A flexible printed circuit board connector includes a housing, a sliding cover and a pair of support nails. A pair of guiding grooves and a pair of insertion holes are defined in sidewalls of the housing for receiving the support nails. A protruding portion is formed on each support nail to form a pivotal hole between the protruding portion and inner surfaces of the groove. The sliding cover has a pair of cam shafts rotatably supported in the pivotal holes. The cross section of each cam shaft has an utmost protrudent point which brushes past an inner surface of the pivotal hole when flipping the sliding cover. The length of the longest chord of the cross section that passes the utmost protrudent point is longer than the distance between the inner surface brushed by the utmost protrudent point and its opposite inner surface of the pivotal hole. To flip down the sliding cover, a considerable force is needed to overcome the interference between the utmost protrudent point and the inner surfaces of the pivotal hole. Therefore, the sliding cover is prevented from being accidentally turned over.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flexible printed circuit board connector, especially to a flexible printed circuit board connector with a sliding cover capable of facilitating the insertion/release of a flexible printed circuit board therein/therefrom.
2. The Related Art
Nowadays, flexible printed circuit boards are widely applied in many kinds of electrical devices due to their high flexibility and thin structure. Accordingly, connectors for connecting the FPC boards to other electrical components of the electrical devices are mass-employed.
One example of the connectors of the prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Publication No. 2002/0106924 published on Aug. 8, 2002. The flexible printed circuit board connector has a block and a slider mounted on the block to define a space for receiving a printed circuit board. The connector further has a plurality of terminals disposed in the block and extended into the space for electrically connecting the printed circuit board. The slider is provided with locking portions at its front end and shaft portions at its rear end. The block is provided with anchoring portions at its front end to engage with the locking portions. The block is further provided with bearing portions at its rear end for rotatably supporting the shaft portions, thereby enabling the slider to be pivotal between an open position where it permits the printed circuit board to be inserted/released into/from the connector and a closed position where the locking portions engage with the anchoring portion to lock the slider to the block. In the closed position, the printed circuit board can be locked between the slider and the block.
However, the bearing portions and the shaft portions are designed that the shaft portions can be freely rotated in the bearing portions. When the slider is lifted to the open position to insert or release the flexible printed circuit board, the slider may be flipped down due to accidental hit on the slider, which disturbs the insertion or release operation and more badly makes the operator have to do the operation again.
Hence, an improved flexible printed circuit board connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.

Connector for flexible printed circuit board


The present invention provides a band clamp with an improved lock between the band and the buckle of the band clamp. The improved lock is of the type of lock where the band is passed through the buckle and then shaped to form a locking surface that engages the exterior of the buckle to prevent the band from being pulled back through the buckle. Characteristic of the improved lock is that the lateral cross-section of the locking surface is, in one embodiment substantially V-shaped. In other embodiments, the lateral cross-section is substantially U-shaped and substantially .OMEGA.-shaped.

The use of a hand tool to tighten a band clamp has long been known. Band clamps are typically used to secure bundles of materials together and to secure pipes, wiring, etc. In one such application, a band clamp is applied to secure a protective metal braiding around a bundle of wiring which is connected to a plug or coupler known as a back shell.
Back shells are frequently used in military and aerospace applications where wiring carrying low voltage signals are conducted. Both the cables and the connectors must be protectively covered with a metallic substance to limit the harmful effects of radiation thereon. This metallic shielding must be without any "windows" (openings) and must in all parts have a ground connection with only low resistance to effectively minimize any electrical potential this "shielding" system may receive due to external or internal electromagnetic radiation (such as radio emission, cosmic rays, lightning strike, explosion of an atomic device, etc.). The diameter of the back shell body is typically larger than the diameter of the cable entering thereinto, and in order to have a satisfactory interconnection, a banding tool must be capable of applying a band clamp proximate the intersection of the back shell body and the cable entry stem. Thus the banding tool should be approximately the same width as the band clamp to be applied and should be capable of applying the band clamp from any direction.
One tool for tightening band clamps to a back shell is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,403, to Young et al., Feb. 23, 1988. The Young et al. device uses a toggle arrangement to tension the band clamp in place. Upon reaching the appropriate tension in the band clamp, the tool locks in a closed condition. To sever the tail from the tightened band clamp, a cutting arm must be rotated outwardly and upwardly from the side of the banding tool.
Due to the externally attached cutting device, the Young et al. banding tool is capable of applying a band clamp close to the back shell from only one direction. If a band is attempted to be connected from the opposite direction, the cutting device may prevent proper installation. The Young et al. tool is therefore limited in its application and becomes difficult to operate in confined spaces such as are found in aircraft fuselages.
Additionally, Young's tool uses toggles to transfer tension and toggles generally have a short power stroke in order to make the tool usable by an average person. Therefore, a larger size tool is required to sufficiently tension the band.
Another banding tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,738 to Marelin et al., May 29, 1990, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. The '738 tool uses toggles to provide the power stroke and counteracting springs to achieve the desired tension in a band. It is necessary to force the band to bend around internal portions of the tool during tensioning. Additionally, the tool is not designed with overall width as a primary consideration.
Still another banding tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,087,655 to Prestwich, Jul. 20, 1937, the '655 device has a gripper section which holds one end of the band to be tensioned while a tensioning section grips and pull the other end of the band. The tensioning section comprises a double set of knurled wheels with a first set fixed and a second set movable. While the first set prevents slippage of the band, the second set tensions the band. While there is an angle between the tensioning section and the gripper section, this angular relationship does not provide the advantages of the present invention. Thus there is a need for a method and apparatus to allow tensioning of a band clamp to a back shell from either direction.
An additional concern is the lock established between the band and the buckle of a band clamp. Particularly, the type of lock that is of concern is one in which the free end of a band, whose other end is operatively attached to a buckle, is wrapped about an object and inserted through a passageway extending through the buckle and then bent to create a surface which engages the exterior of the buckle preventing the band from pulling back through. The lock itself is defined by the engagement of the band to the exterior of the buckle. For example, in one lock of this type known to those skilled in the art, the lock is formed by bending the band transverse to the length of the band and away from the object about which the band clamp is wrapped to create the surface, a lip, which engages the upper exterior surface of the buckle to lock the band in place.
The known locks of the type that are formed by bending the band to create a surface that engages the exterior surface of the buckle suffer from many deficiencies and inadequacies. Particularly, a problem prevalent among known locks of this type is their lack of holding power in certain circumstances. One such circumstance is when the lock is used to secure a band clamp about an object which is capable of expansion and contraction. In this situation, the known locks of the aforementioned type are susceptible to failure upon expansion of the object. Consequently, there is a need for a lock of the aforementioned type that exhibits improved strength in these and like circumstances.
A further problem of known locks of the stated type is the force required of the banding tool to create the lock. In many instances, the force necessary to create the locks necessitates the use of a power tool or if a hand tool is employed, considerable force must typically be applied by the operator. For example, in the lock in which the band is bent transverse to its longitudinal axis and away from the object about which the band clamp is wrapped, the devices presently used to shear off the excess band make the entire cut at one time. Further, the force necessary to make the entire cut at once increases as the width of the band increases and as the thickness of the band increases. However, the use of a power tool is not practical in many applications. Similarly, in many situations it is not possible for an operator to apply the requisite force to a hand tool. Consequently, there is a further need for a lock that can be readily formed with hand banding tools.
An additional problem in the aforementioned type of lock is its susceptibility to snagging. Specifically, the known locks of this type are formed in a manner in which they are susceptible to failure due to edges of the lock snagging on articles that can destroy the lock between the band and the buckle by "unbending" the band. For example, the lock formed by bending the band transverse to its longitudinal axis typically has an exposed edge where the excess band has been sheared that is readily snagged. Further, the snagged edge of the lock may damage the material or object that has been snagged. As is apparent, there is a further need for a lock of the defined type that is less susceptible to snagging.
A further problem in the known locks of the aforementioned type is their susceptibility to tampering. For example, the known lock in which the edge of the band is bent away from the object about which the band is wrapped can be defeated with simple tools, such as a pair of pliers, and by hand in some instances. Therefore, there is an additional need for a lock of the defined type that is less susceptible to tampering.
A further problem for locks of the aforementioned type, and especially those in which the band is bent transverse to the length of the band to create a lip that engages the upper exterior surface of the buckle, is that the tool which is used to create the lock and the clamped object must be rotated relative to one another to form the lip. During this rotation process, it is necessary to release some of the tension in the band to prevent the portion where the lock is to be established from thinning or breaking. Hence there is a need for a lock that can be formed while substantially avoiding having to release tension in the band, relative rotation between the band and the clamped object, or thinning of the band in the lock area due to rotation. Concomitantly, there is a need for a tool for forming such a lock.
A further problem of the known locks of the aforementioned type is the inability of one banding tool to create the locks with various widths of the band. Consequently, a separate banding tool must be acquired for each width of band and associated buckle that is employed. Hence, there is a need for a lock that can be formed in band clamps of varying widths by one banding tool.
An additional problem of the known locks is their relative short life. Band clamps are often used in circumstances where they are unprotected from various elements, including the weather, and under great force. In these circumstances, the formation of known locks do not provide the long-life characteristics desired.
A further problem of the known locks is the difficulty in forming a proper lock in circumstances wherein the bundle or object sought to be secured is, for example, at a remote location. The known locks are inadequately designed to be formed by hand-held tools as opposed to machine tools, due to the forces required to form the lock.
Based on the foregoing, there exists a need for an improved lock for a band clamp that is of the type in which the band is bent to form a surface that engages the exterior surface of the buckle and method for making same that exhibits improved strength characteristics. Among other things, there exists a need for a lock of this type that exhibits improved strength characteristics, that can be readily made with hand tools as well as mechanized tools, that is less susceptible to snagging, that is tamper resistant, that permits a single tool to be used to create a lock in band clamps of different widths, and that can be formed while substantially avoiding the release of any tension in the band, relative rotation in the band, rotation between the band and the clamped object, or thinning of the buckle. Moreover, there is a need for a tool and method for forming such a lock.

