A shock-absorber structure is mounted in a scanning apparatus including a housing comprised of an upper case and a lower case, and a window transparent board clamped into the lower case. The shock-absorber structure is placed within a slot of the lower case where is clamped a side portion of the window transparent board, and comprises a plurality of resilient elements. The resilient elements are oppositely placed in abutment manner between an inner surface of the slot and the side portion of the window transparent board. The resilient elements respectively have different length so that a multi-stage shock absorption is achieved when the window transparent board successively presses on the resilient elements of different lengths. Collision damages are of the window transparent board thereby prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a shock-absorber structure for scanning apparatus and, more particularly, to a shock-absorber structure that prevents shock damages of the window transparent board of the scanning apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A flat-platform type scanning apparatus usually includes a scanning module that is movably mounted below a transparent window of the scanning apparatus. The scanning module slides and scans a document placed against the transparent window glass via the driving of a motor connected to a transmission assembly of gears and transmission belts.
The transparent window of the scanning apparatus is conventionally comprised of a transparent glass board that is directly adhered to an upper case of the housing of the scanning apparatus. The upper case in turn is mounted to a lower case to form the complete housing. With the above assembly of the transparent glass board, the adhesion strength must be particularly considered in order to prevent a damageable detachment of the transparent glass board.
Another assembly method known in the prior art is to clamp the transparent glass board via insertion into a slot of the lower case. The transparent glass board thereby serves as a principal support of the structure while the upper case serves as an auxiliary reinforcement member. An advantage of this type of assembly is its readiness. Moreover, the transparent glass board is not easily detached and consequently damaged. However, a disadvantage is that when the scanning apparatus is subjected to a shock, the transparent glass board may collide with an inner sidewall of the slot, causing the corresponding side portion of the transparent glass board to be damaged.

Shock-absorber structure for scanning apparatus


The improvement of administration of a therapeutic agent to a targeted region of a patient's brain is herein described. A magnetic material, preferably soluble iron, is administered to the patient. A magnetic field, for example via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), is applied to the targeted region of the patient's brain. The magnetic field is used to agitate magnetic material localized to the targeted region of the brain, temporarily forming openings in the blood-brain barrier (BBB), increasing local perfusion, or both at the targeted region. A therapeutic agent is administered to the patient and is delivered to the targeted region of the patient's brain through openings in the BBB, local perfusion, or both.

The background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
In some cases, the most desirable way to treat an ailment is to treat the source. However, for treatment of ailments in or relating to regions of the brain, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) often hinders treatment by preventing diffusion of therapeutic agents into the brain. While it is known to mechanically bypass the BBB, for example through use of a needle to inject therapeutic agents directly into the brain, such methods are undesirable due to damage caused by such invasive methods.
Non-invasive methods have been developed to apply targeted therapies to various regions of the brain. For example, it is known to perform transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of targeted regions of the brain by applying a magnetic field to the targeted region to cause electric current to flow in the targeted region of the brain via electromagnetic induction. While such treatments have proven effective at non-invasively treating depression, it is still desired to bring therapeutic agents in contact with targeted regions of the brain for treatment.
Methods of delivering therapeutic agents to regions of the brain have been developed. For example, "Targeted Delivery of Neural Stem Cells to the Brain Using MM-Guided Focused Ultrasound to Disrupt the Blood-Brain Barrier," PLoS ONE 6(11): e27877. doi:10.1371, by Burgess, et al. reports using Mill guided focused ultrasound with microbubbles to temporarily open targeted regions of the BBB to allow entry of neural stem cells in animal models. But it is also known that applying ultrasound and microbubbles to open the BBB can cause damage to the BBB and surrounding tissue, which can be permanent. See "Cellular Mechanisms Of The Blood-Brain Barrier Opening Induced By Ultrasound In Presence Of Microbubbles," Ultrasound in Med. & Biol., Vol. 30, No. 7, pp. 979-989, 2004 by Sheikov, et al; "Noninvasive Localized Delivery Of Herceptin To The Mouse Brain By Mri-Guided Focused Ultrasound-Induced Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption," PNAS, Vol. 103, No. 31, 11719-23 by Kinoshita, et al. Methods, systems, and devices are still needed to deliver therapeutic agents across the BBB without causing damage to the BBB and surrounding material, for example to safely and temporarily open the BBB or increase perfusion.
All publications identified herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
Thus, there remains a need for systems and methods for delivering therapeutic agents to the brain in humans.

Systems and methods for delivering therapeutic agents to the brain using TMS


An advantage of the present invention is to provide an adapter power supply which varies a link voltage of DC power serving an input power of a DC/DC converter according to variation of a load current estimated by measuring a secondary current using a lossless current measurement technique at a primary terminal of a transformer of the DC/DC converter and thus presuming a load current of an output power.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adapter power supply; and more particularly, to an adapter power supply estimating the load current of output power through the primary current of a transformer and varying the link voltage of DC power serving as an input power of a DC/DC converter according to variation of the estimated load current.
2. Description of the Related Art
An adapter power supply is widely used in electronic apparatuses such as a notebook PC, a display monitor, a cellular phone, and the like.
Generally, such an adapter power supply has a double-stage type structure consisting of an AC/DC converter taking exclusive charge of a power factor and harmonic restriction and a DC/DC converter capable of desired output voltage.
Unlike a characteristic of a general power supply in which an output voltage decreases as an output current increases, the adapter power supply is required to have a load characteristic in which the output voltage increases as the output current serving as the load current. For this, recently, there has been proposed a method of operating an LLC resonant converter in the vicinity of a resonant frequency at all times by varying an link voltage of a DC power serving as an input power of a DC/DC converter according to a load current by using a boost converter as an AC/DC converter and the LLC resonant converter as the DC/DC converter.
However, in the above-described method, since the load current was detected by inserting a resistor between a secondary output terminal of the transformer of the DC/DC converter and a load, power was lost due to a current measurement resistance. A link voltage variation signal generated from the current measurement resistance has to compensate for an error signal inputted into a gain/integral controller positioned a secondary terminal of the DC/DC converter and should control the link voltage by transmitting a signal even to a controller of the AC/DC converter, an additional Opto Coupler in addition to an Opto coupler for controlling an output voltage of the DC/DC converter have to be used. Such an added Opto coupler and an additional circuit for actuating the same an the like increase the volume of the adapter power supply, thereby making it difficult to manufacture a high-density adapter power supply.

Abstract: An adapter power supply according to present invention may include an AC/DC converter converting a commercial AC power into a DC power; a DC/DC converter including a transformer composed of a primary terminal and a secondary terminal in order to output an output power by converting a link voltage of the DC power; and a controller presuming a load current of the output power through a primary current of the transformer and varying the link voltage of the DC power according to variation of the estimated load current.


A vehicle includes an armrest and a hinge assembly. The hinge assembly supports the armrest and is rotatable between extended and collapsed positions. The hinge assembly includes a pin configured to move between locked and released positions. When the pin is in the locked position, the hinge assembly is locked in the extended position. When the pin is in the released position, the pin is configured to permit rotation of the hinge assembly toward the collapsed position.

During vehicle impact, maintaining interior cabin space may be desirable. To maintain vehicle interior cabin space, it is known to construct a moveable armrest. Upon impact, the moveable armrest may yield or deform. Typically once deformed the door panel and armrest cannot be reset. Thus, a false-positive actuation of the moveable armrest is less than ideal: the entire door assembly may have to be replaced.


There is described a novel tool and method for the isolation and pressure-testing of connections, such as welds, between a vessel and a nozzle or branch pipe. The nozzle testing tool comprises an improved seal that expands into sealing contact as testing pressure is increased. The tool can also be easily adjusted in order to accommodate variations in nozzle configuration.

