According to various aspects, exemplary embodiments are disclosed of building system device node commissioning systems, methods, apparatus, tools, and/or devices. In an exemplary embodiment, at least one commissioning apparatus is configured to analyze networked system design data, generate unique room-zone identifiers for the building system device nodes, generate one or more custom project workbooks for inclusion of the unique room-zone identifiers and individual device addresses for installed building system device nodes, and identify physical locations of the installed building system device nodes using the one or more custom project workbooks including the unique room-zone identifiers and the individual device addresses of the installed building system device nodes.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
The commercial lighting and building automation market has experienced a revolution of shorts through new advancements in wireless and wired technologies (e.g., increased computing power of embedded and non-embedded sensors, efficiencies of lighting luminaires, and expanded offerings of building system device nodes, among others).
These advancements in design, functionality, and networking technology now allow for the networkability of single building system device nodes into holistic building system platforms—both wired and wireless. This convergence of historically siloed building systems and building system device nodes (e.g., lighting, heating and ventilation, air-conditioning, motors, drives, valves and other building systems) is bridging the networking gap to create single building system platforms.
These new networked building control and automation platforms additionally allow for the digitization of building system device node functionalities and operability performances, which thereby provide building operators the ability to better control, monitor, and optimize building systems through a single platform.
Some of the many benefits that a single building control and automation platform provide, include, the monitorability of multiple building systems across multiple physical buildings. This drive of innovation demand is pushing the marketplace to shift focus and develop new technologies, products, and services to match end-user expectations.
Moreover, the demand for more advanced networking technologies has led to the creation of new device networking methods (wired and wireless), commissioning approaches, and installation processes. Such advancements in the wireless controls space can be found in U.S. patents, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,660,121, 8,503,330, 8,265,674, 8,049,434, 7,953,419, and 7,953,327.
The abovementioned U.S. Patents describe processes and methods on how to establish connection between individual building system device nodes and commission them onto a single system platform. While each of these methods and processes may differ in relation to one another from a technology standpoint, each share a few similarities.
First and foremost, any networked node in the majority of cases must contain a Media Access Control (MAC) address and/or an individual IEEE address, as required under all current and future versions of the 802.xx.x IEEE standard, to identify the individual node as a single device. These addresses are unique identifying addresses per each individual node connecting to a network.
The second commonality across node networking methods is in their shortcomings in identifying building system device node locations within a building.
Commissioning (as outlined using varying methods in the above-mentioned patents) is generally the process and/or act of setting up a network (either wired or wireless) to configure system nodes to a system, test their operability, verify their correct operation, and finalize their desired configurations. This may include, for example, setting the parameters from which the building system device node will behave/what the building system device node will do.
Though the above mentioned patents describe technologies and methods for commissioning individual building system device nodes to a networked system, the inventors hereof have recognized a need in the art for a sufficient method for identifying the physical location of the building system device node within a building infrastructure (internally and/or externally) in a timely or accurate manner. Moreover, the inventors have also recognized that existing technologies or methods to identify physical locations of building system device nodes are labor intensive, time consuming, and many times do not provide accurate locations of building system device nodes within a networked system.
This shortfall therefore requires additional labor, time, and investment to properly identify the location of building system device nodes and is a significant contributor to the high labor cost of installing these styles of networked systems.
Current art can be categorized into two types of methods for determining building system device node locations. The first type is physical onsite identification by commissioning specialist. This method requires a commissioning specialist to physically visit a building and use the networked system's commissioning platform to instruct each node to identify its physical location via network ping and/or flash sequence in the case of a lighting luminaire. The networked system's commissioning platform could be accessible from a laptop and/or other wireless device that has commissioning capabilities.
The second commonly mentioned and used method is geo-location and triangulation. This method also requires a commissioning specialist to physically visit a building and use the networked system-specific commissioning platform and GPS-enabled unit to determine the specific coordinates of each building system device node position.
As recognized by the inventors hereof, the current art available introduces new methods to connect building system device nodes to a network (wirelessly or wired) but does not provide adequate methods/solutions to identifying building system device node locations in a timely and accurate manner. This industry-wide shortfall results in large investments of time and labor cost to make these systems functional. Not only do these existing methods require time and investment but they can also be incredibly inconsistent especially the first type of method including the physical onsite identification by commissioning specialist. Also, installing contractors vary widely and if left to their own devices the recording of building system device node addresses can and will vary widely. This inconsistency ultimately results in the incorrect recording of building system device node locations and/or incomplete records of building system device node locations, thereby rendering the networked system inoperable as originally designed.

Commissioning networked systems for smart building system integration


A post driver assembly for driving square wood posts comprising a grip retainer plate having a rectangular plate hole centrally located in the plate which is oversized compared to an outside dimension of a square post. A post driver wedge is provided with a flat side for flush engagement with a post side when the post driver wedge is telescoped through the rectangular plate hole. The post driver wedge has a tapered side opposite to the flat side slidingly engageable with an edge of the rectangular plate hole for ensuring snug engagement of the flat side against the post. A screw is threaded through the wedge for attaching the wedge to the post to anchor the wedge to resist vertical slippage of the wedge relative to the wooden post.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to post driving means and more particularly to a post driver assembly for driving square wood posts into a ground surface which may be underwater or out of water. While it is contemplated that my post driver assembly is primarily for use with a square wood post, it should be appreciated that the principles of my invention are also applicable to providing a unique way for driving other shaped posts such as round or poly-sided without departing from the scope of my invention.
In the past, various types of post drivers have been in existence but only one has come to my attention where it is asserted that it is particularly adapted for driving parallel sided wooden posts and attention is directed to U.S. Pat. No. 480,941. In this patent, the patentee utilizes a chain "c" mountable upon a post driving device "a" for co-action when mounted on a post "b" so that a person can use a sledge hammer to strike an elongated block of wood "a". It is not seen how this device could be utilized for the purposes of my invention particularly since their is little or no anchorage means for connecting the elongated block of wood "a" to the post "b"other than the chain. If the device "a" were struck by a sledge hammer it would appear that there would be tendancy for it to slide vertically on the post since the chain "c" would not provide an adequate means to hold it in a given position on the post "b". Also it is believed that the chain would tend to come apart should it be subjected to the heavy forces of a sledge hammer when the sledge hammer was caused to strike the elongated block of wood "a".
According to my invention, I have developed a new and improved post driver assembly that is capable of withstanding heavy sledge hammer forces while at the same time being effective to drive square wooden posts into a ground surface whether the surface is underwater or above water.


Systems and methods for improved semiconductor device performance are disclosed. In particular, presented are improved semiconductor systems and methods for configuring conductors to reduce impedance variation caused by proximity and/or density and/or operation of connection-bumps. The invention includes adding impedance-reducing conductive features which add no additional functionality to the semiconductor device. The added features may be arranged in areas of sparse connection-bump density. Impedance-reducing conductive features may include metal lines added between functional metal lines, where placement between adjacent functional lines may vary. Impedance-reducing conductive features may be added to any one or combination of conductive layers, and added features may act upon any one or combination of functional features. Further, added features may be electrically active and responsive to semiconductor device operation. Also, methods for determining connection-bump density, which methods may be automated.

The demand for faster and smaller microelectronic devices is driving continual shrinkage of microelectronic architectures. Such microelectronic architectures form the electronic circuits of semiconductor devices. Semiconductor devices are manufactured on silicon wafers using a process of adding layers and selectively removing parts of the layers. Semiconductor device features are created through this selective removal process. Upon the completion of the manufacturing process, the silicon wafers are cut into individual dies where each die includes at least one complete semiconductor device.
Individual dies are not typically directly integrated into electronic devices, such as, for example, cellular phones. Typically, the dies are first packaged. Thus, semiconductor devices may include connection-bumps which function to electrically couple the semiconductor device with its respective package. Once these connection-bumps have coupled a semiconductor device to a package, the packaged semiconductor device may be inserted into and used by an electronic device.
Included among the layers which comprise a semiconductor device is at least one layer of conductors, such as metal lines. Metal lines may be used within the semiconductor device to connect elements of the integrated circuit. For example, metal lines may carry electrical current to and from logic gates. Also, a power network for the semiconductor device may include metal lines. Due to the continued-shrinkage of microelectronic architectures, optimal semiconductor device operation depends upon optimal performance of each semiconductor feature. Thus, stable functionality of the metal lines contributes to optimal functionality of the semiconductor device. However, the connection-bumps which electrically couple a semiconductor device to a package may affect performance of the semiconductor device. In particular, the impedance of conductive device features can be affected by the presence and/or operation of connection-bumps. For example, a metal line traversing an area with a high connection-bump density may have impedance which differs significantly from that of a similar metal line traversing an area with a lower connection-bump density. Because varying line impedance can negatively affect semiconductor device performance, it is desirable to reduce such variation in line impedance. Therefore, a need exists for improved methods of configuring semiconductor devices, and improved semiconductor devices.