Lock between band and buckle of band clamp


In a system comprising a data processing unit and at least one output device, the data processing unit extracts from output information prepared by an application program media resource information needed in outputting the output information from the output device. The data processing unit reads needed media resource information from media resource storage on the basis of the extracted information, downloads the read media resource information into the output device and then outputs the output information to the output device to initiate an outputting process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an output processing system for achieving efficiency in preparing various types of fonts and form overlay information specified for output processing in a computer system.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system. When processing results of an application program executed by a data processing unit 1 are printed out, output information 3 to be printed is temporarily stored in magnetic disk storage, for example, in an output queue 4. The output information 3 placed in the output queue 4 is then retrieved in sequence by a print processing unit 5 and fed to a printer 6 for printout.
When a document or a predesigned cut form is printed, the font and size of characters and form overlay are specified in predetermined locations in the output information 3. Thus, various types of character pattern information and form overlay information must be prepared and changed as specified.
To this end, the printer 6 has a character resource storage facility 7 for holding such character pattern information and form overlay information (hereinafter referred to as character resource information). When character resource information specified by the output information to be printed is stored in the character resource storage facility 7, it is used for printing. When the specified character resource information is not stored in the character resource storage facility 7, the printing process is interrupted and necessary character resource information is requested from the printing processor 5.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of another computer system. To print out the processing results of the application program 2 executed by a data processing unit 10, the output information 3 to be printed is temporarily stored in magnetic disk storage before being placed in the output queue 4. When the output information 3 placed in the output queue 4 is information to be output to one of the terminals 13, it is retrieved in sequence by the printing processor 11 and output to a desired terminal 13 for printout via a terminal controller 12.
The terminal controller 12 is generally connected to and controls a plurality of terminals 13 the terminal controller 12 has a character resource storage facility 14 to store character resource information which is shared among the terminals 13. To this end, required character resource information stored, for example, on a magnetic floppy disk is read and loaded in advance into the character resource storage facility 14 via an input device 16.
The terminal 13 executes a printing process in accordance with the output information 3 received from the printing processor 11 via the terminal controller 12. Each of the terminals stores character resource information used for printing control in its own character resource storage facility 15. If the character resource information specified by the output information is not stored in the character resource storage facility 15, the terminal 13 requests that the terminal controller 12 transfer the specified character resources from the character resource storage facility 14 to its character resource storage facility 15. If, in this case, the terminal controller 12 also does not have the requested character resource information in its character resource storage facility 14, printing stops and the printing processor 11 is notified that the requested character resource is not stored in the character resource storage facility 14.
In the conventional output processing system described above, if the necessary character resource information is not available, the terminal has to interrupt printing to request and receive desired character resource information in the configuration shown in FIG. 1, or stop printing in the configuration shown in FIG. 2. This reduces printing efficiency.

Output processing system permitting efficient loading of media resource information used in an output device


A method of creating a solenoid temperature estimator includes operating a solenoid based on a data point including a plurality of operating parameters and determining a temperature of the solenoid. The method further includes recording steady-state values for the temperature and each of the plurality of operating parameters and generating the solenoid temperature estimator based on the steady-state values.

Internal combustion engines combust an air and fuel mixture within cylinders of the engine to produce drive torque. Engines can include a turbocharger that increases torque output by delivering additional air into the cylinders. One traditional turbocharger includes a variable nozzle turbo (VNT). VNT's include variable position vanes that regulate the amount of air delivered through the VNT. The vane position ranges from a fully-open position to a fully-closed position. In the fully-open position, the VNT delivers a minimum amount of air to the engine. In the fully-closed position, the VNT delivers a maximum amount of air to the engine. The vanes can be positioned between the fully-open and fully-closed positions to provide an intermediate amount of air to the engine. A vane solenoid adjusts the vane position based on a control signal and a vane position sensor generates a signal indicating the actual vane position for feedback control.
In general engine components, such as the vane solenoid, are affected by temperature. Traditionally, temperature sensors are incorporated at or near critical engine components to monitor temperature. In components such as VNTs, including a temperature sensor increases cost (e.g., cost of the sensor itself, wiring, packaging, etc.) and complexity. Further, because such components normally do not include temperature sensors, temperature based diagnostics and/or remedial actions are not included in traditional engine control systems.

Variable nozzle turbo (VNT) solenoid temperature estimator


There is provided a liquid level detection apparatus for detecting the level of a liquid, including a pair of first electrodes, a pair of second electrodes arranged at a different height to that of the first electrodes, a pair of electrode leads having respective ends connected with the first electrodes and sandwiching therebetween the second electrodes, a grounding unit that changes, between a current-carrying state and an open state, a second electrode current bypass from the second electrodes to a ground line, a first electrode capacitance measurement unit that measures a first electrode capacitance between the first electrodes, with the second electrode current bypass set in the current-carrying state to establish a connection from the second electrodes to the ground line, and a level determination unit that determines the liquid level based on the first electrode capacitance between the first electrodes and a second electrode capacitance between the second electrodes.

The present invention relates to a liquid level detection apparatus that has a pair of first electrodes and a pair of second electrodes to detect the level of a liquid in a container based on a capacitance between the first electrodes and a capacitance between the second electrodes.
It is known that a pair of electrodes develops a capacitance therebetween depending on the permittivity of a material around the electrodes. In view of such a known fact, there has been proposed a liquid level detection apparatus having a pair of electrodes to detect the level of a liquid based on a capacitance developed between the electrodes. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-079016 discloses a liquid level detection apparatus of the proposed type, having a sensor that includes a pair of linear sensor electrodes, a pair of linear reference electrodes and a printed circuit board insulatively supporting thereon the sensor and reference electrodes. The sensor and reference electrodes are arranged at different height positions such that the whole of the reference electrodes and at least parts of the sensor electrodes are immersed in a test liquid. In this state, the liquid level detection apparatus measures a capacitance between the sensor electrodes and a capacitance between the reference electrodes, calculates a permittivity of the test liquid from the reference electrode capacitance, and then, determines a level of the test liquid based on the sensor electrode capacitance and the test liquid permittivity.


In alternative embodiments, the invention provides articles of manufacture comprising biocompatible nanostructures comprising PolyEther EtherKetone (PEEK) surface-modified (surface-nanopatterned) to exhibit nanostructured surfaces that promote osseointegration and bone-bonding for, e.g., joint (e.g., knee, hip and shoulder) replacements, bone or tooth reconstruction and/or implants, including their use in making and using artificial tissues and organs, and related, diagnostic, screening, research and development and therapeutic uses, e.g., as primary or ancillary drug delivery devices. In alternative embodiments, the invention provides biocompatible nanostructures that promote osseointegration and bone-bonding for enhanced cell and bone growth and e.g., for in vitro and in vivo testing, restorative and reconstruction procedures, implants and therapeutics.

PolyEther EtherKetone (PEEK) is increasingly being used in spinal implants and investigated as a biomaterial for orthopedic implants because of its mechanical toughness, resistance to thermal and chemical degradation and non-toxicity. Its main advantages over titanium are its x-ray translucence and elastic modulus similar to that of bone. PEEK can be easily viewed with radiography and magnetic resonance to assess implant positioning and stability. It reduces stress shielding in bone and bone resorption, which are common problems from implanted metals with mismatched elasticity properties. PEEK is only now beginning to be explored as a material for joint replacements. It has been shown as an excellent material for articulation in the joint; however, it does not interface well with bone. There is a need for chemically or micro/nanostructurally modified PEEK surfaces which adhere strongly to the PEEK substrate and bond well with bone

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Inorganically surface-modified polymers and methods for making and using them

The Regents of the University of California


The present inventions, in one aspect, are directed to a system comprising a portable sensor device including a housing having a physical size/shape that is adapted to couple to a user's body, an identification tag including identification data which is associated with the sensor device and an identification tag transmitter to responsively and wirelessly transmit the identification data according to a first communication protocol. The system further includes a portable electronic device including an identification tag receiver to wirelessly receive the identification data of the identification tag according to the first communication protocol, transceiver circuitry to wirelessly and responsively communicate with the sensor device according to a second communication protocol, and processing circuitry to instruct the transceiver circuitry, after receiving the identification data, to wirelessly request, from the sensor device the sensor data and/or data which is representative of the sensor data.

