There is provided a steel for solid oxide fuel cells which contains more than 0 and not more than 0.05 mass % of C, 0.05 mass % or less of N, 0.01 mass % or less of O, 0.2 mass % or less of Al, 0.15 mass % or less of Si, 0.1 to 1.0 mass % of Mn, 20.0 to 25.0 mass % of Cr, more than 0 mass % and not more than 1.0 mass % of Ni, 0.02 to 0.12 mass % of La, 0.1 to 0.5 mass % of Zr, 0.15 to 0.5 mass % of La+Zr, and Fe and impurities as a remainder. The following relational formula is satisfied, and an Fe and Zr-containing intermetallic compound viewed in a ferrite matrix is 1.1 % or less in terms of a visual field area ratio5(7C+6N)/(7−4(7C+6N))≤Zr≤41(7C+6N)/(7+66(7C+6N)).

Solid oxide fuel cells operate at a high temperature of approximately 600 to 1000° C. Therefore, solid oxide fuel cells have excellent properties such as high power generation efficiency, reduced emissions of SOx, NOx, and CO2, favorable responsivity to load variations, correspondence with fuel diversity, and compactness. Therefore, solid oxide fuel cells are expected to be applied to various power generation systems as an alternative to thermal power generation, such as a large-scale centralized power source, a suburban distributed power source, a house dispersed power source, and an auxiliary power source such as an automobile. Among these, in a component for solid oxide fuel cells, such as a separator, an interconnector, and a current collector, ceramics have been often used. This is because since the mainstream of operating temperatures was originally a high temperature of approximately 1000° C., properties such as oxidation resistance, electric conductivity, and a thermal expansion coefficient close to an electrolyte, an anode and a cathode were required.
However, ceramics is hard to process, and expensive. Also, in recent years, the operating temperature of solid oxide fuel cells has decreased to approximately 600 to 900° C. Under such circumstances, for example, research for using, in a separator component or the like, a metal component which is less expensive than ceramics and has favorable workability and excellent oxidation resistance is actively conducted.
The metal component which is used for the above-described solid oxide fuel cells is required to have excellent oxidation resistance. The present applicant has also proposed a ferrite-based stainless steel which is excellent in oxidation resistance, in JP-A-2007-16297 (Patent Literature 1), JP-A-2005-320625 (Patent Literature 2), WO 2011/034002 A (Patent Literature 3), WO 2012/144600 A (Patent Literature 4), and the like.

Steel for solid oxide fuel cells and manufacturing method thereof


An emissive device includes a substrate; a switching element disposed on a surface of the substrate; an insulating layer covering the switching element; a contact hole disposed in the insulating layer; a first electrode disposed on a surface of the insulating layer and electrically connected to the switching element via the contact hole in the insulating layer; a second electrode disposed at a side opposite the substrate with respect to the first electrode; a luminescent layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode; and a light shield disposed at a side from which light from the luminescent layer emerges and having a portion covering the contact hole when viewed in a direction perpendicular to the substrate.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to structures of emissive devices including various emissive materials such as organic electroluminescent materials.
2. Related Art
Active matrix emissive devices including switching elements, such as transistors, for controlling light emission from luminescent layers have been proposed. For example, JP A-2002-318556 discloses such an emissive device including the switching element disposed on a surface of a substrate, an insulating layer covering the switching element, a first electrode and a second electrode that are disposed on the surface of the insulating layer, and the luminescent layer disposed between the electrodes. The first electrode is electrically connected to the electrode (a drain electrode or a source electrode) of the switching element via a contact hole disposed in the insulating layer.
However, in this structure, external light, such as sunlight and light from a luminaire, passes through the contact hole in the insulating layer, reaches the electrode of the switching element, is reflected from the surface, and emerges from a viewing side, in some cases. The light reflected from the surface is referred to as "undesirable reflection", hereinafter. The undesired reflection has characteristics, such as light intensity and spectral characteristics, different from those of light from the luminescent layer, thus causing the nonuniformity of the quantity of light, i.e., nonuniformity of luminance, in the plane of the emissive device.
Furthermore, for example, in a structure in which a luminescent layer is formed not only on an insulating layer but also inside a contact hole, light (hereinafter, referred lo as "undesirable light") is also emitted from the portion of the luminescent layer disposed along the inner surface of the contact hole. However, the portion of the luminescent layer disposed on the surface of the insulating layer has a thickness different from that of the portion of the luminescent layer disposed inside the contact hole; hence, light emitted from the former portion has the quantity of light and spectral characteristics different from those of the light emitted from the latter portion. Therefore, the undesirable light in the structure can also cause the nonuniformity (unevenness) of the quantity of light in the plane of the emissive device.

Emissive device and electronic apparatus


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes providing a substrate having a mask layer formed thereon, providing a first photomask having a first layout pattern and a second photomask having a second layout pattern, the first layout pattern including a plurality of active area portions and at least a neck portion connecting two adjacent active area portions, transferring the first layout pattern from the first photomask to the mask layer to form a plurality of active area patterns and at least a neck pattern connecting two adjacent active area patterns in the mask layer, and transferring the second layout pattern from the second photomask to the mask layer to remove the neck pattern to form a patterned mask. The patterned mask includes the active area patterns. A slot is at least formed between the two adjacent active area patterns.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor layout pattern, a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor layout pattern, a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and a semiconductor device avoiding adverse impact from line-end rounding effect.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Being an essential step in semiconductor fabrication, photolithography is used to transfer layout patterns of specific integrated circuits (ICs) to a photoresist layer formed on a semiconductor chip with a certain percentage and subsequently processed with techniques to transfer the layout pattern to the semiconductor chip.
With the trend toward higher complexity and higher integration for ICs, the size of the device is getting smaller and smaller. It is found that completeness of the layout pattern of the shrunk device is deteriorated after the photolithography process. In other words, deviations between the real layout pattern formed on the chips and the originally designed layout pattern are increased. Such deviations may be caused by several effects, including optical proximity distortions and chemical processing fluctuations. Consequently, effects such as corner rounding, line-end shorting, and line-end rounding are always observed. Additionally, those effect may also have dependency on the substrate material layer and local density of the patterns.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic drawing illustrating a photoresist patterned by a conventional photolithography process. As shown in FIG. 1, a patterned pre-layer 12 such as a doped pattern, conductive pattern, or insulating pattern is formed on the wafer 10. Then, a photoresist layer (not shown) is formed on the wafer 10 and followed by performing a photolithography process. Accordingly, an IC layout pattern is transferred to the photoresist layer and thus a patterned photoresist layer 14 is obtained. As shown in FIG. 1, it is desirably expected that all the included angles formed by the overlapped patterned photoresist layer 14 and the patterned pre-layer 12 are 90° (as depicted by the included angle θ2). However, it is noteworthy that because of the optical proximity effect as mentioned afore, an included angle θ1 formed by the end of the patterned photoresist layer 14 and patterned pre-layer 12 is not 90° as expected. The acute included angle formed by the patterned photoresist layer 14 and the patterned pre-layer 12 manifests the transferred pattern suffers distortion. Such pattern distortion increases process complexity and causes device distortion or even device loss. Briefly speaking, the pattern distortion adversely impacts the yield of the semiconductor fabrication and the performance of the semiconductor devices.
Since the optical proximity effect cannot be completely avoided from the photolithography process, which means the line-end rounding issue is always found in the photolithography process, there is therefore a continuing need in the semiconductor processing art to diminish the adverse impact rendered from the line-end rounding effect.

Method for manufacturing semiconductor layout pattern, method for manufacturing semiconductor device, and semiconductor device


This invention relates to non-steroidal tricyclic compounds that are modulators of androgen receptors and to methods for making and using such compounds.

Intracellular receptors (IRs) form a class of structurally-related genetic regulators scientists have named "ligand dependent transcription factors" (R. M. Evans, Science, 240:889, 1988). Sex steroid hormone receptors are a recognized subset of the IRs, including androgen receptor (AR), progesterone receptor (PR) and estrogen receptor (ER). Regulation of a gene by such factors requires both the receptor itself and a corresponding ligand, which has the ability to selectively bind to the receptor in a way that affects gene transcription.
The natural hormones for sex steroid receptors have been known for a long time, such as testosterone for AR and progesterone for PR. A compound that binds to a receptor and mimics the effect of the native hormone is referred to as an "agonist", while a compound that inhibits the effect of the native hormone is called an "antagonist." The term "modulators" refers to compounds that are agonists, partial agonists or antagonists.
Synthetic female sex hormones have been widely used in oral contraception, hormone replacement therapy and the treatment of hormone-dependent disorders. The development of new generations of selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) significantly improved women's health. On the other hand, similar hormone therapy for men has not been fully explored due to lack of availability of selective, orally administered, safe agents.
A group of hydroquinoline derivatives was recently described as AR modulators (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,696,130). This group of AR modulators was developed by using cell-based high-throughput assays, termed cotransfection assays.
The entire disclosures of the publications and references referred to herein are incorporated by reference herein and are not admitted to be prior art.