System and method for configuring conductors within an integrated circuit to reduce impedance variation caused by connection bumps


A firesafe bidirectional floating ball valve comprising: a housing; first and second annular seats that hold between them a ball that is rotatable to open and close the valve to fluid flow; an annular spring on one side of the ball that operates to seal both of the seats to the ball; and an annular ridge coaxial with the first seat; wherein with the valve closed, net pressure on the ball in a direction from the second fluid flow port to the first fluid flow port operates to displace the ball and apply force to the first annular seat that closes a narrow clearance space between the ball and the first annular seat.

A typical ball valve comprises a housing having a fluid inlet, upstream port opposite a fluid outlet, downstream port, and a ball having a through hole formed along a diameter of the ball that is held in an internal cavity of the housing between annular sealing gaskets, referred to as "seats". The ball may be rotated to align the through hole with the inlet and outlet ports to open the valve so that fluid may flow between the ports through the valve and be rotated to align the through hole facing away from the ports to close the valve and block fluid flow through the valve. The ball is coupled to a shaft referred to as a stem that extends from the internal cavity of the housing to outside of the housing. Rotating the stem, typically thorough, a quarter turn of 90°, rotates the ball between open and closed orientations of the ball that respectively open and close the valve.
In a trunnion mounted ball valve, the ball is mounted to a trunnion in the housing cavity that shares a common axis of rotation with the valve stem and stabilizes the position of the ball in the cavity against displacement in directions parallel to fluid flow through the valve. In a floating ball valve, the ball is absent trunnion support and exhibits displacement parallel to direction of fluid flow, which aids in sealing the valve against fluid leakage through the valve when the valve is closed. When closing the valve, fluid pressure displaces the ball in a downstream flow direction to press the ball to the downstream seat that holds the ball and "dynamically" seal the ball to the downstream seat and thereby close and seal the valve against fluid flow.
In a cryogenic floating ball valve operated to control flow of cryogenic fluids, the ball is generally formed having a pressure release hole through which gas that evaporates from cryogenic fluid trapped in the cavity housing may escape without generating dangerous and potentially explosive gas overpressure in the valve. The valve operates to dynamically seal the ball effectively against only a given one of the seats that holds the ball. The valve is "monodirectional" and properly closes and seals to block fluid flow for only that direction of fluid flow through the valve for which the given one seat is downstream and when closed the pressure release hole faces upstream.

Bidirectional cryogenic firesafe floating ball valve

Habonim Industrial Valves & Actuators Ltd.


There are provided a carbon black according to which long-term stable storage is possible, clogging is not prone to occurring, and the OD value is high and hence printing with a deep black color is possible, or a carbon black that can be used in a water-based ink that is used in ink jet printer printing, that has low settleability and can thus be stored stably for a long period, for which clogging is not prone to occurring, and for which the reflection density is high and hence printing with a high printing density and a deep black color is possible, a carbon black dispersion having the carbon black dispersed therein, and a water-based ink containing the carbon black. An embodiment of a modified carbon black of the present invention is a modified carbon black obtained by carrying out oxidation treatment on a carbon black having a primary particle diameter of 11 to 18 nm, a BET specific surface area of at least 180 m2/g, a DBP oil absorption of at least 180 mL/100 g, and a value of the BET specific surface area (m2/g) divided by the DBP oil absorption (mL/100 g) of 0.75 to 1.3, and is characterized in that at least lactone groups and carboxyl groups are introduced onto the surface thereof, and the ratio of the mean particle diameter to the primary particle diameter is at least 8.5. Moreover, a carbon black dispersion and a water-based ink of the present invention contain this modified carbon black.

Carbon black is widely used as a colorant in water-based inks for printing a black color with ink jet printers.
In general a carbon black raw material powder comprises a secondary agglomerated mass called an agglomerate formed through van der Waals attraction or mere congregation, adhesion or interlocking between aggregates that are primary aggregated bodies in each of which approximately spherical primary particles are congregated together. Unless subjected to treatment, this type of carbon black raw material powder immediately settles without being dispersed in water.
A water-based ink containing such a raw material powder and a dispersant for dispersing the raw material powder has high viscosity, and hence printing is difficult. Modified carbon blacks obtained by oxidizing the surface of the carbon black raw material powder to introduce hydrophilic functional groups such as carboxyl groups so that dispersion in water is easy even if a dispersant is not used are thus used.
As such a modified carbon black, in Patent Document 1 the present inventors have disclosed one having a specified specific surface area and DBP oil absorption (the amount of oil absorption using dibutyl phthalate; referred to as the 'DBP oil absorption' in the present specification). Water-based inks containing this modified carbon black have a low viscosity, and moreover have a high reflection density (optical density; referred to as the 'OD value' in the present specification), and hence dense printing with a deep black color is possible. When using a water-based ink as an ink jet recording ink, the water-based ink must have sufficient stability over time for practical use, but the above water-based inks have not always had sufficient stability over time.
Moreover, there are modified carbon blacks obtained by oxidizing a carbon black raw material powder having a small mean particle diameter. A water-based ink containing such a modified carbon black has good dispersibility with settling not being prone to occur, and hence the storage stability is excellent, and clogging is not prone to occurring. However, if printing is carried out using such an ink, then the reflection density is low, and a printing density sufficient for practical use is no longer exhibited. Moreover, the hue of the ink tends to become a reddish black.
Moreover, in Patent Document 2 there is disclosed a carbon black pigment for water-based inks for which N2SA, IA, N2SA/IA, CTAB, DBP, 24M4 DBP, Tint, and the ratio of total oxygen atoms to total carbon atoms are specified. However, this carbon black pigment for water-based inks has a problem that the OD value is not sufficient in the case of use as an ink jet ink in particular.    (Patent Document 1) Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-319573    (Patent Document 2) Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-81355
The present invention was accomplished to resolve the above problems; it is an object of the present invention to provide a carbon black that can be used in a water-based ink that is used in ink jet printer printing, that has a reduced settling rate and can thus be stored stably for a long period, for which clogging is not prone to occurring, and for which the reflection density (OD value) is high and hence dense printing with a deep black color is possible, and a water-based ink having this carbon black dispersed therein.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Modified carbon black carbon black dispersion liquid and water base ink


Methods of reducing a registration error of a photomask are provided. A method of reducing a registration error of a photomask may include identifying the registration error with respect to a pattern element in a pattern region of the photomask. Moreover, the method may include reducing a thickness of a portion of a non-pattern region of the photomask by irradiating an energy beam onto a location of the non-pattern region of the photomask that is spaced apart from the pattern element, to generate stress at the pattern element. Related photomasks and methods of manufacturing an integrated circuit are also provided.

The present disclosure herein relates to photomasks. As design rules of semiconductor apparatuses have become smaller, a wavelength of light used in an exposure process has reduced, too. Therefore, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light having a short wavelength may be used in the exposure process. When mass producing nano-scale semiconductor devices of 40 nanometers (nm) or less, an EUV lithography using EUV light having a wavelength ranging from about 10 to about 14 nm may be used.
When forming a plurality of fine patterns that are arranged at high density by using the EUV lithography process, the EUV light having high energy may be absorbed by an absorber layer of a photomask and may not reach a wafer. Accordingly, research on a technology of transferring patterns on a wafer by using a reflective type exposure system including a reflective EUV photomask has been actively conducted recently. Because of the reflective photomask, patterns on the photomask may be transferred onto the wafer via a scanning process. Therefore, a defect of the photomask may cause a defect of a device formed on the wafer.
In particular, in a case where a registration error occurs on the photomask, a wafer overlay error may occur. Then, the overlay error may be transferred onto the wafer, and a wafer defect may occur.

Methods of reducing a registration error of a photomask, and related photomasks and methods of manufacturing an integrated circuit


A communication system for limiting communication between communication terminals based, at least in part, upon a separation between communication terminals is disclosed. A first communication channel is coupled with a first communication terminal, where the first communication terminal includes a transmitter. A second communication channel coupled with a second communication terminal, where the second communication terminal includes a receiver. A separation determining function finds a distance between the first and second communication terminals. A distance squelch analyzes the distance to prevent use of a message by the receiver.

