An encoder receives an application log file including component values and encodes the component values into lists of preliminary encoded values. The lists of preliminary encoded values are combined into a combined list of preliminary encoded values. An encoder-decoder neural network is trained to encode the combined list of preliminary encoded values into a list of collectively encoded values, to decode the list of collectively encoded values into a list of decoded values, and to optimize a metric measuring the encoder-decoder neural network's functioning, in response to receiving the combined list of preliminary encoded values. The trained encoder-decoder neural network receives combined lists of preliminary encoded values for application log files and encodes the combined lists of preliminary encoded values into lists of collectively encoded values. The lists of collectively encoded values are sent to a detector, thereby enabling the detector to detect an application event associated with the application log files.

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
A computing system can serve multiple users by executing software applications. An application event can be when a system user utilizes an computer program, such as logins to and logouts from an application, page requests/loads/views, record accesses, file and report downloads and exports, clicks on the application's user interface button, and uses of corresponding application programming interfaces (APIs). The system can respond to such application events by generating data that is saved in application log files. For example, if a user's client device downloads a file, a system logger stores a corresponding log entry in an application log file. The log file entry can include data such as a user identifier, a download event type, a timestamp when the download occurred, the name of the downloaded file, and internal system information, such as the bandwidth used by the system to provide the download. If another client of another user logs into the application, the logger can store a new log entry in an application log file. For example, if another client logs into the same application, the logger stores a new log entry in the same application log file or in another application log file. The new log entry can include data such as the user identifier, a login event type, a geographic location from which the other client logged into the application, a timestamp when the login occurred, and internal system information, such as a server load associated with the login.
If an application generates large volumes of application log files, such as hundreds of terabytes per day, a machine-learning system may be required to process such a large volume of application log files to detect specific system activities, such as a digital attacks and data theft, or to debug problems, such as performance glitches. A machine learning system needs to have application log files converted from their original characters-based format into a numerical format to understand the application log files. Table 1 below depicts example data stored by an application log file. The component names may or may not be stored in the application log file.
TABLE 1Example data stored in an application log fileComponentValueeventIda80e749acuserId12345orgId34567loginToken378abc45dbrowserId8930abedd40ipAddress184.108.40.206timestamp2019-07-04T17:18:27.637+00:00platformMacInteluserAgentMozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64; rv: 47.0)Gecko/20100101 Firefox/47.0cpuClassx86languagesen, en-US, en-GBwindow650 × 1040screen900 × 1440color24-24
There are many simple methods to convert such character values into numbers. However, these currently available simple methods are systemically incapable of providing a sufficient result because the quality of their conversions is inadequate for the optimal performance provided by machine-learning systems.

Detecting application events based on encoding application log values


By using (1) a G protein-coupled receptor protein having the same or substantially the same amino acid sequence as the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1 or its salt and (2) a fatty acid or an eicosanoid, a compound or its salt that can change the binding properties of the receptor protein or its salt to the fatty acid or the eicosanoid can be screened efficiently.

Physiological active substances such as various hormones and neurotransmitters regulate the biological function via specific receptor proteins present on cell membranes. Many of these receptor proteins are coupled with guanine nucleotide-binding protein (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as G protein) and mediate the intracellular signal transduction via activation of G protein. These receptor proteins possess the common structure containing seven transmembrane domains and are thus collectively referred to as G protein-coupled receptors or seven-transmembrane receptors (7TMR).
G protein-coupled receptor proteins are present on the cell surface of each functional cell and organ in the body, and play important physiological roles as the target of the molecules that regulate the functions of the cells and organs, e.g., hormones, neurotransmitters, physiologically active substances and the like. Receptors transmit signals to cells via binding with physiologically active substances, and the signals induce various reactions such as activation and inhibition of the cells.
To clarify the relationship between substances that regulate complex biological functions in various cells and organs, and their specific receptor proteins, in particular, G protein-coupled receptor proteins would elucidate the functional mechanisms in various cells and organs in the body to provide a very important means for development of drugs closely associated with the functions.
For example, in various organs, their physiological functions are controlled in vivo through regulation by many hormones, hormone-like substances, neurotransmitters or physiologically active substances. In particular, physiologically active substances are found in numerous sites of the body and regulate the physiological functions through their corresponding receptor proteins. Many unknown hormones, neurotransmitters or many other physiologically active substances still exist in the body and, as to their receptor proteins, many of these proteins have not yet been reported. In addition, it is still unknown if there are subtypes of known receptor proteins.
It is very important for development of drugs to clarify the relationship between substances that regulate elaborated functions in vivo and their specific receptor proteins. Furthermore, for efficient screening of agonists and antagonists to receptor proteins in development of drugs, it is required to clarify functional mechanisms of receptor protein genes expressed in vivo and express the genes in an appropriate expression system.
In recent years, random analysis of cDNA sequences has been actively studied as a means for analyzing genes expressed in vivo. The sequences of cDNA fragments thus obtained have been registered on and published to databases as Expressed Sequence Tag (EST). However, since many ESTs contain sequence information only, it is difficult to predict their functions from the information.
The amino acid sequence of human-derived GPR40 and the DNA encoding the same are reported (WO 2000-22129 and Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 1997, Oct. 20; 239 (2): 543–547).
Also, it is reported that the ligand to human-derived GPR40 is a fatty acid (WO 02/057783).
Heretofore, substances that inhibit the binding of G protein-coupled proteins to physiologically active substances (i.e., ligands) and substances that bind and induce signals similar to those physiologically active substances (i.e., ligands) have been used for pharmaceuticals as antagonists and agonists specific to the receptors that regulate the biological functions. Therefore, these substances are not only important for physiological expression in the body as stated above but discovery and cloning of its gene (e.g., cDNA) for a novel G protein-coupled receptor that can be targeted for pharmaceutical development are also very important means in search for a specific ligand, agonist, and antagonist of the novel G protein-coupled receptor.
However, not all G protein-coupled receptors have been discovered. There are unknown G protein-coupled receptors and many of these receptors in which the corresponding ligands are yet unidentified are called orphan receptors. Therefore, search and functional elucidation of a novel G protein-coupled receptor is eagerly awaited.
G protein-coupled receptors are useful in searching for a novel physiological active substance (i.e., ligand) using the signal transduction activity as an indicator and in search for agonists and antagonists of the receptor. On the other hand, even if no physiological ligand is found, agonists and antagonist of the receptor may be prepared by analyzing the physiological action of the receptor through inactivation experiment of the receptor (knockout animal). Ligands, agonists, antagonists, etc. of the receptor are expected to be used as prophylactic/therapeutic and diagnostic agents for diseases associated with dysfunction of the G protein-coupled receptor.
Attenuation or accentuation in functions of the G protein coupled receptor due to genetic aberration of the G protein-coupled receptor protein in vivo causes some disorders in many cases. In this case, the G protein coupled receptor may be used not only for administration of antagonists or agonists of the receptor, but also for gene therapy by transfer of the receptor gene into the body (or some particular organs) or by introduction of the antisense nucleic acid of the receptor gene into the body (or the particular organ). In this case, information on the base sequence of the receptor gene is essentially required for investigating deletion or mutation in the gene. The receptor gene is also applicable as prophylactic/therapeutic and diagnostic agents for diseases associated with dysfunction of the receptor.
The present invention provides a novel and useful G protein-coupled receptor protein as described above. That is, the present invention provides a novel G protein-coupled receptor protein, its partial peptides and salts thereof; polynucleotides (DNA and RNA, and derivatives thereof) containing the polynucleotides (DNA and RNA, and derivatives thereof) encoding the G protein-coupled receptor protein or its partial peptides; recombinant vectors containing the polynucleotides; transformants bearing the recombinant vectors; methods for manufacturing the G protein-coupled receptor protein or its salts; antibodies to the G protein-coupled receptor protein, its partial peptides and salts thereof; compounds that change the expression level of said G protein-coupled receptor protein; methods of determining ligands to the G protein-coupled receptor protein; methods for screening the compounds (antagonists and agonists) or salts thereof that change the binding properties of ligands and the G protein-coupled receptor protein; kits for use in the screening methods, compounds (antagonists and agonists) or salts thereof that change the binding properties of ligands obtainable by the screening methods or obtainable using the screening kits and the G protein-coupled receptor protein, or pharmaceuticals comprising the compounds (antagonists and agonists) that change the binding properties of ligands to the G protein-coupled receptor protein, or compounds or salts thereof that change the expression level of the G protein-coupled receptor protein; etc.


