There is provided a cold cathode including a substrate, a plurality of electron emitting electrodes formed on the substrate, a first insulating layer formed on the substrate and formed with a plurality of first cavities in which the electron emitting electrodes are disposed, a gate electrode formed on the first insulating layer and formed with a plurality of first openings which are in communication with the first cavities, a second insulating layer formed on the gate electrode and formed with a plurality of second cavities which are in communication with the first openings, and a focusing electrode formed on the second insulating layer and formed with a plurality of second openings which are in communication with the second cavities. At least one of central axes of the second openings and central axes of the first openings is eccentric with central axes of the electron emitting electrodes. Eccentricity between at least one of the central axes of the second openings and the central axes of the first openings, and the central axes of the electron emitting electrodes is oriented outwardly, and a degree of the eccentricity is set greater at a location more remote from a centrally located electron emitting electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a cold cathode having a micro-sized structure and formed by means of thin film making technique, a method of fabricating such a cold cathode, and a light emitting apparatus including such a cold cathode, in particular, a light emitting apparatus suitable for a back light device to be used for a liquid crystal display, and also for a large size display.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been suggested a field emission cold cathode by C. A. Spindt, "A Thin-Film Field-Emission Cathode", Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 39, No. 7, pp. 3504-3505, 1968. The suggested field emission cold cathode has a plurality of unitary cold cathodes arranged in an array, each unitary cold cathode comprising a conically shaped emitter, and a control electrode or a gate electrode disposed in the vicinity of the emitter and having functions of extracting a current from an emitter and controlling an amount of the thus generated current. FIG. 1A illustrates the suggested field emission cold cathode 108, and FIGS. 1B and 1C illustrate cross-sections of a unitary cold cathode 107 constituting the field emission cold cathode 108 together with other unitary cold cathodes.
The field emission cold cathode 108 includes a silicon substrate 101, a insulating layer 102 made of silicon dioxide and formed on the silicon substrate 101, and a control electrode 103 formed on the insulating layer 102. A part of the insulating layer 102 and the control electrode 103 is removed to thereby form a cavity 109, in which an emitter 104 having a sharpened tip end is formed on the silicon substrate 101. The emitter 104, the control electrode 103 and the cavity 109 cooperate with each other to thereby form a unitary cold cathode 107. A plurality of unitary cold cathodes 107 are arranged in an array to thereby form the field emission cold cathode 108 having a planar electron emission area.
The silicon substrate 101 and the emitter 104 are in electrical contact with each other. A voltage of about 50 V is applied across the emitter 104 and the control electrode or gate electrode 103. A thickness of the insulating layer 102 and a diameter of an opening 103a formed with the gate electrode 103 are both quite small. Specifically, the insulating layer 102 has a thickness of about 1 .mu.m, and the opening 103a of the gate electrode 103 has a diameter of about 1 .mu.m. In addition, a tip end of the emitter has a diameter of about 10 nm, and hence is quite sharpened. Thus, by applying a voltage of about 50 V across the emitter 104 and the gate electrode 103, an intensive electric field is applied to a tip end of the emitter 104. When the thus generated electric field has an intensity in the range of 2.times.10.sup.7 V/cm to 5.times.10.sup.7 V/cm, a mass of electrons are emitted through a tip end of the emitter 104. By arranging a plurality of the above mentioned unitary cold cathodes 107 on the silicon substrate 101 in an array, there can be formed a planar cathode which is capable of generating a large amount of current. In addition, an arrangement of the above mentioned unitary cold cathodes in high density by utilizing micro-size-processing technology makes it possible to increase a current density five to ten times greater or more in comparison with a prior hot cathode.
The above mentioned Spindt type cold cathode has merits that it provides a higher cold cathode current density than a hot cathode, and that velocity dispersion of emitted electrons is smaller than a hot cathode. In addition, the Spindt type cold cathode emits smaller current noise in comparison with a single field emission cold cathode, and can operate even with a small voltage, specifically a voltage in the range of about 10 V to tens of V. Furthermore, the Spindt type cold cathode can operate even in relatively poor vacuum, specifically, in the range of about 10.sup.-5 Pa or greater.
There has been suggested another cold cathode in order to control focusing of electron beams emitted through a tip end of the emitter 104 by W. D. Kesling et al., "P-42: Field-Emission Display Resolution", SID 93 DIGEST, pp. 599-602, 1993. The suggested cold cathode includes, as illustrated in FIG. 1C, a silicon substrate 101, a silicon dioxide insulating layer 102 formed on the silicon substrate 101, a gate electrode 103 formed on the insulating layer 102, a second insulating layer 105 formed on the gate electrode 103, and a focusing electrode 106 formed on the second insulating layer 105. The insulating layer 102 is formed with a cavity 109a in which an emitter electrode 104 is disposed, and the second insulating layer 105 is formed with a cavity 109b. The gate electrode 103 is formed with an opening 103a, and the focusing electrode 106 is formed with an opening 106a. The cavities 109a and 109b and the openings 103a and 106a are in communication with one another.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, there has been suggested still another cold cathode including a silicon substrate 101, an insulating layer 102 formed on the silicon substrate 101, a control electrode 105 formed on the insulating layer 102 around an emitter electrode 104 which is disposed within a cavity 109 formed with the insulating layer 102, and a ring-shaped focusing electrode 111 formed on the insulating layer 102 around the control electrode 105 (K. Yokoo et al., "Technological Breakthrough in Development of Field Emitter Display", Proceedings of the First International Display Workshops, pp. 19-22, 1994). The ring-shaped focusing electrode 111 controls trajectory of electrons emitted from the emitter 104.
There have been also suggested various apparatuses for emitting electrons from a cold cathode such as those mentioned above to a fluorescent material to thereby make the fluorescent material luminous for displaying various information. For instance, such apparatuses are a planar display apparatus or a simple light emitting apparatus. A planar display apparatus is used as an output device of a computer or a display screen of a television set. By combining a plurality of light emitting apparatuses with one another, the combined light emitting apparatuses can be used as a large display screen for displaying letters information and/or television signals. Since those planar display apparatus and light emitting apparatus do not need to have a heater for heating a cold cathode and can use fluorescent material having a relatively high light emitting efficiency, those apparatuses are characterized by a high operation efficiency. With development of an information-oriented society, a demand for a display apparatus which is one of information output machines is predicted to increase, and power consumption in a display apparatus is required to be reduced. A display apparatus using a cold cathode therein is in line with such requirement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,914 issued to Brodie has suggested a light emitting apparatus using a field emission type cold cathode. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the suggested light emitting apparatus includes an evacuated envelope 10 having an annular wall 12 of insulating material which is closed at one end by a light-transmitting member 14 and at the other end by a substrate 16. A highly conductive doped silicon layer 20 is deposited on the substrate 16 upon which layer an array of individual cathodes 22 is formed. A unitary accelerator electrode 28 is formed on a dielectric film 24. A unitary anode electrode 30 is deposited on an inner surface of the light-transmitting member 24, and a phosphor layer 32 is deposited on the anode electrode 30. A power source 36 applies a voltage across the silicon layer 20 and the anode electrode 30 to thereby cause electrons 42 to emit from the cathodes 22.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-286852 has suggested a light emitting apparatus including a field emission cold cathode as illustrated in FIG. 4. The illustrated light emitting apparatus includes an electron beam source 1, a fluorescent material layer 2, a transparent electrode 3, and a deflecting electrode 4. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-286853 has suggested another light emitting apparatus including a field emission cold cathode as illustrated in FIG. 5. The illustrated light emitting apparatus includes an electron beam source 1, a collector plate 2 formed centrally with an opening window 5, a fluorescent material layer 3 formed on the collector plate 2, and a transparent electrode 4. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-286854 has suggested still another light emitting apparatus including a field emission cold cathode as illustrated in FIG. 6. The illustrated light emitting apparatus includes an electron beam source 1, a reflection plate 2 formed centrally with an opening 5, a transparent electrode 4, and a fluorescent material layer 3 formed at a surface of the transparent electrode 4.
The above mentioned United States Patent and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications have suggested a method of spreading electrons in a greater emission angle which electrons are emitted from an electron emitting source having a smaller electron emitting area than an area of a fluorescent layer.
For another instance, there has been suggested an application of a panel constituted of thin-film-edge field emission cold cathodes to a backlight of a liquid crystal display device by A. I. Akinwande et al., "Thin-Film-Edge Emitter Vacuum Microelectronics Devices for Lamp/Backlight Applications", IVMC 95, pp. 418-422, 1995.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 53-121454 has suggested a cold cathode including a substrate, emitters formed on the substrate, a first insulating layer formed on the substrate and formed with cavities in which the emitters are disposed, a gate electrode formed on the first insulating layer and formed with openings above the emitters, a second insulating layer formed on the gate electrode and formed with cavities above the emitters, and a focusing electrode formed on the second insulating layer and formed with openings above the emitters. The openings of the focusing electrode may be offset so that the focusing electrode is disposed just above the emitters in order to prevent direct ion bombardment to summits of the emitters.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-133241 has suggested a cold cathode including an emitter projecting above a gate electrode.
The light emitting apparatus suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,914, illustrated in FIG. 3, needs to have a cold cathode 18 having almost the same area as that of the phosphor layer 32 for emitting electrons therethrough, resulting in necessity of a large area cold cathode. In addition, since the evacuated envelope 10 is cylindrical in shape, the cold cathode 18 is also required to be cylindrical in shape. In general, when a cold cathode is to be fabricated, a plurality of unitary cold cathodes are simultaneously fabricated by means of a thin film fabrication apparatus, similarly to fabrication of a semiconductor device. Hence, a unitary cold cathode is required to be as small as possible in size and rectangular in shape for conforming to semiconductor device fabrication process and also for reducing fabrication costs. However, the cold cathode used in the light emitting apparatus illustrated in FIG. 3 does not meet such conditions.
The light emitting apparatuses illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 attempts to make electron beams emitted from the cold cathode 1 diverge to thereby make luminescent the fluorescent screen 2 having a larger area than that of the cold cathode 1. The illustrated light emitting apparatuses both have the electrode 4 for diverging electron beams, disposed in an evacuated enclosure, and are in operation by applying a voltage to the electrode 4.
In the light emitting apparatus illustrated in FIG. 6, a light backwardly reflected from the fluorescent material layer 3 is forwardly reflected by the reflection plate 2 disposed in an evacuated enclosure.
In all of the light emitting apparatuses illustrated in FIGS. 4 to 6, electron beams are enlarged or a light is reflected and enlarged both by means of an electrode or an optical device. Thus, those light emitting apparatuses have problems that they are complicated in structure, and they have to have a number of parts.
It is necessary to prepare an electron emission source having a large area in order to construct a large luminescent area like a backlight in a thin panel structure. In such a electron emission source, in order to prevent the entire electron emission source from stopping in operation because of discharge breakdown and/or shortcircuit of a part thereof, it is necessary to divide an electron emission area into a plurality of sections and provide a fuse with each sections for removing a section destroyed by discharge breakdown or a shortcircuited section. When such a section is removed, electrons are not emitted from a removed section of the electron emission area, resulting in nonuniformity in luminance in a luminescent screen.