This disclosure relates in general to communication systems and to location-aware communication systems amongst other things.
Wireless handheld radios communicate with each other so long as there is sufficient signal to discern the received signal. Some handheld radios allow adjusting the sensitivity to received signals using a knob that is called a squelch. Received signals of lower power can be filtered out by the squelch. The squelch function is not tied to distance between handheld radios, but signal strength, which may not correlate well to the distance.
There are family radios (i.e., FRS or GMRS band radios) and wireless phones that include a global positioning system (GPS) receiver. These devices can both communicate and determine location. The location and communication functions are often not tightly coupled in most circumstances. Some family radios with GPS allow communicating locations of radios to other radios nearby. During emergency phone calls, the location of the wireless phone can be identified and relayed to emergency responders to allow responders to locate the caller.
Limiting communication between first responders to emergencies allows efficient communication without interference. A squelch feature can limit analog communication to those signals that are strong from those that are weaker, which may not limit communication precise enough. Consider an example where emergency responders in a tall building use a squelch feature to try to limit communication to those in the building. When near the windows, strong signals will be received from far away given little obstruction, but another responder two floors down may have a very weak signal. Adjusting the squelch will filter those a few floors away, but not someone in line of sight miles away.


Methods and systems are described for determining a slice level used for detecting an edge of a horizontal sync pulse of a horizontal line of a video signal, where the horizontal line has a plurality of samples. An exemplary method comprises low-pass filtering the video signal to generate a plurality of filtered samples; determining a first level, wherein a predetermined number of the plurality of filtered samples have levels above the first level; determining a second level, wherein the second level is a minimum level of levels for the plurality of filtered samples; and determining the slice level by adding the first level and the second level to generate a summed level, and dividing the summed level by two to determine the slice level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to video signal decoders and, more specifically, to methods and systems for detecting horizontal sync pulses in video signals.
2. Related Art
Generally, video pictures or video signals are made up of video content signals, horizontal sync pulses and vertical sync pulses. Typically, a video picture includes a number of video frames. For example, according to the NTSC (National Television System Committee) format, there are 30 frames per second, and according to the PAL (Phase Alternation by Line) format, there are 25 frames per second. At the end of each frame, a vertical sync pulse is transmitted which indicates to a recipient electronic device that the frame has come to an end. The duration of the vertical sync pulse depends upon the time the electronic devices take to receive the next frame. The amplitude of the vertical sync pulse is approximately 0.3 volts, which when added to the video content signal gives a total amplitude of approximately 1.0 volt peak to peak.
Further, each video frame is made up of lines. In NTSC, there are 525 lines per frame, whereas, in PAL, there are 625 lines per frame. Each point in the line reflects the intensity of the video signal. At the end of each line, a horizontal sync pulse is transmitted which indicates to the recipient electronic device that the line has come to an end, so that the electronic device gets ready for the next line. The amplitude of the horizontal sync pulse is approximately 0.3 volts.
The screens of most monitors of electronic devices are drawn in a series of lines, left to right and top to bottom. When the monitor finishes drawing one line and reaches its right-most excursion, the beam is turned off while the monitor returns the beam to the left side of the screen. A similar process occurs when the last line on the screen is finished drawing, in which event, the beam traverses to the top left corner of the screen.
In a video picture, the beam is moved to the left of the screen and to the top of the screen in accordance with and based on the detection of the synchronization signals. In other words, when the vertical sync pulse is detected the beam moves to the top left corner of the screen to begin drawing the next frame, and when the horizontal sync pulse is detected, the beam moves to the left of side of the screen to begin drawing the next line. Accordingly, it is quite important to properly detect the sync pulses.
FIG. 1 illustrates video signal line 100, which includes horizontal front porch 110, horizontal sync pulse 120, horizontal back porch 130, color burst 132 and horizontal active pixels 150. As shown, video signal line 100 begins at the falling edge of horizontal sync pulse 120 and ends at the falling edge of the next horizontal sync pulse. Horizontal front porch 110 is the period of time between the previous horizontal active pixels (not shown) and the beginning of horizontal sync pulse 120. Horizontal sync pulse 120 is a change in voltage of the video signal, which triggers the electronic device to stop the rightward progress of drawing the beam and begin drawing on the left side of the screen. Thus, each line begins with the start of the horizontal sync pulse and ends with the start of the next horizontal sync pulse. Horizontal back porch 130 is the period of time between the end of horizontal sync pulse 120 and the beginning of horizontal active pixels 150. According to NTSC and PAL formats, horizontal back porch 130 also includes color burst 132, as a color calibration reference.
The falling and rising edges of horizontal sync pulse 120 are typically defined at 50% of the height of horizontal sync pulse 120 amplitude, which may also be referred to as the "slice level." In other words, the falling edge of horizontal sync pulse 120 is detected when the video signal level moves below the slice level, and the rising edge of horizontal sync pulse 120 is detected when the video signal level move above the slice level. Conventionally, video decoders determine the slice level, which is used to synchronize their displays to horizontal sync pulse 120, by relying upon the amplitude of various portions of the video signal, as defined by the video standards, or by relying upon the relative amplitude of horizontal sync pulse 120 height to the peak of horizontal active pixels 150. These conventional approaches suffer from many drawbacks.
For example, because some video sources do not adhere to video standards with respect to the amplitude of the pulses, either absolutely or relative to the video content, conventional video decoders, which rely upon the absolute amplitude of the pulses or relative amplitude of the pulses, are not able to determine the slice level properly and, thus, fail to detect horizontal sync pulse 120. For instance, one conventional approach relies upon the relative amplitude for the peak, in the active or video content region, which is about 1.2v and the minimum level at zero volt to determine the slice level; however, some non-compliant video sources have the minimum level at 0.2 volts, which causes the slice level to be calculated improperly. Therefore, conventional video decoders experience problems locking to the video signals originating from such video sources, and require constant adjustment to key parameters every time a new video source is discovered that violates the standard video format in its own special way.
Accordingly, there is an intense need in the art for decoding methods and systems that can detect horizontal sync pulse 120 even if a video source is not in compliance with the standard video format, in terms of amplitude of the pluses, either absolutely or relative to the video signals.

Horizontal sync pulse detection for video signal decoding


The present invention provides a Distinct Author Identification System (“DAIS”) for disambiguating data to discern author entities and link or associate authorships with such author entities. The invention provides powerful disambiguation processes applied across one or more databases to yield a disambiguated authority database of authors. An entire database of publications may be processed by the DAIS to group/link authorships and to identify author entities. The author entities may then be matched or associated with actual authors to establish an authority database of authors. After initial evaluation, the DAIS may be used to reevaluate some or all of the database(s) and/or the authority database established by the DAIS may be used to add or update information. DAIS may use “hierarchical clustering” to link authorships and identify authors based on authorship similarity. DAIS evaluates the likelihood that authorships are from the same author.

