostatic force, thereby decreasing the information storage capacity due to a narrow stage area.


A method for providing enhanced telephone services via a computerized telephone services device for use in conjunction with multiple telephone lines and providers. According to embodiments of the invention, a subscriber to telephone services or a group of subscribers may be reached on multiple telephone lines from a single dial-in number; calls in progress may be transferred seamlessly from one line associated with a subscriber to another; and group calling features may be enhanced.

The number of ways to deliver telephone service continues to grow. "Plain old telephone service" (POTS), comprising analog telephones connected via pairs of copper wires to the public switched telephone network (PSTN), is now complemented by, for example, cellular wireless telephony, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), WiFi VoIP clients, and satellite-based telephony, among other services. A consequence is that people can remain in contact in places and circumstances where and when it was previously impossible.
Because people can be reachable, however, more and more people are expected to do so. Each form of telephone service can require a separate telephone number, line, or both, and the result can be that a caller must attempt calls to several different numbers before reaching the desired person. It is conceivable, for example, that a single person may have one phone number at work, one or more phone numbers at home, a personal mobile phone number, a work mobile phone number, and a phone number corresponding to a VoIP softphone.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating interconnected components of a telephone network 100, such as may be found in the prior art. The network 100 includes the public switched telephone network ("PSTN") 105, which is the worldwide set of interconnected telephone networks that deliver fixed telephone services to the general public and are usually accessed by telephones and private branch exchanges ("PBX"), transmitting voice, other audio, video, and data signals.
The PSTN 105 comprises a plurality of interconnected switches. The PSTN 105 is formed from the interconnection of e.g., third-party switch 106, provider switch 107, and other switches (not pictured) within the PSTN 105. Fast digital links, referred to as "trunks" 108, connect switches in most of the PSTN 105, although some older analog equipment remains in use.
To connect something, e.g., the provider's switch 107, to the PSTN 105, typically means to connect it via a trunk 108 to another switch (not pictured) within the PSTN. Consistent with the usage common in the art, however, systems will be described herein as connected to the PSTN 105 as such, with the existence of a plurality of interconnected switches (not pictured) within the PSTN 105 left implicit. FIG. 1 accordingly shows the third-party switch 106 and provider's switch 107 separate from the PSTN 105, although they are part of it.
The PSTN 105 comprises analog phones, which participate in the PSTN 105 via switches. As depicted in FIG. 1, an analog phone 110 connects via a pair of copper wires 111 to the third-party switch 106. Similarly, other analog phones 112 connect via pairs of copper wires 113 to the provider's switch 107. Because they exist on the edges of the PSTN 105, analog phones may be referred to as "edge devices."
An analog phone 112 is so called because it sends and receives analog electrical signals that represent voice data. Internally, however, the PSTN 105 primarily uses digital switches and digital trunks. Thus, a provider's switch 107 converts between the analog data used by the analog phone 112a and the digital data used internally by the switch 107 and exchanged within the PSTN 105.
Although not depicted in FIG. 1, switches within the PSTN 105 exist in a hierarchy. At the lowest level of the hierarchy are switches, such as the third-party switch 106 and the provider's switch 107, that connect both to the PSTN 105 and to analog telephones. For historical reasons, these switches, which connect both to edge devices and to other switches, are often called "class 5 switches." A single class 5 switch may serve hundreds or thousands of telephone lines.
Higher-level switches (not pictured) may connect only to other switches and may be used, e.g., to establish a connection between different geographic areas. To handle telephone calls between different metropolitan areas, an inter-exchange carrier ("IXC") connects to the PSTN 105 directly or indirectly. An IXC maintains its own facilities, such as, e.g., trunks and switches (not pictured), to route telephone calls. A provider 115 of telecommunications services may have its own IXC facilities 121 and may connect to the PSTN 105 directly or, as depicted in FIG. 1, through an interface and control system 125. A third-party carrier may also provide an IXC 120, which may connect directly to the PSTN 105.
To enable forms of telephone service other than POTS to interoperate with the PSTN 105, a provider 115 of telecommunications services may connect, e.g., one or more switches, gateways, or both to the PSTN 105. As depicted in FIG. 1, a provider 115 has connected a switch 107 to the PSTN 105. Besides the connections 113 to analog phones 112, the provider's switch 107 has a connection via a dedicated digital trunk 116 to a private branch exchange ("PBX") 121. A PBX 121 may provide switching, signaling, and/or analog-to-digital conversion functions for multiple analog phones 122, digital phones 123, or both and typically exists within a large organization with many telephone lines. A PBX 121 may allow calling within the organization to take place without use of any facilities of the PSTN 105.
A provider 115 may use an interface (or gateway) system 125 to bridge telephony over the PSTN 105 and VoIP transmitted across a packet-switched data network 126, such as the Internet. The interface system 125 connects to the IP network 126, e.g., via an Ethernet cable 127 connected to a router (not pictured). A VoIP client, such as, e.g., a residential analog telephone adapter 128 or a commercial VoIP PBX 129 also connects to the IP network 126, exchanging data packets with the interface system 125. Other VoIP clients may use the network 126, such as a VoIP client 130 that uses WiFi to connect wirelessly to the network 126, or a computer program (called a "soft client") that executes on a networked computer 131.
The interface system 125 also connects to the PSTN 105 via a trunk 108c. The interface system 125 supports calls among VoIP clients by, e.g., providing directory and/or addressing information. The interface system 125 also enables calls to cross between the PSTN 105 and the IP network 126 by, e.g., translating data and signaling protocols.
Other services may also be provided through the PSTN 105. For example, a provider of wireless telephone services 135 may also connect to the PSTN 105 through a digital trunk 108e.
A telephone call may begin from, e.g., an analog phone 112a connected to the provider's switch 107. The switch 107 detects the dialed number and establishes the call. If the destination of the call is another analog phone 112b connected to the provider's switch, the switch routes the call using an internal trunk (not pictured). Otherwise, the switch routes the call through the PSTN 105, e.g., directly to a third-party's switch 106 or via the provider's IXC 121 or a third party's IXC 120.
The PSTN 105 is a circuit-switched network, which typically means that it reserves the necessary bandwidth all along the route taken by a call in progress, even when the call does not need all of the reserved bandwidth. Multiplexing techniques, which are well known in the art, are used to send multiple digitized telephone calls simultaneously over the same trunk 108. Switches within the PSTN 105 exchange signaling information used to, e.g., information used to create, route, terminate, and account for telephone calls (among other functions) over a path that is physically or logically distinct from the data paths, and most commonly do so using the protocol known in the art as Signaling System #7 ("SS7").