A biodegradable resin composition comprising polylactic acid and nanosheeted layered titanic acid characterized in that the nonasheeted layered titanic acid is nanosheeted layered titanic acid obtained by a preparing process comprising the steps of:                (1) treating layered titanate represented by the general formula:AxMy□zTi2−(y+z)O4  (1)[wherein A and M represent a different monovalent to trivalent metal, □ represents a part defective in Ti, x is a positive real number satisfying 0<x<1.0, and y and z are 0 or a positive real number satisfying 0<y+z<1.0, respectively]with an acid or warm water to replace an A ion and/or a M ion with hydrogen and/or a hydronium ion, and        (2) reacting the resulting compound with a basic compound having interlayer swelling activity thereon, to swell or peel between layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a biodegradable resin composition comprising polylactic acid and nanosheeted layered titanic acid, which is excellent in mechanical strength, moldability, dimensional stability and durability.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a biodegradable resin as an environment harmonizing-type polymer has been intensively studied. In particular, much attention is paid to polylactic acid as a raw material of plant which enables carbon neutral not only from a viewpoint of biodegradability but also from the cost and high physical property. However, a molded product therefrom has a problem that heat resistance, rigidity and impact resistance are inferior, thus, not leading to full-scale development. For solving such the drawbacks, techniques regarding a composition in which a layered silicate-based nanosheet treated with a swelling agent such as an ammonium salt and a phosphonium salt is uniformly dispersed in polylactic acid, and a film and a functional material obtained therefrom are disclosed, and it is shown that excellent heat resistance and rigidity, and gas barrier property are obtained while suppressing a specific gravity, by complexing polylactic acid and layered silicate (see, for example, JP-A No. 2003-82212 and JP-A No. 2003-73538).
However, in such the method, as a layered silicate-based nanosheet is dispersed better in polylactic acid, reduction in a molecular weight occurs at kneading, and a melt viscosity is reduced. Since reduction in a melt viscosity deteriorates molding processibility of, for example, a film, and further increases a thermal expansion coefficient under a high temperature, dimensional stability is deteriorated.


A polyester film, which is substantially non-oriented and whose main component is polyethylene terephthalate, is formed into a shape for example, a package, at a condition causing no yield point. The formation ability of the polyester film for forming is improved, and a formed body having a good uniformity in thickness can be obtained. Further, the range of the temperature condition causing no yield point can be enlarged by laminating a PET-system polyester, which originally tends to cause a yield point by itself, onto a polyester having no yield point. In such a laminated polyester film, the slipping property and releasing property from a mold of the film can be improved by specifying the ranges of the degree of crystallinity of each layer, the adhesive force at a high temperature of the film and the surface roughness of the film, and the shape of a formed body can be improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for forming a polyester film, and more particularly to a process for forming a polyester film which can obtain a formed body of the polyester film having good slipping property and uniformity in thickness with a good formation ability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been proposed that polyester films can be used as packages by thermoforming them. For example, JP-A-SHO 47-391, JP-A-SHO 51-38335 and JP-A-SHO 62-19090 disclose the thermoforming of non-stretched films made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), or copolymer or blended polymer of PET. Recently, non-stretched polyester films of PET-system have been in commerce as films called "A-PET" (amorphous PET).
In such proposed polyester films of PET-system for forming, however, in spite of expectance for substituting them for hard polyvinyl chloride sheets, their uses have not been developed so much. The reason is that formation ability thereof is not good and the formed bodies therefrom tend to have relatively great irregularities in thickness.
Moreover, since these polyester films for forming have poor slipping properties, scratches are liable to occur during handling. Further, since they have poor releasing properties from molds in thermoforming, the shapes of the formed bodies therefrom tend to be deformed, and scratches are liable to occur on the surfaces of the formed bodies. Furthermore, since their slipping properties are still poor even in the stage after forming, a decrease in quality occurs in a process after forming. Particularly, when the formed bodies are used as a package and a substance is automatically charged into the respective formed bodies, the formed bodies are stacked and set in a charging machine and they must be smoothly taken out from the machine one by one. When the conventional polyester films for forming are used for such a package and the formed bodies are employed in such a charging system, however, the formed bodies are sometimes caught on some part of the charging machine when they are taken out, and it causes a charging trouble.


The invention relates to lenses, prisms or other optical members which are subjected to high-power ultraviolet light having a wavelength of about 360 nm or less, or ionizing radiation, particularly optical members for use in laser exposure apparatus for lithography, and to blanks for such optical members. The homogeneity of the refractive index distribution and the resistance to optical deterioration when the optical members are exposed for a long period of time to short wavelength ultraviolet light from a laser beam are improved. The optical members are made of high-purity synthetic silica glass material containing at least about 50 wt. ppm of OH groups, and are doped with hydrogen. The refractive index distribution caused by the fictive temperature distribution during heat treatment in the process of producing high-purity silica glass blanks for optical members in accordance with the present invention is offset by the combined refractive index distribution determined by the OH group concentration distribution or by the OH group concentration distribution and the Cl concentration distribution in the glass.