With the advents of the printing press, typeset, typewriting machines, and computer-implemented word processing and storage, the amount of information generated by mankind has risen dramatically and with an ever quickening pace. As a result there is a continuing and growing need to collect and store, identify, track, classify and catalogue for retrieval and distribution this growing sea of information and an entire area of study has emerged called "information science." One popular existing form of cataloging and classifying information, e.g., books and other writings, is the Dewey Decimal System. Beyond classifying information, information science involves the study of how organizations and people, e.g., researchers, interact in moving bodies of science and research forward.
In the area of scholarly and scientific writing a sophisticated process and convention for documenting research, supporting materials and organizing fields of study has emerged called "bibliographic citation." Such scientific writings include, among other things, books, articles published in journals, magazines or other periodicals, and papers presented, submitted and published by society, industry and professional organizations such as in proceedings and transactions publications. To facilitate the widespread distribution of information published in scholarly writings to more efficiently and effectively move bodies of study forward, scholars and scientists use bibliographic citation to recognize the prior work of others, or even themselves, on which advancements set forth in their writings are based. "Citations" included in any particular work or body of work collectively form a "bibliography" and are used to identify sources of information relied on or considered by the author and to give the reader a way to confirm accuracy of the content and direction for further study. A "bibliography" may refer to either of a complete or selective list or compilation of writings specific to an author, publisher or given subject, or it may refer to a list or compilation of writings relied on or considered by an author in preparing a particular work, such as a paper, article, book or other informational object.
Citations briefly describe and identify each cited writing as a source of information or reference to an authority. Citations and bibliographies follow particular formatting conventions to enhance consistency in interpreting the information. Each citation typically includes the following information: full title, author name(s), publication data, including publisher identity, volume, edition and other data, and date and location of publication. However, the author names are most usually in an abbreviated form, such as an initial rather than full first or middle names (e.g., J. Smith), or suffer naturally from commonality with other authors, such as having either a common first or last name or both e.g., John Smith. This is results in a latent ambiguity as to the actual identity of the author. There have been many attempts to disambiguate author information, i.e., to establish a single semantic interpretation for, in this case, author identity. Each writing or paper may have one or more authors and represents an authorship for each author or co-author. As used herein each authorship instance represents the contribution of an individual author. Accordingly, if a paper has three co-authors then there will be three distinct "authorships" associated with that paper. For purposes of descriptions contained herein, for a paper identified as "1" having co-authors A, B, and C, then the authorships associated, respectively, with the co-authors would be identified as A1, B1, and C1. for linking authorships or citations representing authorships with particular authors and bibliographies of given authors.
Two areas of scientific study directed to measuring and analyzing science and scientific publications are "scientometrics" and "bibliometrics," which are based on the early works of Vannevar Bush and more recently on the works of, among others, Eugene Garfield, founder of the Institute for Scientific Information ("ISI"). Bibliometrics concerns analyzing content and associated information of books and other publications, which may be referred to as informational objects. Such analysis may then be used to identify and/or quantify, confirm or reject relationships among informational objects, e.g., author entities, or academic journal citations, to create links among the informational objects. Other applications for bibliometrics include: creating word relationships to populate a thesaurus; measuring frequency of terms (individual words, groups of words, or word roots or meanings); identifying relationships of texts using grammar, semantic and syntax rules, and other techniques to create useful tools and resources.
Efforts have been undertaken to define relationships and the evolution of science within particular fields to give some coherent structure to the business of science, for example, see Eugene Garfield, Mapping The Structure Of Science (Chapter 8), Citation Indexing: Its Theory and Application in Science, Technology, and Humanities, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. N.Y., p. 98-147, 1979; and The Geography Of Science: Disciplinary And National Mappings, by Henry Small and Eugene Garfield, J. Inform. Sci., 11:147-159 (1985). ISI's Science Citation Index ("SCI") was created as a citation index of the world's leading journals of science and technology and has proven to be a powerful bibliometric resource. SCI has been used to map the progress and development of science by using factors that measure the importance of scientific journals. The study of science based on examining citations and bibliographies to infer associations may be referred to as "citation analysis." For instance, SCI has been used to show that certain fundamental journals are central to hard science while in areas such as the humanities or social sciences there is no such relationship.
In support of the pursuits of science and research databases, database management tools, citation management and analysis tools, research authoring tools, and other powerful tools and resources have been used and developed for the beneficial use of researchers and scientists. These tools and resources may be available to users in an online environment, over the Internet or some other computer network, and may be in the form of a client-server architecture, central and/or local database, application service provider (ASP), or other environment for effectively communicating and accessing electronic databases and software tools. Examples of such tools and resources are Thomson Scientific's Web of Science™ (WoS), Web of Knowledge™ (WoK), and Researchsoft™ suite of publishing solutions including, EndNote™, EndNoteWeb™, ProCite™, Reference Manager™, and RefViz™, as well as solutions such as Scholar One's Manuscript Central™. A longstanding problem associated with these databases and tools has been inaccurate identification and attribution of authorship due to, among other things, author name ambiguity which may be a result of incomplete information (e.g., abbreviated name with initials), incorrect information (e.g., misspellings), and common/identical information (e.g., same name same spelling). Name ambiguity resulting in incorrect linkage of paper and citation records with author entities result in inaccuracies that diminish integrity, reliability and performance of resources and tools, including document and information search and retrieval, database integration, and research formation.
Techniques used to help build out databases and confirm database information include extraction and sorting, such as parsing of data from sentence or word structures, performed on electronic documents to extract information from papers and citations for further processing. Prior extraction techniques may include linking techniques such as Bayesian-based techniques as described in Automatic Extraction And Linking Of Person Names In Legal Text, Christopher Dozier and Robert Haschart, In Proceedings of RIAO 2000 (Recherche d'Information Assistee par Ordinateur), 12-14 Apr. 2000, Paris, France, pp. 1305-1321. See also HistCite™: A Software Tool for Informetric Analysis of Citation Linkage, Eugene Garfield, Soren Paris, and Wolfgang Stock, Information Wissenschaft & Praxis, 57(8):391-400, November/December 2006.
Relational links may be established based on "citations" and such links may be used in searching for materials and analyzing the relative merit of resources. By linking informational objects, such as papers, through citations and citation indices, e.g., WoS, users can search forward using a known article to identify and access more recent publications that cite the known article and are related to the same subject matter.
Citation analysis can applied across databases such as WoS and WoK to determine acceptance, following, and impact of specific publications and authors and may be used, for example, in screening reference materials, validating research, establishing interaction among authors or institutions, and in deliberating an author's tenure review. Although citation analysis has been used for years, ever increasing computing power and information management techniques are making it more useful and widespread. One highly beneficial use of citation analysis is to associate works of authorship with individual authors. Also, integrating new publications into an existing database of papers and other works often starts with an existing list of known authors as a starting point. For example, assume an existing list of authors includes an entry for John Smith, Professor at University of Alabama. And then assume a subsequent article indicating "J. Smith" from "U. of Al." as an author or co-author. Known systems might automatically associate the article with the known John Smith at University of Alabama that appears on the existing list of authors. However, the system would not know of or consider the case of a "Jane Smith" that recently became professor at University of Alabama. Also, such a system might not have a way of detecting a miss-match or the likelihood of a miss-match, e.g., if the citation has an incorrect abbreviation either in the author name or in the school/institution name, e.g., typographical error in that the school should have been "U. of Az." for University of Arizona at which the real author, Jeff Smith, is a professor.
Writings" and "papers," as used herein shall refer to both "hard" and "soft" electronic documents, are now widely created, edited, maintained, archived, catalogued and researched in whole or in part electronically. The Internet and other networks and intranets facilitate electronic distribution of and access to such information. The advent of databases, database management systems and search languages and in particular relational databases, e.g., DB2 and others developed by IBM, Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft and others, has provided powerful research and development tools and environments in which to further advance all areas of science and the study of science. There are companies and institutions that have created electronic databases and associated services, such as SCI, WoS, and WoK, that are specifically designed to help organize and harness the vast array of knowledge.
Clustering" is a method of identifying a subset of items sufficiently similar to form a relational link to form a "cluster." A dendrogram is a graphical representation of links between data objects forming a cluster tree. If the linking of the data objects grows weaker the farther up the cluster tree, then one could assign a threshold degree of relatedness such that the tree is severed at some level resulting in individual groups of connected or linked data objects forming a plurality of clusters of data objects. There are several known techniques for clustering data objects, including single link, average link, complete link For instance, in a database of articles including: Article 1 with author "J. Smith at Univ. of Ala."; Article 2 with co-author "Jeff Smith at Univ. of Al."; and Article 3 with co-author "J. S. Smith at Univ. of Alabama," a sufficient link may have been formed based off of the name similarity and the school similarity to form a cluster as representing author "Jeff S. Smith" of the University of Alabama. This may be in conjunction with a known list of authors or professors including a "Jeff Smith" at the University of Alabama. Because papers often do not include full names, because professors do change positions and schools, and because typographical errors do occur, relying heavily on last name and first initial could introduce significant risk for error in the database and bibliographies generated by using such databases and systems. What is needed is a way to more accurately link or associate authorships with individual authors.

Method and system for disambiguating informational objects


A sleeping bag system for providing all items necessary to provide shelter, comfort and protection from the elements for outdoor sleeping. The sleeping bag system includes a sleeping bag with its own attached canopy which includes a top cover, two side panels with mesh windows, window rain flap protection and an end panel with two-way storage pocket. The sleeping bag has a slot underneath it for receiving an air-mattress or pad. The canopy is held into position during use with two support poles. These support poles are held into place with support pole sleeves attached to the top of the canopy. The canopy includes attached tie down straps. Compartments within the canopy are used for storing poles, stakes and other items when the canopy is not in use. The entire system can be folded and rolled up for easy storage and transport.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to outdoor sleeping equipment and more specifically it relates to a sleeping bag system for providing those items necessary to provide optimum space, comfort and protection from the elements for outdoor sleeping.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Outdoor portable sleeping equipment has been in use for years. Typically, outdoor portable sleeping equipment requires an individual to carry separately a tent, sleeping bag, and air-mattress or pad. Existing shelter systems do not traditionally combine all necessary elements into one system. Additionally, those systems which attempt to combine some or all of the elements of a tent, sleeping bag and air mattress or pad provide limited space for the occupant once the structure is erected. Current systems mostly provide a ground cover connected to an inflatable or self-supporting shelter.
In an effort to minimize size and weight the prior art combination systems consistently provide limited internal space for the occupant. Current designs are limited in their ability to provide the benefits of side mesh windows allowing cross-flow air ventilation and insect protection. Additionally, prior art current systems have semi-circular support structures which minimize comfort and storage space for the occupant.
Examples of patented devices which are related to the present invention include U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,832 to Russel; U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,029 to Russel; U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,146 to Gregg; U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,935 to Gustafson; U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,980 to Ebert; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,919 to Middleton.
Russel (U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,832) discloses a self-supporting outdoor sleeping system. Russel teaches a ground cover sheet to which a tent cover is attached to the form of a body section and a head section.
Russel (U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,029) discloses a self-supporting outdoor sleeping system similar in structure to the previous patent using flexible rods to provide a semi-circular enclosure.
Gregg (U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,146) discloses a portable shelter system. Gregg teaches a one-person shelter with an internal support structure to hold the structure open.
While these devices may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not as suitable for providing those items necessary to provide optimum space, comfort and protection from the elements for outdoor sleeping. All current combination systems are erected in a semi-circular position attempting to minimize weight and size of the system. By using a semicircular design these systems fail to benefit from the advantages available in the current design. The prior art systems do not provide the space necessary to sit within the structure. Current combination systems are limited to providing the occupant a place to sleep and be protected from the elements.
In these respects, the sleeping bag system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing all items necessary to provide shelter, comfort, security and protection from the elements for outdoor sleeping.