In industrial applications such as oil or gas refineries, offshore drilling and production platforms, pulp and paper plants, power utilities, oil and gas wells, marine facilities, or any other industry or plant involving vessels, the integrity of vessel nozzle welds or fittings often needs to be tested. In the oil and gas industry, for example, tight environmental and operating regulations exist on emissions from a weld or joint. Furthermore, as there are thousands of welds in each plant, it is in the industry's best interests to minimize the amount of fluid lost from each weld. Testing tools are therefore required to test the integrity and permeability of nozzle welds. Nozzle fittings must also be tested after welding to test and confirm structural strength.
Conventionally, pressure testing of a vessel nozzle is accomplished by pressurizing the entire vessel. Such testing is time consuming, expensive, and can create potential hazards. In addition, welding operations utilized to join nozzles or branch connections to existing vessels may be performed in the presence of combustible or otherwise harmful materials or vapors which are present within the vessel.
These problems are well known, and tools for solving these problems exist in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,634 to Berneski et al. discloses a tool and method for isolating and testing a connection, such as a welded connection, which interconnects the wall of a tank, vessel, or pipe to a branch pipe or nozzle. This tool uses an inner subassembly and an outer assembly to form a fluid-tight chamber around a nozzle connection to a vessel. The inner subassembly extends around the internal end of the nozzle connection and forms a fluid-tight seal with the inner surface of the vessel. The outer subassembly forms a fluid-tight seal with an external flange of the nozzle. When the tool is installed and tightened, a resilient face seal of the inner subassembly is compressed into engagement with the inner surface of the vessel. The nozzle connection is completely enclosed within the subassembly and is thus isolated from the remainder of the vessel.
The problem with the tool of the '634 patent to Berneski is that the resilient seal does not easily conform to surface irregularities on the inner surface of the vessel. Further, elastic stretching of the tool during pressure testing may move the inner subassembly slightly away from the vessel wall, breaking the seal and defeating the test. These deficiencies may be offset by using "torquing" methods to set the seal in place. However, this results in the introduction of concentrated stresses in the vessel wall in contact with the narrow seal. This may create a future weak spot.
Besides sealing deficiencies, the '634 patent to Berneski also fails to teach a tool that can adapt to variations in nozzle configuration. For example, the tool cannot adapt to angular variations between the external flange of the nozzle and the inner surface of the vessel. This lack of adaptability means that other tools must be used, increasing the costs of maintaining and testing nozzles.


A desoldering wick is made from an elongated strip of woven wire mesh slit from a sheet of woven fabric. The wire mesh is folded longitudinally for forming a ribbon having a width less than the width of the strip and having multiple thicknesses of wire mesh with a plurality of spaces between adjacent layers of mesh. The surface of the wire mesh is wettable by molten solder and may be coated with a solder flux for enhancing wetting. A variety of embodiments have folded woven fabric to make three or more thicknesses of wire mesh and are folded so that both slit edges of the strip are inside of the ribbon. Large area desoldering wicks are in the form a pad with a flat face and at least one edge folded approximately normal to the flat face. A ribbon desoldering wick is mounted in an insulating tube for faciltating holding the wick.

This invention relates to an improved wick for absorbing molten solder.
It is fairly common in the electronics industry to remove solder from a printed circuit board. This may be needed, for example, when a component has been removed and is to be replaced by a different component. The old solder may be removed to assure a reliable joint. For many years now solder has been removed by placing a copper braid on the solder and touching it with a hot soldering iron. Typically, the braid has a thin coating of flux and when the solder melts, it is drawn into the braid by capillary action.
Braid for desoldering is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,627,191, 3,726,464 and 3,715,797. In each of these, fine wires of copper or the like are braided together in the form of a tube. The tube is flattened to make a braided ribbon. In a braided ribbon, the wires all extend in the longitudinal direction along the tube. The individual wires are in rather close engagement, yielding a ribbon with a limited volume between wires within which solder may be drawn.
Technicians using the braid may therefore press on the end of the braid to cause it to buckle and open up additional void space. This, however, causes the ribbon to become wider, which may be undesirable in close spaces. An exemplary ribbon is only two or three millimeters wide, although wider ribbons may be used in some applications.
The tightness of the braid was recognized in U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,408 (Reissue No. 32,086) by Spirig, who illustrates an exemplary braided wire in FIG. 1. When the braid is buckled, as mentioned above, it does not form a fan as illustrated in the patent, but instead remains braided and simply becomes wider and more open. Spirig proposes knitting a desoldering wick with a strand of copper in a continuous helically-forming knitting machine to form a tubular open mesh structure which is subsequently flattened. Spirig states that although the illustrated wick is formed by knitting, "it might instead be formed by crocheting or alternatively an open mesh structure might be formed by weaving or indeed by braiding, providing the adjacent strands will not be contiguous and will instead provide open spaces for absorbing the molten solder". How adjacent strands can be non-contiguous is not explained.
Despite these teachings from more than a decade ago, a satisfactory desoldering wick has not been made by any technique except braiding. The reason for this is not known, but it may be a matter of economics, or it may not be feasible to make a satisfactory wick by knitting. A knit wick may be too open to soak up an adequate amount of solder.
It is desirable, therefore, to produce a desoldering wick which can be made economically and reliably, which can absorb more solder than conventional braid, and which can absorb solder more quickly.


A computing device is provided, comprising a processor configured to execute a physics engine. The physics engine is configured to, during narrowphase collision detection of a collision detection phase, identify a set of convex polyhedron pairs, each including a first convex polyhedron from a first rigid body and a second convex polyhedron from a second rigid body. The physics engine is further configured to, for each convex polyhedron pair, determine a separating plane. The physics engine is further configured to perform neighbor welding on pair combinations of the convex polyhedron pairs during the narrowphase collision detection to thereby modify the separating planes of at least a subset of the convex polyhedron pairs. The physics engine is further configured to determine collision manifolds for the convex polyhedron pairs, including for the subset of convex polyhedron pairs having the modified separating planes.

Many computer applications such as video games utilize physics engines to simulate real-time movement of rigid objects within a simulated physical environment. A common function of these physics engines is to determine if the rigid objects, each made out of one or more convex polyhedrons, collide within the next simulation step. Upon determining that rigid objects have collided, the physics engine may alter the movement of at least one of the rigid objects, thereby providing a realistic simulation. In order to determine that a collision will occur, the physics engine may predict whether an area on a moving object comes into contact with a plane defined by a face, edge, or vertex of a static object, for example. However, this technique presents several challenges. For example, the physics engine may incorrectly assign an area on the moving object or incorrectly select a plane defined by the face, edge, or vertex of the static object. In these cases, collisions may be predicted when none should occur (so-called ghost collisions) or, real collisions may go undetected resulting in unrealistic and/or inconsistent simulation outcomes and an undesirable user experience.

Physics engine with collision detection neighbor welding


A sample clock generator includes a first optical path and a second optical path through which input lights are guided, an optical phase shifter to shift a phase of the input light guided through the first optical path, an interference-light generating unit to combine a phase-shifted input light and the input light guided through the second optical path to thereby generate an interference light for sample clock, a splitting unit to split the interference light for sample clock into two split lights having different phases, one light receiving unit to at least receive one split light from among the two split lights having different phases, the other light receiving unit to at least receive the other split light, a signal generating unit to generate a sample clock signal based on signals outputted from the one light receiving unit and the other light receiving unit.

The present invention relates to a sample clock generator for an optical tomographic imaging apparatus suitably applied in an optical coherence tomography using an optical frequency-swept laser, and an optical tomographic imaging apparatus.
An optical coherence tomography (hereinafter referred to as "OCT") is designed to measure a tomographic image of a living body using optical interferometry. Particularly, the OCT is widely used to acquire a two- or three-dimensional tomographic image of a cornea, a retina, and so on in ophthalmology. Several basic systems exist for such an OCT, and a technique called swept-source OCT, hereinafter referred to as "SS-OCT", is receiving attention above all.
In the SS-OCT, a light in which an optical frequency has been swept at high speed is emitted from a light source, and the light is radiated on an object to be measured, such as an eyeball. A scattered light from the object to be measured is detected by means of an interferometer. A detected raw signal (interference signal) is an interference spectrum, and by Fourier-analyzing the interference signal, a scattered light intensity distribution can be obtained that is resolved in a depth direction of the object to be measured. Such scattered light intensity distribution resolved in the depth direction of the object to be measured is generally called an A-scan OCT signal. Further, by laterally scanning a beam radiated on the object to be measured, a two-dimensional scattered light intensity distribution or a three-dimensional scattered light intensity distribution can be obtained.
Generally, in the SS-OCT, sampling of the interference signal is performed at high speed. It is preferred that such sampling is performed at equal optical frequency intervals. For example, it is known that, if the sampling is not performed at equal optical frequency intervals (at even frequency intervals with respect to the optical frequency), a distortion is generated in the A-scan OCT signal to thereby deteriorate the resolution significantly.
As a method for performing a sampling at equal optical frequency intervals, a method in which an optically-generated sample clock is used is known. In this method, aside from the interferometer used in the OCT, a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is structured, for example (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-181790 and Published Japanese Patent No. 5269809, for example). An output of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer is a sine wave at equal intervals with respect to the frequency of an input light. Therefore, the output of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer (an interference signal for clock) can be used as the above-described sample clock. Such a sample clock is often called a k-clock.