Tricyclic androgen receptor modulator compounds and methods


The invention relates to a frictionally engaged driving belt having a base body (2) and a cover layer (1) that consists of rubber or a rubber-like synthetic material which is provided with a tractive support layer (3) that is embedded into the rubber or the rubber-like synthetic material. The aim of the invention is to prevent or reduce the generation of noise in drives of the belts. Only the surface or a portion of the surface, preferably the motion-transferring part of the surface, pertaining to the driving belt is provided with a flocking material consisting of short aramide fibers (5). A portion of said aramide fibers (5) is integrated into the surface only with a partial length of each individual fiber.

The invention relates to a frictionally engaged driving belt having a base body and a cover layer comprised of rubber or a rubber-like synthetic material (i.e. an elastomeric synthetic material) which is provided with a load-carrying or tractive support layer that is embedded into the rubber or the rubber-like synthetic material.
In connection with frictionally engaged driving belts or force transmission belts such as, for example, flat belts, V- or wedge belts, and poly-V- or wedge rib belts, these are commonly deployed in situations in which a large transmission ratio must be realized and a high demand is placed on the belt in view of the expected wear resistance, noise handling capability, and dynamic load capacity. Thus, driving belts are deployed, for example, for force transmission in application areas ranging from office machines up to the heaviest machine drives. Driving belts are deployed in manifold configurations as well with respect to vehicles and, indeed, especially in those circumstances concerning a de-coupling of the oscillations of the drive assemblies and the associated driven assemblies. V-belts are, for example, deployed in vehicles for the driving of electrical generators (alternators). Ribbed V-belts offer the advantage that they combine the high flexibility of flat belts with the efficient power transmission of V-belts and also can be deployed in complex drive constructions involving bending of the belt during reverse belt travel effected via change of direction rollers and moving idlers.
In drive elements, the outer surfaces of the belt are subjected to various weather and operational medium influences. In spite of these influences, the belt should exhibit a long operational life and, at the same time, in particular in the areas of vehicle and domestic product industry applications, the running noise should be minimized. Noises occur due to drive elements which act to create frictional traction for effecting the transmission of force by the belt and frequently, if, for example, during wet, cold weather, certain friction behaviors occur between the belt surface and the drive disc or pulley, squeaking tones emanating from oscillations or vibration will occur. These noises can be minimized or damped via various measures.
Different approaches have been proposed to minimize the noise development ensuing from frictionally engaged driving belts depending upon the respective manufacturing process for manufacturing the driving belt. If one, for example, takes note of such approaches from the perspective of the manufacturing processes for ribbed V-belts, in connection with which substantially two manufacturing processes, the cutting process and the molding process, have come to the fore, it is known to mix in fibers into the rubber mixture formulated for the ribs to reduce the development of noise from the belt via travel over the belt disk.
The cutting process for belts with fiber-containing mixtures is known, for example, via the disclosure in EP 642 886 A1. In connection with cutting processes, belt layers are produced and vulcanized which have a flat outer surface. Thereafter, the ribs are cut into the vulcanized belt surface. Via the calendering process during the production of the mixing plate for the belts, the mixture is provided with the fibers, which are preferably oriented transversely to the belt running direction. In the cutting process, the ribs are then cut out of the material such that the tips of the fibers extend outwardly out of the mixture surface. For the mixing in of such fibers in rubber mixtures, fiber materials such as cotton, polyester, polyamide such as, for example, nylon, and aramid are used. The favorable noise handling behaviors of such belts frequently do not remain over the entire operational life of the belt as the ribbed surface is eventually frictionly abraded to a smooth surface via passage over the disks and there remains no more of the outwardly projecting fibers which promote favorable friction conditions and a reduction of noise.
In a cutting process, a large portion of the often very expensive fiber reinforced mixture is thrown away as cutting waste. The alternative to the cutting processes is the ecologically and economically progressive molding process for the manufacture of ribbed V-belts which is, at the same time, more precise than the cutting process. In this connection, during the vulcanization process, the ribs are impressed into the substantially flat plate of an unvulcanized belt layer to project therefrom. In a molding process, as well, fibers can be mixed into the rubber mixture which forms the rib and can be vulcanized in therewith as is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,630. The fibers succeed thereby into locations in the interior of the ribs of the rib contour. Additionally, it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,630 to cut the ribs into the belt, still in a surface location, after the molding of the belt via the molding process in order to effect a working out of the fibers distributed within the mixture and thereby obtain a surface with fibers projecting therefrom. The durability of this noise reducing layer is comparable to that of a layer produced by the conventional cutting process.
Both the cutting and molding processes have in common that the frequently expensive fibers are present throughout the entire thickness of the rib rubber, although they are needed only on the surface. Moreover, the overall thickness of the fiber distribution is dictated by the desired characteristics of a belt mixture such as flexibility or workability and cannot therefore be increased arbitrarily to a more desirable value. Typical values for the portion of fibers in a belt mixture lie between 2 to 30 percent by weight of fibers per 100 percent by weight of total elastomer. It is more effective, in contrast, to place the fibers only at locations at which they are also required—namely, on the rib surfaces. Belts have heretofore been manufactured wherein the rubber mixture plate for the ribs has been provided with a securement layer on which thereafter short fibers have been distributed in a layering process as is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,190,137. The fibers produce, due to the concentrated application thereof in a thin layer, an effective noise reduction and, at the same time, produce, in most instances, an improvement in wear or abrasion. Typically, it is common in such layers to use short cotton fibers which exhibit a good compromise between cost and noise reduction. Wool is not suitable for the thermal demands which are imposed on the material. In connection with synthetic fibers such as aliphatic polyester, for example, based on polyethylene terephtalate or polyethylene napthenate, polyamide 6, or polyamide 6.6, no positive influence is found on the noise behavior so that deployment of these fibers does not make sense to achieve a noise reduction. The smooth surfaces of these synthetic fibers appear to be responsible for the fact that, evidently, no satisfactory positive influences on the friction behavior and dampening of noise are effected.
The present invention provides a solution to the challenge of providing a frictionally engaged driving belt in which a noise development in the driving of the belt is minimized or prevented.


A wheel chocking system for restraining road vehicles being transported on a vehicle support surface of a transport vehicle is disclosed. The support surface has a grating disposed in at least a wheel support area where one or more road vehicles are positioned. The grating is formed by a grid of rods to which is secured chock members at desired positions relative to the position of the wheels of the road vehicle positioned over the wheel support area. Each chock has a base with disengageable attachment members in a lower engaging surface thereof to immovably secure the chock to the grating. The chock has an angled face plate which is positioned relative to an outer tread surface of a tire of a wheel to restrain movement thereof. Load transmitting members transfer a load applied to the face plate onto the base member and into the grating secured to the support surface. A lateral restraining member is provided on a side of the face plate and disposed adjacent an inner side wall portion of the tire to prevent lateral shifting of the vehicle positioned on the support surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wheel chocking system for arresting road vehicles transported on flatbeds or other similar transport vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device having a plurality of chock members detachably secured to a grating provided on a support surface of the vehicle at defined locations. The chock comprises an angled face plate for alignment with a tire of an associated wheel of the vehicle positioned on the grating, restraining movement thereof. A load transmitting member transfers the load applied to the face plate onto the grating and a paddle-shaped restraining member prevents lateral shifting of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various anchoring systems are known for securing road vehicles transported on flatbed-type transport vehicles to prevent shifting of those vehicles during transportation. The most common system is to "tie down" the vehicle using chains connected to steel runners in the support surface, e.g., the floor of a railway flatbed vehicle. A ratchet tool is required in order to secure these chains taut. In an attempt to resolve some of the difficulties in the installation of such anchoring systems, other wheel chocking assemblies have been developed, including, e.g., those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,659,266 and 4,668,140. However, although these systems can be installed more rapidly onto a rail system provided on the support surface of the flatbed, they utilize winch mechanisms and harnesses which must be fitted over the vehicle tires to restrain movement of the vehicle.
Other disadvantages of the wheel chocking systems in the prior art is that they cannot be readily adapted to different axle spacing, to double-wheel axles, or to very small or large wheels and are extremely difficult to apply when the wheel openings in the vehicle side sheeting project downwardly close to or below the level of the top of the tire. Known chock systems can also become jammed between the vehicle tire and the floor due to vehicle shifting during transport, requiring movement of the vehicle prior to removal of the chock.

Wheel chocking system for arresting road vehicles during transportation


An RFID system comprises an intermediate device that includes a first and second antenna coils connected together in a close loop format. The coils are formed on a flexible substrate that can be folded around a magnetic flux blocker such that one loop is on side of the blocker and the other loop is on the other side of the blocker. The intermediate device can then improve communication between a reader on one side of the blocker and a tag on the other. The coil on the reader side of the blocker can receive RF signals being generated by the reader and convert them to an electrical signal that can be passed to the coil on the tag side of the blockage. The second coil can then generate an RF signal that can be transmitted to the tag.

