A novel method of non-harmonic analysis of a physical waveform is disclosed. A digitized wave data is multiplied by a first sine and a first cosine function having a first predetermined period, respectively, and the resulting products are respectively summed over a predetermined interval equal to an integer multiple of the first predetermined period. The resulting summation values are used to determine the amplitudes of the first sine and first cosine functions. A sine and a cosine waveform having the thus determined amplitudes and the first predetermined period are subtracted from the wave data to derive a residual wave data. The above steps are performed on the wave data successively using a second to n-th sine and cosine functions having a second to n-th predetermined periods to derive (n-1) residual wave data. The power of each residual wave data is checked to determine as a first non-harmonic frequency component the sine and cosine waveforms providing a minimum power. The sine and cosine waveforms are subtracted from the digitized wave data to derive a first residual waveform and the above steps are performed on the first to n-th residual waveforms successively to determine a second to n-th non-harmonic frequency components.

The Fourier analysis which is well known as FFT (fast Fourier Transformation) is one form of harmonic analysis in which frequencies to be analyzed have a harmonic relationship represented by n/T (n=1, 2, . . . ) where T is the interval of a waveform. Periodgram is a known method for period analysis, however, this requires a waveform of sufficiently longer interval than the period for analysis and cannot attain accuracy unless the periodicity of the waveform is relatively prominent. This is also true of the correlation method. The auto regression model or auto regression moving average (ARMA) model that is used for time series analysis corresponds to a digital lowpass or bandpass filter and requires a waveform of sufficient interval as in the above approaches. Prony's method, which is a form of non-harmonic analysis, cannot make an accurate analysis when noise is present.

Method of non-harmonic analysis and synthesis of wave data


A balance board has a top side and an under side. The under side is arranged to be mounted on top of a ball with a user balancing on the top side. The board is shaped to define a generally longitudinal direction and a direction generally transverse to the longitudinal direction. The board is formed from a first top portion defining the topside and having a substantially flat region on its under side and a second lower portion joined to the first top portion and defining a wall at least substantially bounding a portion of the flat region. The distance across the bounded portion in the longitudinal direction of the board is greater than in the transverse direction. With the bounded portion balanced on a ball with a diameter less than the distance across the bounded portion in the transverse direction, the board is enabled to move relative to the ball with at least a degree of spherical rotational freedom and also a degree of translational freedom in directions other than the vertical.

This disclosure relates to balance boards.
Surfers, snowboarders and skateboarders want to be able to practice skills, notably balance, relevant to their particular sports at times when, for one reason or another (such as lack of snow or of surfable waves), it is not possible to practice the sport concerned. In an effort to meet this demand a number of devices, known generally as balance boards, have been suggested in the literature, and some of these are also commercially available. Such boards also have a use in Physiotherapy and in rehabilitation of accident victims. Balance boards also have value as sports and exercise items in their own right.
In general such devices comprise a board on which a user may stand, the board being supported by a rolling element of some form. Some such devices employ cylindrical rollers. Others employ a sphere mounted essentially in a fixed position beneath the board but free to roll in any direction carrying the board with it. The mounting of such spheres or rollers beneath a board presents significant manufacturing problems. Moreover, all these arrangements suffer from limitations in the exercises which the user can perform. In general they fall far short of the range of movements experienced in practice, for example when surfing. Balance boards have also been proposed in which the board is simply balanced on a ball. The user may frequently fall, for example by the ball rolling away from under the board. Boards have been provided with a substantial concave surface beneath the board. However, this results in a board with a complex construction, that is too expensive to sell on a commercial scale at a price which ordinary surfers, snowboarders and skateboarders can afford. These arrangements also failed satisfactorily to restrain movement of the ball beyond the cavity, as a smoothly concave shape right up to the lip simply guided the ball towards the lip, and a simple excess movement tended to carry the ball over the lip, causing the user to fall. Other attempts to restrict movement of the ball either restrict the range of different movements possible or still result in a board from which a user can easily fall in use. To the best of Applicant's knowledge no previous proposal has satisfactorily overcome this problem.


Disclosed is a method for managing the triboelectric charge potential of a two-component xerographic developer over a wide range of variables. In particular, the present embodiments uses the addition of second and third carrier particles to a developer comprising toner particles and first carrier particles to adjust the tribo electric charge potential of the developer. Various parameters (system responses), including Vmag, laser power, relative humidity, toner and carrier age, and image scan data, are used to determine the requisite amounts of the second and third carrier to achieve a desired shift in tribo electric charge potential of the developer.

Disclosed herein is a method for managing the triboelectric charge of a two-component xerographic developer over a wide range of variables.
Because of the large number of variables surrounding xerographic printers, such as environmental conditions, job stresses, material variabilities, and the like, it is difficult to engineer a xerographic material with respect to tribo electric properties that remains optimum through all variables. As a result, xerographic latitude suffers.
The development health of a xerographic system is directly related to cases in which the triboelectric charge of the system is too high or too low. These instances happen because tribo charging is very much dependent on environmental conditions such as the grains of moisture in the air, the printing job such as low area versus high area coverage printing, and even carrier and toner manufacturing variations. When these variables are in play, xerographic printing can suffer from latitude constraints which limit where the printer can operate and the jobs the printer can print. Even with the limitations, the print quality often degrades as well.
Current methods of managing tribo electric charge within a machine generally entail manipulating the toner concentration (TC) by adding toner. There are, however, limitations. Too low of a TC can lead to supply constraints and too much TC can lead to saturated carrier and poor charging toner.
A method for managing developer health that enables printing performance over a wide range of uncontrolled variables, such as relative humidity, temperature, developer age, print job types, printer consumables variations and the like. Such a method can, in some embodiments, enable the ability to vary different settings on the printer under a wide variety of conditions, enabling greater system latitude. It can also provide opportunities to remove expensive environmental control units for temperature and humidity. Further, the ability to adjust tribo electric charge can allow for mitigation of difficulties such as pollution of the development wires in hybrid scavengeless development (HSD) type development systems, high Vmag, image line variation, image background defects, random clusters of toner particles known as "spits" that are transferred from the photoconductive belt to the copy sheet, light solid image areas, loose toner contamination within the printer, and the like.

Method for managing triboelectric charge in two-component developer


A method and an apparatus for encoding a video into a bitstream carrying windows processing coordinates for locally post-processing a video is presented. Such a method comprises:—encoding at least one picture of said video into a bitstream (301),—encoding (302) at least one Supplemental Enhancement Information nesting message, wherein encoding said at least one Supplemental Enhancement Information nesting message comprises:—encoding (303) at least one set of parameters representative of a location of a region in said picture,—encoding (304) at least one Supplemental Enhancement Information message, wherein said at least one Supplemental Enhancement Information message encodes processing information for processing pixels comprised in said region of said picture.

Metadata are generated during the content production stage of a video or just prior to the encoding stage of a video. Such metadata are transmitted all along the video value chain in order to feed post-decoding processes, typically in receivers such as television (TV) or Set-Top-Box (STB). For example, such metadata may comprise parameters to be applied by a receiver or a renderer to reconstructed pictures of a video in order to improve image quality, or perception of the video for a user, or to adapt the video rendering according to the receivers' capabilities.
SMPTE standards defines such metadata, e.g. SMPTE ST 2086 for static metadata, SMPTE ST 2094 for content-dependent or dynamic metadata for use in production environment. More particularly, ST 2094 standard defines metadata that are applicable per processing windows or region-of-interest (ROI).
Such metada may need to be carried along with coded bitstreams of the video sequence during the video distribution stage in order to be used by post-decoding process performed for instance in external convertors or renderers.
Supplemental Enhancement Information (SEI) messages have been specified in H.26x standards. Such messages allow carrying metadata along the coded bitstream of a video sequence.
For example, some SEI messages may carry post-processing parameters for Colour Remapping, or post filtering, etc.
However, such SEI messages carry post-processing parameters to be applied on a whole reconstructed picture, i.e. on all the pixels of the picture.
There is no signaling or mechanism enabling windows/ROI processing as defined in ST 2094.
One solution would be to convey via another mean processing window coordinates associated with each processing SEI message. However, this multiplies the number of metadata carriers and increase the risk to loose or to handle badly metadata (wrong combination/ordering or wrong association of processing windows with processing metadata).
There is thus a need for an encoding/decoding method adapted to apply processing SEI messages locally on an image.