Sample clock generator for optical tomographic imaging apparatus, and optical tomographic imaging apparatus


An audio data input unit of an encoding device splits an audio data string into contiguous samples of audio data, and a transforming unit transforms the split audio data into spectral data in a frequency domain. A data dividing unit divides the spectral data into a lower frequency band and a higher frequency band at 11.025 kHz (f1) as a boundary. The spectral data in the lower frequency band is quantized and encoded by a first quantizing unit and an encoding unit. A second quantizing unit generates sub information indicating a characteristic of the spectral data in the higher frequency band, and a second encoding unit encodes the sub information. A stream output unit integrates the codes obtained by the first and second encoding units and outputs the integrated one. Here, f1 is a half or less of a sampling frequency f2 at which the audio data string is created.

In recent years, a variety of audio signal compression/encoding and expansion/decoding methods have been developed. MPEG-2 Advanced Audio Coding (hereinafter referred to as "MPEG-2 AAC" or "AAC") is one of such methods. (See "IS 13818-7 (MPEG-2 Advanced Audio Coding, AAC)" written by M. Bosi, et al., April, 1997.)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional structure of an encoding device and a decoding device according to the conventional AAC method.
The encoding device 1000 is a device that compresses and encodes an input audio signal based on AAC encoding method, and includes an A/D converter 1050, an audio data input unit 1100, a transforming unit 1200, a quantizing unit 1400, an encoding unit 1500 and a stream output unit 1900.
The A/D converter 1050 samples an input signal at a sampling frequency of 22.05 kHz, for instance, and converts the analog audio signal into a digital audio data string. Every time the audio input unit 1100 reads 1,024 samples of the audio data string of the input signal (these 1,024 samples are called a "frame" hereinafter), it splits the audio data string into 2,048 samples of data with two sets of a half of the samples for the frame (512) obtained before and after the frame being overlapped.
The transforming unit 1200 performs Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (MDCT) on the data of 2,048 samples in the time domain split by the audio data input unit 1100 into spectral data in the frequency domain. The 1,024 samples of spectral data, a half of the spectral data obtained by the transformation, represent the reproduction bandwidth of 11.025 kHz or less, and are divided into a plurality of groups. Each of the groups is set so as to include one or more samples of spectral data. Also, each of the groups simulates a critical band of human hearing, and is called a "scale factor band".
The quantizing unit 1400 quantizes the spectral data in the scale factor band produced from the transforming unit 1200 into a predetermined number of bits using one normalizing factor for every scale factor band. This normalizing factor is called a "scale factor". Also, the result of quantizing each spectral data with each scale factor is called a "quantized value". The encoding unit 1500 encodes the data quantized by the quantizing unit 1400, that is, each scale factor, and the spectral data quantized using the scale factor, in accordance with Huffman coding.
The stream output unit 1900 transforms the encoding signal produced from the encoding unit 1500 into an AAC bit stream format and outputs it. The bit stream outputted from the encoding device 1000 is transmitted to the encoding device 2000 via a transmission medium or a recording medium.
The encoding device 2000 is a device that decodes the bit stream encoded by the encoding device 1000, and includes a stream input unit 2100, a decoding unit 2200, a dequantizing unit 2300, an inverse-transforming unit 2800, an audio data output unit 2900 and a D/A converter 2950.
The stream input unit 2100 receives the bit stream encoded by the encoding device 1000 via a transmission medium or via a recording medium, and reads out the encoded signal from the received bit stream. The decoding unit 2200 then decodes the Huffman-coded signal to produce quantized data.
The dequantizing unit 2300 dequantizes the quantized data decoded by the decoding unit 2200 using a scale factor. The inverse-transforming unit 2800 performs Inverse Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (IMDCT) on the 1,024 samples of spectral data in the frequency domain produced by the dequantizing unit 2300 into the audio data of 1,024 samples in the time domain. The audio data output unit 2900 combines the audio data of 1,024 samples in the time domain produced by the inverse-transforming unit 2800 in sequence, and outputs the sets of audio data of 1,024 samples in the temporal order one by one. The D/A converter 2950 converts the digital audio data into the analog audio signal at a sampling frequency of 22.05 kHz.
In the above-mentioned encoding device 1000 and the decoding device 2000 according to the conventional AAC standard, each sample data can be compressed to 1 bit or less. In addition, since the spectral data of 1,024 samples in the lower frequency band which represents a reproduction bandwidth of 11.025 kHz or less, a half of the sampling frequency, with higher priority for hearing, are encoded, the audio signal can be reproduced in relatively high quality.
However, in the encoding device 1000 and decoding device 2000 according to the conventional AAC method (Related Art 1), the spectral data to be encoded include no data of the bandwidth over 11.025 kHz because the sampling frequency is 22.05 kHz. Therefore, there is a problem that the request for hearing higher quality sound including the bandwidth over 11.025 kHz cannot be satisfied.
In order to solve this problem, it is considered to raise the sampling frequency applied to the A/D converter 1050 of the encoding device 1000 and the D/A converter 2950 of the decoding device 2000 in FIG. 1 to the double of 22.05, that is, 44.1 kHz (Related Art 2).
However, if the sampling frequency is 44.1 kHz, the spectral data of 512 samples in the higher frequency band over 11.025 kHz can be encoded while keeping a compression ratio, but the spectral data in the lower frequency band with higher priority for hearing is reduced in half, that is, 512 samples. In other words, the sampling frequency and the number of spectral data in the lower frequency is in a trade-off relationship, and both of them cannot be raised at the same time. Therefore, there occurs another problem that the sound quality is deteriorated as a whole.
This kind of problem occurs in the encoding device and the decoding device according to other methods (MP3, AC3, etc., for instance).
The present invention is designed to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the object of the present invention is to provide an encoding device and a decoding device that can realize reproduction of high-quality sound without substantially increasing data amount after encoding.

Encoding device, decoding device and audio data distribution system

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Methods and devices for generating stable, tunable and intense output light pulses are provided. A primary beam of light pulses is used to form a filament in an interaction zone. A secondary bean of light pulses is superposed with the filament and interacts therewith to generate the output light pulses. The parameters of the primary and secondary beams in the interaction zone can be controlled to obtain targeted optical characteristics of the output pulses. Multiple secondary beams may also be used.

Several approaches are known in the art to generate tunable few-cycle fight pulses.
A first such method involves the four-waves mixing during the propagation of ultrashort laser pulse inside a gas-filled hollow capillary. Referred can for example be made to Canadian patent application no. 2,384,325 (KARASAWA et al.) on this subject. As shown in FIG. 1 of KARASAWA, for gas-filled hollow capillary, the optimization of the phase-matching for a given wavelength is achieved by adjusting the gas pressure inside the capillary with a gas chamber. This phase-matched gas pressure is critical for the energy conversion efficiency of the generated pulse: a small shift of the gas pressure results in severe decrease of the conversion efficiency.
With reference to U.S. Pat. No. 6,813,429 (PRICE et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,870,663 (KATO et al), it is also known to generate tunable light pulses through the soliton-self-frequency shifting effect in a microstructured fiber. For this technique (see FIG. 1 of PRICE), the ultrashort optical pulse propagating in the microstructured fiber experiences temporal reshaping and frequency down-shifting due to non-instantaneous and nonlinear response of the fiber's glass. In this soliton self-frequency shift process, the wavelength of the generated pulse depends on the fiber length. Moreover, the energy conversion efficiency of the generated self-frequency soliton is low because of the low coupling efficiency of the pumps and the high propagation loss due to the small fiber's core.
The energy scales of the techniques mentioned above are limited to a few hundred of nanojoules per generated pulse. Gas-filled hollow capillary and micro-structured fiber have serious inherent limiting factors: Energy scalability is limited; beam pointing fluctuations of the incoming beam directly translate into unwanted energy and pulse parameter fluctuations of the outgoing pulses and the performance critically depends on the quality of the fiber and capillary.
It is also known in the art to use a selectively tunable optical parametric generator to generate tunable light pulses, as for example shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,629 (BASU) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,752 (POWERS et al). For optical parametric generator, such as an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) or an optical parametric amplifier (OPA), turnability is limited to a down-frequency shift of the laser pump through second order optical parametric effect in a nonlinear crystal. The group velocity mismatch between the pump and the generated pulses is significant and the spectral bandwidth of the generated pulse limits the crystal thickness to less than 1 mm thick for the generation of sub-100 fs laser pulse (see V. Petrov, F. Noack: Opt. Lett. 21, 1576 (1996)). Using a thinner nonlinear crystal for the parametric amplification results in a lower conversion efficiency. The energy of the generated pulse can reach the order of microjoule per pulse, but at the cost of complex multi-pass optical parametric amplifier setup. This is for example the case in E. {hacek over (Z)}eromskis, A. Dubietis, G. Tamo{hacek over (s)}auskas, A. Piskarskas: Opt. Comm. 203, 435 (2002). In the first stage, tunable pulses are parametrically amplified in a nonlinear crystal from a generated white-light continuum seed. The white-light continuum seed was produced by a small portion of the pump pulse that was focused in a thin glass plate to generate white-light continuum by self-phase modulation. In the second and third stages, a pump beam for each amplification stage was produced by means of a 50% beam splitter. The pump beams were directed to the nonlinear crystal and the generated pulse was amplified in the nonlinear crystal if the temporal and spatial superposition of the pump beams with the white-light continuum seed was achieved by using the delay matching lines. There is therefore a need for an improved versatile approach to generating light pulses having desired optical characteristics.