1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments described herein are directed to radio frequency communication systems, and more particular to systems and methods for extending the communication range in a radio frequency communication system.
2. Background of the Invention
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems are a type of radio frequency communication system. RFID systems are gaining attention due to their ability to track and identify moving objects. In an RFID system, remote objects intended to be tracked and identified are equipped with a small RFID tag. The RFID tag contains a transponder and a digital memory chip that is given a unique electronic identification. An interrogator, or a reader can be configured to emit a signal that can activate the RFID tag. When an RFID tag passes within range of the reader, the RFID tag can detect the reader's signal and provide its identification information. The reader can be configured to decode the identification information, and in certain applications will write data to the RFID tag.
The signal generated by the reader is a Radio Frequency (RF) signal. RFID systems are generally configured to operate within four main frequency bands. The frequency bands are characterized by the frequency of operation for the RF signal generated by the reader. These bands include a low frequency band, i.e., 125 KHz or 134.2 KHz, a high frequency band, i.e., 13.56 MHz, a UHF frequency band, i.e., 868-956 MHz or 463 MHz, and a microwave frequency band, i.e., 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz.
An RFID reader generally comprises a radio transceiver configured to transmit and receive RF signal. The radio transceiver is coupled with one or more antennas that enable the transceiver to transmit and receive the RF signals. The transceiver is also interfaced with an encoder/decoder configured to decode information contained in the received signals and encode information to be transmitted via the transceiver.
RFID tags are generally classified as passive or active tags. A passive tag has no internal, or onboard power supply. Instead, a passive tag is powered by energy contained in the RF signal transmitted from the reader. The RF signal transmitted by the reader induces an electrical current in the tag antenna that supplies enough power to allow the tag to power up and transmit a response. Most passive tags signal to the reader by backscattering the RF carrier signal generated by the reader. This means that the tag antenna should be designed to both collect power from the incoming signal and also to transmit the outbound backscatter signal. It should be noted that the response signal generated by the tag can include more than just identification information.
An active tag, on the other hand, includes its own internal power source, which is used to power the tag in order to generate an outgoing signal. Active tags can have longer operational ranges and larger memories as compared to passive tags, which can allow the tag to store additional information sent by the reader; however, because passive tags do not require an onboard power supply, they can be made smaller and can cost significantly less than active tags. Additionally, due to their simplicity in design, passive tags are suitable for manufacture with conventional printing process for the antenna.
While passive tags provide many benefits that make them increasingly more popular for new RFID applications, one drawback is the limited operational range, e.g., as compared to active tags. One way to overcome the limited range problem, in certain applications, is to use a range extender. A range extender can be defined as an antenna, or resonator circuit, that can be placed between the reader and the tag and can be configured to receive the RF signal from the reader, amplify it, and rebroadcast it to the tag. Thus, the resonator circuit can be used to extend the range of communication ordinarily achievable between the reader and the tag.
Conventional range extenders do not necessarily help, however, when the limited range is due to some impediment to the RF signal being produced by the reader. RF signals are electromagnetic signals. Accordingly, the ability for a reader to communicate with the tag is dependent on the degree to which the RF signals produced by the reader and transmitted by the reader antenna magnetically coupled with the tag antenna. This means that the magnetic strength, or magnetic flux of the RF signal as seen by the tag is an important parameter.
Many materials act as magnetic flux blockers, i.e., they block the electromagnetic RF signals being generated by the reader. When limited communication range is the result of a magnetic flux blocker, a range extender will not necessarily overcome the problem. This is because the magnetic flux blocker will block the RF signals being generated and retransmitted by the range extender in the same manner that it will block the signals being generated by the reader.
As the applications for RFID technology grow, RFID tags are being included, or embedded in devices that are housed or contained in material that can act as a magnetic flux blocker. Accordingly, communication range can be limited for many of these new applications. Unfortunately, conventional range extenders will not necessarily be able to overcome some of the limited communication ranges for these new applications.

Systems and methods for enhancing the magnetic coupling in a wireless communication system


This invention encompasses a heat seal die incorporating heat tube technology for controlling the variation of temperature across a heat seal die. The invention also encompasses a system and method for portion control size packaging of flowable liquid-containing condiments in a portion size in the range from 1 to 5 ounces using such a heat seal die.

Flexible packaging such as thermoplastic film is commonly used in form/fill/seal equipment for packaging fluid material such as food products. In form/fill/seal systems, material is placed inside tubular thermoplastic film and the top and bottom of the tubular film is heat sealed with a heat seal die to encase the material. Condiments such as ketchup and mustard are often packaged this way.
Temperature variation across the length of the heat seal die can produce packages that leak fluid material or serum over a period of time. This phenomenon occurs when the sealing temperature of the end seal dies exceeds or falls below the sealing range of the material. These suspect packages may not be evident to the operator of the form/fill/seal machines since the temperature controller only senses the temperature on one small area of the die. This condition often results in contamination of entire boxes of packaged goods containing large numbers of individual packets of product. Therefore, there is a need for more reliable form/fill/seal equipment.

Heat seal die and system and method for portion control sized packaging


A safety switch allows for greater safety and greater ease in operating a machine where multiple operators may be required. The safety switch allows multiple operators in different locations to exercise control over the machine, reducing the risk of accidents and improper operation of the machine.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote safety switch for use in operating machinery. More specifically, the present invention relates to a safety switch which provides greater safety in situations where two or more persons are working together in operating a machine by providing each operator a switch, such as a foot switch, which works in combination with the other operator's switch or switches to control the machinery. The safety switch allows for the operation of a machine which does not have a similar type of safety switch with the safety switch of the present invention.
2. State of the Art
Switches, such as foot switches are used to control pieces of machinery. A foot switch may be used to turn the machine on or off or activate one of the machine's functions. The foot switch typically turns the machine on or operates a particular function of the machine when stepped on or otherwise depressed, and causes the machine to cease operation when released.
Many machines do not have such foot switches or safety switches. Additionally, if a foot switch is available, it may not provide adequate safety in operating a machine or adequate control over the machine. Existing foot switches work in some situations where a single person operates a piece of machinery. Existing foot switches do not, however, work well with some types of machinery, or where two or more persons operate a single piece of machinery. In such a situation, only one person may stop the machinery if an undesired event or emergency occurs. In many situations, noise, lack of visual contact, or the like inhibit communication between operators and may create a dangerous situation. Where only one operator is in control of the machinery, that operator may be without knowledge of the other operator, and thus unable to stop the machine if a problem develops related to the other operator. If one operator notices a problem but does not have control over the machinery, they may be unable to quickly stop the machinery or communicate the problem to the other operator.
It is not uncommon to have multiple persons operating a piece of machinery. Multiple persons may be required to feed large pieces of material into a machine such as a saw or press. In such situations, the operators may often be in relatively close proximity. If an operator without control over the machinery notices a problem, they may be unable to quickly stop the machine or communicate the problem to the other operator so as to prevent damage or injury. Noise or other obstacles may inhibit communication between the operators.
In other situations, the operators may not be in close proximity, and may not be in visual contact. An example of this type of situation is where electricians are pulling wire through conduit for an electrical installation. Commonly, the wire is fed into the conduit in one location and pulled from the conduit in another location which may be in another room or another floor of a building.
While telephones or radios may be used to communicate, noise may prevent such communication, or the task being performed may prevent a person from using telephone or radio. Even if communication is possible, a person in control of the machine may simply not react quickly enough when a problem is communicated to them by the other machine operator so as to avoid an accident. It will be appreciated that where an operator communicates the existence of a problem over radio, telephone, or the like to another machine operator having a safety switch such as a foot switch, several seconds may pass before the operator having the foot switch realizes what is happening and stops the machine. The passage of several additional seconds may result in damage to the machine, improper execution of the task, or even injury to the machine operator.
There is thus a need for a device which allows multiple operators to each have control over a piece of machinery. There is need for a device which allows any of multiple operators to shut down a piece of machinery quickly if necessary. There is also need for a device which facilitates communication between multiple machine operators such that the machine may safely and properly be operated in an environment where noise or other impediments prevents communication between the machine operators.


Disclosed are one or more embodiments for a unique and personalized experience for a user interacting with an electronic commerce site by identifying user-preferred item attributes using supervised machine learning and presenting items to the user in an arrangement that is based on the identified item attributes. A shopping mission is determined according to user interactions with an electronic commerce site. The shopping mission is applied to an attribute prediction model that is trained to detect user-preferred item attributes for items included the item category and estimate a likelihood that an item containing a particular attribute will be purchased or interacted with during the interactions with the electronic commerce site.

