Disclosed is a gas-shield arc welding method in which chemical components of base material and weld material (gas-shield arc welding wire), chemical component ranges of weld metal based on the base material and the weld material, especially, difference (.DELTA.(Cu+Ni), .DELTA.Mo) of Cu, Ni and Mo between the weld metal and the base material, and welding conditions are limited for the purpose of improvement preferential corrosion resistance, toughness and crack resistance of the weld metal in circumferential welding of a pipe exposed into a corrosion environment including CO.sub.2.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for circumferential welding of a line pipe for transporting CO.sub.2 -containing petroleum or natural gas or transporting CO.sub.2 and, more particularly, it relates to a circumferential welding method excellent in preferential corrosion resistance, low-temperature toughness and crack resistance of weld metal and also relates to weld wire for suitably carrying out the welding method.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
There are published literatures concerning preferential corrosion on a weld portion of low alloy steel, as follows.
(1) Statement that the difference between the Ni content of base material and the Ni content of weld metal gives an influence on the local corrosion of a weld joint portion in a frozen sea region (by Takashi Abe et al.; "Iron and Steel", Vol. 72, No. 12, s1266, 1986). PA0 (2) Statement that Ni and Cu represented by PA0 (3) Statement that use of a low alloy weld rod containing Cu and Ni is effective on the prevention of the preferential corrosion of a circumferential weld portion of a carbon steel pipe (by Hideaki Ko; "Material" Vol. 38, No. 424, p62-p68, 1989). PA0 (4) Statement that addition of Ni and Mo is effective on the prevention of the preferential corrosion of a vertical seam weld portion of a welded pipe (by Suga et al.; Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 3-170641). PA0 C; 0.01 to 0.15% PA0 Si; 0.20 to 1.00% PA0 Mn; 0.40 to 2.00% PA0 Cu; .ltoreq.2.50% PA0 Ni; 0.50 to 2.50% PA0 .DELTA.Cu+Ni; .gtoreq.0.50% PA0 P.sub.CM ; .ltoreq.0.25% PA0 Mo; .ltoreq.1.05% or .DELTA.Mo; .gtoreq.0.03% PA0 Ti; .ltoreq.0.25% PA0 1 The chemical components of the pipe base material contain (% by weight): PA0 C; 0.03 to 0.15% PA0 Si; 0.05 to 0.50% PA0 Mn; 0.50 to 2.00% PA0 Al; 0.005 to 0.10% PA0 Cu; 0.05 to 2.0% PA0 Ni; 0.05 to 2.0% PA0 Cr; 0.05 to 2.0% PA0 Mo; 0.05 to 1.0% PA0 Nb; 0.005 to 0.20% PA0 V; 0.005 to 0.20% PA0 Ti; 0.005 to 0.20% PA0 B; 0.0005 to 0.0020% PA0 Ca; 0.0005 to 0.0050; PA0 2 the chemical components of the weld wire contain (% by weight); PA0 C; 0.01 to 0.15% PA0 Si; 0.20 to 1.20% PA0 Mn; 0.60 to 2.50% PA0 Cu; .ltoreq.3.00% PA0 Ni; 0.50 to 3.00% PA0 Mo; .ltoreq.1.10% PA0 Ti; .ltoreq.0.30% PA0 3 The welding conditions are: PA0 shield gas; 100% CO.sub.2 or Ar+(from 5 to 40% of) CO.sub.2 PA0 wire diameter; 0.8 to 1.6 mm PA0 welding current; 100 to 500 A PA0 arc voltage; 15 to 45 V PA0 welding speed; 5 to 150 cm/min PA0 welding attitude; all position. PA0 C; 0.01 to 0.15% PA0 Si; 0.20 to 1.20% PA0 Mn; 0.60 to 2.50% PA0 Cu; .ltoreq.3.00% PA0 Ni; 0.50 to 3.00% PA0 C; 0.01 to 0.15% PA0 Si; 0.20 to 1.00% PA0 Mn; 0.40 to 2.00% PA0 Cu; .ltoreq.2.50% PA0 Ni; 0.50 to 2.50% PA0 P.sub.CM; .ltoreq. 0.25% PA0 Mo; .ltoreq.1.05% PA0 .DELTA.Mo; .ltoreq.0.03% PA0 Ti; .ltoreq.0.25% PA0 Inevitable impurities; When the amounts of inevitable impurities are respectively in the aforementioned ranges, there is no deterioration of preferential corrosion characteristic and mechanical properties of the weld metal. If the amounts of inevitable impurities are respectively larger than the aforementioned ranges, defects such as lowering of welding workability (Al, Zr, Ca), occurrence of a failure in welding (P, S, B, N), deterioration of mechanical properties (Al, Cr, Nb, V, O, N) and the like arise. PA0 C; 0.03 to 0.15% PA0 Si; 0.05 to 0.50% PA0 Mn; 0.50 to 2.00% PA0 Al; 0.005 to 0.10% PA0 Cu; 0.05 to 2.0% PA0 Ni; 0.05 to 2.0% PA0 Cr; 0.05 to 2.0% PA0 Mo; 0.05 to 1.0% PA0 Nb; 0.005 to 0.20% PA0 V; 0.005 to 0.20% PA0 Ti; 0.005 to 0.20% PA0 B; 0.0005 to 0.0020% PA0 Ca; 0.0005 to 0.0050% PA0 C; 0.01 to 0.15% PA0 Si; 0.20 to 1.20% PA0 Mn; 0.60 to 2.50% PA0 Cu; .ltoreq.3.00% PA0 Ni; 0.50 to 3.00%. PA0 Mo; .ltoreq.1.10% PA0 Ti; .ltoreq.0.30% PA0 Inevitable impurities; It is preferable that the amounts of inevitable impurities are respectively as small as possible. Particularly, when inevitable impurities satisfy the ranges: P.ltoreq.0.030%; S.ltoreq.0.030%; Al.ltoreq.0.05%; N.ltoreq.0.01%; Nb.ltoreq.0.02%; V.ltoreq.0.02%; Cr.ltoreq.0.05%; Zr.ltoreq.0.05%; O.ltoreq.0.02%; and B.ltoreq.0.002%, there is no deterioration of preferential corrosion resistance and mechanical properties of the weld metal. If the amounts of inevitable impurities are respectively larger than the aforementioned ranges, defects such as lowering of welding workability (Al, Zr), occurrence of a failure in welding (P, S, B, N), deterioration of mechanical properties (Al, Cr, Nb, V, O, N) and the like arise. PA0 Shield gas: The composition of shield gas availably used for CO.sub.2 welding or MAG (metal active gas) welding is employed. PA0 Wire diameter: The diameter of a welding wire availably used correspondingly to the open-top form and the welding attitude is employed. PA0 Welding current, arc voltage, welding speed: The welding current, the arc voltage and the welding speed generally used in accordance with the open-top form, the welding attitude and the wire diameter are employed. PA0 Welding attitude: All position
3.8.DELTA.Cu+1.1.DELTA.Ni+0.3 PA1 (.DELTA.; content in weld metal--content in base material) PA1 (.DELTA.: content in weld metal--content in base material)
give an influence on preferential corrosion characteristic in the case of the local corrosion of a weld portion of steel in a frozen sea region (by Kitaro Ito et al.; "Iron and Steel", Vol. 72, No. 12, s1265, 1986).
As described above, there have been found a method of adding Ni and Cu to improve the preferential corrosion of weld metal in a corrosion environment of seawater containing oxygen such as a frozen sea and a method of adding Ni and Mo to improve the preferential corrosion characteristic of a vertical seam portion of a welded steel pipes. There is not yet any knowledge that addition of Ni and Mo is effective for the prevention of the preferential corrosion of a circumferential weld portion of a line pipe used in a corrosion environment containing CO.sub.2. There is not yet any gas-shield arc welding method based on the consideration of the hardness of the weld metal, the crack resistance thereof and the like. Further, there is not yet any method for solving the problem specifically in the relation between the weld metal and the base material.
When a welded steel pipe or a seamless steel pipe is used for transporting CO.sub.2 -containing petroleum or natural gas or transporting CO.sub.2, so-called preferential corrosion of a weld portion in which circumferential weld metal is corroded preferentially may occur. This is a phenomenon that the difference in chemical components and structure between the weld metal and the base material makes the weld metal portion electrochemically poor to thereby preferentially corrode the weld metal portion.
In the case of a line pipe used in the aforementioned environment, any circumferential welding method based on the consideration of the preferential corrosion has been not discussed. In a real environment, this kind preferential corrosion is often put in a problem awaiting solution so that the discussion thereof is expected today.

Method for gas-shield arc welding of a pipe and weld wire for use in the welding method


A tubular sealing spacer is disclosed which is an improvement on the standard toe shift mechanism for connecting a toe shift lever to the transmission of a motorcycle for shifting gears during acceleration or deceleration of the motorcycle. The spacer fits over a shaft that is rotatably mounted in a housing and which has an end portion that projects beyond an outer end pace of the housing on which a toe shift lever is mounted, the spacer being located between an inner face of the toe shift lever and the outer end face of the housing. The spacer has an annular sealing member that presses on the outer end face of the housing when the parts are assembly to prevent grease that is injected between the outer surface of the shaft and the inner surface of the housing from oozing out of the housing and coating portions of the shaft, the housing, the toe shift lever and other adjacent parts.