Method and devices for generating stable and tunable light pulses


A front body member which transfers collision energy to a front side member, or allows collision energy to be absorbed by the front side member at a time of a vehicle collision, may include an upper portion and a lower portion with respect to a height direction of the vehicle body, in which the upper portion and the lower portion of the front body member further include an upper flange and a lower flange, respectively, which are formed along perimeters of the upper portion and the lower portion to be in surface-to-surface contact with each other, and an empty space is formed in each of the upper portion and the lower portion of the front body member for a target internal space to be formed in the front body member when the upper flange and the lower flange are in surface-to-surface contact with each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a front body member for a vehicle, and more particularly, to an integrated front body member having a minimum number of parts.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a front body member for a vehicle body is installed on a front portion of a front side member, which forms a frame of a front side of the vehicle body in a length direction of the vehicle body, in order to serve to transfer collision energy to the front side member, or allow collision energy to be absorbed by the front side member at the time of a small overlap collision.
Here, the small overlap is a term associated with a collision test, and a small overlap test is performed by a collision test department in order to recognize degrees of damage to a vehicle and injuries to persons in case a part of a front portion of a driver seat of the vehicle, that is, a left portion or a right portion at a front side of the vehicle collides with an obstacle.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance in which a front body member in the related art is mounted on a front portion of a front side member, and loads and moments that are applied to spot welds, respectively, at the time of a collision.
Referring to FIG. 1, it can be seen that by mounting the front body member 1, overlapped faces of an obstacle and a vehicle body are increased as much as a width of a front portion of the front body member 1 at the time of a small overlap collision in the arrow directions.
If the front body member 1 is not mounted, the overlapped faces of the obstacle and the vehicle body are limited to a width of a front end face of the front side member 2 at the time of a small overlap collision.
Therefore, by mounting the front body member 1, the overlapped face of the frame of the vehicle body, which may support a collision, is increased, and an ability to absorb collision energy of the vehicle body is improved because collision energy is effectively transferred to the front side member 2.
By the aforementioned configuration, a degree of damage to the vehicle or injury to a driver is decreased.
However, in case a predetermined amount or more of collision energy is generated, or there is a bad spot weld among the spot welds (black spots illustrated in FIG. 1) for engaging the front body member 1 and the front side member 2, the front body member 1 in the related art has a problem of the front body member 1 being destroyed or separated even before collision energy is transferred to the front side member 2.
The first reason of the aforementioned problem is that engaging directions of the spot welds for engaging the front side member 2 is a width direction of the vehicle body which causes the front body member 1 to be easily separated by the occurrence of a moment, and the second reason of the aforementioned problem is that because a plurality of parts is provided, once a single part becomes separated first, other parts may also be separated and moved away at one time.
The reason why the moment is generated is that collision energy, which is applied to the front body member 1 at the time of a small overlap collision, is spaced apart from the spot welds in a width direction of the vehicle body, and as a result, a peel load, which peels a welded flange, that is, a normal tension load is generated.
As can be seen from FIG. 1, since the collision energy is applied while being spaced apart from the spot welds in the width direction of the vehicle body, normal tension stress due to moment and shear stress due to a load in a collision direction are simultaneously applied to each of the spot welds.
In addition, the spot weld is particularly vulnerable to the normal tension stress, that is, the peel stress.
That is, a portion of the welded flange where the spot weld is positioned may be easily fractured.
In FIG. 1, the rectilinear arrow shown on each of the spot welds indicates a shear load due to collision energy, and the circular arc type arrow indicates moment due to collision energy.
The normal tension stress is generated on the spot weld by the moment.
FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C illustrate a comparative experimental result of weld strength in peel and weld strength in shear according to spot welding.
The weld strength in peel becomes weakened as load axis-to-weld offset becomes greater.
A maximum peel load is about 2100 N, and the moment, which is applied to the spot weld, becomes greater as the offset becomes greater, such that the peel stress is increased, and as a result, the maximum peel load is greatly decreased to 500 N or less when the offset is 25 mm.
In contrast, the weld strength in shear is rather greatly increased as a thickness of a thinnest sheet, which is welded, is increased. The thinnest sheet may withstand a shear load of about 2000 N when the thickness of the thinnest sheet is 0.5 mm, and the thinnest sheet may withstand a shear load of about 4000 N or more when the thickness of the thinnest sheet is 1 mm.
Therefore, in order to cope with a collision accident at which a large load is applied, when a structure of the vehicle body is designed, it is necessary to design the structure of the vehicle body so that the normal tension load is not applied to the welded flange when possible, and the shear load is mainly applied to the welded flange.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.


In a power management scheme, at least one indicator of at least one current device operating condition that affects an amount of power required to operate a device may be received. Based on the at least one indicator, a floor value for an operating parameter of the device (e.g. clock frequency or voltage) may be determined. At least one further indicator of at least one current device operating condition may further be received. Based on the at least one further indicator, a ceiling value for the operating parameter may be determined. Based on an indicator of current activity of the device, the operating parameter may be dynamically adjusted to a value between the floor value and the ceiling value, to control power consumption by the device. In some embodiments, the value may be adjusted to only the ceiling value or the floor value, e.g. by selectively applying a scaling ratio.

Efficient use of power is an important design objective for many contemporary electronic devices, such as personal computers, notebook or laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable music players and cellular telephones. By limiting the amount of power consumed by a device, benefits such as reduced heat output and prolonged battery life may be achieved.
It is known to set the value of at least one operating parameter for a power-consuming device based in part on a detected degree of activity of the device. The operating parameter may for example be a clock frequency or a particular voltage to be applied to integrated circuitry within the device. The degree of activity may be determined by periodically polling a signal reflective of the activity of the device. If the polling reveals that the device is wholly or partially idle, the clock frequency may be lowered by a predetermined amount (e.g. by applying a predetermined scaling ratio) or the voltage may be dropped to a predetermined, lower level.
In some cases, however, even the application of a lowered operating parameter value may still result in an unnecessarily high consumption of power by the device. This may occur for example when the predetermined, lowered operating parameter value was chosen to guarantee that, when the value is applied, the device can still meet a worst-case scenario of maximum demand for computational power. For instance, if the device is a graphics subsystem responsible for generating signals representing graphics for presentation on one or more displays of an electronic computing device to which it is electrically connected, the lowered operating parameter value may have been chosen to guarantee that the device would continue to operate reliably even in the situation in which the device is driving multiple displays, each being set to the highest resolution possible (multiple displays and high resolution images generally requiring higher computational power from the device). Because the worst case scenario may occur only infrequently, however, the device may in many cases be consuming more power than necessary. Power wastage may be especially high when an operating parameter value necessary to support a worst-case scenario is significantly higher than a value necessary to support a normal scenario.
An alternative power management scheme which obviates or mitigates at least some of these shortcomings would be desirable.

Power management scheme employing an indicator of a current device operating configuration that requires a minimum processing power


A new prefix, an international mobile call prefix, is provided in a telecommunications network, such as PSTN, for routing the PSTN originating international call to a foreign mobile subscriber. When a local PSTN exchange receives the international mobile call prefix in the dialed telephone number, it will route the call to a predetermined destination in the same country. The predetermined destination is a network element having a capability of making international routing information interrogation to a home PLMN of a called foreign mobile subscriber. Upon receiving the routing information from the home PLMN the call will be routed to the current location of the called foreign mobile subscriber according to the routing information. As a result, unnecessary international legs in the call can be avoided when the called mobile subscriber is roaming abroad.