Apparatus and method for light emitting and cold cathode used therefor


A display device with a touch device comprises a substrate, a first bridge electrode positioned on the substrate, a plurality of insulating layer patterns covering both ends and a central portion of the first bridge electrode, a plurality of first electrodes separately positioned on the substrate comprising the insulating layer patterns, and connected to the first bridge electrode, a second bridge electrode positioned on the insulating layer patterns covering the central portion of the first bridge electrode, and crossing the first bridge electrode, and a plurality of second electrodes positioned to be separated from the first electrode on the substrate and integrally connected with the second bridge electrode.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a display device and, more particularly, to a display device with a touch device.
Related Art
As information technology is advancing, the market of a display device, a medium connecting users and information, is expanding. Accordingly, the use of a flat panel display (FPD) such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a plasma display panel (PDP), and the like, is increasing.
Some of the display device may be driven by transistors formed in a matrix form on a substrate to display an image. The transistors may include a gate, a semiconductor layer, a source, and a drain, respectively.
Meanwhile, display device are employed for various purposes from a home appliance sector such as television (TV) or video to an industrial field such as a computer or the like. In addition, recently, research on adding a touch function by including a touch device in a display device is actively ongoing.


Provided are an electrode lead of a secondary battery where a protection layer for anti-corrosion is selectively formed at an electrode lead portion at the cell outside and a secondary battery including the same. Since a protection layer for anti-corrosion is selectively formed only on an electrode lead portion at the cell outside, the corrosion of the electrode lead may be prevented from an external environment and the resistance of a cell may be reduced simultaneously.

This application claims priority of Korean Patent application No. 10-2010-0093076, filed on Sep. 27, 2010, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention disclosed herein relates to an electrode lead including a protection layer for anti-corrosion and a secondary battery including the same.
As technical developments and demands on mobile devices are increased, requirements for secondary batteries are drastically increased. Among the secondary batteries, a lithium secondary battery having high energy density and operating voltage and excellent life cycle is used as an energy source for various mobile devices and electronic products. Because of that, the lithium secondary battery receives great attention as an energy source for electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles and also is suggested as an alternative to resolve environmental pollution and global warming issues regarding typical gasoline and diesel vehicles using fossil fuel. Thus, some lithium secondary batteries are in a commercialization phase.
The secondary battery may be classified according to how an electrode assembly with a positive electrode/separation layer/negative electrode structure is configured. Typically, the secondary battery may include a jelly-roll type electrode assembly having a structure in which positive and negative electrodes having a long sheet shape are wound with a separation layer therebetween, a stack type electrode assembly having a structure in which a plurality of positive and negative electrodes cut by a predetermined sized unit are sequentially stacked with a separation layer therebetween, and a stack/folding type electrode assembly having a structure in which Bi-cells or Full-cells having stacked positive and negative electrodes of a predetermined unit with a separation layer therebetween are wound.
Recently, a pouch type battery having a structure in which a stack or stack/folding type electrode assembly is built in a pouch type battery case of an aluminum laminated sheet attracts a lot of attention due to low manufacturing costs, light weight, and easy reshaping and thus, its usage is extensively increased.
FIG. 1 is a mimetic diagram illustrating a typical structure of a pouch type lithium secondary battery.
Referring to FIG. 1, the pouch type lithium secondary battery 10 includes an electrode assembly 30, electrode taps 40 and 50 extending from the electrode assembly 30, electrode leads 60 and 70 welded to the electrode taps 40 and 50, and an exterior finishing material 20 receiving the electrode assembly 30.
The electrode assembly 30 is a power generating device where positive and negative electrodes are sequentially stacked with a separation layer therebetween and has a stack or stack/folding type structure. The electrode taps 40 and 50 extend from each electrode plate of the electrode assembly 30. The electrode leads 60 and 70 are electrically connected to the electrode taps 40 and 50 extending from each electrode plate through welding and are partially exposed to the external of the exterior finishing material 20. Additionally, in order to increase the degree of sealing and obtain an electrical insulation state simultaneously, an insulation film 80 formed of Polypropylene (PP) is attached to the top and bottom portions of the electrode leads 60 and 70. The exterior finishing material 20 is formed of an aluminum laminated sheet, provides a receiving space to receive the electrode assembly 30, and has an overall pouch shape.
Moreover, the electrode leads 60 and 70 require properties such as no reaction with an electrolyte and no corrosion in a unit cell, no external oxidation in air, and excellent adhesion to the insulation film 80 such as PP.
Especially, in order to prevent corrosion from external air or foreign substance, the electrode leads 60 and 70 are typically coated with a protection layer (not shown). In more detail, since the electrode lead 60 of copper material and the positive electrode lead 70 of aluminum material are oxidized easily and are vulnerable to corrosion, their external surfaces are plated with nickel. Typically, the negative electrode lead 60 of the lithium secondary battery 10 has a structure, in which a nickel thin film is added on the both sides of a copper plate, and is typically formed through a clad method of overlapping and rolling different metal plates at a high temperature to combine them
Anyway, the protection layer serves to prevent the corrosion of the electrode leads 60 and 70 from an external environment of a cell and thus, establishes as an essential component in the electrode leads 60 and 70.
However, the protection layer has a relatively lower electrical conductivity than the electrode leads 60 and 70. Specifically, nickel has merely about 14.9% of an electrical conductivity of the negative electrode lead 60 formed of copper. Additionally, in relation to the welding surfaces of the electrode leads 60 and 70 and the electrode taps 40 and 50, direct contact areas between the electrode leads 60 and 70 and the electrode taps 40 and 50 are reduced due to the protection layer interposed therebetween. As a result, although the protection layer is necessary to prevent the corrosion of the electrode leads 60 and 70, it reduces electrical conductivity and electrical contact areas but serves as a resistance component of a cell.
Therefore, technical developments for preventing the corrosion of an electrode lead from an external environment and reducing the resistance of a cell simultaneously are required now.

Electrode lead comprising protection layer for anti-corrosion and secondary battery comprising the same


A composite textile structure is provided. the composite structure includes a woven base fabric of elastomeric yarns wherein the yarns running in one direction are bicomponent sheath/core elastomeric monofilament yarns wherein the sheath has a melting point below that of the core. The bicomponent yarns are melt bonded to yarns running in a perpendicular direction by melting of the sheath. The woven base fabric is joined to a knit cover fabric by an elastomeric bond preferably formed through the lamination of an elastomeric adhesive web between the cover fabric and the base fabric.