Systems and methods for providing enhanced telephone services


In a recording and playback device of the present invention, when input data exceeding a threshold value is supplied, the CPU records input data for an amount of time corresponding to a single beat in an area specified by syllable number SPLIT in an input buffer IB of the RAM, and after incrementing the syllable number SPLIT, waits until the recorded data becomes silent. The CPU repeats this series of processing until the value of the incremented syllable number SPLIT reaches “4”, and thereby stores input data recorded for an amount of time corresponding to a single beat in each input buffer IB(1) to IB(4) corresponding to syllable numbers SPLIT1 to SPLIT4. Then, the CPU copies the input data to the recording area of the RAM such that these input data are sequentially connected and formed into loop data for an amount of time corresponding to a single bar.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording and playback device and a program that, while performing repeated playback of material recorded over a certain period of time, can overdub new material in the material of that repeated playback.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technology is known which, while performing repeated playback of material recorded over a certain period of time, overdubs new material in the material of that repeated playback.
As this type of technology, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Kokai) Publication No. 2011-112679 discloses an automatic musical performance device that performs repeated playback of an event recorded layer in a recording area composed of a plurality of layers (tracks), and performs overdubbing to record an event generated in response to a musical performance operation on a newly designated layer during the repeated playback, whereby a musical accompaniment pattern to which musical modifications have been made according to a user's desire is created through repeated improvisatorial trial and error.
In the above-described technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Kokai) Publication No. 2011-112679, the material to record (archive) is a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) event generated in response to a musical performance operation. However, in recent years, a recording and playback device referred to as a looper (loop sampler) has been put to practical use, which records sampled audio data, musical sound data generated by a sound source or the like over a certain period of time as sound recording material. A musical phrase is created by successively overdubbing new material while performing repeated playback of the recorded material.
In this recording and playback device referred to as a looper, a rhythm guide sound for keeping tempo is initially recorded to create loop data, in an unrecorded state (initial state) in which no sound has been recorded. Note that the loop data herein refers to recording data by which repeated playback is performed, such as a rhythm pattern, etc.
Usually, this type of recording and playback device has a function for generating a click sound (metronome sound) or a rhythmic sound, and mainly creates loop data by performing an initial recording using a click sound or a rhythmic sound generated by this function. Accordingly, if the recording is not started and stopped at an exact timing, loop data having an exact tempo cannot be created. In other words, there is a problem in that loop data having the exact tempo cannot be easily created.

Recording and playback device capable of repeated playback, computer-readable storage medium, and recording and playback method


In a housing structure for a lawn mower, a rear scroll guide member is provided adjacent and along the width of an entrance of a cut-grass discharge passage, and this rear scroll guide member has upper and lower flanges together defining a channel-shaped concave portion for insertion and retention therein of a front end portion of a bottom plate that closes the bottom of the cut-grass discharge passage. Back plate is provided adjacent and along the width of an exit of the cut-grass discharge passage, and this back plate has a locking hole. The bottom plate has, on its rear end portion, a projection for fitting engagement with the locking hole of the back plate. Thus, the bottom plate is secured to the body of the housing with the front end portion inserted in the concave portion of the rear scroll guide member and the projection on the rear end portion fitted in the locking hole of the back plate. Such arrangements can facilitate the mounting of the bottom plate and thus can reduce the overall cost of the housing.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an improved housing structure for use in lawn mowers of a type which includes a cut-grass discharge passage extending from a cutter blade housing for discharging the cut grass from the cutter blade housing and a separate or discrete bottom plate closing the bottom of the cut-grass discharge passage.
2. Description of the Related Art:
Housing structures for lawn mowers are known, for example, from Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. SHO-63-61223 and Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI-1-218509 which both disclose so-called walking-type lawn mowers. More specifically, Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. SHO-63-61223 shows that a bottom plate of a cut-grass discharge passage is secured to a cutter blade housing by means of screws, and Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI-1-218509 shows that the cut-grass discharge passage has a relatively great level difference on the upper or inner surface of the bottom plate at a portion near an exit (i.e., cut-grass discharge opening) of the passage.
However, with the walking-type lawn mower disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese utility model laid-open publication, relatively troublesome and difficult operations are required for screwing the bottom plate to the cutter blade housing. If any one of the screws to be used for screwing the bottom plate is lost, the bottom plate can not be properly secured to the cutter blade housing, and thus management of parts has to be performed in an appropriate manner. Further, with the walking-type lawn mower disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese patent laid-open publication, the level difference on the bottom plate near the cut-grass discharge opening would collide with the cut grass and thereby considerably hinder the cut grass from being discharged smoothly through the discharge passage.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a housing structure for a lawn mower which can greatly facilitate mounting of a bottom plate of a cut-grass discharge passage and also allows the cut grass to be smoothly discharged through the cut-grass discharge passage without being hindered by the bottom plate.
In order to accomplish the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an improved housing structure for use in a lawn mower, which comprises: a cut-grass discharge passage for discharging cut grass from a cutter blade housing accommodating a cutter blade, the cut-grass discharge passage having a bottom closed with a discrete bottom plate; a bridge member disposed adjacent and along a width of an entrance of the cut-grass discharge passage and having a concave portion for insertion and retention therein of a front end portion of the bottom plate, the concave portion being defined by upper and lower flanges of the bridge member; and a back plate disposed adjacent and along a width of an exit of the cut-grass discharge passage and having a locking recess or hole, the bottom plate having, on a rear end portion thereof, a projection for fitting engagement with the locking recess or hole of the back plate. In the present invention, the bottom plate is secured to the body of the housing with the front end portion inserted in the concave portion of the bridge member and the projection on the rear end portion fitted in the locking recess or hole of the back plate.
As with the conventional lawn mowers, the cut-grass discharge passage is provided, in the inventive housing structure, for discharging the cut grass cut from the cutter blade housing accommodating the cutter blade, and the bottom of this cut-grass discharge passage is closed with the discrete bottom plate. For mounting the bottom plate, the bridge member is provided adjacent and along the horizontal width of the entrance of the cut-grass discharge passage, and this bridge member has upper and lower flanges together defining a channel-shaped concave portion for insertion and retention therein of the front end portion of the bottom plate. The back plate having the locking hole is provided adjacent and along the horizontal width of the exit of the cut-grass discharge passage. On the rear end portion of the bottom plate, there is formed the projection for fitting engagement with the locking hole of the back plate. In this invention, the bottom plate is secured to the body of the housing with the front end portion inserted in the concave portion of the bridge member and the projection on the rear end portion fitted in the locking hole of the back plate. Such arrangements can greatly facilitate the mounting of the bottom plate and thus can reduce the overall cost of the housing.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the front end portion of the bottom plate has a depressed surface area for reception and retention therein of the upper flange of the bridge member in such a manner that the upper surface of the upper flange received in the depressed surface area lies flush with the upper surface of the bottom plate other than the depressed surface area. When the bottom plate is mounted to the body of the housing, the upper surfaces of the upper flange of the bridge member and the bottom plate lie flush with each other with no level difference therebetween that would collide with and thus prevent the cut grass from being discharged smoothly, so that appropriate and smooth discharge of the cut grass through the discharge passage can be achieved by the present invention.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the housing has an upper rear end recess formed by recessing at least an upper rear end edge of a portion of the housing that extends as an extension of a ceiling portion of the cut-grass discharge passage, and an upper rear end edge region of the ceiling portion adjacent the upper rear end recess is formed as a reinforcing bent portion of a dogleg sectional shape in order to reinforce the thus-recessed upper rear end edge of the housing. The upper rear end recess, thus formed by recessing at least the upper rear end edge of a portion of the housing, allows the cut grass to be discharged smoothly without hitting the above-mentioned upper rear end edge of the housing. Further, the upper rear edge region of the ceiling portion adjacent the upper rear end recess is formed as the reinforcing bent portion that serves to reinforce the thus-recessed upper rear end edge of the housing. Thus, the present invention permits smooth discharge of the cut grass while still maintaining the necessary mechanical strength of the housing.


