A technique for controlling access to resources that may be accessed by one or more entities in a system. According to the technique, an entity accesses a shared resource by issuing a request containing an identifier that identifies the resource and an operation that specifies an operation to be performed on the resource. The operation is compared with one or more outstanding operations associated with the shared resource to determine if the operation conflicts with one or more of the outstanding operations. If a conflict is detected, a guard value is applied to determine if a race condition could occur. If a race condition is detected, the operation is blocked; otherwise, the operation is allowed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer systems and specifically to controlling access to shared resources in a computer system.
2. Background Information
Computer architecture generally defines the functional operation, including the flow of information and control, among individual hardware units of a computer. One such hardware unit is the processor or processing engine, which contains arithmetic and logic processing circuits organized as a set of data paths. In some implementations, the data path circuits may be configured as a central processing unit (CPU) having operations that are defined by a set of instructions. The instructions are typically stored in an instruction memory and specify a set of hardware functions that are available on the CPU.
A high-performance computer may be realized by using a number of CPUs or processors to perform certain tasks in parallel. For a purely parallel multiprocessor architecture, each processor may have shared or private access to resources, such as program instructions (e.g., algorithms) or data structures stored in a memory coupled to the processors. Access to an external memory is generally handled by a memory controller, which accepts memory requests from the various processors and processes them in an order that often is controlled by logic contained in the memory controller. Moreover, certain complex multiprocessor systems may employ many memory controllers where each controller is attached to a separate external memory subsystem.
One place where a parallel, multiprocessor architecture can be advantageously employed involves the area of data communications and, in particular, the forwarding engine for an intermediate network station or node. An intermediate node interconnects communication links and subnetworks of a computer network through a series of ports to enable the exchange of data between two or more software entities executing on hardware platforms, such as end nodes. The nodes typically communicate by exchanging discrete packets or frames of data according to predefined protocols, such as the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) or the Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) protocol. The forwarding engine is often used by the intermediate node to process packets received on the various ports. This processing may include determining the destination of a packet, such as an output port, and placing the packet on an output queue associated with the destination.
Intermediate nodes often employ output queues to control the flow of packets placed into the network. In a typical arrangement, the output queues are configured as first-in-first-out (FIFO) queues where packets are placed (enqueued) at the end (tail) of the queues and removed (dequeued) from the beginning (head) of the queue. Placement and removal often entails accessing the queue, which includes writing and reading the packet or information related to the packet, such as a packet header, to and from the queue.
In some systems, packets are enqueued and dequeued by the forwarding engine. In intermediate nodes that employ forwarding engines containing multiple processors, the output queues may be treated as shared resources, meaning that more than one processor can access a given queue at a given time. One problem with shared resources, however, is that certain race conditions may occur when two or more processors attempt to perform conflicting operations on the same resource at the same time. For example, a race condition may occur when a shared queue is empty and a first processor begins to enqueue an element (e.g., a packet header) onto the queue while a second processor accesses the same queue and attempts to dequeue the same element. If the first processor has not completely placed the element on the queue when the second processor begins to dequeue the element, the second processor may end up dequeuing an incomplete element. Another race condition may occur when a shared queue is full and a first processor begins to dequeue an element while a second processor attempts to enqueue an element onto the same queue before the first processor has completely dequeued its element. If the first processor has not completely removed the element from the queue before the second processor begins to place its element on the queue, the second processor may end up overwriting the element being dequeued by the first processor and thus the first processor may end up removing erroneous information.
A prior technique that may be used to avoid race conditions associated with accessing shared resources in a multiprocessing system involves a lock. A lock is an abstraction representing permission to access the resource. Typically, when an entity, such as a processor, wishes to access the shared resource, it obtains "permission" by acquiring the lock before accessing the resource. When the entity finishes accessing the resource the entity releases the lock so that other entities may obtain permission to access the resource. By requiring that the lock be acquired by an entity before the resource is accessed, entities that do not acquire the lock are prevented (locked-out) from interfering with an entity that has acquired the lock.
One problem with locks is that they tend to "serialize" access to resources. This may be troublesome in parallel processing systems, such as multiprocessor systems, where the benefits associated with parallel processing may be greatly diminished due to the serial nature of the locking mechanism. For example, if a processor must wait until another processor releases a lock before it proceeds, the time spent waiting for the lock is time wasted that the processor could have used to perform other useful (parallel) work. Thus, in certain systems, especially parallel processing systems, locking mechanisms may not represent an efficient way to control access to a shared resource.

Memory controller that tracks queue operations to detect race conditions


A medical image radiographing system has: a radiographic-room-use radiographing apparatus for performing medical radiography in a radiographic room; a portable radiographing apparatus for performing medical radiography at a bedside of the patient; and a controller for displaying an input screen and for inputting information through the input screen, wherein, when radiographing order information is inputted, the controller displays a selection input screen for inputting selection of whether the radiographing order information is for one by the radiographic-room-use radiographing apparatus or one by the portable radiographing apparatus, and displays a radiographing order information input screen different according to the selection, and at input completion of the radiographing order information, the controller displays a confirmation input screen for inputting confirmation of the input completion regardless of the one by the radiographic-room-use radiographing apparatus or the one by the portable radiographing apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical image radiographing system, a method for managing a medical image and a method for displaying a medical image.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, a medical image radiographing system comprising a radiographing apparatus such as a CR (Computed Radiography) apparatus or the like for obtaining as digital image data, a radiation image widely used as a medical image has been developed.
In the above-mentioned radiographing apparatus, for example, a radiation image conversion panel in which a photostimulable phosphor layer is formed (hereinafter, it is called an imaging plate) is used. The imaging plate accumulates radiation energy corresponding to the degree of radiation transmission through each part of a subject, and emits the accumulated radiation energy as fluorescence by being irradiated by excitation light such as infrared ray or the like. A photoelectric converter such as semiconductor or the like photoelectrically converts light signals of the fluorescence into radiation image signals. The radiation image obtained in such a way, after being applied image processing on, is visualized on film, a display device or the like, or is stored along with patient information in a database to be used for various medical practice.
Based on radiographing order information from HIS (Hospital Information System) or RIS (Radiology Information System) each managing examination information in hospital facilities or in a department of radiology, a radiographic operator performs radiography with the use of the above-mentioned radiographing apparatus (hereinafter, it is called a radiographic-room-use radiographing apparatus) that is installed in a radiographic room.
In particular, recently, a traveling-type radiographing apparatus (hereinafter, it is called a portable radiographing apparatus) capable of radiographing at a bedside in a hospital room that holds a patient has been achieved (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Publication (Unexamined) No. Tokukai 2000-107160). With the use of the portable radiographing apparatus, it is possible to easily perform radiographing on a patient who is not able to travel to a radiographic room because he/she has difficulty in walking due to severe illness/injury. Further, if a medical image reading apparatus for reading a radiation image from the imaging plate is installed in a predetermined place at each floor, a nurse station or the like, it is possible for a radiographic operator to easily confirm a radiography result without traveling among floors. Here, the above-mentioned imaging plate is stored in a dedicated case, the so-called cassette, and unique identification number is allocated to each cassette and/or each imaging plate. According to the identification number, a cassette and/or an imaging plate can be identifiable.
The medical image radiographed in the above-described medical image radiographing system is read by the medical image reading apparatus, and stored in a controller with correspondence to radiographing order information. The radiographing order information includes information regarding patient (hereinafter, it is referred to as "patient information") such as name, sex and the like of a patient to be radiographed, and information regarding radiography (hereinafter, it is referred to as "radiography information") such as a radiographic part, a radiographing method and the like, and has therein an instruction such as, on which patient, how radiography should be performed, or the like. Then, the read medical image is displayed on a display unit of the controller with the radiographing order information correspondingly, and the controller applies an image process suitable for diagnosis on the medical image. With reference to FIG. 18, an image process screen in an earlier art will be described.
As shown in FIG. 18, in an image process screen 640, a plurality of medical images radiographed per one patient are displayed in the same screen. In other words, in the image process screen 640, placed are an area for displaying therein patient information of one patient, an area for displaying therein the plurality of medical images radiographed per one patient, and an area for displaying therein radiography information corresponding to each medical image, and in the same screen, as many as four types of medical images can be displayed. Concretely, in the area located at the upper part of the screen for displaying therein the patient information, placed are items for displaying patient ID, name, sex, date of birth, and in each area thereof, corresponding data is displayed. In the area located at the center of the screen for displaying therein a medical image, placed are an area for displaying therein a medical image and items for displaying identification information of a radiographing apparatus and resolution of an image. Further, the area located bottom of the screen for displaying therein the radiography information, placed are items for displaying a radiographic part and a cassette ID.
By the way, in the above-mentioned earlier art, there is a problem as following. There is a case where the same radiographic operator all at once inputs a plurality of radiographing order information regardless of the cases of, radiography with the use of the radiographing apparatus for a radiographic room fixedly installed in a radiographic room (hereinafter, it is called normal radiography) and radiography with the use of the portable radiographing apparatus (hereinafter, it is called portable radiography). In such a case, since the content that the radiographic operator is currently inputting differs between normal radiography and portable radiography, it is not clear for the radiographic operator to recognize the content. The more number of patients, the more complicated the input of radiographing order information becomes, and therefore there is a possibility of causing unexpected contingency such as an input mistake or the like.
In addition, in the medical image radiographing system in the earlier art, radiography in a radiographic room is performed on each patient, and each time of finishing a set of the radiography on one patient, medical images are obtained to be displayed on a monitor or the like. Thereby, in the image process screen, it is suitable to use a structure where a plurality of medical images are displayed on the monitor at each patient for benefiting from performing an image process all at once. However, when radiographing a medical image is performed at round visits with the use of the traveling-capable radiographing apparatus, in most cases, radiography on a plurality of patients is performed at one round visit for improving operating effectiveness. Thereby, as mentioned above, when medical images radiographed per each patient are to be displayed, it is necessary to display medical images of each of the plurality of patients respectively. Consequently, there is a problem where, if the number of patients increases, operation becomes more complicated and operationality becomes worse.