Traditional seating and bedding structures typically are constructed from a frame, a surface fabric for contact with the user, and some type of support member. Typical support members have included springs, webs, straps, or molded units (e.g. thick foam pads). Materials for construction of such support members have been steel, burlap, canvas, plastic and elastomeric strapping and synthetic textile materials. One such synthetic textile material is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,738 to Himelreich, Jr. the teaching of which are incorporated herein by reference.
As will be readily appreciated, the use of a multiplicity of components (i.e. covers and separate support materials) which must be attached to a frame structure gives rise to a relatively complicated assembly practice. Moreover, in a number of applications such as portable beds or wheel chairs which must be suitable to be folded and transported away for storage, it is undesirable to have thick support structures such as foam, springs, and the like as these impede portability and storage. In addition, in many applications including wheel chairs and temporary hospital beds, it is desirable for the overall structure to be easily and thoroughly cleaned without the possibility of retention of contaminating fluids such as blood, urine, and the like. At the same time, the users of such furniture in these environments must be provided with good support and a high degree of comfort generally associated with the more complicated spring and cushion configurations.
In order to reduce the number of components in seating structures and to reduce the bulk thereof, it has been proposed to provide thin profile seats, including thin seats using elastomer seat backing material. One such seating structure is disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,789 (incorporated by reference). In U.S. Pat. No. 2,251,318 to Blair et al., solid rubber tape or strips reinforced by fabric are stretched over a seating frame. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,614 to Abu-Isa et al., (incorporated by reference) a thin profile seat is disclosed in which a multiplicity of side by side elastomeric filaments made from a block copolymer of polytetramethylene terephthalate polyester and polytetramethylene ether are stretched across a vehicle seat frame. U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,554 to Abu-Isa et al. (incorporated by reference) discloses a thin profile seat in which elastomeric filaments like that of U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,614 are woven together to form a mat. The mat was prestretched to at least 5% elongation and attached to the seat frame. U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,089 to Abu-Isa et al. (incorporated by reference) discloses a seat assembly having an elastomeric filament suspension and a fabric cover. The filament suspension and the fabric cover are integrated by having the elastomeric filaments in the fabric knitted together to provide a low profile finished seat or backrest.
The present invention provides a textile structure suitable for use as a furniture support sling for applications such as wheel chairs, hospital waiting room chairs and portable beds which provides a high degree of comfort and performance. Such comfort and performance is achieved by combining woven and knitted fabric structures in a manner which provides for the stretch and recovery characteristics desirable for these applications. At the same time, the fabric may be cleaned of contaminating fluids and has a surface which may be transfer printed to yield a visually appealing appearance while nonetheless having a smooth feel which helps to minimize skin shear thereby adding to the overall comfort of the user. Accordingly, the present invention represents a useful advancement over the state of the art.


An electrical contact device includes a housing having an insulating material and defining a first housing opening and a second housing opening, at least one shaft disposed in the housing, and a metal contact group disposed in the housing. The metal contact group includes a first contact connection assigned to the first housing opening and a second contact connection assigned to the second housing opening. The contact group has at least one attachment recess and the at least one shaft engages with the at least one attachment recess so as to secure the contact group.

Electrical contact devices, particularly terminal blocks, have been known in the art for decades and are used in their millions for the wiring of electrical systems and equipment. Terminal blocks are usually latched onto mounting rails, a multiplicity of which is usually disposed in turn in a switch cabinet. Known contact connections in electrical contact devices include screw-type terminals, tension spring terminals, cutting terminals or plug contact connections, particularly in the form of bushing or tulip contacts.
In addition, electrical contact devices are known in which at least a first contact connection is created by terminal legs for connection to a conductor plate and a second contact connection is formed as a plug connection for a plug connector.
Electrical contact devices should usually produce a current flow between two separate contact elements. In order to connect the contact elements, the electrical contact devices therefore have at least two contact connections, which are electrically connected to one another via a connection piece.
Apart from the aforementioned basic type of terminal blocks, there is also a multiplicity of different types of terminal block, which are specially adapted to suit each individual application. Given here by way of example are double-level or triple-level terminals and also three-conductor or four-conductor terminals, which then each have a correspondingly larger number of conductor connection elements designed as contact connections. In addition, there are terminal blocks consisting of a basic terminal and a connection plug, wherein the basic terminal has a terminal housing, at least one conductor connection element designed therein as a contact connection and also at least one other contact connection electrically connected to the conductor connection element and designed as a slot. The connection plug likewise has at least one conductor connection element and a plug contact electrically connected to the conductor connection element. With this type of terminal block, the basic terminal is usually first latched onto a mounting rail and the connection plug is then attached with its plug contact to a corresponding slot in the basic terminal.
All the aforementioned electrical contact devices, such as the terminal block, the electrical contact device for connecting to a circuit board, the basic terminal and the connection plug have a housing made from insulating material, in which a contact group with two contact connections is mounted and secured.
Rigorous requirements are made of the contact group's attachment within the housing, in order to prevent the contact group from becoming detached from the housing, leaving the user directly exposed to the live contact group. There is a particular risk of this happening when a contact element connected to one of the contact connections is forcibly removed. In order to secure the contact group within the housing, it is known from DE 27 13 894 A1, for example, that locking means can be provided on the contact group and inside the housing. This sort of attachment has already proved itself in practice. One perceived disadvantage of this sort of electrical contact device is that a reliable connection between the contact group and the housing only exists if it is actually locked to the housing. In order to guarantee this locking mechanism, the connection must be inspected following production of the contact device.


Methods for treating type two diabetes mellitus in a subject in need thereof and pharmaceutical compositions for the treatment of type two diabetes mellitus are disclosed. The methods include administering an effective amount of apolipoprotein A-IV to the subject. The pharmaceutical composition includes apolipoprotein A-IV formulated for administration to a subject for the treatment of type two diabetes mellitus. Also disclosed are methods for substantially restoring glucose tolerance in a subject in need thereof to a normal level and methods for lowering blood glucose levels in a subject in need thereof.

The occurrence of diabetes is widespread, with approximately 8% of the population in the United States suffering from diabetes. Diabetes is a chronic disease characterized by high blood sugar due to the body's inability to effectively produce and/or use insulin. Diabetes can lead to a variety of physical complications, including but not limited to renal failure, blindness, nerve damage, heart disease, sleep apnea, and celiac disease. For example, in the United States, diabetes is the leading cause of renal failure, blindness, amputation, stroke, and heart attack. Also in the United States, diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death and has been shown to reduce the life expectancy of middle-aged adults by about five to ten years.
The most common form of diabetes is type two diabetes mellitus (hereinafter "T2DM"). T2DM is characterized by hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, β-cell dysfunction, and dysregulated hepatic gluconeogenesis. Persons suffering from T2DM experience a loss of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion related to the impaired release of stored insulin granules from β-cells in the first phase of insulin secretion. In the second phase of insulin secretion, persons suffering from T2DM experience a gradual loss of the ability to actively synthesize insulin in response to glucose stimuli.
The prevalence of T2DM is increasing and in 2002, T2DM resulted in greater than $130 billion in health care expenses. As such, new therapies for effectively treating T2DM are needed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apolipoprotein AIV as an antidiabetic peptide


An improved sheet feeder mechanism includes a D-shaped roller that is mounted on a shaft and is positioned transversely to a direction of sheet feed. A D-roller gear is mounted on the shaft and has both a non-recessed geared region and a recessed non-geared region that extends partially about a circumference of the D-roller gear. A shaft extension extends from and is attached to the shaft, and a spring engages the shaft extension to cause the shaft and the D-roller gear to rotate to a position that enables a gear drive to engage the non-recessed geared region of the D-roller gear. A spiral cam assembly is mounted for rotation with the gear drive and includes a spiral cam that is positioned between and resiliently bears upon inner and outer annuli of the cam assembly. A control arm engages both the spiral cam and the shaft extension and is responsive to rotation in a first direction of the cam assembly to enable the spring to move the shaft extension and D-roller gear to a position where a non-recessed, geared region aligns with the gear drive. The control arm is further responsive to rotation in a second direction of the cam assembly, after the first direction rotation, to enable rotation of the D-roller gear by the gear drive so as to cause a sheet feed.

While there are many existing designs for sheet feed mechanisms, one of the more popular designs employed in copiers, facsimiles, etc. is shown in FIG. 1. Sheets 10 to be individually fed, are positioned in a tray 12 and are held in position by separators 14. A D-shaped roller 16 is mounted for rotation on a shaft 18. A single clockwise rotation of D-shaped roller 16 will cause a single sheet 10 to be fed in the direction indicated by arrow 20. D-shaped roller is also called a paper-pick roller.
Shaft 18 is connected to a D-roller gear 22 that has a section 24 wherein the gear teeth have been removed (gear teeth are shown schematically). A mating drive gear 26 is mounted on a drive shaft 28 that is in turn connected to a bi-directional drive motor (not shown).
The portion of shaft 18 to the right of D-roller gear 22 has a radially extending shaft extension 30 which, in cooperation with leaf spring 32 and solenoid 34, enables shaft 18 to make a single revolution and accomplish the feeding of a single sheet. Leaf spring 32 bears against shaft extension 30 and biases it in a clockwise direction. An armature 36 is spring biased to engage control arm 30 and in that position, prevents clockwise rotation of shaft 18.
To enable the feeding of a sheet, solenoid 34 is actuated and withdraws armature 36 from engagement with shaft extension 30. This action frees shaft extension 30 to be acted upon by spring 32. Once shaft extension 30 has just passed armature 36, solenoid 34 is disengaged to enable armature 36 to re-engage shaft extension 30 at the end of a single rotation of D-roller shaft 18. A subsequent energization of the drive motor causes shaft 28 to rotate in a counterclockwise direction, thus enabling drive gear 26 to rotate D-roller gear 22 (and shaft 18) in a clockwise direction. The resulting rotation of D-roller 16 engages a sheet 10 and moves it in the direction shown by arrow 20. When recessed portion 24 of D-roller gear 22 reaches drive gear 26, drive gear 26 and D-roller gear 22 disengage. Armature 36 again engages shaft extension 30 at the end of a single rotation.
Others have attempted to reduce the cost of the sheet feed mechanism shown in FIG. 1 by eliminating solenoid 34 and mounting a slip clutch on shaft 18. The slip clutch is dependent upon controlled friction between the clutch mechanism and drive shaft 18, which friction, if too great, causes drive shaft 18 to bind and if too little, enables the clutch mechanism to slip on the shaft uncontrollably. The slip clutch design also employs fixed stops which tend to generate stick-slip noise and be subject to wear.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention, to provide an improved sheet feed mechanism that avoids the need for solenoid-operated engagement of a control arm.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved sheet feeder that avoids the use of a slip clutch to control the feeder's operation.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an improved sheet feeder that is low in cost and reliable in operation.


