A spring-operated plug terminal is disclosed. The spring-operated plug terminal includes a U- or Ω-shaped spring, which has two separate spring arms and thus two spring ends, and a rectangular terminal frame, which has a square cutout and a clamping piece which is angled away from the plane of the terminal frame. One fixed end of the spring is arranged in a fixed position in the cutout and the two ends of the spring arms, together with the clamping piece of the terminal frame, form a clamping zone for two conductor cores and/or flat plug to be connected. Each spring end includes a central, straight first section, in the form of a clamping edge, for making inter-engaging contact with a conductor core. Further, each spring end includes an edge-side, curved second section which forms a clamping surface. The clamping surface protrudes beyond the clamping edge in the direction of termination, so that contact can be made with a flat plug simply by applying pressure.

Spring-operated plug terminals are known from DE 202 10 105 U1, DE 202 06 763 U1, DE 203 13 041 U1, EP 0 908 965 A1, DE 81 36 054 U1, DE 203 12 861 U1, as well as from DE 12 61 923 B.
Spring-operated plug terminals typically find application in switching devices, circuit breakers and also in terminal strips, for example. Single conductors with various cross-sections and profiles, with or without attachments such as cable shoes or multi-core cable-end sleeves, can be connected in such a spring-operated plug terminal.
The spring-operated plug terminals known from DE 202 10 105 U1 have a U-shaped spring, which has two separate spring arms and thus two spring ends, and a terminal frame which has square cutouts and a clamping piece which is angled away from the plane of the terminal frame. One fixed end of the spring is arranged in a fixed position in the cutout, and the two spring ends of the spring arms, together with clamping pieces of the terminal frame, form a clamping zone for making interengaging contact with two conductor cores to be connected. The ends of the springs form continuous clamping edges.
Similar spring-operated plug terminals are known from DE 202 06 763 U1.
The spring-operated plug terminals known from DE 12 61 923 B are provided with a V-shaped plug terminal spring element. The spring-operated plug terminals are also provided with a first arm in the form of a base plate, and a second arm divided in the middle of the longitudinal direction of the arm as standard. Both parts of the second arm are provided on their ends firstly with cutting edges for clamping a conductor and secondly with an offset web, which serves to apply pressure using a tool or else an operating device, and therefore to release a clamped conductor.
However, spring-operated plug terminals with conventional clamping characteristics are desirable for reliable connection of electrical conductors, which, in addition, can be used on the one hand for checking and testing purposes, and on the other are particularly suitable for easy multi-pole contact-connection or disconnection.


The present invention provides an improved method for the preparation of an insecticidal benzoylurea having the structural formula I ##STR1##

Insecticidal benzoylureas and methods for their preparation are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,748,356, 4,457,943 and 4,666,942, and UK Patent Application Nos. 2,165,846-A and 2,166,134-A, among others.
The methods described in those patents and patent applications are useful for the preparation of benzoylureas. However, such methods require high reaction temperatures and long reaction times, and produce a significant amount of undesirable by-products, thereby making them undesirable on a commercial scale.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for the preparation of benzoylureas which uses lower reaction temperatures and shorter reaction times, and produces less undesirable by-product.

Method for the preparation of insecticidal benzoylurea compounds


A cycle time costing method and apparatus is provided to obtain cost, efficiency, bottleneck and value creation information in a manufacturing facility. The manufacturing facility includes a plurality of production lines with each production line including a plurality of process steps. A work cell which includes a plurality of workers is responsible for each process step. Each work cell has an associated local processing apparatus for inputting process step quantity and time information. The local processing apparatus is coupled to a central processing apparatus via local area network. The central processing apparatus then calculates cycle time costing information regarding each work cell in the manufacturing facility. The cycle time costing information may include, among other information, gross cycle time, net cycle time, bottleneck costs and scrap information for each process step and/or a product manufactured by a plurality of process steps. The cycle time cost information is then transferred to a printer or projection display nearby a work cell.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to obtaining cost information. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining the cost of products in a manufacturing facility, thereby improving efficiency and profitability in manufacturing products.
2. Description of the Related Art
Manufacturing facilities are extremely complex and must accommodate: 1) a number of process steps; 2) a wide variety of products; and 3) a wide range of units per customer order. For example, a manufacturing facility which produces lead frames for semiconductor devices may have to produce 750 distinct types of lead frames. A lead frame may have from 8 leads to 208 leads. Some lead frame types may require relatively simple manufacturing steps, where other lead frames may require many complex process steps. Order quantities from customers can range from 10,000 units per order up to 1,000,000 units per order.
Based on a customer order, workorders are generated listing what type of, and how many, products must be manufactured to fill a customer order. A workorder will include a lot number identifying a quantity of material which will be processed into manufactured products. In the lead frame manufacture example, a lot is a reel of metal which will be processed to produce multiple lead frames. Generally, a shop packet or paper printout listing the workorder and other information accompanies lots or reels during the manufacturing process.
A manufacturing facility generally includes a large number of production lines producing an array of distinct products. Each production line may include a number of process steps in manufacturing the final product. In the lead frame manufacturer example, process steps may include a dry etching step and a plating step, among a number of other process steps, in producing the lead frame product supplied to a customer. In each process step, there may be a time period wherein the units are being processed by a machine or undergoing a production run. When the units are not undergoing a production run, the units may be waiting or queued for another process step.
Each process step may have groups of workers organized in teams to complete a particular process step. There may also be multiple shifts or different time periods during a given day where a different group of workers are assigned to a production line for a particular process step.
In most modern manufacturing facilities, a type of system known as Manufacturing Resource Planning ("MRP") is used to keep track of work orders flowing through the production process. For example, an MRP system known as CHESS, supplied by McDonnell Douglas Information Systems, located at Long Beach, Calif., attempts to optimize the manufacturing process by intertwining various software modules. Typically, one module of an MRP system is the costing module.
From costing studies using a typical number of units produced under typical factory conditions, a "standard cost" is determined for each product. This standard cost comprises two component costs: 1) raw material costs per unit; and 2) overhead allocation cost per unit. The standard cost is input into a costing module database accessible by the MRP system. As products flow through the production process, these standard costs are attributable to specific customer orders to determine whether the total cost of these units to the customer was less than, or greater than, the price charged to the customer.
However, these MRP software packages do not accurately provide real-time detail information regarding the manufacturing process. In particular, these MRP software packages do not provide detailed information regarding specific process steps or obtain data on the actual production experience of each and every work order as it flows through the factory. MRP systems do not obtain cost information in real-time or as products are being manufactured at specific process steps. MRP systems rely upon standard costs in a database which may not accurately reflect the current number of units produced or current factory conditions. In order to obtain accurate cost information in MRP systems, additional cost studies requiring substantial amounts of clerical and administration costs is required. Because adequate information from specific process steps is not obtained, accurate information identifying how the manufacture of a specific product can be improved by improving particular process steps and their interaction is not possible. For example, during a particular process step or cycle, it is not known what amount of time is used in setting up the process or machine, rather than actually running the process. Further, there is not adequate information as to how much and how long inventory has been waiting before undergoing a production run in a particular process step. Likewise, during the process step itself, there may not be accurate information as to the production run machine speed and whether process innovations or improved machines may enable a more efficiently manufactured final product. Further, there is no adequate information in regard to the inventory of completed process step units awaiting a next process step. There is no adequate information regarding when a process should be completed in order to coincide with a next process step processing capability.
Similarly, adequate information regarding the efficiency or yield of a particular process step is not available. For example, adequate information regarding the amount of scrap or unusable completed process step units which should be allocated to a particular process step is not taken into account. Scrap units created in one process step may not be identified until a few process steps later. Thus, certain process steps may appear to be efficient while their scrap units are not accurately being identified.
Further, typical costing methods called standard costing or "activity-based costing" only determine the amount of time a typical unit of product spends at each manufacturing step and multiplies this time by a time charge for equipment and labor associated with each manufacturing step. The total cost to manufacture the product is then determined by adding together the costs of each manufacturing step. However, these methods do not determine which process step in the series of production steps is the bottleneck for a specific product type and work order quantity.
Also, value creation information in a process step must be identified. A process step should be able to compare with previous production runs how efficient units are processed with respect to yield, flow efficiency and labor efficiency.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus which provides information concerning cost, efficiency, bottlenecks, scrap and value creation in particular process steps in manufacturing a product. Further, it is desirable to obtain not only cost, efficiency, bottleneck, scrap and value creation regarding a specific process step in manufacturing a product, but to obtain this information in all products in a manufacturing facility with a wide range of customer order quantities. This information should be obtained continuously in real-time using actual production information without requiring a priori costing studies.