Medical image radiographing system, method for managing medical image and method for displaying medical image


A programmable logic device (PLD) is provided that includes at least one dedicated output routing channel configured to facilitate the processing of output signals generated by multiple function-specific blocks (FSBs). The output routing channel includes a plurality of functional units that may be programmably selectively chained, wherein each functional unit contains an operational block and output selection logic that are configured to programmably selectively implement any of a variety of operations (e.g., bitwise, logical, arithmetic, etc.) that may be performed on the outputs of single FSBs and/or several FSBs. In addition to the output routing channel, the PLD may also contain at least one input routing channel that is configured to facilitate the routing, registering, and/or selection of FSB input signals. In some cases, the FSB input routing channel may also include circuitry for performing elementary processing operations.

This invention relates to programmable logic devices (PLDs), and, more particularly, to techniques for facilitating the use of function-specific blocks which may be included in such devices.
As applications for which PLDs are used increase in complexity, it has become more common to design PLDs to include "function-specific blocks" (FSBs) in addition to blocks of generic programmable logic resources. Typically, an FSB is a concentration of circuitry on a PLD that has been partly- or fully-hardwired to perform one or more specific tasks, such as a logical or a mathematical operation. An FSB may also contain one or more specialized structures, such as an array of configurable memory elements. Examples of structures that are commonly implemented as FSBs include: multipliers, arithmetic logic units (ALUs), barrel-shifters, various memory elements (such as FIFO/LIFO/SIPO/RAM/ROM/CAM blocks and register files), AND/NAND/OR/NOR arrays, etc., or combinations thereof.
While the availability of FSBs on a PLD may lessen the need for programmably implementing such structures in soft-logic (e.g., by piecing together and configuring several blocks of generic programmable logic resources), the nature of the functions implemented in FSBs are often those which require inputs and/or outputs that are several bits wide (i.e., multi-bit signals). As a result, significant interconnection resources may be required simply for routing input and output signals to and from FSBs. The need for interconnection resources may be further compounded when FSB output signals undergo additional processing, such as bitwise/logical/mathematical operations, signal conditioning/manipulation, combination with output signals from other FSBs, and the like.
As a consequence, performance and usability bottlenecks may result from the inefficient allocation of interconnection resources for the purpose of routing signals to and from FSBs. Such performance bottlenecks may become acute in those PLD designs wherein the routing needs of the FSBs are accommodated primarily by diverting existing routing resources from the structures that surround the FSBs (e.g., blocks of generic programmable logic resources), such that the inefficient usage of those routing resources may sacrifice the usability of the neighboring structures.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Programmable logic device with routing channels


An underlying insulting film of silicon oxide, a gate insulating film of hafnium oxide, a gate electrode of polysilicon, and side walls of silicon oxide are formed above an element formation region of a semiconductor substrate. In the upper portion of the element formation region of the semiconductor substrate, source and drain areas and extension areas are formed by implantations of respective types. Thereafter, the scan speed of the semiconductor substrate and the pulse interval and the peak power of laser beam are adjusted to irradiate only the vicinity of the surface of the semiconductor substrate with laser beam for 0.1 second so that the vicinity of the surface of the semiconductor substrate has a temperature of 1150 to 1250° C. Thus, heat treatments for the gate insulating film and the source and drain areas are performed.

The present invention relates to methods for fabricating a semiconductor device having an insulating film of high dielectric such as hafnium oxide (HfO2) or zirconium oxide (ZrO2).
In recent years, further miniaturization of a MIS transistor has reduced the thickness of a gate insulating film provided in the transistor, which has offered the transistor with high driving power. The thinned gate insulating film, however, causes a direct tunnel current flow between a gate and a channel and an increase in the direct tunnel current boosts the power consumption of the transistor.
Generally, a fine MOS integrated circuit having a gate length of 0.10 μm or smaller requires a very thin gate insulating film whose equivalent silicon oxide thickness Eot is 2 nm or smaller. The equivalent silicon oxide thickness refers to the thickness of an insulating film necessary for having capacitance equivalent to that of a silicon oxide film. In the case where silicon oxide (SiO2) is used for the insulating film, when the thickness thereof is reduced to 2 nm or smaller, tunnel current becomes predominant. Probably, an insulating film of silicon oxide having a thickness of 1.2 nm or smaller cannot be used in a practicable element.
To realize both high driving power and low power consumption, a high dielectric constant insulating film having a higher dielectric constant than silicon oxide is being employed as the gate insulating film.
In capacitors included in, for example, an embedded LSI in which a DRAM portion and a logic portion are embedded within one chip, a capacitor insulating film is conventionally made of silicon oxide. Like the MIS transistor, as the capacitor insulating film is thinned, tunnel current increases. As a result, the charge holding time of the capacitor may be shortened. To solve this problem, consideration is being made of the use of a high dielectric constant material in the capacitor insulating film of this capacitor.
For example, a high dielectric thin film of metal oxide containing hafnium (Hf) or zirconium (Zn) is generally formed by a film growth technique such as sputtering, metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), atomic layer chemical vapor deposition (ALCVD), or molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).
When a transistor is formed by a series of process steps of depositing a gate insulating film of high dielectric, forming a gate electrode, and forming a dopant junction in a source and a drain, that is to say, by a self alignment process, it is necessary to perform, after the dopant introduction into the source and drain, heat treatment for heating the introduction regions to about 900° C. in order to form dopant junctions causing small leakage current.
Instead of the self alignment process, a so-called replacement process in which source and drain areas are formed prior to the formation of a gate insulating film is assumed to be applied. Even in the case of the replacement process, other than an MBE technique in which a high dielectric thin film is epitaxially grown in ultrahigh vacuum, it is essential for any film growth technique to perform heat treatment at 700° C. or higher in order to provide a gate insulating film of good insulation properties (See, e.g., Shigenori Hayashi, et al., "Fabrication and Evaluation of High Dielectric Constant Gate Insulating Film by Reactive Sputtering" The 60th Symposium on Semiconductors and Integrated Circuits Technology, Electronic Material Committee in the Electrochemical Society of Japan (June, 2001) pp. 12-16).
Heat treatment at high temperatures, however, causes silicidation reaction by the reaction of metal with silicon or crystallization by an oxide, and thus a boundary is formed between the regions where the composition of the film is changed and not changed. This decreases the insulation properties of the film (See, e.g., Noriyuki Miyata, et al., "Thermal Stability of HfO2/Ultrathin-SiO2/Si structures" Extended Abstracts of the 2002 International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials, Nagoya (2002) pp. 478-479).
In general, when these high dielectric materials are subjected to heat treatment at 600° C. or higher, however, they react with silicon constituting a substrate or they suffer from grain boundaries by the crystallization of themselves and film thickness ununiformity by their phase change. This increases leakage current and decreases breakdown voltage.
Moreover, by traces of oxygen contained in the atmosphere used during the heat treatment and oxygen contained in a silicon substrate and an insulating film, a silicon oxide film or a compound film made by the reaction of high dielectric with silicon (a so-called silicate thin film) is formed at the interface between the high dielectric film and the silicon substrate. The dielectric constants of the silicon oxide film and the silicate thin film range from a half to a smaller fraction of that of the high dielectric material, so that the formation of these films corresponds to the insertion of a capacitor in series with the high dielectric film. Accordingly, the effective dielectric constant thereof decreases.
As is apparent from the above, improvement of the heat treatment technique is essential to formation of a gate insulating film of high dielectric suitable for practical use.
Also in the case where the high dielectric materials are used for a capacitor insulating film of a capacitor, the same problems arise. To be more specific, when a silicon substrate is used for one electrode of the capacitor, an oxide film of low dielectric constant tends to be formed at the interface between the insulating film and the silicon substrate as in the case of the gate insulating film.
For a capacitor formed in a sandwich structure in which metal electrodes vertically sandwich an insulating film of high dielectric, or in a so-called MIM structure, how the reaction of the high dielectric film with the underlying and overlying metal electrodes is minimized becomes a big problem.

Method for fabricating semiconductor device

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A backing member includes locking structure for locking a Z-axis clip in alignment with the aperture of the clip aligned with aperture in the backing member. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the backing member includes a track with spaced inwardly projecting lips which overlie edges of the base of the fastening clip for holding the clip adjacent the backing member. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the backing member further includes an interlocking tab which can be ramped to snap-lock into an alignment aperture associated with the fastener clip for locking the fastener to the backing member against sliding motion within the track.