A uniformly packed bed of adsorbent particles is formed using a particle loader adapted to provide a uniform flow of adsorbent particles across the cross sectional area of an adsorption vessel.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the loading of vessels with absorbent material. More particularly, it relates to the loading of adsorbents so as to achieve a uniform packing thereof throughout the vessels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the practice of the pressure swing absorption (PSA) or thermal swing adsorption (TSA) technology in which a more readily adsorbable component of a feed gas is selectively adsorbed in a bed of adsorbent material, the overall performance achieved is sometimes less than expected and desired for practical commercial applications. One cause for such sub-par performance is a non-uniform density of the adsorbent particles in adsorbent vessels resulting from the particle loading techniques commonly employed in the art.
For example, adsorbent particles are commonly transferred from a shipping drum into a processing vessel by simple dumping of the adsorbent material from the shipping drum into the vessel through a top flange portion thereof. The adsorbent material flows into the vessel and forms a cone generally in the center portion thereof, with adsorbent particles reaching the wall of the vessel by sliding down the sides of the cone and outward toward said wall. This particle loading approach results in a center region of high particle packing density, an outer region close to the vessel wall of lower particle packing density, and an intermediate, variable density region.
In order to overcome this non-uniform particle packing density, a series of deflector cones having a center hole have been placed in the vessel immediately under the inlet opening thereof. As the adsorbent particles being loaded flow into the vessel, they strike the cones and are deflected in an outward direction toward the wall of the vessel. This approach tends to spread the particles out from the center cone, and to create a somewhat more uniform particle packing density. It has not been found to be effective, however, with respect to larger sized, commercially significant vessels having diameters of over about 6 feet, some of the flowing particles do not have sufficient energy to enable them to be dispersed to the outer region at the wall of the vessel. This approach is also disadvantaged by its need to accurately position a uniform inlet stream of particles in the center of the series of cones. This is very difficult to achieve since the particles are being powered from a large drum, e.g. a 55 gallon drum, through a flexible hose into the inlet flange of the vessel.
As those skilled in the art will appreciate, another set of problems can also arise in vessel loading due to drum-to-drum variations in the particles being loaded, and the particular method of loading employed. If, for example, the particles are poured into the vessel in accordance with common practice, it has been observed that all of the material from one shipping drum will tend to collect in one area of the bed. This material may be more or less reactive, or somewhat larger or smaller in size, than the overall average of the bed. This also will result in areas of adsorbent material non-uniformity in the bed, which will decrease the efficiency of the adsorption process carried out in the vessel.
If, for the reasons indicated above, a non-uniform particle packing exists in an adsorption vessel, a non-uniform flow of fluid therethrough will be observed. Thus, as the fluid approaches the bed of particle material at a uniform pressure, either at the top or the bottom of the adsorbent bed, the flow of such fluid will be less through the dense central region thereof than through the looser, less densely packed outer edge sections thereof. Such variation in particle density from the center to the outer edge portion of the bed will generally be greater as the diameter of the vessel is increased. This results from the greater shearing action the particles undergo as they move from the center to the outer edge of the adsorbent bed in the vessel. In this regard, it should be noted that, for relatively small sized vessels, e.g. in the 1 to 4 feet diameter range, nearly uniform densities can be achieved because the center region of the particle cone will nearly fill the entire vessel. For larger vessels, however, the center region of the particle cone will not fill the entire vessel and non-uniform packing of the particles will be observed. In such large vessels, it has also been observed that small variations in bed density can lead to large changes in the velocity of gas flow through the bed since said velocity through the packed bed is a strong function of the particle packing density. It is such non-uniform flow conditions, caused by a non-uniform packing of particles in the vessel, that results in the above-indicated disappointing levels of adsorption performance that can be encountered in larger size, commercially significant operations.
In light of these circumstances, there is a genuine need for further development of the particle loading techniques used in commercial practice. In particular, there is a need for such development leading to a more uniform packing of adsorbent particles, especially for use in the loading of larger sized adsorption vessels.
It is an object of the invention, therefore, to provide an improved apparatus for the loading of adsorption vessels.
It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus for achieving a uniform packing of adsorbent throughout an adsorption vessel.
With these and other objects in mind, the invention is hereinafter described in detail, the novel features thereof being particularly pointed out in the appended claims.


A control signal generation apparatus for use in a digital information signal recording system enables an optimum channel word of two channel words output from two precoders to be recorded on a digital record medium. The control signal generation apparatus compares the same kind of spectrum components from among peak, notch, and dip components detected from the two channel words, and generates a control signal for selecting an optimum channel word. The apparatus includes a gain controller for controlling the gains of integrators used for detecting the peak, notch, and dip components. The gain controller compares the detected peak, notch, and dip components with upper limit and lower limit set reference values, and generates a gain control signal according to the comparison results. Accordingly, the present invention can reduce the amount of required hardware circuitry, compared to the conventional apparatus which adds the peak, notch, and dip components detected from an individual channel word, and then compares the addition results with each other. An automatic gain controller is included which allows the number of the maximum allowable bits to be reduced, and which increases the processing speed of an integrator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for generating a control signal used in a recording device for recording a digital information signal on a digital recording medium. More particularly, it relates to an apparatus for generating a control signal concerning selection of a channel word to be recorded on an information track of a digital recording medium, in a recording device for recording channel words on information tracks in the magnetic recording medium, in which information words have (n+1) bits. Each of the information words, which has a one-bit digital word affixed thereto, is converted into an (n+1)-bit channel word by using precoders.
2. Background of the Related Art
A typical 8 mm video tape recording system records a recording signal together with a pilot signal on each recording track of a recording medium, in order to accurately control the recording tracks. However, a method for recording pilot signals which simply have different frequencies, together with recording signals is inefficient in terms of efficiently using the recording medium. This is because pilot signals in neighboring tracks should be located sufficiently far from a pilot signal in a track to be reproduced, in order not to cause crosstalk in the frequency domain, with the pilot signal.
To solve the above problem, a high-efficiency encoding technology is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,421 to Kahlman et al., issued on Aug. 25, 1992, entitled "Device For Recording A Digital Information Signal On A Record Carrier." This reference is described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIG. 1 shows a device for recording a digital information signal on a recording carrier, which is referred to in the above reference. In FIG. 1, a first affixing unit 100 affixes a "0" to successive n-bit information words input via an input terminal 10, and a second affixing unit 150 affixes a "1" to successive n-bit information words. First and second precoders 200 and 250 convert the (n+1)-bit information words into (n+1)-bit channel words, respectively. The output of first precoder 200 is supplied to a control signal generator 300 and a first delay 500, and the output of second precoder 250 is supplied to control signal generator 300 and a second delay 550.
The control signal generator 300, shown in detail in FIG. 2 and described later in detail, generates a control signal CS using the supplied data. The control signal CS is supplied to first and second precoders 200 and 250 and also to a multiplexer 600. The first and second delays 500 and 550 delay the input data until control signal generator 300 generates a control signal corresponding to the input data. The multiplexer 600 selects one of the signals output from first and second delays 500 and 550 according to the control signal CS, and supplies the selected signal to a recording unit 700. The first and second precoders 200 and 250 operate to contain identical data in internal memories in response to control signal CS. For example, when the output data of first precoder 200 is transmitted to recording unit 700, the data contained in first precoder 200 is supplied to second precoder 250, with the result that first and second precoders 200 and 250 contain identical data.
FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of control signal generator 300 shown in FIG. 1. Control signal generator 300 includes, as shown in FIG. 2, a spectrum analysis circuit 301 which receives the signal output from first precoder 200, and a spectrum analysis circuit 302 which receives the signal output from second precoder 250. The spectrum analysis circuits 301 and 302 have the same structure, and accordingly, only spectrum analysis circuit 301 is shown in detail in FIG. 2. The spectrum analysis circuit 301 shown in detail in FIG. 2 is substantially the same as those shown in FIG. 17 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,421, except for an adder 311, an integrator 312 and a square wave generator 35. Since differences between the spectrum analysis circuit 301 of FIG. 2 and that of the FIG. 17 circuit of the above reference can be fully understood by one skilled in the art, the detailed description of the differences are omitted.
The spectrum analysis circuit 301 includes three spectrum component detectors, i.e., a peak detector 310 for detecting a peak component in which a particular frequency component is larger than a set reference value, a notch detector 320 for detecting a notch component capable of discriminating whether the particular frequency component is smaller than the set reference value, and a dip detector 330 for detecting a dip component assisting peak detection by attenuating the signal by a certain amount around the peak component. Peak detector 310, notch detector 320 and dip detector 330 detect, respectively, the peak, notch and dip components from the "0"-affixed channel word. An adder 340 sums signals output from detectors 310, 320 and 330. A spectrum analysis circuit 302 performs the same operation as that of the spectrum analysis circuit 301, except with respect to a "1"-affixed channel word. A comparator 303 compares the output signals of spectrum analysis circuits 301 and 302, to thereby generate the control signal CS.
Since the above adder 340 receives the five signals and sums all these signals, construction of the circuit is complicated. Also, an accurate result cannot be obtained unless relative gains are the same when each spectrum is estimated. Further, since the complicated circuit lengthens processing time, a digital circuit having a negative feedback loop requires a high-speed operational device to complete the negative feedback loop within a certain amount of time.