The modern mobile telecommunications network offer a new attractive feature: roaming between several operationally independent public land mobile networks (PLMN). Roaming between PLMNs in different countries is called international roaming. Normally a mobile subscriber has a subscription relationship with a single PLMN. This specific PLMN is called the home PLMN of the mobile subscriber. Service can be obtained also from other PLMNs, depending among other conditions on subscriptions. For example a mobile subscriber who has a subscription relationship with a national PLMN in Finland may also make outgoing calls and receive incoming calls through another PLMN for example in Germany, if there are agreements between the operators of the two PLMNs. The other PLMN is sometimes called visited PLMN. One example of a standardized system supporting international roaming is the pan-European digital mobile radio system GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and its modification DCS1800 (Digital Communications System). The GSM supports both mobile station roaming in which a mobile station moves from one PLMN to another, and a subscriber identification module (SIM) roaming in which only a SIM moves. The latter may allow also roaming between PLMNs having incompatible radio interfaces, such as different operating frequencies.
A significant disadvantage that makes the international roaming less attractive is the cost of the international calls. Typically a calling party is charged for the first half of the routing to the home PLMN of the called mobile subscriber, and the called party is charged for the second half of the routing from the home PLMN to the visited PLMN. Thus, the called party has to pay the expensive international call charges also for calls which he/she does not want to receive at all. The expensive call charges will discourage the mobile subscriber from extensively using the roaming service. Actually, it is believed that most of the mobile subscribers will have incoming call barried while roaming.
In the international calls originating from the roaming mobile station, the routing of the call is always optimized. However, routing of the call destinating to a roaming mobile station is not optimized, and consequently, double international legs and very high international call charges may unnecessarily arise. This problem will be explained by means of an example with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
In FIG. 1 a PSTN subscriber in Australia makes an international call to a mobile station MS having a home PLMN in Germany and being currently located in the home PLMN. The PSTN subscriber dials a prefix 0011 and the mobile station ISDN number MSISDN including a country code CC, a national destination code NDC and a subscriber number SN. The prefix 0011 is an international call code in Australia, and consequently, the local PSTN exchanges route the call to the international PSTN gateway in Australia. The international PSTN gateway routes the call to a destination country, i.e. Germany, according to the country code CC. The international PSTN gateway in Germany will route the call to the gateway MSC in the home PLMN of the called MS according to the national destination code NDC. The gateway MSC interrogates the home location register HLR of the called MS according to the NDC SN and then route the call to the called MS according to the mobile station roaming number MSRN obtained via the HLR. In the above case the PSTN subscriber will pay charge for the whole call.
In FIG. 2 it is assumed that the called MS is roaming in a visited PLMN in Australia. Similar to the above case in the first half of the routing, the call is first of all routed to the home country and the home PLMN of the called MS. The mobile station roaming number MSRN is then obtained via the HLR and the call will then be routed to the MS in Australia via another international leg. As a consequence, two international legs and the associated call charges are involved in the call. The charge for the first international leg will be paid by the calling party and the charge for the second international leg will be paid by the called MS.
There are several reasons for such a strange, costly routing configuration in the international calls. The current routing topology of telecommunication network has hundreds of local exchanges, each exchange having a routing table to find the right route for the call. The maintenance of these routing tables is very time consuming and complicated, and therefore, the tables are always made as simple as possible. Thus, only a few digits of the dialed telephone number are analysed at each section of the call route. For example, when a PSTN subscriber dials a telephone number 0011 CC NDC SN, the local PSTN exchange will only recognise the international prefix 0011 and then go straight to the international gateway, as in the cases shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. A local PSTN exchange ignores the content of the following digits in the telephone number. The GSM specifications has suggested that any equipment along the call handling path can be an intelligent gateway that performs the HLR interrogation and thereby optimises the routing of the call. However, the implementation of this function would require implementation of GSM signalling capability into the existing international gateway PSTN exchanges which will require some very costly software development or maybe even impossible because of the old switching platforms. The current specifications of CCITT could actually overcome the problem by using the rerouting capability of the international gateway relating to the CCITT Common Channel Signalling System 7 (C7). However, international carrier and PTT are reluctant to implement the automatic re-routing function into their international gateways because:
The international circuits do not always support the use of common channel signalling system 7. The re-routing function will not be easily implemented in such a non-C7 systems. PA1 The normal international telephony does not require that kind of function. Only the automatic international roaming of GSM or DCS1800 or the international call forwarding cases require the re-routing function. This is a relatively small percentage of the total traffic. PA1 The high development costs of the re-routing function would only lead to a lower revenue to them. Since optimised routing would result in no double international legs and thereby in less international toll charges. PA1 a first subscriber of a first telecommunications network in a first country dials a predetermined prefix reserved only for international mobile subscriber terminating calls in the first country, and a mobile station ISDN number of a called mobile subscriber having a home PLMN in a second country, PA1 the first telecommunications network in the first country routes the call according to said prefix to a predetermined network element in the first country having an international PLMN interrogation capability, PA1 the predetermined network element makes an interrogation to the home PLMN of the called mobile subscriber in the second country, PA1 the home PLMN of the called mobile subscriber sends to the predetermined network element a mobile subscriber roaming number allocated for the called mobile subscriber, PA1 the predetermined network element routes the call directly to a destination according to the mobile subscriber roaming number.
Therefore there is a need for improved international routing in order to avoid unnecessary international legs of PSTN originating and mobile terminating calls in international automatic roaming.

Method of routing an international call to a foreign mobile subscriber


An information-sharing system includes a server in a wide-area network coupled to a data repository, software executing on the server, providing services for a first person, wherein the first person is enabled to create one or more personae stored in the data repository, at least one interactive window associated with individual ones of the personae and deployable to one or more electronic appliances, and one or more rule sets associated with individual ones of the personae, the rule sets defining and limiting server functions that may be initiated through individual ones of deployed interactive windows, the interactive windows and rule sets enabling the first person to control identity and contact information made available to users of deployed interactive windows.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of social interaction and information management relative to social interactions and pertains particularly to systems and methods enabling identity publishing and publisher contact during business or social interaction in a secure manner protecting the identities of publishers.
2. Discussion of the State of the Art
In the field of social interaction network management, there are network-based systems that exist to provide users with social interaction opportunities. Some social interaction networks are highly structured and moderated networks that impose at least a few conditions on users. One typical condition imposed is that the user has to be logged into a provider site in order to interact with other users belonging to the same network or group.
Depending on network architecture and features, members of the group may, when logged into the group infrastructure, publish information like profile data, contact information, and general media including blogs, pictures, video, documents, etc. Some published information becomes generally available to the public while other information is available to anyone who is also a member to the group and has authenticated correctly. While some controls exist for publishers like abuse reporting, user blocking and the like most identity protective measures are ad hoc and up to the publisher to enforce on a case by case basis. Networks with these types of difficulties include such as Myspace™ Facebook™, and others. There are very few if any measures in place to protect identities of publishers who actively communicate with other users of the group accept for group email and messaging programs that are restricted to group members having accounts with the service. Users and publishers have to be "logged in" to communicate and are restricted to the in-house messaging systems erected and managed for the group.
The inventor is aware of general contact systems that are network-based, which enable users who are not logged into any group or social network to make contact with an individual that has published identity information where the contact parameters of the individual are masked from the user. These systems, an example of which is Linkedin™ are managed as a network of users who simply wish to do business but do not want users to have their email addresses or telephone numbers. Individuals such as these are most often grouped not by any social network, but by association to a business that uses the service. The contact mechanism is published typically on the business Web page of the user. The location of the user's contact information is static meaning that it cannot be readily moved to some other network location. Other limitations include the way that the identity and contact information is presented for interaction.
What is clearly needed is a system and methods for enabling publishers to publish information including options for contacting them while enabling them to enjoy freedom of distribution location of the published information and contact options in a way that provides a user-configurable level of identity protection that may extend past contact parameter masking. Such a system, if used widely, would greatly reduce instances of identity abuse and other related crimes associated with unauthorized acquisition of identity information.