The present invention relates to assist handles and straps for vehicles and particularly to a mounting plate for attaching an assist handle or strap to a vehicle headliner and roof.
Assist straps or grab handles are in common use in vehicles and are typically mounted to the vehicle roof above a door for assistance in ingress and egress from the vehicle. Assist handles are also frequently mounted to vehicle doors for assistance in their closing. With the integration of vehicle accessories in premanufactured subassemblies of a vehicle, such as headliners and door panels, it has become desirable to mount the handles or straps to the vehicle headliner prior to installation of the headliner in the vehicle itself. In order to provide additional structural rigidity for the subassembly, frequently a backing plate is employed on the side of the headliner facing the vehicle roof and opposite that of the assist handle. The assist handle is then mounted to the vehicle headliner by a fastener extending through the backing member and into a Z-axis clip for subsequent snap-fitting into the vehicle and final tightening of the fastener. U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,783 discloses such a system, which allows preassembly of assist straps or handles to a vehicle headliner prior to final installation in the vehicle.
In such construction, the fastening clip is aligned with the backing member but is not captively held thereto until the fastener, such as a screw, extends through the assist strap, the headliner, the backing member and into the fastening clip. The clip, accordingly, must be properly aligned with respect to the backing member prior to installation in a mating aperture in the vehicle roof structure. Further, however, if it becomes necessary to remove an assist handle for repair, the fastening clip remains in the vehicle roof since it is snap-locked thereto. The backing member is then is not attached to the headliner or to the fastening clip and can float and misalign behind the vehicle headliner should the assist handle be removed, for example, to replace a bulb of a light assembly associated with the assist handle or for other repair of the assist strap or other accessory requiring removal of the headliner. The backing member, if misaligned, makes it impossible for the fastening screw to then be reinserted into the fastening clip since the backing member, typically a solid polymeric plate, obstructs the passage of the fastener into the fastening clip.
As a result, there exists a need for providing a backing assembly for preassembling an assist handle or strap to a vehicle headliner prior to final installation and one which aligns the Z-axis fastening clip with respect to the backing member and captively holds the backing member to the clip once installed such that if the assist handle is subsequently removed, the backing member remains aligned with and attached to the fastening clips with which it is associated.


An automatic choke has two piston-cylinder assemblies mounted within a housing having an inlet and an outlet. The piston-cylinder assemblies are connected in a closed hydraulic loop configuration. One piston-cylinder assembly is responsive to pressures at the inlet and the other piston-cylinder assembly controls valve at the outlet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an automatic choke and in particular to an automatic choke which will compensate for irregular pressures developed in producing petroleum wells and to assist in their unloading and production flow.
2. The Prior Art
wells producing oil and gas rely upon pressure within the well to drive the fluids to the surface. Sometimes wells have, for one reason or another, temporary or periodic irregular pressures caused by fluid loading. These variants in pressure adversely affect the production by lowering the flow rate from the well. As a well produces fluid, the pressure driving the fluid will normally drop. Production also goes down with the pressure as it is pressure dependent.


Provided is an image sensor using a photo-detecting molecule and a method of operating the image sensor. The image sensor may include a plurality of first electrodes disposed parallel to each other and a plurality of second electrodes disposed parallel to each other in a direction perpendicular to the first electrodes and above the first electrodes, and a plurality of subpixels formed in regions where the first electrodes cross the second electrodes. Each of the subpixels may comprise a photo-detecting molecule layer that may generate charges by absorbing light having a certain wavelength, a charge generation layer that may form a plurality of secondary electrons by receiving the charges from the photo-detecting molecule layer when a known voltage is applied between the first electrodes and the second electrodes, and a variable resistance layer, an electrical state of which is changed by receiving the secondary electrons generated from the charge generation layer.

1. Field
Example embodiments are directed to an image sensor using a photo-detecting molecule and a method of operating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A color image sensor is a photoelectric conversion device that converts light into an electric signal. A conventional image sensor includes a plurality of unit pixels arranged in an array on a semiconductor substrate. Each unit pixel includes a photodiode and a plurality of transistors. The photodiode generates and stores photocharges by detecting external light and the transistors output electrical signals according to the generated photocharges.
A complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor includes a photodiode that receives and stores an optical signal. The CMOS image sensor also displays an image via a control device that controls or processes the optical signal. The control device can be manufactured using a CMOS manufacturing technique, and thus, the CMOS image sensor can be manufactured on one chip together with various signal processing devices.
A conventional CMOS image sensor outputs an amount of received light as a voltage, and the outputted voltage is read in a digital data by an analog-digital converter. Also, in order to measure charges generated in response to light, three or four transistors are required. Accordingly, it is difficult to form a single unit pixel on a sub-micron level.
In the conventional CMOS image sensors, as the pixel size is reduced, the photodiode area is further reduced, and thus, the sensitivity and dynamic range of the image sensors is reduced. Also, due to the diffraction of light, incident light cannot be focused on a single pixel but spreads to adjacent pixels, and thus, image resolution may be reduced.

Image sensor using photo-detecting molecule and method of operating the same


A method for balancing areas of varying density within a digital image, and a computer readable storage medium encoded with the method comprise determining a pixel enhanced intensity value by dividing a pixel unequalized intensity value by a pixel mask intensity value, then scaling the dividend by an exposure compensation factor. The unequalized intensity value is from an unequalized digital image recorded by a digital imaging device. The pixel mask intensity value is proportional to the pixel's blurred intensity value. The exposure compensation factor is selectable by the user and is typically selected as the mean blurred intensity of the pixels.

For over a hundred years photographic films have been used to capture and display x-rays for diagnostic purposes. In the last ten years or so, digital radiography has become increasingly popular. Digital radiography refers to the application of digital image processing techniques to projection radiography (x-rays). Digitally recorded x-rays are superior to those recorded with photographic film due to the greater dynamic range of the digital recording system. Furthermore, computer image processing techniques provide a wealth of capabilities to study otherwise obscured details within the image.
To take a digital radiograph, a digital radiography imaging unit is positioned behind a subject. A standard radiographic generator directs radiation through the subject to a fluorescent-imaging screen mounted just behind the front surface of the imaging unit. The imaging screen is the conversion media for radiation to visible light. The fluorescent-imaging screen absorbs the radiographic radiation and emits light of a particular wavelength which closely matches the peak sensitivity of a charge coupled device (CCD) camera. A front-surfaced mirror is positioned at a 45 degree angle inside the imaging unit to direct the radiographic image into the CCD camera. The mirror allows the CCD camera to be positioned out of the direct path of the radiation, effectively shielding it from radiation exposure and prolonging its life. A high-efficiency lens reduces the image and directs it onto the surface of the CCD.
The visual image formed by the fluorescent-imaging screen is converted into a digital image by the CCD sensor. A control computer converts the image into a medical image file that can be viewed for clinical diagnosis, enhanced and electronically stored with the patient demographic information in a picture archiving system.
In a digital radiographic image, it is often desirable to reduce the contrast between various parts of the image so that detailed information in all parts of the image can be viewed at the same brightness and contrast (window level and width) settings. As an example, in a chest radiograph, a patient's ribs may be obscured by differing amounts of soft tissue. The result is that some of the ribs may appear to have lower contrast even though they are the same thickness and density as others.

Balancing areas of varying density in a digital image


An apparatus for polishing a wafer comprises a supporting portion having an abrasive pad disposed thereon, and a polishing head disposed over the abrasive pad. The polishing head comprises a carrier having at least two fluid passages, a retainer ring disposed on a lower edge of the carrier, forming a space for receiving the wafer, a supporter disposed in the carrier, and a flexible membrane disposed to be in contact with the wafer. The supporter has an upper surface portion, a lower surface portion, a plurality of first holes, a plurality of second holes, and a first chamber. The upper surface portion of the supporter forms a second chamber along with an inner surface of the carrier. The second chamber is in communication with one of the two fluid passages of the carrier and the second holes are formed in a lower surface portion of the supporter to communicate with the second chamber. The first chamber is in communication with the other one of the two fluid passages and the first holes are formed in the lower surface portion of the supporter to communicate with the first chamber. The lower surface portion of the supporter has a flat surface and a chamfered or rounded edge. The membrane disposed to enclose the lower surface portion of the supporter has a plurality of third holes formed at positions corresponding to the first holes to absorb and hold the wafer by vacuum.