Methods and system for preventing or allowing an installer application from installing applications based on a comparison of the installer application actions to profiles and rules. The profiles and rules are established (and periodically updated) to identify a particular software installation process as undesirable and stop, it from occurring. An install blocker processes the profiles and rules and compares them against what the installer is trying to do as part of its installation process. If the installer is attempting to install an application deemed undesirable, the user could then be notified, provided all of the information about what the installer was trying to do, and provided choice to allow the installation to continue.

Desktop applications now often come with other pieces of "bundled" software that the user may have no knowledge of or interest in. An application the user is knowingly installing may well require the functionality of the bundled software, such as a game requiring a specific media player or operating system (OS) components. Such bundled software is usually acceptable to users because the software does not pose any security threats, etc. However, some bundled software is often being placed on the user's machine for someone else's benefit, such as an adware or spyware company. This type of software is not desirable.
Applications exist that detect adware or spyware, however, they only detect such adware and spyware after it has been installed on a user's computer. Thus, a user's computer is vulnerable to the ill effects of the adware and software until scanned by a detection/removal application. Another problem is that the detection/removal software often does not completely remove the adware or spyware.
There already exist a class of applications that try to detect and prevent computer viruses by looking for specific behaviors and attributes of virus software. However, there is a need for a similar type of software can protect user's computers from unwanted bundled software.

Systems and methods for selectively blocking application installation


According to one embodiment, a liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate including a transmissive pixel electrode disposed in a transmissive display area, and a reflective pixel electrode with a planar plate shape which is disposed in a reflective display area, a second substrate including a common electrode, a liquid crystal layer being configured to have a less thickness in the reflective display area than in the transmissive display area, to impart a phase difference of ¼ wavelength to light passing at an OFF time in the reflective display area, and to impart no phase difference to light passing at an ON time in the reflective display area, and a retardation plate disposed between a second polarizer and the second substrate in the reflective display area.

In recent years, flat-panel display devices have been vigorously developed. By virtue of such advantageous features as light weight, small thickness and low power consumption, special attention has been paid to liquid crystal display devices among others. In particular, in active matrix liquid crystal display devices in which switching elements are incorporated in respective pixels, attention is paid to the configuration which makes use of a lateral electric field (including a fringe electric field), such as an IPS (In-Plane Switching) mode or an FFS (Fringe Field Switching) mode. Such a liquid crystal display device of the lateral electric field mode includes pixel electrodes and a counter-electrode, which are formed on an array substrate, and liquid crystal molecules are switched by a lateral electric field which is substantially parallel to a major surface of the array substrate.
On the other hand, there has been proposed a technique of switching liquid crystal molecules by producing a lateral electric field or an oblique electric field between pixel electrodes formed on the array substrate and a counter-electrode formed on the counter-substrate.
The power consumption of the liquid crystal display device increases as the screen size becomes larger. This is a factor of limiting the time of use, for example, when the liquid crystal display device is mounted on a portable electronic apparatus.


A fuel injector for fuel injection systems of internal combustion engines includes a guide disk provided upstream from a valve seat which fulfills several functions by means of special integration of design measures. In addition to guiding an axially movable valve needle, the guide disk also takes on a filter function. For this purpose, filter openings which do not allow solid particles with dimensions>60 .mu.m to pass through are made in the guide disk. The fuel injector is particularly suitable for use in fuel injection systems of mixture-compressing, outside-ignition internal combustion engines.

From International Application No. WO 93/18299, a fuel injector is described which has a valve seat element on which a guide element rests. This element possesses a central passage opening through which a valve needle can move axially. Outside of this central passage opening, a plurality of passage openings is produced in the guide element to permit flow through the element which are circular and uniformly arranged in the guide element in a circular shape. At the upstream face of the guide element, a thin filter element is formed as an additional component. In a center, ring-shaped filter zone, countless circular filter openings are provided. The filter element completely covers the guide element with its passage holes. Each of these two components fulfills a function which plays no role in the other component in each instance.


A construction platform for the additive manufacturing of a component, in particular from a superalloy, wherein the construction platform has a surface region that is produced by an additive manufacturing method, wherein the additive manufacturing method is a beam melting or beam welding method. A construction platform is used as a substrate for the additive manufacturing of a component, in particular from a superalloy. A method includes the additive manufacturing of the construction platform, wherein a surface region of the construction platform is produced by a beam melting or beam welding method.

Generative or additive manufacturing methods comprise beam melting and/or beam welding methods, for example. The beam melting methods include, in particular, selective laser melting (SLM) or electron beam melting (EBM). The stated beam welding methods include, for example, electron beam welding or laser deposition welding (LMD), in particular laser powder deposition welding.
Additive fabrication or manufacturing methods have proved to be particularly advantageous for complex components or ones of complicated or delicate design, for example labyrinth-type structures, cooling structures and/or lightweight structures. In particular, additive manufacturing is advantageous, in particular through a particularly short chain of process steps, since a step of manufacturing or fabricating a component can occur directly on the basis of a corresponding CAD file.
Furthermore, additive fabrication is particularly advantageous for the development or production of prototypes which, for example for cost reasons, cannot be produced, or cannot be efficiently produced, by means of conventional subtractive or material-removing methods or casting technology.
A problem which is observed in the field of additive fabrication, in particular in the processing of high-performance materials by means of beam melting and/or beam welding methods, is that the formation or composition of a deposited material path or trace is dependent on the nature of the corresponding substrate. In particular, a penetration depth of a deposited welding trace (welding bead) can depend on the chemical and/or physical properties of the substrate material at the corresponding point.
Substrates for the described additive manufacturing methods are usually produced by means of fine casting technology. In the field of the additive fabrication of turbine parts, in particular from high-performance materials, such as superalloys, the corresponding substrate materials advantageously likewise comprise high-temperature-resistant or high-heat-resistant materials, for example superalloys.
However, the stated dependency of the deposition result on the substrate composition is particularly problematic in the processing of materials for turbine parts in which even very small traces or impurities can destroy the desired properties of the component to be additively manufactured or built up. For example, even small quantities of oxygen or other elements, which diffuse, for example, during the manufacture at an interface between the substrate and the component into said component, can prevent the formation of desired or required material phases, such as the γ or γ′ phase of a nickel- or a cobalt-based superalloy.
The stated variation in the composition of the substrate can be production-related, and thus uncontrollable. In particular, with regard to the reproducibility of the manufacturing result, this constitutes a large hurdle which means an increased outlay on development and/or an increased cost and time expenditure, for example for finding parameters.