The present invention relates to a flexible conveyor system. The system includes a supply conveyor module and a receiver conveyor module. A hitch mechanism is provided for pivotally coupling the supply conveyor module to the receiver conveyor module about a pivot axis so that the receiver conveyor module receives conveyed material from the supply conveyor module proximal to the pivot axis. Advantageously, the receiver conveyor module receives conveyed material from the supply conveyor module proximal to the pivot axis which impedes spillage between the adjacent conveyor modules on very tight corners.

The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that the prior art forms part of the common general knowledge.
Flexible conveyor systems are used in mining operations and include serially interconnected conveyor modules that convey mining material away from the cutting face for processing. In practice, a conveyor system will snake its way through mining tunnels, and there is spillage on corners when transported material passes between adjacent conveyor modules.
AU 2008202856 shows a flexible conveyor system with a first conveyor module having a hitch mechanism with a curved steel track and a rolling hitch device with rollers on opposite sides of the curved steel track. A second conveyor module is coupled so that it orbits the first conveyor module using the hitch mechanism with a view of reducing material spillage between the conveyor modules. However, there is still spillage between the modules on very tight corners as a gap forms between the tail of one convey and the head of the other.
The preferred embodiment provides a flexible conveyor system which impedes spillage between adjacent conveyor modules on very tight corners.