As the elements incorporated into a semiconductor device are increasingly integrated, the structure of device wires such as gate lines and bit lines continues to become multiple-layered. For this reason, step coverage between unit cells on a semiconductor substrate is increased. To reduce the step coverage between the unit cells, various methods of polishing a wafer have been developed. Among these methods, a chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) method which planarizes the surface of the wafer in the fabrication is widely used.
In a general CMP process, a polishing head of a CMP apparatus secures a wafer using a vacuum or surface tension and loads the wafer on an abrasive pad of a turntable. The polishing head imposes a controllable load on the wafer to hold it in tight contact with the abrasive pad. Thereafter, the polishing head is rotated to rotate the wafer with respect to the abrasive pad of the turntable.
In order to increase the efficiency of the CMP process, the wafer should be polished at a high speed while maintaining uniform flatness. However, characteristics such as uniformity, flatness and polishing speed of the wafer are highly dependent on relative speed between the wafer and the abrasive pad, as well as the force or load of the polishing head urging the wafer against the abrasive pad. Particularly, the larger the force imposed on the wafer by the polishing head against the abrasive pad, the faster the polishing speed. Accordingly, in the case where an uneven load is imposed on the wafer by means of the polishing head, a portion of the wafer on which relatively large force is imposed will be polished at a faster rate than other portions of the wafer on which relatively small force is imposed.
Generally, the polishing head includes a flexible membrane which is adapted to pick up and release the by vacuum. However, the vacuum between the membrane and the wafer is often leaked, such that during transfer, the wafer may be dropped or otherwise harmed.
To address these limitations, a polishing head with a modified structure has been proposed, which chucks/releases a wafer via vacuum holes formed at bosses that protrude from a chucking supporter of the head. However, such a polishing head introduces limitations that are shown in FIG. 1, which is a graph illustrating the resulting uneven surface of a wafer. In FIG. 1, reference character A indicates a wafer portion corresponding to the protruded bosses and reference character B indicates a wafer corresponding to a step projected from an edge of the supporter. Portions A and B are relatively over-polished as compared to other portion of the wafer, thereby compromising the uniformity of polishing surface of the wafer.

Method for polishing a semiconductor wafer


Resin plasticizers are produced by esterification of keto acids derived from acylation of aromatic compounds with cyclic anhydrides, and are particularly useful in making phthalate-free articles using PVC.

Plasticizers are incorporated into a resin (usually a plastic or elastomer) to increase the flexibility, workability, or distensibility of the resin. The largest use of plasticizers is in the production of "plasticized" or flexible polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products. Typical uses of plasticized PVC include films, sheets, tubing, coated fabrics, wire and cable insulation and jacketing, toys, flooring materials such as vinyl sheet flooring or vinyl floor tiles, adhesives, sealants, inks, and medical products such as blood bags and tubing, and the like.
Other polymer systems that use small amounts of plasticizers include polyvinyl butyral, acrylic polymers, poly(vinylidene chloride), nylon, polyolefins, polyurethanes, and certain fluoroplastics. Plasticizers can also be used with rubber (although often these materials fall under the definition of extenders for rubber rather than plasticizers). A listing of the major plasticizers and their compatibilities with different polymer systems is provided in "Plasticizers," A. D. Godwin, in Applied Polymer Science 21st Century, edited by C. D. Craver and C. E. Carraher, Elsevier (2000); pp. 157-175.
Plasticizers can be characterized on the basis of their chemical structure. The most important chemical class of plasticizers is phthalic acid esters, which accounted for about 85% worldwide of PVC plasticizer usage in 2002. However, in the recent past there as been an effort to decrease the use of phthalate esters as plasticizers in PVC, particularly in end uses where the product contacts food, such as bottle cap liners and sealants, medical and food films, or for medical examination gloves, blood bags, and IV delivery systems, flexible tubing, or for toys, and the like. For these and most other uses of plasticized polymer systems, however, a successful, general purpose substitute for phthalate esters has heretofore not materialized on a commercial scale.
One such suggested substitute for phthalates are esters based on cyclohexanoic acid. In the late 1990's and early 2000's, various compositions based on cyclohexanoate, cyciohexanedioates, and cyclohexanepolyoate esters were said to be useful for a range of goods from semi-rigid to highly flexible materials. See, for instance, WO 99/32427, WO 2004/046078, WO 2003/029339, WO 2004/046078, U.S. Application No. 2006-0247461, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,297,738.
Other suggested substitutes include esters based on benzoic acid (see, for instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,740,254, and also co-pending, commonly-assigned, U.S. Provisional Application 61/040,480, polyketones, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,777,514; and also co-pending, commonly-assigned, U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 12/058,397, and triglycerides, such as described in co-pending, commonly assigned, U.S. Provisional Application 61/040,490. Epoxidized soybean oil (ESO), which has much longer alkyl groups (C16 to C18) has been tried as a plasticizer, but is generally used as a PVC stabilizer in low concentrations. At higher concentrations, ESO exudaton can occur.
Typically, the best that has been achieved with substitution of the phthalate ester with an alternative material is a flexible PVC article having either reduced performance or poorer processability. Thus, heretofore efforts to make phthalate-free plasticizer systems for PVC have not proven to be entirely satisfactory, and this is still an area of intense research.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,233,513 teaches aroylbenzoic acid esters with nitrocellulose and acetylcellulose. Nitrocellulose and acetylcellulose are resins used in centuries-old technology and find only limited use today. These materials are very brittle without plasticizer. The most common plasticizer for these resins was camphor. In part because of the odor imparted to the final product caused by the use of camphor, there were constant efforts to find alternative plasticizers. In general for every polymer, you need to have a plasticizer with the correct balance of solvating properties, volatility, and so forth. In the case of nitrocellulose, most of these efforts to find replacement plasticizers were in the area of improving the processability, stability, and decrease the brittleness of rigid or semi-rigid nitrocellulose products. The first applications of nitrocellulose were for ivory substitutes in billiard balls, false teeth, and piano keys. Here the plasticizers help greatly in processing and to reduce the brittleness of these rigid products. Later applications of nitrocellulose were in the area of stiff brush or combs, which had, before the use of nitrocellulose, been made from natural products. Eventually nitrocellulose found use in motion picture film. However, while "plasticizing" such resins made them more impact resistant and durable, this technology was rapidly replaced, over the span of barely a decade, with the introduction of PVC-based resins. In contrast to the cellulosic resins, PVC may be made truly flexible by plasticizing with the appropriate materials. Accordingly, there is no reason to assume that a plasticizer used with cellulosic material can be used successfully with PVC. Camphor, for instance, is not a good plasticizer of PVC. The same is seen with plasticizers used in polyvinyl butryal (PVB)—generally successful plasticisers of PVB resin are not useful in PVC. Plasticizers used in these polymers are not necessarily good plasticizers.
Accordingly, the industry still seeks a general purpose non-phthalate plasticizer, particularly a plasticizer that has a suitable melting or pour point, increased compatibility with the resin, and providing a PVC composition having good performance and low temperature properties, wherein the plasticizer can be made by a process having a high throughput and using readily available raw materials.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,372,947, alkyl esters of ortho-henzoyl benzoic acid are described as being useful in polyvinyl halide resins.
The present inventors have surprisingly discovered that keto acid esters have advantageous properties when used in PVC and furthermore can readily made by esterifying alcohols with keto acids, the keto acids preferably being derived by acylating an aromatic molecule with a cyclic anhydride.


A pedaling assistance device for a light vehicle, in particular a bicycle, equipped with pedals and a ratio-changing transmission, this device comprising a heat engine (1; 101; 201) equipped with a reducing gear mechanically coupled with an element receiving muscular pedaling power from a user of the light vehicle, the mechanical coupling being effected upstream of said ratio-changing transmission so that the heat engine benefits from said changes of ratio, wherein the assistance device comprises a torque limiter (6; 106; 206), placed on the kinematics of the reducing gear of the heat engine between said heat engine and the mechanical coupling.