Briefly, users of electronic devices typically have to learn abstract operating systems to be able to use their portable electronic devices. For example, to perform a synchronizing operation or function, a portable activity/biometric monitoring device (such as a Fitbit activity tracker) to another/second electronic device (for example, a smart phone or computer), the user navigates through one or more virtual menus or screens on the portable activity/biometric monitoring device, launches or initiates execution of the application, navigates through the application to find a synchronization menu (on the portable electronic device(s)), and finally enables, initiates and/or implements a synchronization operation between the portable activity/biometric monitoring device and the smart phone or computer. This user interaction often is not as intuitive as many other physical interactions. For example, to open an automatic door, one simply has to move in front of the door and it opens. This interaction with the automatic door is so natural and intuitive that someone completely unfamiliar with an automatic door would be able to open it. In one aspect, the present inventions described herein aim or are directed to replace non-intuitive user interactions found in conventional user interfaces with more intuitive interactions, for example, as natural as the automatic door.
Again, there are many inventions described and illustrated herein. The present inventions are neither limited to any single aspect nor embodiment thereof, nor to any combinations and/or permutations of such aspects and/or embodiments. Each of the aspects of the present inventions, and/or embodiments thereof, may be employed alone or in combination with one or more of the other aspects of the present inventions and/or embodiments thereof. For the sake of brevity, many of those combinations and permutations are not discussed separately herein.
Moreover, many other aspects, inventions and embodiments, which may be different from and/or similar to, the aspects, inventions and embodiments illustrated in the drawings, will be apparent from the description, illustrations and claims, which follow. In addition, although various features and attributes have been illustrated in the drawings and/or are apparent in light thereof, it should be understood that such features and attributes, and advantages thereof, are not required whether in one, some or all of the embodiments of the present inventions and, indeed, need not be present in any of the embodiments of the present inventions.

Near field communication system, and method of operating same


An embodiment of the invention is meant to prevent/allow microcode updates after an operating system is booted on a platform. A processor includes a lock directive that, when set, prevents microcode updates to occur after the operating system has been booted. In an embodiment, the lock directive is read during boot of the processor. A lock indicator is then written to an accessible location so that an attempt to patch, or update, microcode after the operating system has booted will be prohibited if the lock indicator indicates that microcode patch updates are not allowed. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to information processing systems and, more specifically, to boot processing for computer systems.
2. Background Art
Before a computer system can operate, it must have an operating system (OS) in its memory that allows the computer's resources to be reached and controlled by the other software, such as the various application programs. The computer hardware has a non-volatile, comparatively simple bootstrap program to perform a boot sequence and load the operating system from disk. Typically, the bootstrap program is invoked by a BIOS (basic input/output system) program.
While most of the hardware of a computer system is provided by the computer vendor, the BIOS is typically provided by third party vendors, so the computer vendor has limited knowledge of, and control over, the specific contents of these items. However, the computer vendor may become aware of microcode patches that should be loaded during the boot process.
Regarding microcode patches, a typical instruction in a CISC (complex instruction set computer) computer processor performs a series of operations, with microinstructions that define some of the more complex operations being encoded in a non-volatile storage area in the form of microcode. The microcode defines all or a portion of the executable instruction set for the processor, and may also define internal operations that are not implemented in software-accessible code. The microcode is typically placed in a read-only memory (ROM) within the processor at the time the processor is manufactured. However, microcode sometimes needs to be modified after the processor is manufactured, and even after the processor has been placed into operation. Microcode patches allow such modification by adding additional microinstructions or inserting new microinstructions in place of the original microinstructions.
The microcode patches can be delivered to the processor in various ways. One manner of delivering patches is that the processor may support a field-upgradeable mechanism for the microcode ROM store; this mechanism is referred to as the microcode update. The microcode patches supported by the microcode update allow for changes to the microcode ROM in the field, in order to address errata, etc.
Some third-party vendors do not wish to support the microcode update mechanism. This is because the microcode update mechanism allows patches to be loaded via an interface to the operating system after the computer system (including BIOS code) has otherwise been validated by the third-party vendor. The ability of a user or IT department to load patches utilizing the microcode update mechanism after the system has been validated and shipped by the third party vendor may cause stability, quality and validation issues against the platform state that was shipped from the third-party vendor's factory. That is, subsequent patches may obviate the validation of the system, causing quality issues for a previously validated system, thereby reflecting poorly on the third party vendor that validated the system. Accordingly, at least some third-party platform vendors would prefer to incorporate all patches into a BIOS that has been fully updated with all microcode patches, validate the system, and know that no future microcode patches can be loaded later by the operating system.

System and method to control microcode updates after booting an operating system in a computing platform


The present invention relates to Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1) Group P of the strain designated 06CMU14788 and fragments thereof, primers which are derived from HIV-1 Group P, immunogenic regions thereof, immunoassays and nucleic acid based assays for the detection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that employ said HIV-1 Group P or fragments thereof and therapeutic compositions containing said HIV-1 Group P or fragments thereof.

The human acquired immunodeficiency viruses HIV-1 and HIV-2 are retrolentiviruses, which are viruses found in a large number of African primates. The origin of HIV-2 appears to be clear on account of its strong homology with the Sooty Mangabey (West Africa) virus. However, the origins of HIV-1 are less clear. Type 1 HIV viruses have been subdivided into three groups, i.e. the M (major) group, an O (outlier) group and N group (non-M, non-O). Each group appears to represent a separate transmission of a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) from nonhuman primates into humans; groups M and N appear to have originated in chimpanzees (Pan troglydytes troglodytes). The origin of group O is unknown; the closest known nonhuman virus to group O is an SIV identified in western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) however, group O and SIVgor form genetically distinct lineages. In August 2009, Plantier, et al. reported the identification and partial genome sequence of HIV-1 group P (hereinafter "RBF168"), a virus that is most closely related to and that appears to have originated from SIVgor (Plantier J-C, Leoz M, Dickerson J E, et al. (2009) Nature Medicine 15:871-872). To date just this single group P virus has been reported. However, the genome of this new variant was not fully sequenced. The genetic diversity of HIV-1 has the potential to impact blood screening, diagnostics, therapeutic monitoring, resistance to antiretroviral agents, vaccine development, and pathogenesis of HIV. The demonstration of new variants is important for developing sufficiently sensitive and specific reagents for detecting HIV infections, that is to say reagents which do not lead to false-negative or false-positive results, and for developing compositions which are protective in regard to HIV-1 subtypes which do not belong either to the M group, the O group or to the N group.