UNDERGROUND EXTRACTION TECHNOLOGIES PTY LTD


A solid-state imaging device and a charge transfer method are provided. The solid-state imaging device includes light receiving portions arranged in a matrix of rows and columns, vertical transfer portions, and a horizontal transfer portion. The vertical transfer portions are formed for each column of the matrix of the light receiving portions, for transferring charges transferred from the light receiving portions in a vertical direction. The horizontal transfer portion transfers the charges transferred from the vertical transfer portions in a horizontal direction. The vertical transfer portions divide the charges transferred to the vertical transfer portions and transfer the divided charges in the vertical direction. The horizontal transfer portion transfers the divided charges in a mixed state in the horizontal direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid-state imaging device, and more particularly, to a solid-state imaging device that adopts a frame readout method.
2. Description of Related Art
In video cameras and digital still cameras, a solid-state imaging device of a charge coupled device (CCD) type using a CCD register in a charge transfer portion has been used (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-96546 (hereinafter referred to as "patent document 1").
The CCD-type solid-state imaging device includes a plurality of pixels arranged in a two-dimensional matrix in an imaging area on a semiconductor substrate, each pixel having a photoelectric conversion means (photodiode; PD). The incident light into each pixel is converted into an electric charge by the photodiode, and the electric charge is transferred through a vertical transfer portion and a horizontal transfer portion to a floating diffusion (FD) region formed in an output amplifier. The potential change in the FD region is detected by a MOS transistor, converted into an electrical signal, and amplified the converted electrical signal to output an image signal.
FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view for explaining a known CCD-type solid-state imaging device. The CCD-type solid-state imaging device 101 shown in the figure essentially includes an imaging portion 104a, an optical black region 104b, a horizontal transfer portion 105, and an output portion 107. The imaging portion includes light receiving portions 108 arranged in a matrix of rows and columns, and vertical transfer portions 109, formed for each column (vertical lines) of the light receiving portions, for transferring charges from each of the light receiving portions.
In the CCD-type solid-state imaging device configured as the described above, by applying vertical transfer clocks Vφ to the vertical transfer portions from a timing signal generating circuit 103, electrical charges output from the light receiving portions to the vertical transfer portions are transferred in the vertical direction. Furthermore, by applying horizontal transfer clocks Hφ to the horizontal transfer portion from the timing signal generating circuit, the electrical charges transferred to the horizontal transfer portion are transferred in the horizontal direction, and converted in an FD region to a voltage to thereby be readout as a light receiving signal from an output portion.
The CCD-type solid-state imaging device is required to take a still image with high resolution, and hence it is necessary that all pixel signals are outputted without mixing. Therefore, as an output method for the CCD-type solid-state imaging device, (1) a method in which all pixels are simultaneously outputted and the individual pixels are independently transferred (all-pixel readout mode, so-called "progressive scan readout method") or (2) a method in which charges of odd lines and even lines are alternately outputted per field and the individual pixels are independently transferred (frame readout method which means a two-field readout method here) has been used.
The frame readout method more advantageously secures a satisfactory amount of charges processed by the vertical transfer portions than the progressive scan method, and facilitates the reduction of cell size (size per one pixel), and therefore the frame readout method has been used in the CCD-type solid-state imaging device which is especially required to be reduced in size or increased in pixels. That is, the progressive scan method is required to form a packet of the vertical transfer portions for each pixel, whereas, in the frame readout method, one pixel of the two pixels is outputted in one field and therefore a packet of the vertical transfer portions is formed for the two pixels. Accordingly, the frame readout method more advantageously secures a satisfactory amount of charges processed by the vertical transfer portions than the progressive scan method, thereby facilitating the reduction of cell size.
FIGS. 6A-6D are diagrams for explaining frame readout (two-field readout) used for obtaining a still image with high resolution, wherein FIG. 6A is a diagram of frame readout (two-field readout) in which output (readout) is individually performed in two separate fields, i.e., the first field and the second field, FIG. 6B is a vertical synchronizing timing chart, FIG. 6C is a horizontal synchronizing timing chart, and FIG. 6D shows the transfer state of charges of the vertical transfer portions.
In the vertical transfer portions, a transfer electrode is formed to apply a readout clock for readout of the charges accumulated in the light receiving portions or a vertical transfer clock for vertical transfer by driving the vertical transfer portion. In the two-field readout method, in order to realize a drive of reading out one pixel of the two pixels (pixels of 1st line, 3rd line, 5th line, 7th line, 9th line, . . . shown in FIG. 6A) in the first field, and reading out the remaining one pixel of the two pixels (pixels of the 2nd line, 4th line, 6th line, 8th line, . . . shown in FIG. 6A) in the second field, readout clock separated from the pixel outputted in the first field and the pixel outputted in the second field needs to be applied. Furthermore, it is necessary to form another transfer electrode between the transfer electrodes to which the readout clocks is applied to prevent color mixing. Therefore, four transfer electrodes (V1 to V4) are needed in the two-field readout method.
In FIG. 6A, only the transfer electrodes V1, V3 to which the readout clocks are applied are shown, however transfer electrodes V2 are formed between the 2nd line and the 3rd line, between the 4th line and the 5th line, between the 6th line and the 7th line, and between the 8th line and the 9th line, and transfer electrodes V4 are formed between the 1st line and the 2nd line, between the 3rd line and the 4th line, between the 5th line and the 6th line, and between the 7th line and the 8th line.
In recent years, the cell size tends to be further miniaturized to improve the resolution (increase the number of pixels) or to reduce the device size, and, with respect to the frame readout method, in addition to the two-field readout method in which output (readout) is individually performed in two separate fields, a three-field readout method shown in FIGS. 7A-7F (FIG. 7A is a diagram of a three-field readout method, FIG. 7B is a vertical synchronizing timing chart, FIG. 7C is a horizontal synchronizing timing chart (1), FIG. 7D is a horizontal synchronizing timing chart (2), FIG. 7E shows the transfer state of charges of the vertical transfer portions corresponding to the horizontal synchronizing timing chart (1), and FIG. 7F shows the transfer state of charges of the vertical transfer portions corresponding to the horizontal synchronizing timing chart (2)), a four-field readout method shown in FIGS. 8A-8D (FIG. 8A is a diagram of a four-field readout method, FIG. 8B is a vertical synchronizing timing chart, FIG. 8C is a horizontal synchronizing timing chart, and FIG. 8D shows the transfer state of charges of the vertical transfer portions), a not shown five-field readout method, and a six-field readout method shown in FIGS. 9A-9D (FIG. 9A is a diagram of a six-field readout method, FIG. 9B is a vertical synchronizing timing chart, FIG. 9C is a timing chart for the readout portion and vertical transfer portions, and FIG. 9D shows the transfer state of charges of the vertical transfer portions) have been put into practical use.
In the three-field readout method, in order to realize a method of reading out one pixel of the three pixels (pixels of the 2nd line, 5th line, 8th line, . . . shown in FIG. 7A) in the first field, reading out the remaining two pixels of the three pixels (pixels of the 3rd line, 6th line, 9th line, . . . shown in FIG. 7A) in the second field, and reading out the remaining one pixel of the three pixels (pixels of the 1st line, 4th line, 7th line, . . . shown in FIG. 7A) in the third field, readout clock separated from the pixel outputted in the first field, the pixel outputted in the second field, and the pixel outputted in the third field needs to be applied needs to be applied. Furthermore, it is necessary to form another transfer electrode between the transfer electrodes to which the readout clocks are applied to prevent color mixing. Therefore, the three-field readout method needs six transfer electrodes (V1 to V6).
In FIG. 7A, only the transfer electrodes V1, V3, V5 to which the readout clocks are applied are shown, however, transfer electrodes V2 are formed between the 2nd line and the 3rd line, between the 5th line and the 6th line, and between the 8th line and the 9th line, transfer electrodes V4 are formed between the 1st line and the 2nd line, between the 4th line and the 5th line, and between the 7th line and the 8th line, and transfer electrodes V6 are formed between the 3rd line and the 4th line and between the 6th line and the 7th line.
In the four-field readout method, in order to realize a drive method of reading out one pixel of the four pixels (pixels on the 2nd line, 6th line, . . . shown in FIG. 8A) in the first field, reading out one pixel of the remaining three pixels of the four pixels (pixels on the 3rd line, 7th line, . . . shown in FIG. 8A) in the second field, reading out one pixel of the remaining two pixels of the four pixels (pixels of the 4th line, 8th line, . . . shown in FIG. 8A) in the third field, and reading out the remaining one pixel of the four pixels (pixels of the 1st line, 5th line, 9th line, . . . shown in FIG. 8A) in the fourth filed, readout clock separated from the pixel outputted in the first filed, the pixel outputted in the second field, the pixel outputted in the third field, and the pixel outputted in the fourth field needs to be applied. Furthermore, it is also necessary to form another transfer electrode between the transfer electrodes to which the readout clocks are applied to prevent color mixing. Therefore, the fourth-field readout method needs eight transfer electrodes (V1 to V8).
In FIG. 8A, only the transfer electrodes V1, V3, V5, V7 to which the readout clocks are applied are shown, but, transfer electrodes V2 are formed between the 3rd line and the 4th line and between the 7th line and the 8th line, transfer electrodes V4 are formed between the 2nd line and the 3rd line and between the 6th line and the 7th line, transfer electrodes V6 are formed between the 1st line and the 2nd line and between the 5th line and the 6th line, and transfer electrodes V8 are formed between the 4th line and the 5th line and between the 8th line and the 9th line.
In the six-field readout method, in order to realize a drive method of reading out one pixel of the six pixels (pixels on the 2nd line, 8th line, . . . shown in FIG. 9A) in the first field, reading out one pixel of the remaining five pixels of the six pixels (pixels on the 3rd line, 9th line, . . . shown in FIG. 9A) in the second field, one pixel of the remaining four pixels of the six pixels (pixels on the 4th line, 10th line, . . . shown in FIG. 9A) in the third field, one pixel of the remaining three pixels of the six pixels (pixels on the 5th line, 11th line, . . . shown in FIG. 9A) in the fourth field, and one pixel of the remaining two pixels of the six pixels (pixels on the 6th line, 12th line, . . . shown in FIG. 9A) in the fifth field, and the remaining one pixel of the six pixels (pixels on the 1st line, 7th line, 13th line, . . . shown in FIG. 9A) in the sixth field, readout clock separated from the pixel outputted in the first field, the pixel outputted in the second field, the pixel outputted in the third field, the pixel outputted in the fourth field, the pixel outputted in the fifth field, and the pixel outputted in the sixth field needs to be applied. Furthermore, it is necessary to form another transfer electrode between the transfer electrodes to which the readout clocks are applied to prevent color mixing. Therefore, the six-field readout method needs twelve transfer electrodes (V1 to V12).
In FIG. 9A, only the transfer electrodes V1, V3, V5, V7, V9, V11 to which the readout clocks are applied are shown, but, transfer electrodes V2 are formed between the 5th line and the 6th line and between the 11th line and the 12th line, transfer electrodes V4 are formed between the 4th line and the 5th line and between the 10th line and the 11th line, transfer electrodes V6 are formed between the 3rd line and the 4th line and between the 9th line and the 10th line, transfer electrodes V8 are formed between the 2nd line and the 3rd line and between the 8th line and the 9th line, transfer electrodes V10 are formed between the 1st line and the 2nd line and between the 7th line and the 8th line, and transfer electrodes V12 are formed between the 6th line and the 7th line and between the 12th line and the 13th line.
In the above-described multi-field readout method (three-field readout method, four-field readout method, five-field readout method, or six-field readout method), the amount of charges processed by the vertical transfer portions may be increased, as compared to that in a known two-field readout method.
Namely, in the known two-field readout method, one pixel of the two pixels is outputted in one field (see FIG. 6A), so that a packet of the vertical transfer portions is constituted by the two pixels (V1 to V4) (see FIG. 6B). By contrast, in the three-field readout method, only one pixel of the three pixels is outputted in one field (see FIG. 7A), so that a packet of the vertical transfer portions is constituted by the three pixels (V1 to V6) (see FIG. 7B). The on-state gates (the number of gates to which a high-level potential is applied) of the vertical transfer portions in the two-field readout method are two gates, whereas the number in the three-field readout method is four, which indicates that the amount of charges processed by the vertical transfer portions may be increased in the three-field readout method. Similarly, in the four-field readout method, only one pixel of the four pixels is outputted in one field (see FIG. 8A), so that a packet of the vertical transfer portions is constituted by the four pixels (V1 to V8) (see FIG. 8B). Therefore, the on-state gates of the vertical transfer portions in the four-field readout method are six gates. In the six-field readout method, only one pixel of the six pixels is outputted in a single field (see FIG. 9A), so that a packet of the vertical transfer portions is constituted by the six pixels (V1 to V12) (see FIG. 9B). Therefore, the on-state gates of the vertical transfer portions in the six-field readout method are eight gates. From the above, the amount of charges processed by the vertical transfer portions may be further increased in the multi-field readout method.
Accordingly, the multi-field readout method secures a satisfactory amount of charges processed by the vertical transfer portions even if the cell size is reduced, and whereby it may be applied to the CCD-type solid-state imaging device which is required to be improved in resolution or reduced in size.
In the three-field readout method (V1 to V6 six-phase transfer) shown in FIGS. 7A-7F, FIG. 7E shows a potential of the transfer state of charges of the vertical transfer portions corresponding to the horizontal synchronizing timing chart (1) (see FIG. 7C), and FIG. 7F shows a potential of the transfer state of charges of the vertical transfer portions corresponding to the horizontal synchronizing timing chart (2) (see FIG. 7D), and both operations may be used according to the horizontal synchronizing timing chart, but, when the forward gate in the transfer direction of charges is in the on state (state in which a high-level potential is applied) and simultaneously the backward gate in the transfer direction of charges is in the off state (state in which a low-level potential is applied), the number of clock changing points and the number of transfer cycles may be reduced in the operation shown in FIGS. 7D and 7F, as compared to those in the operation shown in FIGS. 7C and 7E. Especially, if a higher priority is given to the transfer speed or there is a demand for extending an overlap period of the vertical transfer clock (a period of time between a changing point of the vertical transfer clock and the next changing point) in the same period, the operation shown in FIGS. 7D and 7F is used. Further, if a four- or more multi-field readout method is employed as a readout method, the number of clock changing points is likely to be too large, and therefore a transfer method in which the forward gate in the transfer direction is turned on and simultaneously the downward gate is turned off is employed actively.


This invention is concerned with a protective knee guard which is useful for protecting a skateboard rider's knee areas from injury while affording the rider additional control of the skateboard. The knee guard has a protective shell having integral raised ridge areas which define a control surface, permitting the rider to make sliding contact between the knee guard and the ground in a manner to achieve superior board control during various stunts such as precision control in landings subsequent to ramp assisted aerial maneuvers.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to protective gear for skateboard riders, and more particularly to a knee pad for insulating the knee areas from injury while affording the rider additional control of the board by providing a protective shell having integral raised ridge areas which define a control surface which may be brought into sliding contact with the riding surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Skateboarding has flourished into a popular sport in recent years and enjoys active participation by a large number of today's youth. Serious riders compete in national and international freestyle competitions where they often perform dangerous stunts as they leap off of a swimming pool wall or half pipe into the air. Present skateboards are constructed from lightweight advanced composite materials and employ high-tech wheels and bearings in the quest for ever higher levels of performance. Unfortunately, the number of serious injuries to the knee, elbow, and head areas sustained during falls while riding skateboards is an undeniable reality. Various manufacturers have brought a myriad of protective devices to the marketplace which reduce the likelihood of serious injuries sustained while riding skateboards. With particular reference to the knee area, such protective devices typically comprise a resilient pad Which is strapped firmly around the rider's legs. The pad usually has a rigid outer surface for absorbing direct impact with the riding medium, and is backed by a cushioning material to dissipate and distribute shock loads away from critical areas of the knee which are highly susceptible to injury. However, there appears to be no such protective pad currently available, which in addition to its protective function, permits the rider to make sliding contact between the pad and the ground in a manner to achieve superior board control during various stunts such as precision controlled landings subsequent to ramp assisted aerial maneuvers.
Therefore, there exists a need for a knee pad which protects the rider against dangerous knee injuries, and which provides the rider with a new dimension of board control.


