An Xbase transaction processing system that allows Xbase and SQL clients to operate against an Xbase file set on a server computer with commit/rollback transaction behavior that protects the data integrity of the Xbase file set against corruption due to the failure of one or more client computers. The system includes a server network communication means, an Xbase transaction protocol interpreter, an Xbase transaction management means, and an Xbase data file execution means. The communication means is configured to receive Xbase transactional commands from the network and to present server responses to the network. Software interfaces attach the network communication means to the protocol interpreter, the protocol interpreter to the transaction manager and the transaction manager to the file execution means.

Computer database servers are computers with centralized database storage arranged so that a number of users at remote client computers can simultaneously access the data in the database. The database server contains the necessary logic to ensure that the data does not become corrupted when two or more clients write to the database at the same time. One possible source of data corruption on a database server arises when two or more client users attempt to change the same set of data simultaneously. Without some sort of control mechanism, such access can easily corrupt the data.
Most database servers are based on database languages such as SQL. SQL was originally defined as a U.S. national standard by ANSI X3H2 in 1986[1]. Since that time, a number of revisions of standardized SQL have emerged. In addition, a large number of vendors have released database products based on standardized SQL or some variant of that language.
Database languages generally differ from traditional computer programming languages in that database languages provide language constructs to describe and manipulate data. Traditional programming language are typically much broader in scope and provide language constructs to display user data on a client screen and receive input from a keyboard, mouse, or other input device and in general manage the user interface. In addition, traditional computer programming languages contain language constructs to read and write data into storage devices such as computer file systems, tape drives, CD-ROM drives, and so forth. Examples of traditional programming languages include FORTRAN, BASIC, C, C++, FORTH, PASCAL, LISP, ADA, MODULA II, and assembly language for a large number of different computer systems. Database languages such as SQL, on the other hand, limit their language constructs to data definition, creation and manipulation, and specifically avoid providing constructs for user interface programming.
When personal computers were introduced in the late 1970's and early 1980's, a family of programming languages was introduced that contained the features of traditional programming languages such as C, FORTRAN, BASIC and PASCAL to manage user interfaces. These programming languages also included language constructs to provide database-like creation and manipulation commands based on computer files of the underlying operating system. Ashton Tate's dBASE is an early example of such a hybrid language. dBASE is a registered trademark of Borland International, a successor to Ashton-Tate. dBASE evolved into a generalized language known generically as Xbase. Xbase has been the subject of an ANSI standardization effort under the direction of ANSI X3J9 [2]. It is instructive to note that ANSI classifies SQL as a database language, contrasted with Xbase which is classified a programming language.
Computer languages and programming environments based on Xbase and its derivatives have proven very popular and are well suited for single computer applications as shown in FIG. 1. In such a system, an Xbase application program 1 is compiled against a traditional Xbase language environment 3 such as Clipper or dBASE. The resulting program is executed on the single personal computer 9, making changes to the Xbase file set 5 of the underlying DOS file system 7. Single computer environments avoid the problems introduced when multiple users are demanding simultaneous access to a common set of data.
However, it is a widely held belief that Xbase is inherently different from a database and is not suitable for true, mission-critical database processing for corporate data. Microsoft, a major computer software supplier, provides both Xbase products and SQL products, and instructs its customers that Xbase is suitable for local file manipulation, but that SQL should be used for remote database access.[3] Database experts have long held that Xbase is not a database language and should not be used for multi-user database applications. SQL is often described as a query language, while Xbase has a large number of non-query language constructs.
There are major architectural differences between Xbase and SQL. Xbase is based on known file formats, typically the so-called .DBF file format, and number of related index file formats. Xbase applications know and directly manage data files and associated index files. In SQL, the underlying file system and indexes are hidden from the application program which instead references logical database tables rather than physical operating system files. This distinction requires entirely different programming models for application programs.
Xbase and SQL differences are troublesome for information clients who desire to scan information that spans both Xbase data file sets and SQL databases. With the explosion of computer networking in general, and the internet in particular, information clients need to access data where it is found and in its native format. This is a different paradigm from a few years ago when it was customary to copy data sets of interest into the native format for a particular SQL system. Microsoft and other software vendors have addressed the need to span SQL and Xbase data by a single application by providing an programming language interface called ODBC [11] which allows an application program to access both Xbase data and SQL data from a single application program. Microsoft Access is an example of an ODBC product that supports ODBC. ODBC and related technologies provide a programming environment where differences between Xbase data file set programming and SQL database programming are minimized, but not entirely eliminated. One difference not eliminated by ODBC and related technologies is differences in transaction behavior for Xbase and SQL. ODBC supports transaction technologies only if the underlying system--SQL or Xbase--supports it. This means for traditional Xbase, there is no true transaction support.
With the introduction of computer networks for personal computers, the concept of a file server was deployed in which multiple clients can access generic computer files on a centralized server. Such a server protects multiple users from corrupting computer files. Traditional Xbase, running on a file server, is shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, there are least three computers denoted by 25, 25' and 18. 25 and 25' denote client computers operating against file server computer 18. Note that although only two clients are shown, there can be an arbitrarily large number of clients. In FIG. 2, Xbase application programs 1 and 1' are compiled or interpreted by their respective traditional Xbase language environment 3 or 3' which translates Xbase commands into file system calls against the DOS file system API 11 and 11'. Transparent to application 1 and 1' the DOS file system API function calls 11 are converted into file system commands for the file system 17. The commands are delivered to the server computer via the network drivers 13, 13' and 15. In this system, the Xbase application programs 1 and 1' can run simultaneously, and the file system 17 will protect individual files in the Xbase file set 5 from corruption. However, a file server 18 cannot protect database corruption. Database corruption can occur even though the underlying files in the Xbase file set 5 that contain the database data are not individually corrupted. Database corruption is intolerable in a serious business application for obvious reasons.
To understand how a data files using the system of FIG. 2 can be corrupted even when the underlying files are individually not corrupted, the concept of a data transaction is helpful. By way of a highly simplified illustration, suppose a bank customer request that $10,000 be transferred from a savings account to a checking account. Suppose, further, that the bank maintains the checking account information in file C on its file system and its savings account information on file S. In order to complete the transfer, the following steps must take place:
Now suppose that when this banking transfer is being made, the computer system successful completes step 1, but before step 2 initiates, the computer system goes down for some reason. In this situation, both files C and S, as files, are not corrupted (i.e. both files contain meaningful data). However, the system as a whole is corrupted, because the customer now has a windfall gain of $10,000 and the banks data set is corrupted because it shows $10,000 more in its accounts than it actually has. Neither file C or S, standing alone, is corrupted; each is correct depending on whether the transfer is considered completed or not. As a set, however, the files are corrupted. Thus in such a situation, the database is corrupted, even though the underlying files are not. In database terminology, the database integrity is violated, even though file system integrity is preserved. Switching the order of steps does not solve the database corruption problem; it just changes the details of the corruption.
To address the form of database corruption illustrated by the simple banking illustration, the concept of a transaction has been introduced and has been widely known for many years. Transactions are an inherent feature of database languages such as SQL. In a transaction based system, steps 1 and 2 are combined by the application program into a single unit of work called a transaction. A simple rule but fundamental rule of transaction processing says that all steps of a transaction must be completed or none of the steps of the transaction must be completed. If a transaction is fully completed and reflected in the database, the transaction is said to be "committed". If the transaction does not complete, and any partially completed steps are reversed, the transaction is said to be "rolled back." Thus in our banking example, when the computer systems failed after completing step 1 but not step 2, at some point the computer system is restored to an operational state and partially finished transaction must either be committed or rolled back; generally the latter. Thus if transaction processing is in place, after such a failure, a rollback would be issued either by the administrator or automatically. The rollback would effectively undo step 1 by subtracting the $10,000 from account C, and the entire transaction could be reissued to complete the requested transfer.
Transaction processing is considered to be one of the most important distinctions that separates traditional programming languages from database languages. Transactions are well-defined in SQL but are not well defined in traditional Xbase. Xbase critics have long maintained that proper transaction semantics cannot be implemented in Xbase.
Xbase database servers such as the Advantage I database server have been introduced.[4] These database servers reside on the server computer and add performance benefits to file servers used in an Xbase environment. Unfortunately servers such as the Advantage I do not offer a solution to the database corruption described earlier.
Other products, such as ObjectDB[5] attempt to add commit/rollback transactional processing to a multi-user programming environment by including transactional logic on each client as shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 2 except client transaction management means 19 is added. Also, the Xbase language environment 21 is enhanced over the traditional Xbase language environment 3 in that the Xbase language environment 21 provides a mechanism to define transactions by providing transactional programming commands to the user environment such as BEGIN TRANSACTION and COMMIT TRANSACTION and ROLLBACK TRANSACTION. With the Xbase language environment 21, programmers can explicitly identify transactions in the Xbase application program 1.
Although the client-based transaction management 19 and 19' illustrated in FIG. 3 appears to add transactional processing to Xbase, it suffers from a number of problems. Since there is no central point of control in the system illustrated in FIG. 3, each client 25 and 25' may modify any file in the Xbase file set 5 at will on the server 18, potentially corrupting the Xbase file set 5. If any one client 25 or 25' fails, then part or all of the transaction management is subject to failure, leading to database corruption. This problem is particularly acute in a modern PC based network, where client computers 25 and 25' are often powered down or reset by their users. Such users are often unaware that such action is corrupting the Xbase file set. In other words, a user who simply turns his or her desktop off at night before going home from work can inadvertently corrupt the Xbase file set 5 when using the client transaction management means 19 and 19' of FIG. 3. In such as system there is no central authority to detect the failure and "clean-up" any unfinished work. When a catastrophic failure of a client 25 or 25' occurs--i.e. the client machine is turned off without exiting an application program--each application that was in the process of updating the database when the failure occurred must be identified, and instructed to "clean up" the failed database. In the client-based transaction management system of FIG. 3, since each remaining client 25 and 25' generally has no knowledge of what other clients 25 and 25' were doing or that they even existed, it is difficult or impossible for a surviving client 25 or 25' to clean up after a failed peer client 25 or 25.
Furthermore, even if the failed client is eventually restored and determines that a failure occured, under the client-base transaction management approach of FIG. 3, since record locks are generally removed when a client fails, there is no mechanism to stop another client from writing to the records involved in the partially finished but failed transaction before the failed client gets a chance to undue the partial transaction. Furthermore, any client 25 or 25' that fails to behave properly either due to a unintentional programming bug, or an operator error or a power down can easily corrupt the Xbase file set 5.
What is needed is an Xbase programming environment that properly implements transaction management and prevents Xbase file corruption due to either client errors or other client failures.