The present invention relates to optical members such as lenses, prisms, filters, windows, reflectors, and etalon plates used in various apparatus employed in environments where they are exposed to high-power ultraviolet light having a wavelength of about 360 nm or less, e.g. an excimer laser beam, a YAG fourth harmonics (250 nm) laser beam, or some other high-power ultraviolet laser beam. Further the invention relates to semi-finished products which have not yet been finally polished, and to blanks, and more specifically to lenses, prisms, etc. assembled into a device such as a lithographic laser exposure apparatus for producing highly integrated circuits, a laser fabrication apparatus, a medical apparatus, a nuclear fusion apparatus, or some other apparatus which uses a high-power ultraviolet laser beam. Still further, the invention relates to a method of producing such optical members and/or blanks for such optical members.
In recent years there has been remarkable progress in making large scale integrated circuits (LSIs) finer and in increasing the degree of integration of LSIs. VLSIs having 1,000,000 or more elements per chip are now starting to become prevalent. Along with this progress, lithography techniques for drawing an integrated circuit pattern on a wafer have developed rapidly, and techniques capable of drawing a line with an even narrower width are now being developed. For example, a pattern line having a width of 1 .mu.m which is suitable for 1M bit DRAM, and a pattern line having a width of 0.8 .mu.m which is suitable for 4M bit DRAM, are now being developed. These techniques all involve photolithography.
In the field of lithography, there is an urgent need to develop techniques of drawing at submicron scale, i.e. with pattern line widths from 0.5 .mu.m to 0.2 .mu.m, which are suitable for 16M bit DRAMs to 256M bit DRAMs which are expected to be realized in the near future. In view of the steady progress of modern optical systems, light sources, photoresists, etc., it is anticipated that photolithography will also play a major role in such ultrafine line width drawing techniques. Indeed, photolithography has various attractive features needed for ultrafine line width drawing because there are, for example, light sources having relatively high brightness, highly sensitive resists, and stable optical materials. However, photolithography has the problem that the resolution is limited by diffraction due to the long wavelengths which are used. To solve this problem, the numerical aperture (NA) of optical systems must be enlarged and/or the wavelength of the light must be shortened.
With respect to enlargement of the numerical aperture of optical systems, numerical apertures of not less than 0.4 are now available, and a lens having a numerical aperture of 0.6 has been developed as a trial product. But, as the numerical aperture is increased, the depth of focus decreases. Consequently, there is a limit to how much the numerical aperture can be increased in order to improve the resolution. Therefore, shortening the wavelength of the light is being considered.
If ultraviolet radiation having a wavelength of 400 nm or less is used with a lens of conventional optical glass, however, the light transmittance rapidly decreases at a working wavelength of 365 nm (i-line). In other words, light absorption and generation of heat due to the light absorption occur, and consequently the focal point of the lens and other properties of the lens are disturbed.
To obviate such difficulties, it has been suggested to use silica glass as the lens material instead of conventional optical glasses. But when normal ultraviolet radiation is passed through silica glass, chromatic aberration occurs because the spectrum of the light is so broad. Thus, it also has been proposed to use a laser beam which oscillates in the ultraviolet range and has a narrow spectrum width as a light source for photolithography.
Among the lasers used for photolithography, excimer lasers are the most practical. An excimer laser is a high-power pulse laser oscillating in the ultraviolet range, e.g. at a wavelength ranging from about 360 nm to about 150 nm. Excimer lasers have the most powerful energy density of known ultraviolet light sources. Various working gas mixtures are possible, including XeF (351 and 353 nm), KrF (248 nm), XeCl (308 nm), ArF (193 nm), etc. Of these, it is preferred for reasons of oscillation efficiency and gas life, to use KrF (248 nm) or ArF (193 nm) which have shorter wavelengths in order to obtain a clearer image at a submicron scale.
It has been found that the irradiation of an excimer laser on silica glass adversely affects the optical properties of the glass. That is to say, applicants have discovered that optical members formed of silica glass are highly subject to optical damage when the silica glass is exposed to an ultraviolet laser beam having a wavelength ranging from 360 nm to 150 nm. Since an excimer laser beam is quite high in power compared to a conventional i-line source or g-line source, etc., as the oscillation wavelength is shortened, even if the optical members for the laser beam are made of silica glass, when the optical members are exposed to the laser beam for an extended period of time, problems arise in that the optical members, including the lenses, are damaged, and their optical properties are changed, e.g., the transmittance decreases, etc. More particularly, irradiation with an ultraviolet laser beam for a long time results, for example, in breaking of the network structure of silica glass, producing an absorption peak at about 215 nm (the so-called E' center) and another absorption band at about 260 nm, thereby decreasing the transmittance in the range from 360 nm to 150 nm and causing optical deterioration. Even high-purity synthetic silica glass is subject to optical damage upon exposure to an ultraviolet laser beam. Such deterioration is not serious with conventional i-line (365 nm) or g-line (436 nm) light sources, but becomes serious for shorter wavelength ultraviolet light beams ranging from 360 nm to 150 nm. Eventually cracks appear. In contrast thereto, other types of light which have longer wavelengths, such as visible light, have a negligible influence on the glass.
One cause of the deterioration in the optical properties is attributed to the presence of metal impurities in the silica glass. Therefore, optical members such as lenses, etc. for a laser beam have been formed of synthetic silica glass made using a highly purified silicon compound, such as SiCl.sub.4, as a raw material instead of natural quartz. However, even optical members formed from highly pure silica glass have not given satisfactory results for a high-power laser beam having a short wavelength for several reasons. The first reason is that even if it is intended to make highly pure silica glass, it is impossible to completely eliminate the presence of metal impurities because of problems inherent in the raw material and in the production process of silica glass. A second reason is that synthetic silica glass appears to include various structural defects which decrease the laser beam resistance. These two factors combine to cause the laser resistance to deteriorate. No techniques are known which have been developed to enable an optical member of synthetic silica glass to resist optical deterioration when exposed to short wavelength ultraviolet laser radiation.
It is known from Japanese Patent Publication Sho 40-10228 that colorization of a silica glass article made by melting natural quartz due to the influence of ionizing radiation can be prevented by heating the article in an atmosphere of hydrogen gas to about 400.degree. to 1,000.degree. C., but this publication only teaches occlusion (doping) of hydrogen gas in order to prevent or inhibit solarization to some degree in natural quartz glass. Mere hydrogen doping does not, however, prevent degradation of the optical properties of silica glass optical members subjected to a high-power, ultraviolet light beam like the irradiation of an excimer laser. Thus, this publication does not enable persons skilled in the art to prevent deterioration over time of the optical properties of synthetic glass optical elements exposed to a high-power ultraviolet laser.
It is also known from Japanese Patent Publication Sho 39-23850 that the transmittance of ultraviolet light by a silica glass body can be improved by heat treating the glass body in a hydrogen atmosphere at 950.degree. to 1,400.degree. C. and then heat treating the glass body again in an oxygen-containing atmosphere at 950.degree. to 1,400.degree. C. The purpose of this treatment is to increase the transmittance of ultraviolet light having a wavelength of 300 nm or less by decreasing the metal impurity content which remains in quartz glass and affects the light absorption of the glass. Again this publication provides no information about how to prevent progressive deterioration over time of the optical properties of optical members exposed to ultraviolet radiation. Furthermore, since this prior technique carries out a heat treatment in oxygen after the heat treatment in hydrogen, the initially doped hydrogen is removed by the subsequent oxygen atmosphere heat treatment, thereby eliminating the effect of the hydrogen heat treatment. This document also describes that the heat treatments in the hydrogen atmosphere and in the oxygen atmosphere each give a maximum effect at the temperature of 1,400.degree. C. However, heat treatment at such a high temperature results in contamination of the glass with impurities from the furnace, and thereby produces glass containing significant amounts of impurities which may adversely affect the resistance of the glass to optical deterioration from exposure to high-power, ultraviolet laser light.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,995 discloses that hydrogenating an optical fiber or image fiber preform at an elevated temperature also can improve attenuation increases which arise when drawn optical fibers are exposed to gamma-radiation by eliminating bond defects which contribute to bond breakage during the fiber drawing process. Japanese Patent Publication Sho 58-125635 indicates that gamma-radiation resistance of quartz glass optical fibers may be improved by increasing the OH group concentration of the fiber core to greater than 1000 ppm and optionally adding fluorine or chlorine, however no explanation is given of how to accomplish this. In neither of these publications is there any information about resistance to high-power, ultraviolet laser light.
Another problem in the production of optical members for use in very high precision optical devices, such as lithography exposure apparatus for exposing submicron scale integrated circuit patterns, is the attainment of uniform optical properties, particularly a homogeneous refractive index.
In general, optical members of the type to which the present invention applies are manufactured by a process in which the starting glass ingot is remolded into the desired shape, such as a column, disk or sphere, and then annealed (heating followed by slow cooling) to eliminate residual strain. Then the peripheral portion of the blanks is ground off, and finally the blanks are cut, polished and film-coated to fabricate optical members. In this production process, the annealing step is very necessary.
However, even if the annealing speed in the annealing step is slow as possible, it is impossible to get the same cooling rate in both the peripheral zone and the central zone. The cooling rate at the periphery is inevitably faster than at the center. This causes a fictive temperature distribution, the shape of which is a concave curve ascending from the central zone towards the peripheral zone in the cross section of the blanks.
The concept of a fictive temperature distribution is believed to arise from the fact that silica does not undergo an abrupt crystalline transformation with changes in temperature. Instead, the physical properties of the silica change subsequently as a result of a change in temperature, and the amount of change in the physical properties varies depending on the rate of temperature change. If two pieces of silica glass are cooled at different rates, one suddenly and the other gradually, the one which is cooled suddenly will undergo a lesser change in properties than the one which is cooled gradually. In other words, the physical properties such as density, refractive index, etc. of the piece which is cooled suddenly will be more nearly equivalent to the properties at a higher temperature, termed the fictive temperature, even though both pieces are cooled to the same actual temperature. See Brueckner, J. Non-Crystalline Solids, Vol. 5, pp. 123-175 (1970).
If a fictive temperature difference is permitted to remain as optical blanks cool to room temperature, then even if a glass blank with ideal uniformity in chemical composition is annealed, the refractive index distribution in the annealed blank inevitably varies with the fictive temperature distribution, resulting in a refractive index distribution having the shape of a concave curve correlated to the fictive temperature distribution.
Therefore, in order to obtain blanks having a uniform refractive index, it is necessary both to make the silica glass highly pure by synthesis and to make the fictive temperature uniform by the heat treatment. Improvements in the uniformity of the temperature, however, are limited so long as the cooling rate is substantially finite, even if improvements in the heat-treating furnace and the heat treatment temperature program are made.
When conventional light, such as a g-line source (436 nm), is used, the presence of such refractive index distributions does not cause serious problems. However, in optical members used for short wavelength laser beams (193 nm to 308 nm), and particularly in laser exposure apparatus for submicron scale lithography having a pattern line width of, for example, 0.5 .mu.m, the refractive index inhomogeneity (.delta.n) needs to be smaller by at least a factor of 10 or more than in the case of visible light. But in optical members fabricated from silica glass blanks having poor optical homogeneity, it is difficult to obtain a highly homogeneous refractive index, and it is therefore impossible to achieve lithography of a fine, clear, submicron scale image.
Thus, in order to facilitate the use of ultraviolet light sources having narrow wavelengths in the range from 360 mn to 150 nm, such as excimer lasers, in high precision optical devices such as exposure apparatus for submicron integrated circuit pattern lithography, there is a need for ways to provide optical members with uniform optical properties including a highly homogeneous refractive index and to prevent the optical properties of such optical members from deteriorating under exposure to light from a high-power ultraviolet light beam like that of an excimer laser, and for optical members having uniform optical properties including a highly homogeneous refractive index whose optical properties do not deteriorate over time when exposed to a high-power, ultraviolet laser beam such as an excimer laser.

Optical members and blanks of synthetic silica glass and method for their production


In one aspect, a liquid crystal display device includes a display region formed of plural divided regions in a row direction. First and second driving circuits are arranged to face each other interposing the display region therebetween in the row direction. The first driving circuit is connected with odd scanning lines, and the second driving circuit is connected with the even scanning lines. A channel area of the TFT of the pixels connected to the odd scanning lines is the smallest in the divided region nearest to the first driving circuit and becomes larger gradually in the divided regions distant from the first driving circuit. A channel area of the TFT of the pixels connected to the even scanning lines is the smallest in the divided region nearest to the second driving circuit and becomes larger gradually in the divided regions with distant from the second driving circuit.