The present invention relates generally to the field of sealing devices, and more particularly to a sealing device adapted for use specifically with a particularly type of motorcycle toe shift mechanism.
It is virtually common knowledge today, especially among those who are at all knowledgeable about motorcycles, that they are driven by an internal combustion engine that operates basically on the same principles as those applicable to automobile engines, and that several of the major driving components found in the drive train of automobiles are also found in motorcycles. One of these components is the transmission, the function of which, as is also well known, is to provide a range of torque to speed ratios that permits the engine of the motorcycle (or for that matter any other type of internal combustion engine vehicle, although this discussion is confined to the motorcycle) to drive the motorcycle at varying speeds for a given amount of engine torque. Thus, the transmission provides a variety of gear ratios through which the engine transmits power to the driving wheel of the motorcycle so that the power transmitted to the driving wheel is greatest when the motorcycle first begins to move to achieve maximum acceleration, and is least when the motorcycle is traveling at a relatively high rate of speed in order to maintain that speed or accelerate slowly at the same range of engine RPMs as that which provided the high engine power for maximum acceleration.
For several decades there has been a gradual shift in the manner of operation of automobile transmissions from fully manual to fully automatic, so that the vehicle driver neither has to operate a clutch mechanism or a transmission shift lever. This shift, however, has not occurred with respect to motorcycles for a number of reasons; one is the high level of complexity of automatic transmissions and the consequent additional cost that would be entailed in providing motorcycles with this feature. Another is the added weight of the transmission that would necessitate a more powerful engine for a given size motorcycle than is otherwise necessary. Still another reason, and a significant one, is that a large segment of those who ride motorcycles prefer a manual transmission since the manual shifting of gears and operation of a clutch mechanism contribute significantly to the shear pleasure of operating a motorcycle.
For whatever the reason, motorcycle manufacturers have steadfastly retained manual shifting of gears in motorcycles. The only significant improvement that has been made is that the manually operated gear shift lever that was formerly mounted on a frame adjacent the gas tank and moved in a forward and backward direction to select gears, in a manner similar to the movement of a floor mounted shift lever in an automobile having an automatic transmission, has been replaced with a toe shift mechanism by which the gear are shifted. Thus, in virtually all motorcycles manufactured today, there is a hand grip and cable mechanism by which the operator engages and disengages the clutch mechanism to permit the transmission gears to shift, and there is a toe shift mechanism by which the operator actually shifts the gears. The toe shift mechanism includes a first lever which is connected to one end of a shaft that is rotatably mounted in a housing, with an annular spacer around the shaft between the outer end of the housing and the lever to prevent the shaft from shifting longitudinally within the housing. A second lever is connected to the other end of the shaft, and is also connected to a rod that extends into the transmission assembly which in turn is connected to a ratchet mechanism that actually shifts the gears. When the operator momentarily depresses the first lever, it oscillates the shaft within the housing, which in turn rocks the second lever back and forth to cause the rod to reciprocate, thereby actuating the ratchet mechanism in the transmission to shift the gears. The construction of the ratchet mechanism is such that the gears are shifted in sequence, that is, from first to second, to third, to fourth and then to fifth, with the reverse sequence being followed when shifting down from the highest speed gear to the lowest. It is thus apparent that during routine operation of a motorcycle, especially within urban areas having heavy traffic and frequent traffic signals and/or stop signs, or other areas of frequent acceleration and deceleration, the aforementioned shaft is constantly being oscillated within the housing.
It is therefore necessary to maintain the shaft and shaft housing constantly lubricated to prevent excessive wear on the adjacent surfaces of these parts. Without such lubrication, these adjacent surfaces would wear excessively and unevenly over a period of time, with the result that the shaft would not fit properly in the housing and would begin to wobble during activation of the toe shift mechanism This in turn would cause additional wear on various portions of the shaft and the housing to the point where the toe shift mechanism would cause erratic shifting of the transmission gears. The lubrication is accomplished in much the same manner as greasing wheel bearing on an automobile, that is, by injecting grease into the housing through a suitable grease fitting mounted on the housing.
The problem that occurs is that the nature of the toe shift mechanism is such that grease can seep or ooze between the inner wall of the housing and the outer wall of a shaft, since there are no grease seals within the housing to prevent the grease from oozing out. The result is that over a period of time, grease gradually coats the protruding portion of the shaft, the surrounding housing, the annular spacer between the adjacent end faces of the housing and the annular spacer, and even portions of the lever that connects the shaft with the foot pedal by which the shaft is rotated. Typically, some of these parts are chrome plated for decorative purposes, and the presence of grease renders them unsightly. It should be understood that typically the owners of motorcycles of the type under consideration, which are typically relatively expensive, high end prestigious models of motorcycles, such as those manufactured by Harley-Davidson, are very sensitive about the appearance of their vehicles, and they meticulously maintain them, constantly cleaning them to avoid the buildup of grease on and around the toe shift mechanism. This, of course, requires some degree of effort, is time consuming and considerably annoying to the great bulk of owners of this type of motorcycle.
While it might appear obvious simply to provide suitable sealing elements, such as O-rings, within the housing to prevent grease from escaping, the problem is that the manufacturer of these motorcycles has been using the same parts for the toe shift mechanism for so long, and it has been so successful, that it is unlikely that the manufacturer will expend either the effort or the money to redesign the shaft housing and the shaft to accommodate any form of sealing elements. In the approximately 15 years that this toe shift mechanism has been on the market, approximately 150,000 units have been sold, and redesigning these parts simply to avoid a vexing problem to the operators would not be cost effective for the manufacturer.
Thus, there is a need for a sealing device for motorcycles having this type of toe shift mechanism which replaces the existing annular spacer so as to maintain the same spacing between the inner face of the toe shifting lever and the outer face of the grease housing that presently exists yet prevents the escape of grease between the adjacent ends of the grease housing and spacer.

Sealing device for motorcycle toe shift mechanism


A thin base oxide is disposed over both an active area and also over a field area of a substrate. A thin silicon-nitride layer is then formed over the base oxide in the active area to protect the underlying substrate from oxygen and/or water vapor during a subsequent field oxidation step. This thin nitride layer is, however, insufficiently thick to serve as a field implant mask in a subsequent field implant step. An additional low temperature oxide (LTO) layer is therefore provided over the nitride layer in the active area. The field implant step is then performed using the base oxide, the thin nitride, and the overlying LTO as a field implant mask. The boundaries of the overlying LTO define a field implant boundary. After the field implant step but before the field oxidation step, the LTO layer is removed from the top of the thin nitride layer. As a result, only the base oxide and the thin nitride layer is disposed over the active area during field oxidation. Therefore, in comparison to previous methods using thicker nitride layers, the present invention employs a thin nitride layer during the field oxidation step, thereby reducing the amount of stress induced in the nitride layer and thereby minimizing problems associated with thick nitride layers such as the introduction of lattice defects into the underlying silicon substrate. The thin nitride process of the present invention may, for example, be incorporated into a BiCDMOS process.