A printed wiring board includes a resin insulating layer, a wiring conductor layer embedded in the insulating layer such that the conductor layer has a first surface exposed on a first surface side of the insulating layer, and a conductor post formed on a second surface of the conductor layer on the opposite side with respect to the first surface such that the conductor post has a side surface covered by the insulating layer. The conductor post has an end surface on the opposite with respect to the conductor layer such that the end surface of the conductor post is exposed on a second surface side of the insulating layer, and the conductor post has an end portion on a wiring conductor layer side such that the side surface in the end portion is a curved side surface which is bending outward increasingly toward from the conductor layer.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printed wiring board and a semiconductor package. More specifically, the present invention relates to a printed wiring board that has a conductor post that extends from a wiring conductor layer that is formed on one side to the other side, and relates to a semiconductor package that includes the printed wiring board.
Description of Background Art
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 10-13028 describes a single-sided circuit substrate in which a conductor circuit (conductor layer) is formed on one side of an insulating substrate by patterning a metal foil; a through hole is provided that penetrates through the insulating substrate from the other side of the insulating substrate toward the conductor circuit; a conductor post is formed by filling the through hole with a conductive paste; and a front end part of the conductor post that protrudes from the other side of the insulating substrate is used as a connecting part that connects to another insulating substrate or the like. The entire contents of this publication are incorporated herein by reference.

Printed wiring board and semiconductor package


A paper supply cassette includes a separately formed case, accommodating unit cover, and handle part. A separating mechanism for separating and conveying paper stacked in the case one sheet at a time is supported in a support unit provided on the front side surface of the case. Generally, high precision is required when mounting the separating mechanism into the paper supply cassette, and the separating mechanism must be demonstrated to have sufficient separating performance prior to shipping the product. When modifications are made to the design of the laser printer, it is possible to reuse the case while replacing the handle part with a new part, thereby eliminating the time and effort required to redesign the separating mechanism and to demonstrate its separating performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper supply cassette and an image forming device equipped with the paper supply cassette.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image forming devices, such as laser printers and copy machines, that are provided with a detachably mounted paper supply cassette are well known in the art. The paper supply cassette includes an integrally formed case and a handle part. The case can holds a stack of recording sheets. The handle part is formed as a decorative plate on the front surface of the paper supply cassette and is used by a user to grip the handle part when inserting or removing the paper supply cassette. A supporting part is provided between the integrally formed case and the handle part. The supporting part supports a separating unit, which functions to separate and convey the sheets from the stack in the paper supply cassette one sheet at time.

Paper supply cassette for an image forming device


A method for actively manipulating a primary fluid flow over a surface using an active flow control system including an active fluid flow device to provide lift enhancement and lift destruction. The method including the disposing of an active fluid flow device in the surface. The active fluid flow device is then operated to generate at least one of a steady blowing secondary fluid flow, a pulsed secondary fluid flow or an oscillating secondary fluid flow. While flowing the primary fluid over the surface to create a primary flow field, a secondary fluid flow is injected in an upstream direction and substantially opposed to the incoming primary fluid flow. The injecting of the secondary fluid flow in this manner provides for influencing of the primary flow field by manipulating a momentum of the secondary fluid flow to influence the incoming primary fluid flow and resultant lift.

The disclosure relates generally to manipulation of fluid flows using an active flow control system and more particularly, a method for using an active flow control system to achieve both lift enhancement and destruction.
An airfoil-shaped body moved through a fluid produces a force perpendicular to the motion called lift. Subsonic flight airfoils have a characteristic shape with a rounded leading edge, followed by a sharp trailing edge, often with asymmetric camber. A fixed-wing aircraft's wings, horizontal, and vertical stabilizers are built with airfoil-shaped cross sections, as are helicopter rotor blades. Airfoils are also found in propellers, fans, compressors and turbines. Of concern is active circulation control of these aerodynamic structures. More specifically, of concern is the utilization of active circulation control for aerodynamic structures, such as a wind turbine blade or a gas turbine blade, to achieve both lift enhancement and destruction dependent upon need, as compared to the same blade without active circulation control.
Airfoil circulation control typically uses fluid injection in the form of a secondary fluid flow to create a steady wall-jet at the proximity of a rounded surface in a blade to leverage the Coandã effect. The Coandã effect can be defined as the effect by which a fluid jet attaches itself to an adjacent surface, such as an airfoil, and remains attached. Circulation control may result in increased lift and systems using this principle have been conceptualized for a wide variety of applications from aircraft wings to wind turbines. In aircraft wings applications, the circulation control may work by increasing the velocity of the airflow over the leading edge and trailing edge of a specially designed aircraft wing using a series of blowing slots that eject high pressure jet air tangentially as the secondary fluid flow, in a substantially downstream direction as relates to the incoming primary fluid flow. The wing has a rounded trailing edge to tangentially eject the air through the Coandã effect, thus causing lift. The increase in velocity of the airflow over the wing may also add to the lift force through conventional airfoil lift production. In other systems, the injection of the secondary fluid flow creates or enhances separation over the aerodynamic surface for lift destruction by creating a flow disturbance on or near the aerodynamic surface. As described, a method that can accomplish both lift destruction and lift enhancement in a single active system does not exist.
Since their conception, airfoils have suffered the risk of stall, or loss of lift, due to flow separation over the surface. In particular, it is known that airfoils at high angles of attack are at risk of the incoming primary flow separating from the surface of the airfoil, causing loss of lift. In addition, newer airfoils used for energy capture may suffer damage due to increased lift in unexpected high flow conditions. Furthermore, blade-to-tower clearances in wind turbines are of concern as a result of aerodynamic loading on the blades causing them to bend toward the tower. Stiffer, and thus more expensive, blades may be required to avoid collision with the tower. By reducing the aerodynamic load on the blade as it is passing in front of the tower, the risk of blade-to-tower collision would be minimized, if not eliminated. In addition, improving lift when the blade is not passing in front of the tower may provide increased energy production.
It is therefore desirable to achieve circulation control around an aerodynamic structure, such as in airfoils at high angles of attack, to provide lift destruction in unexpected high flow conditions, as a result of flow blockage over the surface of the airfoil, or alternatively increase lift producing capability, as a result of flow separation over the surface of the airfoil to minimize the risk of stall. It is additionally desirable to provide such a system configured to provide both lift enhancement and destruction, dependent upon need and current conditions, but to do so at a reduced system cost. More specifically, it is desirable to provide a blade, such as for using in wind turbines, turbomachinery, aerospace vehicles, and the like, that is optimized or designed to provide a single active system that provides better load-bearing performance than other currently commercially available streamlined aerodynamic profiles. Therefore, there is a need for an improved airfoil active flow control method that address one or more of the aforementioned issues.