Control signal generation apparatus for a digital information signal recording system


A computer keyboard 10 having a plurality of keys 18 at desired locations being supported above a support plate 20 having a plurality of apertures 22 at the desired locations. A membrane keyswitch assembly 24 is mounted on the support plate 20 having keyswitches at each desired location. The keys have key plungers 28 that move up and down in the support plate apertures 22. An elastomeric dome sheet 46 is mounted over the membrane keyswitch assembly 24 with individual elastomeric dome return springs for biasing the keys 18 to their up position. An air chamber 52 is formed beneath the support plate 20 extending between the desired key locations. An air-impervious elastomeric membrane 60 is sandwiched between the air chamber 52 and the support plate 20 forming a flexible upper wall that receives and engages the key plungers 28. The membrane 60 has individual pedestal portions at the key locations for engaging the plungers 28. A manually adjustable air supply is connected to the air chamber 52 to adjust the air pressure and thereby adjust the force required to actuate a key.

Even though it has been generally recognized for a number of years that it would be desirable to provide a computer keyboard in which the keystroke force required to activate a keyswitch is adjustable, it has been found that to include such a feature substantially increases the cost of the keyboard and may reduce other performance characteristics of the keyboard, including its useful life.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,901 granted to Isao Mochizuki on Nov. 14, 1995 is directed to an "adjustable touch computer keyboard" having scissor-like leg structures supporting keytops with compression coil springs used to assist in biasing the keytops to the "up" position. A slide mechanism is used to adjust the compression of the spring to vary the "touch" or "feel" of the key. Such a design is quite expensive.
Another example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,758, granted to Peter U. Guckenheimer on Feb. 19, 1985. Such patent is directed to a keyboard having a mechanical cam means to adjust the length of the keystroke to vary the "tactile feel" of the keys. U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,318 granted to Darrell S. Staley on Jun. 15, 1993 describes an adjustable "touch" control using magnetic key plungers located within adjustable magnetic fields to vary the forces required to depress the keys and activate the keyswitches.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,888 granted to Andrew R. MacFarlane on Jan. 3, 1989 describes a computer keyboard that has a variable force keystroke feature in which an apertured air pressure bladder is placed underneath the keytops so that as the keytops are depressed the outer edges of the keytops engage the upper layer of the bladder thereby increasing the force required to continue depressing the keytop until the keyswitch is actuated. The air pressure in the bladder may be adjusted to vary the keystroke force required to actuate the keyswitch. One of the major problems with such a design is that the spring action of the air pressure is not linear over the full stroke of the key but rather is more exponential in character, thereby not only changing the force required to depress the keytop but also dramatically changing the "tactile feel" (shifting the force-displacement curve laterally) at the various air pressure settings. Furthermore, the force required to depress a key will vary depending upon the size of the keytop. The larger keytops will require a larger force to depress, whereas the smaller keytops will require a smaller force to depress.
One of the objects and advantages of this invention is to provide a computer keyboard that overcomes many of the problems that are identified above and to provide a less costly and more reliable adjustable force keystroke feature to enable users to more readily adjust the keystroke force to "customize" the keyboard to their preferences without dramatically changing the fundamental "tactile feel" characteristics of the keyboard.

Computer keyboard with adjustable force keystroke feature using air pressure


An apparatus for tilting and swiveling a display monitor using a remote controller is provided. A tilt member detachably connected to the bottom surface of the display monitor is supported on the top surface of a swivel member. A plurality of guide blocks and an arcuate rack gear member are provided on the bottom surface of the tilt member. The guide blocks are accommodated in grooves of the swivel member to guide tilt movement of the tilt member relative to the swivel member. A motor moving back and forth by a solenoid device is mounted on the swivel member. A swivel member is provided on the end of the motor shaft so as to be engaged with a stationary gear member fixed on a vertical shaft of a base member. A tilt gear member is driven by the motor only when the motor moves backwards by the solenoid device and rotates the rack gear member of the tilt member. If a tilting or swiveling button of a remote controller is pressed, a power is applied directly to the motor or sequentially supplied to the solenoid device and the motor and the display monitor tilts or swivels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for tilting and swiveling a display monitor for a personal computer, and more particularly, to an apparatus for mechanically tilting and swiveling a display monitor using a remote controller.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various arrangements for tilting or swiveling a monitor relative to a base have been developed and used. Examples of such conventional arrangements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,683,068 and 5,024,415. In the conventional arrangements, a force must be directly applied to a monitor by a user to tilt or swivel the display monitor. Thus, in case of a heavy monitor, it is quite difficult to manipulate the display monitor.

Tilt and swivel apparatus for a display monitor


A composite golf head includes a head portion with a striking face, and a striking plate fixed to the striking face of the head portion. The head portion is made of a carbon fiber composite material and the striking plate is made of a wear resistant material. A plurality of first projections extending outwardly from the peripheral edge are adjacent to the inside face of the striking plate. Between each of the first projections and its peripheral edge a shoulder portion is formed. The head portion has a plurality of engaging grooves formed therein which are adjacent to the striking face of the head portion so that the first projections can be received and locked in their respective engaging grooves.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a composite golf head, more particularly to a composite golf head which has a carbon fiber head portion and a wear resistant striking plate fixed to said head portion.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, golf heads are made of metal or carbon fiber composite materials. The metal golf head has good strength and wear resistance. However, its manufacturing costs are high. The golf heads which are made of carbon fiber composite materials have high strength and small specific gravity. The fiber angle of the golf head can be arranged according to the strength and the direction of the striking force. However, the carbon fiber golf heads suffer from having poor wear resistance.
Accordingly, composite golf heads have been developed to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks. The composite golf head includes a head portion which is made of a carbon fiber composite material and a striking plate which is fixed to the striking face of the head portion and is made of a wear resistant material. The wear resistant material may be stainless steel, titanium alloy, or structural ceramic. When the composite golf head is manufactured, the striking plate is placed in a mold and the carbon fiber composite material is then heated and pressurized in the mold. The striking plate is thus adhered to the striking face of the head portion as the carbon fiber composite material cools and forms. However, because the adhesion force between the head portion and the striking plate is weak, the striking plate is sometimes separated from the head portion when it is in the process of being struck.

Li-Lin Tsun, Tan-Tzu Hsiang, Taichung Hsien


A semiconductor device includes a substrate, an interlayer insulation layer, first transistors, a multilayered interconnect layer, capacitance devices, metal interconnects, and first contacts. Interlayer insulation films are disposed over the substrate. The first transistors are disposed to the substrate and buried in the interlayer insulation layer. The first transistor has at least a gate electrode and a diffusion electrode. A multilayered interconnect layer is disposed over the interlayer insulation film. The capacitance devices are disposed in the multilayered interconnect layer. The metal interconnect is in contact with the upper surface of the gate electrode and buried in the interlayer insulation layer. The first contact is coupled to the diffusion layer of the first transistor and buried in the interlayer insulation layer. The metal interconnect includes a material identical with that of the first contact.

This invention concerns a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device.
In the field of semiconductor devices, reduction in the size and increase in the speed of semiconductor device have been demanded. Semiconductor devices that can reduce the size and increase the speed include, for example, those described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-54920.
The semiconductor device described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-54920 has a hybrid circuit in which a logic circuit and a memory circuit are hybridized on one identical substrate. Capacitance devices forming a memory circuit are buried in a layer common with a multilayered wiring layer forming a logic circuit. An upper interconnect layer is formed over the capacitance devices. The interconnect of the upper interconnect layer (fifth layer interconnect 55) is utilized as a word line backing interconnect (column 0123 in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-549920). The word line backing interconnect decreases the resistance of a word line.
Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-105149 describes a semiconductor device in which bit lines are disposed in a layer over the capacitance devices. The bit line is coupled electrically by way of a contact with a diffusion layer of a transistor. The contact is disposed between each of the capacitance devices in adjacent to them.