In MOSFET (metal oxide silicon field effect transistor) integrated circuit structures, for example, multiple laterally disposed MOSFETs are typically formed on the top surface of a semiconductor substrate. These multiple individual MOSFETs are interconnected in a desired fashion using electrically conductive lines which are disposed over, but still insulated from, the top surface of the underlying substrate. If such an electrically conductive line were to extend over a region having either two N type semiconductor regions separated by a P type semiconductor region or two P type semiconductor regions separated by an N type semiconductor region, then the overlying electrically conductive line would form the gate of an undesired MOSFET.
To prevent such an undesired MOSFET from turning on, the threshold voltage of the undesired MOSFET is made to be sufficiently higher than the threshold voltages of the desired MOSFETs on the substrate. Accordingly, the switching on and off of desired MOSFETs via the electrically conductive lines will not cause any undesired intervening MOSFETs to turn on. This increasing of the threshold voltage of the undesired MOSFETs may be accomplished in at least two ways: 1) by doping the channel region of the undesired MOSFET to increase the threshold voltage at which inversion of the channel region will occur, and 2) by increasing the thickness of the field oxide insulator between the electrically conductive line (the gate of the undesired MOSFET) and the underlying channel region of the undesired MOSFET. The LOCOS (LOCal Oxidation of Silicon) process is a well known process commonly used to carry out the above described principles to increase the threshold voltage of intervening undesired MOSFETs. The LOCOS process results in an isolation structure comprising a thick oxide layer (commonly referred to as the field oxide) and an underlying doped field implant layer (commonly referred to as the channel-stop or the field implant).
According to one type of LOCOS process, a layer of a material which is relatively impervious to oxygen and water vapor is formed on the top surface of a semiconductor substrate. The material commonly used is silicon-nitride, hereafter simply referred to as "nitride". This nitride layer is selectively etched away in the field regions leaving only the active regions covered by nitride. After the exposed field regions are ion implanted with a channel-stop dopant, a thermal oxidation process is performed to grow a relatively thick field oxide in the exposed field regions. Due to the oxygen and water vapor impervious characteristics of the nitride layer, the surface of the substrate in the active area is not oxidized in this step.
Tensile stress, however, develops at the silicon-to-nitride boundary. This results in a lateral force being applied to the underlying substrate which, if adequately great, can cause defects in the silicon substrate by dislocation of silicon atoms from the silicon crystal lattice. Because transistor performance is degraded when transistors are built in silicon containing defects, usable silicon area on the die is lost and the resulting integrated circuit cannot be made as small as it otherwise could be. A thin layer of silicon dioxide is therefore commonly provided between the nitride layer and the underlying substrate to reduce the transmission of stress from the silicon to nitride boundary to the substrate and thereby to prevent lattice defects from forming in the substrate.
Silicon dioxide, however, is relatively pervious to oxygen and water vapor. As a result, oxygen and/or water vapor may diffuse laterally into the oxide layer from the exposed side edges of the oxide layer at the field region/active region boundary. As a result, silicon underneath the outer portions of the nitride layer is oxidized. Because the volume of silicon dioxide is almost twice the volume of the silicon it consumes, the silicon dioxide growing under the lateral extent of the nitride layer also lifts the lateral extent of the nitride layer. The more the nitride layer is lifted, the greater the opening for oxygen and/or water vapor to diffuse laterally through the oxide. The resulting shape of the oxide is commonly referred to as a "bird's beak" which points in toward the active region.
Texts describing uses of the LOCOS process, recognized problems with the LOCOS process, and variations on the LOCOS process include: Silicon Processing For The VLSI Era, Volume 2: Process Integration, by Stanley Wolf, Lattice Press, 1990, pages 12-45; Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Processing Technology, by Walter Runyan and Kenneth Bean, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1990, pages 108-112; and Integrated Circuit Engineering, Design Fabrication, and Applications, by Arthur Glaser and Gerald Subak-Sharpe, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1977.
In some LOCOS processes, the nitride layer and the underlying silicon dioxide layer are used as a mask to protect the active region during the field implant step. This way the boundaries of the field implant region will be self-aligned with the boundaries of the nitride layer. When the field oxide is grown in a later step, the field oxide will similarly be aligned with the underlying field implant region. Because an unprotected silicon surface may be damaged during ion implantation, the silicon dioxide layer between the nitride layer and the underlying substrate typically extends over the field region as well as over the active region. The field implant is then performed through the silicon dioxide layer in the field regions, the nitride layer serving to define the boundaries of the implanted region. The nitride layer can more easily block the relatively large phosphorous N-field ions, but the smaller boron P-field ions can penetrate a significantly greater distance through the nitride layer. As a consequence, extra masking protection needs to be provided for the active region without losing the self-aligning feature of the active region nitride mask.
A technique has heretofore been used to provide this masking protection for the active regions. A thicker nitride layer adequately thick to block the smaller boron ions is provided. This technique, however, has drawbacks. Providing a thicker nitride layer may introduce greater stress in the underlying substrate, may cause the nitride layer to develop cracks, may result in a so-called "white ribbon" or "Kooi nitride" thinning of the edges of the field oxide, and may present etching problems. Because thinning of the field oxide reduces the voltage at which the underlying silicon will invert, the isolation function of the field oxide is degraded.
FIG. 1A (PRIOR ART) is a cross-sectional view of thick nitride layer 1 and an underlying oxide layer 2 of the prior art. It is the thick nitride layer 1 and the underlying thin base oxide layer 2 which together mask implanted ions before field oxidation during the field implant step.
FIG. 1B (PRIOR ART) is a cross-sectional view of a self-aligned boundary 3 between an active region and a field region. Thick nitride layer 1 and thin base oxide 2 are shown disposed over the top surface of substrate 7 in the active region after the field oxidation step has been performed. A field implant region 5 is shown disposed underneath field oxide layer 6 in the field region. A bird's beak 4 of silicon dioxide at the rightmost extent of field oxide 6 is shown wedging underneath the leftmost extent of thick nitride layer 1 between the nitride layer 1 and the substrate 7. The leftmost extent of nitride layer 1 is therefore shown deformed and bent upward by the bird's beak. The resistance of the thick nitride layer 1 to this deformation causes the nitride layer 1 to exert a force on the underlying silicon substrate in the vicinity of the self-aligned boundary 3. As described above, exerting a force on the substrate has deleterious consequences including the formation of dislocation defects in the silicon lattice of substrate 7. The more the nitride layer resists the deformation, the greater the stress and the greater the force. Because a thicker nitride layer 1 resists the deformation more than a thinner nitride layer, increasing the thickness of the nitride layer commonly results in silicon defects in the silicon substrate around the bird's beak 4.
After the field oxide layer 6 has been grown, the nitride layer 1 and the underlying base oxide layer 2 are removed from the active region, thereby leaving the field oxide layer in the field region.

Low temperature oxide layer over field implant mask


An apparatus for forming a stack of interleaved, partially overlapping discrete sheets suitable for a pop-up dispenser. The apparatus comprises: a first cutter for cutting a plurality of first discrete sheets; a second cutter for cutting a plurality of second discrete sheets, each second discrete sheet being a mirror image of each first discrete sheet; a rotating vacuum transfer drum having an air impermeable surface rotating with a tangential velocity in operative relationship with the first and second cutters such that the first and second discrete sheets are deposited on the vacuum transfer drum in an alternating spaced relationship after cutting; a vacuum conveyor in operative relationship to receive the first and second discrete sheets from the vacuum transfer drum, the vacuum conveyor moving at a linear velocity less than the tangential velocity of the transfer drum, such that the first and second discrete sheets are transferred from the transfer drum to the vacuum conveyor in a shingled web relationship; an out of planed folder in operative relationship to receive the shingled web from the vacuum conveyor, such that as the vacuum conveyor moves the shingled web linearly, the shingled web is continuously removed from the conveyor and partially folded by the out of plane folder; and an accumulator platform in operative relationship with the out of plane folder, the accumulator platform removing the discrete sheets in a folded and stacked block of interleaved, partially overlapping sheets.

Disposable towels, towlettes, and similar sheet products, sometimes referred to as "wipes", have become an increasingly important part of providing for cleanliness in today's society. Whether at home or away from home, traditional cleansing tools such as soap, cloths, and running water may be unavailable, unsuitable, or inconvenient for a particular task. For example, the cleansing of children and infants presents special considerations due to the nature and frequency of the cleansing activity. Often, the use of special agents such as disinfectants an/or moisturizing agents may also be required.
To address these problems, manufacturers of consumer products have developed single-use disposable, synthetic and/or natural fiber-based towel products which are pre-moistened with a nonirritating cleansing agent. As used herein, the terms "single-use" and "disposable" are used interchangeably to refer to towels and packages which are to be used once and then discarded. The terms "moisture", "moistened", and "moistening agent" are intended to refer not only to water or aqueous solutions, but also to any other fluid which may be useful in combination with a towel product. Such fluids may include disinfecting solutions, water-based solutions, oil-based solutions, soaps, lotions, solvents, etc., alone or in combination with dry additives such as powders or granules.
Single-use disposable towel products may be dispensed from a continuous perforated roll, or as discrete towels in a stacked folded arrangement. Stacked and folded towels are preferably interleaved for ease of dispensing. In a folded and interleaved stacked arrangement, discrete towels are interfolded such that they have overlapping edge portions which are substantially parallel to one another, and adhere to one another such that successive towels are fed out through the top of the container, often through an opening sized and configured to hold a leading portion of a towel in an isolated orientation where it can be readily grasped by the user. This method of dispensing is commonly used in multi-sheet containers of dry tissues, such as facial tissues. However, unlike dry sheets, pre-moistened sheets tend to have much higher separation forces; therefore, there is a very narrow range of design parameters such as level of moistness and level of overlap that must be met so as not to cause either the tearing of the topmost towel or the extraction of multiple towels before any separation occurs.
The narrow range of design parameters inherent in interfolded and interleaved pre-moistened towels having overlapping edge portions which are substantially parallel to one another is overcome to a large degree by modifying the geometry of the leading and trailing edges of the sheets. One very acceptable design is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,118, issued Jul. 26, 1994 to Muckenfuhs, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. The Muckenfuhs towel design utilizes discrete towel sheets in combination with a modified Z-fold stack configuration, the sheets having an overall shape such that the interleaved end edges of adjacent sheets are at least partially non-parallel such that they form an overlapping region having a non-uniform width. This configuration provides improved pop-up dispensing reliability by providing a predictable, repeatable separation process with towel sheets which are pre-moistened or otherwise have an affinity (clinging tendency) toward one another.
The Muckenfuhs towel design, in addition to having an overlapping region having a non-uniform width, may have a region of "underlapping" where there is no overlap of adjacent towels. Consequently, since the amount of overlap at any given point across the sheets determines the shear force required for separation, separation will first occur where the overlap is a minimum and proceed across the overlapping region as a "separation front" moving toward the point of greatest overlap. The separation thus occurs in a predictable fashion, allowing the separation properties of any particular dispensing system to be designed according to a particular application.
The minimal separation forces required to separate adjacent sheets at the point of minimum overlap create special considerations in processing discrete sheets to form a Z-fold stack configuration of wipes suitable for dispensing from a pop-up dispenser. The primary consideration is how to keep positive control and support of the discrete sheets throughout the entire folding, interleaving, and stacking process, thereby maintaining proper sheet-to-sheet positioning. Since such sheets are designed to separate at the point of minimal overlap with relatively low separation forces, positive control and support of the sheets is necessary to minimize shear forces between adjacent sheets during folding and stacking. Positive control and support is particularly desirable in a high-speed, commercially viable production process.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved method for preparing discrete sheets and forming them into a stack of folded interleaved sheets.
Additionally, it would be desirable to provide an improved method for preparing discrete sheets and forming them into a stack of folded interleaved sheets where the end edges of adjacent sheets are at least partially non-parallel such that they form an overlapping region having a non-uniform width.
Further, it would be desirable to provide an improved apparatus for forming a stack of folded interleaved sheets from a substantially continuous shingled web of partially overlapping discrete sheets.