Building platform for additive manufacturing, and method


An impact hammer (1) for breaking a working surface (5), the hammer including a drive mechanism (11, 12, 14) and a housing (6) with an inner containment surface (8) and a reciprocating hammer weight (9). A reciprocation cycle of the hammer weight (9) includes an upstroke and a down-stroke, the hammer weight (9) respectively moving upwards and downwards. On the down-stroke the hammer weight (9) impacts a striker pin (4) with a driven end (17) and a working surface impact end (18). A vacuum chamber (22) in the housing is formed by the containment surface (8), upper vacuum sealing (24) coupled to the hammer weight (9) and lower vacuum sealing (25). The hammer weight (9) is driven toward the striker pin (4) by the pressure differential between atmosphere and the vacuum chamber (22) formed on the upstroke. A down-stroke vent (43) permits fluid egress from the vacuum chamber (22) on the down-stroke.

Gravity impact hammers are primarily designed for surface breaking of exposed rock, concrete or other material and generally consist of a mass capable of being raised to a height within a housing or guide before release. The mass falls under gravity to strike a surface to be broken, either directly (thus protruding through an aperture in the hammer housing) or indirectly via a striker pin.
The present invention is discussed herein with respect to rock breaking devices invented by the present inventor including the devices described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,363,835, 8,037,946, 7,980,240, 8,181,716 and PCT publication number WO2014/013466. These publications describe a rock-breaking hammer with a mass capable of being raised to a height within a housing before release to drop and impact one end of a 'striker pin' or other tool which transmits the force to the rock or item to be broken.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,407,017, 7,331,405 and 4,383,363, also by the present inventor, respectively feature an impact hammer lock, drive mechanism and rock breaking apparatus for a driven hammer which comprises a unitary weight within a housing that is raised and dropped to impact a surface with additional impetus added by a drive-down mechanism.
The term gravity drop hammer or impact hammer is thus used herein to encompass powered impact hammers in addition to those powered solely by gravity. The aforementioned references are incorporated herein by reference.
The present inventor was able to improve the performance of the above-referenced impact hammers through use of the 'cushioning slides' described in PCT publication number WO2014/013466. The cushioning slides were fitted in the hammer between the mass and housing and include a low-friction outer layer contacting the housing inner walls and cushioning inner layer against the mass.
The aforementioned cushioning slides have been found to reduce frictional losses, enable the hammer drive mechanism to lift a heavier mass and, in the case of a drive down hammer, drive the weight downwards with reduced friction, with a commensurate improvement in impact energy.
Moreover, the reduction in shock load applied to the apparatus because of the shock absorbing inner layer enables either an extension in the working life of the apparatus or the ability to manufacture a housing with a lighter, cheaper construction. The use of the aforementioned cushioning slide also enables apparatus to be manufactured to wider tolerances, thereby reducing costs further. It may thus be desirable to incorporate the advantages of the cushioning slides in a vacuum driven impact hammer.
Impact hammers such as gravity drop hammers (as described in the applicant's own prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,363,835, 8,037,946 and 7,980,240) are primarily utilised for breaking exposed surface rock. These hammers generally consist of a striker pin which extends outside a nose cone positioned at the end of a housing which contains a heavy hammer weight. In use, the lower end of the striker pin is placed on a rock and the hammer weight subsequently allowed to fall under gravity from a raised position to impact onto the upper end of the striker pin, which in turn transfers the impact forces to the rock.
The term 'striker pin' refers to any elements acting as a conduit to transfer the kinetic energy of the moving mass to the rock or working surface. Preferably, the striker pin comprises an elongate element with two opposed ends, one end (generally located internally in the housing) being the driving end which is driven by impulse provided by collisions from the hammer weight, the other end being an impact end (external to the housing) which is placed on the working surface to be impacted. The striker pin may be configured to be any suitable shape or size.
Elevated stress levels are generated throughout the entire hammer apparatus and associated supporting machinery (e.g. an excavator, known as a carrier) by the high impact forces associated with such breaking actions. U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,835 discloses an apparatus for mitigating the impact forces from such operations by using a unitary shock absorbing means in conjunction with a retainer supporting a striker pin within the nose cone. It is thus desirable to incorporate the advantages of such shock absorbers in a vacuum-assisted impact hammer.
Accumulators are well known apparatus used in a variety of engineering fields as a means by which energy can be stored and are sometimes used to convert a small continuous power source into a short surge of energy or vice versa. Accumulators may be electrical, fluidic or mechanical and may take the form of a rechargeable battery or a hydraulic accumulator, capacitor, compulsator, steam accumulator, wave energy machine, pumped-storage hydroelectric plant or the like.
Hydraulic accumulators are produced in numerous forms including piston accumulators, bladder accumulators, diaphragm accumulators, weighted and spring-loaded accumulators. One of the primary tasks of hydraulic accumulators is to hold specific volumes of pressurized fluids of a hydraulic system and to return them to the system on demand. However, hydraulic accumulators may also be configured to perform a plurality of tasks including, energy storage, impact, vibration and pulsation damping, energy recovery, volumetric flow compensation, and the like.
Most accumulators are primarily directed at improving consistency of power output by taking some of the peak power of a cyclic operation and re-introducing it into portions of the cycle with a lower-power availability. However, this does not assist in cyclic operations with the converse requirements, i.e. cyclic operations with non-constant power requirements. In particular, most accumulators do not assist in cyclic operations such as impact hammers where there may be unutilised available power during portions of the cycle, whilst additional power is highly desirable at other portions of the cycle. PCT publication no WO/2013/054262 by the present inventor describes an accumulator designed to store excess available energy on one part of the impact hammer's cycle and release on the down-stroke of the impact hammer, greatly increasing the force applied.
It would be desirable to utilise the performance benefits of a vacuum assistance system in an impact hammer and in conjunction with one or more of the features in the aforementioned referenced publications.
All references, including any patents or patent applications cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinence of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein; this reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents form part of the common general knowledge in the art, in New Zealand or in any other country.
It is acknowledged that the term 'comprise' may, under varying jurisdictions, be attributed with either an exclusive or an inclusive meaning. For the purpose of this specification, and unless otherwise noted, the term 'comprise' shall have an inclusive meaning—i.e. that it will be taken to mean an inclusion of not only the listed components it directly references, but also other non-specified components or elements. This rationale will also be used when the term 'comprised' or 'comprising' is used in relation to one or more steps in a method or process.
It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing problems or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.


An induction-heated mold, including at least one lower portion and one upper portion defining a cavity inside of which a molding material is to be brought to a temperature Ttr greater than 20° C., which is introduced and then shaped, at least one of the mold portions having an area for transferring heat with the molding material, the heat transfer area including at least one sub-area consisting of at least one ferromagnetic material the Curie point Tc of which is between 20 and 800° C. and which is in contact with the molding material and/or with a non-ferromagnetic coating having a thermal conductivity greater than 30 W.m−1.K−1. A method for manufacturing a plastic or composite material product via of the molds according to the invention.