For a few years, we have been seeing a growing number of bicycles assisted by electric motor coming onto the market. These bicycles are actually designed for the cyclist to work with his assistance and the electric motor cannot move the bicycle on its own, as in prior embodiments. The input from the cyclist makes it possible to extend the action radius by a little, whereas the assistance provides the user with the sensation of being very fit.
These vehicles are far from being all equivalent in their effectiveness; they differ by their motor, the kinematics through which it acts, the management of the assistance, the batteries and the bicycle on which the assistance is mounted.                The motors of this type of vehicle nearly all have a rated power of approximately 200 watts, or the equivalent of what the occasional cyclist can give at his maximum. On the other hand, they differ by their speed of rotation, their torque curve, their efficiency curve, their cooling, their noise, their weight and their price.
However, with regard to our concerns, we will say that they are all fairly close and share essential qualities for this assistance work. They start on their own, offer a significant torque on stopping and at low speeds, often revolve slowly (some are even directly geared), are fairly silent, vibrate little, and have a fairly good efficiency provided that they are not made to rotate too slowly.
All these qualities, we should say immediately, are cruelly lacking on heat engines.                The kinematics of the assistance motor is a crucial point of difference between these bicycles.
On many of these assistances, the motor has a single transmission ratio, which means that it can deliver its rated power only at a single speed (often 25 km/h). The consequence of this arrangement is that the assistance power drops with the speed, which is a nuisance in head winds and dramatic on climbs. This problem is reinforced by a drop in the efficiency (reduction of the autonomy) and a motor which will rapidly overheat, so much so that these bicycles are unsuited to reliefs, even if the kinematics of the cyclist offers a number of ratios.
On another, much more sophisticated, family of assistance, the motor will benefit from the changes of ratio of the cyclist, so that the cyclist and the motor can continue their good collaboration over the entire range of variation of the ratios of the bicycle.                The management of the assistance is also of prime importance. To satisfy certain laws, the motor must not operate if the cyclist is not pedaling, which is, moreover, the definition of an assistance. In fact, some bicycles do not obey this rule, but the low installed power limits to very few occasions when the bicycle is used without pedaling.
It is very tempting to think that the assistances based on a measurement of the torque exerted on the pedal, with a proportional response from the motor, provide the most appropriate system. A finer approach shows that the torque that a cyclist exerts on his pedal is sinusoidal and, without any special arrangement, the response from the motor will also be sinusoidal over a pedal revolution. This detail deprives these bicycles of a huge advantage that the assistances could provide. In practice, if, on the flat, the inertia of the bicycle makes these torque variations insensitive, the same does not apply when climbing. There, the bicycle slows down at each dead point of the pedal to then accelerate. This is the reason why our average pedaling speed decreases when climbing and it is also the reason why, given equal power, pedaling on a slope is more trying than on the flat. This torque variation is also highly unfavorable to road holding, a particularly sensitive detail on all-terrain bicycles which have very limited capabilities in this respect.
Without going into the details, good management of the assistance gives a constant torque over a pedal revolution. This gives a constant torque bottom that makes it possible to easily pass the dead points of the pedal, and this considerable "rounds" the pedal stroke when climbing and when starting. The effect goes well beyond the added power, because it enables the cyclist to obtain, on a slope, a pedaling efficiency close to that of the flat.                The batteries are the enormous weakness of these vehicles, despite recent advances in the field and the basic research does not give room to hope for storage greater than 200 Wh/kg. In reality, we are very far from that because the energy storage depends on a large number of parameters: the temperature, the power drawn, the age of the battery, the number of recharges already made, the storage durations and the recharging modes. In reality, the best batteries offer an average of approximately 100 Wh/kg over two years of use.
If we use the analogy with a liquid fuel, even by taking into account the efficiency difference between an electric motor and a heat engine, a kilo of battery is at best equivalent to a 50 cm3 tank that would have to be drip-fed for at least four hours, that would shrink on each filling, that would leak when it is not being used, that would generally burst after three years, in which the calorific value of the fuel would drop with its level, and that would be produced in a non-recyclable, very precious metal.
This analogy, which seems like a caricature, defines the challenge that these bicycles have to overcome.
It should be noted that a kilo of lithium-ion battery costs approximately 200 euros (2007) and it will store, at best, in its life, 500×100 wh, or 50 kwh, or approximately 5 euros of energy. The price of the storage is therefore 40 times the price of the stored energy.
This detail becomes apparent in all its cruelty when the user has to change his battery (generally after two to three seasons) and surveys show that the life of said bicycle often stops there.
All this means that these bicycles carry with them a derisory quantity of energy, approximately one hour at rated power. In some countries, laws dictate that these bicycles have maximum speeds (25 to 32 km/h), and indeed, most of these assistances are cut off at 18 km/h to save on energy and there is then no assistance on starting. This makes it possible, depending on the manufacturer's measurement protocol, to announce autonomies that sometimes exceed 80 kms. In truth, most of this distance will be covered with zero or very low assistance. When climbing, for those bicycles that are capable thereof, the autonomy generally remains less than 10 kms.
This is truly regrettable, because some of these vehicles are truly successful, their user-friendliness is such that it would be possible to be unaware that you were on a motorized vehicle and only think that you were in dazzling form. In towns they make it possible to cover ten or so kilometers in hot conditions without perspiring, and there is less hesitation to brake or stop when starting is easy, which is all for the benefit of safety. We would say, for the best of them, that they are formidable . . . for one hour. This represents a very restricted use, prohibits any trips, and greatly limits their circulation.
The idea of a bicycle assisted with liquid fuel sourced from fossil or vegetable matter resolves all the energy storage problems, but the current heat engines do not have any of the characteristics specific to electric motors.
They do not start on their own, they have a minimum slowing down speed, have little torque at very low speeds, this torque is highly variable over the cycle of the engine, they have a restricted range of use, a fairly low and variable efficiency depending on the load and speed, they overheat a lot, vibrate, make a lot of noise and can be highly polluting. However, they are the only ones whose technology is truly known, that are easy to implement and economical to produce. Also, later we will see some arrangements that make it possible to resolve or mitigate most of these drawbacks. These arrangements will make it possible to design a particularly agreeable vehicle, with surprising overall efficiency and astonishing discretion.
To want to bring together the user-friendliness of an electrically-assisted bicycle with a thermal assistance is not an easy objective. Each element must satisfy multiple constraints (notably function, weight, layout, ergonomics, efficiency, noise, vibration, compatibility with bicycle transmission, price), and these constraints are so important that some elements will hereinafter be described several times through each of these aspects.
Thousands of patents deal with bicycles equipped with a heat engine, but in most cases, the engine is intended to replace the pedaling. Collaboration is impossible, or possible only in very specific circumstances, for example when climbing at very low speed or when starting up.
Many conditions are necessary for permanent collaboration between the cyclist and his assistance to be possible and there will be many more thereof if we want this collaboration to be effective and harmonious and give good efficiency.
The first is that the respective transmission ratios of the cyclist and of the assistance are compatible over the entire speed range of the vehicle. This first condition limits the number of relevant patents to a few dozen. It would be quite difficult to give a summary here of the scope of these patents. We will therefore try to cite them within the limits of our knowledge as we progress through the general description that follows, when they seem relevant to us.
Without going into the fairly complex details that define the physiological efficiency of pedaling, we can state that the maximum efficiency of an occasional cyclist (who does not reach 0.2), lies at approximately 60 to 70 pedal revolutions per minute and his continuous maximum power at approximately 80 to 90 rpm.
Modern bicycle transmissions offer a large number of ratios and a big range of variation that can exceed 6, which means that they enable a cyclist to remain at his maximum efficiency for speeds ranging for example from 7 to 42 km/h. We will consider that they are fairly optimal, for most of the conditions encountered. The bicycle will therefore be equipped therewith.
The maximum efficiency of conventional heat engines fairly easily exceeds 0.25, so it is greater than human efficiency, but remains fairly low and this gives a great release of heat that must be treated correctly.
This efficiency is maximum only at full load and over a fairly narrow speed range and it bottoms out rapidly outside of these conditions. Note that the maximum efficiency speed is always close to the maximum torque speed.
The full load condition is fairly easy to resolve; it is sufficient for there to be almost never any excess power, and therefore for the installed power to be very low. This detail goes in the right direction, because with high power, the input from the cyclist would very quickly become negligible and superfluous.
The condition of holding to the maximum efficiency speed range is more difficult; it excludes all the single-transmission ratio kinematics, especially as, with low power, the speed of the vehicle will be extremely variable with the wind or the gradients encountered. (This condition considerably reduces the number of relevant patents.)
The first possible solution for resolving this problem is the variable speed drive, centrifugal or driven. This possible solution poses difficult technical problems in its application to the assisted bicycle.
Another fairly elegant solution is to use, for the engine, the change of speed of the cyclist, which is possible when the added power is low. In this case, the speed of rotation of the engine is proportionally linked to that of the pedaling.
It is then sufficient to choose the appropriate reduction ratio, so that the maximum engine efficiency speed broadly corresponds to the cyclist's maximum pedaling efficiency speed.
We immediately see that there would also be great interest in having the maximum power speeds also correspond. This is possible if the engine is defined to have the same ratios between maximum efficiency speeds and maximum power speeds as the cyclist, or approximately 65/85=0.76, which is quite possible.
Thus, the cyclist will manage his speeds as he has always done for himself, while placing the engine in the best arrangements to perform its work. Also, since man is by nature particularly economic in his energy management, when it is he who has to provide it, this leads to an assistance management system that is free and particularly optimized regarding the engine speed aspect, which is vitally important with a heat engine. This arrangement, accompanied by a low installed power which guarantees strong charge for the engine, leads to an installation that will mostly be used at its optimum efficiency.
As an indication, a comfortable bicycle (very straight position) equipped with large and underinflated tires may, despite everything, exceed 35 km/h, with 400 watts of power (with the same power, a racing bicycle reaches 50 km/h). These 400 watts can be distributed at 100 watts for the cyclist (very low) and 300 watts for the assistance. To supply these 300 watts to the bicycle, we will assume that the engine must supply 360 watts (a half horse power) to compensate for the transmission losses.
Good heat engines can reach an efficiency of 180 g of fuel per horse power per hour. Since we want a simple engine that will not always be exactly at its maximum efficiency, we will consider that it will use on average 220 g·hp·h, or 110 g of fuel per hour for our 360 watt engine.
It will take approximately 3 hours for our bicycle to cover 100 km, so its consumption will be 330 g of fuel, or a little under 0.5 liter if it is petrol, or the astonishing value of 12 g of CO2/km (in this area, the best cycle engines do not drop below 60 g of CO2/km).
Note that, despite assumptions that are always highly unfavorable, this value is not within the scope of an electric bicycle, unless the electricity is of nuclear or renewable source.
This idea is not truly novel since we can find traces of it at the start of the century in French patent No. 535 184, then later in the French patent No. 915 817, then notably in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,280,932, GB 637 014, U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,369, U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,386, U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,863, U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,332, EP 0 822 136 A2. And yet, very few productions have used this theoretically highly attractive technique.