Method and apparatus for coding a video into a bitstream carrying region-based post processing parameters into an SEI nesting message


A vehicle seat includes a rotationally moving hook mechanism provided on a seat back, and a striker disposed in a rear of the seat back and fixed onto a vehicle body. The vehicle seat includes a left lock mechanism and a right lock mechanism which fix the seat back at an erection position, and a supporting bracket that is provided on the vehicle body to tiltably support the seat back. The striker and the supporting bracket are disposed on a rear side of each of a left side bolster and a right side bolster. An insertion hole, a fixing wire and a protruding portion are provided on the left side bolster and the right side bolster, and on the striker and the supporting bracket to determine positions of the left side bolster and the right side bolster and positions of the striker and the supporting bracket.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat.
2. Description of Related Art
A vehicle seat is known which includes a seat back that doubles with a partition to separate a rear luggage compartment from a passenger compartment.
The seat back is provided tiltably with respect to a seat cushion that is disposed substantially in parallel with a floor of the vehicle. In this kind of vehicle seat, a side bolster may be fixed to a vehicle body for minimizing a gap between each left and right end of the seat back at an erection position and a side wall of a vehicle body. This configuration can improve a vehicle's interior design (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Application No. 2010-285080).
However, in the related art described above, there is a problem in that due to a manufacturing error of the seat back, the side bolster or the like, a gap or a difference in level unexpectedly occurs between the seat back at the erection position and the side bolster, and the design deteriorates.


An impregnated cathode including an electron emissive substance in a porous matrix of a metal having a high melting point and a heat resistive property, is manufactured by mixing (S2) powder of the metal and the electron emissive substance in a dry state into cathode forming powder, press-shaping (S3) the cathode forming powder into a shaped body, sealing (S4) the shaped body in a reaction vessel to provide a sealed vessel, and subjecting (S5) the shaped body in the sealed vessel to a hot isostatic press (HIP) to provide a sintered body of the cathode forming powder, wherein the substance comprises a barium aluminate compound represented by a chemical formula of: EQU (pBaO.qCaO).nBaAl.sub.2 O.sub.4,. where p represents an integer which is not less than one, q representing an integer which is not less than zero, n representing an integer which is not less than one. Preferably, the HIP is carried out at a temperature between 900.degree. C. and 1400.degree. C. for twenty minutes with the sealed vessel placed in an argon atmosphere of 1500 atmospheres. The cathode preferably includes the substance in a ratio which is greater than 5.7% by weight and is not greater than 13.8% by weight.

This invention relates to a method of manufacturing an impregnated cathode and to an impregnated cathode manufactured by the method.
An impregnated cathode is preferred in a thermoelectronic tube, such as a highly reliable microwave tube for use in satellite communication, a linear accelerator, or a highly resolving image pickup or display tube which is under progress for new media. The impregnated cathode includes an electron emissive or emission active substance in a porous matrix of a refractory metal and has a high emission current density and a long life. It is believed that this is because a monoatomic layer of free barium is formed as a thermoelectron emissive surface of the cathode and is quickly replenished by diffusion of the electron emissive substance from the matrix.
The impregnated cathode may be an impregnated dispenser cathode disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,358,178 issued to Avraam I. Figner and two others or in U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,473 issued to Louis R. Falce and assigned to Varian Associates, Inc., California. In the manner which will later be described a little more in detail, the conventional method of manufacturing such as impregnated cathode is defective.
An improved method of manufacturing an impregnated cathode is therefore revealed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,450 issued to Toshikazu Sugimura, the present inventor, and four others. According to the improved method, powder of an electron emissive substance is first prepared by mixing powder of barium carbonate, calcium carbonate, and aluminium oxide into fixed powder, firing the mixed powder into fired powder, and crushing the fired powder into the powder of the electron emissive substance. Metal powder of a high melting point and a heat resistive property and the powder of the electron emissive substance are now mixed in a dry state into cathode forming powder. The cathode forming powder is press-shaped into a shaped body. The shaped body is sealed in a glass reaction vessel and is subjected to a hot isostatic pressing (HIP) treatment with the sealed vessel placed in an argon atmosphere of a substantially constant final temperature between 1000.degree. C. and 1300.degree. C. and of 1500 atmospheres (atm) for ninety minutes. The shaped body is thereby changed to a sintered body of the cathode forming powder.
It is possible with the improved method to remove the defects of the conventional method. The instant inventor has, however, found that barium oxide is liable to react with tungsten used as the metal during the hot isostatic press treatment to become barium tungstate (BaWO.sub.4) if used as the electron emissive substance. This adversely affects formation of the monoatomic layer of free barium. Furthermore, the inventor has found that carbon in a carbonate reacts with tungsten during the hot isostatic press treatment to become tungsten carbide (WC). This reaction takes place if barium carbonate were included in the electron emissive substance although the electron emissive substance includes theoretically no barium carbonate. If formed, the tungsten carbide adversely affects the reduction reaction which is indispensable for thermoelectron emission and is otherwise duly caused by the tungsten included in the sintered body as a matrix.

Cathode impregnated by an electron emissive substance comprising (PBAO.QCAO).NBAA1204, where P>1, Q>0, N>1


Designed imminocyclitols have potent inhibition activity with respect to hexoaminidases and glycosidases.

Enzymatic hydrolysis of glycosidic bonds generally takes place via general acid-base catalyses that require two critical residues, a proton donor and a nucleophile. The process is illustrated in FIG. 1. Five- or six membered iminocyclitols carrying hydroxyl groups with specific orientation and a secondary amine have been used to mimic the shape and charge of the transition state of the reaction and have been shown to be potent inhibitors of such enzymes (T. A. Beyer, et al., J. Biol. Chem. 1979, 254, 12531–12541; H. Paulsen, et al., Adv. Carbohydr. Chem. Biochem. 1968, 23, 115–232; A. B. Hughes, et al., J. Nat. Prod. Rep. 1994, 135–162; C.-H. Wong, et al., Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl., 1995, 34, 412–432 and 521–546; B. Ganem, Acc. Chem. Res. 1996, 29, 340–347; S. Picasso, Chimia, 1996, 50, 648–649; L. A. G. M. van den Broek, in Carbohydr. Drug Des. 1997; Eds by Z. J. Witczak, et al., Dekker, New York, pp 1–37 and pp471–493; G. W. Fleet. et al., Tetrahedron Lett. 1985, 26, 3127–3130; Y. T Pan, et al., J. Biol. Chem. 1992, 267, 8313–8318; c) T. D. Heightman, et al. Helvetica Chim. Acta 1995, 78, 514–532; and Y. Ichikawa, et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1998, 120, 3007–3018). One process for synthesizing iminocyclitols is based on aldolase-catalyzed reactions (R. L. Pederson, et al., Tetrahedron Lett. 1988, 29, 4645–4648; T. Ziegler, et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1988, 27, 716–717; C. H. von der Osten, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1989, 111, 2924–3927; T. Kajimoto, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1991, 113, 6187–6196; K. K.-C. Liu, et al., J. Org. Chem. 1991, 56, 6280–6289; and Y. F. Wang, et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1994, 33, 1242–1244). Another process for synthesizing iminocyclitols is based on multi-step chemical transformations (S. Hiranuma, et al., Tetrahedron Lett. 1995, 36, 8247–8250; and C.-H. Wong, et al., J. Org. Chem. 1995, 60, 1492–1501). A preferred method for assaying inhibition activity without using radioactive isotopes employs electrospray mass spectrometry and capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) (S. Takayama, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997, 119, 8146–8151; J. Wu, et al., Chem. Biol. 1997, 4, 653–657; Y. Kanie, et al., Anal. Biochem. 1998, 263, 240–245; R., Zeleny, et al., Anal. Biochem. 1997, 256, 96–101; K. B. Lee, et al., Anal. Biochem. 1992, 205, 108–114; and K.-B. Lee, et al., Electrophoresis, 1991, 12, 636–640).
Glycosidases and hexoaminidases catalyze a myriad of clinically important processes. For example, cartilage erosion in arthritic subjects results from the over-catabolism of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) of proteoglycan (PG)-hyaluronate complex, which fills the most part in cartilage tissue. The process is illustrated in FIG. 8. The cartilage PG consists of a central protein core to which GAG side chains of chondroitin sulfate (CS) and keratan sulfate (KS) are attached together with O-linked and N-linked oligosaccharides. The PGs bind to hyaluronic acid noncovalently. The degradation of GAGs is a very complicated process, involving a multi-enzyme systems and radical reactions. It is known that subjects with arthritis have an abnormal increase of β-N-acetylhexoaminidases activities (O. Kida, J. Jap. Orthop. Ass. 1968, 42(6), 4010; R. W. Stephen, et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1975, 399(1), 101, and J. J. Steinberg, et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1983, 757(1), 47). The higher β-N-acetylhexoaminidases activity amplifies that of hyaluronidase and increases the degradation rate of GAG side chains.
What are needed are iminocyclitols having inhibitory activities against hexoaminidases and glycosidases.

