A method includes constructing a three-dimensional model of a front side of a row of trees based on a plurality of images of the front side of the row of trees and constructing a three-dimensional model of a back side of the row of trees based on a plurality of images of the back side of the row of trees. The three-dimensional model of the front side of the row of trees is merged with the three-dimensional model of the back side of the row of trees by linking a trunk in the three-dimensional model of the front side to a trunk in the three-dimensional model of the back side to form a merged three-dimensional model of the row of trees. The merged three-dimensional model of the row of trees is used to determine a physical attribute of the row of trees.

The estimation of morphological parameters of fruit trees (such as tree height, canopy volume and trunk diameter) is important in horticultural science, and has become an important topic in precision agriculture. Accurate morphology estimation can help horticulturists study to what extent these parameters impact crop yield, health and development. For example, growers try different root stocks to figure out which one produces better yield per volume for a specific geographical area. They also measure parameters such as tree height or trunk diameter to model fruit production. This measurement process is labor-intensive and not necessarily accurate.
3D models of rows of orchard trees can be used for determining the morphological parameters of fruit trees, to automate pruning of trees, and to estimate yields. To construct such 3D models, images of the orchard trees are collected and combined to determine the 3D locations of various points of each tree.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in the background.

Semantic structure from motion for orchard reconstruction


A cutting tool assembly including a cutting bit having a head and a cylindrical shank portion of substantially constant diameter depending from the head as well as a bit holder including a cylindrical bore for receiving the cylindrical shank portion of the cutting bit. The shank portion includes an annular recessed groove. The cutting tool assembly further includes a retainer sleeve disposed between the shank portion of the cutting bit and the bore of the bit holder and which closely conforms about the shank portion while allowing the shank portion to rotate within the bore. The retainer sleeve includes at least one inwardly folded over stop tab that cooperates with the recessed groove to axially position the shank within the retainer. The retainer includes stop tabs that are bent around beyond the shear cut lines of the tab opening so that the hub portions of the shank do not transmit a force against these weakened shear cut areas of the retainer. The shank hub is positioned so that the hub rotates against only those portions of the retainer that are not weakened by shear line openings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rotatable cutting tool assemblies and more specifically to rotatable cutting tool assemblies having sleeve retainers for removable attachment of the cutting tool within a bored tool holder.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention is directed toward a cutting tool assembly employed in earth working, mining or construction applications wherein a cutting bit is held on a mounting block or bit holder that is affixed to a movable member. Such cutting tool assemblies have been employed for various excavating operations. These excavating operations can include removal of minerals as well as trenching, concrete cutting, road planing and other construction applications. The effective life expectancy of cutting tools is determined by the cutting tool's ability to be securely held in place and yet be free to rotate in order to promote uniform wear on the respective tip portions. While earlier cutting tool assemblies have performed satisfactorily, certain problems or drawbacks have existed, and the subject invention is directed toward overcoming these problems.
There is a need in the art for a cutting tool assembly wherein the cutting bit will be adequately retained within the mounting block for an extended lifetime without inadvertent removal of the cutting bit due to the forces acting thereon during excavating operations.
Prior art cutting tool assemblies have employed cylindrical retainer sleeve clips with cutting tool shanks that have an annular groove closer to the rear portion of the shank for receiving stop tabs that axially fix replaceable cutting tools inside the bore of a bit holder. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,463 to Ojanen, a cylindrical retainer has inward stop fingers that are received by the annular groove on the shank and outwardly directed fingers that are received in an annular groove in the bit holder bore sidewall.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,310 to Hedlund and U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,176 to Den Besten prior art designs, the fingers are formed by shear cuts made in the retainer and deflecting the finger stops radially inward. FIGS. 1-3 are representative of such prior art cutting tool assemblies. In these prior art designs the retainers often failed prematurely due to cracks and splits that developed at a shear cut edge at the axially rearward end of stop tab opening. Such stop tab opening shear cut lines locally weakens the retainer's strength and resistance to fracture. As shown at 7 in FIG. 3, cracks/splits in the prior art retainers propagated at these shear cut lines on the retainer's stop tab opening primarily along the axial direction of the retainer or in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the retainer. In FIG. 2 the hub 2 of the prior art cutting tool's shank contacts and rotates up against the stop tab openings 4 rearward shear cut line 6 during heavy loads. This contact in prior art designs applies a shearing force that is concentrated along the retainer opening and causes a propagating fracture. German patent application DE 109720635A1 to Moosmann discloses stop fingers 26 and a cooperating groove 27 for axially positioning the cutting tool shank within the bit holder. Such designs are more likely to fracture/crack along the shear cut lines than along the other positions of the retainer.
The fracture of the retainer in the field causes difficulty in removing the retainer from the bit holder. When an operator attempts to remove the retainer for replacement, it occasionally breaks off and additional time and tools are needed to remove the portion of the retainer remaining in the bit holder. In the prior art the cutting tool and a portion of the retainer are dislodged during operation when a reverse load is applied to the cutting tool.
Fractured retainers make used tools difficult to remove or the retainer sticks in the bore and the tool shank is ejected without the retainer. The retainer must then be driven out separately. This creates production delays in changing the tool. A fractured retainer typically takes 5 minutes to change whereas an undamaged retainer can be removed in about 30 seconds. It isn't unusual that it may take 30 minutes to remove a fractured retainer from a support block. A typical change of the set of tools on a have lane construction machine normally takes about 30 minutes. If 2-3 retainers are fractured it can take from anywhere between 15-90 minutes more time. This additional downtime needed to remove fractured retainers increases required labor costs.
Retainer fracture and failure in the prior art is often attributed to relative axial movement between the retainer and cutting tool shank. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,310 to Hedlund, retainer stop tabs 12 are received in an annular groove on the cutting tool shank. The amount of axial play of the cutting tool in prior art devices such as the embodiment in FIG. 6 of Hedlund increases during the lifetime of the tool on account of wear occurring to the stop fingers.
The premature wear and fracture of cylindrical retainers on cutting tool assemblies requires the cutting tool assemblies to be more frequently replaced and/or inspected. When the retainer is worn or fractured the shank of the tool oftentimes becomes locked up and stops rotating. Once the tool stops rotating the cutting tool bit becomes unevenly worn on one side and the cutting bit quickly becomes damaged and inoperative. Some cutting bits are knocked out and become lost after the retainer is fractured or worn. Other bits become locked within the bit holder as the worn retainer pieces wedge the shank within the bit holder. Such bit holders on rotary drums must be removed and attached back onto the drum.
The subject invention overcomes the problems in the prior art in a cutting tool assembly having a retainer scheme which effectively and rotatably retains the cutting bit within the mounting block while at the same time preventing premature failure of the cutting bit retainer during excavating operations.