Method and apparatus for cycle time costing


A ladder support and bracing apparatus includes a panel that has a top side, a bottom side, a first end, a second end, a first lateral side and a second lateral side. Each of a pair of lips is attached to and extends upwardly from the top side and each is coextensive with one of the first and second lateral sides. A vertical support is hingedly coupled to the bottom side and is positioned adjacent to the first end. The panel is substantially horizontally orientated when the vertical support is vertically orientated. The bottom side of the panel adjacent to the second is positioned on a step and the vertical support adjusted to horizontally orientate the panel. A ladder is then positioned on and supported by the panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to support devices and more particularly pertains to a new support device for supporting both legs of a ladder when the ladder is being used on stairs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of support devices, and those for supporting ladders, is known in the prior art. While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the need remains for a device that includes particular adjustment means for allowing a ladder to be positioned on stairs having different inclines. Further, the device should include means to prevent movement of the device relative to the stairs and to ensure that the ladder does not slide off of the device.


To provide a semiconductor device able to be made uniform in diffusion depth of the impurity in a diffusion layer by a single diffusion and to give the desired threshold voltage and improved in yield and a method of producing the same. The device has a channel layer 16 formed on a substrate 12, a diffusion stop layer 17 formed on the top surface of the channel layer 16, a diffusion layer 18 formed on the top surface of the diffusion stop layer, and a doping region 25 formed adjoining the diffusion stop layer 17 at least at part of the diffusion layer 18 and having an impurity diffused in it, the diffusion stop layer 17 having a slower diffusion rate of the impurity than the diffusion rate of the diffusion layer 18 and stopping diffusion of the impurity from the diffusion layer 18.

Recently, in mobile communication systems, there has been a strong demand for making mobile communication terminals smaller in size and lower in power consumption. To realize these requirements, for example, the transmission power amplifier has to be able to run on a single positive power supply, to be able to be driven by a lower voltage, and to have a higher drive efficiency. As devices currently in use for such power amplifiers, a junction type field effect transistor (JFET) a heterojunction type FET (HFET), a Schottky barrier gate field effect transistor (metal semiconductor field effect transistor: MESFET), a heterojunction type FET using a p-type gate (p-type gate HFET), etc. can be mentioned.
Among these, a p-type gate HFET has a p-n junction at the gate and thus can accept a high voltage applied to the gate. Therefore, the p-type gate HFET is operable by the single positive power supply. Further, since it has a hetero structure, it is a device showing an excellent linearity characteristic. Moreover, the threshold voltage of the FET is determined by the Al or In contents of the layers formed by epitaxial growth, the thicknesses of the layers, the carrier concentrations, and other factors determined at the time of epitaxial growth and by the diffusion depth of the P-type gate.
Generally, for mass production, device manufacturers often purchase epitaxial substrates produced by other manufacturers for producing epitaxial substrates and process the epitaxial substrates to form transistors. On the other hand, when producing p-type gate HFETs, in the epitaxial substrate manufacturers, GaAs, AlGaAs, InGaAs, and other epitaxial layers are formed on GaAs or other substrates. However, these layers generally suffer from variance in content of Al or In, variance in carrier concentration, and variance in thickness. Control of the thicknesses or carrier concentrations of the layers included in such epitaxial substrates was difficult for the device manufacturers.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an example of the configuration of a conventional semiconductor device.
A GaAs substrate 112 serving as a semiconductor substrate is formed with a buffer layer 114, the buffer layer 114 is formed on its top surface with a channel layer 116 forming a channel of a transistor, and the channel layer 116 is formed on its top surface with an AlGaAs layer 118 as a diffusion layer. The AlGaAs layer 118 is formed with a SiN film 120 as an insulating film. Moreover, the AlGaAs layer 118 is formed with a gate electrode 124, a source electrode 121, and a drain electrode 123 insulated by the SiN film 120. The AlGaAs layer 118 of the diffusion layer formed under the gate electrode 124 is formed with a doping region 125 by selective diffusion of, for example, a p-type impurity Zn as a carrier, whereby the semiconductor device 101 is formed.
As the method of producing a conventional semiconductor device, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-188077 discloses diffusing a p-type impurity Zn in GaAs or AlGaAs by measuring the electrical characteristics after diffusion, calculating a diffusion coefficient from the characteristics, calculating the amount of diffusion to obtain the desired threshold voltage, raising the temperature of the wafer again to diffuse the impurity based on the results of calculation, and measuring the electrical characteristics after cooling the wafer to thereby control the diffusion depth.
However, the diffusion depth changes along with a change of the diffusion time, temperature or the gas flow rate, so it was not possible to focus the characteristics of semiconductor devices formed in the same substrate. Here, "focus" means, for example, to make the threshold voltage of semiconductor devices the desired value. In other words, the method of producing the conventional semiconductor device 101 suffered from the problem that when doping the p-type impurity to form the doping region 125, as shown in FIG. 2, control of the doping region 125 was difficult. Therefore, an IC (integrated circuit) produced from the center part of a wafer and an IC produced from the circumference sometimes had different threshold voltages. As a result, the threshold voltages of the semiconductor devices 101 produced from one wafer did not become uniform. Due to this, of course, some devices could not be used as ICs and the yield declined. In addition, there were the problems that the wafer temperature rose, time was required for cooling, and the TAT (turn around time) of the process was long. Therefore, a semiconductor device able to maintain the characteristics of the semiconductor device and able to be given the desired threshold voltage by a single diffusion and a method of producing the same have been desired.

Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing semiconductor device


A piston assembly for an internal combustion engine is provided, including a piston and at least one insert. The piston includes an annular recess, a first surface, a ring belt and a skirt. The annular recess is located between the ring belt and the skirt. The insert may include a longitudinal portion and one or more opposing arms. The insert may be configured to be coupled with the piston. The arm(s) may extend laterally from the longitudinal portion and may be configured to abut the skirt, thereby orienting the insert relative to the piston. The insert may be disposed along the first surface, and aligned with the piston skirt such that the arms of the insert form a circumference about the piston skirt. The arms may at least partially enclose the annular recess at the piston skirt.

Pistons employed in internal combustion engine applications must withstand high temperatures. To reduce the temperature of piston components, especially adjacent the combustion chamber, a cooling gallery may be provided within the piston crown. The cooling gallery is typically formed by an interior volume located within the piston crown and is covered with a piston crown bottom cover. The piston crown bottom cover is typically located along a lower surface of the piston crown.
A nozzle directing a flow of oil to the cooling gallery is typically located between the piston ring belt portion and the piston skirt. The oil flows into the cooling gallery through an aperture in the piston. The reciprocating motion of the piston generally moves the oil back and forth within the piston cooling gallery, thereby removing at least part of the heat of the piston ring belt portion and the combustion chamber. The heated oil typically exits the cooling gallery through the aperture located between the piston ring belt portion and the piston skirt and/or one or more auxiliary drain apertures, while fresh oil is supplied by the nozzle.
Internal combustion engines, particularly heavy-duty diesel engines, include stringent cooling requirements due to the elevated combustion pressure and temperature within the combustion chamber. Moreover, to improve engine performance it has become increasingly desirable to operate engines at even higher combustion pressures and temperatures. Unfortunately, the existing cooling gallery formed inside of the interior volume of the piston crown may not always be able to meet the increasing cooling requirements needed.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a piston lubrication system that will provide enhanced cooling properties when compared to the current piston lubrication systems that are available today.


A vapor deposition apparatus for forming a deposition layer on a substrate includes a supply unit that is supplied with a first raw gas to form the deposition layer and an auxiliary gas, wherein the auxiliary gas does not constitute a raw material to form the deposition layer, a reaction space that is connected to the supply unit to be supplied with the first raw gas and the auxiliary gas, a plasma generator in the reaction space to convert at least a portion of the first raw gas into a radical form, and a first injection portion that is connected to the reaction space and that supplies at least a radical material of the first raw gas toward the substrate.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a vapor deposition apparatus and a method of manufacturing an organic light-emitting display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A semiconductor device, a display apparatus, other electronic devices, or the like includes a plurality of thin films. The plurality of thin films may be formed by using various methods, such as a vapor deposition method.
Among display apparatuses, an organic light-emitting display apparatus has wide viewing angles, high contrast, and fast response speeds and thus has received attention as a next generation display apparatus.
The organic light-emitting display apparatus includes an intermediate layer between opposite first and second electrodes, and one or more various types of thin films, wherein the intermediate layer includes an organic emission layer. A deposition process may be used to form the thin films of the organic light-emitting display apparatus.

Vapor deposition apparatus, deposition method using the same, and method of manufacturing organic light-emitting display apparatus


A storage pouch is adapted for use with an animal body comprising a trunk having a waist and a shoulder. The storage pouch comprises a generally tubular shape garment comprising a continuous fabric panel defining an interior storage space having a top end opening and a bottom end opening. A zippered opening in the panel provides selective access to the storage space. A circular waistband is at the top end opening and is receivable on the trunk waist. First and second straps each have opposite ends secured to a front and a back of the waistband to suspend the garment from the animal body shoulder. A circular cuff is at the bottom end opening. A pair of semi-circular fabric pieces is secured to the cuff to provide a slot opening into the storage space. Articles to be stored can be inserted through the zippered opening and withdrawn through the slotted opening.