Iminocyclitol inhibitors of hexoaminidase and glycosidase


A cargo system includes a plurality of rigidly connected compartments adapted to mount on the roof of a vehicle. The plurality of compartments includes a first compartment suitable for mounting a retractable awning and a second compartment suitable for storing cargo. The first and second compartments each include a flooring and a sidewall wherein the first compartment is rigidly connected to the second compartment by at least one of the flooring and the sidewall. One of the plurality of compartments includes a liquid container, at least a portion of the container being suspended in the compartment. The liquid container includes a tube suitable for passing liquid that emerges from the cargo system. In addition, a light assembly is operatively associated with the cargo system. The light assembly includes an electrical conductor suitable for providing power to the light assembly, the conductor emerging from the cargo system.

To ensure a pleasurable trip in a vehicle it is desirable to keep passenger space relatively uncluttered with suitcases containing clothing or boxes containing food, herein cargo. While binding cargo to a rack attached to the vehicle roof reduces passenger compartment clutter, the binding may loosen at highway speeds, resulting in cargo spillage, a significant highway hazard. Further, cargo improperly loaded on the rack increases vehicle wind resistance and, particularly in heavy crosswinds, may contribute to vehicle instability and road accidents.
Roof-mounted containers that at least partially enclose cargo in an aerodynamically efficient manner, herein cargo containers, allow vehicle stability and safe transport of cargo while reducing passenger compartment clutter. As used herein an aerodynamically efficient cargo container refers to a container designed to reduce wind resistance while the vehicle is in motion, for example having curved and/or slanted portions.
A cargo container provided in conjunction with a utility item that can be used on the trip, for example a spotlight to aid in unloading the cargo at night, is known. Thule Company at Internet address www.thule.com shows a cargo container and light assembly that mount separately on the vehicle roof but, because the container and light are not joined, they fail to use the roof space efficiently.
Another desirable utility item for use on a trip is an awning that extends from a housing when the vehicle is parked, providing shade from the sun or protection against rain. Baka, G. J., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,145, teaches a roof-mountable awning that stores in the vehicle during transport, thereby increasing vehicle clutter. If the awning were suitably secured to the roof for transport, it would prevent the simultaneous attachment of a roof-mounted cargo container, resulting in cargo storage in the vehicle and passenger compartment clutter.


A system for the transmission of digital data elements corresponding to at least one application each comprising at least one stream of data elements, the data elements being constituted by digital elements distributed in the time-frequency space and transmitted in the form of symbols constituted by a multiplex of orthogonal carrier frequencies modulated by a set of the digital elements and broadcast simultaneously, the symbols being organized in successive frames, each frame being organized in at least one data conveying channel, each channel being constituted by a succession of at least one consecutive symbol. The data elements may advantageously be transmitted, in each channel, either in transparent mode or in packet mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is that of digital data broadcasting, notably according to methods that provide for time and frequency interleaving of the data.
Such methods are being developed notably for high quality sound broadcasting applications, especially broadcasting to moving bodies in urban environments, but also to fixed receivers. These applications are often designated by the term DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting).
The invention can also be applied advantageously in the field of digital television such as for example the DNT (diffusion numerique de terre or earth digital broadcasting) project.
The invention can be applied in particular, but not exclusively, to the broadcasting system known as the COFDM (Coding Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex) system as described in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,139 published on Nov. 28, 1990.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a rule, the broadcasting of signals, whether radio or television (analog or digital) signals relies, according to known techniques, on the association of a transmission channel with a specific program. This association is fixed and permanent.
In other words, at present, each television or each radio station is systematically associated with a fixed transmission frequency.
If digital broadcasting is analyzed from the viewpoint of the ISO reference model, the applications, and for example the high quality sound application, correspond to the Presentation layer (layer 6) and Application layer (layer 7). Seen from the other end of the ISO model, the transmission part DAB corresponds to the functions of the Physical layer (layer 1) and the Link layer (layer 2).
It is seen, therefore, that the intermediate layers are not represented. At present, applications and network are closely related. In other words, there is no intermediate protocol that can be used, when possible, to decorrelate an application from the network. While this absence can, in certain cases, facilitate the processing operations, it most usually amounts to a severe handicap.
Furthermore, the extension of this system of broadcasting to other fields of application such as, for example, the broadcasting of personal messages, driving assistance messages, localization messages, television signals etc. proves to be difficult.
The object of the invention notably is to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art.

System of data transmission by sharing in the time-frequency space with channel organization


A wildcat chain hoist for lifting anchor chain where the chain length may have different size chain links. The wildcat chain hoist continuously lifts the chain regardless of the different link sizes by engaging alternate chain links defined as horizontal links and applying a pulling force to them. The wildcat chain hoist includes a drum constructed of two identical halves having whelps for guiding the vertical links. The halves are joined together to provide a v-shaped cross section. There are pockets extending from the drum hub up to the perimeter with the pockets increasing in size toward the perimeter to gage and guide the chain links into the proper pocket size. Each wildcat chain drum half has a flange rim which moves or adjusts to close the pockets on the chain links to pull on the chain, and to open to release the chain.

This invention relates to chain winches of the type for handling anchor chain, and in particular to a chain winch for handling different size anchor chains.
Historically, ships carry only one size anchor chain, not necessarily because of the strength requirements throughout the entire cable length, but rather, because heretofore an anchor chain wildcat could accomodate only one specific chain size. Many ships carry throughout their service life nonessential tons of weight in their chain lockers with attendant loss of useful payload and propulsive power.
Chain, such as anchor chain on ships, is customarily hoisted by a power source developing a rotational force. This force is transmitted to the chain by a specifically configured drum type device called a wildcat secured to the rotating power shaft. The configuration of the wildcat is specifically shaped to the particular size and diminsions of the chain to be handled. The shape consists of whelps or "dogs", which intersperse themselves between the horizontal links (chain having a vertical link alternating with a horizontal link) and which apply force to the rear of each horizontal link as it enters the wildcat. Between the whelps are "pockets" shaped to the dimensions of the horizontal links. These pockets keep the chain at a fixed radius about the power shaft centerline which is based upon the chain link length. If another size chain, having links of different length and width from that for which the wildcat was specifically designed is used, power cannot be effectively applied without having a new and differently shaped wildcat secured to the power shaft.
There are situations where the lifting of a length of chain having different sizes in that length is required. This has been usually accomplished through gripping the chain by a hook from a crane or other lifting device, and through a series of staged lifts in which the hook is reattached down the chain a number of times, the entire chain length being raised. This method is not only time consuming but requires labor personnel placed in a hazardous position.
The following patents are directed to chain hoists where alternated chain links are engaged by whelps of sprocket teeth to lift the chain:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,548,846, issued to Robins et al PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,507,471, issued to Haynes et al PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,556, issued to Riber PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,805, issued to Dohmeier
While these patents show chain hoists and positive chain link engagement, there is no showing of a wildcat drum to handle a length of chain having different size links. The present invention overcomes the showing of the prior art.