Human immunodeficiency virus and uses thereof


An engraver including an automatic tool changer and verification system for changing engraving tools on engraving heads. The engraver includes a turret having a plurality of workholders for holding a plurality of replacement tools. Some of the workholders are empty for replacing a worn tool from an engraving head on the engraver. When it is desired to change a tool on the engraving head, an empty tool holder is indexed to a tool changing position opposite the engraving head whereupon the worn tool is transferred from the engraving head to the tool changer. Thereafter, the tool changer is indexed to a position where a replacement tool is situated in opposed relationship with the engraving head. The tool changer includes a pneumatic system for causing the worn tools and replacement tools to be transferred between the engraving head and the tool changer. The engraver also utilizes a tool verification routine for verifying that a tool on the engraving head is the correct tool and/or is not defective. Moreover, the engraver may be equipped with an engraving head turret having multiple engraving heads for indexing into engraving relationship with a cylinder to be engraved. The multiple-engraving head turret facilitates, for example, reducing the number of required tool changes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an engraver, and more particularly, systems and methods for automatically changing tools or components mounted on an engraving head, switching engraving heads and verifying a tool situated on the engraving head on the engraver.
2. Description of the Related Art
The basic principle of electro-mechanical engraving of a gravure cylinder involves rotating a plated cylinder while actuating an electronically driven tool or stylus which cuts or engraves engraved areas, cells or lines of engraved areas into a surface of the plated cylinder. The engraved cylinder is normally used in a web-type gravure printing press for printing paper, plastic, metallic film material or other printed material. In the gravure printing process, the engraved cylinder is flooded with ink, and a doctor blade wipes off excess ink from the surface of the cylinder so that the engraved cells or lines of cells contain an appropriate amount of ink which is transferred to the material being printed.
To obtain a high quality print, it is necessary that the cells be very accurately placed, located or engraved on the cylinder surface, usually within one or two microns of a desired predetermined location. The depth of the engraved cells must also be accurately controlled since the depth determines the amount of ink transferred which, in turn, determines the shade of gray in a black/white print, for example. In a color print, the amount of ink transferred to the paper or materials is even more critical since multiple colors are typically mixed to produce various shades of all possible colors. A slight variation in the desired amount of ink affects not only the color, but, more importantly, the density of the desired color.
In order to properly control the depth of the cells, the relative location between the plated cylinder and the electrically driven tool, which is typically a diamond stylus, must be accurately controlled. In order to ensure that the stylus is maintained at a constant distance from the plated cylinder as the cylinder rotates in the engraving process, the engraving head containing the stylus is provided with a diamond shoe tool which contacts the cylinder to maintain a desired predetermined spacing between the stylus and the cylinder.
When the stylus exits an engraved area or cell, a burr of material is commonly created around the edges of the cell, and the burr material, is removed by a diamond burr cutter mounted on the engraving head adjacent to location of the diamond stylus and the diamond shoe tool. Past burr cutters have comprised diamond tools having a cutting edge which is located over the center of an engraved cell or row of engraved cells to remove the burr material. The alignment between the burr cutter and the cylinder would vary with variations in the diameter of the cylinder such that it was necessary for an operator to perform an alignment operation and to place the cutter in tangential engagement with the cylinder surface whenever the cylinder diameter was changed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,914 illustrates a simplified system and method showing tools on the engraving head formed with a cartridge-style construction. For example, a cartridge diamond stylus is provided having a trapezoidal cross section for facilitating positive registration and position of the stylus within the engraving head. Other tools, such as a shoe and/or burr cutter are provided in a detachable cartridge arrangement to facilitate quick mounting and replacement of an existing shoe or burr cutter, respectively, such that the shoe or burr cutter also became aligned and registered on the engraving head.
It was not uncommon that, during the engraving process, one or more of the tools on the engraving head became worn, broken or otherwise need to be replaced for various reasons. For example, it was not uncommon that, when changing from one engraving job to another engraving job, it was sometimes necessary to change engraving stylus. In this regard, multiple styli were typically available with included cutting angles of between 90 and 145 degrees in five degree increments. One engraving job may require the use of a stylus having a 100 degree stylus angle, while a second engraving job may require the use of a stylus having a 135 degree cutting angle. Moreover, a single engraving job may require the use of several styli having different cutting angles.
It was not uncommon that other tools mounted on the engraving head had to be changed periodically as well. Sometimes, the tools were manually changed at periodic maintenance intervals after a tool had a predetermined number of engraving hours thereon. If a stylus would happen to break between such maintenance intervals and such break was not detected, then the engraver would continue attempting to perform engraving with the broken stylus. This sometimes resulted in an inferior or unacceptable engraving quality. If this occurred, then the broken stylus caused the surface of the cylinder to be damaged, sometimes beyond repair to a degree that the entire cylinder became scrap.
Unfortunately, the changing of tools on the engraving head was a time consuming manual process. The engraving head had to be halted or stopped during the changeover, thereby resulting in engraving downtime.
Also, there was no convenient method or system for using multiple tools, such as multiple styli, without changing the tools.
Still another problem is that it would sometimes occur that due to operator error, for example, the stylus mounted on the engraving head was incorrect because, for example, it had an incorrect cutting angle. Some engraving systems of the past could optically detect a broken stylus, but they could not verify its cutting angle.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved engraving system and method which facilitates a quick and automatic change over of one or more tools on one or more engraving head, which can provide multiple tool set capability and which has tool verification capability.


A motor driver circuit (12) for providing drive signals to stator coils of a polyphase dc motor (10) includes a plurality of current paths, each connected between a supply voltage and a reference potential. Each current path includes two driver transistors (14,20, 16,22, 18,24), a node (A, B, C) of each of the stator coils being connectable between the driver transistors in respective current flow paths. A commutator (26) is connected to operate the driver transistors in a sequence in which drive currents are delivered for application in a predetermined sequence to the stator coils. A plurality of sensing transistors (32) are connected to produce a mirror current which mirrors a mirrored current in an associated driver transistor (20) in a respective current flow path. Circuitry (26) is provided which is responsive to the mirror currents of the sensing transistors to control the amplitudes of the currents in the associated driver transistor in a respective current flow path. At least one trim transistor (51-55) is connected in parallel with a respective one of the sensing transistors (50), and a programmable circuit (48) is connected to selectively activate the at least one trim transistor to adjust the amplitudes of the mirrored currents in the current flow path with which the sensing transistor with which the at least one trim transistor is associated.

1. Field of the Invnetion
This invention relates to improvements in driver circuits and methods for polyphase dc motors, and more particularly to improvements in circuitry and methods for sensing currents in power driver transistors for polyphase dc motors, and still more particularly to improvements in circuits and methods for improving the accuracy of current sensing in polyphase dc motor driving circuits.
2. Relevant Background
Typical hard disks, such as used in personal computers, CD-ROM drives, and like applications typically are rotated by polyphase dc motors. A polyphase dc motor, and, in particular, a three phase dc motor, which is widely used in such applications, has three coils connected between respective nodes A, B, C, and a common center tap node, CT. As current is commutatively applied to flow through successive sets of the coils, a rotor is caused to rotate in synchronism with the commutation frequency. Typically the current is applied to flow through the coils in a sequence as follows: AC, BC, BA, CA, CB, and AB.
The currents are controlled by a current driver circuit, which typically includes three current paths, each including two driver transistors. The driver transistors may be, for example, FET devices. Each current path is connected between V.sub.CC and ground with the coil nodes A, B, and C connected respectively between each set of driver transistors. The driver transistors between the coil nodes and V.sub.CC are generally referred to as the "high side drivers" and the transistors connected between the coil nodes and ground are generally referred to as "low side drivers." A commutation circuit sequentially applies control voltages to the gates of the respective high and low side drivers to cause currents to flow in the motor coils in the sequence described above.
Typically, the currents in the respective current flow paths of the driver circuit are desirably equal, but due to variations in fabrication processes, mask alignments, and so on, the FET driver transistors in the respective paths typically have tolerances, for instance, in their channel widths or lengths, resulting in inequalities in the respective currents. As a result, noise and other undesirable effects result. Such unequal currents also reduce the precision of the motor speed. As densities of hard disk drivers become greater and greater, such imprecisions result in limitations on the densities that might be achieved in a particular hard disk drive.
In HDD-servo applications it is customary to use an expensive high tolerance external sensing resistor as a mean to measure the motor current. Recently, it has been suggested to replace the external sensing resistor with an internal FET device, which generally saves cost and printed circuit board area.
Thus, to detect the currents flowing in the power transistors in the current flow paths of the motor, FET devices may be connected as current mirrors to mirror the current in the power transistors, generally the low-side driver transistors. The mirror transistors are typically made small compared to the size of the power transistors, ratios of 15/1 being typical. It is, however, desirable to make the mirror transistors very small in comparison to the power transistors, but design tolerances result in greater imprecision amongst various mirroring transistors as the size ratio increases.
However, the use of such FET mirror devices often produces poor accuracy because of the large size difference between the power devices and the mirror devices. Normally current flowing through one transistor can be mirrored to another transistor with relatively good accuracy if the devices are of similar size. In motor driver applications, for power FET devices where there are amps of current flowing in the primary devices, it is desirable to use a large ratio (on the order, for example, of 1500:1) between the power FET and the mirror device. If a smaller ratio were to be used, a large amount of power would be wasted in the control circuitry because of the large current in the mirror device. However, with a mirror ratio at the order of 1500:1, the mirror accuracy will not be very good, and can be expected to vary on lot and device basis.
Moreover, in a 3-phase motor, for example, current sensing technology using FET devices requires mirroring of currents from three different current devices. Since variations among the power devices generally exist, the motor current in each of the three phases varies as the motor commutates from phase to phase. In addition to causing torque ripple, a varying motor current may create drive resonances and audible drive noise in the 2-4 kHz range, which is a typical commutation frequency.
What is needed, therefore, is a circuit and method that provide phase current accuracy through mirror transistors of relatively small size, to remove a source of torque ripple, audible noise, and motor inaccuracies.