There is provided a method for producing a spark plug in which welding strength between a noble metal tip and an electrode joined by laser welding can be restrained from becoming weak.

A spark plug has been heretofore used for igniting an internal combustion engine. In the spark plug, a spark discharge gap is generally formed in such a manner that a ground electrode is welded to a front end portion of a metal shell for holding an insulator including a center electrode inserted therein so that the other end portion of the ground electrode faces a front end portion of the center electrode. Spark discharge is performed between the center electrode and the ground electrode. To improve resistance to spark abrasion, a noble metal tip is further formed in a region of each of the center electrode and the ground electrode between which the spark discharge gap is formed.
Incidentally, as a method of joining the noble metal tip to the center electrode of the spark plug, a recess (small-diameter portion) is provided in the front end portion of the center electrode so that the tip (discharge noble metal electrode) is resistance-welded to the recess and then the whole circumference of a side surface portion of the tip is laser-welded to the front end portion of the center electrode to thereby improve bonding strength between the tip and the front end portion of the center electrode (e.g. see Patent Document 1).
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open 22155/1995

Method for securing a metal noble tip to an electrode of a spark plug using a resistance and laser welding process

Abstract: A noble metal tip (90) to be joined to a center electrode (2) or ground electrode of a spark plug to form a spark discharge gap is resistance-welded to each electrode containing no noble metal and then laser-welded. In the noble metal tip (90) exposed under a severe environment involving spark discharge, a molten portion (80) formed in such a manner that a portion of the noble metal tip (90) and a portion of the electrode are melted by laser welding and a non-molten portion (95) on the noble metal tip (90) side are apt to be peeled from each other in a boundary surface (83) between the molten portion (80) and the non-molten portion (95). The noble metal content in the molten portion (80) however becomes higher because a flange portion is formed in a bottom portion by pressing force applied on the noble metal tip (90) at the time of resistance welding and then irradiated with a laser beam. Accordingly, peeling can be prevented from occurring in the boundary surface (83).


A car seat is configured to rest on a seat of a vehicle and to support a child, and the car seat has a shell with a front side and a rear side and a seating surface on the front side. A first contact surface is defined on a part of the car seat facing generally opposite the seating surface. The first contact surface is oriented to support the car seat with the seating surface at a first seat incline. One or more adapter bodies are carried on the car seat and movable between a stowed position and a deployed position. The one or more adapter bodies each define a second contact surface. With the adapter bodies in the stowed position, the first contact surface is exposed to rest on the vehicle seat. With the adapter bodies in the deployed position, the one or more second contact surfaces are exposed and oriented to support the car seat with the seating surface at a second seat incline different than the first seat incline.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure is generally directed to infant or children's car seats, and more particularly to a car seat with a bottom that can be converted so as to adjust the incline angle of the seat.
2. Description of Related Art
Car seats are known in the art that can be converted from rear facing infant car seats to forward facing older infant or toddler seats. The mechanisms and methods currently used to allow conversion of such known car seats have a number of problems and disadvantages. In one example, a discrete device may be provided that is manually slipped under the seat at one end or the other in order to change the seat incline angle. This type of device can move around during use and is susceptible to being improperly placed or positioned under the seat. This type of device can also be misplaced or lost, making it unavailable when one needs or desires to change the seat incline and/or seat facing direction of the car seat.
In another example, a stand leg is provided on some car seats under or behind the seat bottom and near the back end of the seat. The typical stand leg can either be pivoted rearward or slid downward from a stowed position located under or behind the seat bottom to an extended position projecting downward from the bottom of the car seat (see FIG. 10). With the stand leg stowed under the seat bottom, the seat bottom surfaces rest flush on a vehicle seat, typically with the car seat oriented in a rear facing position. With the stand leg extended, the car seat can be reoriented and turned around, typically to a forward facing position. However, the car seat rests only on the stand leg and a front edge of the car seat bottom surface.
The pivotable-type stand leg of this type of prior art seat often rotates about an axis that is oriented perpendicular to the longitudinal or front-to-back center axis of the car seat. In the forward seat facing orientation, the contact area between the car seat and the vehicle seat on which it rests is compromised. This limited surface-to-surface contact can adversely affect the stability of the seat during use in the forward facing orientation and also can affect crash test results. The stand leg may also not be particularly stable on some car seats. The pivot axis also is oriented perpendicular to the normal direction of a vehicle's movement and thus some stand legs could unintentionally rotate from the extended position during sudden deceleration of the vehicle or a sudden change in the vehicle's momentum. The stand leg on some prior art car seats, when extended, are used to create the rearward seat facing orientation and, when stowed, to create the forward seat facing orientation. However, the stand leg may have an adverse affect on the seat performance in at least one of the two seat orientations. A number of car seat manufacturers have used this type of stand leg with a laterally or transversely oriented pivot axis.
Other manufacturers sometimes use much more complex two-position bases onto which a car seat can be mounted. Such bases typically have one section that can be slid or pivoted relative to another section in order to alter the seat incline when mounted to the base. These types of two position bases typically have a significant number of parts which can be more complex to adjust when in use and more difficult and time-consuming to assemble and to convert from one seat incline to the other. Thus, such car seats can also be more expensive to manufacture and more costly for the consumer.


A chain for a work implement has lateral connecting members connected to central driving members via studs. The stud has two lateral portions spaced apart from one another by a collar. A driving member is mounted pivotably on the collar. At the collar the stud has a surface layer harder than the base material. For a high chain service life, the stud has a diffusion layer above a surface layer above the base material. To produce the stud, the stud is provided with a diffusion layer at least at the collar, and a surface region of the collar is hardened, such that a surface layer is formed between the diffusion layer and the base material of the stud. For a method for producing a driving member, the driving member is provided with a diffusion layer at least at a circumferential surface of a hole and the driving member is hardened.

The application relates to a chain for a work implement, to a method for producing a stud for a chain and also to a method for producing a driving member for a chain according to the subject matter of this application.
Chains for work implements are chains which serve for removing material from or cutting a workpiece. By way of example, a chain of this type can be a saw chain and have cutting teeth for cutting workpieces made of wood or the like. A chain of this type can also be a rock cutter chain having grinding elements for grinding mineral and metallic materials, for example concrete with steel reinforcements. During operation, particles form through the removal of material from the workpiece and can pass into the sites of joints of the chain, where they can lead to increased wear.
DE 42 28 509 A1 and DE 199 52 979 A1 disclose chains for work implements in which the joints are sealed off in order to avoid the penetration of abrasive particles to the sites of joints. This sealing is comparatively complex. The chains have a stud having a collar with an enlarged external diameter on which the driving member is pivotably mounted. A collar stud of this type is deformed at its end regions in such a way that the connecting members are connected fixedly, i.e. both fixed in terms of rotation and fixedly in the direction of the longitudinal central axis of the stud, to the stud at lateral portions of the stud. As a result, there is no relative movement between the stud and the lateral connecting members during operation. The articulated nature of the chain arises solely on account of the fact that the driving members are mounted on the collar of the stud in an articulated manner.

Chain for a work implement, method for producing a stud for a chain and method for producing a driving member for a chain


Methods and devices provide for remote management of a local computer by transferring screen frames produced by the local computer for viewing at a remote computer. The screen frame data may be obtained by digitizing an analog video output of the local computer and then grabbing frames from the digitized video, or by directly grabbing frames from a digital video output of the local computer. Additionally, interaction may be established with the local computer through user input devices such as a mouse and keyboard of the remote computer whose signals are transferred back to the local computer to alter the screen frames being produced by the local computer that are then transferred back to the remote computer for display.

Computers are often linked together through networks to allow the resources of a computer at one location to be used by a computer and end user at another location. In a distributed environment, computers known as servers perform various tasks for client computers that communicate with the server over a network. The server enables sharing of files and other resources between client computers and the server, such as electronic mail. As an example, a world wide web ("web") server may provide resources to client computers over the Internet.
It is often necessary to manage activities of a computer or determine the relative health of a computer system by viewing screen display information and/or interacting with the computer through user input devices. This is especially true for servers whose resources are utilized by many individual client computers, such as within a corporate network or the Internet. For many conventional systems, the technician or other user who needs to view the screen displays and interact with the computer being managed is required to be physically located at the site of the computer. However, it is not always feasible for a technician or other user to be physically present.
For example, a system administrator of a corporate network is present at one location, but the computers of the corporate network may be spread around the globe. To effectively manage the computers of the corporate network, the system administrator must be able to effectively monitor many or all of the computers of the network contemporaneously. Because the system administrator cannot be physically present at each computer to be managed at the same time, effective management of the computers of the network becomes very difficult if not impossible. As a result, costly additional human resources are required to improve management of the computers.
Present solutions to providing remote management are a service under the operating system or a software application such as PC Anywhere. However, because these present solutions are software based the operating system must be operational with all services loaded to allow the remote monitoring to occur. Therefore, configuration and boot-up screens such as the bios are not made available to the remote location.