Method of using an active flow control system for lift enhancement or destruction in a wind turbine blade


There are provided a function image display method and device capable of performing analysis of biological function information by acquiring from a single image, information obtained from a tomogram and information obtained from a plurality of function images without need of observing the plurality of function images and the tomogram by successively moving the eye line, and easily making judgment about the danger degree of the biological function abnormality.

In analyzing the biological function data, it is often attempted to totally diagnose a plurality of function data. In the analysis of cerebral perfusion function data, for example, the diagnosis is carried out, usually, by totally observing the data obtained from a plurality of functional images such as cerebral blood flow (CBF) image, cerebral blood volume (CBV) image, mean transit time (MTT) image, as well as data (e.g., early CT sign and anatomical impression such as running of blood vessels, positions of tissues, etc.) obtained from a tomogram.
An image display method for displaying biological function data has been disclosed in JP-A-2002-282248 wherein a piece of functional image is superposed on a tomogram and is displayed as apiece of composite image. According to this method, the data obtained from the tomogram and the data obtained from a functional image are displayed on a piece of image. A range of measurement is divided into a plurality of sections for each parameter of blood flow, blood volume and mean transit time, and different hues are allocated to the sections of measurement by using a color map. However, since only one parameter is displayed, it is difficult to totally recognize whether the biological function abnormality, symptom and danger are of light degrees or serious degrees (hereinafter referred to as danger degree). Besides, since color is displayed on the whole tomogram, the data are so complex that the abnormality cannot be easily judged.
As a method of observation by displaying a plurality of functional images obtained through examinations of a plurality of number of times, there has been proposed a method called SISCOM (subtracted ictal SPECT co-registered to MRI) by subtracting the SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) images and composing a region where a distinct change is appearing on a standard brain MR image. This method is to obtain a functional image by subtracting SPECT images obtained, particularly, from an epileptic person during the ictal moment and the interictal moment. Here, an electrode-type electroencephalogram (EEG) is also used in combination. The above SISCOM is corresponding to the SPECT image only, but cannot be applied to the functional images formed from a CT image or an MR image. That is, when the tomograms obtained by different image diagnostic devices are overlapped one upon the other, unlike when the tomogram is obtained using a single image diagnostic device, it is necessary to transform the CT image or the MR image into a standard brain. However, it is difficult to bring the positions and the shapes into agreement. Besides, both the SPECT image and the MR image must be obtained, and the patient must be held locked for extended periods of time. Further, when the SPECT image and MR image are to be overlapped one upon the other, the SPECT image is deformed to meet the standard brain and is adjusted for its position with the MR image imposing a probability of losing the inherent shape of the patient's brain and of losing important data related to the shape. When the patient's skull is deformed, in particular, the loss of data of the shape becomes a serious problem.

Function image display method and device

Abstract: A plurality of function images each displayed by a unique and arbitrary gradation color scale are combined with an arbitrary weight or an image obtained by calculating the inter-function images is displayed or these are combined with the tomogram with an arbitrary weight.

Abstract: Furthermore, an operator can arbitrarily set and modify the range to which weight is applied, the range for displaying the gradation color scale, and the range to be combined.


A system and method for speech recognition includes a speaker-independent set of stored word representations derived from speech of many users deemed to be typical speakers and for use by all users, and may further include speaker-dependent sets of stored word representations specific to each user. Utterances from a user which match stored words in either set according to the ordering rules are reported as words.

This invention pertains generally to speech recognition, and more particularly to methods of recognizing non-standard speech.
Methods of recognizing and electronically transcribing human speech are known in the art. (See, for example, The HTK Book, Version 2.1, Steve Young et al, Cambridge University Technical Services Ltd., March 1997, Chapter 1.) They are generally based on storing mathematical models of spoken words, converting incoming utterances into mathematical models, and attempting to match the models of incoming utterances with stored models of words.
A well known application of this technology is a dictation program for a personal computer (PC), which allows a user to create a text file by dictating into a microphone, rather than by typing on a keyboard. Such a program is typically furnished to the user with associated audio hardware, including a circuit board for inclusion in the user""s PC and a microphone for connection to the circuit board.
Typically, a user newly acquiring a dictation program xe2x80x9ctrainsxe2x80x9d it (i.e., spends several hours dictating text to it.) The program uses the training speech stream for two purposes: i) to determine the spectral characteristics of the user""s voice (as delivered through the particular supplied microphone and circuit board) for its future use in converting the user""s utterances to mathematical models; and ii) to determine words spoken by the particular user that the program has difficulty matching with its stored mathematical models of words.
A speech-recognition program, such as a dictation program, is typically supplied with a library of stored word models derived from the speech of a large number of speakers. These are known as speaker-independent models. For most users, there are some words that do not match the speaker-independent models. For some users, this may be because of accents, regional speech variations, or vocal anomalies. Such users will be referred to herein as xe2x80x9cnon-standard usersxe2x80x9d.
For words of a particular user, identified during the training phase as difficult to reliably match against speaker-independent models, the dictation program xe2x80x9clearnsxe2x80x9d (i.e., derives and stores) word models from the particular user. These are known as speaker-dependent models or user-trained models. The user-trained model for a word is stored in place of the original speaker-independent word, which is no longer used for recognizing the particular user""s speech. Non-standard users typically require a greater number of user-trained models than standard users.
An emergent application of speech recognition is in voice messaging systems. The traditional means for a user to access such a system is to dial in by telephone, and request message services by pressing keys on the telephone""s keypad, (e.g., xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d might connote PLAY, xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d might connote ERASE, etc.). The user may first be required to provide an identification of himself and enter a password, or the system may assume an identity for the user based on the extension from which he calls.
Applications are emerging wherein a user operates the voice messaging system by voice commandsxe2x80x94e.g., by saying the words PLAY, ERASE, etc., rather than by pressing code keys on the keypad. To initiate a call, a user might speak the called party""s number or name rather than xe2x80x9cdialxe2x80x9d the number by pressing keypad digits.
There are some difficulties encountered in speech recognition in a voice messaging system that are not encountered in a dictation system: i) users would find it onerous to expend several hours training a voice messaging system; ii) unlike the single microphone and audio circuit board of a dictation system, users of a voice messaging system might call the system from many different telephone instruments which might connect over paths differing in quality from call to call, and which might use different kinds of networks from call to call. These difficulties compound the difficulties with recognition of utterances from non-standard users.
An approach that has been tried to aid the recognition of utterances by non-standard users is to regenerate the speaker-independent models, including the speech of one or more non-standard users along with the previous sampling of users. This is time-consuming and costly, and may actually degrade the models.
Another approach that has been tried is to eliminate the speaker-independent models and match user utterances against a speaker-dependent set of word models specifically created for each non-standard user. This approach, although feasible with the limited vocabulary that may be required in a voice messaging system, does not take advantage of the large amount of work that has been done in the course of preparing speaker-independent models in the areas of modeling the audio characteristics of various speech transmission media (e.g., telephone lines), or in modeling the co-articulation that occurs in streams of continuous speech.
There is thus a need for a speech recognition system that is based on a speaker-independent set of stored words but which can adapt in a speaker-dependent manner to a non-standard speaker without a long training period.
Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide improved recognition of utterances from a non-standard speaker.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a speech recognition system based on a speaker-independent set of stored words which can adapt in speaker-dependent manner to utterances from a non-standard speaker.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide speech recognition that does not require a long training period.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide reliable speech recognition of user utterances in conjunction with a large variety of transmission media.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description thereof.
In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, these and other objects may be accomplished by the present system of speech recognition in which an incoming audio signal is compared against stored models of words, reporting as words portions of the audio signal matching stored models, practiced with the present method of providing a set of stored word models derived from utterances of many users and for use by all users, and providing for further use by certain users second sets of stored word models, each set derived from the utterances of one of the certain users and for use only in association with audio signal from that one of the certain users. A portion of incoming audio signal matching a stored model from either set is reported as the corresponding word.

Method for recognizing non-standard and standard speech by speaker independent and speaker dependent word models


A method and an apparatus which scans and recognizes a page having columns of text or pictorial images. The scanned page is partitioned into blocks of scanlines and the column gap between the columns are identified by a projection profile process. With this technique the page can be severely tilted while under scan and still be properly recognized.