Prior to the 1980's, paper shopping bags were used for carrying groceries or other purchased goods. In the 1980's, grocery chains began to replace paper shopping bags with plastic bags. The plastic bags have become common for carrying groceries home from the store. While the use of plastic bags has increased in popularity, beyond groceries to virtually any type of purchased goods, disposal of the plastic bags has become of concern. While some bags are made of biodegradable materials, most do not readily decompose. Advantageously, the plastic bags will be reused or recycled.
Prior to reuse or recycling, a consumer may need to store the plastic bags for some period of time. Also, if the bags will be reused, any such storage should advantageously allow for ready access to the plastic bags. While one method for doing so is to store numerous plastic bags in another plastic bag, or the like, doing so is unsightly and can overflow.
The storage pouch disclosed herein provides for environmentally friendly storage of plastic bags for reuse or recycling.

Stuffed animal with storage pouch for plastic bags or the like


A refresh control method of a semiconductor memory device which controls a self-refresh operation to hold data in a memory array having a plurality of memory cells disposed at intersections of word lines corresponding to row addresses and bit lines corresponding to column addresses, comprising: a step for dividing the memory array into a holding area used as a copy source which includes memory cells on a predetermined number of word lines, and a copy area used as a copy destination which includes memory cells on word lines to which entire data of the holding area is to be copied, a step for executing copy operation in which data of each memory cell of the holding area is copied to one or more memory cells in the copy area on the same bit line or the same pair of bit lines before executing the self-refresh operation, and a step for executing the self-refresh operation in which a row address of the holding area is designated and a corresponding word line is selected and driven, and at the same time, one or more word lines in the copy area corresponding to the selected word line are selected and driven.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a field of refresh technique for a pseudo SRAM or a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) mounted on a mobile device, and more particularly, to a partial array self-refresh type technical field only for a partial area which is set in a memory array in long period refresh operation for reducing power consumption as compared with normal state.
2. Related Art
In recent years, a large-capacity DRAM is mounted in a mobile device such as a cellular phone in general. To reduce the power consumption when the mobile device is in a standby mode, it is strongly desired to reduce the consumption current in a data holding state of the DRAM. To that end, there has been developed a DRAM having long period refresh function for executing self-refresh operation for sufficiently long period as compared with normal operation.
In long period refresh, as an effective technique for further reducing the power consumption, a partial array self-refresh method is proposed (e.g., see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-118938). According to the partial array self-refresh method, in a memory array which generally comprises a plurality of banks, a self-refresh operation is selectively executed for one or some of the banks. In this case, one or some of the banks are set as a holding area, data which must be held are stored in the holding area and in this state, the long period refresh operation may be executed only for the portion corresponding to the holding area. For example, in a partial array self-refresh method in which two of four banks are used as the holding area, since the area to be refreshed is reduced in half as compared with normal refresh operation, and this method is effective for reducing the current consumption of the DRAM.
However, when it is desired to increase the battery using time of the mobile device, the current consumption can not be reduced sufficiently even if the conventional partial array self-refresh method is employed.
Especially as multi-function tendency of the mobile device is increased, the tendency of mounting the large-capacity DRAM is increased, and it is desired to further reduce the current consumption in the self-refresh operation. According to the partial array self-refresh method, if the number of banks in which data is held is reduced, it is possible to reduce the current consumption correspondingly as described above. However, in terms of the ease-of-use of the mobile device, it is necessary to secure the data-holding capacity to a certain extent, and there is a limit of reduction of current consumption of the DRAM in the standby mode.
Moreover, there is a known technique in which power supply is suspended at predetermined timing by controlling predetermined supply voltage which is to be supplied to an array circuit including memory arrays or a peripheral circuit in the self-refresh operation, thereby reducing the current consumption of the DRAM. It is possible to apply this method to the partial array method. In this case, however, of the current flowing in the self-refresh operation, current which can be reduced by suspending the power supply is only supply circuit current (not dynamic operation current, but current corresponding to DC current), and it is necessary to maintain the refresh operation current which is required for the self-refresh operation. Normally, most of current which flows at the time of self-refresh is the refresh operation current, and thus even if the supply circuit current is reduced, sufficient current reducing effect can not be obtained as a whole.

Refresh control method of a semiconductor memory device and semiconductor memory device


A method and apparatus for concentrating the heat energy of a laser beam by directing the laser beam to an optical device, such as a planar mirror, located at a first focal point of a reflector having a curved surface approximating that of an ellipsoid. The optical device redirects the laser beam to the curved surface of the reflector which reflects and focusses it to a second focal point of the reflector. The optical device is driven to cause the laser beam to successively scan different portions of the curved surface of the reflector while the latter surface reflects the laser beam substantially to the second focal point where the object to be heated is located.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for heating by the use of a laser beam. The method and apparatus of the present invention are particularly useful for utilizing a laser beam for cutting purposes, and are therefore described below with respect to this application.
Lasers are now widely used in a large variety of heating or cutting applications, such as surgical scalpels, workpiece cutters, and the like. One of the problems in such heating or cutting applications is to concentrate the heat energy of the laser to predetermined points of the object to be heated without overly heating surrounding portions of the object.


A method, computer system, and computer program product for restricting access to digital content data. The disclosed invention stores the digital content data on a user device, and classifies the digital content data as either controlled data or non-controlled data. If the digital content data is controlled data, the disclosed invention stores a trusted voucher on the user device, the trusted voucher being associated with the controlled data and comprising at least one permitted function, and restricts access to the controlled data by the user device to said at least one permitted function. If the digital content data is non-controlled data, the disclosed invention associates a local voucher stored on the user device with the non-controlled data, the local voucher comprising at least one intended function, and restricts access to the non-controlled data by the user device to said at least one intended function.