Trim circuitry and method for accuracy in current sensing


An image signal generating device has a Y-memory, an R-Y-memory and a B-Y-memory, in which a luminance signal and R-Y and B-Y color differential signals are stored, respectively. When the luminance signal and the color differential signals are recorded on a magnetic disk, the signals are read out from the memories in such a manner that an upper half of the frame is read in a first order and a lower half of the frame is read in a second order which is the inverse of the first order. The first order corresponds to a direction from the upper side of the frame to the middle portion of the frame. The second order corresponds to a direction from the lower side of the frame to the middle portion of the frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image signal processing device by which an image signal corresponding to one frame is divided into a plurality of parts to be recorded on a plurality of tracks of a recording medium, such as a magnetic disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a typical still video device, an image signal inputted thereto is frequency-modulated and recorded on a magnetic disk, and the frequency band of the signal recorded on the magnetic disk is regulated. Nevertheless, the bandwidth of the signal is limited, due to the construction of the disk device, and thus, cannot be freely expanded. Accordingly, in a conventional still video device, when an image signal having a high quality or broad bandwidth is inputted to the still video device, a limit is imposed on the resolution of the image and thus, the quality of the image is limited.
The inventor proposed, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/913,191, corresponding to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 5-30461, 5-48999, 5-56391 and 5-56392), a still video device in which an image signal corresponding to one frame is divided into a plurality of parts and stored in a memory, and the divided parts of the image signal are time-expanded and recorded on a plurality of tracks of a recording medium, such as a magnetic disk, so that a high quality image can be obtained without changing the bandwidth of a signal recorded in the recording medium.
In this still video device, when the image signal is A/D converted to be stored in the memory, the standard of the A/D conversion is set by using a pedestal level provided at a starting point of each of horizontal scanning lines. Namely, in a clamping circuit, the pedestal level is clamped based on a clamp pulse such as a burst flag signal generated in accordance with a horizontal synchronizing signal, and shifted to the standard level of the A/D conversion.
As shown in FIG. 1, however, in the vertical synchronizing period Vsync, since there is no pedestal level (i.e., clamp pulse), the clamping circuit must be stopped. Accordingly, in the vertical synchronizing period Vsync, the output voltage of the clamping circuit is lowered due to the time constant of the clamping circuit, and it takes some time until the output voltage recovers to the normal value after a new horizontal synchronizing signal is inputted to the clamp circuit.
Namely, regarding a horizontal scanning line N which is provided immediately after the vertical synchronizing period Vsync, the A/D conversion value is set to a lower value than the normal value as indicated by the reference M. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, in the upper portion of each of the divided frames, the luminance signal level is made low, and thus, the portion immediately after the join portion J formed by combining the two divided frames is darkened.

Image signal processing device in which a frame is divided into a plurality of parts


The present invention provides methods for determining the structure and/or function of one or more domains of a cation-dependent (and preferably calcium-dependent) polypeptide (particularly a calcium-dependent enzyme, which may be a protease such as calpain) in the presence of one or more cations. The invention further provides methods for identifying a ligand having the ability to bind to one or more ligand-binding domains (LBDs) of a cation-dependent (and preferably calcium-dependent) polypeptide, and ligands identified by these methods. The invention also provides methods of treating or preventing physical disorders in animals using these ligands.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally pertains to the fields of molecular biology, protein crystallization, x-ray diffraction analysis, three-dimensional structural determination, rational drug design and molecular modeling of related proteins. The invention provides methods for determining the structure or function of one or more domains of a cation-dependent (and preferably calcium-dependent) polypeptide in the presence of one or more cations. The invention further provides methods for identifying a ligand having the ability to bind to one or more ligand-binding domains (LBDs) of a cation-dependent (and preferably calcium-dependent) polypeptide, and ligands identified by these methods. Finally, the invention provides methods of treating or preventing physical disorders in animals using these ligands.
2. Background Art
Protein Domain Analysis. Large proteins are typically made up of more than one domain and sometimes more than one subunit. This can complicate structure determination by X-ray crystallography if an attribute of any one part of the molecule is inhibitory to crystallization. Sometimes the overall flexibility of the multidomain structure can make it difficult for the protein to crystallize. In addition, large proteins (>40 kDa) are out of the range for structure determination by NMR techniques. One approach to circumvent these problems is to try to split the protein into domains and determine the structure in a piece-by-piece fashion. Here it is helpful to have information from sequence comparisons and or partial proteolysis to delineate the domain boundaries.
Calpains. The conventional calpains, better known as the m- and μ-calpains, are mammalian cellular cysteine proteases activated by Ca2+. They are the founding members of the calpain superfamily, which contains isoforms from mammals to various organisms such as Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans (Sorimachi, H. and Suzuki, K. J. Biochem. (Tokyo) 129:653–664 (2001)). They function in Ca2+ signaling by modulating biological activities of their substrates through limited proteolysis (Sorimachi, H. and Suzuki, K. J. Biochem. (Tokyo) 129:653–664 (2001)). The conventional calpains are indispensable during development as indicated by knockout mice lethality (Arthur, J. S., et al., Mol. Cell Biol. 20:4474–4481 (2000); Zimmerman, U. J., et al., IUBMB. Life 50:63–68 (2001)) and they have been implicated in apoptosis (Wang, K. K., Trends Neurosci. 23:59 (2000)), cell cycle (Santella, L., et al. Cell Calcium 23:123–130 (1998)), and cell motility (Cox, E. A. and Huttenlocher, A., Microsc. Res. Tech. 43:412–419 (1998)). While physiological Ca2+ levels inside the cell are too low (<1 μM) for uncontrolled activation of either m- (>100 μM) or μ-calpain (>5 μM) (Croall, D. E., and DeMartino, G. N., Physiol Rev. 71:813–847 (1991)), during certain pathological states cellular Ca2+ levels can increase enough to achieve calpain activation without the aid of putative endogenous activators. Under such circumstances unrestrained proteolysis by calpains can result in tissue damage seen during ischemic injury (heart, brain)(Wang, K. K., and Yuen, P. W., Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 15: 412–419 (1994); Lee, K. S., et al., Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 825: 95–103 (1997)) and neurodegeneration (Alzheimer's disease) (Patrick, G. N., et al. Nature 402: 615–622 (1999); Lee, M.S., et al. Nature 405: 360–364 (2000); Nixon, R. A., Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 924: 117–131 (2000)). Administering existing calpain inhibitors has proven to lessen or prevent the onset of such conditions, but the lack of specific calpain inhibitors weakens the effectiveness of such therapies (Wang, K. K., and Yuen, P. W., Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 15: 412–419 (1994)).
The crystal structures of rat (Hosfield, C. M., et al., EMBO J 18:6880–6889 (1999)) and human (Strobl, S., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 97:588–592 (2000)) m-calpain heterodimers determined in the absence of Ca2+ have revealed a circular arrangement of domains. The circle extends from the anchor peptide (˜20 residues) at the N terminus of the large subunit (80 kDa), through the cysteine protease region (domains I˜190 residues and II˜145 residues), along the C2-like domain III (˜160 residues), down the linker (˜15 residues) and into the EF-hand-containing domain IV (˜170 residues). Domain W makes intimate contacts with the homologous 28 kDa small subunit (domain VI) through pairing of their fifth EF-hands, and the small subunit completes the ring by binding to the anchor peptide. Domain V of the small subunit is invisible in the human heterodimer structure likely due to its high content of glycine residues. In this circular structure, domains I and II are held slightly apart and miss-aligned such that the active site cleft is too wide for catalysis. Activation by Ca2+ must realign domains I and II to bring the catalytic residues in register for peptide bond hydrolysis. However, in the absence of a Ca2+-bound crystal structure the mechanism of activation of calpain remains controversial (Sorimachi, H. and Suzuki, K. J. Biochem. (Tokyo) 129: 653–664 (2001)). Although it is not clear if, and how, Ca2+ binding to the EF-hand domains initiates activation, some of the early events in this process, such as the autoproteolytic removal of the anchor peptide and/or the release of the small subunit, break the protein circle and lead to a general increase in susceptibility to proteolysis (Moldoveanu, T., et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1545: 245–254 (2001)). It has heretofore been unknown whether these conformational changes release the constraints on domains I and II and allow them to form an active protease.
The difficulty in solving the structure of the calpain heterodimer in the presence of Ca2+ arises from subunit dissociation, often followed by large subunit aggregation under crystallization conditions. Nevertheless, a desirable template for rational drug design would be the assembled active site. The present invention provides such assembled active sites, and methods for producing and using such active sites.

Methods of determining polypeptide structure and function


Systems and methods are provided for forecasting and managing daily electrical demands. In some embodiments, a computing platform may receive historical demand data corresponding to historical electrical demand over a first period of time. Next, the computing platform may determine a reference rate of change (ROC) and a statistical mode corresponding to a number of positive ROCs. After, the computing platform may receive current demand data corresponding to current electrical demand over a second period of time. Subsequently, the computing platform may determine an alarm condition corresponding to a daily peak electrical demand. Following, the computing platform may generate one or more commands directing a second computing platform to display the alarm condition. Afterwards, the computing platform may transmit the one or more commands directing the second computing platform to display the alarm condition.

Utility companies have studied electrical demand forecasting. However, most of the studies propose the concept and necessity of demand forecasting, a technique for load forecasting, pros and cons, verification of the method, and its application in the real world. Maximum demand forecasting is usually the result of load forecasting in these literatures. In other words, most of the work has been done in forecasting the load pattern as the first step, instead of predicting the maximum demand itself. Forecasting the load pattern requires more data as input, and intense calculation. In comparison, forecasting the maximum demand on the consumer side, known as "behind the meter", can be as hard as forecasting on the utility side due to the fact that the consumer side has much lower load in comparison to utility load. This load profile is more sensitive to the major energy consuming equipment such as chillers, Heating, Ventilation Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems, compressors and large motors.