Rotatable cutting tool having retainer with dimples


A method, computer program and system for regulating the workload of a database system as it processes one or more requests are disclosed. The requests are grouped into workload groups and are processed by one or more of a plurality of subsystems within the database system. Each subsystem has resources. The system has resources. The subsystem resources and the system resources are allocated across the workload groups. The method, computer program and system include monitoring, at a subsystem level, the processing of the requests and adjusting the allocation of subsystem resources to workload groups to achieve a subsystem goal and monitoring, at a system level, the processing of the requests and adjusting the allocation of system resources to workload groups to achieve a system goal. The subsystems are arranged in a hierarchical network. The method includes each subsystem reporting through the hierarchy of the network the consumption level of its resources and each subsystem reporting through the hierarchy of the network the consumption level of the resources of other subsystems reporting to it according to the hierarchy.

As database management systems continue to increase in function and to expand into new application areas, the diversity of database workloads, and the problem of administering those workloads, is increasing as well. In addition to the classic relational DBMS "problem workload," consisting of short transactions running concurrently with long decision support queries and load utilities, workloads with an even wider range of resource demands and execution times are expected in the future. New complex data types (e.g., Large Objects, image, audio, video) and more complex query processing (rules, recursion, user defined types, etc.) will result in widely varying memory, processor, and disk demands on the system.

Regulating the workload of a database system


Technologies are generally described for a system and method effective to generate a model of a first object. In some examples, the method includes receiving location data relating to a location of a second object and orientation data relating to an orientation and rotational movement of the second object. In some examples, the method includes calculating line of sight data relating to a line of sight of a laser rangefinder in the second object. In some examples, the method includes receiving distance data relating to a distance between the second object and at least one point on the first object. In some examples, the method includes calculating an image data point relating to the first object, the image data point may be based on the location data, the line of sight data, and the distance data. In some examples, the model may be based on the image data point.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In modeling systems, a scanning device can be configured to scan a real world object and detect image data relating to the object. The image data may be used by a processor to construct a digital model of the object. The model can be used as a virtual representation of the real world object.


System and method for identifying, measuring and analyzing food nutritional values and consumer eating behaviors is disclosed. A food container, having weight sensors and food identification sensors, identifies weight, type, and preparation status of the food item being consumed by the user from the food container. Based on the identified information, the nutritional value of the food item is determined and observed. The food container in communication with the system components may provide the user a recommended meal plan to improve the user's health condition. In addition, the food container issues an alert to the user when the user puts too much, too less, or the right amount of food items in the food container or eats the food items too fast.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to diet control and nutrition estimation of food. More specifically, the present disclosure is related to a system and method for monitoring nutritional value of food and consumer behavior as it relates to consumer's dietary needs, preferences, and/or medical conditions.
2. Description of Related Art
The total economic impact of poor nutrition has proven difficult to quantify as a whole, with estimates ranging from $70.9B up to as much as $474B according to the USDA's Economic Research Service. There is little doubt that the consequences of poor nutrition in our country are severe. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of 2010 55% of deaths in the U.S. are from causes linked to poor nutrition and over two thirds of adults over 20 are overweight or obese. Even more concerning is that childhood obesity has more than doubled and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) reports that nearly 26 million Americans (over 11% of the adult population) have diabetes, and 79 million have pre-diabetes, a precursor to the disease. Over 40 percent of diabetics will develop Chronic Kidney Disease, usually within 10 years. The death rate of patients with diabetic nephropathy is high when compared to the general population, with cardiovascular disease killing more than half. The current ADA statistics illustrate that diabetes is prevalent, getting worse, and has perilous implications. Despite increased awareness and better medical treatments, the rate of obesity and diabetes continues to grow around the globe and is expected to double over the next 25 years.
Many recent research studies have shown clear correlations between poor dieting and health conditions. Poor diets, such as over eating, under eating, and/or consuming poor quality food have direct correlations to certain medical conditions, such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, obesity, and the like. For consumers and patients trying to control the quality and habit of consuming food, it is often difficult to identify what kinds of food and eating habits can improve their health condition. It is cumbersome for them to meet their prescribed nutritional requirements or dietary regimen necessary each time they prepare a meal. More importantly, raw ingredients of a meal prior to preparation differ when they are prepared and cooked. Oil, heat, prepping methods and additional cooking ingredients can affect and change the nutritional value of the raw ingredients as they are cooked. Current nutrition information available for ingredients often do not account for the cooking process. Similarly, current available nutrition measuring systems do not account for any additional cooking ingredients that may have been added during the preparation of a meal.
As such, there is a need for an apparatus and method that accounts for additional cooking ingredients and preparation status when measuring the nutritional value of a food item once it is ready to be consumed. In addition, there also is a need for an apparatus and method that enables users to easily interact and follow a daily meal plan which guide them through improving their eating habits. Furthermore, there is a need for an apparatus that can assist with both, pre & post food preparation identification, measurement & analysis.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus and method for identifying food nutritional values