Wildcat chain hoist with whelps, pockets, and movable drum halves


In a liquid discharge head having an element substrate on the surface of which are provided in parallel a plurality of discharge energy generating elements generating heat energy for creating a bubble in liquid, a fixed portion provided on the element substrate so as to face the plurality of discharge energy generating elements, and fixed to the element substrate, and a plurality of movable members comprising a movable portion extending from the end portion of the fixed portion and displaced by the bubble, a fulcrum about which the movable portion is displaced is located on the movable portion other than a corner portion formed at the boundary between the movable portion and the fixed portion.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention can be applied to apparatuses such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile apparatus such as a communication system and a word processor having a printer portion for effecting recording on a recording medium such as paper, yarn, fiber, cloth, metals, plastics, glass, wood or ceramics, and further an industrial recording apparatus compositely combined with various processing apparatuses.
The term xe2x80x9crecordingxe2x80x9d in the present invention means not only imparting meaningful images such as characters and figures to a recording medium, but also imparting meaningless images such as patterns to a recording medium.
2. Related Background Art
There is known an ink jet recording method, i.e., a so-called bubble jet recording method, of imparting energy such as heat to ink to thereby cause a state change resolution from a steep volume change (creation of a bubble) to the ink, discharging the ink from a discharge port by an acting force based on this state change of the ink, and causing the ink to adhere to a recording medium to thereby effect image formation. In a recording apparatus using this bubble jet recording method, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,129, there are generally disposed a discharge port for discharging ink therefrom, an ink flow path communicating with this discharge port, and an electro-thermal converting member as energy generating means for discharging the ink disposed in the ink flow path.
According to such a recording method, images of high dignity can be recorded at a high speed with low noise and in a head carrying out this recording method, discharge ports for discharging the ink can be disposed highly densely and therefore, there are many excellent advantages that recorded images of high resolution and further, color images can be easily obtained by a compact apparatus. Therefore, in recent years, this bubble jet recording method has come to be utilized in many office machines such as printers, copying machines and facsimile apparatuses, and further in an industrial system such as a textile printing apparatus.
As the bubble jet technique is thus utilized in products in many fields, the following various requirements have been further rising in recent years.
For example, as the examination of the requirement for improved energy efficiency, mention is made of the optimization of a heat generating member such as the adjustment of the thickness of the protective film of the heat generating member. This technique is effective in improving the propagation efficiency of generated heat to liquid.
Also, in, order to obtain images of high quality, there has been proposed a driving condition for giving a liquid discharging method in which the discharge speed of ink is high and which can accomplish good ink discharge based on the stable creation of bubbles, and from the viewpoint of high speed recording, there has been proposed an apparatus improved in the shape of a liquid flow path to obtain a liquid discharge head in which the refill speed of discharged liquid into the liquid flow path is high.
FIGS. 9A and 9B of the accompanying drawings are a top plan view and a cross-sectional view, respectively, of the essential portions of a liquid discharge head according to the prior art.
A movable member 106 supported on and fixed to an element substrate 100 by a fixing portion 106d is formed so that the free end 106b of a movable portion 106c may be displaced in the direction of arrow A with a root 106a as a fulcrum.
The upper surface side of the movable member 106 is a liquid flow path which is the flow path of ink, and arrow B indicates the direction in which the ink flows. A heat generating member 102 is formed generating energy for creating a bubble in the ink, and the bubble is created on the upper surface of the heat generating member 102. By this bubble, the free end 106b of the movable member 100 is displaced upwardly and the ink is discharged from a discharge port, not shown.
The present invention has as its main task to basically enhance the fundamental discharge characteristic of a conventional method of forming a bubble, particularly, a bubble resulting from film boiling, in a liquid flow path to thereby discharge liquid to a level which could heretofore not be anticipated.
We have eagerly studied to provide a novel liquid drop discharging method utilizing bubbles which could heretofore not be obtained, and a head, etc. using the method. At this time, we have carried out a first technical analysis starting from the operation of a movable member in a liquid flow path such as analyzing the principle of the mechanism of the movable member in the liquid flow path, and a second technical analysis starting from the principle of the liquid drop discharge by a bubble, and further a third analysis starting from the bubble forming area of a heat generating member for forming bubbles, and by these analyses, we have come to establish quite a novel technique for bringing the disposition relation between the fulcrum and free end of the movable member into a relation in which the free end is located at the discharge port side, i.e., the downstream side, and disposing the movable member in face-to-face relationship with the heat generating member or the bubble creating area thereof to thereby positively control the bubbles.
Next, we have come to the knowledge that when considering the energy a bubble itself gives to the amount of discharge, it is the greatest factor for being capable of markedly improving the discharge characteristic to consider the growth component at the downstream side of the bubble. That is, it has also been found that it brings about improvements in the discharge efficiency and the discharge speed to efficiently convert the growth component at the downstream side of the bubble into the discharge direction.
Further, it has been found that it is also preferable to take into account structural elements such as the movable member and the liquid flow path concerned in the growth in the heat generating area for forming a bubble, e.g., the downstream side from the center line passing through the center of the area of an electro-thermal converting member in the direction of flow of the liquid, or the downstream side of the bubble such as the center of the area on a surface which governs bubbling.
However, when durability has been confirmed on this liquid discharge head, there has been the problem that at the initial stage, the root 106a of the movable portion 106c shown in FIG. 9B is first broken away.
So, the present invention has as its object to provide a liquid discharge head for discharging liquid by the utilization of the displacement of the free end of a movable member by pressure based on the creation of a bubble, which is improved in the durability of the movable member and is stable in discharge characteristic and high in reliability, and a liquid discharge apparatus.
To achieve the above object, the liquid discharge head of the present invention is a liquid discharge head having an element substrate on the surface of which are provided in parallel a plurality of discharge energy generating elements generating heat energy for creating a bubble in liquid, a fixed portion provided on said element substrate so as to face said plurality of discharge energy generating elements, and fixed to said element substrate, and a plurality of movable members comprising a movable portion extending from the end portion of said fixed portion and displaced by said bubble, wherein a fulcrum about which said movable portion is displaced is located on said movable portion other than a corner portion formed at the boundary between said movable portion and said fixed portion.
In the liquid discharge head of the present invention constructed as described above, the fulcrum of the movable portion is formed on the other portion than the corner portions. Thereby, the concentration of stress to the corner portions is avoided.
The plurality of movable members may be of a construction in which they are connected together at the position of the fulcrum, and the movable members may be formed of silicon nitride.
The liquid discharge head of the present invention is a liquid discharge head having an element substrate on the surface of which are provided in parallel a plurality of discharge energy generating elements generating heat energy for creating a bubble in liquid, a fixed portion provided on said element substrate so as to face said plurality of discharge energy generating elements, and fixed to said element substrate, and a plurality of movable members comprising a movable portion extending from the end portion of said fixed portion and displaced by said bubble, characterized in that the shape of the fixed portion is a shape which expedites stress dispersion for preventing stress from concentrating on particular one of the movable members.
The liquid discharge apparatus of the present invention has a carriage removably holding the liquid discharge head of the present invention thereon, and supported for reciprocal movement along the surface of a recording medium, and discharges liquid from the liquid discharge head of a head cartridge to thereby effect recording on the recording medium.

Liquid discharge head and liquid discharge apparatus


A liquid crystal display apparatus includes a liquid crystal display panel including a liquid crystal cell between first second polarizing plates; and a surface light source device. The surface light source device includes a light source unit, a light guide plate for outputting first directivity light having directivity of maximum intensity in a first direction, which forms a predetermined angle from a normal direction of the light output surface in a plane approximately parallel to a light guiding direction of light, and having a high ratio of a polarized light component oscillating in the plane and a prism sheet being configured to convert the first directivity light into second directivity light directed in a second direction within a predetermined angle from the normal direction of the light output surface of the light guide plate while substantially maintaining a polarization state of the first directivity light.