Digital technology dramatically impacts the creation, distribution, sale, marketing, and consumption of copyrighted digital content. Due to the popularity of the Internet and mobile devices, producers of digital content are under pressure and have a desire to profit from these new developments and reduce their vulnerability to the risk. The risks are more obvious to producers of digital content than the potential benefits of the new technologies.
In the pre-digital age, copyright protection systems consisted of legal mechanisms to prosecute individuals and groups that ran large-scale illegal reproduction facilities for profit. Intellectual property pirates in the pre-digital age were subject to traditional law enforcement techniques because they required physical assets to reproduce the physical media of the books, music, or video. In addition, the complications imposed by distribution of the reproduced copies made the intellectual property pirates even more vulnerable to detection. From the consumer's perspective, an illegal copy was not as attractive as a legal copy because the illegal copy was typically lower quality and not promptly available.
The digital age provide the intellectual property pirates with the ability to make flawless copies that are infinitely reproducible and may be transmitted instantly anywhere in the world. This marked a shift from a paradigm where a large number of individuals made a few copies to one where relatively few individuals can make many copies. The introduction of cassette tapes in the early 1980s was the first notable example of pirating in the digital age. The record companies combated the piracy by printing on the record jackets the slogan "Home Taping Is Killing Music". Eventually this lead to cassette tape manufacturers paying mandatory licensing fees to the holder of the intellectual property rights to the work.
Producers of digital content are rightfully concerned with this new capacity to cheat them of a fair return on their intellectual property and have been reluctant to take advantage of digital commerce opportunities. Yet digital commerce offers the potential to increase earnings while cutting the high overhead costs of production, distribution, warehousing their goods while presenting new business opportunities. It is believed that if producers of digital content were sufficiently confident in their ability to protect their assets in digital form, they would gladly take part in such a system.
Legal and regulatory means exist to protect digital content however, a deterrent is necessary to make the illegal copying and distribution of copyrighted digital content difficult and traceable. For this reason, the deployment of a solution for the management of digital rights is a necessary precursor to digital production, dissemination and consumption of copyrighted digital content. The solution does not have to be technically unbreakable, but merely leverage the laziness of a typical user by making it hard for the typical user to bypass restrictions or rules.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) involves the description, layering, analysis, valuation, trading, and monitoring of an owner's property rights to an asset. DRM covers the management of the digital rights to the physical manifestation of a work (e.g., a textbook) or the digital manifestation of a work (e.g., a Web page). DRM also covers the management of an asset whether the asset has a tangible or an intangible value. Current DRM technologies include languages that describe the terms and conditions required by an owner when a buyer purchases an asset, systems that track asset usage by enforcing controlled environments or encoded asset manifestations, and closed architectures for the overall management of the intellectual property rights held by the owner.
The Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) is a DRM architecture standard for protecting digital content in an open or trusted computing environment. ODRL defines a standard vocabulary for expressing the terms and conditions over an asset. ODRL covers a core set of semantics for these purposes including the identification of the property rights to the work and the expression of permissible uses for manifestations of a protected asset. Rights can be specified for a specific asset manifestation or format or could be applied to a range of manifestations of the asset. ODRL does not enforce or mandate any policy for DRM, but provides the mechanisms to express such a policy. ODRL does not presume that mechanisms exist to achieve a secure architecture, but complements existing rights management standards by providing digital equivalents and supports an expandable range of new services that can be afforded by the digital nature of the assets in the Web environment. In the physical environment, ODRL can enable machine-based processing for DRM. The web site "http://odrl.net" includes more information about ODRL, as well as, ODRL electronic resources such as the ODRL Specification (version 1.1), the ODRL Data Dictionary (version 1.1), and the ODRL Expression Language (version 1.1).
The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is a standard for exchanging data and metadata electronically. Metadata is data that describes data. For example, the term "author" is metadata that describes the data "William Shakespeare". XML is an outgrowth of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) that allows the author of an XML document to separate the logical content of the document from the presentation of the content. An author of an XML document adds metadata to a document as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) tags in the document. A document type definitions (DTD) file is the mechanism that adds shared content to the XML document. The web site "http://www.w3.org/" includes more information about XML.
The eXtensible rights Markup Language (XrML) is an XML conforming language definition that specifies rights, fees, and conditions for using digital content. XrML also describes message integrity and entity authentication rules. XrML supports commerce in digital content such as publishing and selling electronic books, digital movies, digital music, interactive games, and computer software. In addition, XrML supports the specification of access and use controls for secure digital documents in cases where financial exchange is not part of the terms of use. The web site "http://www.xrml.org/" includes more information about XrML.
Superdistribution involves transmitting, or communicating in some manner, digital content from one user device to another user device. Superdistribution of digital content is problematic because it is an efficient means for distributing the digital content, but management of the digital rights associated with the digital content is difficult. The Napster web site allows authenticated users to freely distribute MP3 audio files and is an excellent example of the benefit and the bane of superdistribution. When an authenticated user accesses the Napster web site, Napster adds the address of the authenticated user's local computer to a list of every authenticated user. Any authenticated user can access any other authenticated user's local computer to retrieve stored MP3 audio files. The commercial digital content providers who produce the songs that comprise an album were not pleased with Napster because they were not able to recoup payment for each transfer of their songs. Thus, Napster's efficient superdistribution scheme usurped the digital rights owned by the commercial digital content providers.
The Bluetooth specification describes the operation of a Bluetooth device and short-range radio network communication protocols necessary to create an ad hoc network of up to eight devices operating together. Each Bluetooth device operates in the 2.4 GHz radio band reserved for general use by Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) applications. Each Bluetooth device periodically attempts to find any other Bluetooth device within their ten-meter radio communications range. When two Bluetooth devices are in the ten-meter range, each device determines the services offered by the other device using a service discovery protocol (SDP). The SDP searching function relies on links being established between the requesting Bluetooth device in a client role and the responding Bluetooth device in a server role to find out about services in the responding Bluetooth device and how to connect to them. The web site "http://www.bluetooth.com/" includes more information about Bluetooth, as well as, Bluetooth electronic resources such as the Bluetooth Specification (version 1.1) and the Bluetooth Profiles (version 1.1).
An inquiring Bluetooth device initiates a connection with another Bluetooth device by sending an inquiry message to every other Bluetooth device in the vicinity of the inquiring Bluetooth device. When another Bluetooth device in the vicinity performs an inquiry scan, the other Bluetooth device recognizes the inquiry message and responds appropriately. The inquiry response is a message packet containing the Bluetooth Device Address (BD_ADDR) for the responding device. The Bluetooth Device Address is a unique, 48-bit IEEE address that is unique for each Bluetooth device.
The inquiring device uses the information provided in the inquiry response packet, to prepare and send a paging message to the responding device. The inquiring device enters a page state to establish a connection and transmits initial paging messages to the responding device using the access code and timing information acquired from the inquiry response packet. The responding device must be in a page-scan state to allow a connection to the inquiring device. Once in the page-scan state, the responding device acknowledges the initial paging messages and the inquiring device sends a paging packet that provides the clock timing and access code of the inquiring device to the responding device. The responding device responds with a page-acknowledgment packet. This enables the two devices to form a connection and both devices transition into a connection state. The inquiring device that has initiated the connection assumes the role of a master device and the responding device assumes the role of a slave device in a new ad hoc network piconet.
Each piconet includes one master device and up to seven slave devices. All communication is directed between the master device and each respective slave device. The master initiates an exchange of data and the slave responds to the master. When two slave devices communicate with each other, they must do so through the master device. The master device maintains the network clock for the piconet and controls when each slave device can communicate with the master device. Members of the ad hoc network piconet join and leave as they move into and out of the range of the master device. A piconet can support distributed activities, such as collaborative work projects, collaborative games, multi-user gateways to the Internet, and the like. A user's device that joins a particular piconet does so to enable its user to participate in the currently running collaborative activity.
A Bluetooth enabled laptop computer can send information to a Bluetooth enabled printer in the next room. A Bluetooth enabled microwave oven can send a message to a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone announcing that the meal is ready. Bluetooth will become the standard in mobile phones, PCs, laptops and other electronic devices, enabling users to share information, synchronize data, access the Internet, integrate with LANs or actuate electromechanical devices, such as unlocking a car. A passenger can use a laptop or handheld computer to compose an electronic mail message while flying in an airplane and, after landing, Bluetooth devices that are ubiquitously located around the airport terminal can automatically forward the messages to the Internet. In another example, while waiting in an airport lounge, the passenger can receive interesting duty-free offers directly on the laptop or handheld computer or play multi-player games with friends.
There is a need to protect the property rights of commercial providers of controlled digital content. For the commercial providers to generate revenue from the controlled digital content that they own it must be sufficiently difficult to use the controlled digital content outside of their control. There is also a need to allow non-controlled digital content to become a mass-market phenomenon and evolve as a grassroots movement without any control by the providers of controlled digital content. Thus, there is a need for a digital rights management system, method, and computer program product for restricting access to digital content data based on a classification of the digital content data as either controlled digital content or non-controlled digital content.


Method and apparatus for reducing the pumping duty cycle of a pump assembly associated with an oil, natural gas, or water well with a concomitant reduction in the wear associated with the pump down hole components. An engine is connected with a pump assembly through a pneumatically actuated clutch and a selected event is determined to actuate the clutch to connect the engine with the pump assembly. The selected events may be a timed cycle determined from observations or a direct determination of liquid level in the well bore so that hydrocarbon production is maintained from the well bore. A pressurized gas is supplied on the occurrence of the selected event to actuate the clutch to connect the pump assembly with the engine to remove liquid from the gas well to maintain hydrocarbon production from the well.

Oil and gas field pumping units conventionally convert a rotary motion from an electric or gas powered engine to a vertical reciprocating motion for moving a subsurface pump and sucker rods in a tubing string for vertically removing liquid from an oil, gas, or water bearing formation. The subsurface pumps typically employ a series of lift check valves within a tubing string to cause vertical movement of liquid within the tubing string. But the check valves seal against and move relative to the tubing string so that there is substantial wear of the down hole components. This wear is increased when a tubing string and associated cased well bore are not perfectly vertical, but have significant amounts of deviation from vertical, i.e., the casing is "crooked".
In an oil and gas field, the fluid level in the casing-tubing annulus must be maintained at some minimum depth in order to reduce the hydrostatic head of the fluid in the casing-tubing string and enable the oil, gas, and water to enter the casing. Typically, the subsurface pump is sized to pump more volume of liquid than will enter the well bore over time so that a pump does not have to pump continuously to maintain a selected fluid level between selected elevations, i.e., to maintain a selected maximum hydrostatic head. Thus, continuous pumping unnecessarily aggravates wear in the surface and down hole pumping unit system components.
It will be appreciated that replacing down hole components as a result of wear is expensive and time consuming since the entire pump string must be removed and refurbished. For example, if the duty cycle of a pumping unit is reduced by a factor of four, the replacement cycle period for down hole components is increased by a factor of four with a substantial reduction in costs and increase in well utilization.
Pumping units typically may be powered by electric motors or by natural gas powered engines. Where electric motors are used, the motor may be simply turned on and off according to a predetermined cycle to control the pumping cycle and concomitant liquid level. But in remote locations where engines are used, it is not desirable to turn the engines on and off because of reliability problems, reduced battery life under repeated start cycles, and the labor needed to periodically return to a pump site. Until the present invention, there has not been a suitable control system for providing a reliable duty cycle from pumps using natural gas engines.
Various objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Method and apparatus for controlling a pumping unit