An assist grip includes a hollow molding member in which a grip main member is formed by a gas assist molding method, a holding portion, and concave storage portions provided to be connected to both longitudinal ends of the holding portion by interposing curved portions; and is attached to an attachment-face side by holding tools supported in both storage portions. Each of the storage portions is partitioned by an inner side wall and an outer side wall facing each other in a longitudinal direction; an upper wall connecting upper sides of the side walls at a curved-portion side; a lower wall connecting lower sides of the side walls at a terminal side; and a bottom wall connecting to both side walls and the upper and lower walls at an outer face side. The upper walls include inclined faces wherein inner faces on a storage-portion side are inclined toward a bottom-wall.

In the assist grip, as shown in illustrated examples in Patent Document 1 and 2, a grip main member is sometimes made as a hollow molding member in view of weight reduction, appearance characteristics, and the like. FIGS. 11(a) to 11(c) are disclosed in the Patent Document 1; the reference numeral 1 represents a forming die comprising right and left dies 1A and 1B; the reference numeral 2 represents a grip main member (an assist grip); the reference numeral 11 represents a weir; and the reference numeral 21 represents a concave portion formed by the weir 11. There, when the grip main member 2 including a curved portion (a bent portion) 23 is made by gas assist molding, injected gas passes through an inner circumferential side (an inside course) of the curved portion having a small flow resistance so as to have a tendency of generating a thin wall portion which becomes a factor lowering a strength in that direction, and conversely, have a tendency of forming a thick wall portion which becomes a factor generating a sink and the like on an outer circumferential side. As a countermeasure thereof, in the Patent Document 1, on a gas inflow side in the vicinity of the inside course (the inner circumferential side) of a curved-portion forming portion in the forming die 1, there is provided the weir 11 as shown in FIG. 11(b). Thereby, a resin injected around the weir 11 is cooled relatively rapidly, so that the injected gas flows into a molten resin which is not cooled yet between the weir and the outer circumferential side, i.e. the gas can be guided to an outer course (the outer circumferential side). As a result, the thin wall portion can be difficult to be formed on the aforementioned inner course side, and the thick wall portion can be difficult to be formed on an outer course side.
However, in the grip main member 2, the concave portion 21 is generated at a portion corresponding to the weir 11, so that an appearance declines, or a turbulent flow occurs due to the weir 11 inside the forming die so as to easily generate a silver Streak or a wrinkle.
FIGS. 12(a) to 12(d) show processes of the gas assist molding in the Patent Document 2, wherein FIG. 12(a) shows a state wherein the resin is injected into a cavity 7; FIG. 12(b) shows a state wherein the gas is injected from a gas injection port 4; FIG. 12(c) shows a state wherein the resin is extruded by the injected gas, and is advancing inside the cavity; and FIG. 12(d) shows a state wherein the gas is guided to the outer circumferential side by a thick wall portion 3a. In the Patent Document 2, in order to prevent a problem which occurs in the Patent Document 1, in a gas injection molding method of the grip main member and the like comprising curved portions 2 curved at both end portions in a longitudinal direction of a main member portion 1, and an attachment portion 3 provided to be connected to end portions of the curved portions, when a hollow portion 6 is formed at the end portion of the curved portion 2 from the main member portion 1, a thick wall portion 3a guiding the gas to the outer circumferential side of the curved portion 2 is provided at a position provided to be connected to the end portion on the outer circumferential side of the curved portion of the attachment portion 3.


A device receives, from a user device, a communication request that includes information identifying a user of the user device, an organization, and at least one reason for the communication request. The device determines, based on the communication request, information concerning the user, a telephone number associated with the organization, and a menu of an interactive voice response (IVR) system device associated with the telephone number. The device communicates, based on the information concerning the user, the menu of the IVR system device, and the at least one reason for the communication request, with the IVR system device via a communication session initiated based on the telephone number. The device determines, based on communicating with the IVR system device, a time that the user is to interact with the IVR system device via the communication session, and causes the user device to join the communication session at the time.

Interactive voice response (IVR) allows a communication device to interact with humans through the use of voice and dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF) tones. IVR technology allows users to interact with an organization's host system via a telephone keypad or by voice, after which services can be inquired about through an IVR dialogue. IVR systems can respond with prerecorded or dynamically generated audio to further direct users on how to proceed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Interacting with an interactive voice response system device or agent device of an organization


An electrical connector includes a connector body (10) having a front end (11) and a rear end (12), a plurality of passageways (13) extending from the front end towards the rear end, and terminals (20) within the passageways. The terminal includes an extension section (26) extending a distance away from the rear end of the connector body. A supporting member (15) is disposed adjacent the rear end for supporting at least a portion of the extension section. Thus, the arrangement of the supporting member will prevent the free extension sections of the prior art from being deflected or damaged.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the art of electrical connectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Chinese Pat. Issue No. 2831497 issued to Wang Shi-Yong on Oct. 25, 2006 discloses a related electrical connector. The electrical connector includes a connector body having thereof a front end and a rear end. Parallel upper and lower rows of passageways are configured to extend from the front end towards the rear end of the connector body. Upper and lower terminals are held within the two parallel rows of passageways. The respective upper and lower terminals include upper and lower outer tailing portions adapted to be mounted onto a mating component. In order to not interfere with the lower terminals, the upper terminals include upper extension portions attached thereto such that the upper outer tailing portions are set to extend a distance away from the rear end of the connector body. A problem, however, with such an electrical connector is that the upper tailing portions may be apt to be deflected or damaged due to having the upper tailing portions free from the connector body. Therefore, there is a need to provide a new connector to resolve the above-mentioned problem.


A data link tester comprises a computer capable of a connection with a communications bus in a piece of equipment having at least one component in selective contact with the bus. The computer contains instructions for (1) building a roster comprising at least one identifier of the component and (2) then performing a diagnostic step comprising at least one of (i) analyzing communications received from the communications bus to determine the condition of communications with respect to the component, (ii) determining whether a message that contains the identifier has been received from the communications bus within a specified period of time, and (iii) diagnosing at least one fault condition in CAN communications in the communications bus by performing at least one CAN message check comprising determining whether a CAN message has been received from the communications bus and then performing at least one second diagnostic step. In some embodiments, the piece of equipment is a vehicle.

This invention relates to the field of determining data communications conditions in a communications bus in a piece of equipment, such as a vehicle.
Prior to the present invention, service technicians have had at their disposal tools for analyzing data communications in a vehicle that provided very limited amounts of information. For example, the J1939/EPL Data link tester, designed by the assignee of the present application and sold by Nexiq Technologies of Sterling Heights, Mich., was only capable of provide information indicating whether a data link was functioning in response to a specific command.
Moreover, certain presently existing tools designed by engineers are capable of providing greater quantities of information, an example of such a tool being the Canalyzer software package sold by Vector Informatik GmbH of Stuttgart, Germany. However, such engineering tools are not designed for diagnostic use by service technicians. Engineering tools generally have complicated user interfaces and are unsuited to be easily usable by a service technician.
Further, engineering tools such as the Canalyzer are not designed to provide the functionality desired in a diagnostic tool. For example, prior art tools lack the functionality of specifically polling equipment components and reporting on information received as a result of the polling. Similarly, prior art tools lack the functionality of measuring the time it takes for a specific component to respond to a request, and reporting when the specific component fails to respond for a specified period of time. Also, the aforementioned engineering tools generally are not portable, a highly desirable feature in a diagnostic tool.


A quick countercurrent-type water purifier configured with two filters, two motors, a control circuit, a purified water storage tank and a waste water tank, wherein a pipe extends from the waste water tank. Moreover, a raw water inlet pipe connects to the pipe through one of the motors that thereon forces water through branch pipes into water inlets at bottoms of the two filters. A pipe branches out from each of the two water inlets, and connects to the waste water tank. A flowmeter is configured at a water outlet at a top portion of each of the filters. An electromagnetic valve subject to control by control circuit is configured at each of the water inlets and the water outlets of the two filters, thereby achieving quick reverse washing of contaminants from filter cores of the filters and providing large quantities of purified water for industrial usage.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water purifier that is able to provide a relatively large quantity of water, eliminates need to replace filter cores, and which is able to reduce contaminant emission quantity within waste water, and more particularly to a quick countercurrent water purifier that is still able to output a quantity of purified water when reverse washing, and which is applicable for application in industrial locations where large quantities of purified water are needed.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A simplest conventional filter utilizes interstices in filter material of the filter, whereby raw water is fed into a top portion of the filter material, which then flows down through the filter under gravity, and suspended particles (contaminants) carried by the raw water are caused to be trapped in the interstices of the filter material. An outlet is configured in a bottom of the filter material for purified water to flow out therefrom, thus enabling achieving primary filtration water purification of the contaminated raw water. However, after using the filter material for a period of time, because of the interstices of the filter material becoming filled with the particles from the raw water, thus, the filter material will no longer be able to intercept the contaminants, and sand and dust particles carried by the raw water will remain in the water, thus making it necessary to replace the filter material at regular intervals in order for the purified water obtained after filtering to conform to industrial emission standards.
Referring to Taiwan patent No. 478381, entitled "Countercurrent-type Water Purifier", which, though already improves upon a conventional filter in reverse washing, however, filtering process of the purifier stops when reverse washing, and, thus, has a shortcoming of inability to output purified water during reverse washing. Hence, the countercurrent-type wash water purifier of the cited patent is only suitable for use in households or business usage where water needs are relatively small, and is not suitable for providing sufficient water for industrial usage where quantity of water used is relatively large, thus, such a configuration is extremely nonideal.