The present invention relates to a filler comprising calcium salt and cellulose derivative having a degree of substitution of net ionic groups up to about 0.65, wherein the filler is substantially free from fibers or fibrils of cellulose or lignocellulose. The invention also relates to a filler comprising calcium salt and a cellulose derivative having a degree of substitution of net ionic groups up to about 0.65, wherein the cellulose derivative contains cationic groups.

Highly filled paper is an established trend in the paper industry not only due to the savings in the decreased use of fiber, but also due to improved product quality, such as higher opacity and better printability. Calcium carbonate-based fillers are commonly used, because of their superior light scattering properties. A major drawback in the production of highly filled paper, particularly with fillers having high surface area, is the high consumption of sizing agent. Thus, as the content of filler in the paper increases, a larger amount of sizing agent is required in order to obtain corresponding sizing results. Hence, cellulosic suspensions are more difficult to size when the amount of filler increases.
Sizing is primarily performed in order to achieve water repellence in paper or board and reduce edge wicking. It will also affect mechanical properties of paper and board, such as dimensional stability, friction coefficient, pliability and folding endurance. Additionally, sizing may improve printability specifically by controlling ink spreading and adhesion.
The sizing process involves the deposition of hydrophobic substances, commonly referred to as sizing agents, on the fiber surface. Commonly employed sizing agents are non-cellulose-reactive sizing agents, e.g. rosin-based sizing agents, and cellulose-reactive sizing agents, e.g. alkyl ketene dimers ("AKD") and acid anhydrides such as alkenyl succinic anhydride ("ASA"). It is known, however, that cellulose-reactive sizing agents, i.e. AKD and ASA, undergo hydrolysis that competes with the desired reaction with the fibers. Moreover, sizing losses in the final product can occur due to size inversion or migration, size evaporation, mechanical wear of the product, etc.
Bartz and co-workers have observed that during increased fluidity of AKD wax, some AKD could penetrate and thereafter be trapped in the pore structure of the filler (Bartz, W.; Darroch, M. E.; Kurrle, F. L., "Alkyl ketene dimer sizing efficiency and reversion in calcium carbonate filled papers", Tappi Journal, Vol. 77, No. 12, 1994). This occurs particularly with the scalenohedral form of PCC, which has the porous rosette structure and high surface area. Voutilainen has shown that fillers with high surface area adsorb AKD even better than fibers (Voutilainen, P., "Competitive Adsorption of Alkyl Ketene Dimer on Pulp Fibers and CaCO3 Fillers", Proceedings from International Paper and Coating Chemistry Symposium, 1996). The presence of Al- and Si-oxides on the filler surface may additionally adsorb cationic starch contained in the AKD particles. It has also been proposed that a strong interaction, or perhaps even bonding, exists between AKD and calcium carbonate filler. These proposed mechanisms with the filler are naturally undesired, and efforts should be made to minimise these interaction.
To improve sizing efficiency, it is suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,212 that the surface of the pigment can be modified with an anionic starch-soap complex. Cooked starch from corn or potato is complexed with fatty acid salts and precipitated onto pigment surfaces when mixed with precipitated calcium slurry or papermaking furnish containing high levels of calcium ions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,972,100 suggests a system consisting of a cellulose-reactive size (such as AKD), a cationic dispersing agent (such as cationic starch or polyamides) and a filler. Aside from improved sizing, the invention allows independent control of both filler loading and sizing separately.
Furthermore, WO 95/13324 refers to calcium carbonate treated with a cellulose derivative such as sodium carboxymethyl cellulose ("CMC") having a degree of substitution of 0.7. Said treated calcium carbonate is used as filler in alkaline papermaking suspensions whereby the brightness of the paper is increased.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,830 discloses a process for making paper, specifically photographic paper, comprising the use of synthetic polymer fibers. Prior to the addition of the synthetic fibers to the fiber suspension, inorganic pigment or carbon is added to a slurry containing carboxymethyl cellulose and the synthetic fibers thereby achieving uniform dispersion of the polymer fibers among the cellulose fibers in the paper stock.
There is still a need for a filler which provides an improved papermaking process and better properties of the paper produced. It would be desirable to provide a filler which renders possible production of highly filled paper showing excellent printing and mechanical properties. It would also be desirable to provide a filler which reduces the sizing demand and hereby results in improved sizing efficiency. It would also be desirable to provide a filler that is compatible with drainage and retention aids, and hereby leads to good drainage, retention and paper machine runnability, It would also be desirable to provide a simple and efficient process for producing a filler showing the above characteristics.


An electric-powered display is retained in any of a large plurality of positions in the field of vision of a user by a mechanical linkage mounted on the user below the head.