Forecasting and managing daily electrical maximum demands


A method and system are implemented for verifying connection status information associated with a specific display attachment location. Specifically, one embodiment of the present invention sets forth a method, which includes the steps of receiving a first signature representative of a first set of connection states tracked by a graphics subsystem associated with the display attachment location, authenticating whether the integrity of a content path including the display attachment location is maintained based on the first signature, and deciding whether to continue sending the content to the display attachment location so that requirements associated with protecting the content are satisfied.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to content protection techniques, and more specifically to a method and system of determining the compliance of encrypted and non-encrypted display outputs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Digitization of content not only provides new ways to distribute and commercialize content, but it also enables new and easier ways to violate copyright or to steal or misuse premium content such as feature films. To combat rampant piracy of digital content, some content providers have developed advanced content protection schemes in digital medium such as laser disks and cable/satellite TV, and impose strict requirements on the licensees of such conveyance schemes in order to safeguard their premium content. For example, the content protection licenses for popular content formats and mediums, such as Digital Versatile Disc ("DVD"), Blu-ray, High Definition ("HD") DVD, Fairplay, and OpenCable, include requirements of safeguarding the handling and protection of content during the decode process to prevent unintended interception and copying.
One of the requirements is to verify the compliance of the display outputs to the standards of the content protection schemes before delivering or continuing to deliver data to such display outputs. With all the different types of display devices that are available today, there is a need for a client application to efficiently and thoroughly verify the compliance of the display devices, regardless of whether the display devices support encryption.
As a part of verifying the compliance of the display outputs, especially when dealing with a graphics adapter that has many content outputs, whether the display content actually reaches an intended display output destination needs to be verified. FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram illustrating how the content to be played by a content player 102 executing in a computer system 100 may be maliciously rerouted from an intended output destination to an unintended one. Suppose the content is initially stored in a storage device 104. To play back the content, the content player 102 causes the content to be retrieved from the storage device 104 and temporarily stores it in a specific location of the memory 106 for processing. After a conventional graphics adapter 110 in the computer system 100 processes the display content, it sends the processed content in the form of a display content stream to an intended output or an attach point 125. An attach point generally refers to a physical attachment location for a display device, such as a High-Definition Multimedia Interface ("HDMI") connector or an internal panel. Here, the graphics adapter 110 has two attach points, AP#1 and AP#2. The AP#1 is attached to a display device 132 and is the intended attach point in this illustration. Suppose the AP#1 is a Digital Visual Interface ("DVI") connection that supports High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection ("HDCP"), and the AP#2 is associated with an unprotected analog connection to an analog display device 134. As the display content stream travels through the graphics adapter 110, a rogue agent may redirect the display content stream to the AP#2 instead. Even though the content player 102 is assured by the driver of the graphics adapter 110 that the AP#1 is the destination for the display content stream, the rogue agent can, without being detected by the content player 102, modify software-accessible registers in the graphics adapter 110 to cause the redirection of the display content stream to the unprotected AP#2. Once redirected, the display content stream can be illegally duplicated.
As the foregoing illustrates, what is needed in the art is a method and system that are capable of determining the compliance of a display output and address at least the shortcomings of the prior art approaches set forth above.

Method and system for determining the compliance of encrypted and non-encrypted display outputs


An opening and closing apparatus for feed drops in a feed conveying system has a plurality of containers are disposed for receiving feed from a conveyor system, each of the containers having an opening in the bottom thereof. A respective valve member is disposed adjacent each one of the openings and each respective valve member has a closed position for preventing feed from falling out of each respective opening, and an open position permitting the feed to fall out of each respective container through each respective opening therein. A somewhat rigid transverse member is provided adjacent to each one of the containers and this transverse member is biased to a first position and is movable to a second position. A respective elongated member is operatively attached at one end thereof to the transverse member and is operatively attached to a respective one of the valve members at the other end thereof.

A feed drop is essentially a container attached to an animal feed conveying system. Any number of feed drops, from one to several hundred, may be attached to a single feed system and they are used to simultaneously dispense a preset amount of feed to each animal being fed. Feed dispensing from feed drops may be accomplished manually or automatically by pulling a tripping cable attached to all the feed drops. The animals may be fed from one to several times a day. After the feed drops are emptied and before the next feeding, the feed conveying system will be manually or automatically started and the feed will be deposited sequentially into each feed drop.
A typical feed drop discharge controller uses flexible cords, ropes or cables to which the feed drop dispensing device is attached. Such a feed drop is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,857, which is incorporated herein by reference. This dispensing device can be a pivoted door, a sliding door, a ball, a flap, a valve, etc. A flexible cord will adequately pull open a feed drop device but will not push the door back into place to close the feed drop opening. If any object, such as the feed itself, a feed pellet, a rock, or any other thing such as pulleys connected to the ropes malfunctioning interferes with the opening of the dispensing device, it may not completely close before the feed drop refilling begins. This is a serious problem. If the feed drop device does not close after the feed has been dispensed, the opening in the feed drop will allow additional feed to flow down to the animal while the feed conveying system is conveying feed. Feed may continue to flow through that open feed drop until the holding bin is emptied of several tons of feed. Some animals may get sick and die from overeating, feed is wasted and some animals will miss their scheduled feeding.
Consequently, there is a need for a new and improved opening and closing apparatus for a feed drop for solving the aforementioned problems.

Opening and closing apparatus for feed drops in a feed conveying system


A rotary file is disclosed herein for holding a plurality of photo holders slideably carried on a pair of spaced-apart rings between support members which are mounted on a base by a swivel mechanism. The rings include an extension arm securing each ring to a turning shaft having its opposite ends rotatable through the spaced support members. Each ring includes a space or gap between opposing end segments selectively opened and closed by a closure element such as a movable sleeve or the like. Each photo holder includes openings to receive the rings so as to be slideably carried thereon. Knobs mounted on opposite ends of the turning shaft permit manual rotation of the shaft about a horizontal axis while the photo holders are loosely held on the rings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of rotary files, and more particularly to a novel rotary file for movably supporting a group of picture holders for movement about a horizontal axis between support members carried by swivel means on a base.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In the past, a number of rotary files have been employed for holding record cards or photo cards in such a manner that as a spindle is rotated, the plurality of cards will pass the view of the user so that the user may select an individual photo card for analysis or display. One such prior rotary card file is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,059. Problems and difficulties have been encountered with such a record holder, which stem largely from the fact that a closure means for occupying a gap in the ring is achieved by a spring mechanism which travels on a linear segment also used to support the ring on a turning axis. By such a means, the closure spring is difficult to reach and to operate due to the fact that it is completely captured on the linear segment of the ring and cannot be readily removed from the ring unless completely slid around the ring to a single end segment defining one end of the gap. Also, difficulties have been encountered because the spindle for holding the rings and the plurality of photo cards cannot be rotated or swiveled into a different orientation due to the fact that the plurality of photo cards are edge-mounted on the rings and the turning axis of the spindle is along a vertical axis.
Other problems relate to the fact that the plurality of photo cards are unevenly disposed by their side mountings onto the rings so that the outer sides or edges of the photo cards have a tendency to drop and engage with the base which action obstructs the turning of the cards by the user.
Therefore, a long-standing need has existed to provide a novel photo holder of the rotary type which eliminates the possibility of photo card engagement with its supporting structure and which provides an improved swivel arrangement permitting the user several axes of rotation in order to view the picture cards. Improvement is also needed in the area of ring gap closure so that such closure is convenient to the user and will not obstruct slideable movement of the picture cards.


An optical pickup has a suspension base, a holder suspended from the suspension base by wires in a form of a cantilever, an optical system provided in the holder and having a mirror and an objective mounted in a body, and a flexible wiring plate connected between the holder and the suspension base. Effective length of the flexible wiring plate for focusing is approximately equal to suspension effective length of the wire. The flexible wiring plate comprises a pair of horizontal planes perpendicular to focusing direction and a vertical plane perpendicular to tracking direction provided between the horizontal planes.

The present invention relates to an optical pickup for reproducing data on a disk such as a compact disk (CD) and a laser disk (LD), and for producing a focus error signal and a tracking error signal for focusing and tracking the pickup.
FIG. 11 shows a conventional optical pickup. The optical pickup comprises a holder 1 having a coil 2 for focusing and a coil 2a for tracking, a pair of supporting plates 9 and 9a, and print circuit boards 6 and 6a secure to the supporting plates 9 and 9a. The holder has an optical system 1a. The holder 1 is suspended from the print circuit board 6 and 6a by four conductive wires 5. A pair of yokes 4 each having a magnet 3 are mounted on the supporting plates 9 and 9a, respectively. The holder 1 is disposed between the yokes 4 so as to oppose the coil 2 and 2a to the yokes, respectively. The holder 1 has a plurality of elements which are connected to a circuit substrate 8 through a flexible wiring plate 7. The flexible wiring plate 7 is curved at a central portion thereof for connecting the holder to the circuit substrate 8. An exciting current is supplied to the coils 2 and 2a, through the conductive wires 5 for moving the holder 1 in the focusing direction and the tracking direction.
In such a device, when the holder 1 is moved in the focusing direction, the flexible wiring plate 7 is twisted at a central portion thereof. Restoring force of the flexible wiring plate 7 causes the holder 1 to tilt with respect to the optical axis. Consequently, it is difficult to accurately focus the optical system of the pickup.