Quick countercurrent-type water purifier


An apparatus includes a printed wiring board, a post that supports the printed wiring board, and a heat pipe on the printed wiring board with a first end positioned near an electronic component attached to the printed wiring board and a second end positioned near the post.

The present invention relates to a cooling apparatus for printed wiring boards.
Thermal management of aircraft mounted electronic components is becoming increasingly more challenging with the higher density of more powerful, but smaller electronic components. Currently, heat pipe embedded heat sinks have been used to move heat from a hot electronic component on a printed wiring board to cooler locations. Heat pipe embedded heat sinks have an inherent loss of efficiency in that the heat has to move from the electronic component, through the printed wiring board, to the heat sink, and then to a cooler location. This design is also severely limited in applications where there are electronic components on two sides of a printed wiring board. Further, the heat sink adds excessive weight and cost to the overall electronic assembly.
Due to space limitations on aircraft, printed wiring boards are typically stacked on top of one other and separated with posts. These posts are separate pieces that are attached to a printed wiring board and/or heat sink with screws. The posts support the printed wiring boards and create space between the printed wiring boards so that air can flow around the printed wiring boards. The posts can also be used to suspend a printed wiring board in a chassis that is mounted on an aircraft.

PWB cooling system with heat dissipation through posts


A system for classifying a genre of an electronic document may include a network processor configured to receive an electronic document and convert the electronic document to rich text format (RTF). The processor may be configured to parse the RTF document into lines of text ordered from top to bottom and left to right and assign tokens to each line of text based on content of the line and to line separators based on space between blocks of lines. The network processor may be configured to sequence the tokens, parse the tokenized document with a number of pre-defined document grammars, determine a probability for each genre corresponding to the electronic document, and classify the electronic document as the genre with the highest probability.

Conversion of paper documents to electronic form speeds and enhances many business processes. Business documents often contain identifying information that allows documents to be routed or stored properly and there is great value in extracting this information automatically from scanned document images.
Business processes in the office are facilitated by networks of computers and so-called multifunction devices. These devices incorporate printers, faxes, and scanners that, coupled with servers running the proper software, create functionality to convert paper documents to electronic and vice-versa. Furthermore, these networked devices can connect personal digital assistants, cell phones, and other hand-held devices. It may be desirable to extract business information from documents in a networked environment to route, share, store, and/or display the information where it is most useful.
Owing to the expense of paper handling, many businesses, such as banks, law firms, and the like, seek to eliminate paper workflows by scanning mail and converting faxes to electronic form as soon as they are delivered to the mailroom and routing them electronically. This is faster and cheaper than using hardcopy.
Many of today's offices receive and distribute numerous types or genres of business documents each day. For instance, a typical office may receive and distribute business cards, business letters, memoranda, resumes, invoices, and the like.
Conventional document handling systems exist for scanning business documents, processing the scanned document, and storing the scanned document in a desired repository. Similarly, conventional systems exist for receiving a fax of a document as an electronic file, processing the electronic file, and routing the file to a desired location. Also, in conventional systems, an electronic document can be distributed as an attachment to an email, processed, and routed to a desired user or storage location.
These conventional systems are labor-intensive and prone to error. For example, these systems typically require a user to instruct the system as to the type of document being input and what type of routing or distribution of the processed document should be followed.
Therefore, it may be desirable to provide an electronic document genre classification system and method that is automated and substantially error free. Moreover, it may be desirable to provide an electronic document genre classification system that converts various types of business documents to a universal format, for example, a rich text format, so that the text of the documents can be parsed, tokenized, and sequenced. Furthermore, it may be desirable to provide an electronic document genre classification system that can determine the probabilities associated with parsing the processed electronic document with a number of predefined document grammars to classify the genre of the electronic document and route the document based on the determined genre.

Systems and methods for electronic document genre classification using document grammars


A torque machine, for making or breaking screw-threaded joints between lengths of pipe, includes a rotatable head having an aperture into which a length of pipe is introduced, the rotatable head including a number of tongs which are spaced apart around the aperture and can be moved inwardly to grip the length of pipe. A separate jaw collar is provided for location between the tongs and the pipe, the collar comprising a number of part-annular sectors which are connected by springs or elastic links so that the collar is expansible to accommodate slight variations in pipe diameter. Collars of different internal diameters are used according to the diameter of the pipes to be joined. The collar may be of aluminium or other comparatively soft material to avoid marking of the pipes.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to torque machines for making and breaking screw-threaded joints between lengths of pipe. Such machines are commonly used in the oil industry for screwing together sections of drill pipe and the invention will be particularly described in relation to this application, although it will be appreciated that the invention is also applicable to torque machines for making and breaking screw-threaded pipe joints for other purposes.
2. Description of Related Art
The invention relates to torque machines of the kind including a rotatable head having an aperture which, in use, surrounds a length of the pipe to be joined, the rotatable head having mounted thereon a plurality of powered jaws which are spaced apart around the aperture and which are movable inwardly and outwardly towards and away from the length of pipe. The machine will normally also include a non-rotatable head and jaw assembly for holding one pipe section stationary while the other pipe section is rotated by the rotatable head. One pipe section is passed through the stationary head and the jaws of that head are moved inwardly so as to tightly grip the pipe section. The other pipe section is similarly introduced through the aperture in the rotatable head until its threaded end is in contact with the threaded end of the other pipe section and the jaws moved inwardly to grip the pipe. The rotatable head is then rotated so as to screw the pipe sections together to form the joint, the two heads being capable of axial movement towards and away from one another as the joint is made up or broken.
A disadvantage with existing torque machines of this type is that the maximum inward and outward travel of the jaws is comparatively small, for example of the order of half an inch, with the result that each head and jaw assembly is suitable for use with only one nominal diameter of pipe. For example, a head assembly with jaws suitable for use with 41/2" pipe cannot be used with 7" pipe. If it is required to change the size of pipe to be connected, it is necessary to replace the jaws with ones suitable for the new pipe size, and in some cases replacement of the whole head assembly may be necessary. This can be a time-consuming and laborious task.
Furthermore, when using some types of pipe, for example pipe with a high chromium content, it may be necessary or desirable to avoid marking the surface of the pipe by the jaws. With existing torque machines, this may be achieved by replacing the innermost part of each jaw by a so called "soft shoe", designed to grip the pipe without marking it. However, it is again a time-consuming and labourious operation to fit such shoes and to replace them when a new size of pipe is to be handled. Also, it is often found that presently available soft shoes may not be completely non-marking and although they may be an improvement on the standard jaw jaws they may still leave indentations on the pipe.
The present invention sets out to provide improved apparatus and methods for overcoming these disadvantages.


A restraint device having a tubular body with a handle at one end and a telescopic extension rod at the other end which allows the overall length of the body to be selectively adjusted. A cuff is attached to a tether at the end of the rod in a non-deployed position. The tether can be released so a law enforcement officer can loosely control a detainee. Electrical circuitry in the body is connected to electrodes on the lower end of the handle and on the cuff so a disabling charge can be delivered. The device is also useful to civilians as a protective device when jogging, walking, bicycling or the like.