A video camera in which an iris in an optical system is composed of a plurality of diaphragms, and at least two of the plurality of diaphragms are respectively provided with a light amount limiting filter such that the light amount limiting filters attached on the at least two diaphragms completely surround a transparent portion when the iris is half closed, to thereby provide satisfactory characteristics of the optical system when the iris is half closed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to video cameras and, more particularly, is directed to an optical system including image-pickup lenses and so on.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A video camera is generally used to convert an optical image arriving at an image pick-up plane of an imager means such as a solid state imager element (hereinafter referred to as a CCD (charge-coupled device)) or the like through an imager lens to an electrical video signal. For limiting the amount of light arriving at the image pick-up plane of the imager means within an appropriate constant range, an iris composed of a plurality of diaphragms is provided in front of or behind the imager lens. The amount of light arriving at the image pick-up plane of the imager means such as a CCD or the like can be adjusted to be substantially constant by changing an aperture formed by the iris in accordance with the amount of incident light.
However, the imager lens inherently implies a phenomenon generally called vignetting by which a peripheral portion of a picked-up image becomes darker than a central portion thereof. FIGS. 1 and 2 are diagrams for explaining the vignetting. As shown in FIG. 1, lights incident with angles .theta..sub.1 and .theta..sub.2 deviated from the central axis OA of an optical image to be taken are partially intercepted by the edges of lenses L, whereby cross-sections a, b, c of effective luminous fluxes become smaller as the inclination angles thereof relative to the central axis OA increase and then arrive at an image pick-up plane F. Therefore, the cross-section c of the effective luminous flux arriving at a peripheral portion of the image pick-up plane F becomes extremely smaller than the cross-section a of the effective luminous flux arriving at a central portion of the same, as shown in FIG. 2, whereby the peripheral portion becomes darker than the central portion. The amount of the vignetting may vary depending on an opening formed by the iris so that the lenses must be designed so as to reduce the occurrence of the vignetting.
In recent years, the sensitivity of the imager means such as CCD or the like employed in video cameras tends to be enhanced so that, if the iris is not closed almost completly, then an appropriate exposure cannot be obtained when the cameraman takes a picture outdoors. However, if the iris is largely closed, the aperture of the iris becomes a pin-hole shape, thereby incurring the inconvenience such that the resolution of a picked-up image is degraded due to the diffraction of light.
For this reason, a neutral density (ND) filter for limiting the amount of a passing light is arranged on an optical path through which an optical image arrives at the image pick-up plane, such that the amount of a passing light is limited by this ND filter to prevent the iris from being excessively closed (see Japanese Patent Application No. 57-100294). The ND filter reduces the light amount without changing the hue or the like.
The ND filter is attached on any one of the diaphragms constituting the iris such that the ND filter is positioned on the optical path in association with opening and closing movements of the iris, so that the ND filter is moved onto the optical path only when the iris is closed is being closed
Nevertheless, the ND filter attached on a diaphragm constituting the iris is moved in association with opening and closing movements of the iris, which results in an inconvenience that inconsistent lighting due to the above-mentioned vignetting becomes extremely prominently depending on the position of the ND filter.
More specifically, as, for example, shown in FIG. 3, suppose that an iris is composed of two diaphragms 2, 3 for narrowing an optical path 1 which are respectively moved in the directions indicated by arrows m, n. The diaphragms 2, 3 are arranged, for example, between two of a plurality of lenses L, as shown in FIG. 1. An ND filter 4 is attached on the diaphragm 3 such that the ND filter 4 is positioned on the optical path 1 by moving the diaphragm 3.
FIG. 4 shows that the ND filter 4 is positioned on the optical path 1 by closing the iris. In the condition that the iris is closed substantially by half, as shown in FIG. 4, there remains a transparent portion 5 at a position deviated from the center of the optical path 1 which is not covered with the ND filter 4.
If the transparent portion 5 remains at a position deviated from the center of the optical path 1 as described above, then vignetting stands out prominently.
FIG. 5 shows the occurrence of vignetting in such a case, i.e., cross-sections a', b', c' of effective luminous flux in the present example (in the condition where the iris is positioned as shown in FIG. 4) corresponding to the cross-sections a, b, c of effective luminous flux arriving at the image pick-up plane F shown in FIG. 2. The cross-section a' of the effective luminous flux arriving at the center of the screen includes a light l passing through the transparent portion 5 on the left side thereof and a light passing through the ND filter on the remaining portion (the hatched area). As for each of the cross-sections b', c' deviated from the center, a light passing through the transparent portion 5 does not arrive due to vignetting, whereby the light passing through the ND filter only arrives. Therefore, a central portion of the imager screen becomes very bright because of the light arriving through the transparent portion 5, while a peripheral portion becomes dark due to the limited light amount by the ND filter, whereby an image whose central portion only is bright is taken. Such a condition occurs when the iris is half closed. However, such a half closed iris is frequently used in actual shooting with a video camera, so that images taken in the above-mentioned condition stand out. If the difference in light amount between the central portion and the peripheral portion of an imager screen is small, it is possible to make the difference inconspicuous to some extent by signal processing performed by a picked up signal processing circuit. However, the light amount on the peripheral portion of the imager plane may sometimes be, for example, approximately 1/4 that of the central portion. In such a case, it is not possible to completely correct such difference by means of a picked up signal processing circuit.


A carbon fiber manufacturing method includes joining first and second target fiber bundles with a joining fiber bundle, and carbonizing the joined bundles by feeding them through one or more carbonization furnaces. The joining includes forming an overlap between a first end of the joining fiber bundle and a second end of the first target fiber bundle and jetting a fluid to the overlap to form a first entangled portion, and forming an overlap between a second end of the joining fiber bundle and a first end of the second target fiber bundle and jetting a fluid to the overlap to form a second entangled portion. When the first and second entangled portions each have two or more entangling points with a tensile strength not less than 400 N, the relationship defined by the inequality is satisfied: 40>{L2/(L2−A)}×(S+13), where L2 is a length (mm) of an elongation section inside a first carbonization furnace upstream in a feeding direction of the fiber bundles, A is a maximum distance (mm) between an entangling point in the first entangled portion and an entangling point in the second entangled portion, and S is an elongation (%) of the joined fiber bundles fed through the carbonization furnace.

Carbon fibers have high tensile strength, high tensile modulus, high heat resistance, and good fatigue characteristics, and thus have various uses in fields such as sports, leisure, aviation, and aerospace.
Carbon fibers are produced from fiber materials such as acrylic fibers. Bundled acrylic fibers are heated to 150 to 300° C. in the air to obtain oxidized fibers. The fibers are then heated to 1,000° C. or higher in an inert atmosphere in a carbonization furnace to produce carbon fibers. Such fiber materials are usually wound on bobbins or stored in packages such as bags or cases. When a bobbin or a package with a fiber bundle is to be replaced during continuous manufacture of carbon fibers, the terminal end of the fiber bundle being fed during the manufacturing process is joined to the start end of a fiber bundle wound on a bobbin or stored in a package.
A known method for joining fiber bundles uses a joining fiber bundle for joining two target fiber bundles (Patent Literature 1).

Method for manufacturing carbon fibers and fiber joining method


A method of controlling an elevator installation having an elevator car transporting passengers between floors of a building inputs destinations of the passengers into a destination call control and books destination calls and determines an instantaneous load disposed in the elevator car with a load measuring device at a fixable point in time. In order to make uniform the waiting times of the passengers in the case of incorrect operation of the destination call control and to ensure, for all passengers, an optimized transport time with maximum transport capacity the method additionally compares the instantaneous load with a full load parameter and in the case of exceeding of the full load parameter activating a bypass function those floors for which destination calls are booked and which are passed during a half circuit of the fully loaded elevator car.