The present invention relates to hands-free computer displays and, more particularly, to an improved body mounted, hands-free electronic display.
Small computer displays are known in which the display is mounted on the head of a user, such as with a headband, so that the display is positioned in the user""s line of sight while at the same time allowing the user to shift his or her line of sight away from the display. Although such arrangements leave the user""s hands free, head-mounted displays have a drawback in that the display occupies a significant portion of the field of vision of one of the eyes of the user since the display moves when the user""s head moves. The user cannot change his or her field of vision with respect to the display by moving his or her head. Furthermore, since the display is connected to a computer by a wire, the wire exerts an often annoying drag when the head or neck of the user is moved for any reason, and the additional weight of the display on the user""s head can cause fatigue.
One object of the invention is the provision of a hands-free display, such as a miniature LCD display (or other miniature display implemented in a suitable technology) which permits the user to change his or her field of vision with respect to the display by moving his or her head.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a hands-free display that has six degrees of freedom of motion.
The system according to the present invention achieves the above objects by mounting the display support on the user""s trunk, with a mechanical link which extends from the support to a housing that holds the display and which permits the positioning and retention of the display within the field of view of the user. The display can be retained in positions in a vertical plane extending directly forward from the eye, including positions below the level of the eye, at the level of the eye, and above the level of the eye. The display can also be retained in positions to the side of the eye and at various levels. Regardless of the position, the user can change his or her field of view with respect to the display by moving his or her head, and without using his or her hands. In one embodiment, the display system includes a curved, articulated, trunk-mounted support conforming to a shoulder of the user, a housing for the display, and a mechanical linkage between the shoulder support and the display member. In a specific embodiment, the linkage includes a plurality of frictional pivot joints or ball-and-socket joints and the trunk-mounted support includes a manual user interface (e.g. function keys and/or track ball) positioned on the front of the trunk-mounted support to permit control of the display and an associated computer. Signal and power conductors extend from the display, through the mechanical link, to the shoulder support to connect the display to a computer and power supply, which can be mounted in the shoulder support or elsewhere on the user.


A door access control system associates a unique passive identifier with each one of a plurality of doors for which controlled access is desired. Each of the identifiers can be attached to a location adjacent to each respective door. A smart phone with a predetermined scanning application can scan or read a respective identifier of a door for which access is desired. A representation of the door identifier along with an identifier of the smart phone can be transmitted to an access control unit. A data base of the access control unit can be interrogated to determine if that smart phone identifier is authorized to open the designated door. If authorized, then an access command can be transmitted to a local access control module that can release a locking mechanism for the respective door.

Access control systems and methods restrict access to resources, areas and properties, allowing only privileged entities access. Generally, access control systems include an interconnected set of controllers managing the entrance and exit of people through secure areas with electronic key cards and enable key card administration without having to change locks. Controllers, readers, and cards are indispensable components in known access control systems. Magnetic, optical, and RFID technologies are used in connection with readers and key cards.
Known door access control systems, while permitting controlled access, do exhibit some drawbacks. These include costs for the door readers as well as associated control devices. For enterprise level systems, there can be large numbers of readers and installations and, as a result, are expensive. Usually the readers will be continuously active, drawing electrical energy so as to be able to immediately respond to an inserted or swiped key card. Additionally, at times, authorized individuals forget to take their key card with them to their office or work facility and cannot obtain access to their work areas. This can, of course, represent a major inconvenience.
FIG. 1 illustrates a known door access system. FIG. 1A illustrates a process carried out by the system of FIG. 1. In the system and process of FIGS. 1, 1A, a reader is associated with each door on the system. Each individual authorized for access needs to be assigned an access key to be inserted into or swiped past the respective reader. These requirements underlie the problems noted above.


The flooring, preferably made in the form of modules which can be likened approximately to large tiles, is composed essentially of a tread layer comprising a core of high or medium density material (HDF or MDF) with a laminate layer, for example of melamine, applied to at least one of its faces, preferably to the lower face, as well as a plurality of support feet having selectively determined resilience characteristics, the spatial distribution of which in the plane of the flooring gives the flooring itself completely homogeneous mechanical characteristics.

The present invention relates to laminated floorings and has been developed with particular concern for its possible use in sports facilities; the invention should not, however, be considered as limited to this possible field of application.
In the field of sports flooring, installations for games such as basketball, volleyball and like sports are of particular importance, for which the characteristics of the flooring can be of considerable importance.
It may in fact be important that the flooring, in addition to having a uniform and regular surface appearance, has equally uniform and regular biomechanical properties, particularly with regard to vertical stresses applied by the athletes and by the equipment (for example balls) which move on the flooring.
For this reason, a conventional solution, which is much used for the formation of installations such as basketball courts, makes use of wooden flooring of the type usually termed parquet, usually made from an array of strips which rest on, and are fixed to the ground and which support an array of wooden strips, defining the flooring proper.
The characteristics of such floorings, in some countries, have even been the subject of specific technical standards. The standard DIN 18032 may be mentioned in this respect.
These conventional solutions have, however, a series of disadvantages.
A first disadvantage, which is considerable, is that they are very expensive, as well as being expensive to lay.
A further problem, which is equally important, is due to the fact that--at least in most cases--such wooden floorings do not lend themselves to installation in the open air whereby their use is in fact limited to closed environments.
A further problem is that the achievement of good biomechanical characteristics is linked preferentially to the formation of fixed installations. There is, however, an increasing demand for installations which can be laid on a site when needed but can then be removed when the same site is to be used for other purposes: this is the case, for example, for installations such as sports halls which, in addition to the sporting events themselves, are used for other types of entertainment such as concerts, conventions and social functions of various types, etc.