Systems and methods for establishing interaction between a local computer and a remote computer


An electrophoretic display panel with a fast response speed and its fabrication method are disclosed. The electrophoretic display panel includes a first array substrate including a gate line and a data line extending perpendicularly to each other, a thin film transistor connected to the gate line and the data line, and a pixel electrode electrically connected to the thin film transistor. The electrophoretic display panel also includes a second array substrate coupled the first array substrate and including a common electrode capable of forming an electric field with the pixel electrode, a spacer formed on at least one of the first array substrate or the second array substrate to define a charging region in the pixel region; and an electrophoretic medium in the charging region between the first and second array substrates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an electrophoretic display panel, and more particularly to an electrophoretic display panel having an electrophoretic medium with a fast response speed and driven in an active matrix mode and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical electrophoretic display device comprises microcapsules which contain an electronic ink with black and white pigments charged with positive polarities and negative polarities. The electrophoretic display device displays an image such that locations of black and white pigment particles are changed by an electric field. Compared to a liquid crystal display device, the electrophoretic display device has a high reflectivity and contrast ratio. Furthermore, unlike a liquid crystal device, an electrophoretic display device does not have the limitations of a viewing angle; thus, a user can comfortably see a displayed image from any angle as though the image is on paper. In addition, the electrophoretic display device has low power consumption since it has bistable characteristics of black and white and it can maintain an image without continuous application of a voltage.
The electrophoretic display device is usually driven in a passive matrix mode. However, the electrophoretic display device driven in the passive matrix mode requires much power to display a moving picture due to high power consumption. The power consumption becomes more problematic as the size of the electrophoretic display device increases.
The pigment particles contained in the electronic ink of the microcapsules are dispersed in a liquid phase, and the viscosity of liquid contributes to the slow response speed.

Electrophoretic display panel and method of fabricating the same


A rod horn of an ultrasonic transmitting medium includes an expanded portion in one end and an inclined plane as a face irradiating ultrasonic waves, an ultrasonic vibrator or vibrators is attached to the expanded portion, the inclined plane of the rod horn is provided by holding a slight gap opposite to a washing body, washing liquid is flowed into the gap in the side of the inclined plane and the washing body is washed by the ultrasonic wave and the washing liquid.

The present invention relates to an ultrasonic washing apparatus in which a flat face or a curved face of a disc is washed by ultrasonic vibration transmitted through a rod horn.
In an ultrasonic disc washing apparatus according to the prior art, a wedge material is formed by a flat face paralleled with a disc to be washed, an upper face formed by a little angle to the flat face and a back face formed between the flat face and the upper face having an angle of 50 to 80 degrees to the flat face. An ultrasonic vibrator connected to an oscillating circuit is attached to the back face of the wedge, and a washing liquid applying device is provided which includes a nozzle for applying a washing liquid.
In the ultrasonic disk washing apparatus in the prior art, the wedge material or the disk to be washed is moved, and the washing liquid is applied by the nozzle between the flat face of the wedge and the face of the disk to be washed. When an oscillating power is applied to the ultrasonic vibrator, ultrasonic waves generated by the ultrasonic vibrator are transmitted from the back face of the wedge materials through the flat face of the wedge material to the washing liquid on the disk to be washed, and the face of the disk to be washed is washed by the washing liquid.
In the above ultrasonic washing apparatus, the ultrasonic vibration generated by the ultrasonic vibrator is transmitted from the back face of the wedge material through the flat face to the washing liquid on the surface of the disk to be washed and the surface of the disk to be washed is washed by the ultrasonic vibration transmitted to the washing liquid, Then, because focusing position (focusing point) of the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic vibrator is put on the position of the flat face of the wedge material determined by the form of the ultrasonic vibrator and frequencies of the ultrasonic waves, damage is added to minute patterns on a semiconductor by the irradiation of the focused ultrasonic vibration to a semiconductor having a minute pattern and the patterns of the semiconductor are destroyed by the focused ultrasonic vibration.
It is provided that a prior ultrasonic washing apparatus has the edge material forming a perforation hole in the side face. However, in the prior ultrasonic washing apparatus, the formation of the edge material becomes complicated, the washing liquid and contamination are accumulated in the perforation hole and this becomes a cause generating particles marring the disk of the semiconductor.


A current driver circuit (10) sources current to an output node (N4) in response to an input signal (VI) being a logic high. The current driver circuit (10) utilizes a current source (16) which sinks current from the output node (N4) in response to the input signal (VI) switching from a logic high to a logic low. The current source (16) is deactivated for a predetermined time delay after the input signal (Vi) switches from a logic high to a logic low.

There are many circuit applications in which there is a useful signal present and the information which that particular signal represents must be provided to a significantly higher load than the signal itself can provide. This situation can arise in many different situations. The large load may be a highly capacitive line such as a bus line in a microprocessor or a large number of circuits such as decoders in a memory which must be clocked by the signal. The signal may exist at the desired voltage level but simply not have the drive capability needed. This general type of problem is addressed by a type of circuit which at least includes current amplification. These circuits are sometimes called line drivers or current drivers.
In the typical problem in which the particular current driver is present in an integrated circuit, the load typically includes high capacitance. The typical solution is to have a bipolar transistor, if one is available, to operate in an emitter-follower mode to provide the actual output to the large load. Operating in the emitter-follower mode, the bipolar transistor provides only current gain and no voltage gain. There is a reduction of the bias voltage from the base to the emitter of one base-emitter voltage drop (Vbe) which must also be taken into account. The emitter-follower is particularly effective for logic low to logic high transitions because the bipolar transistor actively provides current to the particular load. The logic high to logic low transition, however, can be a problem if the load is highly capacitive. The problem is that for the logic high to logic low transition the bipolar transistor becomes non-conductive and there is then nothing which actively reduces the voltage on the load. If the load is mostly resistive, then the logic high to logic low transition is very fast, but if it is highly capacitive, the discharge of the capacitance can be comparatively slow.
The typical solution to this problem of discharging a highly capacitive load is to provide a current source connected to the emitter of the bipolar transistor to discharge the capacitance. This has been shown to be very effective but disadvantageously increases the current required to achieve the requisite speed for the logic high logic low transition. A relatively large current for the current source improves speed for the logic high to logic low transition but not only provides the disadvantage of using more current but also provides for a decrease in speed for the logic low to logic high transition. There is thus a trade-off between improving the speed of the logic high to logic low transition while detrimentally effecting current consumption and speed of the logic low to logic high transition.

Using delay to obtain high speed current driver circuit


The present invention is a toiletries dispensing device with a back plate that supports a non-evasive means for mounting the toiletries dispensing device on a wall or other vertical mounting surface, a plurality of dispensing bottles with a pump disposed on top of each dispensing bottle to dispense toiletries as desired by a user, a flange assembly with a top surface and a removable section with a plurality of attachment tabs, a stationary section with a plurality of receiving slots and a plurality of pump apertures that hold and secure the dispensing bottles. There is also a mountable lock to lock the dispensing bottles in place and a bottom support surface with a smooth surfacing that the dispensing bottles are set on. There is also a method for replacing the dispensing bottles as well.

The present invention generally relates to a dispensing device. More specifically, the invention is a toiletries dispensing device and a method for replacing a plurality of dispensing bottles in a toiletries dispensing device.
It is an object of the invention to provide a toiletries dispensing device for a lockable tamper resistant way to provide shower and bath amenities and toiletries to users of shower and bath facilities.
It is an object of the invention to provide a toiletries dispensing device with a lockable mount that uniquely allows for pumps from a plurality of dispensing bottles to extend through a top flange of the toiletries station device, keeping the bottles unexposed to tampering, but still leaving a large area on the bottles for branding and an opportunity to change the dispensing bottles' color, style and aesthetic appearance.
It is an object of the invention to provide a toiletries dispensing device that has a smooth back plate that can be mounted without damage to any vertical mounting surface by utilizing double sided tape or other non-evasive means for mounting the toiletries dispensing device.
It is an object of the invention to provide a toiletries dispensing device that has a mountable lock that keeps a plurality of dispensing bottles in place while allowing only authorized persons access to the dispensing bottles.
What is needed is a toiletries dispensing device and a method for replacing dispensing bottles in a toiletries dispensing device that includes a lockable tamper resistant way to provide shower and bath amenities to users of shower and bath facilities, a lockable mount that uniquely allows for pumps from a plurality of dispensing bottles to extend through a top flange of the toiletries station device, keeping the dispensing bottles unexposed to tampering, but still leaving a large area on the dispensing bottles for branding and opportunity to change the dispensing bottles' color, style and aesthetic appearance, that has a smooth back plate that can be mounted without damage to tile work on any bathroom surface by utilizing double sided tape instead of screws and that has a mountable lock that keeps the plurality of dispensing bottles in place while allowing only authorized persons access to the dispensing bottles.