It is known that it is highly favorable to use a molding method applying heating by electromagnetic induction, notably for rapidly and efficiently heating plastic or composite materials which have to be shaped, but also for heating parts in metals or metal alloys before stamping them and quenching them in the tool.
According to such an induction-heating method, the molding device comprises inductors through which flows a medium frequency current igen delivered by a power generator and generating a variable electromagnetic field over time. This variable field is at the basis of the well known phenomenon of electromagnetic induction: when applied to a current conducting material, it creates a variable magnetic flux over time and an induced voltage in the conducting material, which in turn generates induced currents at the surface of the conducting metal, over a depth called the skin thickness δ and given by the relationship:
  δ  =            2              μ        ·        σ        ·        ω
wherein μ is the magnetic permeability of the material with μ=μ0.μr, σ is the electric conductivity of the material (reciprocal of the electric resistivity Rel), ω is the angular frequency and is equal to 2.π.f wherein f is the frequency of the excitation current and of the generated magnetic field.
When the conducting material is not ferromagnetic, the value of μr is close to 1 and the skin thickness is given by the relationship:
      δ    amagn    =      500                      Rel        f
For this purpose, the material induction-heating method is known from FR 2 867 939 which describes a mold with which the precursor material which will assume its definitive properties after heat treatment, may be received in a cavity. Supplying the inductor with a medium frequency electrical current generates induced currents in the skin thickness of an intermediate part in contact with the material to be heated, which limits the volume of the part of the mold, which has to be heated.
Moreover, inside this intermediate element, blocks of inserts made from materials having distinct electric resistivities or magnetic permeabilities may be positioned in order to obtain different surface temperatures.

Mold, method for manufacturing a mold and method for manufacturing a plastic or composite material product by means of said mold


An information handling system includes a processor, a controller hub, a shared higher bandwidth path coupling the processor to the controller hub, and an exclusive lower bandwidth path coupling the processor to the controller hub. The processor communicates system management information over the bandwidth path in response to a first set of criteria and communicates the information over the lower bandwidth path in response to the second set of criteria.

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an information handling system. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements can vary between different applications, information handling systems can also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information can be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems can include a variety of hardware and software components that can be configured to process, store, and communicate information and can include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Energy efficiency and responsiveness to environmental conditions are factors in modern computing platforms. However, approaches to furthering such factors may not work harmoniously together under all conditions. Efforts to communicate system management information, which may be used, for example, to enhance responsiveness to environmental conditions, may impair, or be impaired by, techniques for increasing energy efficiency.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.

Dynamic system management communication path selection


A probe assembly provides the capability to test integrated circuit (IC) packages mounted onto ball grid arrays. The probe assembly comprises a ball grid probe having connectors mounted onto opposite sides of a circuit board. A first BGA header is mounted to one side of the probe while a first BGA socket is mounted to the other side of the probe. The socket is adapted to receive an integrated circuit which is mounted onto a second BGA header. A second BGA socket is mounted to a printed circuit board and is adapted to receive the ball grid probe via the first BGA header. An interconnection device is provided to electrically couple the ball grid probe to a number of test instruments.

Ball grid array (BGA) is fast becoming the package of choice in the surface mount technology arena. BGAs offer many advantages over standard fine-pitch surface mount and pin grid array technologies. These advantages include reduced placement problems since BGAs are self-centering, reduced handling issues because there are no leads to damage, lower profile and higher interconnect density. There is, however, a significant drawback with BGA technology: the lack of established BGA test accessories and procedures.
Electronic test instruments (e.g., oscilloscope, logic analyzer, emulator) are used to analyze various electrical aspects of the IC including voltage and current waveforms. Typically, a loaded printed circuit board is crowded with various electrical components, including multiple IC packages. Due to the close spacing of components on the board (i.e., high "board density") it is often difficult to electrically connect the ICs to the test instrument. BGAs only exacerbate this problem since there are no "leads" to access for testing purposes.

Method and apparatus for connecting a ball grid array device to a test instrument to facilitate the monitoring of individual signals or the interruption of individual signals or both


This invention is an improved mild personal cleansing syndet bar comprising: long chain synthetic surfactant having essentially saturated C.sub.15 -C.sub.22, preferably C.sub.16 -C.sub.18, alkyl or acyl chains, more preferably cetearyl sulfate; a high lathering, mild synthetic surfactant, preferably C.sub.12 -C.sub.14 acyl isethionate; soap; fatty acids; sodium isethionate; and paraffin wax, preferably a high melting point paraffin wax. The bar has improved processability, good smears, and good in-use properties without meaningful lather negatives.

"Soap, since its appearance in history, has helped safeguard two of our greatest treasures: our health and our children. Health is directly related to cleanliness. Data proves that the higher the consumption of soap in a country, the lower will be the infant mortality rate.
"In industralized countries, soap is the most-taken-for-granted and readily available personal care product used on our body daily. Soap is also the most inexpensive product we use in relation to its per use cost. In many less fortunate countries both laundry and toilet soaps are still scarce, expensive essentials . . . .
"Soap is most probably the oldest of toiletries, and, in spite of being readily available in most parts of the world, it is still scarce in many countries. The oldest literary reference to soap relates to the washing of wool and is found in clay Sumarian tablets dating about 2500 B.C.E. Sumerian was a language spoken in the area of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, now Southern Iraq. The patriarch Abraham and his family came from Sumer. Another Sumerian tablet, dating 2200 B.C.E. gives the formula consisting of water, alkali and cassia oil.
"Cleanliness is essential to our well being. A clean body, clean bath, clean home, and clean environment are the norm today." (Soap Technology for the 1990's, L. Spitz et al., American Oil Chemists' Society, Champaign, Ill., pp. 1-2) This reference discusses syndet and combo bars, particularly on pp. 209-229.
Synthetic surfactant-based personal cleansing bars have attracted much interest recently because they can be selected to be milder to the skin than soap-based products. This mildness, however, comes with negatives to both the manufacturer and the consumer. The bar soap manufacturer experiences difficult processability due to the sticky nature of such products, as well as high raw material costs. The consumer experiences the negative performance properties of poor lather, messy smear, bar softness, and consequently, high wear rates.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,988,511, Mills and Korpi, issued Jun. 13, 1961, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a milled detergent bar with at least 75% by weight of: (1) 15%-55% of anionic sulfuric reaction products which do not hydrolyze unduly, said salts being selected from sodium and potassium salts, and said anionic organic sulfuric reaction products containing at least 50% alkyl glyceryl ether sulfonates, 10%-30% of which are alkyl diglyceryl ether sulfonates, the alkyl radicals containing 10-20 carbon atoms; (2) 5%-50% soap; and (3) 20%-70% of a binder material selected from freshly precipitated calcium soaps of fatty acids having 10-18 carbon atoms, freshly precipitated magnesium soap, starch, normally solid waxy materials which will become plastic under conditions encountered in the milling of soap. Paraffin is not mentioned in Mills et al. '511.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,525, Small et al., issued Jun. 16, 1987, discloses mild personal cleansing bars based on selected mild surfactant; moisturizer; 0%-5% polymeric skin mildness aid; and some soap. This patent goes a long way in providing a practical mild personal cleansing bar; but some processing problems have been experienced due to the sticky nature of some of the preferred ingredients.
The use of paraffin wax in synthetic surfactant-based bars, per se, is known. However, the known bars suffer from a combination of harshness and/or lather deficiencies. E.g., U.S. Pat. No. 2,653,913, van Dijck et al., issued Sep. 29, 1953, discloses bars comprising 80% synthetic anionic surfactant (selected from sodium secondary or primary alkyl sulfates or sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate), 18% paraffin, melting point (M.P.) 140.degree.-150.degree. F., and 2% sodium alginate. The surfactants employed are non-mild surfactants.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,734,870, Lewis, issued Feb. 14, 1956, discloses bars comprising 40-60% paraffin (M.P.>125.degree. F.), 2-5% fatty acid, and 60-40% sodium alkyl aryl sulfonate. The high level of paraffin in these bars results in unacceptably low lather.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,129,187, Meehan, issued Apr. 14, 1964, discloses bars comprising 50-75% sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate, 5-35% stearyl alcohol, 1-25% paraffin (M.P. 125.degree.-170.degree. F.), and 2-25% stearyl MEA. The harsh surfactants employed would result in harsh products.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,105, O'Roark, issued Apr. 24, 1979, discloses bars comprising 20-40% synthetic anionic surfactant (composed of sodium cocoyl isethionate and/or sodium lauryl sulfoacetate), 10-30% paraffin (M.P. 130.degree.-140.degree. F.), 5-15% powdered starch, 10-30% dextrin and 5% fatty acid. The low melting point of the wax employed would cause a substantial soil load on the lather potential and result in poor lather volumes. The synbars of the present invention are preferably free of dextrin and powdered starch.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,025, Barker et al., issued Jun. 15, 1982, discloses a process for making syndet bars containing a "waxy extender."