Disclosed are nitrosated and nitrosylated .alpha.-adrenergic receptor antagonists, compositions of an .alpha.-adrenergic receptor antagonist (.alpha.-antagonist), which can optionally be substituted with at least one NO or NO.sub.2 moiety, and a compound that donates, transfers or releases nitric oxide as a charged species, i.e., nitrosonium (NO.sup.+) or nitroxyl (NO.sup.-), or as the neutral species, nitric oxide (NO.cndot.); and uses for each of them in treating human impotence or erectile dysfunction.

Erectile dysfunction or impotence is a widespread disorder that is thought to affect about ten to fifeteen percent of adult men. Some pharmacological methods of treatment are available. Such methods, however, have not proven to be highly satisfactory or without potentially severe side-effects. Papaverine is now widely used to treat impotence, although papaverine is ineffective in overcoming impotence due, at least in part, to severe atherosclerosis. Papaverine is effective in cases where the dysfunction is psychogenic or neurogenic and severe atherosclerosis is not involved. Injection of papaverine, a smooth muscle relaxant, or phenoxybenzamine, a non-specific antagonist and hypotensive, into a corpus cavernosum has been found to cause an erection sufficient for vaginal penetration however, these treatments are not without the serious and often painful side effect of priapisim. Also, in cases where severe atherosclerosis is not a cause of the dysfunction, intracavernosal injection of phentolamine, an .alpha.-adrenergic antagonist, is used. As an alternative or, in some cases, an adjunct to .alpha.-adrenergic blockade, prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) has been administered via intracavernosal injection. A major side effect frequently associated with intracorprally delivered PGE1 is penile pain and burning. Thus, there is a need for treatments of human male impotence without the undesirable side effects of those agents currently used.

Nitrosated and nitrosylated .alpha.-adrenergic receptor antagonist compounds, compositions and their uses


Organic triazole-derived carboxylic acid-esters, and ester-amide-amine salts have been found to be effective antiwear additives for lubricants.

This invention is directed to triazole-derived acid-esters or ester-amide salts as antiwear additives for hydrocarbyl lubricants and/or fuels. 2. Description of Related Art
The use of triazole derivatives, such as benzotriazole, and 1,2,4-triazole, have been well known for their anti-corrosion, metal passivating properties as well as biological properties in a variety of lubricant applications, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,791,206 and 4,456,539, and fungicide/biocide applications.
The use of carboxylic acids, such as oleic acid, and the use of succinic anhydride derivatives, such as dodecenyl succinic anhydride-alcohol adduct, have been extensively reported as having beneficial antirust properties as well as detergency/dispersancy characteristics.

Lubricant compositions comprising triazole-derived acid-esters or ester-amide-amine salts as antiwear additives


A method is disclosed. The method includes receiving a message from a remote device. The message includes data. The method further includes analyzing the data using a set of rules. The analyzing includes performing a maintenance analysis by analyzing the data using a set of asset maintenance rules and a set of asset usage rules. Responsive to the analyzing the data using the set of rules, an alert is sent.

In the construction industry, among many other industries, enterprises maintain large fleets of mobile equipment, which they deploy, employ, and redeploy throughout a series of geographically distributed worksites. The nature of a large fleet of mobile equipment creates a long series of problems, both obvious and subtle, that create adverse impact on the profitability of the fleet-owning enterprise.
From the perspective of maintaining a distributed fleet, obvious difficulties exist in terms of maintenance. The geographic distribution of equipment adds difficulty to a central motor pool's tracking of the simplest tasks, such as when an oil change is needed or when spark plugs need to be replaced. The prior art offers no good solution to these problems, other than sending a human being to collect and analyze data at great cost in terms of labor.
Additionally, the prior art offers no real way for a central office to determine the utilization of a distributed fleet. Owners of construction equipment that is distributed over a geographic area may know that three job sites need backhoes to complete excavations, but they have no sense of the number of hours per working day that an individual backhoe is utilized. Stated simply, when equipment is idle and the central routing facility does not know that the equipment is idle, capacity is wasted and potential profit is lost.
Further, various forms of theft are made easier by distributed fleets, and the prior art makes no allowance for preventing these thefts. The most obvious thefts, such as loading a backhoe onto a trailer and stealing the backhoe during the night, are difficult to catch without a distributed security force monitoring assets. A distributed security force represents, of course, a tremendously costly investment of labor. Smaller forms of theft, such as the same backhoe being "borrowed" by an employee to dig out a swimming pool on the weekend, cost the owner of the equipment a tremendous amount of money and are nearly impossible to effectively police with prior art methods.
Under the prior art, there is simply no cost-effective way to monitor, without tremendous investment of labor, the deployment and disposition of distributed equipment fleets.

Method and system for monitoring a mobile equipment fleet


A control device of an adjustment apparatus of a motor vehicle for controlling a driven adjustment element of the motor vehicle in an adjustment movement along an adjustment path includes a memory unit with a non-volatile digital memory with more than 108 writing cycles and is configured to acquire a plurality of adjustment data items which are assigned to a position or a speed of the adjustment element along the adjustment path. The control device continuously stores the acquired adjustment data items in the non volatile digital memory when triggered by a triggering process.

The invention relates to a control device of an adjustment apparatus of a motor vehicle.
Such a control device is provided for controlling a driven adjustment element of the motor vehicle in an adjustment movement along an adjustment path, wherein the control device has a memory unit with a non volatile digital memory. The control device is configured to acquire a plurality of adjustment data items which are assigned to a position or a speed of the adjustment element along the adjustment path.
The term "acquisition of adjustment data items" includes both the variant in which adjustment data items in the form of measured values or status data items of a sensor apparatus which is external in relation to the control device and/or an assembly are registered and the variant in which the control device itself has means for generating measured values or for interrogating status data items and therefore measures the adjustment data items.
Such control devices are known from the prior art for the purpose of, in particular, controlling an adjustment apparatus which is embodied as a window lifter system. These control devices are embodied in such a way that the status of the electric assemblies and the position information of the actuated mechanism are stored in the non volatile memory of the control device after the change in position has been concluded or before the control device goes into the sleep mode. If a voltage failure or a reset of the microcontroller which is provided in the control device occurs during the change in position of the mechanism, the current position of the mechanism is no longer known when the control device is next powered up. In the case of a window lifter system, this leads, for example, to what is referred to as destandardization of the window lifter system.

Control device of an adjustment apparatus of a motor vehicle

Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co KG, Coburg


Electron-optical, rotationally-symmetrical lenses inevitably exhibit spherical and chromatic aberration which usually determine the limit of the resolution. Such lens aberrations cannot be eliminated by compensation by means of rotationally-symmetrical fields. In order to enhance the resolution nevertheless, it has already been proposed to reduce said lens aberrations by means of a Wien-type corrector. Such a configuration must satisfy very severe requirements as regards manufacturing precision, mechanical and electrical stability and alignment of the various elements relative to one another. Consequently, it is extremely difficult to perform readjustment of the electron-optical apparatus by means of such a corrector in the case of changing circumstances. According to the invention there is provided a combination of a correction unit and a doublet to be corrected. By constructing the objective to be corrected as a doublet 5 and by independently controlling the two lenses 6 and 8 of the doublet 5, the setting of the correction unit 28 can remain unchanged, it being possibly to vary the free object distance and the electron voltage nevertheless during operation of the electron-optical apparatus. FIG. 1.