Toiletries dispensing device and method for replacing a plurality of dispensing bottles


The present invention is an improved method and device used in applying gutta percha to a carrier which will later be used in filling and sealing an interior of a tooth after a root canal has been performed on the tooth. The method consists of inserting a gutta percha filled cannula into the barrel cavity of a syringe-type device, heating the cannula in order to increase the plasticity of the gutta percha, inserting a carrier into the cannula at the dispensing end of the syringe-type device and pushing a plunger of the syringe-type device downward in order to push the carrier, which is now coated with the gutta percha previously contained in the cannula, out of the dispensing end of the cannula. The gutta percha coated carrier is then ready for use in the root canal.. An alternate embodiment of the syringe-type device employs a modified plunger to accommodate an alternate cannula which is provided with its own dispensing cannula plunger.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of endodontics and more specifically to a method for preparing a gutta percha coated carrier used in obturating an extirpated root canal.
2. Description Of The Related Art
Current methods of obturating (filling) an extirpated (stripped) root canal commonly involve packing a root canal with a thermoplastic material, such as gutta percha, so that the root canal space is filled with the thermoplastic material. Preferably, the space is filled with the thermoplastic material forming a seal which prevents leakage between the root canal and the surrounding tissue.
It has been found that a satisfactory seal can be formed by softening the gutta percha by heating it prior to inserting it into the root canal. Normally, the gutta percha is applied to a carrier prior to insertion into the root canal in order to facilitate insertion. Carriers pre-coated with gutta percha are known, as shown by U.S. Pat. No. 4,758,156 issued on Jul. 19, 1988 to the inventor of the present invention and which is incorporated herein by reference. However, carriers pre-coated with gutta percha are expensive to purchase, and a less expensive means is desired for applying gutta percha to a carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,900 issued Nov. 26, 1991 to inventor, McSpadden, teaches an inexpensive method of applying gutta percha to a carrier. The McSpadden patent teaches use of a syringe whose barrel is pre-filled with sufficient gutta percha to coat a plurality of carriers. According to the teachings of McSpadden, the amount of gutta percha applied to a carrier is dependent on the forca exerted on the plunger of the syringe and upon the rate of withdrawal of the coated carrier from the discharge end of the syringe. One problem with this method is that the person coating the carrier must be steady-handed in order to obtain a uniform and consistent coating of the carrier. Steady handiness is difficult with the McSpadden device since the entire syringe body is hot due to the preheating necessary to increase the plasticity of the gutta percha.
Also another problem with multiple usage syringes, such as the McSpadden syringe, is that if the carrier is inserted into the root canal to test the sizing fit prior to applying the gutta percha to the carrier, as is the common practice, it may be coated with debris that could contaminate the community pool of gutta percha of the syringe.
The present invention provides a reliable, easy to use, and inexpensive method for applying a uniform coating of gutta percha to a carrier without contamination problems, as it employs a single dosage, disposable source of gutta percha.

Method and apparatus for applying gutta percha to a carrier


An iontophoretic drug delivery device comprising a flexible reservoir sandwiched between a flexible printed circuit board and a pair of flexible electrodes. A rigid top cover is mounted on a spine on the reservoir by means of snap-fit connections. The rigid cover protects the device from damage while the flexible reservoir, circuit board and electrodes can conform to the skin of a subject. The configuration of the flexible elements allows the manufacturing process to be simplified considerably, resulting in a less expensive device with ease of fabrication.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to iontophoretic drug delivery devices, and methods of manufacturing the same.
2. The Relevant Technology
There is an ongoing search for methods of medication delivery which are less invasive, less painful, and more efficient than conventional methods. For example, hypodermic injection of medication commonly entails pain and risk of infection. Oral ingestion of medication entails absorption of the drug from the digestive tract into the blood stream, wherein the blood containing the drug first percolates through the liver before entering the general circulation for delivery to the target tissue. In turn, much of an orally ingested drug may be metabolically inactivated before it has a chance to exert its pharmacologic effect. Local delivery of drugs therefore presents advantages over oral administration, an application characterized by inefficiency and unpredictability, and over hypodermic injection, an invasive, inconvenient, and sometimes risky technique.
One such local delivery method is known as iontophoresis. Iontophoresis is a safe, effective, non-invasive, and relatively painless medication delivery system. Iontophoresis involves the interaction between ionized molecules of a drug and an external electric field, resulting in the migration of charged molecules. The migration is achieved by placing two electrodes on the patient's skin, and connected to a DC power supply. One of the electrodes is an "active" electrode filled with a drug solution. The other electrode is an "inactive" electrode filled with an electrolyte solution. The electric field generated between the two electrodes causes the charged drug molecules to migrate from the active electrode into the tissues and blood stream of the patient.
Iontophoretic devices conventionally include a circuit board, electrodes and drug reservoirs which are fabricated separately, and then incorporated, together with electrical connections, in a housing. Rigid elements have conventionally been preferred over flexible elements because it was believed that it was easier to manipulate and maneuver rigid elements relative to one another in restricted spaces. Further, it was believed that rigid elements would not bend or deform during the assembly process, making the task more suitable for automation. However, rigid elements have proved less than ideal for suitable conformance to the body of a patient.
The device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,502 (hereinafter, "the '502 patent) is directed to a device which is flexible enough to conform to the contours of a patient's body. The '502 patent discloses an iontophoretic delivery device comprising a flexible housing having a flexible printed circuit board mounted therein, and a battery connected to the flexible printed circuit board. The flexible printed circuit board is connected to a pair of electrodes which each sit on top of a reservoir Each reservoir is in contact with the skin during in use.
However, certain problems are associated with the device of the '502 patent. The flexible printed circuit board carries a number of integrated circuit elements on its upper surfaces within a cavity in the flexible housing. The flexibility necessary to ensure conformity with the contours of the body means that the integrated circuits can be damaged by pressure exerted on the housing or by a shock occurring which could cause the integrated circuits to be crushed within the housing.
Furthermore, the battery, electrodes and connecting wiring are embedded within the housing making manufacture of the device difficult to achieve, which increases the expense of the device.

Iontophoretic drug delivery device and method of manufacturing the same


A manufacturing device manufactures a bearing unit including an inner ring member outwardly fitted onto an end portion of a shaft main body of an inner shaft on one side in an axial direction and fixed by a swaged portion extending from the end portion. The manufacturing device includes: a rotating mechanism including a rotor which holds the other side of the inner shaft in the axial direction from below and rotates the inner shaft about a center axis of the inner shaft while the center axis is aligned with an up-down direction, the rotor being mounted below a processing area of the bearing unit; and a swaging mechanism mounted above the processing area and including a punch which is brought into contact with the swaged portion to plastically deform the swaged portion.

In an automobile, a hub unit (bearing unit) is used in order to rotatably support a vehicle wheel at a suspension of a vehicle body side. As shown in FIG. 8, a hub unit 90 includes an outer ring 91 fixed to a suspension (not shown), and an inner shaft (hub shaft) 93 which is provided on a radially inner side of the outer ring 91 via rolling elements 92. The inner shaft 93 includes a shaft main body 94, and an inner ring member 96 outwardly fitted onto an end portion 95 of the shaft main body 94 on one side in an axial direction. The shaft main body 94 includes a flange portion 97 on the other side in the axial direction, and a wheel or a brake disc of a vehicle wheel (not shown) is mounted to the flange portion 97.
The inner ring member 96 is outwardly fitted onto the end portion 95 of the shaft main body 94, and is prevented from being removed and dropping out from the one side in the axial direction by a swaged portion 98 extended from the end portion 95. The fixing of the inner ring member 96 by the swaged portion 98 is performed, for example, by a manufacturing device shown in Patent Document 1.
As shown in FIG. 9, this manufacturing device includes: a fixing stage 89 on which the inner shaft 93 (flange portion 97) of the hub unit 90 is mounted and fixed; a swaging mechanism 86 including a punch 88 which is brought into contact with the swaged portion 98 of the hub unit 90 and plastically deforms the swaged portion 98 and a spindle 87 supporting the punch 88; a rotating mechanism 85 including an electric motor 84 which rotates the spindle 87; and a thrust generating mechanism 83 generating a thrust for pressing the punch 88 to the swaged portion 98. The thrust generating mechanism 83 is configured to include a hydraulic cylinder 82 provided between the electric motor 84 and the swaging mechanism 86, and a hydraulic unit (not shown) which supplies a hydraulic oil to the hydraulic cylinder 82.
FIGS. 10(A) and 10(B) are explanatory views showing a process of fixing the inner ring member 96 to the shaft main body 94 by the swaged portion 98 using the manufacturing device. First, the inner shaft 93 is fixed to the fixing stage 98. As shown in FIG. 10(A), before the processing, the swaged portion 98 has a shape of cylinder extending in the axial direction from the end portion 95 of the shaft main body 94 with a center axis C1 of the shaft main body 94 as a center. Then, the swaging mechanism 86 approaches (is descended to) the hub unit 90 which has been fixed to the fixing stage 89, and the punch 88 is brought into contact with the swaged portion 98 while rotating the spindle 87 about the center axis C1 using the electric motor 84 (see FIG. 9). Hereupon, as shown in FIG. 10(B), the swaged portion 98 having a shape of cylinder is pressed by the punch 88, so that its diameter is gradually expanded. The inner ring member 96 is restricted shaft main body in the axial direction by the swaged portion 98 whose diameter has been expanded as described above and is fixed to the shaft main body 94.

Bearing unit manufacturing device and bearing unit manufacturing method