There are various non-lethal control, defensive or restraining devices used by law enforcement and others to restrain and control detainees or to ward off an attacker. The simplest of these restraint devices are handcuffs, manacles or shackles which have been available and have been used for many years. Manacles are placed about the wrists of an individual or, in some cases, also placed about the ankles to restrict freedom of motion. While handcuffs and manacles are effective, an individual or detainee, in some instances, can free himself or herself from these devices either by disabling the lock or by manipulation in a manner to free the wrists or ankles.
More recently other devices have been developed to either restrain or temporarily incapacitate an individual. Aerosol defense sprays containing Capsicum or tear gas are well known. Stun guns use batteries to supply electricity to a circuit which includes multiple transformers which boost the voltage and reduce the amperage and which charge is stored in a capacitor. The capacitor builds up and stores the electrical charge and, upon activation, releases the charge to electrodes which is placed in contact with an individual, causing temporary interference with the individual's nervous system and muscular control to incapacitate the individual.
A variation of the stun gun is the more recently developed TASER® gun. TASER® devices work in the same basic way as stun guns, except the electrodes are positioned on the end of conductive wires attached to the electrical circuit of the TASER® device. When activated, gas pressure launches the electrodes and the attached wires. Small barbs are affixed to the electrodes so that they will attach to the individual's body or clothing. Electrical current travels through the conductive wires, stunning the individual in basically the same way as a conventional stun gun.
A main advantage of a TASER® device is that individuals can be brought under control at distances of up to 20 feet. Being able to maintain a distance or space between a detainee or would-be assailant, significantly decreases the risk to law enforcement personnel or intended victims.
While, as mentioned above, devices such as handcuffs, manacles, shackles, aerosol spray, stun guns and TASER® guns are effective in many situations, they all inherently have certain disadvantages. Accordingly, there exists a need for an effective restraint and control device which law enforcement and other individuals can use to restrain an individual while maintaining a space between the individual and law enforcement personnel. Further, there exists the need for a device of this type which can both provide physical restraint without electrical shock or in the case of more extreme resistance by a detainee, can also apply electrical shock to temporarily disable the individual. While the device has principal application to law enforcement, the device may also be used by civilians as a protective safety device in the event of an attack or threatened attack, as well as by animal control personnel.
Many of the attendant features will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.


A second-conductivity-type transistor includes a source and drain formed by a second-conductivity-type diffusion layer formed on a first-conductivity-type semiconductor layer; and a gate formed on the first-conductivity-type semiconductor layer sandwiched between the second-conductivity-type diffusion layer through an insulating film A first-conductivity-type transistor includes a source and drain formed by a first-conductivity-type diffusion layer formed on a second-conductivity-type semiconductor layer; and a gate formed on the second-conductivity-type semiconductor layer sandwiched between the first-conductivity-type diffusion layer through an insulating film. The second-conductivity-type diffusion layer for configuring the second-conductivity-type transistor is divided into a plurality of regions, each of which being separated by a device isolation region formed on the first-conductivity-type semiconductor layer. The first-conductivity-type diffusion layer for configuring the first-conductivity-type transistor is divided into a plurality of regions, each of which being separated by a device isolation region formed on the second-conductivity-type semiconductor layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and in particular to a semiconductor device for use in a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) in which data (potential) is retained and accumulated by cross-wiring of inverter circuits or in flip-flop circuits in logic circuits, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. JP07-263577A, an SRAM with a flip-flop circuit comprises two inverters each including a p-type MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) transistor and an n-type MOS transistor. In the inverter circuits, drains of the p-type MOS transistor and the n-type MOS transistor are connected to each other, and gates of the p-type MOS transistor and the n-type MOS transistor are connected to each other. Moreover, sources of these transistors are connected to the power-source potential and the ground potential, respectively. The cross wiring of such the two inverter circuits may form one SRAM cell. In the SRAM of this configuration, let "1" be the case where one of the nodes is in high-level and let "0" be the case where the node is in low-level, which enables storing of binary information (potentials).
On the other hand, in such a semiconductor device including an SRAM, some situations may arise where an α-ray would be incident in a semiconductor device, which is radiated from a radioactive element such as U or Th contained in the package or solder. In this case, a phenomenon is known that many pairs of electrons and holes are produced, the effect of which could inverse the stored information (potentials) and impose some errors. These types of errors are referred to as "soft-errors" as they can be corrected by rewriting of signals and be of transient malfunction.
Specifically, as for metal as a conductor, electrons and holes that are generated by α-rays should not move within the metal of conductors since the inner potentials remain constant. In addition, as for insulators, electrons and holes that are generated by α-rays could not move within the insulators.
However, for semiconductors with p-n junctions, when a reverse bias voltage is applied to the p-n junction, electrons and holes that are generated at the time of transmission of α-rays would move to the positive electrodes and to the negative electrodes respectively, each of which leading to the noise current. Therefore, the semiconductor region is susceptible to the soft-errors, especially in the region adjacent the region of the p-n junction.
Meanwhile, the recent improvement of technology for removing radioactive elements contained in the package material or solders have reduced the problems of soft-errors than before that are caused by α-rays. On the other hand, neutron rays, which are contained in cosmic rays, have attracted public attention as the cause of occurrence of soft-errors. This means that the neutron rays, which are contained in the cosmic rays falling onto the ground, are incident on the semiconductor material such as Si, and collide with a Si atom or the like that resides within the material, destroying the atomic nucleus to produce high-energy secondary particles. These high-energy secondary particles then pass through the semiconductor, thereby generating pairs of electrons and holes as in the α-rays, which could cause soft-errors.
The difference between the soft-error caused by neutron rays and the other caused by α-rays is that the neutron rays have about ten times higher density of pairs of electrons and holes per unit-length than the α-rays. The higher the altitude from the ground, the more the neutron rays would exist. Consequently, in the semiconductor devices such as SRAM mounted on airplanes, the soft-errors, especially those caused by the neutron rays, would become a problem.
Actually, for the α-rays, it is possible to eliminate the elements of the sources and to deal with the externally incident sources by means of shields, etc., and the countermeasures are apparent since their sources have been already identified. However, for the neutron rays, although they are contained in the cosmic rays and are of externally incident nature, the neutron rays offer such an extremely high transmittance as compared to the α-rays that is nearly impossible to shield against. As such, there is no apparent resolution.
Moreover, as the degree of semiconductor device integration increases with the progress of refinement, their soft-error tolerance tends to be reduced for the more refined semiconductor devices. Therefore, it can be thought that this problem would gain increased attention in the future. Patent documents of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. JP07-263577A and JP2005-12328A disclose inventions related to the semiconductor devices with an increased soft-error tolerance.


The invention relates to a paddle device (10) for water vehicles, wherein a double or single paddle (2) is attached to a height-adjustable spar (1) so as to be movable in all directions, and the spar can be movably and detachably connected to the floating body (6) of a water vehicle, wherein the paddle device has a device (14, 16) for fixing the spar (1) in the direction of the bow and/or stern of the water vehicle; the paddle device (10) is used for force-saving paddling together with improved propulsion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paddle device for water vehicles according to the generic clause of patent claim 1 and to a water vehicle including such paddle device. 2. Description of the Prior Art
It is generally known to propel a water vehicle forward by means of a single blade or double blade paddle. A whole series of inventions have made it their object to improve this most simple form of paddling. Devices are known for water vehicles, by means of which the user, in a seated position, besides the conventional single blade paddle (also known as spade paddle) also uses double blade paddles in a holding device by means of which the paddle is suspended, such that the weight of the paddle need not be carried continuously by the user. In the case of Canadian Application CA 1,288,009, the inventive concept consists in that the paddle is suspended from a boom which is fitted pivotally revolvable about a mast, mounted on a floating body.
According to the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 7,581,996 B1 the object is pursued to create a kind of "third hand". In this case, the single blade paddle is connected at its end where the grip is situated to the floating body by a device, such that, for example, a left-hand and a right-hand single blade paddle, instead of with both hands, need only be held and operated with one hand. The paddles are linked to a support, which, in turn, is linked close to the bow of the floating body. The user grips with the one hand the left-hand paddle and with the other hand the right-hand paddle.
In DE 200 02 806 U1, a double blade paddle is described, which is suspended from a boom in fixed relationship to a floating body. According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,296, the user operates a kind of U-beam, to the end of which a paddle is fitted. This U-beam is fitted by means of two solid stationary supports to the floating body, the forward propulsion is attained in that both paddles are moved forward and backward. In both those applications U.S. Pat. No. 6,632,111 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,796,863 B1 the teaching concerns a double bladed paddle to be fitted movably to a movable support. The support serves for weight reduction of the double bladed paddle. It is level adjustable and fitted by way of a variety of fitting options such as straps and fixed brackets to the floating body. In essence, the paddle suspensions only serve the purpose to reduce the weight of the paddle that has to be carried by the user.
If a single blade or double blade paddle is suspended by a kind of boom by way of one or two fixing ropes, as described in DE 200 02 806 U1, this results in the user being highly restricted in his use of the paddle. The pattern of movement of a single or double blade paddle resides in that the user immerses the paddle with both hands close to the bow and guides it laterally by means of a more or less intensive pulling action (and terminating in a thrust move) out of the water again at the stern.
In performing this, the centre of the paddle does not remain in the centre of the axis of elongation of the boat, but is moved outwardly towards the one or other side. Furthermore, there results a forward-backward as well as an up- and down movement of the paddle centre point. In a working example of the aforesaid DE 200 02 806 U1, this is taken into account in that the paddle is suspended from a flexible cord. This, however, takes into account only inadequately the circumstances of drift by the centre point of the paddle. For example, if the paddle is moved very far outwardly and towards the rear, a more or less intense tensile force is applied to the flexible cord which the user must counteract with each paddle thrust. This means that the concept of weight reduction of the paddle is partly neutralized in that the user, in the case of this invention, must apply an additional force in the lateral and downward movement as compared with a conventional paddle, in order to counteract the resilient traction of the cord to which the paddle is fitted.
If the elastic cord for the suspension of the paddle is too resilient, it will not contribute to the weight reduction of the paddle. If it is rather non-resilient, each paddle movement results in an undesirable heeling of the floating body.
All aforesaid paddle devices have in common that, when used in accordance with the respective invention, they can only be handled while seated and strongly impair the function of the single and double blade paddle. The suspensions and fixation constructions to which the paddles are fitted and which serve for the weight reduction of the paddle are cumbersome and impracticable. A typical paddle boat, canoe or surfboard, having a fixed boom fitted in front of or behind the user to the water vehicle lends an un-sporty appearance to the water vehicle, as well as a distinctive technical restriction to the use of the suspended paddle as compared with the use of conventional single blade or double blade paddles.