Generally speaking, particle-optical apparatus, such as electron microscopes or electron-lithography apparatus, are arranged to irradiate an object to be studied or worked by means of a beam of electrically charged particles (usually an electron beam) which is produced by means of a particle source such as a thermionic electron source or an electron source of the field-emission type. Irradiation of the object may be aimed at imaging it for the purpose of examination in such apparatus (specimens in electron microscopes) or may be aimed at forming very small structures on the object, for example for microelectronics (electron lithography apparatus). In both cases focusing lenses are required for focusing the electron beam.
The electron beam can in principle be focused by means of two methods. According to the first method the area to be imaged of a specimen to be examined is more or less uniformly irradiated by the electron beam and an enlarged image of the specimen is formed by means of the focusing lens unit. The focusing lens unit is in that case the objective lens of an imaging lens system; the resolution of the objective lens then determines the resolution of the apparatus. Apparatus of this kind are known as Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEM). According to a second focusing method, the emissive surface of the electron source, or a part thereof, is imaged, generally strongly reduced, on the specimen to be examined (in the Scanning Electron Microscope or SEM) or on an object on which the microstructure is to be formed (in the lithography apparatus). The image of the electron source (the "spot" which is moved across the surface of the object in a predetermined scanning pattern by means of, for example deflection coils) is again formed by means of an imaging lens system. In the latter case the focusing lens unit is the objective lens of the spot-forming lens system; the resolution of this objective lens then decides the spot size of the beam and hence the resolution of the apparatus.
The lenses used in all apparatus of this kind are usually magnetic lenses, but may also be electrostatic lenses. Both types of lens are practically always rotationally symmetrical lenses. The behavior of such lenses inevitably is not ideal, i.e. they exhibit lens aberrations, among which the so-called spherical aberration and the chromatic aberration are usually decisive in respect of resolution of the lens; these lens aberrations thus determine the limit of the resolution of the known electron-optical apparatus. According to a fundamental theorem of particle-optics, such lens aberrations cannot be eliminated by compensation utilizing rotationally symmetrical electrical or magnetic fields.
In contemporary electron-optical apparatus, notably in scanning particle-optical apparatus comprising a spot-forming objective lens (the so-called Scanning Electron Microscope or SEM), there is a tendency to select the acceleration voltage of the electron beam so as to have a value which is lower than was customary thus far, i.e. of the order of magnitude of from 0.5 kV to 5 kV instead of the previously customary voltage of the order of magnitude of 30 kV or more. The reason for doing so is that at such comparatively low acceleration voltages the charging of non-conductive specimens (such as photoresist material in the case of manufacture of electronic integrated circuits) is substantially reduced; moreover, at these low voltages the so-called topographic contrast is substantially enhanced. At such low acceleration voltages the chromatic aberration is the major lens aberration, so the decisive factor in respect of resolution of the particle-optical apparatus. (This can be readily understood by considering the fact that the chromatic aberration is proportional to .DELTA.U/U, in which AU is the non-variable energy spread in the electron beam and U is the nominal acceleration voltage; this factor, therefore, increases as U is decreased.)
In order to enhance the resolution of the particle-optical apparatus nevertheless, it is already known to reduce said lens aberrations by means of a correction device having a non-rotationally symmetrical structure. Such a structure is known, for example from European Patent No. 0 373 399. The structure described therein is formed by a so-called Wien-type corrector, i.e. a structure in which a uniform electric field and a uniform magnetic field, extending perpendicularly thereto, are both oriented perpendicularly to the optical axis of the apparatus. This corrector is provided with a number of multipoles for the correction of the spherical aberration as well as the chromatic aberration, i.e. an electrical and a magnetic quadrupole, an electrical and a magnetic hexapole, and an electrical and/or a magnetic octupole.
An embodiment of the correction device according to the cited European Patent (described notably with reference to FIG. 5 and denoted therein by the reference numeral 20) enables correction of the chromatic aberration. This embodiment consists of a multipole unit which is formed by a number of electrical and magnetic poles whose pole faces are axially oriented, i.e. extend parallel to the optical axis of the apparatus. Each of said poles can be separately excited; by suitably choosing the individual excitations, therefore, a multipole unit thus constructed can form, as desired, a uniform electrical field extending perpendicularly to the optical axis and a uniform magnetic field which extends perpendicularly thereto, both fields extending perpendicularly to the optical axis; electrical and magnetic quadrupole fields, hexapole fields and an electrical and/or a magnetic octupole field can be superposed thereon.
In such a comparatively complex correction device it is extremely difficult to find the correct electrical and magnetic adjustment for the (very accurate) generation of said multipole fields. This difficulty becomes more serious as the number of multipole fields to be generated is greater, because each of said fields must have and retain exactly the adjusted correct value.
The cited European Patent No. 0 281 743 discloses a particle-optical apparatus which is provided with a focusing lens unit which is formed by a combination of at least two particle lenses and serves to focus a beam of electrically charged particles, and with a correction device for correcting chromatic and/or spherical aberration of the focusing lens unit. The correction unit described therein consists of at least four successively arranged octupole elements or twelve-pole elements. Therefore, in this correction device it will also be extremely difficult to find the correct electric and magnetic setting for generating said multipole fields.

Method of operating a particle-optical apparatus


A method of moving of moving objects with a self-locking mechanical transmission including a driving element and a driven element with a controlling element selected from the driving element and the driven element, the method comprises steps of moving the controlling element until a contact between the driving element and the driven element is established, applying to one of elements a power action so as to push the one element and simultaneously and jointly move the driving element and the driven element in the direction of the established contact between the driving element and the driven element; unloading of the controlling element so as to interrupt a power interaction between the driving element and the driven element.

The present invention relates to methods of moving objects with a self-locking mechanical transmission, which can be used in linear and rotary drives.
Self-locking mechanical transmission, are well known, such as for example a screw-nut transmission, a worm--worm wheel transmission, etc. The movement with the screw-nut transmission is performed in the following manner; the rotation of the nut is prevented so that it can move only linearly, the screw is rotated and the rotation of the screw is transmitted to the nut to perform the linear movement. When the direction of rotation of the screw is changed, the direction of linear movement of the nut is reversed. It is also possible to allow only linear movement of the screw, and during rotation of the nut the screw will perform the linear movement.
The movement with the worm-worm wheel transmission is performed in the following manner; the worm is rotated and rotates the worm wheel. With a change of direction of rotation of the worm, the direction of rotation of the worm wheel is reversed.
A common feature of the above transmissions types are that they have a self-locking property, regardless of the nature of loading from an object to be moved. The loading of the object to be moved can be a resilient resistance or an external force such as a gravity force in the direction of movement. A self-locking transmission prevents undesired displacements in the transmissions. When a movement between a driving element and a driven element is performed frictional interaction substantially reduces the efficiency of such transmissions. Even with the use of lubricant the efficiency cannot be increased substantially.
A method of stepped movement of a self-locking transmission is known from my Soviet Inventor's Certificate number 1,401,209 (1986). This method includes causing oscillation of the driving element, a movement of the controlling element which is a screw in the screw-nut transmission in the phase of an idle running, and stopping of the controlling element in the phase of working running. Here a difference in the speeds of the driving and driven elements is determined. The direction of movement of the controlling element is changed during reversing of the movement of the driving element at the moment of negative difference of the speeds of the driving and driven elements. The controlling element is rolled or rotated over the driven element with the speed of movement of the controlling element equal or higher than the speed of movement of the driven element in the phase of an idle running. The controlling element is rolled over the driven element before stopping of the controlling element in phase of a working running. This known method is complicated since it requires additional change of the speed of the driving and driven elements. Moreover, the influence of a load, here a resilient force, prevents unloading of the controlling element. A negative difference in the speeds of the driving and driven elements is not provided.
A method of moving objects with a self-locking transmission is disclosed in my a Soviet Inventor's Certificate number 1,486,686 (1989). In accordance with this method, oscillations of a driving element in a self-locking transmission are generated. The element that is oscillated is a worm support in the worm--worm wheel transmission. A controlling element (a worm in a worm--worm wheel transmission) is displaced relative to the driven element in a phase of idle movement by low power motor. The lower power motor is braked and unbraked for the change of direction of oscillations of the controlling element. However, the use of the low power motor can only provide substantial power with a low movement speed. Thus, this motor does not provide efficient operation of a self-locking mechanical transmission. The presence of a torque on the motor during contacting of the driving and driven element does not lead to the braking of the driving element, and causes additional frictional interaction of the driving element with the driven element thereby reducing the efficiency of mechanical transmission. This also causes undesirable additional movements. Insufficiently fast interaction of the low power motor also does not provide a return of the driving element to an initial position. In addition to the change in the magnitude of movement the method leads to shocks and noise. Moreover, the influence of a load, for example resilient forces, causes constant braking by the driven element (screw in the screw-nut transmission or a worm wheel in the worm--worm wheel transmission) of the controlling element, whose unbraking becomes impossible for providing idle running.
In the above described methods, at the beginning of the working stroke there is always a gap between the driving element and the driven element, which leads to strikes, substantially reduces the reliability of operation of the transmission, and also causes noise. It is not always necessary to move the driving element back in the direction of a preceding position. However, when these known methods use oscillation one must return the driving element to the preceding position. Moving a driving element and a driven element only in the direction of travel of an object does not maintain a self-locking relationship between driving and driven elements. Also, it substantially reduces the reliability of operation of the transmission.

Method of moving objects with self-locking mechanical transmission


An image forming system, according to the present invention can include a forming device for forming an image based on printing data, an obtaining device for obtaining an image-formable range specific to the forming device, a determination circuit for determinating if the image based on printing data fits within the image-formable range, and an adjusting circuit for adjusting at least one of a position and a size of the image in accordance with the image-formable range, when the determination circuit determines that the image does not fit within the image-formable range.

In general, an image-formable range for a recording medium (such as paper sheet and plastic sheet) in an image forming apparatus is defined in a specification in accordance with the size of the recording medium. The image forming apparatus also has a range mechanically capable of image formation, other than the image-formable range defined in a specification. Particularly, the structural image-formable range in a main scanning direction is decided according to, for example, a scanning range of a laser for an electrophotographic laser printer and a scanning range of an inkjet head for an inkjet printer. An image-formable range defined in a specification is generally the same among products of the same kind, while a structural image-formable range varies for each product due to such as displacement of assembling positions of parts even among products of the same kind. The structural image-formable range is typically designed so as to be larger than a maximum image-formable range defined in a specification, since an image loss occurs in the image formed on a recording medium when this structural image-formable range does not include the maximum image-formable range defined in a specification.
However, designing an apparatus so that the structural image-formable range becomes sufficiently larger than the maximum image-formable range defined in a specification causes enlargement of parts as well as cost increase. On the contrary, when the structural image-formable range is made smaller, the possibility of generating image loss increases as mentioned above. In order to counter the generation of image loss, a strategy such as conducting the part assembly process in high accuracy needs to be prepared, resulting in a cost increase.