In recent years, as a display, a liquid crystal display apparatus using a surface light source device has been remarkably widespread. As the liquid crystal display apparatus using the surface light source device, for example, a liquid crystal display apparatus including an edge light-type surface light source device is known. In such a liquid crystal display apparatus, light emitted from a light source enters a light guide plate, and propagates through an inside of the light guide plate while repeating a total reflection on a light output surface (liquid crystal cell-side surface) of the light guide plate and a back surface thereof. A part of the light that propagates through the inside of the light guide plate allows a traveling direction thereof to be changed by a light scattering body or the like, which is provided on the back surface of the light guide plate or the like, and is output from the light output surface to an outside of the light guide plate. Such light output from the light output surface of the light guide plate is diffused and condensed by various optical sheets such as a diffusion sheet, a prism sheet, a brightness enhancement film, or the like, and thereafter, the light enters a liquid crystal panel in which polarizing plates are arranged on both sides of a liquid crystal cell. Liquid crystal molecules of a liquid crystal layer of the liquid crystal cell are driven for each of pixels to control transmission and absorption of the incident light. As a result, an image is displayed.
As described above, the liquid crystal panel includes the polarizing plates on both sides (front and back) thereof, accordingly, approximately a half of the light that enters the liquid crystal panel is absorbed by the polarizing plate on the incident side, and utilization efficiency of the light in the liquid crystal panel is essentially low. Accordingly, when a larger amount of light is attempted to be entered into the polarizing plate in order to obtain desired brightness, there are such various problems that heat from the light source adversely affects the liquid crystal and the like, resulting in difficulty viewing display, in addition to a problem in that a power consumption of the light source is increased.
Various proposals have been made in order to improve such light utilization efficiency in the liquid crystal display apparatus. As one of the proposals, there is a proposal, in which non-polarized light from the light source is separated by using a polarized light separating body that separates the non-polarized light into two pieces of linearly polarized light, which are in a perpendicular relationship to each other, by transmission and reflection, one piece of the polarized light thus separated is transmitted and directly used, and in addition, the other piece of the reflected polarized light is also reused. That is, this is a technology in which, among polarized light components separated by the polarized light separating body, one of the polarized light components, which is transmitted, allows a polarization direction of the transmission light and a transmission axis direction of a lower polarizing plate (incident-side polarizing plate) to coincide with each other, and is caused to enter the liquid crystal cell, and other polarized light component is returned to the light source side, linearly polarized state of the returned light is eliminated therefrom by birefringence, reflection, diffraction or diffusion, or the like, and the light is guided to the polarized light separating body again and is reused so that the light utilization efficiency is enhanced. For example, in Patent Literature 1, a backlight is described, in which such a light control sheet that allows output light to be substantially vertical to a surface of the planar light guide plate is provided on a light output surface side of the planar light guide plate, and polarized light separating means is further arranged thereon.
However, in the backlight described in Patent Literature 1, a structure of the polarized light separating body is complicated, and in particular, it is difficult to form a polarized light separating layer on an inclined surface portion of a columnar prism array that is triangular in cross section, with the result that mass productivity of the backlight is insufficient. In recent years, there has also been developed a surface light source device constructed so that the light output from the light guide plate has a predetermined polarization state or the like. However, output light that is the polarized light output from the light guide plate is not utilized sufficiently, effectively, and sufficient brightness is not obtained.
Moreover, in Patent Literature 2, it is described that light polarized in a predetermined direction is output from a surface light source, and a base having a birefringence ratio, such as a biaxially stretched film, is used as a base of a prism sheet, and thus the polarization direction of the polarized light that enters the liquid crystal panel is controlled to reduce the light absorbed to the polarizing plate and enhance the utilization efficiency of the light. However, also in the liquid crystal display apparatus of Patent Literature 2, the utilization efficiency of the light is still insufficient.


A mobile host MH and its home network HN correspond to both the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). An authentication server (RS) is accommodated in the home network HN. A corresponding host H corresponds to the IPv6 and is accommodated in the IPv6 network. In addition, a plurality of relay servers S1, S2 and S3 corresponding to both the IPv4 and the IPv6 are accommodated in the IPv6 network. The respective S1, S2 and S3 extract an IPv6 packet by decapsulating the IPv4 packet received from the mobile host MH via the IPv4 network, and transfers the relevant IPv6 packet to the corresponding host H via the IPv6 network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an IPv6/IPv4 tunneling method that transfers IPv6 packets by encapsulating the same by means of IPv4 packets in sections not corresponding to the IPv6 when carrying out communications among hosts matched to the IPv6.
2. Description of the Related Art
Operating systems and software that support the IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) have become widespread, and utilization environments thereof have been fulfilled. However, the network still depends on the IPv4 base as the main stream. Therefore, there are many cases where even the hosts matched to the IPv6 are obliged to carry out communications on the basis of the IPv4.
As a tunneling technology ensuring IPv6 introduction in the IPv4-based network, ISATAP (Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol) is disclosed in non-patent documents 1 and 2. In the tunneling technology, when hosts matched to the IPv6 carry out communications on the basis of IPv6, the hosts transfer IPv6 packets by encapsulating the same by means of IPv4 packets in sections not corresponding to IPv6.
FIG. 3 is an exemplary view depicting one example of the tunneling technology. When a mobile host for which the home network (HN) is based on the IPv6 network is moved to another network (FN) corresponding to the IPv4 and carries out communications in IPv6 with a corresponding host existing on the HN, the mobile host converts IPv6 packets to IPv4 packets by encapsulating the IPv6 packets by means of an IPv4 header and transmits the same to a relay server. The relay server extracts the IPv6 packets by decapsulating the received IPv4 packets, and transmits the same to a corresponding terminal on the HN.
[Non-patent document 1] F: Templin, et al. "Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol (ISATAP)," draft-ietf-ngtrans-isatap-22. Txt. IETF, May 2004
[Non-patent document 2] B. Carpenter, et al, "Connection of IPv6 Domains via IPv4 Clouds," RFC3056, IETF, February 2001
In the prior art tunnel technology described above, there are the following technical problems.
(1) A mobile host must know the IP address of a relay server in advance.
(2) Where a plurality of relay servers are installed, it is desirable that the nearest relay server or a relay server whose load is light is chosen. However, it is not possible to choose an optimal relay server by the prior art technology.
(3) In order to securely carry out charging management by limiting utilization of relay servers to specified users, it is necessary for the mobile host and relay servers to share key information.


A jack for raising automotive equipment, particularly heavy equipment such as truck tractors and trailers. The jack includes a heavy duty ram on an extended base. The base is mobile, but includes at least one vertically movable wheel. The movable wheel is engaged to retract into the base to provide a stable, non-moving platform. The top of the ram is provided with a readily removable extended platform which is shaped to be extendible between the frame of the automotive equipment and any springs, particularly leaf springs on the equipment. Convenient safety arrangements to prevent the jack from dropping are provided to provide positive mechanical engagement between the jack and its base.

This invention pertains to floor jacks and more particularly to a floor jack adapted to lift relatively heavy automotive equipment such as truck tractors or semi-trailers. Customarily this type of equipment is lifted by hydraulic jack equipment, but use of conventional equipment has become increasingly difficult because of the structure of the equipment to be lifted.
The point of application of the jacking pad atop the ram of the jack to the equipment to be raised is a particular problem. On occasion this point of application may be the axle near a wheel to be worked on. However with tandem axles, the particular axle to be used may be effectively hidden.
Applying this jack to a portion of the leaf spring is virtually impossible because that spring is usually lying at a slope to the floor and therefore the jack has a tendency to slip, or the horizontal component of force on the sloping spring may cause the trailer to roll away, thus creating havoc.
The best point on which to jack is usually a frame member of the tractor or trailer. However, this framework is usually directly above the leaf springs and is difficult for a vertical jack to reach.
By the present invention, the jack is modified so as to be able to be used either with an extension to reach the frame member adjacent the spring or, where available, to be placed directly under a vertical point of application.


The invention relates to a data transmission method and a radio system that comprises a first (260) transceiver and a second transceiver (264) that are in radio contact with each other. The first transceiver (260) comprises means (500, 504) for forming data blocks for transmission in such a manner that the data blocks are given identifiers for identification. The second transceiver (264) comprises means (512) for receiving data blocks transmitted and retransmitted by the first transceiver, and means (524) for detecting a failure in receiving a data block. The second transceiver (264) comprises means (530) for maintaining information on the position of a window belonging to a finite identifier space, and means (524) for comparing the identifiers of the re-received data block and the earlier received data block with each other and for defining the data blocks as the same, and means (524) for combining the data blocks defined as the same.