A pay-per-use or pay-as-you-go computer uses a secure memory to store individual unique program identifiers. Each unique program identifier is associated with a particular hardware or software component, or service, or the entire computer available to a user. By combining the unique program identifier with a computer hardware identifier uniquely identified transactions may be tracked for both billing and reconciliation. Certificates associated with each unique program identifier, and coupled to the hardware identifier, provide a cryptographic basis for mutual verification of messages, requests, configuration instructions, and provisioning.

Pay-as-you-go or pay-per-use business models have been used in many areas of commerce, from cellular telephones to commercial laundromats. In developing a pay-as-you go business, a provider, for example, a cellular telephone provider, offers the use of hardware (a cellular telephone) at a lower-than-market cost in exchange for a commitment to remain a subscriber to their network. In this specific example, the customer receives a cellular phone for little or no money in exchange for signing a contract to become a subscriber for a given period of time. Over the course of the contract, the service provider recovers the cost of the hardware by charging the consumer for using the cellular phone. Similarly, pre-paid cellular telephones are offered to users assuming usage on the cellular network.
In a network-based business, such as cellular telephones, the service provider has some level of assurance that the cellular device will remain connected to its cellular network because otherwise, the subscriber will lose access to service.
However, when providing computers in a pay-per-use or pay-as-you go business model, it is important that the computer remain linked to the correct service provider throughout the contract period but, unlike the cellular telephone, the computer may operate without ties to a network or the associated service provider so close monitoring of the status of the computer may not be possible.


This disclosure provides a gate driving circuit, which comprises: first P-channel, second P-channel, first N-channel and second N-channel transistors, each has a gate, a source, a drain, and a base connected to the source; an output terminal electrically connected to the drains of the second N-channel and P-channel transistors; wherein the source of the first P-channel transistor is connected to a first voltage source, and a first voltage is applied to its gate; the source of the first N-channel transistor is connected to a second voltage source, and a second voltage is applied to its gate; the source of the second P-channel transistor is connected to the drain of the first P-channel transistor, and a third voltage is applied to its gate; the source of the second N-channel transistor is connected to the drain of the first N-channel transistor, and a control voltage is applied to its gate.

In the operation of TFT-LCD, a gate driving circuit is used to provide a sufficient voltage to drive TFTs in the pixels, so as to turn the pixels on or off. Then, a source driving circuit outputs voltage to determine gray scales of the pixels.
There are various withstand-voltage types of transistors in an integrated-circuit LCD driver chip, and the nominal voltage range that each type of transistors can withstand would be updated due to advances of the semiconductor device technology. In the state of the art, a low-voltage transistor can withstand a voltage in the range between 1.5 and 1.8 volts, a medium-voltage transistor can withstand a voltage in the range between 5 and 6 volts, and a high-voltage transistor can withstand a voltage in the range between 25 and 30 volts. To drive a TFT in the TFT-LCD, high-voltage transistors are usually included in the gate driving circuit. However, the high-voltage transistors would introduce more masks and processes in the fabrication of the LCD driver chip, resulting in a higher cost. Therefore, it is in need of a new and advanced gate driving circuit.


A method for detecting parking violation associated with a vehicle is provided and includes: after an engine unit of the vehicle is switched to an activated state, controlling an image capturing unit to continuously capture images of a surrounding environment of the vehicle; determining whether the vehicle is in a stationary state; when it is determined that the vehicle is in a stationary state, performing an image processing procedure on at least one of the images for determining whether a violation condition is met, the violation condition indicating parking violation of the vehicle; and when the determination is affirmative, generating an alert for output.

Various traffic regulations are expected to be followed by all users of the road including vehicle drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. Violation of the traffic regulations (e.g., a moving violation) may cause inconvenience to other users of the road. In some cases, the flow of traffic on the road may be interrupted because of violation of the traffic regulations. Conventionally, automatic detection of some forms of violation of the traffic regulations (e.g., speeding, running red light, changing lanes in an illegal manner, etc.) is implemented on some roads, and some vehicles are equipped with automatic systems for automatically detecting such forms of violation of the traffic regulations.
It is noted that parking violation is one of the most common forms of violation of the traffic regulations. Common parking violations may include parking at a prohibited area (indicated by a roadside red line or yellow line), or double parking (parking parallel to another vehicle that is parked at a roadside).

Method and system for detecting parking violation


A multiple access communication system and method using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) comprises coding information signals with CDMA codewords to be transmitted over a common frequency spectrum, time compressing the CDMA codewords for transmission only during allocated timeslots, activating a receiver only during the allocated timeslots to receive and decompress the time compressed CDMA codewords, and decoding the decompressed CDMA codewords to recover the information signals.