Server-client interaction and information management system


An LED mounting substrate includes a lead frame, a base, and a residue of injection molding material. The base is placed on the lead frame, and includes a cavity. The bottom of the cavity includes an opening for exposing portion of the lead frame. The cross-sectional area of the cavity increases along the direction from the lead frame to the top surface of the base. The residue of injection molding material is remained on one of outer walls of the base surrounding the cavity. The cross-sectional area of the residue of injection molding material decreases along the direction from the lead frame to the top surface of the base.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a lighting apparatus. More particularly, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a lighting apparatus, an LED mounting substrate and a mold for manufacturing the LED mounting substrate.
2. Description of Related Art
Because a light emitting diodes (LED) has advantages such as low power-consumption and high illumination efficiency, it has become a popular lighting device and been widely applied in illumination and backlight module.
An LED package includes a lead frame, a reflective cup and an LED chip. The LED chip is disposed on the lead frame. The reflective cup is disposed on the lead frame and surrounds the LED chip. The reflective cup is generally formed by thermoplastic material or thermosetting material. The thermosetting material forms the reflective cup by the transfer molding process. In the transfer molding process, a channel is formed on the mold, and the thermosetting material is pressed into the tank in the mold through the channel by the pressure, thereby forming the reflective cup.
Typically, only if the thermosetting material uniformly flows in the mold and two molten materials adjoin together simultaneously, the formed reflective cup exhibits higher structure strength. Because the shape of the reflective cup is complex, it is difficult for the thermosetting material to make the uniform flow and adjoin simultaneously, and the formed reflective cup may be of inadequate structure strength and easily crackable.

Lighting apparatus, LED mounting substrate and mold for manufacturing the same


Oral compositions and methods effective in promoting oral hygiene containing in an effective amount at least one cyclic alkylamine or cyclic amine as an antiplaque and/or antigingivitis agent.

The present invention relates to oral compositions containing an antiplaque agent.
"Oral composition" means a composition for topical applications to the oral cavity to clean and care for the teeth as well as the oral cavity surfaces. Representatives of such compositions are oral hygiene products and dentifrices such as mouthwashes or rinses, toothpaste, dental gels, tooth powder, chewing gum, lozenges and similar products. In addition to cleaning teeth to remove dental plaque, the function of oral hygiene preparations is to stop the formation of dental calculus, to prevent dental disorders such as caries, periodontosis and gingivitis, and also to eliminate halitosis.
Dental calculus, or tartar as it is sometimes called, is a hard mineralized material which forms on teeth that consists of inorganic and organic components. The inorganic portion is largely calcium and orthophosphate arranged in a crystal lattice called hydroxyapatite (HAP). The organic portion is derived mainly from microorganisms (i.e., bacteria, yeast, etc.) as well as epithelial cells, white blood cells and food debris.
Formation of dental calculus occurs in two steps. In the first step, plaque is deposited on the teeth. "Plaque" is a deposit which forms on teeth and consists of inorganic and organic components derived from saliva, food and bacteria which are present in the oral cavity. Most of the plaque consists of dead and living bacteria surrounded by a gel-like matrix derived from the bacteria and saliva. In the second phase, plaque undergoes calcification to form dental calculus. Initially, amorphous deposits of calcium phosphate begins to appear on and within the matrix of the dental plaque. As the aggregates of calcium phosphate become sufficiently closely packed together, they crystallize to form HAP. The amorphous calcium phosphate, although related to hydroxyapatite, differs from it in crystal structure, particle morphology and stoichiometry.
The presence of both the bacteria and the plaque deposits is detrimental to the health of the teeth and gums. If the bacteria and the plaque formation are not checked, they may result in infected gingival tissue, the formation of dental caries and periodontal disease.
A wide variety of chemical and biological agents have been suggested in the art to retard calculus formation or to remove calculus after it is formed. Mechanical removal of this material periodically by the dentist is, of course, routine dental office procedure.
In addition to being an integral step for the formation of calculus, consequences of the presence of plaque include gingivitis, periodontitis, tooth decay (dental caries) and denture associated problems. Inhibition of oral bacteria involved in the formation of plaque by antibiotics or antiseptic agents is one means to retard the formation of plaque, thus aiding in preventing or controlling the formation of dental calculus and other plaque related diseases. ; see, for example, P.S. Hull, J. Clinical Periodontology 7, 431-442 (1980). Examples of antiseptic agents include amidines, such as chlorhexidine and alexidine, and numerous antibacterially active quaternary ammonium compounds, such as cetylpyridinium chloride or the quaternary ammonium compounds described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,369,046; U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,507; and quaternary ammonium organosiloxane compounds described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,518.
Although the quaternary ammonium compounds are rapidly adsorbed onto the tooth surface, they exhibit only a moderate degree of efficacy as antiplaque agents as they are rapidly released from the tooth surface and thus retained in the oral cavity for only a short period of time. Chlorhexidine has been the most successful antiplaque agent and is retained in the oral cavity by binding to anionic groups mainly on the oral mucosa. The use of chlorhexidine in oral preparations however, suffers from the following disadvantages: (1) a prolonged bitter aftertaste lasting up to several hours; (2) after prolonged use they produce stains on the teeth, tongue, gums, oral mucosa and dental restorations; and (3) local irritation of the oral mucosa and tongue.
Another means to prevent plaque and calculus formation is to coat the teeth with a material to prevent the release of previously applied therapeutic agents or to coat the teeth with a material containing an antimicrobial agent. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,243,658 ; 4,428,930; 4,470,964 and 4,485,090 disclose a dentifrice composition containing a water-dispersible, membrane-forming material which, when applied to tooth surfaces forms a hydrophobic barrier thereon which substantially reduces elution of a previously applied therapeutic agent. A varnish containing an antimicrobial agent, which provides the sustained release of the antimicrobial agent over a period of at least four days was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,322. The use of the therapeutic agent or varnish coating are not entirely satisfactory as their application requires a qualified professional, making their use as part of routine oral hygiene maintenance impractical.
As the formation of calculus requires the crystallization of HAP, agents which effectively interfere with crystal growth, including HAP, can be effective as antiplaqueanticalculus agents. Inhibition of crystalline HAP formation can therefore be achieved by compounds which chelate calcium ions, which prevents the calculus from forming and/or breaks down mature calculus by removing calcium. It is known in the prior art that water soluble hexametaphosphates, tripolyphosphates and pyrophosphates and the like, are effective calcium and magnesium ion threshold agents, sequestrants and/or chelating agents. A threshold agent has the ability to prevent the precipitation of certain scale forming salts (e.g., calcium carbonate) at concentrations that are much lower than the amount needed for sequestration. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,488,419 which discloses oral compositions containing polyphosphonate and U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,105 which discloses oral compositions containing phosphonoacetic acid. The effectiveness of polyphosphonates as antiplaque agents has been limited as they are significantly hydrolyzed by salivary enzymes (phosphatases) to orthophosphates which are ineffective as inhibitors of HAP formation. The amount of enzymatic hydrolysis of the polyphosphate has been reduced by the use of a linear molecularly dehydrated polyphosphate salt combined with fluoride as described in U.S. Patent No. 4,808,410.
It would therefore be desirable to have an oral composition containing an effective antiplaque agent to aid in the prevention of caries and gingivits which does not stain the teeth and is not subject to inactivation by enzymatic hydrolysis. It would also be desirable to provide an improved means whereby antimicrobial compound can be retained within the oral cavity for a longer period of time.

Oral compositions for inhibiting plaque formation


Disclosed is a semiconductor device which comprises a semiconductor element having a plurality of electrodes, a plurality of external electrodes disposed around the periphery of the semiconductor element, a fine wire electrically connected between at least one of surfaces of each of the plural external electrodes and at least one of the plural electrodes of the semiconductor element, and an encapsulating resin which encapsulates the semiconductor element, the plural external electrodes, and the fine wires and whose external shape is a rectangular parallelepiped, wherein a bottom surface of the semiconductor element and a bottom surface of each of the plural external electrode are exposed from a bottom surface of the encapsulating resin and a top surface of the semiconductor element and a top surface of each of the plural external electrode are located substantially coplanar with each other.