The present invention relates to a method of controlling an elevator installation which comprises an elevator car transporting passengers between floors of a building. The method proposes that the travel wishes of the passengers are input by way of a destination call control and booked by the destination call control as destination calls. In addition, an instantaneous load disposed in the elevator car is determined by a load measuring device at a fixable point in time. The invention further relates to an elevator installation which is provided with an elevator car, a load measuring device determining an instantaneous load disposed in the elevator car and a destination call control by means of which travel wishes of passengers to be transported can be input and booked as destination calls.
In high buildings, particularly in so-termed skyscrapers, elevators are used which are controlled by a destination call control. In that case the travel destination must be input by way of a numerical keyboard or another form of input means by every passenger before the start of travel. The control of the elevator installation notifies the passenger, on the basis of his or her travel destination input, an elevator which guarantees for the passenger an optimized travel time. An elevator installation with destination call control is described in, for example, the published application WO 01/72621 A1. The basis for functioning of an elevator installation based on a destination call control is a disciplined input of destination calls.
However, a disciplined behavior of that kind of the passengers cannot always be presupposed. Situations can arise that only one person of a group undertakes a destination call input or it can happen that one person puts in several destination call inputs for a group, wherein, however, the number of persons does not correspond with the number of destination call inputs. This undisciplined input of destination calls in which the destination call control is not correctly operated frequently occurs when many persons have to be transported at the same time from a floor to, for example, the ground floor, wherein the bulk of passengers know that all elevators travel in the direction of the ground floor. An undisciplined input of destination calls can accordingly be regularly established when fixed working times exist and many office workers of a company leave their office spaces at almost the same time in order to travel to the ground floor. The elevator cars are thereby usually fully laden already in the upper floors without every passenger having individually booked his or her travel destination by means of the destination call input. The destination call control undertaking allocation of the elevators proceeds only from the booked destination calls.
The problem therefore results that destination call inputs of passengers in the floors lying further down are allocated to elevator cars which are fully loaded, so that these passengers cannot be transported by the allocated elevator car. However, notwithstanding the full load the elevator car stops at every floor at which a destination call input was registered and a destination call allocated to the corresponding elevator car. This can lead to the situation that a passenger who would like to disembark at a floor above the ground floor is allocated an already fully loaded elevator car. The elevator car then stops at the floor at which the passenger proposes to board, but the passenger cannot since the elevator car is full. The elevator car consequently also stops at the floor at which the passenger wanted to disembark, although nobody does disembark.
Due to the undisciplined inputs of destination calls substantial increases in transport times arise and ultimately this leads to a reduction in transport capacity, which leads to very long waiting times particularly in buildings with an otherwise small transport capacity.
A group control for elevators is described in European patent document EP 0 301 173 A1 which has a monitoring circuit preventing allocation of a destination call to an elevator with an overload. However, the starting point is a careful input of destination calls, since the overload is determined on the basis of booked passengers.
In PCT published application WO 03/026997 A1 there is described an elevator installation in which the elevator load is measured by continuous load measuring so that the number of passengers who have not input a destination call input can be determined.

Method and apparatus for bypass control of an elevator installation


An air cooled laser includes a laser housing with a laser module and heat sinks therein connected to a high pressure blower structure for causing an airflow to remove heat from the heat sinks and maintain the laser module at a stable operating temperature.

Temperature is one of the main factors in determining the output power obtainable from a laser. Therefore, management of the heat generated during laser operation is critical to overall performance, and one aspect of the problem of maintaining a controlled thermal environment is to provide a cooling system which efficiently and effectively dissipates the heat.
Heat dissipation can be accomplished by several methods, principally by liquid cooling or air cooling. Liquid cooling directly pumps liquid through either the cavity or electrodes and removes the heat generated in the lasing media. Air cooling also removes the heat generated in the lasing media and dissipates it outside the laser cavity by forcing air over external heat sinks. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages.
The overall size of a forced air cooled laser has tended to be significantly larger than that of a liquid cooled laser due to the need for heat sinks with large surface areas, fans and their mounting provisions and enclosures to direct the air across the heat sinks. Examples of such prior art air cooled laser structures may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,901,167, 5,550,853 and 5,253,261. This size constraint has put conventional air cooled lasers at a disadvantage when space constraints are an issue.
A primary disadvantage of conventional air cooled lasers as compared with liquid cooled lasers is that liquid cooled lasers have had the ability to operate over a wider temperature range without significant degradation in performance.
However, while liquid cooling is efficient, it has several disadvantages as well. One problem is that condensation can occur in humid environments when the liquid temperature is not managed carefully enough or when the ambient temperature changes. Condensation can damage the optics and electronics.
Another problem is that the chillers/heat exchangers for cooling the liquid are expensive, bulky and prone to require maintenance. Additionally, leaks of the cooling liquid can damage the laser as well as other equipment in the vicinity of the leak.
Conventional air cooled lasers such as disclosed in the three cited patents have traditionally employed AC/DC cooling fans with low pressure capability (0-5 inches of water). Fans with limited pressure capability force the use of heat sinks with a low surface area to volume ratio. This results in a structure having a few tall fins with large gaps in between. The limited pressure capability of these fans also requires their close proximity to the heat sinks, further enlarging the laser package. Therefore liquid cooling (typically using water) has tended to be the non-exotic cooling method of choice for cooling a laser when small size and a wide temperature range are required.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a structure and method that enables an air cooled laser to achieve efficient heat dissipation in combination with minimal size and the ability to operate over a wider temperature range without the disadvantages of water cooling.


In a layout processing method for adjusting the amount of change in the sizes of containers, a link that associates a plurality of containers with each other is set so as to extend between a plurality of pages. Accordingly, it is determined whether to insert content data into a predetermined page or into a page different from the predetermined page depending on the content data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a medium for use in an automatic layout system and a layout method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, product lifecycles have been reduced due to greater product variations and there have been growing demands for customized services since the Internet has become popular. Accordingly, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and one-to-one marketing have been attracting attention. These methods are extremely effective for increasing customer satisfaction and locking in customers.
One-to-one marketing is one type of database marketing. Personal attribute information including age, gender, hobbies, likes, purchase history, etc., is stored in a database for each customer, and is analyzed to make suggestions that meet the customer's needs. A typical approach of this type of marketing is variable printing. Due to the recent progress of desktop publishing (DTP) technologies and the widespread use of digital printers, variable printing systems that output documents customized for each customer have been developed. Accordingly, there are demands to determine a suitable layout of contents that differ for each customer.
In a typical variable printing system, when a customized document is produced, containers are arranged on the document. A container is an object defined as a rectangular region (also called a field) for drawing contents stored in a database. In the variable printing system, the containers are arranged on the document, and then the containers are associated in one-to-one correspondence with the contents of the database to produce the customized document.
In the variable printing system, the container size is fixed. Therefore, in the process of inserting data of each content stored in the database into the corresponding container, if the amount of content data is large relative to the container size, an overflow will occur in which a part of the content data will be lost. Conversely, if the amount of content data is small relative to the container size, a blank space will be left in the container.
In order to solve the above-described problems, a system for dynamically changing the container layout depending on the contents may be applied. The system for dynamically changing the layout can solve the above-described problems of overflow and blank space by determining the container size in accordance with the amount of content data, such as text data and image data, to be inserted into the container.
More specifically, the container size is set to be variable and is increased depending on the amount of content data that is inserted into the container. In addition, with regard to the text data, the font size in the container is set to be variable and is reduced depending on the amount of content data inserted therein. Accordingly, even if the amount of text data inserted into the container is too large to be fitted therein, all of the text data can be displayed in the container.
A layout system in which a part of the above-described technique is achieved is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-129658.
According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-129658, characters are successively input to a container of a predetermined size. If the number of characters is too large to fit all the characters in the container, the size of the container into which the characters are being input is increased while the size of an adjacent container is reduced.
In the above-described layout system, as the amount of text data input to the container is increased, the size of the container for receiving the text data is increased and the size of the adjacent container is reduced as long as the data-inputting process continues. Therefore, the size of the adjacent container is continuously reduced and a balanced layout cannot be obtained. In addition, the above-described layout system does not have a concept of variable printing or inserting contents into corresponding containers.
On the other hand, in a conventional layout method applied to variable data printing, a fixed container is created and content data is inserted into the fixed container. However, when a container with a fixed size is used, overflow occurs if the size of the content data is larger than the container size. In addition, if the content data is inserted into the container by reducing the font size, there is a risk that the font size will become excessively small.
The above-described problems can be solved by a layout method in which a balance between sizes of a plurality of unfixed containers that are associated with each other is taken into account. More specifically, the size of each container is changed in accordance with the size of content data inserted therein, and the amount of change in the container size is adjusted between the containers associated with each other. Accordingly, a layout with a good balance in container size can be obtained.
The above-described layout method may be applied to a plurality of pages. More specifically, containers for receiving the content data are set in advance in a plurality of pages. The content data is inserted into the containers set in a plurality of pages, and the above-described layout method is applied to each page.
However, in the above-described layout method, when, for example, containers A and B are set on first and second pages, respectively, and content data are inserted into the containers A and B, there is a possibility that the size of the content data inserted into the container A is small enough to provide a space for arranging the container B filled with the content data in the first page.
Even in such a case, the above-described layout method simply adjusts the container size in the predetermined pages. Therefore, there is a risk that the appearance of the layout will be degraded and waste pages will be produced.

Layout processing method, layout processing apparatus, and layout processing program for dynamically changing a layout of a template having a plurality of a data regions in accordance with content data inserted into the data regions


For contacting a silicon solar cell a pre-processed silicon substrate with a frontside and a backside is provided. Then, aluminum is deposited on the backside of the pre-processed silicon substrate, wherein aluminum-free regions remain on the backside. Then, a silver-free layer suitable for soldering on the backside of the silicon substrate is deposited so that the silver-free layer suitable for soldering covers at least the aluminum-free regions on the backside.