An electronic commerce system includes listings of items (e.g., products, goods, services, digital content, etc.) offered for sale, lease, download, rent, etc., by many different merchants. Users may use the electronic commerce system to purchase, lease, download, rent, etc., items of interest. In some instances, as a user navigates through different network pages of the electronic commerce system, the user may interact with items having similar features or attributes.


In a priority circuit, priority processing is rapidly performed without lowering the voltage level of a signal propagated through serially connected transistors. When the priority circuit is placed in a non-operational state by turning off an NMOS transistor in accordance with a precharge enable signal, potentials on propagating signal nodes and a HIT output terminal are precharged to H potential by PMOS transistors used for precharging. Therefore, when the NMOS transistor is turned on and the priority circuit enters an operational state, if input signals include a H-level signal, the lowering of the voltage level of a propagated signal is suppressed in increasing the potentials on the propagating signal nodes and the HIT output terminal to the H potential by PMOS transistors used for detecting a HIT signal. Thus, malfunction derived from noise can be prevented.

The present invention relates to a priority circuit (priority encoding circuit) used for obtaining a binary address output by encoding a plurality of identify address signals of a content addressable memory (CAM) or the like in accordance with predetermined priority levels.
Conventional priority circuits will now be described with reference to drawings.
FIG. 8 shows a conventional priority circuit that receives three input signals IN0, IN1 and IN2 and is operated through control in accordance with clocks C1, C2 and C3 so as to output three binary output signals OUT0, OUT1 and OUT2 as a result of given priority processing of the input signals.
This priority circuit has what is called an active L circuit configuration in which when any of the input signals is at H level, a L-level signal is output to an output terminal HIT, which means that the input signals include a H-level signal, and a H-level signal is output to merely an output terminal corresponding to an input terminal with the highest priority level out of the input terminals having received H-level signals. In this case, the priority level is highest in the lowest portion of the drawing and is lowered toward the upper portion thereof.
In FIG. 8, a reference numeral 800 denotes the priority circuit and a reference numeral 801 denotes a priority circuit element included in the priority circuit 800, and this priority circuit 800 includes three priority circuit elements respectively correspondingly to the three inputs. Reference numerals 8020, 8021 and 8022 denote NMOS transistors for input control, each of which is simultaneously controlled in accordance with the clock signal C1 input to the gate thereof. Thus, when the clock signal C1 is at H level, the input signals are transferred to internal nodes Q0, Q1 and Q2 of the priority circuit.
On the other hand, reference numerals 8040, 8041 and 8042 denote PMOS transistors serially connected between H potential and the output terminal HIT. The source of the PMOS transistor 8040 with the highest priority level is connected to the H potential, and the drain of the PMOS transistor 8042 with the lowest priority level is connected to the output terminal HIT. In each of the transistors, source potential is transferred to its drain when the signal input to its gate is at L level. At this point, the sources of the PMOS transistors 8040, 8041 and 8042 are respectively designated as propagating signal nodes P0, P1 and P2. Reference numerals 8030, 8031 and 8032 denote NMOS transistors whose sources are grounded and whose drains are connected to the drains of the PMOS transistors 8040, 8041 and 8042, respectively. The gates of the NMOS transistors 8030, 8031 and 8032 and the PMOS transistors 8040, 8041 and 8042 are respectively connected to the nodes Q0, Q1 and Q2 so as to receive the input signals. In accordance with the input signals, the NMOS and PMOS transistors are exclusively controlled.
Also, reference numerals 8050, 8051 and 8052 denote two-input AND circuits respectively having one input terminals connected to the nodes Q0, Q1 and Q2 and the other input terminals connected to the sources of the PMOS transistors 8040, 8041 and 8042. Thus, logical products of the inputs are output to the output terminals OUT0, OUT1 and OUT2 as binary address signals.
Furthermore, reference numerals 8060, 8061 and 8062 denote reset circuits. Since the reset circuits included in the respective priority circuit elements have the identical configuration, the configuration of the reset circuit 8061 alone will be herein described. The reset circuit 8061 includes three NMOS transistors 8061a, 8061b and 8061c. The source and the drain of the NMOS transistor 8061a are connected between the output terminal OUT1 and the gate of the NMOS transistor 8061b, and the NMOS transistors 8061c and 8061b are serially connected between the node Q1 and the ground. Also, the gate of the NMOS transistor 8061a is connected to the clock terminal C3 and the gate of the NMOS transistor 8061c is connected to the clock terminal C2. The signals input from these two clock terminals C2 and C3 (hereinafter referred to as the clock signals C2 and C3) are used for simultaneously controlling the priority circuit elements similarly to the clock signal C1.
Owing to this configuration, in the case where the input signal IN1 and potential on the node Q1 are at H level and potential on the propagating signal node P1 is at H level, namely, in the case where the signal on the output terminal OUT1 is at H level, when the clock signal C3 is at H level, the NMOS transistor 8061a is turned on so as to transfer the H potential of the output terminal OUT1 to the gate of the NMOS transistor 8061b. Therefore, the NMOS transistor 8061b is turned on. At this point, when the clock signal C2 is at H level, the NMOS transistors 8061b and 8061c, are both turned on, and hence, the node Q1 is reset to L potential. Alternatively, in the case where the input signal IN1 and the potential on the node Q1 are at L level, namely, in the case where the signal on the output terminal OUT1 is at L level, when the clock signal C3 is at H level, the NMOS transistor 8061a is turned on so as to transfer the L potential of the output terminal OUT1 to the gate of the NMOS transistor 8061b. Therefore, the NMOS transistor 8061b is turned off, and hence, the clock signal C2 undergoes a H transition. As a result, even when the NMOS transistor 8061c is turned on, the potential on the node Q1 is kept at L level.
Next, as an example of the case where a plurality of H-level signals are input to the input terminals IN0, IN1 and IN2 (hereinafter signals input to these input terminals are designated as input signals IN0, IN1 and IN2), an operation performed when the input signal IN0 is at L level and the input signals IN1 and IN2 are equal to each other and at H level will be described.
In this case, the clock signal C1 first undergoes a H transition, and the NMOS transistors 8020, 8021 and 8022 are turned on. Therefore, signals on the nodes Q0, Q1 and Q2 are at L, H and H level, respectively, the PMOS transistors 8040, 8041 and 8042 are placed in an on state, an off state and an off state, respectively, and the NMOS transistors 8030, 8031 and 8032 are placed in an off state, an on state and an on state, respectively. Accordingly, potentials on the propagating signal nodes P0, P1 and P2 and the output terminal HIT are at H, H, L and L level, respectively. Therefore, as a result of the operations performed by the AND circuits 8050, 8051 and 8052, signals on the output terminals OUT0, OUT1 and OUT2 undergo a L transition, a H transition and a L transition, respectively. This means that the second terminal has the highest priority level out of the input terminals having received the H-level signals.
Next, potentials on the nodes Q0, Q1 and Q2 are set to L, L and H level, respectively by the reset circuits 8060, 8061 and 8062 receiving these output signals at L, H and L level and the clock signals C2 and C3, namely, merely the node Q1 corresponding to the H-level output signal is rest, so that the corresponding output signal undergoes a H to L transition. Thus, the PMOS transistor 8041 is turned on and the NMOS transistor 8031 is turned off, and therefore, the potentials on the propagating signal nodes P0, P1 and P2 and the output terminal HIT are set to H, H, H and L level, respectively. In other words, the H-level propagating signal is propagated to the propagating signal node P2, the output signals OUT0, OUT1 and OUT2 respectively at L, L and H level are output through the operations of the AND circuits 8050, 8051 and 8052, and it is found, as a result of the aforementioned reset operation, that the H-level input having the second highest priority level corresponds to the third input signal IN2.
In this manner, even in the case where a plurality of H-level signals are input to the signal input terminals IN0, IN1 and IN2, signals with higher priority levels are successively selected, merely one H-level signal is output to one of the output terminals OUT0, OUT1 and OUT2, and it is indicated by outputting a signal at L (active L) level to the output terminal HIT that that at least one H-level signal is input to any of the nodes Q0, Q1 and Q2. Even when the number of input signals is further increased, a similar operation may be performed by additionally providing the priority circuit elements 801. This priority circuit is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 60-59595.
A conventional priority circuit 900 shown in FIG. 9 can perform similar priority processing but is different from the priority circuit 800 of FIG. 8 as follows: The PMOS transistors 8040, 8041 and 8042 are respectively replaced with NMOS transistors 9040, 9041 and 9042; the NMOS transistors 8030, 8031 and 8032 are respectively replaced with PMOS transistors 9030, 9031 and 9032; the AND circuits 8050, 8051 and 8052 are respectively replaced with NOR circuits 9050, 9051 and 9052; inverters 9070, 9071 and 9072 are additionally provided respectively between the nodes Q0, Q1 and Q2 and the gates of the NMOS transistors 9040, 9041 and 9042 and the PMOS transistors 9030, 9031 and 9032; and the propagating signal node P0 is fixed to L level instead of H level. However, the priority circuit 900 has an active H configuration in which the output terminal HIT outputs a H-level signal when a H-level signal is input to any of the input terminals, namely, when a HIT signal is detected.
In general, when transistors have the same size, a node potential can be lowered from VDD potential to 0 V by turning an NMOS transistor on faster than increasing a node potential from 0 V to the VDD potential by turning a PMOS transistor on. Therefore, the priority circuit 900 of FIG. 9 can perform the priority processing faster than the priority circuit 800 of FIG. 8.
A conventional priority circuit 1000 shown in FIG. 10 is different from the priority circuit 900 of FIG. 9 in a portion for performing the logic operation connected to the output terminals. In the priority circuit of FIG. 9, results of the logic operation performed by the NOR circuits on inverted signals of the input signals and the potentials on the propagating signal nodes are output as the output signals OUT0, OUT1 and OUT2. In contrast, in the priority circuit of FIG. 10, results of logic operation performed by AND circuits receiving inverted signals of potentials on propagating signal nodes on the input side of the priority circuit elements and potentials on propagating signal nodes on the output side are output as output signals OUT0, OUT1 and OUT2. The operation of the priority circuit of FIG. 10 is the same as that of the priority circuit of FIG. 9.
However, in the conventional configuration of FIG. 10, for example, in the case where the input signals IN0, IN1 and IN2 are respectively at H, L and L level and potentials on the propagating signal nodes P0, P1 and P2 and the output terminal HIT are respectively at L, H, H and H level, the H-level signal is transferred from the propagating signal node P1 to the propagating signal node P2 or from the propagating signal node P2 to the output terminal HIT through an NMOS transistor 10041 or 10042. Therefore, the propagated signal is lowered in its voltage correspondingly to the threshold voltages of the NMOS transistors 10041 and 10042. As a result, the H-level signal cannot attain desired high potential but is harmfully affected by noise or the like. Also, when the number of input signals is increased, the speed of the priority processing is disadvantageously lowered because the number of serially connected NMOS transistors is also increased.
Furthermore, in order to detect input signals including two or more H-level signals, it is necessary to reset the nodes Q0, Q1 and Q2 by using the clock signals C2 and C3 and the output signals OUT0, OUT1 and OUT2 every time one H-level signal with second or lower priority level is detected. Therefore, such processing cannot be completed in one cycle.
These problems also occur in the priority circuits of FIGS. 8 and 9 using signals with different polarities.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A generator for a vehicle includes a stator having an armature coil, a rotor having a field coil and a voltage regulator having a surge absorbing capacitor element and a heat sink. The heat sink dissipates heat that is transmitted to the capacitor element, so that temperature of the capacitor element can be kept low enough to prevent deterioration of the capacitor element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a generator to be mounted in a vehicle and, more particularly, a voltage regulator with a surge absorbing capacitor element of such a generator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Usually, a generator mounted in a vehicle is composed of a stator core in which an armature coil is mounted, an engine-driven rotor in which a field coil is mounted, a rectifying unit which converts ac power generated by the armature coil to dc power, a voltage regulator which regulates output voltage of the generator, etc.
Such a regulator usually adopts a duty-ratio control system to control field current to be supplied to the field coil. In such a duty-ratio control system, electric surges are sometimes generated during switching operation. Such electric surges may cause harsh noise of audio devices and severe malfunction of other electronically controlled devices. In order to suppress such electric surges, a surge absorbing capacitor element has been introduced into the generator as disclosed in JP-A-2000-209824 or U.S. Pat. No. 6,236,557 B1, a counterpart of the former.
However, such a capacitor element is usually accommodated in a voltage regulator case, which is disposed near the rectifier unit. Therefore, the capacitor element is exposed to high temperature of the rectifier unit caused by switching and rectifying operation. In addition, the capacitor element is indirectly heated by the armature coil and the field coil in operation.
The capacitor element is mainly composed of an aluminum deposited polyester film, which may deteriorate if exposed to high temperature for a long time period. Although there is an idea of replacing the polyester film by a more heat-resistive film such as a polyphenilene sulfide film, this is too expensive.