Generally, the liquid crystal display device which has features of a light weight, a thin shape, and low power consumption is used as a display device. The liquid crystal display device is equipped with an array substrate, a counter substrate arranged opposing the array substrate with a gap therebetween, and a liquid crystal layer held between the array substrate and the counter substrate.
The array substrate includes a glass substrate. In a display region, a plurality of signal lines and a plurality of scanning lines cross on the glass substrate. A Thin Film Transistor (TFT) is arranged near an intersection portion where each of the signal lines crosses each of the scanning lines, and each TFT forms a pixel. Moreover, a driving circuit (Y driver) connected to the plurality of the scanning lines is arranged on the glass substrate.
By the way, in the liquid crystal display device, the demand for high definition and narrow frame is becoming strong. When advancing the features of the high definition and the narrow frame, a large width of the driving circuit results in a problem. The single-sided arrangement of the left-hand side or the right-hand side of the Y driver is common for the liquid crystal display device especially with a small panel size used for cellular phones, digital still cameras, etc.
Moreover, in the above-mentioned liquid crystal display device, the screen size becomes larger, and the number of pixels increases every year. Since the occupied area of the Y driver corresponding to each scanning line is decided beforehand, if the number of pixels increases and a pixel pitch becomes narrow, a layout width of the Y driver with respect to the pixel pitch is expanded relatively. However, when the layout width of the Y driver is expanded, there is a problem that the narrow frame technique can not be advanced.
Then, when the narrow frame technique is advanced, it is possible to arrange the Y driver on the glass substrate by dividing the above-mentioned Y driver on the both sides of the display region. For example, odd scan lines are connected to the left-hand side of the Y driver, and even scanning lines are connected to the right-hand side of the Y driver. Thereby, although the layout of the Y driver for one scanning stage was conventionally arranged at one pixel pitch, it becomes possible to arrange the layout of the Y driver for one scanning stage at two pixel pitches in the above technique. As a result, since the Y driver can take a sufficient layout area even if the width of the Y driver is set to be narrower, the narrow frame is achieved.
However, in the above-mentioned liquid crystal display device, especially in the liquid crystal display device with a large screen size or a high definition characteristics, when a gray raster display is carried out by a line inversion drive (horizontal line inversion drive system) which changes polarity for every line, a flicker on the right-and-left end of the screen is caused.
Here, the causes which generate the flicker are explained. In the scanning lines, one end to which the scanning signals are inputted is set to a starting end, and another end at which the transmitting of the scan signals terminates is set to a terminal end. The waveform is more rounded at the terminal end side compare with the starting end side due to a load of the scanning line. Since a punch-through voltage remarkably depends on the waveform of the scanning signal, the punch-through voltage becomes smaller by the enlargement of the roundness of the waveform at the terminal end side. As a result, the holding potential of the pixel becomes larger at the terminal end side.
At a left end and a right end of the screen, since the starting end and the terminal end of the scanning line are arranged by turns, the pixels with the large punch-through voltage and the pixels with the small punch-through voltage (high or low holding potential in the pixel) are also arranged by turns. Moreover, the holding voltage difference among the pixels due to the difference of the punch-through voltages depends on the polarity of the holding voltage.
For example, in case of a dot inversion drive (HV/horizontal-vertical inversion drive) in which the polarity is changed in each pixel, the pixels of positive polarity and negative polarity are arranged alternately for both of the odd row lines and even row lines for one frame. As a result, the influence by the punch-through voltage of the pixels is balanced for each row line.
On the other hand, in the line inversion drive, since the polarities of the pixels differ in the odd row lines and the even row lines, and further the punch-through voltage is different between the positive polarity pixel and the negative polarity, the influence by the punch-through voltage changes in every row line. When a gray raster display is performed by the line inversion drive, the fault that a flicker occurs at the right-and-left end of the display region arises due to above-mentioned causes.


Hand held dispenser for thermoplastic material including a casing forming a manual holding element and enclosing a space for receiving a mass of thermoplastic material in a solid state, the casing having an open outlet end communicating with the space; a component for advancing the thermoplastic material toward the open end of the casing, and a heating element for heating the thermoplastic material to a flowable state, wherein the heating element has a low thermal inertia, is arranged in a substantially homogeneous manner across a surface disposed opposite the open end and having dimensions which correspond to dimensions of the open end and wherein the heating element further acts to distribute thermoplastic material in a flowable state in the form of a sheet on a receiving surface.

The present invention relates to a manual dispenser of thermoplastic material, particularly depilatory wax. However, such dispenser can also be used for dispensing products having the form of a cream, an ointment, a glue, or a varnish.
In the present specification, thermoplastic materials are intended to encompass all types of materials which assume a solid, semi-solid or pasty physical state at normal room temperature, and are transformed into a liquid or flowable state by application of heat, which then permits, among other things, the material to be spread so as to form a thin layer on a surface. In this dispenser, the material stored in a solid physical state, or form, at normal room temperature can be subjected to a heat flow in order to change into a fluid, and particularly liquid, state in order to be dispensed in the form of a thin layer.
Generally, such a dispenser includes a housing which is constructed to be hand-held, with the interior of the housing being provided with a reservoir containing the thermoplastic material in its solid form. Such solid form can be in the form of granules or a block or bar of, for example, wax. This reservoir can contain means to push the wax toward its outlet, the wax then emerging onto means for distributing a thin layer of molten wax. These distributing means can include an intermediate conduit terminated by an opening from which the layer is deposited directly on a receiving surface, the surface typically being constituted by the skin of a user. Alternatively, the reservoir can have an outlet which opens onto a receiving surface constituted by a transfer surface of an application means, such as a roller for transferring the layer of material onto a surface.
The reservoir, the distribution and/or transfer means and the application means are in thermal communication with heating means to melt the totality or only a proximal portion of the wax in a manner such that, once the wax is in a liquid or flowable state, it flows out of the distributing means in the form of a layer or a band whose thickness depends at least in part on the speed of displacement of the dispenser which moves directly above the application surface, or the peripheral surface speed of the roller. Once the band of wax has been applied to the skin, a band of gauze or of plastic is placed on the wax layer in order to adhere to the wax after the wax has cooled and solidified. When the gauze or plastic band is pulled away from the user's skin, the wax layer is pulled away at the same time, resulting in the removal of hairs which have become imprisoned in the wax layer.
A first type of dispenser permits relatively rapid melting of the extremity of a stick of wax which is pushed through a hot passage whose temperature is controlled and whose outlet opening serves to distribute dots or stripes of wax.
European Patent Document EP-A-0055157 describes such a type of dispenser particularly intended for depilatory removal of hair from the face. In this dispenser, wax in the form of a stick contained in a reservoir is pushed manually into a passage having a first straight part which is surrounded by a heating resistance. Once the wax has been heated to a flowable state, it flows into a second, bent intermediate part of the passage, this second part opening into a dispensing orifice. In order to prevent the melted wax from cooling during its passage through the second part, the passage is made of a material which is a good conductor and accumulator of heat.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,449,517, a stick of thermoplastic material is pushed manually by means of a toothed wheel into an intermediate heating passage having a conical form with a circumference which decreases toward the outlet. This heating passage is equally composed of a massive metal material and thus requires a long period of time to be heated and has a high degree of thermal inertia.
French Patent Document FR-A-914405 describes an electric dispenser to form wax tablets. In this structure, there is an intermediate dispensing neck downstream of and relatively remote from heating means which are disposed at the outlet of the reservoir containing the stick.
Heating means of dispensers for sticks of wax described above generally have a non-negligible thermal inertia, while the sticks of wax have a relatively low thermal conductivity. The utilization of this type of dispenser is thus tricky since, when the heating means are turned off, passages in contact with the wax do not cool instantaneously, so that the wax continues to melt and flow out of the reservoir for a certain length of time. This additional wax then comes to adhere against the walls of the passage and other adjacent intermediate walls. This causes subsequent restarting of the dispenser to be difficult since it is then necessary to wait not only until the heating passage has returned to its working temperature, but also until all of the wax present in the downstream part of the dispenser has also melted, with the risk that the totality of the stick softens and renders the dispenser unusable as a result of a complete clogging.
Above all, in the dispensers described previously, the wax is heated at its outer surface, i.e. over a surface which is substantially parallel to the axis of displacement of the wax. In addition, it is very difficult to cause the heat to reach the center of the block or stick of wax taking into account the low thermal conductivity of such material. This leads to a local overheating of the wax to accelerate the transfer of heat, thus aggravating the inertia effects of the heating element and creating risks relating to the final application temperature.
German Patent Document DE1 954 812 describes moreover dispensers of mastic which include a main peripheral heating at the level of the outlet of the reservoir opening into a conical intermediate volume which itself terminates at a distribution point. In the embodiment show in FIGS. 4 and 5 of this publication, provision is made for a supplemental heating by means of four electrical resistances arranged in the reservoir outlet in the form of a transverse cross, these being situated upstream of the intermediate conical volume. However, the center of the mastic quadrants thus cut longitudinally in the stick which are still essentially solid when they arrive in the conical intermediate volume where an equalization of the melting is to be effectuated. In addition, when the heating is turned off, the entirety of the surrounding mastic zone is solidified into a single block and it thus takes a long time to soften this material when the heating is restarted despite the arrangement of the heating in the form of a transverse cross.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,272,780 describes a dispenser for meltable colored material used to decorate textiles, this dispenser including heating means constituted by a radiator mounted on electric resistances in the middle of an intermediate chamber situated at the outlet of a reservoir, this chamber opening onto a distributing ball valve. As shown in the drawings of this patent document, the radiator is present in the form of a transversal disk surmounted in the downstream direction by four blades arranged in the form of a cross, the molten material having to flow around the disk in order to reach the valve. This radiator is relatively massive and, when the heating means are shut off, the material solidifies in all of the chamber, which retards subsequent restarting of the dispenser.
A second type of dispenser, called a "roller dispenser", permits spreading of a layer of wax in the form of a band on an application surface and is described in the patent documents FR-A-2520601, FR 2 706 261, EP 499 317 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,103,689 and 5,556,468. These dispensers comprise a transfer and application roller disposed across the outlet of an intermediate zone situated in an extension of a reservoir outlet, the space between this intermediate zone and the roller constituting the surface for distributing the wax as a sheet on the periphery of the transfer roller.
In the embodiment according to the document FR-A-2520601, the dispenser is preliminarily installed in a heating sleeve within a support housing for the time necessary for the entirety of the wax contained in the reservoir to melt. Therefore, the time that one must wait until the dispenser is ready for use is particularly long.
In the embodiment described in FR 2 706 261, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,468 a reservoir made of aluminum includes a central diffusion blade and is heated by an electric resistance placed against one of its longitudinal walls. It is equally necessary, in this case, to wait until all of the wax in the reservoir is melted before being able to use the dispenser.
In the embodiments disclosed in the documents EP 499 315 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,689 a single electrical resistance is arranged in the intermediate zone slightly above and parallel to the roller. If desired, the resistance is completed by a fin which is oriented toward the roller in order to also heat it. Starting of the dispenser can only commence after all of the wax present in the intermediate zone has melted.
In summary, depilatory hair removal can generally begin in these configurations only when the totality of the wax present in the reservoir and/or in the intermediate zone at the outlet of which the roller is located has melted and comes in contact with the transfer surface of the applicator roller, which requires the user to wait for a non-negligible time after having turned the dispenser on. This waiting time is undesirable because it prevents a rapid hair removal operation when the user is in a hurry.
Conversely, when the hair removal operation has ended and the user turns off the heating means, the remainder of the molten wax continues to move forward during a certain time period and accumulates between the heating means and the roller, where that wax solidifies. This phenomenon of blocking the space between the outlet and the distribution element then results in possible complete blockage of the applicator roller against rotation. When the dispenser is again placed in operation, this portion of the wax will require even more time to melt since it is not in direct contact with the heating means.
Moreover, the thickness of the band of wax is hard to control by the user because it is linked to the geometry and the composition of the wax.