Typically, silicon is used as a basic material for solar cells. The starting point in the manufacture of a silicon solar cell is a crystalline silicon wafer in which a p-n junction is formed by means of doping. The procedure thereby is usually such that a p-doped silicon base material is used and an n-doped emitter layer is formed in order to configure the p-n junction. Both terminals of the p-n junction are then typically contacted via the frontside and backside of the silicon wafer.
Within the framework of backside contacting, what is referred to as a "back-surface field" is configured on the silicon wafer backside in order to prevent recombination losses. For this purpose, an aluminum layer is typically deposited on the silicon wafer backside, covering the entire surface, the aluminum layer then being subjected to a sintering process in order to superficially fuse the aluminum layer at the boundary surface with the silicon wafer and to alloy the aluminum into the silicon wafer. During operation of the solar cell, the resulting highly p-doped silicon surface layer acts as a back-surface field which drives the minority current carriers which reach the backside by means of diffusion back into the silicon wafer, thus preventing recombination losses.
In order to save costs, the introduction of aluminum into the silicon wafer is preferably carried out by means of a screen-printing process in which an aluminum paste is deposited on the silicon wafer backside and cured into the silicon wafer at 700 to 900° C. after drying in order to configure the back-surface field.
The problem with the screen-printed sintered aluminum layer on the silicon wafer backside, however, is that it is only to a very limited extent suitable for soldering contact connectors in order to connect the solar cell, particularly solder wires. In order to achieve a technically useable capacity in solar cells, a plurality of solar cells is usually connected in series to form a solar module. In the series connection of the solar cells, the frontside contacts of a solar cell are soldered to the backside contacts of the next solar cell by means of the contact connectors, i.e. typically solder wires, in order to form what is known as a string of cells.
Such a soldering connection between the screen-printed sintered aluminum layer and the contact connector is, however, extremely unstable, predominantly due to the high probability of cohesive failure of the aluminum layer. For contacting the silicon wafer backside, aluminum-free contact regions are usually provided on the silicon wafer backside. These contact regions comprising a width of several millimeters are provided with a silver-containing screen-printed metallization layer to which the contact connectors may be soldered. The silver screen-print is in this context usually carried out prior to the aluminum screen-print, with the two screen-print surfaces overlapping slightly.
However, since silver is a relatively expensive resource, it would be desirable for such additional silver contacts to become redundant. As an alternative for backside contacts made of silver, EP 2 003 699 A2 suggests to deposit a screen-printed aluminum layer over the entire surface of the silicon wafer backside and to subsequently cure it in order to form a back-surface field at the boundary surface. Subsequently, a further layer of material suitable for soldering, preferably tin, is deposited over the entire surface or in partial regions of the screen-printed sintered aluminum layer. This second layer is alloyed into the aluminum layer beneath in a point-wise manner by means of acoustic-mechanical irradiation, superficial fusing or thermal spraying, resulting in conductive contact regions to which contact connectors, particularly solder wires, may be soldered. Ultrasonic loading as well as superficial fusing or, respectively, thermal spraying, however, confers high kinetic energy to the solder particles to be alloyed, which may result in damage to the silicon wafer surface and thus in a deterioration of electrical properties of the solar cell. For alloying the material suitable for soldering into the screen-printed sintered aluminum layer, only a very small process latitude is thus available which is to be precisely observed in order to prevent the danger of negatively influencing the electrical solar cell parameters.

Method for backside-contacting a silicon solar cell, silicon solar cell and silicon solar module


A camlock is for use in a flange assembly. The camlock comprises:                a cam member for engaging a flange, the cam member arranged to be rotatable about its rotational axis; and        a ratchet mechanism including first and second ratchet members, the first and second ratchet members arranged in a mutual engagement to permit relative movement between the first and second ratchet members in one direction and limit relative movement between the first and second ratchet members in the opposite direction, wherein the cam member and the ratchet mechanism are arranged so that the mutual engagement between the first and second ratchet members-permits rotation of the cam member about its rotational axis in one direction and limits rotation of the cam member about its rotational axis in the opposite direction.

This invention relates to a camlock for use in a flange assembly, and to a flange assembly, preferably for use in the creation of a connection between a pair of pipes or hoses.
A camlock is conventionally used to secure flanges together in a flange assembly, and is also known by other names such as cam lever, camlock coupling, and camlock fitting.


A method, system, and program are provided for managing flexible events within an electronic calendar. A calendaring controller schedules fixed events requiring a fixed time slots and flexible events that are flexible for scheduling over a particular time period for a particular duration, wherein the particular time period is greater than the particular duration. The calendaring controller sets each flexible event at a particular time slot within the particular time period for the particular duration. Responsive to the calendaring controller detecting a request for a new event for an additional time slot overlapping the particular time slot, the calendaring controller repositions the flexible event to at least one other time slot of the particular duration during the particular time period to allow for scheduling the new event during the additional time slot.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to electronic calendars and in particular, to managing flexible events in an electronic calendar. Further, the present invention relates to managing positioning of flexible events in an electronic calendar to provide more scheduling options for other events in the electronic calendar.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic calendaring systems continue to replace the traditional paper calendaring systems of the past. One advantage of electronic calendaring is that a user may make changes to an electronic schedule without needing to erase or mark through a page in the calendaring system. Another advantage of many electronic calendaring systems is that multiple users, such as business colleagues, can access one another's electronic calendars via a network and schedule meetings or other events in one another's electronic calendars. For example, one user may search for time that is not already scheduled in the other user's electronic calendar and add a meeting to the previously unscheduled time in the other user's electronic calendar.
While electronic calendaring systems include many advantages, a limitation of electronic calendaring systems is that calendaring systems only track scheduled events in fixed time slots. Thus, for a user to block other users from scheduling in an electronic calendar, the user must either specifically schedule an event during a time slot or block the time slot from being filled by other users. This limitation of requiring fixed slot scheduling is apparent when it is considered that there are actual events in a user's daily schedule that are not fixed, but are flexible and could occur within a particular time period, rather than during a particular time slot. For example, a user may need 2 hours in a day to write a report sometime during the day, but for the user to schedule the 2 hours in an electronic calendaring system, the user must actually fix the 2 hours to a particular 2 hour time slot. Once the user schedules the 2 hours to a particular time slot, that time slot is no longer available for another user to schedule a meeting, even though the user's schedule includes other open 2 hour time slots.
Therefore, in view of the foregoing, there is a need for a method, system, and program for managing electronic calendaring systems to include flexible scheduled items with set duration, but with flexible start and end times within a schedule to improve scheduling flexibility of other schedule items within an electronic calendar.

Managing flexible events within an electronic calendar

International Business Machines Corporation


A housing for an electronic control device in vehicles comprises a bottom part (10) which has a metallic baseplate (12), and a cover part (14) made of plastic. The bottom part (10) has a front wall (16) made of plastic that rises up from the baseplate and to which a plug collar (18) is integrally molded. The plug collar (18) defines an accommodation for a contact pin carrier (28) formed as a flat strip with through holes for passing contact pins (32). The contact pin carrier (28) can be inserted into the plug collar (18) from inside of the housing.

The present invention relates to a housing for an electronic control device in vehicles, comprising a bottom part that has a metallic baseplate, and a cover part made of plastic.
Housings for electronic control devices in vehicles for occupant restraint systems, which are the subject matter of German Utility Model 29 918 914, are configured as composite bodies consisting of a plastic body part made by injection molding and of a metallic baseplate that is at least partially embedded in a plastic compound. A narrow front side of the housing is left open to be closed by a plug base that is directly fixed to a printed circuit board. With such embodiments, a variation of the printed circuit board design and fittings is usually associated with changes to the plug base and/or to the pin configuration of the plug.
The present invention provides a housing for electronic control devices in which a uniform design of the housing parts and of the plug collar allows considerable flexibility in terms of the design of the printed circuit board and the number of plug contacts.
In accordance with the invention, a housing for an electronic control device in vehicles is provided wherein a bottom part has a front wall that rises up from a baseplate and has an integrally molded plug collar. A contact pin carrier that has multiple through holes and that bears contact pins inserted into the holes can be inserted into the plug collar from the inside of the housing. Thus, the configuration of the plug collar is not dependent on the number and arrangement of the contact pins, nor on the shape and arrangement of a printed circuit board to be accommodated in the housing.

Housing for an electronic control device in vehicles

TRW Automotive Electronics and Components GmbH and Co. KG


A shampoo rinse bowl having a first neck support member and a separate second upper torso support member, where the first support member supports the neck of a person several inches below the hairline and the second support member supports the upper torso below the junction of the neck with the torso. An open area is provided between the two support members. The bowl may be raised vertically and tilted, either independently or simultaneously by hydraulic or pneumatic pistons or the like. Preferably the bowl is tilted by raising the rear of the bowl while the height of the forward portion of the bowl remains the same. Also preferably, the bowl will be tilted about five degrees for each inch change in height.