It is known in the art to optically scan and recognize a page having text or pictorial images. The information from the scanned page is converted into electronic data as an array of pixels representing black or white points of each scanline in the paper. The data is stored and is aggregated to reproduce the scanned images. A problem with this technique is its inability to distinguish two or more columns in a page, i.e., the recognized lines will be interpreted as continuous and without the separation between the columns. If the document contains illustrations or graphics, interpretation will be erroneous if they are treated as text characters. Therefore, it is desirable to have a processing step to divide the scanned images into (1) areas corresponding to illustrations and (2) areas corresponding to text and to further subdivide the latter into columns. Then the recognition process will be applied to each column of text.
The process of partitioning images into columns of text is called page segmentation. One known page segmentation technique assumes that columns of text and illustrations form a right rectangle having one pair of sides vertical and the other horizontal. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,556 to Scherl, et al. and an article by H.S. Baird, S.E. Jones and S.J. Fortune "Image Segmentation by Shape-Directed Covers", published in the Proceedings 10th Int. Conf. on Pattern Recognition pp. 820-825, (June, 1990). The disclosure of each of these references is incorporated herein by reference for the purpose of providing an understanding of basic techniques employed in the general field of the invention.
In a commonly known technique in the art, the electronically scanned page is usually a matrix of 1's representing dark pixels and 0's representing light pixels. Generally, W is the width, H is the height of the matrix and m[i][j] represents the matrix element in the i.sup.th row and j.sup.th column. A projection profile along the horizontal is defined as ##EQU1## and a projection profile along the vertical is defined as ##EQU2##
Previous state of the art methodologies assume that gaps between blocks of texts can be found by searching for places with projections of zero. If the page is upright, then indeed there will be a count of zero within the white spaces between columns along the page P[j]. When the page is tilted, then there will be a certain nonzero count in the white spaces between the columns.
Thus, prior art techniques often fail when the page is tilted while being scanned or when the document contains text and illustrations not printed in a rectangular form.
For example, consider a hypothetical situation where the text area of a page is 6 inches in width and 7 inches in height. When scanned at 300 pixels per inch, a matrix results with W equal to 1800 pixels and H equal to 2100 pixels. Suppose also that each of the two text columns is 2.85 inches wide (855 pixels) and the gap in between them is 0.3 inches (90 pixels). for values of j between approximately 860 and 940. However, if the page is scanned with a tilt of 6 degrees, then the white spaces will shift from the range of 860 to 940 at the top row to the range from 1080 to 1160 towards the bottom row.
Since the sine of 6 degrees equals about 0.105, each vertical projection with a "j" value greater than 940 will have a, zero count for a length of approximately 0.3 inches divided by 0.105 or about 860 pixels. If the remaining 1240 pixels are mostly black, a count value as high as 1000 may not be unexpected.
In the example above, the vertical projection profile will be nonzero for "j" values between 860 and 940 if the tilt angle is greater than 2.5 degrees (tangent of 0.3 inches/7.0 inches).
Thus, it is desirable to improve the processing of scanning systems with techniques which are more tilt independent.

Page segmentation with tilt compensation

Research Foundation of the State University of New York


Processes for polymerizing ethylene/.alpha.-olefin interpolymer compositions are disclosed. The interpolymer compositions have a controlled composition and a controlled molecular weight distribution. The processes utilize a highly-efficient homogeneous catalyst composition in at least one reactor to produce a first interpolymer having a narrow composition distribution and a narrow molecular weight distribution, and a highly-efficient heterogeneous Ziegler catalyst in at least one other reactor. The reactors can be operated sequentially or separately, depending upon the desired product. The novel compositions have good optical properties (e.g., clarity and haze) and good physical properties (e.g., modulus, yield strength, toughness and tear). Useful products which can be formed from these compositions include film, molded articles and fiber.

There are known several polymerization processes for producing polyethylene and ethylene interpolymers, including suspension, gas-phase and solution processes. Of these, the solution process is of commercial significance due to the advantages described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,330,646 (Sakurai et al.), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. A most advantageous solution process would be found if the temperature of the polymerization solution could be increased and the properties of the polymers suitably controlled. U.S. Pat. No. 4,314,912 (Lowery et al.), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a Ziegler-type catalyst suitable for use in high temperature solution polymerization processes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,612,300 (Coleman, III), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,330,646 describe a catalyst and solution polymerization process for producing polyethylenes having a narrow molecular weight distribution. U.S. Pat. No. 4,330,646 also describes a process for producing polyethylenes with a broader molecular weight distribution in a solution process. These processes are based on heterogeneous Ziegler type catalysts which produce interpolymers with broad composition distributions regardless of their molecular weight distribution. Such ethylene polymers have deficiencies in some properties, for instance, poor transparency and poor anti-blocking properties.
Solution polymerization processes for producing ethylene interpolymers with narrow composition distributions are also known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,752 (Tominari et al.), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes the production of heterogeneous ethylene copolymers with characteristics which include a narrower composition distribution than conventional heterogeneous copolymers. The utility of such polymer compositions in improving mechanical, optical and other important properties of formed or molded objects is also described. The complex structures of the copolymers necessary to achieve such advantages are finely and difficultly controlled by nuances of catalyst composition and preparation; any drift in which would cause a significant loss in the desired properties. U.S. Pat. No. 3,645,992 (Elston), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes the preparation of homogeneous polymers and interpolymers of ethylene in a solution process operated at temperatures of less than 100.degree. C. These polymers exhibit a "narrow composition distribution", a term defined by a comonomer distribution that within a given polymer molecule and between substantially all molecules of the copolymer is the same. The advantages of such copolymers in improving optical and mechanical properties of objects formed from them is described. These copolymers, however, have relatively low melting points and poor thermal resistance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,432 (Welborn, Jr.), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a catalyst composition for the production of ethylene polymers having a varied range of composition distributions and/or molecular weight distributions. Such compositions contain a metallocene and a non-metallocene transition metal compound supported catalyst and an aluminoxane. U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,685 (Coleman, III et al.), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes catalysts which are composed of two supported catalysts (one a metallocene complex supported catalyst and the second a non-metallocene transition metal compound supported catalyst) and an aluminoxane. The disadvantages of such catalysts in the commercial manufacture of ethylene polymers are primarily twofold. Although, the choice of the metallocene and a non-metallocene transition metal compounds and their ratio would lead to polymers of controlled molecular structure, the broad range of ethylene polymer structures required to meet all the commercial demands of this polymer family would require a plethora of catalyst compositions and formulations. In particular, the catalyst compositions containing aluminoxanes (which are generally required in high amounts with respect to the transition metal) are unsuitable for higher temperature solution processes as such amount of the aluminum compounds result in low catalyst efficiencies and yield ethylene polymers with low molecular weights and broad molecular weight distributions.
It would be desirable to provide an economical solution process which would provide ethylene interpolymers with controlled composition and molecular weight distributions. It would be additionally desirable to provide a process for preparing such interpolymers with reduced complexity and greater flexibility in producing a full range of interpolymer compositions in a controllable fashion. It would be particularly desirable to economically produce ethylene interpolymer compositions having improved impact and tear properties, improved optical properties, high modulus and higher thermal stabilities.


The storage apparatus has a control unit that includes: an identification unit that is configured to determine that a first data element contained in the data is incorrect, when a first restoration calculation first data element, which is restored from the first data element using other data elements of the data excluding the first data element and a new redundancy code obtained from the data by a first calculation method, coincides with a second restoration calculation first data element, which is restored from the first data element using the other data elements and a new redundancy code obtained from the data by a second calculation method; and a restoration unit that is configured to correct the first data element in the storage devices that is determined to be incorrect by the identification unit, to either the first restoration calculation first data element or the second restoration calculation first data element.