Manual dispenser for thermoplastic material


2,3,5,6-Tetrachloropyridine, and 2,3-dichloro-5-(trichloromethyl)pyridine are prepared by selectively chlorinating polychlorinated .beta.-picolines in the vapor phase between about 250.degree. and 450.degree. C. in the presence of specific Lewis acid halide catalysts on an inorganic support. The gamma position on the pyridine ring is usually not chlorinated in the starting material or reaction products. These compounds are useful intermediates to produce insecticides and herbicides.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the selective vapor phase chlorination of polychlorinated .beta.-alkylpyridines to produce useful higher chlorinated compounds and/or intermediates. More specifically, the invention relates to the selective gas phase chlorination of chlorinated .beta.-picolines to produce 2,3,5,6-tetrachloropyridine, and other useful chemical intermediates, e.g. to produce commercial insecticides or herbicides.
2. Description of Related Art
2,3,5,6-Tetrachloropyridine and 2,3-dichloro-5-(trichloromethyl)pyridine are chemical intermediates which are very useful in the production of commercial insecticides and herbicides.
A number of processes are known to produce 2,3,5,6-tetrachloropyridine (Sym-Tet), usually by liquid phase chlorination. When vapor phase chlorination without catalyst is used, the yields and selectivity of chlorination are poor and the reactions are relatively slow. Further, because of the lack of selectivity, a significant amount of by-products and waste products are formed.
Some references of interest include:
H. Johnson et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,186,994 disclose the vapor phase chlorination of alpha-picoline to produce alpha-trichloromethyl pyridines.
J. A. Corran in U.S. Pat. No. 3,370,062 discloses a gas phase chlorination to produce pentachloropyridine. Suitable staring materials include pyridine and methylpyridines. Porous materials such as silica, alumina or combinations thereof can be used. 2-Methylpyridine is chlorinated in the presence of silica to produce pentachloropyridine.
W. H. Taplin III in U.S. Pat. No. 3,420,833 discloses the vapor phase chlorination of pyridine and isomeric picolines (e.g. alpha and gamma).
R. Nishiyama et al. disclose in U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,213 that 2-chloro-5-trichloromethyl pyridine is produced by reacting beta-picoline with chlorine in a gaseous phase at 300.degree.-500.degree. C. The reaction can be carried out in the presence of a porous material, e.g., silica, alumina, silicon carbide.
R. D. Bowden et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,175 disclose the vapor phase preparation of partially-chlorinated derivatives of 3-methylpyridine having a single chlorine atom substituted for hydrogen on the pyridine ring and 2 or 3 chlorine atom substituents on the methyl group.
J. Perettie et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,135 disclose the liquid phase chlorination at about 220.degree. C. at about 50 psig of 2,6-dichloropyridine in the presence of alumina, iron or silica to produce 45% of 2,3,5,6-tetrachloropyridine.
G. Whittaker in U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,132 discloses the reaction of chlorine in the vapor phase with 3-methylpyridine at 225.degree.-325.degree. C. to produce 3-(trichloromethyl)pyridines in the presence of a metal oxide or metal halide catalyst. The catalyst may be a chloride or an oxide of copper, silica, magnesium, calcium, zinc, etc. Inorganic and organic gaseous diluents can be used.
K. Kujikawa et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,534 disclose a process to produce 3-chloro-5-(trifluoromethyl)pyridine. The chlorination takes place in a reaction zone in a reactor. The catalyst may be comprised of iron, antimony, copper or zinc chlorides, optionally on a carrier such as carbon, zeolite or pumice. The examples only describe trifluoromethyl reactants and trifluoromethyl containing products.
J. Sharvit et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,644 disclose the preparation of 2,3,5,6-tetrachloropyridine by direct chlorination of alpha-picoline in the gas phase with chlorine at about 200.degree. C. in the presence of water and a catalyst.
M. A. DesJardin et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,112 disclose a process for the vapor phase chlorination of 2,6-dichloropyridine to produce 2,3,6-trichloropyridine selectively over isomeric 2,4,6-trichloropyridine. 2,3,6-Trichloropyridine, when chlorinated, produces symmetrical 2,3,5,6-tetrachloropyridine in high selectivity over isomeric unsymmetrical 2,3,4,6-tetrachloropyridine.
J. Sharvit et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,797 disclose the preparation of polychlorinated pyridines by reacting chlorine in the gas phase with partially chlorinated pyridines at about 200.degree. C. in the presence of a catalyst, e.g. pumice and a Lewis acid halide.
I. Sangyo in Japanese Kokai JP 58,206,564 (Chem. Abst., Vol. 100, 138965j (1984) discloses the vapor phase catalytic chlorination of chlorinated pyridine derivatives. 2,6-Dichloropyridine, carbon tetrachloride and chlorine are contacted with solid ferric chloride/carbon catalyst at 220.degree. C. to produce 2,3,5,6-tetrachloropyridine (72.9%) and 2,3,6-trichloropyridine (8.8%).
All of the patents, references, articles, standards and the like cited in this application are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
None of these references individually or as a group disclose or suggest the present invention.
It is extremely useful to have a vapor phase selective chlorination of a polychlorinated .beta.-alkylpyridine (and/or .beta.-picoline) using chlorine in the presence of certain Lewis acid/or halide catalysts to produce 2,3,5,6-tetrachloropyridine and/or its precursors (including chlorinated picolines). The present invention provides such a process.

Selective gas phase chlorination of polychlorinated .beta.-picolines to produce 2,3,5,6-tetrachloropyridine and its precursors


An illuminated safety helmet including at least one electroluminescent strip permanently adhered to a helmet shell which is powered by a power unit arranged on the helmet shell, where the power unit includes a rechargeable battery. Power is supplied to the electroluminescent strips when an ON/OFF switch is turned ON.

The present invention relates to an illuminated safety helmet to be worn by individuals engaging in activities, such as cycling, skating and working under conditions of limited lighting so that the individuals are readily visible.
Existing safety helmets include reflectors arranged in various locations on the helmet so that the illumination from lights of on-coming vehicles is reflected to alert motorists of the presence of the individual wearing the helmet.
However, the use of reflectors provides limited protection since the motorist is only alerted to the presence of the individual when the light from the vehicle impinges upon the reflectors on the helmet to generate reflected light. Accordingly, the vehicle is relatively close to the individual before being alerted to the individual's presence. Therefore, the current safety helmets provide limited visibility and protection.


A computer-implemented method performed in connection with a mobile computing device held by a user, the mobile computing device displaying a marker pattern, the method being performed in a computerized system incorporating a processing unit, a camera and a memory, the computer-implemented method involving: acquiring a plurality of images of the mobile computing device displaying the marker pattern using the camera; using the central processing unit to detect the marker pattern within the acquired plurality of images; using the central processing unit to determine a plurality of positions of the mobile computing device based on the detected marker pattern within the acquired plurality of images; and processing a user event based on the determined plurality of positions of the mobile computing device.