The present invention relates generally to a semiconductor device and to a method for the fabrication of such a semiconductor device. The present invention relates more particularly to an extremely thin semiconductor device of high packaging density type which is capable of coping with multipin (high pin count)-ization and to a method for the fabrication of such a low profile semiconductor device.
The recent trend that electronic equipment is toward becoming smaller and smaller in size requires the high packaging density of semiconductor components such as semiconductor devices of resin-encapsulated type, and semiconductor components are now becoming smaller in size and lower in profile. Further, multipin-ization is now advancing even for small size and thin (low profile) semiconductor devices. There have been placed demands for high-density, downsized, and thin semiconductor devices of the resin-encapsulated type.
Referring now to FIG. 15, a lead frame for a conventional semiconductor device will be described below.
FIG. 15 is a plan view showing a conventional lead frame structure. As shown, the conventional lead frame is made up of a frame portion 101, a rectangular die pad portion 102 within the frame portion 101 on which a semiconductor element will be mounted, a suspension lead portion 103 for supporting the die pad portion 102, a beam-like inner lead portion 14 which is electrically connected, when the semiconductor element is mounted on the die pad portion 102, to the mounted semiconductor element by a connection portion such as a metal fine wire, an outer lead portion 105, formed continuously with the inner lead portion 104, for establishing connection with an external terminal, and a tie bar portion 106 which interconnects and fixes together the outer lead portions 105 and which acts as a resin stopper during resin encapsulation.
Although in the lead frame of FIG. 15 only one pattern of the design of FIG. 15 is illustrated, practically a plurality of such patterns are arrayed laterally and vertically in succession.
Referring next to FIG. 16, a conventional semiconductor device will be described. FIG. 16 schematically depicts, in cross section, a semiconductor device of the resin encapsulation type making utilization of the lead frame of FIG. 15.
As shown in FIG. 16, a semiconductor element 107 is mounted on the die pad portion 102 of the lead frame. The semiconductor element 107 and the inner lead portion 104 are electrically connected together by a metal fine wire 108. The outer peripheries of the semiconductor element 107 on the die pad portion 102 and the inner lead portion 104 are encapsulated by an encapsulating resin 109. The outer lead portion 105 is so provided as to project outside a lateral surface of the encapsulating resin 109 with its end portion bent.
In a conventional semiconductor device fabrication method, the semiconductor element 107 is first bonded onto the die pad portion 102 of the lead frame by an adhesive (the die bond step), as shown in FIG. 17. Following the die bond step, the semiconductor element 107 and the tip of the inner lead portion 104 are connected together by the metal fine wire 108 (the wire bonding step). Thereafter, the outer peripheral of the semiconductor element 107 is subjected to encapsulation. In such encapsulation, the region encapsulated by the encapsulating resin 109 is surrounded by the tie bar portion 106 of the lead frame, while the outer lead portion 105 projects outside (the resin encapsulating step). Lastly, the boundary portion of the encapsulating resin 109 is subjected to cutting at the tie bar portion 106, the outer lead portions 105 are separated from each other, the frame portion 101 is removed, and the tip of the outer lead portion 105 is subjected to bending (the tie bar cut/bend step). In the way described above, the resin-encapsulated type semiconductor device of FIG. 16 can be fabricated. A broken line of FIG. 17 indicates the region to be encapsulated by the encapsulating resin 109.
The conventional lead frame configuration, however, suffers some problems when semiconductor elements are highly integralized and multipin-ized. There is the limit of reducing, when forming an inner lead portion (an outer lead portion), its width. Therefore, if the number of inner lead portions (outer lead portions) is increased with a view to coping with multipin-ization, this usually results in increasing the size of the lead frame itself. As a result, the dimensions of the semiconductor device also increase and it is hard to meet the demand for downsized, thin semiconductor devices. On the other hand, if the number of inner lead portions is increased to cope with semiconductor element multipin-ization without making an alteration in lead frame size, this requires that the width of each inner lead portion be reduced. This will produce many problems with processes such as etching used for lead frame formation.
Recently, as a surface-mount type semiconductor device, certain types of semiconductor devices have been developed (for example, Ball Grid Array (BGA)-type semiconductor devices and Land Grid Array (LGA)-type semiconductor devices). In such a type of semiconductor device, a semiconductor element is mounted on a carrier (a wiring board) having on its bottom surface an external electrode, electrical connections are established, and thereafter the top surface of the carrier is subjected to encapsulation. Such a type of semiconductor device is a semiconductor device onto which bottom surface a mother board is mounted. In future, semiconductor devices of the surface-mount type are expected to become a main stream of semiconductor devices. Accordingly, the problem that conventional lead frames and semiconductor devices making use of such conventional lead frames are unable to keep up with the trend toward the surface-mount type, is becoming serious.
In recent years, technologies for small size/thin packages have been proposed which use no die pad for element mounting. In such technologies, a semiconductor chip is reduced in thickness, electrodes are disposed around the chip, and the outer periphery is single-side encapsulated by encapsulating resin. However, such a single-side encapsulated package has the problem that electrodes are not efficiently exposed from the bottom surface of the encapsulating resin. Moreover, since the thickness is reduced, this produces another problem that stress, caused by encapsulating resin present between electrodes, is applied to these electrodes.

Semiconductor device and method for the fabrication thereof grinding frame portion such that plural electrode constituent portions


In a system for suspending, in a single operation, a plurality of product packages on a peg, each product package includes an upwardly extending mounting portion defining a shaped slot adapted to slidably receive the peg. The slot defines a peripheral edge for engaging the peg and suspending the product package therefrom. The system also includes a band of polymeric material that engages and at least partially surrounds the plurality of product packages, binding them together such that each shaped slot is approximately aligned with the next successive slot to allow said peg to be slidably threaded through each of the mounting portions. The band of polymeric material also includes a release portion, along which the band may be torn, thereby separating the band from the product packages to provide access to individual packages suspended from the peg.

The present invention generally relates to product packaging, and is more specifically directed to binding a plurality of such packages together in such a manner as to enable said packages to be easily suspended from a peg in a single operation.
The present invention has particular utility with respect to the packaging of disposable razors for retail sale and the inefficiencies currently encountered with producing displays of such packages in retail outlets, and is described herein as applied to such use. However, the present invention also has utility with regard to the packaging of other items, such as disposable cigarette lighters, candy, and consumer items typically suspended from retail pegs. Therefore, as used herein, the term xe2x80x9cpackagexe2x80x9d, or the phrase xe2x80x9cproduct packagexe2x80x9d should be broadly construed to mean packaging for retaining consumer items, such packaging being displayable by hanging from a retail peg.
Generally, consumer items such as disposable razors are packaged in limited numbers with the packaging being mounted from a rod projecting outwardly from a wall. Usually, these rods are in the form of elongated cylindrical members adapted to be mounted at one end to a peg-board and hooked at the opposite end to prevent product packages suspended therefrom from sliding off. These elongated cylindrical members are referred to by those skilled in the pertinent art to which the present invention pertains as xe2x80x9cretail pegs.xe2x80x9d
Typically, product packages are received from a manufacturer in shipping containers with several individual product packages contained loosely therein. These product packages must then be removed from the shipping container by a retail outlet employee, and mounted to the retail pegs one at a time, usually via a circular hole extending through the package. A problem associated with product packages configured in the above-described manner is that mounting the packages one at a time to the retail peg is very time consuming and therefore expensive.
Another problem occurs when a retail store employee attempts to load more than one product package onto a retail peg. Often these packages are of a size making it unwieldy for the employee to hold more than one or two packages at a time. Furthermore, the packages usually contain a single circular-mounting hole that is difficult to align between successive product packages when attempting to load more than one package at a time onto the retail peg.
Based on the foregoing, it is the general object of the present invention to provide a system for suspending, in a single operation, a plurality of product packages on a retail peg that overcomes the drawbacks and problems associated with prior art systems.
It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide a system whereby a plurality of product packages can be loaded onto a retail peg in a single operation, yet consumers can still access individual packages.
One aspect of the present invention is directed to a system for suspending, in a single operation, a plurality of product packages on a peg wherein each product package includes an upwardly extending mounting portion defining a shaped slot adapted to slidably receive the peg. Each shaped slot includes a peripheral edge that engages the peg supporting the suspended product package thereon. A band of polymeric material engages and at least partially surrounds the plurality of product packages, thereby binding the packages together as a single unit. In addition, the shaped slot of each product package is approximately aligned with the shaped slot of the next successive package to allow the peg to be slidably threaded through each of the mounting portions. The band of polymeric material also includes releasing means for separating the band from the product packages to provide consumers and others with access to individual packages suspended from the peg.
Preferably, the releasing means includes a plurality of closely spaced perforations extending along a path projected across the width of the band of polymeric material. The perforations allow the band of polymeric material to be easily torn along the path across which the perforations extend to separate the band from the product packages. Once the band of polymeric material is removed, consumers and others are provided with access to the individual product packages.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the slot extending through the mounting portion of the product packages is xe2x80x9cJxe2x80x9d shaped. In addition, the material from which band of polymeric material is constructed is of the type commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cshrink wrapxe2x80x9d material which, when exposed to sufficient heat, undergoes a dimensional change. However, the present invention is not limited in this regard as other types of polymeric material, such as resilient materials, can be employed without departing from the broader aspects of the present invention.
An advantage of the present invention is that multiple product packages can be loaded onto a peg in a single operation.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the shaped slots allow for misalignment between the product packages once they are bound together by the band of polymeric material, yet the peg can still be easily threaded through each product package.