Semiconductor device with contacts and metal interconnects and method of manufacturing the semiconductor device


A modified concentric spectrograph for diffracting light with high stray light rejection without astigmatism is provided. The modified spectrograph includes a grating, a lens, and at least one entrance port and one exit port. The grating has a concave surface and a meridian plane with a first side and a second side. The lens has a substantially planar surface and a convex surface. Preferably, the convex and concave surfaces are substantially concentric. The ports are substantially located on different sides of the meridian plane near a focal plane of the spectrograph. The position of a focal plane may be modified using an optically transmissive triangular prism with a reflective surface, and an optically transmissive block. The position of a focal plane may further be modified with one or more optically transmissive plates. Methods for using the spectrograph are also provided.

This invention relates to diffraction-grating spectrographs. More particularly, this invention relates to concentric diffraction-grating spectrographs with modified arrangements of their optical components.
An optical spectrograph collects light at its entrance slit and forms an image of the entrance slit in the exit plane at the wavelengths present in the light source. Diffraction-grating spectrographs use one or more diffraction gratings to diffract light into specific wavelengths and to select a predetermined portion of the wavelengths present in that light.
Concentric spectrographs are particularly well suited for applications requiring sharp spectral and spatial imaging. One type of concentric spectrograph includes an entrance port, an exit port, a hemispheric field lens, and a concave diffraction grating that has a set of substantially parallel grating lines, or grooves. A concave grating has a reflective grating surface ruled on a concave surface, usually spherical, that disperses the light and focuses the spectrum. One advantage of such a grating is that it can be used without separate collimating optics. A concave grating inherently has an optical axis, which is a line that passes symmetrically through the center of curvature of the grating surface, and a meridian plane, which is a plane that contains the grating optical axis and that is substantially perpendicular to the grating lines. The entrance and exit ports of a conventional concentric spectrograph are positioned substantially in the meridian plane of the grating.
A conventional concentric spectrograph operates as follows. First, a light beam enters the spectrograph through the entrance port, which is substantially in the meridian plane of the grating. After passing through the entrance port, the light beam passes through the hemispherical lens, which causes the beam to diverge and form an expanding light cone. The longitudinal axis of that expanding light cone lies in the meridian plane of the grating. Next, the light beam is reflectively diffracted by the grating surface toward the lens in the form of a contracting light cone. The longitudinal axis of the contracting light cone also lies in the meridian plane. Once the light is incident on the surface of the lens, most of the light is transmitted by the lens and focused at the exit port for spectral analysis.
There are a number of advantages to the concentric spectrograph configuration over other known configurations, such as the Czerny-Turner configuration. First, concentric spectrographs form sharp images due to the inherent absence of Seidel aberrations. Second, concentric spectrographs can be designed with relatively large numerical apertures (e.g., numerical apertures greater than 0.7 are possible). Third, concentric spectrographs are anastigmatic, flat field devices in which linear dispersion is a function of groove density and wavelength. Fourth, concentric spectrographs provide equal magnification along and across the dispersion, which is important for convolution applications. Last, concentric spectrographs do not require the use of aspherical optical surfaces, which are relatively expensive.
Conventional concentric spectrographs, however, have a number of disadvantages. First, concentric spectrographs have difficulty preventing stray light from contaminating with the desired spectrum at the exit port of the spectrograph. Stray light may arise from a number of sources. Of particular concern is light which has been reflectively diffracted twice. Some of that light is directed toward the exit port, which appears as a faint undesirable spectrum that overlaps with the desired spectrum, a phenomenon called spectral overlap.
When a detector is placed at the exit port of a conventional concentric spectrograph, the desired and undesired spectra are both recorded by the detector. Therefore, the intensity of the desired spectrum cannot be measured independently from the undesired spectrum. In order to prevent undesirable spectra from polluting the desired spectrum, one or more filters may be placed along the optical path of the light beam, especially between the exit port of the spectrograph and the detector. Filtering, however, only works when the stray light has a different quality than the desired light, such as a different wavelength or polarization. When the wavelengths of the stray and spectral light are the same, conventional wavelength filtering techniques will not work. In any case, filtering reduces the intensity of the desired spectrum, which reduces the throughput of the spectrograph. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a high throughput concentric spectrograph, which also has high stray light rejection without the use of filters.
Another common disadvantage of conventional concentric spectrographs is their relatively large F-numbers. As used herein, the term "F-number" refers to the ratio of an equivalent focal length of a lens to the diameter of its entrance pupil. When the F-number of a spectrograph is large, the solid angle in which light can enter the spectrograph is relatively small, which limits the throughput of the spectrograph. Also, spectrometers having large F-numbers require relatively long focal lengths, which make the instrument large.
It would therefore also be desirable to provide a concentric spectrograph that is compact, relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and relatively immune to miscalibration.
It would also be desirable to provide an inexpensive concentric spectrograph that provides an anastigmatic image at the exit port with reduced stray light.


The present invention provides methods and devices for fabricating 3D structures and patterns of 3D structures on substrate surfaces, including symmetrical and asymmetrical patterns of 3D structures. Methods of the present invention provide a means of fabricating 3D structures having accurately selected physical dimensions, including lateral and vertical dimensions ranging from 10s of nanometers to 1000s of nanometers. In one aspect, methods are provided using a mask element comprising a conformable, elastomeric phase mask capable of establishing conformal contact with a radiation sensitive material undergoing photoprocessing. In another aspect, the temporal and/or spatial coherence of electromagnetic radiation using for photoprocessing is selected to fabricate complex structures having nanoscale features that do not extend entirely through the thickness of the structure fabricated.

Advances in nanoscience and technology increasingly rely on techniques for fabricating structures comprising features having selected physical dimensions, such as lengths, heights and widths, in the nanometer regime. Methods that have emerged from the microelectronics industry, such as deep UV projection mode lithography and electron beam lithography, are well suited for patterning two dimensional (2D) nanostructures on ultraflat glass or semiconductor surfaces. The limited depth of focus of these approaches, however, makes it challenging, if not commercial unfeasible, to fabricate directly the types of three dimensional (3D) nanostructures that are important for many areas of nanotechnology. To extend the applicability of these methods, indirect approaches of generating 3D nanostructures have been developed with employ repetitive application of steps that involve 2D patterning of sacrificial resists, depositing functional materials, etching or polishing them, and removing the sacrificial layers. These strategies, however, typically require sophisticated facilities and are difficult to implement for structures that demand more than a few layers. As a result of these well recognized limitations, there is presently a demand for high throughput, low cost fabrication methods capable of generating a wide variety of nanostructures.
Recently, new methods of fabricating 3D nanostructures have been developed. Methods based on colloidal sedimentation, polymer phase separation, templated growth, fluidic self-assembly, multiple beam interference lithography, and various approaches based on printing, molding, and writing are all useful for building different classes of 3D nanostructures. Nevertheless, these techniques have certain limitations in the geometries, physical dimensions and sizes of patterns that they can generate. For example, two-photon lithography can produce an impressive variety of structures, but its serial operation makes it difficult and labor intensive to pattern large substrate areas or to generate large numbers of structures.
Holographic and photolithographic methods also provide useful methods for fabricating structures. Exemplary methods for generating patterns and structures are described in "Fabrication of photonic crystals for the visible spectrum by holographic lithography," Campbell, M., Sharp, D. N., Harrison, M. T., Denning, R. G. and Turberfield, A. J., Nature, Vol. 404, pgs. 53-56 (2000) and "Generating ≈90 nanometer features using near field contact mode photolithography with an elastomeric phase mask," Rogers, J. A., Paul, K. E., Jackman, R. J. and Whitesides, G. M., J. Vac. Sci. Technology. B, Vol 16(1), pgs, 59-68 (1998), which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties to the extent not inconsistent with the present description.

Methods and devices for fabricating three-dimensional nanoscale structures

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois


A transformer with a primary and a secondary core. The primary core is rectangular in shape with guide slots on the inside in the center of opposite legs and windings wound in opposition on the other two sides. The secondary core is rectangular in shape consisting of two V' shaped parts. A power end and a bypass end. The two legs of the secondary power core are shaped into a closed V' and the two legs of the secondary bypass core are shaped into an open V' to allow the legs of the bypass and power core halves to mesh. These two half cores are separated by a diamagnetic strip and bonded together with a low magnetic bonding agent. The power end of the secondary core contains the secondary windings. The complete secondary core is then inserted at a right angle through the guide slots in the primary core. As the secondary core is moved back and forth through the primary core, the ratio of the amount of ferromagnetic material in the bypass end and the power end in contact with the primary core changes and therefore changes the magnetic flux density in the power end of the secondary core thus altering power through the secondary windings.