Technical Field
The disclosed embodiments relate in general to systems and methods for enabling user interaction with computing devices and, more specifically, to systems and methods for enabling fine-grained user interaction with projector-camera and/or display-camera systems using a smartphone or other mobile device.
Description of the Related Art
For projection surfaces and display panels in meeting rooms and public areas that lack input capability, it would be useful to enable interaction in a convenient and low-cost way. For coarse-grain interaction hand gesture input technologies have been successfully developed. Examples include systems for game playing, such as Kinect system for Xbox well known to persons of ordinary skill in the art, as well as a system and method described in Wachs, J., Stern, H., Edan, Y., Gillam, M., Handler, J., Feied, C., Smith, M., A gesture-based tool for sterile browsing of radiology images., J. American Medical Informatics Assoc., 15 (3) 321-323 (2008).
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/865,990 entitled "SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING AND USING GESTURE BASED USER INTERFACE WIDGETS WITH CAMERA INPUT" describes a system for detection of gestures for discrete actions with button widgets and gestures for continuous (but not fine-grained) actions for panning and zooming actions with a viewport widget.
As would be appreciated by persons of skill in the art, for fine-grain user interaction such as annotating a slide image or writing on a whiteboard canvas, it can be more advantageous to track a simpler object than the hand or fingers of the user. Because people are accustomed to traditional input devices like the mouse or stylus, it can feel more comfortable to "write" using a device rather than a finger. Input devices also have a standard set of action events (e.g. pen down, pen dragging, and pen up) that are somewhat complicated to implement with finger gestures. Detecting touch is also a hard problem using a typical camera-projection display setup, even with a depth camera, because the camera can only see the back of the finger and the physical finger must be approximated using a geometric model, as described, for example, in Wilson, A. D., Using a depth camera as a touch sensor, Proc. ITS '10, pp. 69-72. Furthermore, fingers are computationally expensive to track and may not scale well for supporting multiple users interacting with a large display surface.
On the other hand, for tracking an object, there exist commercial and research systems, including, without limitation, Vicon Motion Systems, Flock of Birds Tracker, iLamps described in 14. Raskar, R., Baar, J. v., Beardsley, P., Willwacher, T., Rao, S. and Forlines, C. iLamps: geometrically aware and self-configuring projectors. Proc. SIGGRAPH '03, pp. 809-818 as well as Ubiquitous Coded Light described in Raskar, R., Baar, J. v., Beardsley, P., Willwacher, T., Rao, S. and Forlines, C. iLamps: geometrically aware and self-configuring projectors, Proc. SIGGRAPH '03, pp. 809-818. However, these object tracking systems are expensive and/or complex to build, and they require special hardware. Another practical problem that all the above tracking solutions face is that when input devices are put in public meeting rooms or spaces, they can often become misplaced or lost.
Therefore, the conventional systems and methods for enabling user interaction with projection surfaces and display panels are either too imprecise, expensive or lack requisite reliability. Thus, new and improved systems and methods are needed that would enable fine-grained user interaction with projector-camera and/or display-camera systems.

Systems and methods for enabling fine-grained user interactions for projector-camera or display-camera systems


This document describes tools useful in relaying a data stream from a data device to a network tunnel, such as by enabling virtual switching using a provisional identifier to conceal a user identifier. These tools, for example, may use an inexpensive switch module to create virtual switch instances. To do so, the tools may assign data packets to a virtual switch instance by mapping the data packets to a particular provisional identifier and then modifying the data packets to include the provisional identifier. The switch module may then forward the data packets based on the provisional identifier rather than on the user identifier. The tools may remove the provisional identifier before forwarding the data packets to a destination.

Service providers supply data service to customers within a particular geographical area, typically within a city or community. When a customer needs connectivity between two locations, and the service provider does not have its own connectivity between the two locations, the service provider may hand off the data stream to a transport provider, which transports data packets in a tunnel between service provider networks. Accordingly, service providers receive a data stream from a customer and modify the data stream so that it is suitable for transport through the tunnel.
Currently, many service providers provide this type of connectivity using devices and software that are expensive and difficult to configure, manage, and maintain. Some service providers, for example, are using conventional routers to map a data stream into a transport tunnel. Conventional routers are often expensive because they use custom silicon, large buffer spaces for storing data packets, and a complex, high-speed software module that manipulates those data packets.

Virtual switching using a provisional identifier to conceal a user identifier


Thin film magnetic heads each having non-parallel asymmetric rails are manufactured by, forming a multiplicity of thin film magnetic transducers on a substrate, for a matrix distribution of magnetic heads to be produced from the substrate; testing all the magnetic transducers and discriminating them into good ones and failed ones; assigning a rail pattern to each of the magnetic heads, which pattern utilizes a good magnetic transducer; severing the substrate into respective rows; polishing an air bearing surface on each row; forming a resist layer on the air bearing surface of each row; positioning the rows in an exposing apparatus; exposing the assigned rail pattern on the resist layer in each magnetic head region of each row.

a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head, and, more particularly, to a method of manufacturing an air flow type thin film magnetic head.
b) Description of the Related Art
A thin film magnetic head that performs recording and reproducing of information on and from a magnetic recording medium such as a hard disk includes thin film magnetic head transducers and a slider that mounts them. The slider has air bearing surfaces (ABS) that hold air flow in a space between the magnetic recording medium and ABS, and lift the slider from the medium. When the thin film magnetic head held by an arm is disposed on the surface of a rotating magnetic disk, an air flow sandwiched between the thin film magnetic head and the disk lifts the thin film magnetic head. This type of head is called a magnetic head of the air flow type.
FIG. 6A shows a configuration of a prior art magnetic head of the air flow type. A magnetic head 10 includes a slider 12 and a pair of magnetic head transducers 18 and 20. Each transducer is formed of laminated lagons. On the lower surface of the slider 12, two ABSs 14 and 16 are formed. A region between the two ABSs 14 and 16 is removed to form a groove 30.
FIG. 6B is a schematic perspective view showing a state of the magnetic head in practical use. The magnetic head 10 is disposed above the rotating magnetic disk 22. Dragged by the rotating disk 22, air 13 on the surface of the magnetic disk starts to flow underneath the magnetic head 10. Front portion 16a of the ABS 16 of the slider 12 is inclined and is disposed in tapered relation to the rear portion 16b. The air flow 13 strikes the ABS 16 and glides into a portion underneath the surface. Here, similar air flow is produced underneath the other ABS 14. Thus the slider 12 is subjected to a force in the upward direction shown in the figure and, thereby, lifted from the surface of the magnetic disk. The thin film magnetic transducer 20 performs recording on and reproducing from the magnetic disk from a distance with an amount of lifting H.
FIGS. 7A through 7E shows an example of a method of manufacturing a magnetic head according to a prior art technique, as described above.
As shown in FIG. 7A, a multiplicity of thin film magnetic head transducers 22 are formed on a wafer 21 of ceramic materials such as Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 --TiC. Techniques utilized for the formation are thin film forming technique for manufacturing semiconductor devices, photolithography, patterning technique, and so on.
As shown in FIG. 7B, a multiplicity of grooves are formed on the wafer 21 formed with the multiplicity of thin film magnetic transducers 22. The grooves are cut in orthogonal relation to each other. The grooves prevent chipping that may occur during severing of the wafer 21. Here, a pair of thin film magnetic transducers is disposed on each chip, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 7C, the wafer 21 is severed along the transverse grooves 25 shown in the figure. Each of the severed stripe-shaped pieces of the wafer 21 is called a row 26.
As shown in FIG. 7D, one of the severed surfaces of each row 26 is polished to form an air bearing surface 28. Here, as shown in the figure, the thin film magnetic transducers 22 are formed on a surface perpendicular to the ABS 28.
Then, unnecessary portions of the ABS 28 are removed to form the recessed portions 30. As shown in FIG. 8, rotating blade 32 can be used to remove unnecessary portions 27 and leave the rails 14 and 16. Remaining portions form rails 14 and 16 each of them provided with an air bearing surface. Then, each row 26 is severed along vertical groove 24 to form thin film magnetic heads, as shown in FIG. 7E.
Each of the magnetic heads 10 is necessarily formed with two rails. However, each of the magnetic heads 10 needs one transducer. So, it is not indispensable to form two transducers for each head as shown in the figure. However, in practical use, the magnetic heads 10 are disposed on both sides of the magnetic disk. Thus, it is preferable that each magnetic head have a structure of mirror symmetry.
Consider the case of forming symmetrical rails 14 and 16 on a magnetic head and providing ABS on each of their surfaces as shown in FIG. 7E. Each of the magnetic heads can be used in either side of the magnetic recording medium by forming the thin film magnetic transducers 22 on the back portions of both rails.
The amount of lifting of a magnetic head having parallel rails depends upon relative speed of the head to the rotating magnetic disk. Normally, the amount of lifting increases as the relative speed increases. Consequently, the amount of lifting of the magnetic head depends on the position of the magnetic head with respect to the radial direction of the magnetic disk that is rotating in a fixed rotating speed.
Recently, a demand for a constant amount of lifting of the magnetic head regardless of the relative speed between the magnetic head and the magnetic disk has risen.
FIG. 9 shows an example of a structure of a magnetic head having asymmetrical and non-parallel rails as means for satisfying such demand.
Asymmetrical and non-parallel rails 34 and 36 are formed on the lower surface of the magnetic head 38. Magnetic head transducers 18 and 20 are formed on the back portion of each rail.
It is difficult to form such asymmetrical and non-parallel rails 34 and 36 by machining, as shown in FIG. 8. Therefore, magnetic head having the asymmetrical and non-parallel rails have, so far, been formed by photo-lithography utilizing a mask pattern.
FIGS. 10A through 10F show an example of prior art technique for manufacturing such asymmetrical and non-parallel rails.
As shown in FIG. 10A, rows 26 are formed. Process of forming the rows is similar to the process as shown in FIGS. 7A through 7C. After forming the rows 26, one of the severed side surfaces is polished to form an ABS 28.
As shown in FIG. 10B, the ABS 28 is coated with photoresist material for forming a resist film 40. Here, coating of photoresist material may be substituted by laminating a dry film.
As shown in FIG. 10C, a plurality of rows 26 are arranged in parallel and the resist film 40 is subjected to exposure of mask pattern through a photo mask 42. A multiplicity of asymmetrical and non-parallel rail patterns are formed on the photo mask 42. The exposure employs, for example, g-line light beam from mercury lamp, and is conducted simultaneously on a multiplicity of slider patterns. This process requires a complex alignment before exposure, and used to take, for example, 10 minutes for one exposure.
As shown in FIG. 10D, resist film on each row 26 is developed. Resist mask pattern 40a is formed thereby.
As shown in FIG. 10E, the ABS 28 of each row 26 is etched by the ion beam through the mask pattern 40a which serves as an etching mask. The portions of the surface of the row 26 not masked are etched to form recessed portions.
Thereafter, the mask pattern 40a is removed and each slider chip is severed from the row 26. Thus, a magnetic head 38 having asymmetrical and non-parallel rails 34 and 36, as shown in FIG. 10F, is formed.
The use of a magnetic head thus formed is determined by the shapes of ABSs on the rails. Namely, denoting both sides of a magnetic disk with which the magnetic head is to be used as side A and side B, the use of the head on side A or side B is preliminarily determined according to the pattern of the rail.
In a magnetic head used on side A of the magnetic disk, the magnetic head fails when one of the magnetic transducers to be used as the side A transducer is not good. In this case, even when the other magnetic transducer to be used as the side B transducer is good, the head is still considered failed, since the pattern of the rails is predetermined to be used on side A.
In the case of parallel rail pattern, as shown in FIG. 6A, one of the magnetic transducers can substitute for the other magnetic transducer that is failed. In the case of asymmetrical and non-parallel rail patterns, it is impossible to substitute in the event of failure of one of the transducers because the design predetermines which side, i.e. outer or inner side, of transducers is used on the magnetic disk.