An organic light-emitting module including a light-transmissive substrate, a light extracting structure, a first electrode, an organic light-emitting stack, a second electrode, and a transparent carrying board is provided. The light-transmissive substrate has an index of refraction greater than 1.5 and has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The light extracting structure is disposed at the first surface. The first electrode is disposed on the second surface of the light-transmissive substrate. The organic light-emitting stack is disposed on the first electrode. The second electrode is disposed on the organic light-emitting stack. The transparent carrying board is connected with the light extracting structure. A minimum distance between the light extracting structure and the transparent carrying board is less than or equal to 125 μm.

An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) is a light-emitting device in which the emissive layer is a film of organic compound which emits light in response to an electric current. This layer of organic semiconductor is located between two electrodes. Generally, at least one of these electrodes is transparent.
OLEDs have been employed to produce digital displays in devices such as television screens, computer monitors, portable devices such as mobile phones, handheld game consoles and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Besides, a major area of research is the development of white OLED devices for use in solid-state lighting applications.
Generally, an OILED has high internal quantum efficiency. However, a large amount of light emitted from the emissive layer is confined inside the OLED. This is because a large amount of light is confined inside organic materials and a transparent substrate, which causes the external quantum efficiency of the OLED is about 20%. As a result, how to increase the external quantum efficiency is important for the development of the OLED.

Industrial Technology Research Institute


An apparatus and method to operate on a light beam by using a lens that collimates the light beam to a collimated beam with at least one cross-sectional dimension less than a critical dimension of 400 μm or less over a working range WR. The apparatus has a bulk electro-optic material of small thickness τ, e.g., less than 300 μm positioned within working range WR and the collimated beam traverses it along its path. The apparatus has a voltage source for applying a low operating or drive voltage Vdrive, e.g. less than 400 V to the bulk electro-optic material for performing an operation on the collimated beam. The lens for collimating the light beam is a free-space collimator such as a graded index (GRIN) lens or preferably a C-lens. The apparatus is a versatile and scalable platform that can be employed in building various electro-optic devices.

Electrically reconfigurable optic devices direct optical signals along selected fibers, or control optical signal intensity within a fiber link, or select wavelength band of an optic network in which light signals are transmitted along optical fibers to transfer information from one location to another. Optical devices of this type should have the following performance characteristics: high speed operation, low optical insertion loss, high reliability, low power consumption, easy to drive, and low cost to produce. Although reconfigurable optical devices become increasingly important in today's optical networks, they have not been widely adopted because of their poor optical performance and complex control requirements.
Reconfigurable optical devices are dominated by those with mechanical switching mechanisms, due to their low cost and good optical performance of low loss and little signal distortion. Unfortunately, these switches are slow and not sufficiently reliable.
Non-mechanical, solid-state optical, switches are more desirable due to their intrinsic high speed operation and excellent reliability as well as low power consumption. Many non-mechanical configurations have been reported based on mechanisms such as liquid crystal polarization rotation, thermal heating induced optical birefringence change, magneto-optic polarization rotation, and electro-optic retardation that changes either optical phase or polarization. For additional background on such switches that use organic liquid crystals the reader is referred to U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,452. Further information on the use of ceramic materials in such switches is taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,330,097; 6,757,101.
Among these methods, devices based on inorganic electro-optic crystals are most desirable, since this class of materials has the highest operation speed know to date. One example is LiNbO3 that has a high Curie temperature near 2000° C., making it a highly stable electro-optic material of choice for practical applications. However, a straightforward application of electro-optic crystals in conventional device configurations lead to the requirement of excessively high driving voltages well over several thousand volts, rendering it impractical. Diffusion based LiNbO3 waveguide technologies have been developed that reduce the driving voltage significantly. Also, the use of selective domain poled electro-optic materials, such as LiNbO3 wafer to reduce drive voltage to about 700 V is found in U.S. Published Application 2002/0136482. However, the planar waveguide platform inherently has high polarization sensitivity and operation bias drift. Both of these issues have to be dealt with using difficult schemes, and the fundamental mode miss-match with the fiber generates unacceptable large insertion loss.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,137,619 and 6,404,538 both to Chen et al. teach a high-speed electro-optic modulator that uses a ceramic material that exhibits a large electro-optic effect and is coupled with conventional fiber collimators. Due to its low Curie temperature, the electro-optic ceramic material exhibits instabilities such as large temperature dependence and large hysteresis, consequently requiring complex compensation or feedback control. Moreover, the switching times of devices using such material are often limited to several microseconds due to polycrystalline material structure, thus limiting the applications of such devices.
Further prior art teachings concentrate on other aspects of the optics in electro-optic devices to improve their performance. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,542,665 and 6,839,483 both to Reed et al. teaches the uses of GRIN lenses for collimating down to a beam diameter D on the order of fiber diameter 125 μm over a longer Raleigh range. U.S. Pat. No. 6,873,768 to Duelli et al. teaches fiber terminations to form a microlenses and achieve good collimation and/or focusing to thus extend the working distance with the minimum spot size (or beam diameter D) for free space interconnects and other devices. Still other teachings regarding working distances and optics can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,890,874; 6,839,485 and U.S. Published Applications 2002/0094162 and 2003/0021531.
Unfortunately, none of the prior art teaches or points the way to an apparatus that can use electro-optic materials to operate on beams efficiently and with low loss. Therefore, a micro-optic platform that overcomes these deficiencies and the deficiencies associated with waveguides, as discussed above, would be of significant commercial value and represent an advance in the art for electrically controllable fiberoptic devices.