Mild personal cleansing bar composition with balanced surfactants, fatty acids, and paraffin wax


A hot pad assembly for pedicure comprises a hot pad comprising means for absorbing heat and releasing heat over a period of time, a hot pad attachment means to secure the hot pad around the knee, a hot pad cover shaped to fit and cover the hot pad having a plurality of means for securing the hot pad assembly around the shin and calf, and a leg cover for being placed between the leg and the pad cover having the hot pad therein. A beauty product is applied to the leg and the leg cover encloses the product and the leg together to improve the effectiveness of the beauty care product with the help of heat transfer from the hot pad.

The present invention relates to a hot pad assembly 10 for pedicure. More particularly, this invention relates to a hot pad assembly 10 secured to a person's leg for pedicure, which keeps a leg warm during a pedicure, wherein the assembly 10 comprises a hot pad 30, a hot pad attachment means 36, 38, a pad cover 50 and a leg cover 80.
A pedicure is a cosmetic care or treatment of the feet and their nails. The steps for pedicure may involve the treatment of the whole foot wherein the foot is generally treated through the application of creams, lotions, hot wax, skin-conditioning softeners, or other beauty products.
Keeping a leg and foot warm is known to be effective in facilitating comfort and relaxation and keeping blood flowing freely, which are the key to better results for pedicure. Pedicure spas have been used for such treatment and comfort of the feet of a person in the steps for pedicure. However, spar treatment has to be separated from other steps of pedicure and the time lag between the spar treatment and other steps reduces the effectiveness of the spar treatment.
Accordingly, a need for a hot pad assembly secured to a person's leg for pedicure has been present for a long time given the lack of method to keep a leg warm and applying other steps of pedicure at the same time. This invention is directed to solve these problems and satisfy the long-felt need.


A method for transferring data from a large capacity data storage device to a host machine. The method requires the attachment of a plurality of SRAM memory blocks to an optical disk reader. Each SRAM memory block is used as temporary storage area got a sector of data so that data can be proofread one sector at a time. As soon as the entire sector is checked and corrected, the error-free data is transferred to an external DRAM memory. Thereafter, correct data can be read from the DRAM by the host machine at any time. The internal SRAM memory serves as a buffer holding sectors of data so that error detection and error correction of individual sector can be carried out. Additionally, the external DRAM memory serves as a buffer holding the correct data for the host machine.

This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 88106099, filed Apr. 16, 1999, the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method of reading data from a large capacity data storage device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of transferring checked and corrected data from a large capacity data storage device to a host machine.
2. Description of Related Art
An optical disk is a storage medium that can register vast amounts of data. In general, an optical disk is divided into many basic storage units known as sectors or blocks. Besides storing actual data, each sector of an optical disk also registers some control data, error detection code (ETC.) AND error correction code (ECC). Before data is read from each sector by a computer system, error detection and correction of the sector data need to be carried out using the error detection code and the error correction code stored within the sector itself. Sector data should be read by a host system only when the sector data is error-free.
FIGS. 1A through 1C are a sequence of steps showing conventional error detection and error correction activities before data is read from an optical disk. In conventional technology, data in each optical disk sector are first read out and temporarily stored in an external DRAM 100 (outside the optical disk control unit). The host machine reads those data from the DRAM 100 only when the data are checked and shown to be error-free using the error detection code and the error correction code. The process of error detection and correction demands that the host machine divide the external DRAM 100 into several blocks such as 100a, 100b and 100c each of the same size according to the optical disk format. By configuring the external memory 100 into a suitable data format, the error detection code and the error correction code can be easily found. The DRAM 100 contains a buffer pointer (buff_ptr) that points to the address of the next available slot for storing a new sector of data. When the host machine starts to read data sector-by-sector from a CD/DVD-ROM disk through an optical disk system, sector data S0 and S1 are stored in the contiguous blocks 100a and 100b of the DRAM 100 according to the address indicated by the buffer pointer buff_ptr. Once sector data such as S1 are stored in memory block 100b, error detection and error correction for the sector data S0 can begin according to the error detection code and error correction code within the sector data S0. As soon as data detection and data correction of the sector data S0 is finished, the correct sector data are available for the host machine. Similarly, other sector data from the optical disk must go through the aforementioned process using a pipeline operation.
However, a portion of the external memory space (DRAM 100) is needed just to hold the sector data temporarily so that error detection and error correction can be carried out. Therefore, the operating bandwidth of the external memory is likely to be reduced resulting in lower system efficiency. In addition, each sector data to be read must go through the above pipeline operation. When some of the sector data requires longer period for error detection and correction, further deterioration of DRAM""s working efficiency may occur, leading to a slowdown of reading operation. Furthermore, optical disk systems having ever-increasing speed are now being developed. Thus, the current frequency bandwidth of external DRAM may not be wide enough to provide the necessary capacity for detecting and correcting each sector data. Hence, error detection and correction capacity will be severely restricted in the future.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need to provide a method for transferring correct data from a large capacity data storage device to a host machine.
Accordingly, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a method of transferring data from a large capacity data storage device. The method includes adding some memory space inside the device for dealing with error detection and correction of sector data. Therefore, error detection and correction of data no longer has to be conducted inside system DRAM, and workload of system DRAM is reduced.
In another aspect, the invention provides a method for transferring data from a large capacity data storage device. The method includes adding some memory space inside the device for dealing with error detection and correction of sector data. Since additional memory for error detection and correction activities is reserved inside the device, the rate of error detection and correction is increased.
One further aspect of the invention is to provide method of transferring data from a large capacity data storage device. The method includes adding some memory space inside the device for dealing with error detection and correction of sector data. Since additional memory for error detection and correction activities is reserved inside the device, a faster optical disk system can be accommodated by a host machine.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the invention provides a method of transferring data from a large capacity data storage device to a host machine. The method includes reading a plurality of sector data from a storage medium into the large capacity data storage device. Then, the data from various data sectors are stored in contiguous address space inside a first memory, where the first memory resides in the control system of the large capacity data storage device. Next, error detection and error correction of the data inside the first memory are carried out in sequence, a sector of data at a time. After error detection and correction from a particular data sector is finished, the correct data is transferred to a second memory. The second memory is an independent storage medium outside the large capacity storage device control system. Finally, the host machine can read correct data from the second memory.
Capacity of the first memory depends on the amount of error detection and error correction inside the large capacity storage device. In addition, because the first memory is used for error detection and error correction, a faster operating type of memory such as the static random access memory (SRAM) can be used. Additionally, since the second memory is the host memory, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) can be used.
Furthermore, the invention also provides a control system for controlling the transfer of data between a large capacity data storage device and a host machine. The control system of the large capacity data storage device includes a control unit for controlling the large capacity data storage device; an internal memory having a plurality of memory blocks for storing several sectors of data read out by the large capacity data storage device from a data storage medium; an error detection and correction circuit coupled to the internal memory for detecting and correcting various data errors inside each memory block, wherein the correct data are immediately transferred to the host memory; and a microprocessor coupled to the error detection and correction circuit, the control unit and the internal memory via a bus channel, where the microprocessor is used for controlling the control unit. The internal memory can be SRAM and the capacity of the internal memory can be designed to fit the operational requirements of error detection and correction. The system memory can be DRAM.
The SRAM internal memory is a buffer for carrying out the necessary proofreading operations of each data sector, whereas the DRAM system memory is just a buffer for holding the corrected data. Therefore, error detection and correction of the data in each sector does not increase the memory occupancy of the DRAM. Furthermore, by employing faster SRAM memory inside the large capacity storage device, the speed of error detection and correction can be increased.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