Optical pickup having flexible wiring plate with focusing effective length which eliminates plate restoring force induce pickup tilt during focusing


A vehicle muffler, which is structured in a coiled fashion, has a tube extending through the circumferential wall. This tube is welded to the circumferential wall and fastened by mechanical deformation to a support wall of an inner insert piece.

The invention relates in particular to a transverse downstream muffler. Concerning the manufacturing of the circumferential wall, mufflers are divided in two modes of manufacturing, namely mufflers made up of a shell construction and such made up of a coiled construction. In the case of a shell construction two deep-drawn sheet metal parts are connected with each other at their edge, while with the coiled construction a sheet metal part is coiled around a core and is closed, subsequently the insert piece and the outer plates are inserted from the side and then closed axially by crimping.
The invention relates to a vehicle muffler in coiled construction. Usually, the gas inlet and gas outlet are provided on the end walls, namely optionally at opposite sides or on the same side. It is also common to lay the gas inlet through a circumferential wall into the muffler, with the inlet tubes being welded with their ends to the circumferential wall.
The invention relates to an exhaust gas muffler in which the connection between the tube associated with the circumferential wall and the circumferential wall itself is more stable and stands under less strain.


A method includes receiving, by a computing device of a media service provider, a search request associated with a first product. The search request is received from a media device associated with a subscriber of a service provided by the media service provider. The method includes, in response to the search request, determining, by the computing device, a responsible party associated with the first product based on a purchase date of the first product and a return period for the first product. The method also includes sending, from the computing device to the media device, contact information of the responsible party. The contact information is to be displayed by the media device to a display device with an option to contact the responsible party.

Advances in technology have provided opportunities for manufacturers and retailers to save costs associated with providing certain functions of after purchase customer care. For example, the costs of providing instructions or customer support may be reduced by providing such instructions as downloadable content via a network. However, some customers may not be able to access Internet based content. Accordingly, potential cost savings may not be available since customer care functions for these customers may not be reduced. To illustrate, customers that do not have an Internet connection may not be able to access how-to manuals or other instructional information, thereby requiring the manufacturer or retailer to provide other avenues to enable the customer to access this information, such as delivery of printed materials.

System and method of providing post-purchase media content to a subscriber


Various technologies and techniques are disclosed that identify possible incorrect recognition results. Handwritten input is received from a user. A recognition operation is performed on the handwritten input to produce an initial recognition result. A possible incorrect recognition is identified using the self-consistency process that identifies the possible incorrect recognition when the initial recognition result is not consistent with a normal writing style of the user. The self-consistency process performs a comparison of the initial recognition result with at least one sample previously provided by the user. If the comparison reveals that the initial recognition result is not consistent with the at least one sample, then the result is identified as possibly incorrect. A classifier confidence process can be alternatively or additionally used to identify a possible incorrect recognition result. The user interface for displaying the final result can be modified as appropriate given the possible incorrect recognition result.

Handwriting recognition systems on devices such as Tablet PCs or Pocket PCs typically employ machine learning models to produce good walkup accuracy for a large variety of writing styles but errors still occur for some individual writing styles. Personalizing a handwriting recognizer using explicit samples where the user confirms the true translation of the sample is time consuming and thus many users either forego this step or provide insufficient samples. A better approach is to use implicit samples collected while the user goes about their normal tasks. To effectively make use of implicit data, good filtering techniques are needed to distinguish the cases where the recognized result is more likely to be correct from the instances when they are incorrect

Techniques for filtering handwriting recognition results


Cartridges for high performance liquid chromatography are designed for use with a large number of repeated injections without excessive buildup of back pressure by the inclusion of a filter medium consisting of sintered stainless steel fibers formed into a non-woven structure whose pore size decreases in the direction of flow down to a pore size of less than ten microns.

This invention relates to column chromatography, and in particular to columns designed to separate components of whole blood.
Chromatography in general and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in particular are widely used for analytical and preparative separations of mixtures of chemical species. The columns used for HPLC are typically used for a series of successive analyses, particularly in automated chromatographic systems, and in general where the repeated use of a single column permits direct sample-to-sample comparisons without the error that is introduced by cleaning the separatory resin between injections or by exchanging one column for a fresh column of the same composition. Solid debris often enters these columns, having been entrained by the sample or the carrier fluid, and accumulates in the column, obstructing the free flow of fluid and causing back pressure to rise. The debris arises from several sources. Whole blood, for example, either diluted or undiluted, contains cell wall fragments and other insoluble matter. Included among this insoluble matter are insoluble proteins as well as soluble proteins that agglomerate and/or precipitate. Another source is the chromatographic instrument itself. Components of the instrument such as valves and pump seals tend to disintegrate and release particulate matter into the carrier fluid.
Debris from all of these sources tend to clog the column, inhibiting the free flow of liquid through the column and causing the back pressure to rise. Metal frits are usually present in the column to hold the resin, and these frits act as filters for the solid debris, but the frits themselves become clogged with the debris, again causing the column back pressure to rise. One of the sites where flow blockage occurs is the interface between the frit and the resin, since the contact between the frit and the resin reduces the sizes of the interstitial spaces in the interfacial region, rendering them narrower than those of either the frit or the resin themselves. The spaces at the interfacial region are small enough to block even the passage of very small proteinaceous material. This not only causes back pressure to rise but also interferes with the separation when these proteins are among the components sought to be identified and/or quantified.
Some of the debris can be removed by filtration or centrifugation that is off-line (i.e., before injection into any continuous-flow column system). This is a time-consuming step, however, and provides an added source of operator error. For on-line systems (i.e., automated, continuous-flow systems), guard columns and prefilters that are not in direct contact with the resin have been included, but for the reasons set forth in the preceding paragraph, back pressure still rises with repeated injections. The rising back pressure typically requires that the guard columns be replaced after 50 to 200 injections, depending on the application.

Reduction in back pressure buildup in chromatography by use of graded filter media


Methods, systems, and devices for multi-device object tracking and localization are described. A device may transmit a request message associated with a target object to a set of devices within a target area. The request message may include an image of the target object, a feature of the target object, or at least a portion of a trained model associated with the target object. Subsequently, the device may receive response messages from the set of devices based on the request message. The response messages may include a portion of a captured image including the target object, location information of the devices, a pose of the devices, or temporal information of the target object detected within the target area by the devices. In some examples, the device may determine positional information with respect to the target object based on the one or more response messages.

Some systems, such as computer vision multi-device tracking systems may be deployed to provide various types of information, such as recognition information and tracking information, among other examples. These systems may be implemented by multiple devices (e.g., camera-enabled devices) that may collect and transfer data (e.g., videos, images) to a server to provide the information.
Some computer vision multi-device tracking systems may be susceptible to privacy issues due to the transfer of data from the devices to the server. Additionally, power issues, communication link issues, and/or latency issues may inhibit the transfer of the data to the server. Some computer vision multi-device tracking systems may also operate according to a configuration that configures the devices to detect, track, and recognize a variety of objects (e.g., faces, vehicles). In some cases, the variety of objects the devices may detect or track may be inadequate, or the configuration may be inaccessible to user modification, or both.

Multi-device object tracking and localization


A fluid flow control device includes a regulator for operating at high pressures and an integral bypass valve. The regulator and the bypass valve each include a control assembly that is movable between an open position and a closed position. The regulator and bypass valves are biased into the open positions and adapted to move into the closed positions when an operating pressure rises to above respective regulator and bypass set-point pressures. The bypass set-point pressure is lower than the regulator set-point pressure such that when the operating pressure rises above the bypass set-point pressure, the bypass valve automatically closes and allows the regulator to perform under normal operating conditions. So configured, the bypass valve is arranged to accommodate at least some of the fluid flow through the system until the operating pressure reaches the normal operating pressure, which is somewhere between the bypass and regulator set-point pressures.