Transmitters and receivers used in a radio system typically form transceivers, examples of which include transceivers in subscriber terminals, such as mobile phones, and transceivers of a base station.
The aim in data transmission is often to ensure its success between transceivers. Digital data transmission often uses retransmitting error correction, in which the sender is notified of transmission errors, who then retransmits the erroneous information. One known method is Selective Reject ARQ (Automatic Repeat reQuest), in which a transmitter can transmit a new block before the previous one is acknowledged and the transmitter can retransmit only the blocks whose reception fails. A group of data frames that the transmitter can transmit consecutively without acknowledgement from the receiver is in this protocol called a transmission window.
EGPRS (Enhanced General Packet Radio Service) is a GSM-based (Global System for Mobile Communications) system utilising packet-switched transmission. EGPRS uses EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) technology to increase data transmission capacity. In addition to GMSK (Gaussian Minimum-Shift Keying) modulation normally used in GMS, 8-PSK (8-Phase Shift Keying) modulation can be used for packet data channels. The aim is mainly to implement non-real-time data transmission services, such as file copying and the use of an Internet browser. The aim is also to implement packet-switched real-time services for instance to transmit speech and video. In principle, the data transmission capacity can vary from a few kilobits per second up to 400 kilobits per second.
Let us now examine an example of error correction in the above-mentioned system on a connection between two transceivers. The first transceiver transmits data in data blocks to the second transceiver. The first transceiver attaches identifiers to the data blocks to be transmitted for identification during reception in such a manner that the identifiers are reserved from a finite identifier space. The identifiers are reserved cyclically in such a manner that when the last identifier is used, the cycle starts again from the beginning. When the reception of a data block fails in the second transceiver, the block needs to be retransmitted. The bi-directional connection between the first and the second transceiver makes it possible for the second transceiver to transmit a retransmission request to the first transceiver. On the basis of the received retransmission request, the first transceiver retransmits the data block to the second transceiver that identifies the block as a retransmission of the earlier failed block on the basis of the identifier. The second transceiver maintains information on the position of a receiver window related to the ARQ protocol. The window is a part of the identifier space and always begins from the first block that has not yet been correctly received. Typically, the size of the window is half of the identifier space. If the second transceiver receives a block whose identifier is not in the window, it knows that said block has already been received once and it can be disregarded.
To further improve performance, it is possible to use an incremental redundancy, in which the second transceiver is equipped with a receiver memory to which all data blocks whose reception failed are stored. Failure in reception may be caused by the fact, for instance, that the conditions of the used radio channel change so quickly that it is impossible for the radio system to optimally select a code rate in advance for the incoming transmission. The use of the incremental redundancy allows for a better adaptation to changing conditions. Data blocks whose reception failed are retransmitted from the first transceiver. Retransmitted data blocks and stored data blocks having the same identifiers are combined, after which the second transceiver decodes the combined data blocks. During the combination, the amount of information available for decoding increases in comparison with the amount of information in a single data block, so decoding has a higher probability of success.
The intention thus is to combine the different transmissions of the same data block. That the data blocks are the same is determined from the fact that they have the same identifiers.
The cycling of identifiers causes a problem, because when data blocks are compared with each other, data blocks may be found with the same identifiers, even though the data blocks are actually different. In the data transmission described above, it is possible that data blocks having the same identifier are erroneously considered the same for combination purposes, even though they are different. When different data blocks are combined, transceiver operation fails.
Another problem is caused by the fact that the incremental redundancy (IR) combination is done before channel coding, whereas the Selective Reject ARQ protocol operates on a higher protocol layer. In practice, the IR combination and ARQ protocol can reside physically in different places or devices, in which case the information in the ARQ protocol cannot be used in the IR combination.

Data transmission method and radio system


A delivery unit and method for removing carrier vapor in a wet-type printer. The delivery unit includes a delivery guide, delivery rollers and a duct for collecting carrier vapor generated from a paper by the latent heat on the paper passing through the delivery guide in order to prevent the carrier vapor from leaking outside of the printer. The carrier vapor collection duct includes upper and lower housings connected to each other to form a predetermined space therein. The upper housing has a vent on one side thereof and an air inlet on the opposite side. A fan is mounted on the vent. The carrier vapor is collected in the duct of the delivery unit and then sent to the catalyst unit by the fan to be oxidized. Accordingly, the delivery unit can prevent the white carrier vapor generated from the paper passing through the delivery unit from leaking outside the printer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wet-type printer and method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a delivery unit and method having a carrier vapor collection duct for preventing carrier vapor generated from a paper from leaking outside the printer and a carrier purifier using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known in the art, a wet-type printer uses a solution comprising a toner and a liquid carrier mixed in a predetermined ratio as a developer. An image transferred onto a paper by a transfer belt contains a liquid carrier which evaporates due to the heat applied from a fuser assembly. White carrier vapor generated during the fusing process is visually perceivable and may greatly depreciate the value of the printer.
Therefore, general wet-type printers are designed to collect and oxidize white carrier vapor generated during the fusing process, thereby preventing the vapor from leaking outside the printer. The prevention of carrier vapor leakage is specified as one of the standards for the printer industry.
A paper passed through the fusing assembly is sent to a delivery unit and exits. Since the heat applied from the fuser assembly still remains on the paper and the liquid carrier has not completely evaporated, carrier vapor is generated while the paper is passing through the delivery unit.
However, general wet-type printers do not have any structure or means for removing the carrier vapor generated from the paper passing through the delivery unit. White carrier vapor that leaks outside the printer does not comply with the recommended printer industry standards.

Delivery unit and method with a carrier vapor collection duct and a carrier purifier using the same


An effervescent fuel injector, particularly one suitable for diesel and direct injection engine applications, which is capable of injecting, particularly intermittently, an atomized fuel spray with droplets of a size in the range of 5-6 micron SMD without requiring high pressures is achieved in a preferred embodiment effervescent fuel injector of the valve covered orifice (VCO) type having primary and secondary nozzle valves which remain closed when the control valve is not actuated, but which open one or two sets of nozzle orifices depending on fuel volume requirements. A three-way, on-off control valve is used to trigger commencement of the supply of gas via a control valve simultaneously with opening of at least some of the nozzle orifices. Gas and fuel are mixed in a mixing chamber located upstream of the nozzle valves in a manner creating a gas-fuel aeration, and as the aeration is sprayed from the nozzle orifices, the gas expands rapidly breaking the fuel into fine droplets.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fuel injectors for diesel engines. In particular, the invention relates to such a fuel injector in which a high pressure gas is mixed with the fuel to obtain improved atomization of the fuel being injected into the engine.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,921 to Steinwart discloses a fuel injector having an air chamber surrounding a fuel injection head, where "air assist" type atomization of the fuel is performed using air that is introduced into the air chamber from the atmosphere or the air induction duct, and from which the atomized fuel is injected through an outlet opening of the air chamber. The injector head is adjustable in relation to the outlet opening in accordance with the load setting of the engine. The cross-section of the outlet opening is variable between that needed for idle running and that needed for full load. However, because the outlet opening of the air chamber is always open and Steinwart introduces air into the air chamber at low pressure downstream of the injection nozzle, precise control of the fuel air cannot be obtained and the system cannot be applied to diesel and other direct injection engine applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,938 to Takagi et al. discloses a fuel injector having a plurality of cylindrical air passages that allow air to be introduced by suction into a mixing chamber that is open to the engine intake manifold in directions causing the air form to intersect a supply of fuel introduced from a fuel injector into the mixing chamber for atomizing the fuel. As is the case for the Steinwart system, precise control of the fuel air cannot be obtained and the system cannot be applied to diesel and other direct injection engine applications.
However, with the imposing of more stringent diesel engine emissions regulations, high efficiency atomization of the fuel is necessary to produce combustion with the required low levels of emissions. One key measure of spray quality is the Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) of the spray droplets, with respect to which the smaller the SMD, the better the spray quality with spray droplet sizes in the range of 5-6 micron SMD being sought. Unfortunately, to achieve a spray with droplets of such a size, current liquid fuel injection systems demand extremely high pressures, unique materials and expensive manufacturing techniques.
Thus, a need exists for a fuel injection system which can obtain the desired degree of atomization at lower pressures, so that manufacturing costs can be reduced while still meeting emissions requirements. A type of atomizer which is known to obtain significant improvement in liquid atomization relative to air assist atomizers at lower pressures is an effervescent atomizer. In effervescent atomization, a gas is injected into the flowing liquid stream upstream of a discharge orifice and upon exiting the orifice the gas expands very quickly causing the liquid to break up into small drops. However, fuel injectors for internal combustion engines which operate on the effervescent atomization principle are, as of yet, unknown.

Effervescent injector for diesel engines


The present invention concerns a mechanism for securely mounting an expandable stent onto a balloon catheter for intraluminal delivery within a patient. The stent is secured to the balloon of the delivery catheter by forming the surface of the balloon to project into the interstices of the stent. To mount the stent it first is slid over an evacuated and wrapped balloon while in its compact delivery diameter. A rigid tube then is placed over the stent and balloon assembly and the balloon is pressurized while a solvent is applied to the balloon. The rigid tube prevents the stent from expanding but allows the balloon to deform so that its surface projects slightly through either or both of the interstices and ends of the stent. The solvent causes the balloon material to take a permanent set into the stent such that once pressure is removed, the stent is interlocked with the surface of the balloon. The engagement of the stent with the balloon prevents unintended axial sliding of the stent with respect to the balloon during delivery through the vessel of the patient.