System for suspending a plurality of product packages from a peg in a single operation


Techniques for synthesizing and analyzing data are disclosed. A ML model anonymizes microdata to generate synthesized data. This anonymizing is performed by reproducing attributes identified within microdata and by applying constraints to prevent rare attribute combinations from being reproduced in the synthesized data. User input selects attributes to filter the synthesized data, thereby generating a subset of records. A UI displays a synthesized aggregate count representing how many records are in the subset. Pre-computed aggregate counts are accessed to indicate how many records in the microdata embody certain attributes. Based on the user input, there is an attempt to identify a particular count from the pre-computed aggregate counts. This count reflects how many records of the microdata would remain if the selected attributes were used to filter the microdata. That count is displayed along with the synthesized aggregate count. The two counts are juxtaposed next to one another.

In many domains, there is a need to share and distribute data. By sharing data, analysts (e.g., human analysts or even computer analyzing tools) are able to process the data to identify trends, patterns, or other results. Identifying these results is often quite beneficial because the data can help facilitate decision making processes, resource allocations, or even policy decisions. By way of example, the healthcare industry often relies on the results collected from large data samples or tests to determine healthcare trends and other healthcare related events.
Although sharing data is very useful, laws are in place to restrict which kinds of data are permitted to be released and distributed. For instance, personally identifiable information (PII), which is data that may be used to specifically identify a particular person, is often regulated by law. Examples of PII include, but certainly are not limited to, a person's social security number, banking information, driver's license information, passport information, age, gender, citizenship, and so forth. Generally, there are different types or levels of personal data that are controlled by regulation. These types include "identified data," "identifiable data," and "deidentified data." These types of data are often grouped together using the term "microdata" and refer to scenarios in which a record of any one of these different data types corresponds to a natural person or individual.
In contrast to microdata, so-called "aggregate data" is not regulated because it is not considered to be personal or sensitive in nature. Aggregate data is often collected or combined from multiple measurements or even bodies of microdata. Observations that are identified within the aggregate data can then be replaced with summary statistics, thereby effectively distinguishing, separating, or anonymizing the generalized statistics relative to any particular individual.
Numerous techniques are currently available to anonymize data. In general, there are several standard strategies that may be employed to anonymize data. One strategy is referred to as "de-identification" in which PII is stripped out of an original data set. In essence, this strategy replaces actual identities with pseudo random strings acting as pseudonyms within a data set. Another strategy is referred to as "k-anonymity," which is often used in the healthcare industry. Of course, numerous other strategies and techniques are available.
Unfortunately, however, many of these techniques are still not sufficient to prevent a malicious actor, who has additional background information, from being able to link other bits of data to the background knowledge (or perhaps to some other external database) to either identify which record potentially represents an individual or to make a probable inference about whether or not the individual is represented in the data set. For example, suppose a malicious entity was privy to certain background information about a particular person. That malicious entity could take its own background information and compare it against the de-identified information to potentially make additional correlations or inferences. In some cases, the entity may be able to filter the de-identified information down to a sufficient granularity, thereby enabling the entity to make a reasoned inference as to whether or not a particular person's data was included in the original data set (i.e. "connecting the dots" so-to-speak).
Accordingly, although there are numerous techniques available to attempt to anonymize data, there is still an on-going need to improve these techniques. For instance, there is a substantial need to protect against the residual risk of enabling malicious entities to re-identify individuals even after PII removal and/or de-identification. There is also a substantial need to prevent privacy risk or privacy leakage, even for de-identified information. Additionally, there is a substantial need to help gather or determine insights from the anonymized data. Indeed, even after data has been anonymized, there is still a substantial hurdle in that the data must then be analyzed to identify the trends, behaviors, and other patterns in that data. Furthermore, difficulties arise as to determining whether or not statistics derived from the anonymized data accurately reflect real-world events or attributes included in the original sensitive data set.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.


A swing training apparatus for sensing centrifugal force created from a swing of a handheld sport implement and producing a signal for a predetermined level of centrifugal force. The apparatus comprises a housing holding a battery affixed to a sliding member that is slidably positioned within the housing. An adjustable force signal mechanism is electrically connected to the battery. A spring holds the sliding member and battery in a signal nonactuating position within said housing until sufficient centrifugal force, created by the swinging sport implement, slides the sliding member within the housing into a signal actuating position, thereby actuating said signal mechanism to produce a signal.

1. Field of the Invention
A swing training apparatus for a handheld sport implement is provided. More specifically, a swing training apparatus is disclosed that includes an electronic assembly that emits at least an audible signal when actuated by the shifting of the power supply. The power supply, also acting as a mass, moves in response to the centrifugal force from the swing of the sport implement, such as a golf club. The force required to move the power supply may be manipulated by adjustment of a biasing means that applies force to the power supply in the opposite direction of the centrifugal force. The apparatus is designed to train the user to develop a controlled and consistent swing. By producing, at a minimum, an auditory signal, the apparatus will be especially useful to the visually impaired golfer.
2. Description of the Background Art
Golf is a game of precision and reproducibility. One of the most critical aspects of playing golf is developing a smooth, controlled and consistent golf swing. This desired golf swing is just as important for an experienced golfer as for a novice golfer.
Several apparatuses have been designed that emit a signal when a desired golf swing is achieved by the golfer. Most of these apparatuses use a stationary power supply that actuates a signaling device when a separate or secondary mass or weight moves to a contact point and completes the circuit. Generally, these apparatuses noticeably increase the weight of the golf club, especially when mounted proximate to the club head, thereby possibly altering the golfer's normal swing. By using the power supply as the actuating movable mass, thus eliminating the additional or secondary separate mass, the total weight of the apparatus can be minimized so that use of the apparatus is virtually undetectable when mounted on the shaft of the golf club, even when mounted proximate to the club head. None of the prior apparatuses has previously been devised that utilizes a movable or shiftable power supply as the mass that actuates the signaling device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,368 introduces a golf club swing training device that emits an audible signal which is generated by the compression of a spring by a rod or a plunger. The power supply is fixedly positioned and remains stationary in a separate compartment from that of the rod or plunger that actuated the audible signal.
Disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,106,403 is a club momentum indicator that utilizes a mechanical system that produces an auditory signal and an electrical system that produces a visual signal. The mechanical and the electrical systems are activated by the release of a hammer, wherein the hammer moves from the centrifugal force of the golf swing. Upon release, the hammer causes a clicking sound and closes an electrical circuit to illuminate a light. The hammer must be reset after each release. The power supply for the electrical system remains in a fixed or stationary position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,875 presents a racquet swing training apparatus. This invention presents an electronic system that is actuated by a biased slug, wherein centripetal force urges the slug toward a contact point to complete an electrical circuit that causes an auditory signal to be generated. An adjustment means changes the position of the contact. The power supply is held in place by an adhesive or other securing material and remains stationary during operation of the device.
Revealed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,942 is a golf swing indicator in an annular housing with an inner tube-like sleeve that mounts on the golf club by passing the shaft through a central passage of the sleeve. The indicator is illuminated by centrifugal closure of a switch arm that makes contact with a fixed or stationary power supply.
A golf club accelerometer is revealed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,704. This apparatus is actuated by a sudden stop or jerking motion during the swing. A weight, mounted on a pivoting arm, shifts when acceleration force develops on the weight due to an erratic swing and touches a contact point to complete an electrical circuit, thereby causing an auditory signal. The power supply is stationarily mounted above the shifting weight.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,561 presents an electronic putting trainer that is positioned within the grip on the shaft of a putting club. This invention detects rotation inertia by movement of a weight, not being the power supply, attached to the free end of an elongated arm; the other end of the elongated arm is fixed to allow the arm to pivot. When the weight moves and touches a contact point, the circuit is complete and current flows from a stationary power supply to activate an alarm signal.
A golf club swing training device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,428 for monitoring proper acceleration of a putter. A spring flexes on a pivot point, thereby moving a mass that is detected by use of infrared radiation. Upon detection of the mass, an auditory and visual feedback is generated, the visual feedback being powered by a stationary power supply.
Presented in U.S. Pat. No. 5,441,269 is a putting stroke training device that mounts to the putter head. This invention detects undesired X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis movement by individual respective electronic sensors. Activation of the sensors causes an alarm that is electronically energized by a secured or stationary power supply.
The foregoing patents reflect the state of the art of which the applicant is aware and are tendered with the view toward discharging applicant's acknowledged duty of candor in disclosing information which may be pertinent in the examination of this application. It is respectfully submitted, however, that none of these patents teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, applicant's claimed invention.