Fiberoptic reconfigurable devices with beam shaping for low-voltage operation


An assembly, for stripping a medium from a mold cavity according to one embodiment of the present invention, may include a stripper shoe, a head structure, and a plunger component attaching the stripper shoe to the head structure. The plunger component may have an elongated body, a first portion with a first end, and a second portion with a second end. The second portion may be substantially perpendicular to the first portion and have an opening configured to facilitate fastening the stripper shoe to the second portion of the plunger component.

Molded concrete products or masonry units for use in landscaping and design have seen increased popularity with the rise in personal home renovation and improvements. The production of these concrete masonry units is accomplished using different mold assemblies to shape and form different masonry units for objectives. For example, many masonry units are used to create decorative walls and borders in landscaping projects whereas other masonry units serve as interlocking members to create interesting walkways and paths for both interior and exterior design.
The mold assemblies, which form the different types of masonry units, typically include a tamperhead component and a mold, which are driven by a special machine. A typical machine and mold assembly are typically operated under intense conditions such that the mold assembly is cycled approximately every eight to fifteen seconds, producing approximately 25-30 masonry units per cycle. Also, the machines are often run continuously, only stopping to change mold assemblies or make repairs. Although the molds may be changed more or less frequently, the machines are typically stopped two or three times a day to change the molds. Although a skilled technician may be capable of removing a mold assembly and installing a new mold assembly in the machine in approximately 30 minutes, typical mold assembly installations require significantly more time due to the need for accurate aligning of the tamperhead and the mold and calibrating the machine.
Driven by the production machinery, the tamperhead and the mold assembly function together to form and compact the concrete units in the steel cavities of the mold assembly, which form the shape and size of masonry units. After a medium, such as concrete, is poured into the mold cavities, the tamperhead specifically functions to compact the concrete in the mold cavities and then strip the individual units from the mold cavities. To accomplish this, the tamperhead is includes an upper head structure with pairs of stripper shoes and plunger assemblies.
The stripper shoes are custom designed to match with the mold cavities and fit within the inner walls of the mold cavities with only a minimal clearance. Depending on the type and size of product being manufactured, this clearance may range from about 0.2 mm to about 1.5 mm per side. If the clearance is too small, the shoe will rub against the cavity wall inducing stress in the mold and production machinery as well as premature wear. If the clearance is too big, concrete will protrude between shoe and cavity walls, forming "burrs" on top of the product which, at best, detracts from its aesthetic appeal and, at worst, creates installation problems in the field.
The stripper shoes are attached to the upper head structure by structural members referred to as the plunger assemblies. The plunger assemblies attach, typically by welding, the stripper shoes to the upper head structure in a pattern that corresponds to the pattern of mold cavities in the mold. Fabrication of the plunger assemblies traditionally includes two pieces: the backup plate and the plunger.
The plunger is commonly made of rigid length of material such as steel tubing having various cross-sectional shapes capable of providing the structural load path to compress the concrete and strip the formed concrete product from the mold. These cross-sectional shapes may be round, square, rectangle, angle, I-shaped, etc. Further, the plunger may be either solid or hollow.
Traditionally, the backup plate is welded to the plunger after the plunger has been welded to the upper head structure. The backup plate includes holes to facilitate fastening of the stripper shoe and, like with the molds and the stripper shoes, the backup plates are custom fabricated to match the stripper shoes of a specific type of masonry product.
Unfortunately, the welded construction of the two-piece plunger assembly is difficult to fabricate, susceptible to failure, and requires custom redesign for every type of masonry unit. The two-piece welded plunger assembly is costly and time consuming because each plunger assembly is custom designed to provide attachment holes for the fastening of the stripper shoe to the plunger assembly. Additionally, the weld joint between the backup plate to the plunger requires precise welding to ensure correct alignment and functionality between the stripper shoes and the mold cavities. Unfortunately, such precision welding often requires specially trained personnel and additional time and effort in preparing the components before welding.
Previous attempts to attach the stripper shoe directly to the plunger through welding have failed because of welding induced warping of the stripper shoes and the like. Furthermore, the need to precisely align the stripper shoe with the mold cavities traditionally includes tightening the fasteners between the stripper shoes and the backup plates while the stripper shoes are inserted into and aligned with the mold cavities. Additionally, the need to replace broken or damages stripper shoes without replacing the entire tamperhead has made directly welding the stripper shoes to the plunger ineffective.
Additionally, the two-piece fabrication includes a weld joint between the backup plate and the plunger, which is susceptible to failure and material fatigue. During masonry production, the mold is shaken or vibrated to compact the concrete in the molds. This vibration has been shown to induce fatigue and stress failures in the plungers and especially in the weld joints of the plunger assemblies. As a consequence, the backup plate introduces an additional weld joint which is more susceptible to failure from impact stresses or material fatigue than fastening joints, such as the joint between the between the stripper shoe and the backup plate.
Although the stripper shoes and the mold cavities must be custom designed for each type of masonry unit, the use of a custom fabricated plunger assembly for each product type is time consuming and costly. The backup plate is custom fabricated to match the bolt pattern of the stripper shoe before the backup plate is welded to the plunger. Although typically not necessary, the plunger may also need to be custom fabricated or formed from non-standard tubing to accommodate unique stripper shoe designs.
Therefore, there exists a need for a tamperhead employing a universal plunger assembly that reduces the need for custom fabrication of backup plates or plunger elements for different masonry units or product types. There also exists a need to reduce the number weld joints that are susceptible to failure between the stripper shoe and the upper head structure.

Apparatus and method for utilizing a universal plunger


A water-based ink set for ink-jet recording is provided. According to this ink set, graininess in a low density printed part can be reduced without reducing a color reproduction range in red and magenta directions in a high density printed part. In addition, the color reproduction range in the red direction can be extended to improve the vividness of red color. The water-based ink set for ink-jet recording includes a magenta ink and a red ink. The magenta ink is a light magenta ink having a lightness (L*) of about 50 or more in the L*a*b* colorimetric system. Preferably, the ink set further includes a light cyan ink having a lightness (L*) of about 60 or more and a blue ink and/or a green ink.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water-based ink set for ink-jet recording suitable for reducing graininess in a low density printed part and for extending a color reproduction range. The present invention also relates to an ink-jet recording method using this water-based ink set for ink-jet recording.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a color image is expressed by an ink-jet recording method, a three color ink set has been generally used, composed of a yellow ink (Y), a magenta ink (M) and a cyan ink (C). Moreover, a four-color ink set has also been used in which a black ink (K) is further added to the standard three-color ink set.
Generally, in an ink-jet recording method, the gradation of an image is controlled by adjusting the density of dots formed by ejecting ink onto a recording material. However, when the gradation is controlled by such a method, the dot density decreases in a low density printed part. Relative to this, the individual dots become easily discernable to the eye, thereby causing the image to be grainy.
In view of the above, a method has been proposed in which two or more inks are employed as a cyan ink (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 1-95093). In this method, these inks have different dye concentrations and are composed of different kinds of dyes. In addition, a dye which is excellent in vividness but inferior in light fastness is employed as a dark color ink, and a dye which is excellent in light fastness but inferior in vividness is employed as a light color ink. Moreover, a similar method has been proposed for a magenta ink (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 2-127482). However, according to these methods, graininess can be improved, but a color reproduction range cannot be extended.
Generally, in a three-color ink set composed of yellow, magenta and cyan inks, and also in a four-color ink set in which a black ink is added to the three-color ink set, red color is expressed by use of the magenta ink and the yellow ink. When these two inks are used to express red color as above, sharp printing quality and good color developing properties are difficult to achieve due to a landing error of superposition. This is also the case when blue color is expressed by use of the magenta ink and the cyan ink and when green color is expressed by use of the cyan ink and the yellow ink.

Water-based ink set for ink-jet recording and ink-jet recording method


A method and apparatus to dynamically adjust the amplitude of a signal comprising information read from an information storage medium. The method first forms (N) digital signals comprising information read from an information storage medium. The method provides a first signal comprising information read an information storage medium, wherein that first signal is one of the (N) digital signals. The method provides a first gain level, and calculates a first gain adjusted signal comprising the multiplication product of the first signal and the first gain level. To dynamically adjust that gain level, Applicants' method determines a gain error. Using that gain error, Applicants' method then calculates a second gain level by multiplying the gain error times a multiplier coefficient, and adding that multiplication product to the first gain level.