The use of intraluminal stents has had increasing acceptance and use in the treatment of various medical conditions. Intraluminal stents can be used to maintain the patency of blood vessels and other body lumens, such as in the treatment of urological disorders, among others. The use of stents to maintain open a coronary or other artery after an angioplasty procedure has been performed has become a common practice. Over the past decade, various stent designs have been described and used. Many have been of the type in which the stent is in a tubular configuration that can be expanded from a relatively small diameter adapted for delivery through the vasculature (low profile) to a larger deployed diameter by mounting the stent on the balloon of an inflatable balloon catheter and then advancing the catheter to place the balloon mounted stent at the intended site of deployment. The balloon then is inflated to expand the stent into engagement with the body lumen. The stent maintains its expanded shape to support the body lumen. The balloon then is deflated and the delivery catheter is withdrawn, leaving the stent in place to support the body lumen. The configuration of such stents typically may be considered as generally tubular in which the wall of the tube is defined by variously configured wires or a tubular member that has been shaped to provide a plurality of interconnected wire-like struts or wires. Illustrative examples of such stents may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,665 U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,404 (Wolff), U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,955 (Lau) and in International Publication WO 96/41591 (Borghi), among others.
The design and placement of a stent can present a number of considerations, particularly when the stent is to be used in an environment where it must be advanced through tortuous anatomy, as is not uncommon in coronary angioplasty. The stent must have the ability to maintain its tubular configuration when expanded in the body lumen in order to maintain the body lumen open. It also should have sufficient longitudinal flexibility, when mounted in its low profile on the balloon, so that it can be advanced through curved, sometimes tortuous, blood vessels in order to reach the deployment site. Additionally, the position of the stent on the balloon should be maintained without shifting longitudinally, as the balloon mounted stent is advanced to the deployment site. That can present particular difficulty when the stent and balloon to which it is mounted must be passed through sharply curved tortuous anatomy or anatomy where the lumen has become narrowed or otherwise partly obstructed regions. Should the stent engage a blood vessel in a sharply curved or somewhat narrowed region and consequently, shift longitudinally on the balloon as the catheter is advanced or manipulated, the balloon, when inflated, may not expand the stent fully along the length of the stent. In some cases, the stent could be dislodged from the balloon without the ability to retrieve it.
The importance of maintaining the stent securely on the balloon has been recognized in the prior art. A number of approaches have been proposed. Some simply slide the stent onto the balloon and crimp it tightly about the balloon. That may risk damage to the balloon or the stent and also may result in a relatively longitudinally stiff stent. Other stent retention devices have been proposed including the use of a sleeve to overlie the stent during advancement, with the sleeve being retracted when the stent is to be deployed. Still other approaches have included the use of end caps mounted on the catheter and adapted to temporarily engage the ends of the stent while permitting the stent ends to release when the stent is expanded as is shown in U.S. Pat No. 4,950,227 (Savin). Such devices and techniques generally have required compromises of one or more desirable features of the stent. The desirable low profile or longitudinal flexibility may be compromised as well as the security of retention. It would be desirable to provide a balloon mounted stent and method for such mounting that would reduce the extent of compromise of desirable characteristics of the stent and its delivery system.

Balloon mounted stent and method therefor


An on-screen display (OSD) vertical blanking signal selection circuit for a display apparatus comprises: a microcomputer for generating a reference oscillating signal in response to vertical and horizontal synchronous signals from a video card; an HV processor for generating a flyback transformer (FBT) drive signal and horizontal and vertical drive signals in response to the reference oscillating signal from the microcomputer and the horizontal and vertical synchronous signals from the video card; an FBT for generating a high voltage in response to the FBT drive signal from the HV processor and for supplying the generated high voltage to a cathode ray tube; a horizontal deflection circuit for controlling horizontal deflection of electron beams in a cathode ray tube in response to the horizontal drive signal from the HV processor; a vertical deflection circuit for controlling a vertical deflection of the electron beams in the cathode ray tube in response to the vertical drive signal from the HV processor; and an OSD vertical blanking signal selector for supplying the vertical synchronous signal from the video card or a vertical blanking signal from the vertical deflection circuit as an OSD vertical blanking signal to an OSD circuit in response to a control signal from the microcomputer.

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates, in general, to selection of an on-screen display (referred to hereinafter as "OSD") vertical blanking signal for displaying an OSD signal in a video scanning interval to perform an OSD function of a display apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to an OSD vertical blanking signal selection circuit for the display apparatus, which is capable of supplying a vertical synchronous signal from a video card as the OSD vertical blanking signal to an OSD circuit when color signals, a horizontal synchronous signal and the vertical synchronous signal are applied from the video card in a separate form. The circuit is also capable of supplying a vertical blanking signal from a vertical deflection circuit as the OSD vertical blanking signal to the OSD circuit when the color signals, horizontal synchronous signal and vertical synchronous signal are applied from the video card in a composite form.

OSD vertical blanking signal selection circuit for display apparatus


A method and apparatus to generate an endpoint signal to control the polishing of thin films on a semiconductor wafer surface includes a through-bore in a polish pad assembly, a light source, a fiber optic cable, a light sensor, and a computer. The light source provides light within a predetermined bandwidth, the fiber optic cable propagates the light through the through-bore opening to illuminate the surface as the pad assembly orbits, and the light sensor receives reflected light from the surface through the fiber optic cable and generates reflected spectral data. The computer receives the reflected spectral data and calculates an endpoint signal by comparing the reflected spectral data with previously collected reference data. The comparison involves calculating an evaluation time based on the comparison, and calculating a difference time utilizing correlation to account for over polish/under polish. The endpoint is predicted utilizing the evaluation time and the difference time.