This invention relates generally to the field of shampoo or rinsing bowls used to capture and remove fluids in a hair shampooing or treatment situation, such as the bowls commonly found in hair and beauty salons. More particularly, the invention relates to such bowls where the person being attended is in a generally reclined position with the head suspended over the bowl, where the bowl is provided with two distinct support members which support the person at the neck and at a point beneath the junction of the neck and torso. The invention also relates to such bowls which are mounted onto a support pedestal in such a manner that the bowl can be raised and tilted.
It is common practice in hair and beauty salons to shampoo a person's hair prior to cutting. It is also common to provide various treatments which require application of substances followed by a rinsing of the substances from the hair. Shampoo bowls having a water source, a large bowl or basin, and a drain are typically provided with a recess in the forward perimeter of the bowl which receives and cradles a person's neck so that the head is suspended over the bowl with sufficient room for the technician to undertake the necessary treatment steps on the person's hair. The recess is generally somewhat U-shaped so as to encircle a portion of the neck to block water or other fluids from splashing or flowing out of the basin and onto the person. This design tends to be relatively uncomfortable, since the neck is supported at only one point and the neck recess serves as a fulcrum between the unsupported shoulders and the head, requiring the technician to help support the head during the treatment to minimize discomfort to the person being treated. When the head is not supported, the weight of the head causes uncomfortable pressure at the single point of support, which usually results in the person tensing the neck muscles to raise the head slightly to alleviate the pressure. Additionally, the U-shaped recess is typically too narrow for larger people.
Most shampoo bowls are also fixed at a single height most appropriate for an "average" technician, meaning that variations in the height of the person being treated and similar variations relative to the technician are not taken into account. In addition, since the bowl cannot be moved, the technician must raise and lower the person's head with one hand to perform various operations, such as thoroughly rinsing shampoo from the entire head, meaning that the technician has only one free hand to perform the operation.
It is an object to provide an improved shampoo or rinsing bowl which provides better and more comfortable support to the person being treated, as well as providing the technician with better accessibility. It is a further object to provide such an improved shampoo bowl by creating a bowl having two separate support members, a first neck support bridging member which supports the neck in the area of the 6th vertebra and a second support recess member which supports the torso at the point slightly below where the neck joins the torso and shoulders in the area of the 8th vertebra, such that the head of the person is suspended over the bowl while supported in two places rather than one. It is a further object to provide such a bowl where the bowl height and tilt angle are adjustable, where the bowl is mounted on a pedestal having hydraulic, mechanical, pneumatic or other means to raise and tilt the bowl, where the raising and tilting are preferably independently controlled.


Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture for single antenna interference cancellation in a mobile communication system are disclosed. An example method disclosed herein for a wireless device comprises determining a number of bursts to be received in a time division multiple access frame comprising a plurality of timeslots, and when the number of bursts exceeds a threshold number of bursts for which single antenna interference cancellation can be performed, performing single antenna interference cancellation for a subset of the bursts received in the time division multiple access frame.

Single antenna interference cancellation can refer to any technique to reduce interference in mobile communication system without the use of multiple antennas. Single antenna interference cancellation can be applied in the downlink to reduce the impact of interference for communication from a network to a mobile station, and can additionally or alternatively be applied in the uplink to reduce the impact of interference for communication from the mobile station to the network. In the GSM/EDGE radio access network (GERAN) specifications (where GSM refers global system for mobile communications, and EDGE refers to enhanced data rates for GSM evolution), no particular technique for single antenna interference cancellation has been standardized. Instead, the GERAN specifications include downlink advanced receiver performance requirements that inherently require implementation of single antenna interference cancellation to enable these performance requirements to be met.

Single antenna interference cancellation in a mobile communication system


A modular enclosure both permits gardening and accommodates secure storage. The modular enclosure includes a raised gardening bed capable of accommodating a pot, a container or a box which can be used to grow a plant or fungus without requiring a user to bend over to access the pot, the container or the box. The secure storage mechanically coupled to the raised gardening bed requires a physical test for the user to access the secure storage. A drip edge immediately adjacent to the raised gardening bed permits water to drain from the raised gardening bed.

The embodiments herein relate generally to devices that can be used for gardening and animal husbandry.
There is a movement in the United States of America and elsewhere for individuals to grow their own crops and raise their own animals in suburban and urban settings. The difficulty is that most research on gardening and animal husbandry focuses on techniques that are more applicable to rural settings. Embodiments of the present invention explore and solve this problem by teaching techniques to efficiently use space to grow crops, store materials and raise animals.

Modular enclosure for gardening and storage


Vibration damper, in particular a shock absorbing strut, with an essentially U-shaped decompression stop boundary bracket, which bracket is fastened to a container tube, and in the event of a rebound of a vehicle axle comes into contact with a chassis-side support surface. The bracket includes a base plate with side walls, and the entire decompression stop boundary bracket is formed from a single bent component. The base plate is realized in a seamless manner and has a cutout which is adapted to the diameter of the container tube and acts as a positioning stop for the entire decompression stop boundary bracket.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a vibration damper, in particular a shock absorbing strut. The vibration damper can have an essentially U-shaped decompression stop boundary bracket, which bracket is fastened to a container tube, and in the event of a rebound of a vehicle axle, the bracket can come into contact with a chassis-side support surface. The bracket can include a base plate with side walls, and the entire bracket can be formed by bending a single component.
2. Background Information
WO 91/06438 describes a shock absorbing strut which, on its container tube, has a decompression stop boundary bracket which comes into contact with a chassis-side support surface when the vehicle axle has reached its maximum rebound position. The decompression stop boundary bracket includes a base plate and a reinforcement plate as well as a radial guide plate, whereby the base plate is welded to the reinforcement plate and to the guide plate. In accordance with this realization, a spot welding process is used between the base plate and the guide plate, while an inert gas arc welding process is employed to lay down the seam between the reinforcement plate and the base plate.
German Laid Open Patent Application No. 43 21 036 also describes a decompression stop boundary bracket, in which the reinforcement plate is connected by means of seams laid down by inert gas arc welding. As a result of the use of this technology, undesirable weld spatters can occur which are difficult to remove due to the configuration of the component. Even when the component is realized in one piece, there are weld seams which have to be reworked.
An additional problem relates to the positioning of the decompression stop boundary bracket in relation to the vibration damper. When there is a specified rebound travel, the decompression stop boundary bracket must be supported over a specified portion, either on the vehicle axle or on the vehicle body. It is therefore particularly important to maintain the position of the decompression stop boundary bracket. In the realizations described in German Laid Open Patent Application No. 43 21 036, the positioning function is performed by a guide part which is realized in the form of a bent component. Even small differences in the bending radius can have a significant effect on the position of the decompression stop boundary bracket. For example, if the radius of the guide part is too small, the decompression stop boundary bracket is displaced, forming a gap relative to the container tube, so that it is essentially impossible to maintain the specified position.

Vibration damper for a motor vehicle, the vibration damper having a decompression stop boundary bracket


In order for work, such as excavation, to occur at a job site, a job site plan with various job site features must be accurately translated to ground locations at the job site. The present disclosure locates a job site feature at a job site by storing a job site plan including at least one job site location on a computer readable data storage medium of an apparatus. An apparatus location is determined via at least one location sensor and compared to the at least one job site location. A job site locating algorithm also stored on the computer readable data storage medium is operable to indicate when the at least one job site location and the apparatus location are coincident.

In order to locate job site features, such as excavation sites, designers generally create job site plans from a survey of the job site. At the job site, the job site plan, or excavation plan, is used by a contractor or excavator operator to determine the actual ground location at which to dig. Thus, the application of the excavation plan to the ground at the job site is subjected to human error. The operator and/or contractor can not only misinterpret the ground location at which to dig, but may also be unaware of job site feature characteristics, such as buried utilities.
With the advent of accurate global positioning systems and local positioning systems, such as three-dimensional laser reference systems, job sites can now be surveyed and planned electronically. Based on an electronic survey of a job site, designers can create, with specialized software, an electronic excavation plan for the job site. The excavation plan can be downloaded onto an electronic control module within the excavator in order for the operator, while at the job site, to view the electronic excavation plan on an operator display. Although the excavation plan may provide some aid to the excavator operator during excavation, the excavation plan is insufficiently detailed by which to dig. Because the display of the excavation plan is limited to the size of the operator display, some necessary details of the plan may be difficult to view and interpret. Moreover, even if the operator display is sufficiently sized so the operator can dig from the excavation plan, the translation of the plan to the ground is still subjected to human error.
The present disclosure is directed at overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.

Apparatus and method for locating electronic job site plan features at a job site