Data redundancy systems that have redundancy of two or more and are highly redundant and highly capacity efficient such as Erasure Coding are becoming popular. More specifically, redundancy systems employed in RAID (Redundant Arrays of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks), Microsoft Azure ad Facebook and the like are some examples.
A storage system that employs a RAID is provided with a RAID group constituted of a plurality of storage devices (for instance, hard disk drives (HDDs). A storage area of the RAID group is constituted of a plurality of sub-storage area columns, a "stripe columns", formed across a plurality of storage devices. Hereinafter, one sub-storage area of each storage device constituting the stripe column is referred to as a "stripe".
RAIDs have some levels (hereinafter referred to as a "RAID level").
For instance, in a RAID5, write target data specified by a host computer is divided into data of a predetermined size (hereinafter referred to as a "data unit", for the sake of convenience), and each data unit is divided into a plurality of data elements, and the plurality of data elements are written on a plurality of the stripes, respectively.
In a RAID 5, redundant information called "parity" (hereinafter referred to as a "redundancy code") is generated for one data unit, and the redundancy code is written on a stripe. When a failure occurs in a storage device and it becomes impossible to read a correct value of a data element that constitutes the data unit, the data element is restored by using the parity.
A RAID 6 is able to withstand even a double failure. In the RAID 6, two (two kinds of) redundant codes are generated for each stripe column. A double failure can be coped with by using the two redundant codes. PTL 1 discloses that a data error is detected by comparing two pieces of parity.

Storage apparatus, storage system, and data management method


A method for creating a building material that makes use of a wheeled, moveable apparatus that moves through a field after the straw or other agricultural waste has been processed into tightly bound cables. Said cables are formed into woven mats, and said mats are bonded together to form flat or curved wall sections or panels.

The present invention has to do with a process designed to harvest straw or other fibrous material from the field and convert it to a structural insulating building material. There is a need for inexpensive building material for housing, erosion control structures and other structures that is not fully met by currently available building materials. Coincidentally, a great deal of agricultural material, such as straw and corn stalks, is essentially wasted.

Fabrication of composite panels from cable made from oriented agricultural byproducts


A method of reducing vehicle component loading variations on an internal combustion engine in a motor vehicle includes the step of receiving a request to actuate a vehicle component and modifying a spark timing sequence for each spark plug of the internal combustion engine. The method also includes the step of actuating said vehicle component. The method further includes opposing a vehicle component torque generated by said actuation of said vehicle component with an adjustment of the internal combustion engine torque by reverting said modification of said spark timing sequence of each spark plug of the internal combustion engine.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a control method for an engine in a motor vehicle and, more specifically to a method of adjusting the spark timing sequence for reducing loading variations on an internal combustion engine.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
One of the most notable examples of change in the automotive industry has been the improvement in the fuel efficiency of the internal combustion engine. This improvement was made possible, largely by the reduction in the size of the internal combustion engine. Although the reduction in the size of the internal combustion engine has created a benefit by increasing fuel efficiency, it has also created a problem.
The operation of an automotive air conditioning unit best illustrates this problem. The typical automotive air conditioning unit uses a compressor to perform the cooling function. When the air conditioning unit cycles power, the compressor creates a torque that opposes the torque generated by the internal combustion engine of a vehicle. This, in turn, causes a deceleration in the speed of the internal combustion engine. Typically a series of oscillations also follow as the engine controller tries to compensate for the initial deceleration. This loading variation problem was not readily noticed when large engines were predominant in vehicles, since the torque created by the compressor of the air conditioning unit was very small in comparison with the torque generated by a large engine. However the large engine is no longer the norm in todays automobile and the smaller engines, which are used in place of the larger engines, have a much smaller torque output so that the torque created by the air conditioning unit is a larger amount relative to the torque generated by the smaller engine. Thus deceleration and oscillations that are created by the air conditioning unit cycling power are more of a problem today since current vehicles are more likely to have smaller engines.
A number of methods have been attempted to correct the problem. In particular the size of the compressor has been reduced in order to lessen the effect of the torque created by the air conditioning unit. However, reducing the size of the compressor creates a undesirable reduction in the ability of the air conditioning unit to cool the vehicle. Another approach has been attempted such that half of the compressor actuates first and the other half of the compressor actuates some time after the first half of the compressor has started, thus lessening the overall torque effect of the cycling of power of the air conditioning unit on the internal combustion engine. However, due to the special design, the dual starting air conditioning unit costs more than a standard air conditioning unit and thus is not a viable solution for many automotive manufacturers.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a methodology for reducing the effect that a cycling of power of the automotive air conditioning unit has on the operation of the vehicle.

Method of reducing vehicle component loading variations on an internal combustion engine


In at least some disclosed embodiments, a wireless electronic system includes a decoder module coupled to a processor. The decoder module is configured to send a signal to the processor based on a less than completely acquired burst of data. The less than completely acquired burst of data is part of a complete burst of data, and the complete burst of data is contiguous. The processor causes a reduction in power consumption of the wireless electronic system based on the signal.

At least some wireless electronic systems operate in either an active mode or an idle mode. In active mode, the wireless electronic system transmits and acquires data over a "traffic channel" opened between the wireless electronic system and a "base station." A traffic channel carries encoded speech or user data, and a base station comprises a radio transceiver in a fixed location. In idle mode, the wireless electronic system acquires data from the base station over a "control channel." A control channel carries data in the form of broadcast messages sent to each wireless electronic system within a certain distance from a base station. The broadcast messages occur approximately once every 2 seconds, and are not transmitted as a continuous stream of data, but as four "bursts" of data. A burst is a specified time of radio frequency transmission, and represents the physical content of a "timeslot." A timeslot is a discrete window of time, the duration of which is standardized to provide for regularity in communications. A timeslot has a duration of 3/5200 seconds (577 μs), and is divided into 156.25 symbol periods. One symbol period is enough time to transmit one symbol of information, and for Gaussian minimum shift keying ("GMSK") modulation, a symbol is equivalent to a bit.
In order to acquire broadcast messages, a wireless electronic system provides power to embedded radio frequency ("RF") circuitry during the four bursts of each broadcast message. If the broadcast message contains a unique identifier associated with the wireless electronic system, the wireless electronic system will open a traffic channel with the base station to acquire encoded speech or user data. If the broadcast message contains a unique identifier associated with another wireless electronic system, or no unique identifiers at all, the original wireless electronic system need not take any action in response to the broadcast message. Because a small percentage of the total number of broadcast messages transmitted to a particular wireless electronic system daily is actually associated with that particular wireless electronic system, most broadcast messages require no further action from the wireless electronic system. If no further action is required, the RF circuitry is powered down after the four bursts are acquired until the next broadcast message arrives. As such, a significant amount of power is consumed by a wireless electronic system while acquiring messages of no consequence to that wireless electronic system.

Limiting the power consumption of a wireless electronic system


A tapered roller bearing includes: an outer ring; an inner ring; a plurality of tapered rollers; and a cage that holds the tapered rollers at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the tapered roller bearing. A small-diameter-side inner periphery end portion of the cage is located at a position inward of an axially outer small end face of the inner ring in the axial direction of the tapered roller bearing. A small-diameter-side end face of the cage has an inwardly tilted face that is tilted inward in the axial direction from the inner periphery end portion from the radially inner side to the radially outer side.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a tapered roller bearing, and more specifically to a tapered roller bearing incorporated in, for example, a final reduction gear unit of an automobile and lubricated with oil stored in the final reduction gear unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 11 illustrates a conventional tapered roller bearing. The tapered roller bearing includes an outer ring 72, an inner ring 82, a plurality of tapered rollers 74, and a cage 87. The outer ring 72 has an outer raceway surface 71 formed on its inner peripheral face. The inner ring 82 has an inner raceway surface 81 formed on its outer peripheral face. The tapered rollers 74 are rollably disposed between the outer raceway surface 71 and the inner raceway surface 81. The cage 87 holds the tapered rollers 74 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the tapered roller bearing.
Tapered roller bearings are widely used because they are compact, able to bear large radial loads and large axial loads, and usable under high-speed rotation. However, toque loss of the tapered roller bearings is larger than that of ball bearings. Therefore, reduction of toque is a matter to be addressed from the viewpoint of energy saving.
The tapered roller bearing is configured such that, under the pumping action resulting from the rotation of the tapered roller bearing, the oil introduced into the tapered roller bearing through a clearance between a small-diameter-side end portion 88 of the cage 87 and an inner ring outer periphery 85 and a clearance between the small-diameter-side end portion 88 of the cage 87 and an outer ring inner periphery 75 flows through the tapered roller bearing. The stirring resistance of the oil largely contributes to an increase in the rotary torque of the tapered roller bearing. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-69421 (JP 2005-69421 A) describes a configuration in which a small-diameter-side portion of the cage 87 is bent radially inward to reduce a clearance between the small-diameter-side portion of the cage 87 and the outer periphery of the inner ring 82 (hereinafter, referred to as "radially-inner clearance") and to form a labyrinth, in order to appropriately adjust the flow of oil in the tapered roller bearing, thereby reducing the rotary torque. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-202785 (JP 2008-202785 A) describes a configuration in which means for adjusting a clearance between the small-diameter-side end portion 88 of the cage 87 and the inner periphery of the outer ring 72 (hereinafter, referred to as "radially-outer clearance") is provided in order to limit the flow of oil through the radially-outer clearance.
In the tapered roller bearing described in JP 2005-69421 A, the inner peripheral face of the small-diameter-side end portion 88 of the cage 87 faces the inner ring outer periphery 85 across a clearance in the radial direction of the tapered roller bearing. A cone front face rib (hereinafter, referred to as "a small rib") 89 that protrudes outward in the radial direction is formed on the inner ring outer periphery 85. The small-diameter-side end portion 88 of the cage 87 is disposed outward of the small rib 89 in the axial direction of the tapered roller bearing. An axially inner side face of the small-diameter-side end portion 88 faces an axially outer side face of the small rib 89 across a small clearance.
As described above, the labyrinth is formed between the inner peripheral side of the small-diameter-side end portion 88 of the cage 87 and the outer peripheral side of the inner ring 82. The labyrinth makes it possible to reduce the amount of oil flowing into the tapered roller bearing through the clearance located radially inward of the small-diameter-side end portion 88 of the cage 87. By reducing the amount of oil flowing into the tapered roller bearing, that is, into the inside of the tapered roller bearing in which the tapered rollers are disposed, through the radially-inner clearance as described above, it is possible to reduce stirring resistance of the oil, thereby curbing an increase in the rotary torque of the tapered roller bearing.