Manufacture of magnetic heads having asymmetric air bearing surfaces


The invention relates to a process for making a product of artificial rock and a product thus made for use, in particular, in aquariums, tanks, swimming pools and the like; the process comprises the following operating steps: carrying out a first deposition of a mixture of powdered aggregates, resin, additives, within a cast or mould; catalyzing the mixture of said first deposition; covering the surface thus obtained with isophtalic or bisphenolic polyester resin; carrying out a second deposition of powdered aggregates, resin, additives; covering the surface derived from the second deposition with a layer of structural component and with resin; polymerizing the intermediate product thus obtained covering the surface thus obtained with a layer of gel; polymerizing the product thus obtained; removing the product from the mould; subjecting the product to a heating treatment.

A product of this type can be used in aquarium-building trade and, in general, in the manufacturing of rocky decorations, and other non-rocky motifs of medium and large dimensions, for use in aquatic and/or public swimming environments wherein stringent requirements of non-toxicity are to be met also after decades of service life.
At present, in the production of artificial rocky environments, use is made use of cement. Such solution has drawbacks such as the need of coloring, possible alteration of water's pH, poor resistance of the color over the time because of the contact with the water and the effects of shocks and other external agents action.

Process for making a product of artificial rock


A display window for placement in registration with a display is disclosed. The display is viewable through the window. A first surface of the window is for exposure to a user, and a second surface of the window is for placement adjacent the display. The second surface is provided with a grating to distribute light from an associated source of illumination in the direction of the display. Also disclosed is a display assembly and a portable telephone.

This invention relates to an improved window for a display device, and associated display assembly. The invention has a range of possible uses in handheld or portable devices such as portable telephones, remote control units, laptop computers or personal audio equipment, as well as in larger fixed items such as microwave ovens and industrial machines.
Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) are well known display devices and are used for indicating status information in a wide range of everyday devices. Unlike some other display devices such as Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) or Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs), they do not inherently emit any light themselves.
LCD displays, therefore, are either only usable in situations where there is sufficient incident light falling upon them, or else where the device is equipped with suitable lighting facilities of its own.
One form of lighting is backlighting, which can only be used with certain types of LCDs. Backlighting, though, can be quite inefficient due to the number of layers making up the display through which the light has to pass. For instance, a typical LCD display comprises at least: two layers of glass, two layers of polarising film, two layers of electrodes and the actual liquid crystals themselves. The polarising films can account for a loss of more than 50% of the transmitted light. In total, a monochrome LCD may only transmit 10% of the light emitted from the backlight. The situation becomes even worse for colour LCDs which may transmit less than 5% of the light emitted from the backlight. A typical LCD 10 is shown at FIG. 1. The structure of the LCD is seen to consist of several layers. The outermost layer, and the side from which the display is viewed, is the polarising layer 15. Immediately beneath that is a layer of glass 20. Disposed on the surface of the glass layer 20 is electrode layer 25. Situated between the electrode layer 25 and a further electrode layer 35 is a layer of liquid crystal material 30. The liquid crystal material is retained in position between glass layers 20 and 40 by seal 50. The final layer is a further polariser 45.
The operation of LCDs will be well known to the skilled man, and so will not be described in any detail here.
There are three basic modes of operation for LCD displays: reflective mode, transmissive mode and transflective mode.
In reflective mode LCDs, the lower layer consisting of the polariser 45 is effectively mirrored. This means that any light entering from the front of the display 15 is reflected outwards again. Such displays tend to offer the best brightness and contrast. Backlighting of such displays is not possible due to the reflective layer, which will not transmit light.
In transmissive mode LCDs, the polariser layer 45 has no reflective properties. For that reason, for the LCD display to display any information at all, a permanent backlight must be provided. This, of course, can place a considerable drain on battery-powered equipment, and so is not suitable for devices such as portable telephones.
Transflective mode LCDs operate midway between reflective and transmissive displays. The polariser layer 45 is provided with a coating providing partial reflectivity, and partial transmissivity. In situations where there is sufficient ambient light, the display is visible by that light alone. However, when the ambient light level is low, backlighting can be used to enable the displayed information to be visible.
With the advent of colour LCDs, the lighting problem becomes more pronounced. The presence of additional coloured filters into the layers shown in FIG. 1 further reduce the light passed by the display.
With colour displays, it is particularly desirable to be able to maintain a good display brightness and contrast. This is best achieved using a reflective mode display. However, such displays, as explained above, are not usable with backlighting, limiting their application in certain products, where good ambient lighting may not always be available.
It is possible to provide additional front-lighting for such displays, but this introduces further problems, such as ensuring the display is not obscured by the light sources.
A prior art technique of front lighting includes the structure as shown in FIG. 2, which shows a cross section through a display assembly 100. Display assembly 100 has the following parts: a display window 130; a light guide, or grating 120; an LCD component 110; and a light source 140.
The LCD component 110 operates in reflective mode and is a complete unit which may be obtained from a number of suppliers such as Sharp, Philips or Seiko. The LCD has electrical connections for connection to a processor for controlling the information displayable thereon. The LCD 110 may be of the order of several millimetres thick
Disposed between the display window 130 and LCD 110 is a light guide or diffusion grating 120. This may be approximately 1 mm thick. The light guide 120 has the function of distributing the light from light source 140 and so illuminating the display from its front surface. Light Source 140 may be any convenient source such as an LED.
Disposed above the grating 120, and having its outer surface exposed to the user, the display window 130 is a substantially transparent plastics window, which may be approximately 1 mm thick. This may be treated on its exposed outer surface with a scratch resistant coating and/or an anti-reflective coating.
The purpose of the display window is to provide protection for the delicate structures of the grating 120 and LCD 110, while still allowing the LCD 110 to be visible through the window.
The display window 130, grating 120 and LCD 110 are separated from each other by a small distance, which may of the order of 0.1 to 0.5 mm by use of a gasket arranged between each layer and around the edge of each layer. The gasket may be made of a plastics or rubber material.
The separation between the various elements is to provide a degree of protection to them in case of the display assembly being knocked. The LCD 110 comprises glass, and is very delicate. The grating 110, having a very fine surface, can be easily damaged by any contact with other bodies. The display window is more rugged than the other components of the display and serves to protect them from inadvertent damage.
With many layers making up a display assembly, there is the possibility of internal reflections between the various layers causing display degradation. Such degradation may take the form of blurring of the image, and loss of contrast. In order to minimise the problem of internal reflections between the various layers, anti-reflective coatings may be added to some or all of the components of the assembly. The addition of such coatings adds to the cost of the display assembly.
The grating 120 is made from a plastics material, and has etched onto its surface an array of so-called microgrooves. The grooves may be formed by any conventional method. Suitable methods are acid etching, laser etching, moulding and machine-removal of excess material.
The function of the microgrooves is to distribute the light coming from a light source 140 disposed to one or more sides of the grating. The microgrooves distribute the light downwards through approximately 90° so that it illuminates the LCD situated below. The light source is positioned substantially level with the light guide 120 as shown in FIG. 2.
The operation of the microgrooves is shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b. FIG. 3a shows a plan view of the light source and the grating, and FIG. 3b shows a cross-sectional view of the grating 120, light source 140 and LCD 100. The light source 140 is arranged to shine across the width of the grating 120 from the side of the grating as shown. When light from the light source hits each microgroove 125, it is reflected downwards towards the LCD 110 through the body of the light guide 120. The dimensions of each component have been greatly exaggerated for clarity, and only the operation of 3 microgrooves is illustrated. The microgrooves are in fact only a few microns wide, and run generally parallel in one direction across substantially the entire length of the grating.
Depending on the size of the display and luminosity of the light source, among other factors, more than one light source may be provided. For instance, in a monochrome mobile telephone display measuring 4 cm by 3 cm, two light sources may be required.