Fluid flow control devices such as fluid regulators are commonly employed in a variety of applications to ensure that fluid is delivered from a source to a destination without exceeding a predetermined control pressure. That is, typical pressure regulators reduce the pressure of fluid supplied from a source down to a control pressure that is suitable for the intended application.
Generally speaking, regulators are utilized in systems that are continuously pressurized. For example, in the off-shore oil and gas industry, hydraulic regulators are incorporated onto umbilical lines that feed high-pressure hydraulic fluids to subsea equipment located miles away. During normal operation, the umbilical line is fluid-filled and pre-pressurized such that the regulator simply operates to ensure that the pressure in the umbilical line does not exceed the control pressure.
Upon start-up, however, the umbilical lines are usually filled with fluid at the time they are hooked up to the regulator, but the fluid is not necessarily pressurized. Therefore, once connected, it is necessary to pressurize the line, which requires exposing the regulator to high pressure/high flow inlet and low pressure outlet conditions. Typical regulators are not designed to handle such flows and, moreover, pressurization can take longer than desired. To accommodate these situations, the fluid system can be equipped with a bypass circuit that is piped away from the regulator. Typically, a bypass circuit includes a manual valve piped between an inlet pipe that draws fluid away from the regulator and a return pipe that returns the fluid to the fluid system downstream of the regulator. Once the umbilical line or other line located downstream of the regulator is sufficiently pressurized, an operator manually closes the bypass circuit to redirect all of the fluid flow through the regulator during normal operation.

Fluid regulator with integrated rapid pressurization bypass valve


A method of forming an overlay mark is provided. A first material layer is formed on a substrate, and then a first trench serving as a trench type outer mark is formed in the first material layer. The first trench is partially filled with the first deposition layer. A second material is formed over the first trench and the first deposition layer. A second trench is formed exposing the first deposition layer within the first trench. The second trench is partially filled with a second deposition layer forming a third trench. A third material layer is formed on the substrate to cover the second deposition layer and the second material layer. A step height is formed on the third deposition layer between the edge of the first trench and the center of the first trench. A raised feature serving as an inner mark is formed on the third deposition layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an overlay mark and a method of fabricating the same, capable of solving the problem of alignment measurement caused by low step height of the outer mark.
2. Description of the Related Art
In addition to the control of critical dimension (CD), factors for a successful photolithography process on a wafer include alignment accuracy (AA). Therefore, the measurement of accuracy, that is, the measurement of overlay error is crucial to the semiconductor fabrication process. An overlay mark is used as a tool for measuring overlay error and to determine whether the photoresist pattern is precisely aligned with the previous wafer layer on a wafer after a photolithography process.
Conventionally, the overlay marks are located on the corners of the edge of each chip to measure whether the photoresist pattern is aligned with the previous wafer layer in the fabrication process.
FIGS. 1A to 1C are cross sectional views illustrating a method of fabricating a metal interconnect having a via (via 0) and an overlay mark. Referring to FIG. 1, a substrate 100 is provided, wherein the substrate 100 includes a chip region 102 and an overlay mark region 104. The dielectric layer 106a is formed on the substrate 100, and then the dielectric layer 106a is patterned to form a contact hole 108 in the dielectric layer 106a on the chip region 102. The subsequent process is another contact formation step, rather than a wire line forming step, so that no overlay mark is formed in the dielectric layer 106a on the overlay mark region 104.
As shown in FIG. 1A, the contact hole 108 is filled with tungsten 107a, and then a dielectric layer 110a is formed on the dielectric layer 106a. Thereafter, the dielectric layer 110a is patterned to form a via hole (via 0) in the dielectric layer 110a on the chip region 102 and a trench 114 in the dielectric layer 110a on the overlay mark region 104 simultaneously, wherein the trench 114 serves as a outer mark. Subsequently, a tungsten layer 116 is formed on the dielectric layer 110a to fill into the via hole and trench 114.
Referring to FIG. 1B, a chemical mechanical polishing process is performed on the tungsten layer 116 (in FIG. 1A) until the dielectric layer 110a is exposed to form a via (via 0) 112 on the chip region 102 and leave tungsten layer 116a in the trench 114 on the overlay mark region 104.
Referring to FIG. 1C, a metal layer 118 is formed on the substrate 100 for forming wire lines. A patterned photoresist layer 120 is formed on the metal layer 118. The portion of the patterned photoresist layer 120 on the chip region 102 serves as a mask for defining wire lines, and the other portion of the patterned photoresist layer 120a on the overlay mark region 104 serves as inner mark.
In general, the dielectric layer 110a used for forming via hole (via 0) is thinner than the dielectric layer 106a, so that the trench 114 is mostly filled with the metal layer 116a after performing the chemical mechanic polishing process. Therefore, when the overlay mark is used to measure the alignment accuracy, the peak signal t of the outer mark can not be read because of low step height on the outer mark. Consequently, the overlay error can not be calculated.

Overlay mark and method of fabricating the same


The invention relates to a position drive for a tool head for use in machine tools. The tool head comprises a base body (12), a tool shank (16) which protrudes axially over the base body (12) and is coupleable to a rotating machine spindle (14), and a thrust member (18) which is movable with respect to the base body (12) and which serves to move at least one tip holder or cutting tool (76). Further, an electric motor arrangement (24), which is coupleable to the thrust member (18), and a power supply device (26) for the motor arrangement (24) are positioned on the base body (12). In order to ensure a compact construction having an efficient motor arrangement, a hollow shaft (50) is borne rotatable about an axis of the base body (12), which is concentric with respect to a displacement axis (52) of the thrust member (18), and the hollow shaft (50) has an internal thread which engages in an external thread (42) of the thrust member (18). The hollow shaft (50) has a toothed ring (62) which is positioned concentric with respect to the external thread (42), for the engagement of at least one gear (70) which is positioned on a driven shaft (68) of the motor arrangement (24).

A tool head for use in machine tools is known (U.S. Pat. No. 3,710,659), the position drive of which has a centrally positioned electric drive motor with an axially aligned drive shaft for driving sliders which are movable perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the tool head. A transfer of the drive principle to other applications is not easily possible. Moreover, the efficiency of the known drive principle with its centrally positioned drive motor is not sufficient for many applications.
Based on this, it is the object of the invention, to develop a position drive of the type described above, which has a broad field of applications and which is suited to be used in machine tools for machining centers.

Position drive, in particular for use in machine tools, and tool head having such a position drive

Komet Praezisionswerkzeuge Robert Breuning GmbH


The invention concerns a speech recognition enhancer (51) and a speech recognition system comprising such speech recognition enhancer (51), an audio input unit (41) and a speech recognizer (61, 3). The speech recognition enhancer (51) is arranged between the audio input unit (41) and the speech recognizer (61, 3). The speech recognition enhancer (51) has a parametrizable pre-filtering unit (511), a parametrizable dynamic voice level control unit (512), a parametrizable noise reduction unit (513) and a parametrizable voice level control unit (514). The parameters of these parametrizable units (511, 512, 513, 514) are adjusted to the characteristics of the specific audio input unit (41) and/or the characteristics of the specific speech recognizer (61, 3) for adapting the audio input unit (41) to the speech recognizer (61, 3).

The present invention relates to a speech recognition system comprising an audio input unit arranged in a terminal and a speech recognizer, as well as a speech recognition enhancer for such speech recognition system.
Speech recognition systems are used in a wide application environment with a strong degradation of reliability with noise background. Many applications are needed in poor acoustic environment, for example telemetric systems in cars or vans, speech control systems at station airports and other public fields, and mobile phones in nearly every environment.
To improve the degradation of reliability with noise background, ETSI ES 202 050, V1.1.2 (2003-10) introduces selective spectra substraction methods used for noise reduction.
The input signal from the input audio part of a DSR terminal (DSR=Distributed Speech Recognition) is processed by the terminal front-end of the terminal. The terminal front-end develops a feature vector from a speech wave sampled at different rates, wherein the feature vectors consist of 13 static cepstral coefficient and a log-energy coefficient. In the terminal part, speech features are computed from the input signal in the feature extraction part. Then, features are compressed and further processed for general transmission through the server side. In the feature extraction part, noise reduction is performed first. Then, wave form processing is a applied to the de-noise signal and cepstral features are calculated. At the server side, bit-stream decoding, error mitigation and feature decompression are applied.
Noise reduction is based on a Wiener filter. After framing the input signal, the linear spectrum of each frame is estimated. In a power spectral density mean block, the signals spectrum is smoothed along the time index. Then, in the Wiener filter design block, frequency domain Wiener filter coefficients are calculated by using both the current frame spectrum estimation and the noise spectrum estimation. The noise spectrum is estimated from noise frames, which are detected by a voice activity detector. Linear Wiener filter coefficients are further smoothed along the frequency axis by using a Mel Filter-Bank. The impulse response of this Mel-warped Wiener filter is obtained by applying a Mel-warped inverse discrete cosine transform. Finally, the signal is filtered in an Apply filter block. The input signal of the second stage is the output signal from the first stage, wherein the second stage comprises a spectrum estimation block, a Power Spectral Density Mean block a Wiener filter Design block, a Mel Filter-Bank block, a gained factorization block, a Mel-warped inverse discrete cosine transform block and a Apply filter block.
Disadvantages of such approach improving the degradation by means of selective spectral subtraction methods are the high computation and memory efforts and the inflexibility of the system.