An optical beam splitter includes an input waveguide, two or more branching arms, two or more fan-out arms, and two or more output waveguides. The input waveguide receives an input light beam. The two or more branching arms are coupled to the input waveguide at a separation point and split the input light beam at the separation point into two or more light beams. Each fan-out arm is coupled to one of the branching arms and fans-out one of the two or more light beams to a predetermined output pitch. Each output waveguide is coupled to one of the fan-out arms and transmits one of the two or more light beams out of the optical beam splitter.

The splitting of an optical beam into two or more optical beams is an important function in optical communication systems. Optical beam splitters enable a single optical beam from a source such as a laser to be supplied to more than one device. As a result, optical beam splitters are utilized in many devices including splitter arrays, optical interconnects, modulators, and the like.
Typical 1×2 optical splitters consist of an input waveguide, two fan-out arms coupled to the input waveguide at a separation point, and two output waveguides. An input light beam enters the optical splitter and travels through the input waveguide to the separation point. At the separation point, the light beam is split into two light beams by being forced to enter the two fan-out arms. The two light beams then travel through the fan-out arms and out of the optical splitter via the output waveguides.
Since light beams tend to travel in a straight line, and since the fan-out arms typically have a strong curvature at the separation point, a small amount of light from the center of the input light beam will not enter either fan-out arm. This results in a propagation loss in the input light beam and thus a decrease in the intensity of the two light beams exiting the optical splitter.


An automated processing system that includes providing an intelligent module with a composite connection for transmitting information and configuring the intelligent module within the automated processing system for automatic recognition.

Within the automated systems industry there are two main types of automated processing system s available in the marketplace, the high efficiency (specialized) system or the quickly configurable (flexible) system. The high efficiency systems produce thousands of units with a very high throughput per unit time, unfortunately, they are extremely difficult to reconfigure for a new device or a new programming job. Consequently, the high efficiency systems require a lot of down time and special training for the operators before implementation of a new device or new programming job can be put into production.
The quickly configurable systems are not high productivity systems but they are easy to configure. They can be reconfigured for new devices, new program jobs, and new input/output media because they are designed for very specific devices, programming jobs, and input/output media.
Both of the above systems fail to fill the need of small batch device production with varied device characteristics and performance for the rapidly changing needs of on-time demand customers. Lamentably, today's technology fails to even provide intelligent design and plug-and-play capability for most modules. For instance, many conventional systems require the development of specialized processes to connect and communicate with a programming system. Specialized dialogs and/or operating systems might need to be created for each module, and more often than not, these systems are unstable and cumbersome to operate.
Today's automated processing system s market needs to produce a system that can be easily and quickly reconfigured for new devices, new programming jobs and/or new input/output media.
Thus, a need still remains for an automated processing system that can be easily and quickly reconfigured. In view of the ever-increasing need to save costs and improve efficiencies, it is more and more critical that answers be found to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.

Automated processing system employing intelligent module automatic recognition


The disclosure concerns a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including forming a plurality of fins made of a semiconductor material on an insulating layer; forming a gate insulating film on side surfaces of the plurality of fins; and forming a gate electrode on the gate insulating film in such a manner that a compressive stress is applied to a side surface of a first fin which is used in an NMOSFET among the plurality of fins in a direction perpendicular to the side surface and a tensile stress is applied to a side surface of a second fin which is used in a PMOSFET among the plurality of fins in a direction perpendicular to the side surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device.
2. Related Art
In planar MOSFETs, stress induced carrier mobility enhancement techniques have been developed. On the other hand, FinFET (one of the double gate transistors) has been developed for CMOS scaling, low power operation and high performance.
However, non-planar device, such as FinFET or multiple-gate device, has different structure of the gate electrode and the channel region and channel orientation from those of planar MOSFET. Therefore, the method of applying stress effectively for carrier mobility enhancement is different from that of planar MOSFET. Furthermore, stress sensitivities of channel orientation for nMOSFET and pMOSFET are different from each other.
In planar CMOSFETs, technique of applying different direction of stress in fins of nMOSFET and pMOSFET from each other has been demonstrated to enhance carrier mobility of both nMOSFET and pMOSFET. For example, tensile SiN liner for nMOSFET and compressive SiN liner for pMOSFET have been used. This case, however, had the problem that the manufacturing process becomes complex, and the problem that the tensile and compressive stress can be canceled out in adjacent nMOSFET and pMOSFET. (see Scott E. Thompson et al. "In Search of "Forever", Continued Transistor Scaling One New Material at a Time" IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING, VOL. 18, NO. 1, February 2005).

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing semiconductor device


A fast wake-up crystal oscillating circuit includes: a crystal oscillator for generating oscillation signal, an amplifier set, a feedback resistor, first and second triggers and an amplifier switch logic. The amplifier set amplifies the oscillation signal. The feedback resistor supplies DC operation bias to the amplifier set. The first trigger has an input connected to the output of the amplifier set so that the first trigger is triggered by the amplified oscillation signal to generate a first clock. The second trigger has an input connected the output of the amplifier set so that the second trigger is triggered by the amplified oscillation signal to generate a second clock, wherein the second trigger has a hysteresis voltage higher than a predetermined value. The amplifier switch logic is connected to the second trigger to gradually decrease the amplification of the amplifier set when detecting that the second trigger generates the second clock.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a crystal oscillating circuit, and more particularly to a fast wake-up crystal oscillating circuit capable of assuring successful oscillation.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a conventional crystal oscillating circuit comprising an inverting amplifier 11, a feedback resistor 12, a crystal oscillator 13, a pair of capacitors 14 and a Schmitt trigger 16. The inverting amplifier 11 is employed for signal amplification to provide a gain for the crystal oscillating circuit. The Schmitt trigger 16 is triggered by an amplified signal generated by the inverting amplifier 11 to output a clock signal CLK. The feedback resistor 12 supplies a DC operation bias to the inverting amplifier 11. The crystal oscillator 13 generates an oscillation signal having a resonance frequency. The pair of capacitors 14 causes the crystal oscillating circuit to have a parallel resonance very close to a series resonance while the oscillation frequency of the crystal oscillating circuit is between the parallel resonance and the series resonance.
For the aforesaid crystal oscillating circuit, the signal bandwidth and amplification gain vary with operation voltage, processing parameters and load capacitor pair. In practical applications, these variations may cause difficulty or even failure for the crystal oscillating circuit to wake up.
To solve the above-mentioned problems, the prior art provided an improved crystal oscillating circuit as shown in FIG. 2, which utilizes a number of parallel inverting amplifiers 11 to achieve the object to fast wake up the crystal oscillating circuit. FIG. 3 shows the switching operation of the inverting amplifiers 11 of FIG. 2. First, all the inverting amplifiers 11 are turned on when a power supply is applied (step S301) (known as "strong mode"). In the strong mode, the amplification gain of the amplifiers 11 is very high so that the object to fast wake up the crystal oscillating circuit can be achieved. However, the current consumed by the amplifiers at that time is also high. To save the power consumption, the clock CLK so generated is applied to an N-bit counter 17 (step S302). After 2N clocks, the counter 17 stops counting, remaining only a basic inverting amplifier 11 for keeping the crystal oscillating circuit to oscillate (known as "weak mode"), while the other inverting amplifiers 11 are turned off (step S303).
The aforesaid improved crystal oscillating circuit enables fast wake-up by connecting plural inverting amplifiers in parallel. However, after wake-up, only one basic inverting amplifier 11 is retained, and thus the wake-up crystal oscillating circuit also encounters the same problem as the conventional crystal oscillating circuit in that the crystal oscillating circuit may fail to wake up due to operation voltage, processing parameter and load capacitor variations. Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved crystal oscillating circuit to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.