Laminated flooring, for example for sports facilities, a support formation and anchoring systems therefor


A machine-implemented method for computerized digital signal processing obtains a digital signal from data storage or from conversion of an analog signal and determines, from the digital signal, Measuring Matrices (MM). Each measuring matrix has a plurality of cells, each cell having an amplitude corresponding to the signal energy in a frequency bin for a time slice. Cells in each measuring matrix having maximum amplitudes within a time slice are identified as maximum cells. Maxima that coincide in time and frequency are identified and a correlated maxima matrix (PMM) is constructed showing the coinciding maxima and the adjacent marked maxima are linked into partial chains. If only one MM is constructed, multiple types of maxima are identified to generate the (PMM). The partial chains are isolated by parameters for a single domain or multiple domains to identify partial chains and possible separation of complex compound waveforms in the digital signal.

Given a compound waveform, it is desirable to accurately measure the waveform and its components, which may have been spawned by several sources. This is difficult when the waveform includes signals produced by different sources overlapping in time and frequency, low energy/amplitude signals eclipsed by higher energy/amplitude signals, rapid changes in frequency, and/or rapid changes in amplitude. If these waveforms could be more accurately measured, analyzed and the information parsed apart in different domains, it would greatly increase our ability to understand what these waveforms contain and how to separate and/or modify them.
Traditionally, waveforms are analyzed in the time and frequency domains. Typically, these waveforms are first captured digitally as amplitude samples in time, then a series of transforms are used to measure the signals and the result is displayed in a time, frequency and amplitude matrix. A variety of techniques have been developed to extract time/frequency/amplitude information from the time-series data. However, representing how the frequency and amplitude change with respect to time can be challenging, particularly when there are abrupt frequency and/or amplitude changes, or when signals from multiple sources occupy the same time and frequency regions.
One common transform for obtaining time, frequency, and amplitude information is the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). Unfortunately, there is a trade-off between frequency and time resolutions resulting from the size (dimension) of the DFT. The time window inspected by a DFT is proportional to its dimension. Thus, a large dimension DFT inspects a larger time window than a small dimension DFT. This larger time window makes a large dimension DFT slow to react to dynamic changes.
Conversely, a large dimension DFT slices up the frequency range into finer segments. The maximum frequency measured by the DFT is half the sampling rate of the digitized signal. A DFT of dimension X divides frequency range from 0 to the max into X/2 equal sized "bins." Thus, the size of each frequency bin in a DFT is equal to the sampling rate divided by its dimension.
So, higher dimension DFTs have higher frequency resolution but lower time resolution. Lower dimension DFTs have higher time resolution but lower frequency resolution. Because of this trade-off, practitioners have sought modified DFTs or other alternative methods to accurately represent dynamic, time-varying waveforms with good resolution in both time and frequency.
The inventors have been issued several patents, which are hereby incorporated by reference. They are: Fast Find Fundamental Method, U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,288 B1; Method of Modifying Harmonic Content of a Complex Waveform, U.S. Pat. No. 7,003,120 B1; and Method of Signal Shredding, U.S. Pat. No. 6,798,886 B1. Precision Measuring Matrix, PMM Patent Application No. PCT/US2009/064120 filed Nov. 12, 2009 is also hereby incorporated by reference.

Domain identification and separation for precision measurement of waveforms


An optical waveguide having a core region with a substantially rectangular cross-section with a selected aspect ratio of width to height. Embodiments include devices incorporating the optical waveguide and methods for using the optical waveguide.