This invention relates to transformers with a controlled variable output and more particularly to transformers that can automatically maintain constant power from the secondary with a fluctuating power supply to the primary and vary the power from the secondary with a constant or variable power input to the primary. This invention also relates to an invertor transformer reference; Invertor Systems Utilizing Inductive or Capacitive Reactance, Ser. No. 07/775,293, filed Oct. 8, 1991, and to rotating field or induction motor speed or torque control. Many variable power transformers are currently in use and consist of different taps on the secondary coil or a sliding tap that can intersect various positions on the secondary windings. These transformers have either wide range steps or very minor adjustments and are not suitable for micro/macro adjustments in power. Another variable power transformer device consists of a moveable core inside of primary and secondary windings thereby changing flux linkages between primary and secondary windings. This transformer design does not supply a continuous ferro-magnetic path and lends itself to excessive leakage. Another transformer device called a magnetic modulator, U.S. Pat. No. 2,774,057, changes the flux linkage in the core by utilizing a sliding bar. This system would be very inefficient as it would not utilize ferromagnetism. Another transformer Pat. No. 3,716,719 does provide for controlled leakage (bypass) of the magnetic flux and electro magnetically functions well. This transformer, due to the bypass design, would have difficulty in micro adjustment and also would have excessive loads on the bearing surfaces due to the unbalanced forces in the magnetic field. The bearing surfaces on this transformer would abrade very rapidly.


Folding heads for corn-shelling machines and/or combine harvesters which include a central portion extending along a main transversal direction and two lateral portions aligned with the central portion in a working condition of the head are provided. Folding heads may include drive elements for moving the lateral portions so as to pass from the working configuration to a folded configuration wherein the lateral portions are at least partially folded and overlapping the central portion. Each lateral portion may be operatively connected to the central portion by connection elements which may include a relative arm which connects each lateral portion to the central portion, wherein the connection elements include a first hinge defining a first rotation axis parallel to a longitudinal direction of advancement of the head and a second hinge defining a second rotation axis, perpendicular to the first rotation axis. Methods of making and using folding heads are also provided.

Heads for corn-shelling machines are typically placed at the front end of a corn-shelling machine and/or combine harvester and are provided with a plurality of devices suitable for carrying out the shelling of cobs.
Such heads usually have considerable transversal dimensions, i.e. perpendicular to the advancement direction of a corn-shelling machine and/or combine harvester in order to harvest as many cobs as possible upon each passage.
Such transversal dimensions may exceed 10 meters. The heads often need to be removed from the machine and carried, for example, by means of a combine harvester. In order to be carried on combine harvesters, it is necessary to be able to fold said heads.
Solutions for the folding of heads for corn-shelling machines and/or combine harvesters are known in the art, wherein the head includes a central portion and two lateral portions hinged at opposite sides to the central portion. The hinge axes are arranged parallel to the advancement direction of the head. The central portion has an extension equal to about half the total transversal extension of the head while each lateral portion has a transversal extension equal to about ¼ of the total extension. In this way, each lateral portion can be upturned on top of the central portion and in a folded configuration, the head takes on a transversal size equal to about half the maximum size in a working configuration.
However, such solutions have limitations since the total dimensions are still equal to about half the maximum ones: this means that for larger heads, such dimensions in a folded configuration will still be approximately 5-6 m. Such dimensions are excessive and require the use of oversized loads with security risks and high transportation costs.

Folding heads for corn-shelling machines and combine harvesters


The present invention provides a flame retardant acrylic-based copolymer which includes a derivative unit obtained from a monomer mixture comprising: (A) a (meth)acrylic monomer; (B) at least one vinyl monomer selected from the group consisting of an aromatic vinyl monomer and an unsaturated nitrile monomer; and (C) a phosphorus-based (meth)acrylic monomer. The flame retardant acrylic copolymer has high refractivity and exhibits excellent flame retardancy and scratch resistance.

Thermoplastic resins exhibit excellent physical properties such as low specific gravity, good moldability and good impact resistance, as compared with glass or metal. With the trend of low cost, larger and lighter weight electric/electronic products, plastic products made of thermoplastic resins are quickly replacing existing glass or metal-based products, thereby broadening applications thereof from electric and electronic products to automobile components.
Particularly, demand for transparent resins has increased in line with recent trend of reduction in thickness of electric/electronic products and variation of design concept. As a result, there is increasing demand for functional transparent materials prepared by imparting functionality such as scratch resistance or flame retardancy to existing transparent resins.
One example of transparent scratch resistant resins is an acrylic resin represented by polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). Particularly, PMMA exhibits excellent properties in terms of transparency, weather resistance, mechanical strength and scratch resistance, but has low impact resistance and flame retardancy. To enhance impact resistance while maintaining transparency of PMMA, acrylic impact modifiers prepared to have the same index of refraction as that of PMMA are generally used. However, the acrylic impact modifiers have a drawback of lower impact resistance efficiency than butadiene-based impact modifiers. In addition, the method of adding a flame retardant to secure flame retardancy of PMMA does not secure flame retardancy, and can reduce other properties such as thermal resistance and impact resistance while deteriorating thermal stability due to the flame retardant upon processing. As a result, there is no report up to now that the transparent acrylic resin is used alone to provide flame retardancy.
In addition to PMMA, a transparent ABS resin can be used as a transparent scratch resistant material. A methyl methacrylate-acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer resin (hereinafter, "transparent ABS resin") is used to enhance transparency of existing ABS resins. The transparent ABS resin is prepared by blending a methyl methacrylate-styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer resin (hereinafter "MSAN resin") with a graft copolymer (hereinafter "g-MABS resin"), which is prepared by graft polymerization of styrene monomer and acrylonitrile monomer together with methyl methacrylate monomer to a butadiene-based rubbery polymer. Here, the MSAN resin exhibits good properties in terms of transparency and scratch resistance while providing good mechanical properties, such as impact resistance and the like, as compared with PMMA. In addition, the MSAN resin has high refractivity and thus exhibits high transparency with the butadiene-based impact modifier. However, like the PMMA resin, the transparent ABS resin prepared using the MSAN resin does not secure good flame retardancy due to the methyl methacrylate having low flame retardancy only by addition of the flame retardant, and can suffer from deterioration in impact resistance, thermal resistance, and thermal stability upon processing due to the flame retardant.
In the present invention, a phosphorus (meth)acrylic monomer is introduced to prepare a phosphorus-based copolymer resin, which exhibits excellent flame retardancy without using a flame retardant and has high refractivity while maintaining excellent transparency and scratch resistance.

Flame retardant acrylic-based copolymer, resin composition comprising same and molding form thereof


A matrix calculation device includes a first partition position display unit configured to distinguishably display a partition position of the one matrix partitioned by the matrix partitioning unit, a partition position determination unit configured to determine, based on a partition position of the one matrix distinguishably displayed by the first partition position display unit and a definition of a product of matrices, a partition position of the other matrix, and a second partition position display unit configured to distinguishably display the partition position of the other matrix determined by the partition position determination unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a matrix calculation device, matrix calculation method, and storage medium having a matrix calculation program stored thereon, each of which is used to learn a calculation of the matrix product.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, scientific electronic calculators capable of displaying various formulae described in mathematics textbooks in accordance with the forms as they are (hereinafter referred to as "natural mathematical display") have become widespread as instructional tools. Further, a matrix calculation function is also incorporated in the scientific electronic calculator compatible with natural mathematical display.
Now, there is a matrix calculation as one of matrix learning items, and a calculation of a large matrix can be carried out by simplification using partitioned matrices. The partitioned matrices are found in many textbooks, and students learn that a matrix calculation is simplified by appropriately changing the matrices into partitioned matrices. However, it has been difficult for a beginner to determine at which part of a matrix calculating formula the partition should be carried out, and find in what procedure the calculation after changing the matrices into partitioned matrices should be carried out.
In a conventional scientific electronic calculator, in a state where a multiplication result of a matrix A multiplied by a matrix B (matrix A×matrix B) is displayed as a matrix calculating formula and matrix of the solution, when an arbitrary element of matrix elements of the displayed solution is specified, matrix elements in the matrix calculating formula used for calculating the specified matrix element of the solution are distinguishably displayed. Thereby, a matrix calculation device which makes it possible easily learn by what combination of a plurality of matrix elements of each of the matrices the calculation is carried out in the process of the calculation of the product of matrices is contrived.
In the conventional scientific electronic calculator or the like, although the matrix calculation function is incorporated, it is not possible to learn a procedure for efficiently carrying out a calculation by using partitioned matrices in calculating the product of large matrices.

Matrix calculation device, matrix calculation method, and storage medium having matrix calculation program stored thereon