Fast wake-up crystal oscillating circuit


An adhesive sport tissue having an elongated absorbent body including a first end and a second end of predetermined length, and a pair of opposing side edges of predetermined width extending between the first end and the second end. The adhesive sport tissue further comprising a front side and a rear side, wherein the rear side is securable to a user's skin or an article of clothing such that the front side faces away from the user. At least one sheet is disposed on the front side that is selectively removable by the user. The adhesive sport tissue further includes an upper layer that is permeable to moisture and a moisture-absorbent inner core layer that tapers inwardly from the pair of opposing side edges, and a plurality of adhesive strips disposed on the rear side. In one embodiment, a scented layer is also included.

The present invention relates to an adhesive sport tissue. Many people enjoy exercising, including jogging, hiking, biking, and the like. However, bodily fluids can be a cause of frustration for the user, as fluids such as sweat, nasal drainage, and the like can distract the user, requiring attention to be split between the desired activity and managing the fluid buildup. Frequently, people must stop, locate an absorbent article such as tissues or a towel, and wipe up the offending fluids. However, stopping mid-workout can negatively impact an individual's workout. Additionally, being forced to carry additional absorbent articles can be cumbersome. Therefore, a device that allows a user to manage sweat and other fluid buildup during a workout without stopping the workout is desired.
Devices have been disclosed in the known art that relate to adhesive wipes. These include devices that have been patented and published in patent publications. However, these devices do not disclose the combination of a wipe with an adhesive backing, a body having an inwardly tapered center portion, indicia disposed on an uppermost layer of the body, and a scented layer.


An information management unit 12 of an information management apparatus 1 represents a device as an object by a service provided and data stored in the apparatus. The information management unit 12 further sends and receives an object by a communication unit 23 and manages a surrounding apparatus as a similarly modeled object. A device policy creating unit 24 defines from objects what kind of device state is desirable when the surrounding environment is constituted by a plurality of devices in particular states as a device policy, and changes a setting of the information management apparatus 1 according to the device policy.

Conventionally, setting information and internally held information of a device are no more than initial values or information set by a user. Even when an environment or a situation is changed, it is not possible to change the settings in response to the change. Therefore, the user carries out setting changes, or addition or deletion of information corresponding to the environment or the situation as necessary.
Accordingly, a configuration of an electronic device has been conceived that acquires information from outside and changes setting items as appropriate. More specifically, there is an electronic device known to carry out operations based on external information by acquiring the external information and by automatically changing the setting information of the electronic device in accordance with a flow programmed in advance without an operation of the user.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-004879
However, with conventional technologies, it is not possible to set a device in a desirable device state in response to the situations of surrounding devices. More specifically, it is not possible to entrust a system to determine what the situation is based on information of a plurality of surrounding devices, and what to do in particular situations. Therefore, the data and services of the device may be separated from the surrounding devices, the situation, or the environment.
The separation from surrounding devices is exemplified. When extension numbers of all associated departments are registered as initial data on a house phone used in an office, a registering operation occurs each time a new phone is purchased. At present, even though a house phone in one department has virtually the same initial data registered, it is not possible to perform an operation to set exactly the same initial data in the newly purchased phone. In this example, the information held in the device is separated from the surrounding devices. In another example, even when all other cellular phones present in a meeting room are set in silent mode, the setting of your own cellular phone is not affected at all and your cellular phone only may ring during a meeting. In this example, the setting information of the device is separated from the surrounding devices.
The separation from the surrounding situation or environment is exemplified. In a room for a meeting, even when there are some document files and such used for the meeting, it is difficult to obtain the file data upon entering the meeting room as a trigger or to delete unnecessary files upon leaving the meeting room. In this example, the information held in the device is separated from the environment. In another example, in a lecture hall, even when there is a rule that cellular phones must be set in silent mode, it is not possible to enforce the rule on cellular phones. In this example, the setting information of the device is separated from the environment.
These examples can be an issue even for home electric appliances or server machines. However, particularly with mobile terminals such as cellular phones, PDAs, and notebook PCs, as their locations of use and surrounding environments often change, in terms of being troublesome to change the settings each time they change, there are many occasions where the application of the technologies disclosed herein is expected.

Information management apparatus, information management method, and information management program


A grain dryer has a horizontal plenum connected to a source of heated forced air and has at least one generally perforated wall. A substantially enclosed grain conduit extends along the plenum and has one of its sidewalls being the perforated wall of the plenum. The grain conduit has upper and lower ends to receive and discharge, respectively, a quantity of grain to be dried by heat conveyed to the grain through the perforated wall of the plenum. The lower end of the grain conduit defines an opening generally dwelling in a substantially vertical plane and having upper and lower discharge ports, separated by a plate extending across the central portion thereof to close the flow of grain therethrough. Generally horizontal upper and lower feed rolls are located in the grain conduit adjacent each of the upper and lower ports, respectively, to induce flow of grain out of the upper and lower ports, with the feed roll adjacent the upper port serving to accelerate the discharge of a layer of hotter grain adjacent the vertical wall of the grain conduit. A flange extends inwardly from the plate in spaced relation to the vertical wall of the grain conduit to guide a layer of hotter grain adjacent to the wall out of the grain conduit.

Existing grain dryers commonly utilize a plurality of longitudinally juxtapositioned hexagonal-shaped grain conduits which have a longitudinal central opening that serves as a heat plenum through which hot air is driven by a suitable fan. At least the inner walls of the plenum are perforated to permit the air to access the hexagonal-shaped conduits to dry the grain therein. The grain typically is introduced into the dryer at the top and moves by gravity in a downward direction while it is being dried. The dried grain is discharged into a conventional elongated auger through a discharge port at the bottom of the conduits. The lower ends of the conduits are typically closed except for a horizontal discharge opening at the lower ends thereof. A horizontal paddle wheel or feed metering roll is mounted adjacent the discharge opening. Its rotation facilitates the movement of the dried grain out of the conduits.
While these existing grain dryers are effective in drying grain, they suffer at least one shortcoming in that the grain adjacent the wall of the conduit that is in common with the heat plenum often becomes quite hot and the grain in that layer is damaged. The damage usually is reflected by stress cracks in grain which results in inferior quality. That hotter layer is dryer than the remaining wetter grain in the conduit. When the very dry grain is subsequently mixed with the wetter grain, a non-uniform quality of the mixed grain results.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for drying grain in such a conventional dryer wherein the quality of the grain will be enhanced and the layer of grain against the common wall with the heat plenum will not be damaged by this hotter condition.
A still further object of this invention is to move the layer of grain along the plenum wall more quickly to reduce its temperature and relative degrees so that a more uniform quality of mixed grain is achieved.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.