Method of transferring data from large capacity data storage device


A semiconductor magnetoresistive sensor and a method for its assembly is specifically provided. The preferred assembly method of this invention is compatible with automated semiconductor chip placement and packaging technology, so as to alleviate the previous requirement that the semiconductor sensing element be separately packaged. The sensor leads are substantially embedded within a powdered metal permanent magnet body. An exposed terminal end of each lead is available for electrical and adhesive contact to a subsequently attached magnetoresistive semiconductor sensing element, using conventional semiconductor placement and packaging techniques. The powdered metal magnetic body is preferably formed by utilizing powder metal compaction techniques, wherein the powder metal is compacted around the interior electrical leads. The teachings of this invention may also be employed to form a variety of electrical sensors and devices, wherein the leads are substantially embedded within a metal core so as to produce a solid assembly. The embedded leads may have a variety of shapes, such as straight or coiled, may range in number from one to a plurality, and may have a variety of physical properties, such as magnetic or non-magnetic, depending on the desired application.

The requirement for sensing position, speed or acceleration is growing, particularly in the automotive field. Anti-lock braking systems, traction control systems, electric power steering, four-wheel steering and throttle control are all examples of functions that can use such sensing means.
For such applications, it is desirable to have a position sensor, wherein speed and acceleration may be derived from a position signal. Such a sensor should be rugged and reliable, small and inexpensive, capable of low (including zero) speed sensing and relatively immune to noise, such as electromagnetic field interference, from the other systems used in an automobile.
A commonly known type of position sensor is a semiconductor magnetoresistive sensor. Such a sensor comprises a magnetic circuit that includes two basic parts. One of these parts, typically kept stationary, includes a semiconductive sensing element that is sensitive to the level of magnetic flux density passing through its surface. This stationary element further includes a permanent magnet for creating a bias flux. The other of the two parts, commonly referred to as the exciter, includes a high magnetic permeability element with a series of teeth that moves with relation to the stationary element. As the teeth move past the stationary element, the reluctance of the magnetic circuit and the magnetic flux density through the sensing element vary continually, corresponding to the relative position of the teeth.
An illustrative example of such a semiconductor magnetoresistive sensor is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,122 to Schroeder et al. entitled, "High Sensitivity Magnetic Circuit," issued May 15, 1990 and assigned to the same assignee of the present patent application. The Schroeder sensor features a simple, planar geometry that makes it amenable for batch processing at a relatively low cost, while still providing sensitivities which are appreciably higher than the prior art structures. The Schroeder sensor more than satisfactorily meets the objectives of such a sensor.
However, as the use of these semiconductor magnetic position and speed sensors is increased, it would be desirable to further reduce the cost of the sensor, so as to make it even more attractive for automotive use. As with many other types of semiconductor devices, the cost of packaging the magnetic semiconductor chip into a magnetic position sensor generally exceeds the cost of the semiconductor chip itself, often by a factor of many times. Accordingly, it would appear that a substantial cost saving could be realized by the use of a lower cost package.
For best sensor performance in this type of magnetoresistive sensor which contains a small permanent magnet in addition to the semiconductor chip, the semiconductor chip should be attached directly to the surface of the permanent magnet. Currently, in order to accomplish this, the packaging process involves both macroelectronic assembly techniques for construction of the sensor body housing the permanent magnet, and microelectronic assembly techniques for attachment of the semiconductor chip. Generally, these two assembly techniques are relatively incompatible because of the extreme difference in dimensions for each of the operations and, therefore, cannot be performed concurrently. Thus, the sensor manufacturers typically employ a two-step packaging process. First, the semiconductor chip is packaged as a semiconductor device using microelectronic packaging technology. Then, the packaged device is repackaged by the sensor manufacturer into the resultant sensor for the particular application.
A significant shortcoming associated with this current packaging approach is that it suffers from too many steps and components. In addition, the thickness of the packaged semiconductor sensing element is significantly larger than that of the active components within the sensor. This is disadvantageous in that the thickness of the sensing element requires that the permanent magnet be positioned farther from the toothed exciter wheel, and the farther apart the permanent magnet and the exciter wheel, the weaker the magnetic field in the air-gap therebetween. Thus, the sensitivity of the sensor is diminished. Also, because of the unnecessarily large size of the packaged semiconductor element, intricate sensor geometries which would make high resolution and/or miniature applications possible cannot be considered.
Therefore, it would be desirable to utilize semiconductor chip packaging technology, which is highly accurate and automated, for the production of these and other types of sensors. The use of semiconductor packaging techniques would result in a package of reduced size, and probably also reduced cost, as compared to conventional techniques for manufacturing these types of sensors. In order to utilize semiconductor packaging techniques, the permanent magnet and the sensor terminals should be provided in a form which is compatible with the placement and bonding equipment used to attach the semiconductor sensing element to the sensor body.