Automated media storage libraries are known for providing cost effective access to large quantities of stored media. Generally, media storage libraries include a large number of storage slots on which are stored portable data storage media. The typical portable data storage media is a tape cartridge, an optical cartridge, a disk cartridge, electronic storage media, and the like. By "electronic storage media," Applicants mean a device such as a PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash PROM, compactflash, smartmedia, and the like.
One (or more) accessors typically accesses the data storage media from the storage slots and delivers the accessed media to a data storage device for reading and/or writing data on the accessed media. Suitable electronics operate the accessor(s) and operate the data storage device(s) to provide information to, and/or to receive information from, an attached on-line host computer system.
Removeable media, whether magnetic, optical, or electronic, are subject to variability. Such variability includes, for example, inconsistencies between manufacturers of that media. In addition certain magnetic/optical media comprise encoded information using pulse position modulation. Other magnetic/optical media, comprise encoded information using pulse width modulation. Some media comprise information encoded using both pulse position modulation and pulse width modulation. In addition, such variability arises from modernization of the media.
In order to minimize the effects of such media variability, what is needed is an apparatus and method to dynamically adjust the amplitudes of the digital signals provided to a detector, where those digital signals comprise information read from an information storage medium.

Apparatus and method to dynamically adjust the amplitude of a signal comprising information

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates to an electronic control unit for a vehicle. The electronic control unit for a vehicle can improve waterproof efficiency of a space between an upper case and a lower case in order to prevent damage to internal components, thereby improving steering stability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic control unit for a vehicle, and more particularly to an electronic control unit for a vehicle that can improve the waterproof efficiency of a space between an upper case and a lower case to prevent damage to internal components, thereby improving steering stability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a steering apparatus for a vehicle according to the related art.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the steering apparatus 100 for a vehicle according to the related art can perform a tilting or telescoping function while a tilt bracket is contracted or expanded radially, that is, in a direction perpendicular to a steering shaft 101 when a tilt lever is fastened or unfastened when a hollow inner tube 105 surrounding the steering shaft 101 is inserted into an outer tube 103.
The inner tube 105 has a hollow shape surrounding the steering shaft 101 and a lower mounting bracket 107 is coupled to a cowl bracket (not shown) coupled to a vehicle body by means of a tilt hinge tube 111, so that the lower mounting bracket 107 may be rotated about the tilt hinge tube 111 during a tilting operation, and the outer tube 103 may be slid axially along the inner tube 105 during a telescoping operation.
A mounting bracket 109 is coupled to an outer periphery of the outer tube 103, and an upper surface of the mounting bracket 109 is fixed to the body of the vehicle to fix the steering apparatus 100.
An electronic control unit 117 connected to a torque sensor and a gear housing 113, in which a reducer for assisting steering power using a driving force of a motor 115, is installed are coupled to one side of the steering apparatus 100.
However, in the steering apparatus for a vehicle according to the related art, the electronic control unit 117 includes a housing 119 for protecting internal components, and a cover coupled to the housing 119, and accordingly, moisture may permeate between the housing 119 and the cover, damaging various components in the electronic control unit, and thus making it impossible to secure steering stability.


A slot card issued by a slot club, or a membership card in another incentive award program, that is also capable of being used as phone calling card is provided. Free calling time is credited to the member's card account in response to the playing of the slot machine or utilizing the respective service. After incentive points are awarded, the member may use the membership card as a prepaid phone calling card, whereby the member's account is debited for the cost of the call.

The present invention relates generally to a system for awarding prizes to members of an incentive program, such as a casino slot club, and more particularly, to a system for utilizing the membership card for such an incentive program as a prepaid phone calling card to award and redeem points to a member in the form of prepaid time for a telecommunications service.
Slot machines, such as video poker, reel machines, video keno or video blackjack devices (hereinafter, collectively referred to as "slot machines"), are an important source of income for the gaming industry. Despite the fact that the odds generally favor the casino, players still play slot machines in large numbers, in hopes of hitting a large jackpot, as well as for their entertainment value.
Each slot machine is designed to ensure that, on average, the casino retains a predetermined percentage of the total amount gambled (the house advantage or "vigorish"). In fact, slot machines generally have a higher house advantage than the table games of blackjack, poker or craps. Thus, the more these slot machines are played, the greater the revenue to the casino.
Accordingly, casinos constantly search for marketing strategies and programs to appeal to players and to distinguish their slot machines from competitors in the industry. For example, as an added incentive to play their slot machines, many casinos offer "slot club" programs to reward slot machine players. Each player in a slot club is generally issued a player tracking card encoded with the players' tracking identifier. The casino awards "player reward points" for the player as he plays slot machines in that casino. The "player reward points" can generally be redeemed for merchandise or services at the casino hotel.
In many cases, however, the incentive provided by conventional slot club programs may not be sufficient to attract new players or to retain existing casino players at slot machines. With conventional slot club programs, for example, the player reward points must typically be exchanged for merchandise and services at the casino hotel. Thus, once the player has left the casino, the player has limited options for redeeming the points in a convenient manner.
In addition, although it would be desirable for casinos to give a small, immediate and affordable reward to a player for his continued play, conventional slot machines can only pay out an integral numbers of coins. Thus, a small reward of a fractional amount of less than one coin is impractical with conventional systems. If a casino could cost-effectively provide an award to players every time the player pulls the handle, the slot machine may be advantageously promoted as providing a "win for every spin."
It is well known for vendors to sell prepaid calling cards for telephone calls at a fixed or standard rate. Such prepaid calling cards may allow, for example, the caller to call anywhere in the United States at any time of the day for a rate of 16 cents per minute, with a correspondingly higher rate charged for international calls. In addition, "rechargeable" prepaid calling cards are known which may be recharged by purchasing additional time, generally in blocks of minutes. Since the prepaid calling card is merely a pointer to an account maintained by the vendor, the card itself is not necessarily required to make a telephone call. There are no known prepaid calling cards, however, which allow minutes to be accumulated as an incentive award for the use of a particular service.
One casino slot card club offers a separate "giveaway" prepaid calling card, having a predefined value, as an incentive to join the club. However, this additional card simply acts as a standard prepaid calling card, and does not function as a slot card. Once the prepaid calling time is used up, the prepaid calling card cannot be refreshed by slot usage. Moreover, none of the known slot cards permit the accumulated bonus points to be redeemed for free phone time.

Method and apparatus for awarding and redeeming prepaid telephone time

Walker Asset Management Limited Partnership


A nebulizer includes a main body unit, an atomization unit, and a breath detection unit, which is a function unit for realizing an additional function of the nebulizer. The main body unit and the atomization unit are separable. The atomization unit includes a storage section for storing the medicinal solution, and an atomizing section for spraying the medicinal solution by atomizing the medicinal solution in the storage section. The main body unit includes a control circuit for performing control to operate the atomizing section. The breath detection unit is attachable between the main body unit and the atomization unit.

A nebulizer in which a main body unit and an atomization unit are separable is commercially available from the related art (e.g., mesh type nebulizer NE-U22 manufactured and sold by applicant). Since the atomization unit including a medicinal solution tank or the like can be separated from the main body unit, the atomization unit to which the medicinal solution easily attaches can be easily cleaned.
The nebulizer configured by the main body unit and the atomization unit realizes the basic function of the nebulizer of atomizing the medicinal solution.
A nebulizer mounted with an additional function of changing the spray state in addition to the basic function also exists. For example, a nebulizer having a breath detection function of detecting the breathing state (exhale, inhale) of the patient and capable of spraying only at the time of inhaling also exists. For example, WO 2006/128567 pamphlet (patent document 1) discloses detecting of breathing by a structure of opening and closing a spray gas opening from an inner pressure of an inhaler by breathing. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-190044 (patent document 2) discloses detecting of breathing by sound.
In the field of medical apparatuses, a function module type medical care device has been proposed from the related art as shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-336281 (patent document 3). Such medical care device includes a common function section including at least one of a display unit, an operation unit, and a power supply unit, and a module connecting section for connecting a function module having an individual medical care function in a changeable manner, where the medical care function of the connected function module is used in the common function section.

Nebulizers and function units attachable to nebulizer


An RF recurrent billing system in which an account number associated with a recurrent billing account is stored within an RF transaction device. The user of the RF transaction device may present the device for completing a transaction, and the transaction, if successfully completed, is billed to the user's recurrent billing account. The user is billed for the transaction during a billing cycle, typically occurring on a regular basis according to the recurrent billing account.