Integrated optics enables large-scale integration of optical components on a chip, and enables complex optical processing to be achieved, including enabling functionality that is not practicably achievable with bulk components. High-index-contrast (HIC) optical waveguides and resonators, having a large difference between the core and cladding refractive indices, allow components only a few wavelengths in size that have substantially low radiation losses. For example HIC, strongly-confined microring resonators support small bending radii (on the order of a few micrometers) with low radiation losses, thus permitting large free-spectral-range (FSR>20 nanometers (nm)) and high quality factor (Q>100,000) resonances that are important for frequency selective filters for multiple applications, including optical channel add-drop filters for wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) networks. Multiple frequency-aligned resonators may be combined into higher-order filters to provide more complex and selective filter response function shapes.
Wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) optical transmission systems carry multiple wavelength channels simultaneously on a single guiding optical line. Their large information capacity is useful in telecommunication applications, but also for intra-chip and inter-chip photonic networks for advanced high-performance microprocessors and systems for supercomputers; and for various high-bandwidth applications where electronic-photonic hybrid integrated circuits may offer significant advantages, such as high-resolution, high-sampling-rate analog-to-digital converters, voice and image data processing, and biological data processing that are well suited to data parallelism.
To offer the possibility of WDM signal processing, such as switching and routing, all in the optical domain on a chip, integrated optical circuits comprising various functional optical components need to employ waveguiding structures that can couple light efficiently to and from optical fibers.
Optical channel add-drop filters (CADFs) are one important class of functional optical components employed in integrated optical circuits. CADFs typically have an input port, at least a drop or add port, a through port, and preferably a further port which, in combination with the drop or add port, forms a pair of add and drop ports. CADFs support narrow passbands covering typically a single wavelength channel. They enable transmission of a signal in the selected wavelength channel within the passband from the input port to the drop port with low loss (preferably less than 3 dB), while suppressing crosstalk from signals in other wavelength channels in the operating wavelength range (OWR) of the filter (preferably by at least 30 dB). All channels outside the filter passband and in the OWR of the filter are transmitted from the input port to the through (or express) port, preferably with much less than 3 dB insertion loss. The selected wavelength channel within the filter passband is typically fully removed from the input spectrum with preferably over 30-40 dB extinction of the signal remaining in the through port. This high extinction helps prevent crosstalk with a new signal, incident at the add port, which is inserted into the through port at the selected channel wavelength. Wavelength channel passbands are typically 10-100 GHz wide and are typically spaced by 25-200 GHz as, for example, specified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) wavelength grid standards.
The OWR of a CADF is preferably a wide optical band, e.g., the C-band communication window of 1530-1570 nm.
Integrated optical filters with a single passband over a wide operating wavelength range can be made using optical resonators, for example microring resonators, with a large FSR equal to or larger than the OWR, such that only one resonance lies within the range. Large FSR resonators can be made by making the resonator small in size so that, in traveling-wave resonators like rings, the path length is short and spaces longitudinal resonances further apart spectrally. Small ring resonators have tight bend radii and optical radiation confined and propagating in such a ring tends to experience bending radiation loss, giving rise to a low quality factor, Q. Radiation loss can be reduced to an acceptable level by designing waveguides using high refractive index contrast (HIC) between the waveguide core and cladding, such as SiN (n ˜2.2 near 1550 nm wavelength) or Si (n ˜3.5) core, and silica (n ˜1.45) or air (n ˜1) cladding. In turn, HIC resonators are small and require fine lithography, can have significant propagation losses due to surface roughness, and their resonant frequency may be sensitive to small dimensional errors resulting in fabrication.
At the same time that HIC waveguides, resonators and interferometers provide important enabling features for CADFs and other integrated optical devices, they pose significant challenges. On the one hand, HIC provides strong optical confinement, thereby enabling small optical resonators with low radiation losses and thus high loss Q's. Small resonators lead to both high integration density, and large FSR. On the other hand, HIC waveguides provide significant fabrication challenges. One challenge is the requirement of finer lithographic resolution to realize the smaller features of HIC devices. More important is the challenge to combat the sensitivity of HIC structures to dimensional and index variations. For example, to make a microring resonator with a polarization-independent resonance frequency would require atomic-scale dimensional control.
Preferably, during the dynamic reconfiguration of optical components such as reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (R-OADMs), i.e., of their add-drop filters, that operate on a subset of the WDM spectrum, the data flow on other express wavelength channels in the through port is not interrupted or deteriorated (e.g., by insertion loss or dispersion) during the reconfiguration operation. This is referred to as hitless switching or hitless reconfiguration of the optical component. Some waveguide designs for hitless switchable integrated-optical filters require use of a combination of resonators and interferometers. In such cases the sensitivity of interferometer components is equally critical.
In general, resonance frequency sensitivity in multiple-resonator filters is important when it is desired to have the filter frequency aligned without post-fabrication trimming or tuning. It is possible, in principle, to apply tuning elements to individual resonators, such as one heater per resonator where thermo-optic index tuning is employed. However, it is still important to align the resonance frequencies prior to actuation of tuning elements. This is because the tuning range of the device may be reduced if a part of the tuning range of various tuning elements is used to first compensate for resonance misalignment between resonant cavities due to fabrication sensitivities and errors.
A further important concern in HIC is the sensitivity of the propagating mode to surface roughness on the waveguide core and any other layers seen by the optical mode. HIC generally enhances sensitivity because a high index perturbation more strongly scatters light than a low index perturbation. As a result, propagation loss may result from sidewall and top/bottom-wall roughness in HIC waveguides. Sidewall roughness is typically determined by lithography and etching processes, and tends to be much larger than the top/bottom-wall roughness of an HIC waveguide, made by a typical planar fabrication process based on lithography. There are several other possible sources of loss in the HIC core material (or in the cladding material, which is relevant only in the spatial region where the optical mode has substantial intensity). These sources may include material absorption, and bulk scattering such as scattering from spatial index non-uniformities (that may be due to density variation) or Rayleigh scattering from a crystal lattice. Crystalline core or cladding materials typically have negligible intrinsic absorption for wavelengths with a photon energy below the bandgap energy of the material. For silicon, an important core material, the intrinsic absorption is negligible in the 1500-1600 nm wavelength region used for telecom applications, as well as generally at wavelengths longer than the bandgap wavelength around 1100 nm. Non-ideal crystalline structure or dangling bonds have been found to cause absorption. Methods have been published in integrated optics literature to permit passivation that substantially reduces absorption centers. On the other hand, loss due to Rayleigh scattering from the lattice of an ideal crystalline material is small in comparison to the sidewall and top/bottom-wall roughness loss. Therefore it is expected that the waveguide propagation loss will ultimately be limited by sidewall and top/bottom-wall roughness.
Generally, the prior art describes waveguides with square and near-square (up to about 2:1 aspect ratio) core-region cross-sections. This is because it is generally recognized in the art of designing waveguides as desirable to aim as a design goal for the maximum possible strength of optical confinement (i.e., maximum effective index of the guided mode), and in many cases for polarization independent operation. Strong confinement in waveguides permits small bending radius while guaranteeing substantially low bending radiation loss, which in turn enables the design of small bends, and ring resonators with large FSR and low loss, i.e., high loss Q (e.g., >10,000 to 100,000). Strongest confinement is generally known to be provided in square or near square waveguides (up to about 2:1 aspect ratio in index contrasts approximately up to 2.5:1), since, given the constraint of maintaining e.g., single TE mode operation, the majority of the optical field is contained in the core in such cross-sections, thus giving maximal effective index (and thus maximal confinement). A further constraint in high-index contrast waveguide design has been the available thicknesses of core materials. Silicon-on-insulator (Si core index 3.5) wafers are typically available with a 200 nm Si layer so nearly all Si waveguide designs are about 200 nm to 250 nm thick.
Stoichiometric silicon nitride (Si3N4 index 2.0) is a second material used for waveguides with moderate index contrast. It is well known in current literature that the core layer thicknesses of Si3N4 that can be grown are limited by stress build-up to about 300 nm, as thicker layers may crack due to stress. This is the reason why most Si3N4 waveguides are typically no more than 200-300 nm thick. See, e.g., N. Daldosso, et al., "Fabrication and optical characterization of thin two-dimensional Si3N4 waveguides," Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing 7 (2004) pp. 453-458; N. Daldosso et al., "Comparison Among Various Si3N4 Waveguide Geometries Grown Within a CMOS Fabrication Pilot Line," Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol. 22, No. 7 (July 2004) pp. 1734-1740; and M. Melchiorri, et al., "Propagation losses of silicon nitride waveguides in the near infrared range," Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 121111 (2005), all of which are incorporated by reference herein. Silicon-rich SiN (with about 2.2 index) has also been used as a core material. Since it can be grown in thick layers (400 nm and higher), the aspect ratios used in this system are about 2:1 or smaller. See Popović, M. et al., "Multistage high-order microring-resonator add-drop filters," Optics Letters, Vol. 31, No. 17 (Sep. 1, 2006) pp. 2571-2573; M. A. Popović, M. R. Watts, T. Barwicz, P. T. Rakich, L. Socci, E. P. Ippen, F. X. Kärtner and H. I. Smith, "High-index-contrast, wide-FSR microring-resonator filter design and realization with frequency-shift compensation," in Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC/NFOEC) Technical Digest (Optical Society of America, Washington, D.C., Mar. 6-11, 2005), paper OFK1, vol. 5, pp. 213-215, both of which are incorporated by reference herein. Particularly in doped-silica and semiconductor ridge waveguides, attempts to provide polarization independent operation, i.e., identical effective indices for the fundamental TE and TM modes, also lead one to consider square or near-square waveguides. See B. E. Little, et al., "Very high-order microring resonator filters for WDM applications," IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 16, No. 10 (October 2004) pp. 2263-2265; and Chan, S. P. et al., "Single-mode and polarization-independent silicon-on-insulator waveguides with small cross section," Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol. 23, No. 6 (June 2005) pp. 2103-2111, both of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Previous literature also considers waveguides with aspect ratios larger than 2:1. See, e.g., Baehr-Jones, T., et al., "High-Q ring Resonators in Thin Silicon-on-Insulator," Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 85, No. 16 (18 Oct. 2004) pp. 3346-3347; And Guo, J., et al., "Characterization of Si3N4/SiO2 planar lightwave circuits and ring resonators," Proceedings of SPIE, Vol. 5350 (2004) pp. 13-22, both of which are incorporated by reference herein. In high index contrast (2.5:1), waveguides with about 4:1 aspect ratio in Si were made in order to reduce confinement of the optical mode in the core and force more of the mode field out into the cladding, so that it may see less absorption in the core, where the core material may have absorption. In lower index contrast (about 1:4), waveguides with 6:1 aspect ratio in Si3N4 were made in order to increase confinement, while maintaining single-mode operation, because the thickness could not be increased due to the material-stress-caused maximum thickness constraint. The motivation for increasing width relative to height in these cases is to increase the optical confinement by increasing area, under a core thickness constraint, or to expel the field from the core, by decreasing thickness, and thus reduce confinement.
It is important to develop waveguide designs that have low sensitivity to fabrication errors and that accumulate minimal propagation loss from a given surface roughness of the waveguide.