The present invention relates generally to Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) communication systems and more particularly to radio communication systems such as cellular, satellite or Personal Communications Networks which use both CDMA and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) for transmission. The invention may also be applied to other transmission media such as wireline Local Area Networks where it is desired to support many simultaneous communications links between subscribers on the network.
It is well known in the art that CDMA techniques may be used to transmit many independent signals that overlap in the same frequency spectrum. CDMA comprises coding information bits with a high degree of redundancy such that a much greater number of bits, known as "chips", are obtained for transmission.
The simplest form of redundancy comprises repeating a data bit many times, but CDMA comprises further the pseudo-random alternation of the sign or polarity of each of the repetitions using a code known to both transmitter and receiver. Reception of such a signal comprises undoing the sign alternations using a local replica of the code, and then combining the repeated bits using, for example, majority vote. Since an unwanted, overlapping and potentially interfering signal having a different sign alternation pattern will not be restored to repeated bits of like sign when the signs are undone with an incorrect code, such interfering signals will give, in principle, a net contribution of zero to the majority voting process and will therefore not cause errors.
When other signals having incorrect codes give exactly zero contribution to the majority vote process, that is, after undoing the sign alternation of a wanted signal the unwanted signals have exactly half their repeated bits of opposite sign to the other half, then such signals are called "orthogonal".
Orthogonal codes may alternatively be employed for coding a block of N data bits together to produce a representative block codeword having 2 to the power N-1 or N bits. Such codes are called "bi-orthogonal" and "orthogonal" block codes, respectively. When orthogonal or bi-orthogonal codes are used to discriminate between different transmitted data bit blocks from the same transmitter, they cannot also be used to discriminate between different transmitters. All or part of the power of the code may be used to code data bits from the same transmitter and then the remaining power may be used to discriminate between different transmitters. Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) standard IS95 is an example of using orthogonal codes to discriminate between different data bit blocks (the IS95 uplink) and also using orthogonal codes to discriminate between different transmissions (the IS95 downlink).
Unfortunately, the number of available orthogonal codes for constructing a set of orthogonal signals is limited to at most the number of chips employed in the codeword. If a larger number of overlapping signals than that is desired, their codes can not all be mutually orthogonal. Moreover, orthogonality is destroyed by the propagation phenomenon, common in mobile radio propagation, known as multipath propagation or time-dispersion. Multipath propagation results when the path between a transmitter and a receiver comprises reflections from large objects, giving rise to echos with different delays. Codes that remain orthogonal when delayed or time-shifted with respect to each other cannot easily be constructed according to the prior art. Multipath echos that are delayed by one chip period or multiple chip periods are normally referred to as "independent rays".
Multipath echos of delay shorter than one chip period are not received with one or more whole-chip time shifts relative to the unshifted code, but give rise to another phenomenon known as Rayleigh fading. While such echos may only be a fraction of a chip period, they can be delayed by several whole and fractional cycles of the radio carrier frequency, which is generally of much higher frequency than the chip rate and therefore of much shorter wavelength.
These echos may therefore combine constructively or destructively depending on their phase, which can change rapidly due to receiver or transmitter motion. Thus the amplitude of a ray bearing the code shifted by one or more whole chip periods appears to vary randomly in amplitude and phase due to being composed of many smaller rays of delays shorter or longer than the whole number of chip periods.
A signal comprised of echos of various delays that are not necessarily multiples of a chip period can be exactly represented mathematically by a number of rays that are relatively delayed by exact multiples of the chip period, but which are Rayleigh fading in a more or less uncorrelated manner. The mathematical representation in this way can be regarded as collecting all the echos that lie within .+-.1/2 a chip period of an exact chip period delay multiple together to determine the amplitude and phase variation of a representative ray with that exact multiple chip delay.
Rayleigh fading, for slow speeds, can cause a ray to fade out for periods too long to be bridged by time-interleaved coding or other countermeasures, causing temporary loss of transmission for short periods and therefore errors in the transmission of information. If the signal can be represented by several rays of different whole-chip delay multiples and fading in an uncorrelated fashion, then the chance of all rays fading out completely is reduced, and fewer errors result. Thus multipath echos of multiple-chip delays can be beneficial in bringing about this so-called "path diversity gain". Unfortunately, as has already been stated, such echos have in the prior art had the disadvantage of denying the benefit of orthogonal codes.
If the chip period is reduced, there is a greater probability that echos will be delayed by one or more chip periods and each chip period will encompass a smaller number of echos in general. Ultimately, each individual echo or delayed path is resolved when the chip period becomes sufficiently short, and since each ray then consists of a single path, it does not exhibit the Rayleigh fading phenomenon. Unfortunately, if the environment encompasses a large number of such rays, receiver complexity to process the signal becomes excessive.
The U.S. military communications system known as JTIDS (Joint Tactical Information Distribution System) is another example of a system employing orthogonal codes to discriminate between different transmitter data blocks, as does the cited TIA standard IS95 in its uplink direction. IS95 transmits 64-bit scrambled codewords each carrying 6 bits of information whereas JTIDS transmits 32-bit scrambled codewords, each carrying 5 bits of information. IS95 transmits codewords in a continuous stream and employs means to counter multipath propagation known as a RAKE receiver, which will be described further below. JTIDS, on the other hand, time-compresses each single codeword for transmission in a single burst, and does not employ a RAKE receiver to combine multipath rays.
JTIDS is not configured as a network of base station each communicating with a plurality of mobile stations, but envisages a plurality of autonomous mobile or fixed stations that communicate directly with each other in pairs.
JTIDS is also not considered to be a direct sequence CDMA system that allows many users to overlap at the same time in the same frequency channel, as the 32,5 orthogonal outer code does not have the power to tolerate significant permanently overlapping interference. Instead, it uses frequency hopping to minimize the probability of clashes with other users. It therefore belongs in the class of frequency hopping spread spectrum systems and not in the class of direct sequence CDMA systems.
Furthermore, JTIDS receivers do not envisage time-expanding received bursts for processing as narrowband CDMA signals, using for example multi-user demodulators such as interference subtraction or joint demodulation, but rather directly process the wideband signal to decode a 32,5 orthogonal codeword to obtain a 5-bit Reed-Solomon symbol. Indeed, as a military system, JTIDS maintains security by keeping the codes of some user groups or pairs secret from other stations, so that compromise of a code would not compromise the security of all communications.
The security doctrine practiced by such military systems therefore prevents or teaches away from the techniques of joint demodulation which can benefit civil communications systems through making all CDMA access codes public.
The RAKE receiver is the name given to a prior art receiver adapted to process signals received via several relatively delayed paths. Such a reception channel is known as a multipath channel, and the different paths may be referred to as rays or echos. The RAKE receiver, together with innovative variations adapted more specifically to the cellular CDMA channel from base station to mobile station, are described in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/187,062, entitled "A Method and System for Demodulation of CDMA Downlink Signals", filed Jan. 27, 1994, which is hereby incorporated by reference. It is explained therein how a receiver can isolate and then combine individual rays using correlation. If the receiver cannot isolate and combine all rays due to complexity limitations, then those that are not isolated and combined each represent a complete copy of the interfering signal environment, effectively multiplying the number of apparently overlapping interfering signals. Since any CDMA system places limits on the number of independent overlapping and interfering signals that can be tolerated without excessive transmission errors, unutilized echos cause a reduction in the number of signals that can be transmitted, i.e. in the capacity of the system measured in Erlangs per Megahertz per unit area.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,151,919 and 5,218,619, respectively entitled "Subtractive demodulation of CDMA signals" and "CDMA Subtractive Demodulation" describe novel means to increase the number of non-orthogonal CDMA signals that can be permitted to overlap, by decoding the strongest of the overlapping signals first and then subtracting it and its echos out before continuing to demodulate the next strongest signal, and so on until a wanted signal is decoded. The two above-cited patents by the same inventor as the present application and assigned to the same assignee are specifically incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.
Using subtractive demodulation according to the three above incorporated patents it can be shown that the amount of computation effort needed in a receiver increases with at least the cube of the chiprate, if the CDMA system is exploited to the full capacity of which it is capable. This means that the benefits of subtractive demodulation are most easily obtained for narrowband, low chiprate CDMA systems, causing low chiprate CDMA systems to exhibit better performance than high chiprate systems that cannot use the subtractive technique due to complexity limitations.
Thus, using the above techniques, it is difficult to simultaneously achieve the advantages of: 1) orthogonality, which is only available in the absence of time dispersion or echos delayed by one or more chip periods; 2) path diversity, which is only obtained when echos delayed by one or more chip periods are present; 3) resolution of individual rays to eliminate Rayleigh fading, only obtained with very high chiprates, on the order of 10 MB/s; and 4) interference subtraction, complexity limited to low chiprates, for example under 300 KB/s.
TIA standard IS95 specifies continuous CDMA transmission using a chiprate of approximately 1 MB/s, and this falls between two methods in being too narrowband to achieve the benefits of eliminating Rayleigh fading on the individual rays while being too high a chiprate and therefore too onerous for a low-cost, low-power mobile station to achieve the benefits of interference subtraction.
One method of extending the benefits of subtractive demodulation to higher chiprates is described in commonly owned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/570,431 entitled "Reorthogonalization of Wideband CDMA Signals", filed Dec. 11, 1995, which is assigned to the same assignee and is hereby incorporated by reference. This application discloses despreading signals in signal strength order to obtain narrowband signals, which are then notched out by zeroizing a frequency domain component using a narrowband notch filter. This technique is also used to null out delayed echos of a signal and subtraction errors by repeating the zeroizing process after first zeroizing other unwanted signals.
The aforedescribed re-orthogonalization principle applied by way of spectral nulling is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 1, a receiver 100 downconverts the received signal, if necessary to a suitable intermediate frequency. The intermediate frequency is then despread using the code C1 of the strongest signal in despreader 101. The narrowband, despread signal is then nulled out in the spectral domain by nulling filter 102. The residual signal is then respread with code C1 in respreader 103 prior to being despread in 104 with code C2, nulling out signal 2 in filter 105 and respreading with C2 in block 106. According to one embodiment, re-orthogonalization of the signal with respect to C1, i.e. by subtracting out again a component that correlates with C1 after having subtracted or nulled out other signals, is shown as a second C1 despreader 107, second nulling filter for C1-correlated components 108 and second C1 respreader 109. After the resubtraction stage represented by blocks 107, 108 and 109, the residual signal can be further processed to extract other signals, and later resubtraction of C2 and C1 for a third time. Indeed resubtraction of any or all of previously subtracted signals may be performed to prevent accumulation of subtraction imperfections that hinder the decoding of weak signals.
FIG. 2 illustrates that some of the signal removal stages can be used for removal of differently-delayed rays of the same signal by using a delayed version C1-.sub.t-T of the code sequence C1.sub.t. Rays are preferably removed in descending signal strength order. For example, assuming ray 1 of signal 1 is the strongest received ray of all; then it is despread in a first stage 91 using Code C1.sub.t. The despread components of the rays of the same signal (e.g., signal 1 ray 1, signal 1 ray 2, etc.) may be fed to combiner 95 which may be, for example, a RAKE combiner, that tracks the phase and amplitude of every ray and performs coherent combination with the aid of complex weights to enhance the signal for decoding in decoder 96. Block 95 can alternatively be a selection combiner for selecting for decoding always the strongest ray of signal 1, which, however, should always be arranged to be that removed in stage 91 by using the appropriate code delay C1.sub.t, C1.sub.t-T, etc. in stage 1. Block 92 illustrates that rays of other signals may be despread and removed before a second ray of signal 1 is despread, which is desirable if the other signal rays are stronger than signal 1 ray 2.
Signal ray 2 is despread in stage 93 by using code C1 delayed by T, i.e., the code sequence C1.sub.t-T where T is chosen to correspond as closely as possible to the delay of the second strongest ray of signal 1 relative to the strongest ray of signal 1. The despread ray 2 component is fed to combiner 95 before being filtered out from the signal passed to subsequent stages represented by block 94. Block 94 can proceed to despread and remove other rays of signal 1, rays of other signals, or to re-subtract components correlated with any of code C1.sub..sub.t, code C1.sub.t-T or any other code or delayed code used previously in an earlier signal removal stage.
Wideband re-orthogonalization according to the above disclosure can be carried out by analog filters which are less power-consuming than digital signal processing; however, the number of analog filters that can be practically included in a receiver such as a mobile phone is limited to a much smaller number than could be afforded in a cellular base station for example, and so the technique is more practicable to the CDMA uplink than to the CDMA downlink.
Another practical limitation of wideband CDMA for duplex communications systems is interference between own transmitter and own receiver. Such interference may be prevented in narrowband FDMA, TDMA or CDMA systems by allocating a separate frequency or frequency band for transmission and reception respectively by a portable phone, the transmit/receive frequency allocations being reversed at the base station. The frequency spacing between transmit and receive frequencies is known as the duplex spacing. A typical duplex spacing used is 45 MHz. Unfortunately when wideband CDMA is employed, the duplex spacing may be insufficient in relation to the signal spread bandwidth to prevent the transmitter's spectral tails from extending into the receiver band and thereby causing interference.
The above deficiencies of IS95 and other CDMA systems in hindering the respective benefits of wideband and narrowband CDMA systems from being achieved simultaneously are overcome when practicing exemplary embodiments of the invention that will now be described.

Multiple access communications system and method using code and time division