An increasing number of service organizations, stores, merchants, utilities, banks, Internet merchants and others (collectively "merchants") are enrolling repeat customers in a recurrent billing program, where a customer's transaction card (e.g., credit card) is automatically billed on a periodic basis. If a customer agrees to the recurrent billing feature, the customer provides the merchant with a credit card account number to which the billing amount is applied. The merchant may then establish a customer database of account numbers or customer numbers with additional information for charging the customer account.
Over time, authorization for some of the established recurrent billing accounts may be declined because the information in the merchant database is outdated. For example, a credit card provider may change a credit card account number or expiration date or simply cancel the customer's credit card privileges. Upon receiving the "authorization declined" response from the transaction card company (e.g., the provider), the merchant typically contacts the customer to determine the cause of the decline. Alternatively, a merchant may continuously try to re-authorize the charge, hoping that the discrepancy which led to the "authorization declined" is removed and that the charge will eventually be accepted by the provider.
However, where the merchant attempts to contact the customer, several problems may arise. For example, the customer may not be available or may not be aware that his credit card privilege status has changed. Further, the customer may be unwilling to provide the merchant with a supplemental or secondary transaction card suitable for recurrent billing. Moreover, for the merchant, updating of the information by attempting to contact the customer may be inefficient and costly. The merchant may be faced with allotting additional workforce for carrying out a customer contact program which returns little in the way of answers and revenues. Further, where the customer's charge privileges have been revoked by a provider, it is often a difficult task for the merchant to secure another form of payment when the customer may just as well cancel the customer's enrollment in the merchant's recurrent billing program. That is, the declined authorization may provide the customer the opportunity to cancel the order or cancel the merchant's access to the transaction card. Consequently, a need exists for a system which would allow a merchant to update the merchant's recurrent billing database as changes to a customer's transaction card information occurs.
Presently, no known sufficient system or method for automatically providing updated recurrent billing customer database information to a merchant exists. There are various systems and methods described in the prior art, however, which address a similar problem. One such system which teaches a Distributed Information Logistics Service (DILS) that automatically retrieves updated files from a remote server for delivery to local client programs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,175, issued Feb. 22, 2000, to Chow et al., herein incorporated by reference. The system disclosed in Chow et al., uses a software agent called a Revision Manager which aids in insuring that a merchant may retrieve the most recent version of a document the merchant has previously accessed over a network.
The Revision Manager software disclosed in Chow et al., acts as a kind of client connected to a network server, which is capable of sending updated documents to a merchant who has previously accessed an older version of the document. In Chow et al., the merchant is able to identify for storage in a cache managed by the Revision Manager, frequently used individual network retrievable documents. In one embodiment, the merchant is able to designate the frequency at which the Revision Manager notifies the merchant of changes to the identified documents. In another embodiment, the merchant will be automatically notified of changes when the merchant attempts to access a document's older version.
While the Chow et al. system may be adequate for automatically receiving updated documents over a network, the system is insufficient for use in updating a recurrent billing customer database. For example, the Chow et al. system does not enable a merchant to make changes to the documents stored in the Revision Manager Cache. Consequently, where a merchant wishes make a change to a recurrent billing customer's information (e.g., the customer account number), the Chow et al. system is insufficient for providing a means to make the change.
Moreover, the Chow et al. system provides update services for only those documents specified by the Revision Manager system user. For a merchant who wishes to add a customer to a customer update database, Chow et al. offers no way of ensuring that the customer (e.g., document) maintains a valid transaction account. That is, where a merchant wishes to pre-authorize a customer transaction account prior to adding the customer to a system for providing updates, the Chow et al. system would be insufficient to accomplish the pre-authorization task.
It is therefore desired to create a system which will update a merchant's customer recurrent billing database in response to changes made to the customer billing information, particularly for Radio Frequency (RF) payment devices. It is preferred to have a system providing convenience and control by reducing or eliminating the need to contact each merchant for a change in an account. A system of great advantage to the merchant may be able to update the merchant's customer database in response to changes made by the transaction account provider or by the merchant. It is also desired, more particularly, to provide a system which allows an account holder to "charge" transactions to the accountholder's recurrent billing account without the need to use a conventional "charge card" system. This type of desired system may be useful for customers who do not have a charge card account or would prefer to having multiple billings on one bill, for example.

Recurrent billing maintenance with radio frequency payment devices


An image forming apparatus comprises a fixing unit for fixing toner image onto a sheet on which the toner image is formed, and a redelivery path for delivering the fixed sheet ejected from the fixing unit to the image forming unit again. A curved path receives the fixed sheet ejected from the fixing unit, reverses the sheet, and delivers the sheet to the redelivery path again. The redelivery path includes a horizontal-registration detection sensor for detecting the edge of the sheet in the width direction and a color density sensor for detecting the color density and color of an image formed on the sheet. A curl-corrector is disposed downstream of the curved path to straighten the curled sheet and then send the sheet to the horizontal-registration detection sensor and the density sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine and a printer, and more specifically, relates to an apparatus that has a mechanism to straighten a curled sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some known image forming apparatuses, such as copying machines and printers, are capable of reversing and ejecting a sheet after forming an image on the sheet and/or are capable of forming images on both sides of the sheet. Such image forming apparatuses include a mechanism for reversing and ejecting the sheet and/or a delivering mechanism for reversing the sheet so that an image can be printed on one side of the sheet after an image has been printed on the other side.
Such a known image forming apparatus having such mechanisms comprises an image forming unit including a photoconductive drum, a charging unit disposed in the circumference of the photoreceptor drum, a developing unit, and a transferring unit. When forming an image on a sheet, the sheet is supplied from a paper-supplying unit to the image forming unit, where a toner image is transferred to the sheet. Then the sheet is sent to a fixing unit, where the unfixed toner on the sheet is fixed by heat and pressure. Finally the sheet is ejected from the image forming apparatus.
If an image is also to be formed on the other side of the sheet, the sheet having an image on one side is sent to a reversing path. Subsequently, the sheet is reversed and sent to a reversed-side path so as to deliver the sheet to the image forming unit again. The reversing path is curved and connected to the reversed-side path. The curvature of the reversing path is maximized so as to minimize the width of the image forming apparatus.
In the reversed-side path of such an image forming apparatus, a horizontal-registration detection unit for detecting the alignment of the sheet in the direction orthogonal to the delivery direction of the sheet (hereinafter this direction is referred to as the "width direction" of the sheet) and delivery rollers are provided. To form images on both sides of a sheet, after an image is formed on one side of the sheet, the front edge of the sheet is disposed against the delivery rollers to correct skew. Then the horizontal-registration detection unit detects the edge of the sheet in the width direction. According to the detected results, the position of the image to be formed on the second side of the sheet is adjusted.
An image-detection unit for detecting the color density and color of an image is disposed on an ejection unit of the image forming apparatus for ejecting the sheet on which an image has been formed by the image forming unit. The image-detection unit is provided so as to constantly maintain the color density of the images formed on sheets of paper at an appropriate value. After a reference image having a predetermined color density is formed on a sheet at the image forming unit, the color density of the reference image is detected by the image-detection unit. The measured color density is compared with the desired color density so as to prepare a conversion table. This conversion table is used to control the color density of the image by converting the color density characteristics of the image data in accordance with the conversion table.
However, in the above-described image forming apparatus, when a sheet is delivered through the fixing unit, the sheet curls due to the heat and pressured applied.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-199142, to straighten the sheet curled at the fixing unit, a curl-corrector is disposed directly after the fixing unit. The curl-corrector straightens the sheet curled at the fixing unit so that a straightened sheet is delivered to the reversed-side path.
A sheet that has passed through the fixing unit of a known image forming apparatus is heated to a high temperature. Therefore, even if a curl-corrector is provided to straighten the sheet that has passed through the fixing unit, the sheet may curl again when it passes through the curved guide of the reversing path since the sheet may not be sufficiently cooled while it passes through the curved guide of the reversing path.
To efficiently form images on both sides of a sheet and to increase the productivity of the image forming apparatus, a plurality of sheets of paper should repeatedly be circulated through the delivery path of the image forming apparatus and held still at a predetermined time interval so as to minimize the time interval between the formation of an image on each sheet. To repeatedly circulate and hold still a plurality of sheets of paper for image formation, the sheets of paper must be held still at the curved guide of the reversing path. However, the sheet held still at the curved guide of the reversing path curled even more.
When such a curled sheet is delivered through the image forming apparatus, the sheet cannot smoothly enter the nip between the delivery rollers in the reversed-side path. Therefore, the front edge of the sheet cannot be accurately disposed against the delivery rollers to correct skew. Consequently, the detection accuracy of the horizontal-registration detection unit is reduced and sheets of paper easily become jammed in the delivery path.
To avoid such problems, the curvature of the curved guide of the reversing path may be decreased so that the sheets of paper that pass through the guide path curl less. However, reducing the curvature of the curved guide of the reversing path causes an increase in the size of the reversing path and thus causes an increase in the size of the overall image forming apparatus.
The detection accuracy of the image-detection unit may be increased by providing backup rollers that straighten the sheets of paper by pressing against the sheet. However, to provide such backup rollers, the structure of the image forming apparatus becomes complicated and the production cost increases.