Fabrication-tolerant waveguides and resonators


[Problem] To provide: a method for utilizing a novel marker, including a method for determining depression; and a kit for analyzing an ubiquitinated serotonin transporter.

Depression is a disease showing symptoms such as chronic depressed mood, disappearance of interest and delight, marked change in the body weight, insomnia or hypersomnia, mental decay, psychomotor agitation or retardation, feeling of worthlessness and guilty, decay of thought and concentration, and suicidal ideation, according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-4 by American Psychiatric Association.
In the clinical condition of depression, the monoamine hypothesis related with the decrease in the neural transmission of serotonin, noradrenaline, and dopamine is proposed. For serotonin, in a healthy subject, a sufficient amount of serotonin is released from the presynaptic nerve terminal to the synaptic cleft, and the serotonin receptor present in the postsynaptic nerve terminal receives the serotonin, whereby signal transduction is achieved, and the serotonin transporter removes excessive serotonin from the synaptic cleft, and serotonin is released again from the presynaptic nerve terminal to the synaptic cleft. In a patient with depression, it is considered that the amount of serotonin released from the presynaptic nerve terminal is insufficient, so that the postsynaptic nerve terminal cannot receive a sufficient amount of serotonin More specifically, in a patient with depression, the serotonin amount in the synaptic cleft is likely deficient.
Based on the monoamine hypothesis, there are a diagnosis of depression using serotonin as the index, and antidepressants including a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor such as sertraline (SSRI) as an active ingredient.
It has been reported that the expression of serotonin transporter in the central nervous system is related with the expression in platelets and leucocytes. Based on the fact that the serotonin transporter in platelets and leucocytes containing lymphocytes has many common properties with the serotonin transporter in the central serotonin nerves, the serotonin transporter in the platelets and leucocytes containing lymphocytes obtained from the peripheral blood is studied as a biological marker of depression. It has been also reported that the serotonin transporter in platelets has the same gene sequence with that revealed at the serotoninergic neuronal system. It has been also reported that the change in the expression of the serotonin transporter is related with the function in the central nervous system and psychiatric symptoms such as seasonal affective disorder. However, the mechanism supporting the relationship is still unknown.
In addition, many depression model animals are proposed for development of antidepressants for treating serotonin-related depression. These model animals show the depression-like behavior, which is disappeared by the administration of serotonin or the inhibition of serotonin reuptake from the synaptic cleft. Accordingly, the depression model animals are used for the screening of the candidates for antidepressants.