Sensor assembly having embedded wires within a powder metal core and a method therefor


The invention concerns an asynchronous state machine with a programmable tSKEW which may be used to generate a half-empty and half-full flags in a synchronous FIFO buffer. The present invention may reduce the delay associated in producing the half-full or half-empty flags from a typical eight gate delays, to as little as no gate delays. The reduction may be accomplished by using a first state machine which can make an internal flag go low, or active, and a second state machine which can make the internal flag go high, or inactive. The functioning of the first and second state machines may be controlled by a blocking logic. The output of each of the state machines may be stored in a latch. The output of the latch may be presented to an input of the blocking logic, which may be used by the blocking logic to control the activity of the state machines.

A synchronous first-in first-out (FIFO) buffer can include logic indicating when the FIFO is half-full. In a typical synchronous FIFO, the half-full status flag is updated by a single clock, typically a write clock. The logic to generate the half-full flags typically consists of counters, adders, combinatorial logic to generate a so called internal half-full flag and a final output register. An alternate way to generate the internal half-full flag is by directly decoding the counter outputs using combinatorial logic. A register is implemented which is typically a master-slave register. Typically the half-full flag is updated by the write clock.
The minimum delay between the clocks is defined as a tSKEW delay. An updating clock, either the write or read clock, is guaranteed to recognize the second clock, either the read or write clock, if it occurs at least tSKEW delay ahead of the updating clock. If the second (read) clock occurs within tSKEW time from the updating clock (write), the updating clock may or may not recognize the second clock.
Previous approach architectures suffer from very high tSKEW delays (.about.8-10 Gate Delays). Additionally these architectures also suffer from metastabilty problems introduced by the register trying to sample the asynchronous internal flag which is updated by both the asynchronous read and write clocks. The present invention solves both of these issues by providing very high MTBF and very short, even Ons tSKEW. Additionally the present invention gives designers the flexibility to program the tSKEW to any desired value, including a Ons tSKEW.

Half-full flag generator for synchronous FIFOs


The invention relates to a method for manufacturing compound material wafers, in particular, silicon on insulator type wafers, by providing an initial donor substrate, forming an insulating layer over the initial donor substrate, forming a predetermined splitting area in the initial donor substrate, attaching the initial donor substrate onto a handle substrate and detaching the donor substrate at the predetermined splitting area, thereby transferring a layer of the initial donor substrate onto the handle substrate to form a compound material wafer. In order to be able to reuse the donor substrate more often, the invention proposes to carry out the thermal treatment step to form the insulating layer at a temperature of less than 950° C., in particular, less than 900° C., and preferably at 850° C. The invention also relates to a silicon on insulator type wafer manufactured according to the inventive method.

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing compound material wafers, in particular silicon on insulator wafers, comprising the steps of: providing an initial donor substrate, forming an insulating layer over the initial donor substrate, forming a predetermined splitting area in the initial donor substrate, attaching the initial donor substrate onto a handle substrate, and detaching the donor substrate at the predetermined slitting are, thereby transferring a layer of the initial donor substrate onto the handle substrate to form a compound material wafer. The invention furthermore relates to a compound material wafer, in particular, a silicon on insulator wafer fabricated according to the previously mentioned method.
Compound material wafers, in particular the silicon on insulator (SOI) wafers, are semiconductor substrates which, in modern semiconductor devices, play a decisive role to ensure ever higher speed as smaller dimension are enabled. The process to fabricate such compound material wafers has, however, to satisfy at least two basic requirements. First, a good crystalline quality over essentially the entire surface of the wafer needs to be satisfied in the layered structure and, second the fabrication needs to be carried out without incurring excessive costs.
One way to satisfy the above mentioned requirements is the so called SMART-CUT® fabrication process in which a layer from a donor substrate is transferred onto a handle substrate. This is achieved by bonding the two substrates and detaching the donor substrate at a predetermined splitting area, which has previously been formed in the initial donor substrate. The predetermined splitting area is created beforehand by implanting atomic species, like hydrogen or rare gas ions into the donor substrate. This approach has the advantage that the donor substrate from which a layer is transferred from fabrication run to fabrication run, is reused several times. It appeared, however, that, from run to run, the crystalline quality of the transferred layer deteriorated. As a consequence a certain number of measures have been proposed to overcome this problem.
Japanese patent application JP 10114176 proposes additional process steps, like polishing the donor substrate, to remove the surface step at the edge of the wafer. This step is present after the transfer of a layer onto the handle substrate. Then a second finishing polishing step is carried out before the remainder of the donor substrate is reused as a as a new donor substrate in a subsequent fabrication run. US patent application 2003/029957 alternatively proposes, prior to polishing, additional heat treatment steps of the reclaimed donor wafer. It appeared, however, that even though improvements in the crystalline quality can be achieved by the additional process steps, the number of reuses still remained unsatisfactory low.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,041 does not deal with the reuse of donor substrates, but discloses an approach which consists in providing, right from the beginning, a silicon substrate with a low oxygen content preventing the creation of crystal defects. However, like for the other two methods, special additional steps are necessary beforehand to create the silicon substrate with reduced oxygen content and, in addition, the number of possible reuses of the donor substrate was still not satisfactory. Thus, improvements in these processes are necessary and desired.

Method for manufacturing compound material wafers and corresponding compound material wafer

S.O.I.Tec Silicon on Insulator Technologies


A control apparatus of a storage unit having a first and a second communication ports for conducting communication with a computer, a first and a second processors that control respectively the first and the second communication ports, first and second storage devices that store respectively a first and a second queues for storing commands sent from the computer respectively to the first and the second communication ports, and a first nonvolatile memory that the first processor accesses, the first and the second processors executing the commands stored respectively in the first and the second queues to thereby control the communications with the computer, comprising a unit causing the second processor to implement execution of the command stored in the first queue; and a unit changing data stored in the first memory while the second processor is being caused to implement execution of the command stored in the first queue.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control apparatus of a storage unit and to a method of controlling the control apparatus of the storage unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A computer system can add new functions by changing a control program even after initiating operation. Ordinarily, the device is restarted in order to install a new control program in the device.
However, the system cannot be stopped in a computer system where continuous operation is demanded 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
For this reason, in a case where a control program of a control apparatus of a storage unit in a computer system is to be changed, technology has conventionally been proposed for changing the control program without stopping the input/output of data (e.g., see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. Hei7-306844).
To cite an example of another specific method, there is a method where software for managing a bus is installed in a server and the inflow of commands to a control section in which is installed a microprocessor that replaces the control program is temporarily prohibited. Because a plurality of buses are managed by this application, a storage control apparatus can receive commands through the bus connected to the control section whose control program is not being in the middle of being replaced. In other words, the input/output of data from the server is not completely stopped.
Moreover, another method is known where, even if a command is received from the server, the control section whose control program is in the middle of being replaced issues a retry request to the server and causes the server to wait until the replacement of the control program ends.
In this conventional technology, the fact that there are a plurality of buses that transfer data from the computer to the control apparatus of the storage unit is used to change the control program without stopping the overall input/output of data from the computer. However, the input/output of data from the computer is stopped with respect to the data transfer bus relating to the changing of the control program. For this reason, it has been necessary for the computer to conduct data input/output by bypassing this data transfer bus.

Control apparatus of storage unit, and method of controlling the control apparatus of storage unit