The present invention relates to chemical mechanical planarization CMP), and more particularly, to optical endpoint detection during a CMP process, and specifically to prediction of that endpoint.
Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) has emerged as a crucial semiconductor technology, particularly for devices with critical dimensions smaller than 0.5 micron. One important aspect of CMP is endpoint detection (EPD), i.e., determining during a polishing process when to terminate the polishing process.
Many users prefer EPD systems that are xe2x80x9cin situ EPD systemsxe2x80x9d, which provide EPD during the polishing process. Numerous in situ EPD methods have been proposed, but few have been successfully demonstrated in a manufacturing environment and even fewer have proved sufficiently robust for routine production use.
One group of prior art in situ EPD techniques involves the electrical measurement of changes in the capacitance, the impedance, or the conductivity of the wafer and calculating the endpoint based on an analysis of this data. To date, these particular electrically-based approaches to EPD do not appear to be commercially viable.
Another electrical approach that has proved production worthy is to sense changes in the friction between the wafer being polished and the polish pad. Such measurements are done by sensing changes in the motor current. These systems use a global approach, i.e., the measured signal assesses the entire wafer surface. Thus, these systems do not obtain specific data about localized regions. Further, this method works best for EPD for metal CMP because of the dissimilar coefficient of friction between the polish pad and the layers of metal film stacks such as a tungsten-titanium nitride-titanium film stack versus the coefficient of friction between the polish pad and the dielectric underneath the metal. However, with advanced interconnection conductors, such as copper (Cu), the associated barrier metals, e.g., tantalum or tantalum nitride, may have a coefficient of friction that is similar to the underlying dielectric. The motor current approach relies on detecting the copper-tantalum nitride transition, then adding an overpolish time. Intrinsic process variation in the thickness and composition of the remaining film stack layer mean that the final endpoint trigger time may be less precise than is desirable.
Another group of methods uses an acoustic approach. In a first acoustic approach, an acoustic transducer generates an acoustic signal that propagates through the surface layer(s) of the wafer being polished. Some reflection occurs at the interface between the layers, and a sensor positioned to detect the reflected signals can be used to determine the thickness of the topmost layer as it is polished. In a second acoustic approach, an acoustical sensor is used to detect the acoustic signals generated during CMP. Such signals have spectral and amplitude content that evolves during the course of the polish cycle. However, to date there has been no commercially available in situ endpoint detection system using acoustic methods to determine endpoint.
Finally, the present invention falls within the group of optical EPD systems. An optical EPD system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,651 to Lustig et al. in which light transmitted through a window in the platen of a rotating CMP tool and reflected back through the window to a detector is used to sense changes in a reflected optical signal. However, the window complicates the CMP process because it presents to the wafer an inhomogeneity in the polish pad. Such a region can also accumulate slurry and polish debris that can cause scratches and other defects.
Another approach is of the type disclosed in European application EP 0 824 995 A1, which uses a transparent window in the actual polish pad itself. A similar approach for rotational polishers is of the type disclosed in European application EP 0 738 561 A1, in which apad with an optical window is used for EPD. In both of these approaches, various means for implementing a transparent window in a pad are discussed, but making measurements without a window was not considered. The methods and apparatuses disclosed in these patents require sensors to indicate the presences of a wafer in the field of view. Furthermore, integration times for data acquisition are constrained to the amount of time the window in the pad is under the wafer.
In another type of approach, the carrier is positioned on the edge of the platen so as to expose a portion of the wafer. A fiber optic based apparatus is used to direct light at the surface of the wafer, and spectral reflectance methods are used to analyze the signal. The drawback of this approach is that the process must be interrupted in order to position the wafer in such a way as to allow the optical signal to be gathered. In so doing, with the wafer positioned over the edge of the platen, the wafer is subjected to edge effects associated with the edge of the polish pad going across the wafer while the remaining portion of the wafer is completely exposed. An example of this type of approach is described in PCT application WO 98/05066.
In another approach, the wafer is lifted off of the pad a small amount, and a light beam is directed between the wafer and the slurry-coated pad. The light beam is incident at a small angle so that multiple reflections occur. The irregular topography on the wafer causes scattering, but if sufficient polishing is done prior to raising the carrier, then the wafer surface will be essentially flat and there will be very little scattering due to the topography on the wafer. An example of this type of approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,941. The difficulty with this type of approach is that the normal process cycle must be interrupted to make the measurement.
A further approach entails monitoring absorption of particular wavelengths in the infrared spectrum of a beam incident upon the backside of a wafer being polished so that the beam passes through the wafer from the nonpolished side of the wafer. Changes in the absorption within narrow, well defined spectral windows correspond to changing thickness of specific types of films. This approach has the disadvantage that, as multiple metal layers are added to the wafer, the sensitivity of the signal decreases rapidly. One example of this type of approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,046.
The invention provides a method and a tool for chemical mechanical polishing of thin films on a semiconductor wafer surface that predicts an endpoint of a polishing process. In general, the invention uses the fact that the reflectance spectrum from a wafer surface varies with the extent to which the surface is polished. At some point, there is a surface reflectance that approximates the desired endpoint of the polishing process.
In one embodiment, the method utilizes an apparatus that includes a polish pad having a through-hole, which is in optical communication with a light source through a fiber optic cable assembly. The apparatus also includes a light sensor, and a computer. The light source provides light within a predetermined bandwidth. The fiber optic cable propagates the light through the through-hole to illuminate the wafer surface during the polishing process. The light sensor receives reflected light from the surface through the fiber optic cable and generates data corresponding to the spectrum of the reflected light. The computer receives the reflected spectral data (the xe2x80x9creflected signalxe2x80x9d) and generates a signal as a function of the reflected spectrum (the xe2x80x9creflectance spectrumxe2x80x9d, i.e., a gathered reflectance spectrum). The generated signal is then compared to spectra taken from other similar wafers (the xe2x80x9creference spectrumxe2x80x9d) processed prior to the current wafer. The comparison involves using any of many available methods to generate a difference between the reflected signal and the reference signal to provide data points at each sample time that may, for ease of explanation, be graphically visualized as difference (y-axis) vs. time (x-axis). (The calculation may, of course, be done with other statistical analysis methods as well.) The computer then calculates a trigger time by first calculating the slope between the graphed comparison data points. Second, a best fit line is then fitted to the data points and is extrapolated to cross the time axis resulting in a time axis intercept, which is the trigger time. Third, a predetermined value (xe2x80x9cdifference timexe2x80x9d) is then added to the time intercept (trigger time) resulting in an endpoint time.
The predetermined value to be added to the trigger time allows a more accurate endpoint time to be achieved. One way to determine the value is to compare the reflectance data file with the reference data files throughout a large segment of the polishing process. For example, this comparison could entail systematically correlating the spectral data from the reflectance data file and the reference data file. The resultant data would represent the time difference with respect to the process completion at each data sample, that is, where in time ahead of or behind the reference wafer is the wafer currently being polished at each sampled point in time. In other words, the best correlation between a given reflectance spectrum and a set of reference spectra can be used to determine whether the current wafer is being polished faster or slower than the rate at which the reference wafer was polished.
Correlating a sequence of reflectance spectra sequentially to each of several reference spectra allows using the extrapolation technique described above to determine zero-crossing times for each of the several reference spectra, and in so doing generate a deviation signal that represents how much faster or slower a given wafer is polishing compared to the reference wafer. At the endpoint time, or at a time established as a known completion time if the endpoint time has not occurred, the polishing process is terminated.
Optical endpoint detection is accomplished by a comparison between a reference spectrum and the monitored reflectance spectrum. The reference spectrum is obtained by polishing a reference wafer to a process of record (POR) polish time and using the POR conditions while monitoring the reflectance spectra vs. time from the wafer. A reflectance spectrum from the entire time period is then assigned as the reference spectrum. One or more wafers may be used to establish the reference spectrum.
This Summary of the Invention section is intended to introduce the reader to aspects of the invention and is not a complete description of the invention. Particular aspects of the invention are pointed out in other sections herebelow and the invention is set forth in the appended claims, which alone demarcate its scope.

Method and apparatus for using optical reflection data to obtain a continuous predictive signal during CMP


This invention relates to adaptors designed to secure an infusion-type pump to an enclosure for delivery of fluids, including medicaments, and the like to a patient in need of such treatment. The enclosure is of a type designed to house a fluid reservoir and conduit extending from the fluid reservoir to the infusion-type pump. The adaptor forms a substantially planar plate having a back face and a front face. The front face includes guides and a support plate to align the pump onto the adaptor. Securing grips are provided to secure the pump onto the adaptor. The adaptor has a back face to reversibly engage the enclosure.

Infusion systems are known in the art and these systems include a fluid reservoir, a pump for pumping fluid from the fluid reservoir to the patient, and a tubing from the fluid reservoir to the pump and from the pump to the patient for transporting the fluid. Typically the fluid reservoir is a flexible bag made from a polymeric material or a syringe, and the pump is an infusion-style pump designed to deliver a premeasured fluid drug dose at a given rate to the patient in need of the drug.
U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 08/145,371 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,561 and 08/388,200 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,119 disclose enclosure arrangements designed to protect fluid reservoirs, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference. These enclosure arrangements include a chamber for receiving a fluid reservoir such as a flexible bag or a syringe. The enclosures each include an opening for accessing the chamber. The enclosures each further include a latch arrangement for mounting an ambulatory pump to the enclosure to protect the reservoir and tubing.
These enclosures have a number of advantages as enumerated in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 08/145,371 and 08/388,200. For example, flexible fluid reservoirs prepared from polymeric materials are capable of being punctured or torn by sharp objects. This can be a problem for patients who use the pumps outside the hospital or caregiver's office. This creates a particular problem when the fluid contained within the reservoir is irritating to the skin or where the fluid contains a controlled substance. Where the fluid contained within the reservoir is a controlled substance, such as a narcotic, the enclosures prevent the controlled substance from being withdrawn from the bag by a needle punctured through the polymeric material or the tubing.
Where the fluid reservoir is a syringe, the enclosures protect the syringe from manipulation and protects the tubing from the stresses that could be applied to it if the syringe and its tubing where open and readily available for manipulation. Access to the tubing upstream from the pump is not allowed; thus, preventing unauthorized withdrawal of the fluid, such as with a needle in the case of a controlled substance. The enclosures described in the above referenced applications are easy to use, provide protection to the reservoir and are neither bulky nor awkward to use.
There is a desire to use the enclosures discussed herein with a variety of sizes of pumps. As is recognized in the art, ambulatory pumps are expensive to produce and to purchase. Hospitals, physicians and managed care providers are not always able to purchase the pump specifically designed to associate with a given enclosure. Yet, there is an increasing need to move toward a pump/enclosure arrangement particularly where the patient is not under constant supervision by medical personnel. The adaptors and methods of the present invention are designed to provide an inexpensive alternative to the purchase of matched pump/enclosure systems.

Reservoir enclosure adaptors and methods