A dispenser actuator assembly (100) for actuating a dispenser (10) is disclosed. The dispenser (10) is in the form of a glass ampoule assembly (10) having a rupturable glass ampoule (12) containing a flowable material (M). The glass ampoule (12) is contained within an outer container (14) wherein the outer container (14) has a first open end (22) and a second closed end (24). The glass ampoule assembly (10) has an applicator (16) positioned in the first open end (22). The dispenser actuator assembly (100) has a base member (102) configured to mount on the outer container (14). The dispenser actuator assembly (100) also has an actuator assembly (104) operably connected to the base member (102) wherein the actuator assembly (104) has a first actuator arm (132a) and a second actuator arm (132b) each pivotally connected to the base member (102). The first actuator arm (132a) and the second actuator arm (132b) extend from the base member (102) in generally opposed relation defining a first position, or neutral position. The first actuator arm (132a) has a first protrusion (150a) depending therefrom and the second actuator arm (132b) has a second protrusion (150b) depending therefrom. The first actuator arm (132a) and the second actuator arm (132b) are pivotable from the first position towards one another to a second position, or actuating position, that is configured such that the first protrusion (150a) engages the outer container (14) and the second protrusion (150b) engages the outer container (14) to crush the glass ampoule (12) wherein the flowable material (M) is configured to be dispensed from the glass ampoule assembly (10).

Dispensers such as glass ampoule assemblies are well known in the art and are often designed to be single-use disposable dispensers. A glass ampoule assembly typically includes a rupturable container such as a glass ampoule that contains a flowable material to be dispensed. The glass ampoule is contained in an outer container that may be made from a plastic material and having an open end and a closed end. The glass ampoule assembly may further include an applicator such as a swab that fits in the open end of the outer container. The applicator assists in dispensing the flowable material after the glass ampoule is ruptured, or crushed. The glass ampoule assembly may also include a cover member such as a cardboard sleeve that is used when initially storing and transporting the glass ampoule assembly wherein the applicator end of the glass ampoule assembly is inserted into the cardboard sleeve. An opposite end of the glass ampoule assembly may be inserted into the cardboard sleeve wherein the applicator extends out of the sleeve. A user may squeeze the cardboard sleeve via finger pressure to deflect the plastic outer container and crush the glass ampoule wherein the flowable material is dispensed from the applicator. Other glass ampoule assemblies may utilize a cap member that fits over the applicator rather than a cardboard sleeve.
Attempts have been made to design ampoule holders that assist in rupturing the ampoule. These designs, however, have been high in cost and cumbersome in design and operation. Furthermore, the glass ampoule is not crushed in an optimum location wherein dispensing of the flowable material becomes problematic because of obstruction from fractured pieces of the glass ampoule.
Additional problems have also been experienced with the glass ampoule assemblies. In some instances, users do not have sufficient finger strength to crush the glass ampoule. For example, users of advanced age oftentimes have arthritis and cannot crush the glass ampoule. In other instances, upon rupturing the glass ampoule, glass shards puncture through the outer container and injure the user. In still other instances, the glass ampoule is typically crushed at a central location of the glass ampoule. Rupturing the ampoule at the central location leaves a dome-shaped end portion of the glass ampoule intact. The dome-shaped end portion may end up positioned at the applicator wherein the flow of the flowable material is restricted from the dispenser. Furthermore, some actuator structures are integral with the overall dispenser assembly and do not provide an ability to be reused.
While glass ampoule assemblies and associated dispenser/ampoule holders/actuator assemblies according to the prior art provide a number of advantageous features, they nevertheless have certain limitations. The present invention seeks to overcome certain of these limitations and other drawbacks of the prior art, and to provide new features and new uses not heretofore available. A full discussion of the features and advantages of the present invention is deferred to the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.


A method, an apparatus, a device, and a storage medium for processing a data location of a storage device. The method includes: when a device is restarted, writing a first location information set of historical data stored in the storage device into a memory, where the historical data and location information corresponding to the historical data are stored in the storage device correspondingly; if there is update data in the storage device, writing location information of the update data stored corresponding to the update data in the storage device into the memory; and generating, according to the first location information set and the location information of the update data, a second location information set in the memory, and storing the second location information into the storage device.

Space management is an important content of a storage system. In conventional space management method, a storage area in the storage system is specially divided so as to store space allocation information. A change of a spatial mapping relationship will change the space allocation information in this block area.
The existing space management method introduces random writes, which additionally increases the IO of the storage system, resulting in a degraded overall throughput of the storage system, and having an impact on the processing performance of the storage system.
Therefore, how to effectively manage a storage space becomes a technical problem that needs to be urgently solved.

Method, apparatus, device and storage medium for processing data location of storage device


A varistor provided with a degradation alarm function includes a first resistance element, an indicating element coupled in series with the first resistance element, a first thermal fuse coupled in parallel with a pair of the first resistance element and the indicating element, a varistor element coupled in parallel with the first thermal fuse, and a second resistance element disposed in an interconnect line between the first thermal fuse and the varistor element. A fusing temperature of the first thermal fuse is set such that the fuse is blown out at temperatures not lower than a temperature increased by heating when a current larger by a certain value than the maximum current rating of the varistor element passes through the fuse. The second resistance element is larger in resistance than the first resistance element.

Conventionally, varistors have been used to protect switchboards against surges created by lightning. When a surge current flows in, the varistor can release the current to protect a switchboard against the surge. However, the inflow of an excessive surge current will cause to the varistor to go into a short mode, resulting in possible danger of ignition. On that account, a thermal fuse is connected in series to the varistor so as to cut off the varistor, thereby preventing the ignition. Moreover, when the varistor is cut off, an indication is also made to indicate that the varistor has been cut off.
Note that Patent Literature 1, for example, is known as information on the conventional technology related to the invention of the present application.

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A method for forming a window in a subsurface well conduit using a coiled tubing unit together with standard rotary rig tools adopted for use with a coiled tubing unit, and a whipstock with no wear projection on the guide surface thereof, and controlling the angular relationship between the tools and the whipstock while forming the window.

In subterranean well operations, it is necessary from time to time to remove a section of subsurface well conduit such as a tubing string or a well casing. Accordingly, several types of tubing and/or casing cutting and milling tools and procedures have been developed for use with conventional rotary drilling rigs. The cost and time consumed in using a conventional rotary drilling rig is considerable and there has been a trend towards the use of coiled tubing units for various well operations heretofore conducted with conventional drilling rigs.
Coiled tubing units are known in the art, but not widely used in the field yet. Coiled tubing units are nevertheless available on a commercial basis. Inventions such as that disclosed herein will render coiled tubing units more readily useful in the field by reducing both the cost and time expenditure, as compared to a conventional drilling rig, for a given operation.
Heretofore, tools and procedures have been developed for use with conventional drilling rigs for removing a section of a well conduit, whether it is tubing or casing, but these tools and procedures cannot be transferred unchanged to a coiled tubing unit and employed successfully in the same manner as employed in the conventional drilling rig. The use of conventional drilling rig tools and procedures in a coiled tubing context has several shortcomings. For example, control over the axial downward pressure on the tool or tools employed downhole is difficult to maintain because of the flexibility of the coiled tubing string. Accordingly, the cutting or milling tool may wear prematurely or unduly cut into other downhole tools such as whipstocks. The tools may also deflect the tubing being cut resulting in failure of the tools themselves and/or jamming of the tools in the tubing thereby causing an expensive fishing job or even abandonment of the well.
Further, conventional drilling rig cutting and milling tools are not adapted to be inserted into a casing string through a smaller diameter tubing string contained in that casing string. These types of tools require removal of the tubing string in its entirety from the casing and wellbore before the cutting and milling tools can be inserted into the casing and operated to form a window in that casing.
Also, conventional drilling rig cutting and milling tools are difficult to operate on a tubing string since, in many instances, the tubing string may be forced off center with respect to the longitudinal axis of the larger diameter casing string in which the tubing string to be cut and milled is located.
Finally, conventional rotary drilling rigs often put a very large amount of weight on the conduit cutting and milling tools in order to make up for the relatively slow rotational speed for a rotary rig, but this weight has a disadvantage of sometimes rotating and therefore disorienting the whipstock with the result that the window is not formed at the desired location in the well conduit. With a coiled tubing unit, the cutting and milling tools can be routinely rotated at much higher speeds than with a conventional rotary rig thereby eliminating the need for putting large amounts of weight on those tools in operation as is normally done with a conventional rotary rig.

Method for forming a window in a subsurface well conduit


Cell site congestion may result in dropped calls, time-outs on data sessions, web access problems, or the like. A network congestion status may be used to minimize network congestion. In an example embodiment, messages which are distributed via a network may be formatted based on the network's congestions status and a device's connection mechanism. Further, a network access may be based on the network's congestion status and on a device's connection mechanism.

When a wireless device is connected to a network, the device may be subject to constraints of the network. A packet-based mobile cellular network environment may be subject to physical limitations. Such physical limitations may be based on, for example, the available spectrum and the associated technology that is used on a cell site. Cell site congestion may occur when desired usage exceeds the physical limitations of the cell site. Cell site congestion may result in dropped calls, time-outs on data sessions, web access problems, or the like.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Network congestion prevention and/or mitigation