Ophthalmic surgical blades are manufactured from either a single crystal or poly-crystalline material, preferably in the form of a wafer. The method comprises preparing the single crystal or poly-crystalline wafers by mounting them and etching trenches into the wafers using one of several processes. Methods for machining the trenches, which form the bevel blade surfaces, include a diamond blade saw, laser system, ultrasonic machine, a hot forge press and a router. Other processes include wet etching (isotropic and anisotropic) and dry etching (isotropic and anisotropic, including reactive ion etching), and combinations of these etching steps. The wafers are then placed in an etchant solution which isotropically etches the wafers in a uniform manner, such that layers of crystalline or poly-crystalline material are removed uniformly, producing single, double or multiple bevel blades. Nearly any angle can be machined into the wafer, and the machined angle remains after etching. The resulting radii of the blade edges is 5-500 nm, which is the same caliber as a diamond edged blade, but manufactured at a fraction of the cost. A range of radii may be 30 to 60 nm, with a specific implementation being about 40 nm. The blade profile may have an angle of, for example, about 60°. The ophthalmic surgical blades can be used for cataract and refractive surgical procedures, as well as microsurgical, biological and non-medical, non-biological purposes. Surgical and non-surgical blades and mechanical devices manufactured as described herein can also exhibit substantially smoother surfaces than metal blades.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to ophthalmic and other types of surgical and non-surgical use blades and mechanical devices. More particularly, the invention relates to ophthalmic, micro-surgical and non-surgical blades and mechanical devices manufactured from single crystal silicon and other single or poly-crystalline materials, and processes for manufacture and strengthening of the aforementioned mechanical devices, surgical and non-surgical blades.
2. Description of the Related Art
Existing surgical blades are manufactured via several different methodologies, each method having its own peculiar advantages and disadvantages. The most common method of manufacture is to mechanically grind stainless steel. The blade is subsequently honed (through a variety of different methods such as ultrasonic slurrying, mechanical abrasion and lapping) or is electrochemically polished to achieve a sharp edge. The advantage of these methods is that they are proven, economical processes to make disposable blades in high volume. The greatest disadvantage of these processes is that the edge quality is variable, such that achieving superior sharpness consistency is still a challenge. This is primarily due to the inherent limitations of the process itself. Blade edge radii can range from 30 nm to 1000 nm.
A relatively new method of blade manufacture employs coining of the stainless steel in lieu of grinding. The blade is subsequently electrochemically polished to achieve a sharp edge. This process has been found to be more economical than the grinding method. It has also been found to produce blades with better sharpness consistency. The disadvantage of this method is that the sharpness consistency is still less than that achieved by the diamond blade manufacturing process. The use of metal blades in soft tissue surgery is prevalent today due to their disposable cost and their improved quality.
Diamond blades are the gold standard in sharpness in many surgical markets, especially in the ophthalmic surgery market. Diamond blades are known to be able to cleanly cut soft tissue with minimal tissue resistance. The use of diamond blades is also desired due to their consistent sharpness, cut after cut. Most high-volume surgeons will use diamond blades since the ultimate sharpness and sharpness variability of metal blades is inferior to that of diamond. The manufacturing process used to make diamond blades employs a lapping process to achieve an exquisitely sharp and consistent edge radius. The resultant blade edge radii range from 5 nm to 30 nm. The disadvantage of this process is that it is slow and as a direct result, the cost to manufacture such diamond blades ranges from $500 to $5000. Therefore, these blades are sold for reuse applications. This process is currently used on other, less hard materials, such as rubies and sapphires, to achieve the same sharpness at a lesser cost. However, while less expensive than diamonds, ruby and/or sapphire surgical quality blades still suffer from the disadvantage that the cost of manufacture is relatively high, ranging from $50 to $500, and their edges only last through about two hundred cases. Therefore, these blades are sold for reuse and limited reuse applications.
There have been a few proposals for the manufacture of surgical blades using silicon. However, in one form or another, these processes are limited in their ability to manufacture blades in various configurations and at a disposable cost. Many of the silicon blade patents are based on anisotropic etching of silicon. The anisotropic etching process is one where the etching is highly directional, with different etch rates in different directions. This process can produce a sharp cutting edge. However, due to the nature of the process, it is limited by the blade shapes and included bevel angles that can be attained. Wet bulk anisotropic etching processes, such as those employing potassium hydroxide (KOH), ethylene-diamine/pyrcatechol (EDP) and trimethyl-2-hydroxethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) baths, etch along a particular crystalline plane to achieve a sharp edge. This plane, typically the (111) plane in silicon <100>, is angled 54.7° from the surface plane in the silicon wafers. This creates a blade with an included bevel angle of 54.7°, which has been found to be clinically unacceptable in most surgical applications as too obtuse. This application is even worse when this technique is applied to making double bevel blades, for the included bevel angle is 109.4°. The process is further limited to the blade profiles that it can produce. The etch planes are arranged 90° to each other in the wafer. Therefore, only blades with rectangular profiles can be produced.
In the methods described in greater detail below for manufacturing surgical and non-surgical blades and other mechanical devices from silicon, it is possible that mechanical damage can be induced into the brittle silicon material during one or more of the machining steps. Cracks, chips, scratches and sharp edges all act as crack initiation points in brittle materials. These points serve to initiate catastrophic failure of mechanical devices when they are loaded or stressed.
Other methods are well known to produce sharpened edges in blades formed from wafers in which a photomask is used along with an isotropic wet or dry etch to etch through the wafer to form an ophthalmic blade geometry and the cutting edge. In this process the entire perimeter of the blade etches through and forms a sharpened edge. This thru-etching occurs only while an etch mask is in place. The mask defines approximately where the cutting edges will be created. The mask is then removed and the blades float free when their carrier is dissolved (requiring an additional die level cleaning step). This is both inefficient and ineffective for volume production of high quality, defect free ophthalmic blades. It is inefficient because it adds steps to the manufacturing process.
There are also significant cutting edge geometry constraints inherent to this process. The bevel created by this process is limited to an inefficient 45° for a single bevel blade and an impractical 90° for a double bevel blade. Further, the width of the bevel is severely constrained by the process to a maximum of one times the thickness of the wafer for a single bevel blade and one-half the thickness of the wafer for a double bevel blade. These geometries result in a poor cutting tool as evidenced by a lack of adoption in the ophthalmic community.
Thus, a need exists to manufacture blades that address the shortcomings of the methods discussed above. This system and method of the present invention can make blades with the sharpness of diamond blades at the disposable cost of the stainless steel methods. In addition, the system and method of the present invention can produce blades in high volume and with tight process control. Further, the system and method of the present invention can produce surgical and various other types of blades with both linear and non-linear blade bevels. Still further, the system and method of the present invention can remove the mechanical damage induced into the silicon crystalline material when blades (surgical or non-surgical) or other mechanical devices are manufactured according to the processes described herein.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods of fabricating complex blade geometries from silicon wafers and strengthening blade geometries


A method of manufacturing a two-piece counterweight for a scroll compressor is provided. The method includes molding an outer plate, and molding a base having a first opening configured to receive a scroll compressor drive shaft having a longitudinal axis. The method further includes configuring the base for assembly and attachment to the drive shaft. The method also includes attaching the outer plate to the base such that the outer plate is axially offset from the base. In a particular embodiment of this method, the base and outer plate are molded from powdered metal. In certain embodiments, the base and outer plate include one or more openings aligned to permit attachment by inserting a mechanical fastener through the aligned openings. In alternate embodiments, the base and outer plate are attached via brazing or welding.

A scroll compressor is a certain type of compressor that is used to compress refrigerant for such applications as refrigeration, air conditioning, industrial cooling and freezer applications, and/or other applications where compressed fluid may be used. Such prior scroll compressors are known, for example, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 6,398,530 to Hasemann; U.S. Pat. No. 6,814,551, to Kammhoff et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,960,070 to Kammhoff et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 7,112,046 to Kammhoff et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,997,877, to Beagle et al., all of which are assigned to a Bitzer entity closely related to the present assignee. As the present disclosure pertains to improvements that can be implemented in these or other scroll compressor designs, the disclosures of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,398,530, 7,112,046, 6,814,551, and 6,960,070 are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety's.
Additionally, particular embodiments of scroll compressors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,582,211 to Wallis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,428,292 to Wallis et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,084 to Wallis et al., the teachings and disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety's.
As is exemplified by these patents, scroll compressors conventionally include an outer housing having a scroll compressor contained therein. A scroll compressor includes first and second scroll compressor members. A first compressor member is typically arranged stationary and fixed in the outer housing. A second scroll compressor member is movable relative to the first scroll compressor member in order to compress refrigerant between respective scroll ribs which rise above the respective bases and engage in one another. Conventionally the movable scroll compressor member is driven about an orbital path about a central axis for the purpose of compressing refrigerant. An appropriate drive unit, typically an electric motor, is usually provided within the same housing to drive the movable scroll member.
In such scroll compressor assemblies and other such equipment, counterweights are often employed to counteract the weight imbalance about the rotational axis. For example, in scroll compressors, the movable scroll compressor body and the offset eccentric section on the drive shaft create weight imbalance relative to the rotational axis. As a result, a counterweight is often provided for balancing purposes to reduce vibration and noise of the overall assembly via the internal balancing and/or canceling out of inertial forces.
In order to support the development of lighter, less expensive scroll compressors, the machines have become more compact. As scroll compressor have been made more compact, there is less space between components. As such, there is a need in the art for a low-cost counterweight having a complex shape capable of fitting into tight spaces between the electric drive unit and the upper bearing member.
Embodiments of the invention provide such a low-cost counterweight. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.

Method of making a two-piece counterweight for a scroll compressor