Fin field-effect transistor (FinFET) thyristors for protecting high-speed communication interfaces are provided. In certain embodiments herein, high voltage tolerant FinFET thyristors are provided for handling high stress current and high RF power handling capability while providing low capacitance to allow wide bandwidth operation. Thus, the FinFET thyristors can be used to provide electrical overstress protection for ICs fabricated using FinFET technologies, while addressing tight radio frequency design window and robustness. In certain implementations, the FinFET thyristors include a first thyristor, a FinFET triggering circuitry and a second thyristor that serves to provide bidirectional blocking voltage and overstress protection. The FinFET triggering circuitry also enhances turn-on speed of the thyristor and/or reduces total on-state resistance.

Electronic systems can be exposed to electrical overstress events, or electrical signals of short duration having rapidly changing voltage and high power during manufacturing, assembly, and end-user application environment. Electrical overstress events include, for example, electrical overstress (EOS), electromagnetic interference (EMI), and electrostatic discharge (ESD) arising from the abrupt release of charge from an object or person to an electronic system. The electronic systems design constraints to safely handle these type of environmental overstress conditions is more complex in fin field-effect-transistor (FinFET) systems-on-a-chip (SoC) for high frequency and high data rate applications.
Electrical overstress events can damage or destroy integrated circuits (ICs) by generating overvoltage conditions and high levels of power dissipation in relatively small areas of the ICs. High power dissipation can increase IC temperature, and can lead to numerous problems, such as gate oxide punch-through, junction damage, metal damage, and surface charge accumulation.

FinFET thyristors for protecting high-speed communication interfaces


A method for transporting discs, A disc transporting device and a drawer type disc transporting device are disclosed. The disc transporting device comprises a lifting mechanism, a swing mechanism and a control element, wherein the lifting mechanism further comprises a clipper element, a drive element and a rotational connection element, the swing mechanism further comprises a corresponding connection element and a swing rotation element. The clipper element can grab at least one disc. The drive element is coupled with the clipper element and drives the lifting mechanism. The rotational connection element engages with the drive element; the corresponding connection element of the swing mechanism corresponds to the rotational connection element to enable the lifting mechanism going up/down along the swing mechanism. The control element engages with the swing rotation element of the swing mechanism to control the swing mechanism. Hence, the clipper element of the lifting mechanism grabs the disc and the drive element drives the lifting mechanism to go up and down. The control element controls the swing mechanism to swing the lifting mechanism. The lifting mechanism for holding the disc can go up/down. The grabbed disc is swung back and forth controlled by the swing mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for transporting discs, a disc transporting device and a drawer type disc transporting device thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a traditional disc handling system, its transporting device often requires more than two drive units (such as motors) to move the arm to hold the disc in various direction (such as up and down and left and right), so it tends to cost more and wastes more space.
All kinds of discs can be reproduced with a disc reproduction system, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,298, for a reasonable amount of copies. However, the prior system requires the copy unit including a set of multiple stacked recordable disk drives for installation space and a robotic disk pickup head on the pivotal transport tower encompassed by a set of disk spindle members arranged in a symmetric semi-circular pattern around the central tower, which makes it inconvenient to transfer or to operate for discs. Besides, the assembly of this system is so complicated that causes a lot more manufacturing cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,490,232 discloses a disc feeder, which uses a transportation device to drive an arm to move or to rotate in order to get a disc from a holder and in order to transfer the disc to a tray which is drawn from a printer. The disc is then printed in the printer and stored in a lower holder. However, this device still requires a large installation space.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,990,674 discloses a recorder or duplicator having a pivoting picker mechanism having only one degree of freedom when driven for handling the discs for recording and stacking recorded discs. The picker mechanism picks the disc from the top of a supply stack of blank discs and places the disc on a loading tray of a recorder. However, the picker mechanism of this prior art requires a larger space to pivot the picker mechanism.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide a disc transporting device and a drawer type disc transporting device to solve the above problems.

Method for transporting discs, disc transporting device and drawer type disc transporting device thereof


A power plane includes a first circuit region and a second circuit region. The length of the first circuit region or second circuit region is related to the noise frequency to be filtered out. The width of the first circuit region can be wider or narrower than the width of the second circuit region. While manufacturing the power plane, a predetermined length is decided according to the resonance frequency of an original power plane, then the proposed power plane is formed with the first circuit region and the second circuit region of a predetermined length, and making the width of the first circuit region wider or narrower than the width of the second circuit region, such that the noises with the resonance frequency can be mitigated.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a power plane and a manufacturing method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a power plane and the manufacturing method which is able to filter out resonant high frequency noises.
2. Description of Related Art
In high-speed digital circuits, plane noises are generated when high-speed signals pass through an non-ideal path, such as the via or a discontinuous reference plane. The plane noises might propagate to other positions between planes of digital circuit board in a parallel-plate waveguide form.
To prevent plane noises interfering with the electronic components on the digital circuit, the power plane of the digital circuit is initially divided into at least two parts in the beginning, then the decoupling capacitance or the inductor may be added between the divided power planes for filtering out the noises traditionally.
Although dividing the power plane into several parts can filter out the low frequency noises, the resonant high frequency noises can not be filtered out, yet. The remaining high frequency noises might make the signals which are passed on the power plane imperfect, or interfere with the electronic components on the digital circuit.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a new power plane and a manufacturing method thereof, which effectively filters out the resonant high frequency noises.

Power plane and a manufacturing method thereof


The inventions disclosed herein are based on the identification of novel cell populations derived from human embryonic stem cells and other pluripotent cells. The inventive cell populations may be used for cell therapies for the treatment of various neurological diseases and as substrates in pharmacological assays.

The following discussion of the background of the invention is merely provided to aid the reader in understanding the invention and is not admitted to describe or constitute prior art to the present invention.
A variety of neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by neuronal cell loss. For example, a hallmark of Parkinson's diseases is the progressive loss of midbrain dopaminergic neurons, particularly in the A9 region of the substantia nigra. Other idiopathic and genetic neurodegenerative diseases include, for example, Huntington chorea, characterized by neuronal loss in the frontal lobes, caudate, and basal ganglia, and Alzheimer's disease, affecting the temporal and parietal lobes, the frontal cortex, and the cingulate gyrus.
The regenerative capacity of the adult brain is very limited. Mature neurons are believed to be post mitotic and there does not appear to be significant intrinsic regenerative capacity (i.e., from resident neural stem cells) in response to brain injury and neurodegenerative disease. Further, pharmacological interventions often become increasingly less effective as the susceptible neuronal populations are progressively lost.
Cell transplantation therapies have been used to treat neurodegenerative disease, with moderate success (e.g., Bjorklund et al., Nat. Neurosci. 3: 537-544, 2000). However, wide-spread application of cell-based therapies will depend upon the availability of large amounts of neuronal precursor cells having consistent characteristics. Preferably, the precursor cell populations will exclusively yield the therapeutic cell type, and cells that give rise to the deleterious effects potentially associated with cell transplantation therapies (e.g., neural tumors) are reduced or eliminated.
Neural cells differentiated in vitro from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) or other pluripotent cell sources exhibit broad cellular heterogeneity with respect to developmental stage and lineage specification. Current differentiation protocols are able to enrich for particular cell subtypes; however, these protocols are not able to synchronize the birth and development of cell populations (Perrier et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 101: 12543-12548, 2004; Sonntag et al., Stem Cells, 25: 411-418, 2007; Yan et al., Stem Cells, 23: 781-790, 2005). Consequently, cells at different stages of maturation are present in the differentiated hESC cultures. Such heterogeneity may impede experimental, clinical, and therapeutic utilization of these cells.
The present invention provides compositions of neural cell populations derived from pluripotent stem cells, and methods for producing the same. The neural cell populations are provided as relatively homogeneous populations at defined stages of maturation and having defined characteristics.

Methods for isolating early neurons and neuroblasts


A portable stand configured to provide support for the display of art prints and other flattened media, wherein a user is able easily flip through supported items on the stand. The stand including a collapsible/extensible leg portion movable from a collapsed position to an extended position and configured to removably receive a sling portion. The sling portion comprised of a flexible material extending loosely between ends of the device, wherein the sling portion provides resting support to the items placed within the device.

In the retail industry, it is known that the sale of art prints generally requires one to display the prints for viewing by a potential purchaser. A typical solution to display these prints is to hang the prints on a surface, such as a wall for viewing. Yet another typical solution is to display these prints and other flattened media on a table or other flattened surface in a stacked or splayed configuration. Still another seeks to display these prints onto a dedicated stand, such as an easel.
Therefore, there exists a need within the marketplace for an improved assembly to display art, prints, and other flattened media for viewing in a retail environment. Preferably this assembly provides for the display of several items in a configuration that allows for easy browsing by flipping through the flattened media. Further, it is preferred that this assembly is easily collapsible and foldable into a compact assembly for easy set up and take down after use.

Display stand for art prints and other stackable media