Method for determining depression, kit for analyzing serotonin transporter, and kit for analyzing ubiquitinated serotonin transporter in blood

Abstract: [Solution] A method for determining depression, comprising a step of analyzing the proportion of an ubiquitinated serotonin transporter in a blood sample collected from a subject; and a kit for analyzing an ubiquitinated serotonin transporter in blood, which comprises an ubiquitinated protein collector material and an anti-serotonin transporter antibody and is used for the analysis of the proportion of an ubiquitinated serotonin transporter in a collected blood sample.


In wireless communication arrangements that utilize a transmission period of time followed by a retransmission period of time, the utilization and effectiveness of retransmission communications can be advantageously increased by dynamically assigning desired communications to respective retransmission time slots of the retransmission period.

Present telecommunication system technology includes a wide variety of wireless networking systems associated with both voice and data communications. An overview of several of these wireless networking systems is presented by Amitava Dutta-Roy, Communications Networks for Homes, IEEE Spectrum, pg. 26, December 1999. Therein, Dutta-Roy discusses several communication protocols in the 2.4 GHz band, including IEEE 802.11 direct-sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) and frequency-hopping (FHSS) protocols. A disadvantage of these protocols is the high overhead associated with their implementation. A less complex wireless protocol known as Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP) also operates in the 2.4 GHz band. This protocol has been developed by the HomeRF Working Group and is supported by North American communications companies. The SWAP protocol uses frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology to produce a data rate of 1 Mb/sec. Another less complex protocol is named Bluetooth after a 10th century Scandinavian king who united several Danish kingdoms. This protocol also operates in the 2.4 GHz band and advantageously offers short-range wireless communication between Bluetooth devices without the need for a central network.
The Bluetooth protocol provides a 1 Mb/sec data rate with low energy consumption for battery powered devices operating in the 2.4 GHz ISM (industrial, scientific, medical) band. The current Bluetooth protocol provides a 10-meter range and a maximum asymmetric data transfer rate of 723 kb/sec. The protocol supports a maximum of three voice channels for synchronous, CVSD-encoded transmission at 64 kb/sec. The Bluetooth protocol treats all radios as peer units except for a unique 48-bit address. At the start of any connection, the initiating unit is a temporary master. This temporary assignment, however, may change after initial communications are established. Each master may have active connections of up to seven slaves. Such a connection between a master and one or more slaves forms a "piconet." Link management allows communication between piconets, thereby forming "scatternets." Typical Bluetooth master devices include cordless phone base stations, local area network (LAN) access points, laptop computers, or bridges to other networks. Bluetooth slave devices may include cordless handsets, cell phones, headsets, personal digital assistants, digital cameras, or computer peripherals such as printers, scanners, fax machines and other devices.
The Bluetooth protocol uses time-division duplex (TDD) to support bi-directional communication. Frequency hopping permits operation in noisy environments and permits multiple piconets to exist in close proximity. The frequency hopping scheme permits up to 1600 hops per second over 79 1-MHZ channels or the entire 2.4 GHz ISM spectrum. Various error correcting schemes permit data packet protection by ⅓ and ⅔ rate forward error correction. Further, Bluetooth uses retransmission of packets for guaranteed reliability. These schemes help correct data errors, but at the expense of throughput.
The Bluetooth protocol is specified in detail in Specification of the Bluetooth System, Version 1.0A, Jul. 26, 1999, which is incorporated herein by reference.
For speech transmissions, the Bluetooth specification calls for 64 kilobits/second CVSD speech coding on an SCO (Synchronous Connection-Oriented) link. This means that a Bluetooth system can support up to three voice channels for up to three users. On the other hand, according to known techniques, the speech can be coded using a lower rate coder, and can then be treated as data for transmission on Bluetooth ACL (Asynchronous Connection-Less) links. In this fashion, more voice channels and users can be supported. Also, ACL links allow retransmission of packets, which can provide enhanced quality relative to SCO to links which do not allow retransmission of packets.
The present invention recognizes the desireability of further improving the quality of speech transmission on Bluetooth ACL links and other wireless communication links. To this end, the invention advantageously provides for increasing the utilization and effectiveness of retransmission communications by dynamically assigning desired communications to the respective retransmission slots.

Dynamic assignment of retransmission slots for enhanced quality in wireless communication links


Embodiments include a lighting assembly includes an elongate gasket body formed of a resilient, optically transmissive material. The gasket body includes a light source cavity at least partially defined by a light transmission portion and an attachment channel configured to attach the gasket body to a mount. A light source is disposed in the light source cavity. Other embodiments include securement ring including a clamp portion and a lighting assembly portion. The clamp portion includes first and second segments, each being semi-annular in shape and curving between first and second ends, the first end of the first segment coupled to the second end of the second segment and the second end of the first segment coupled to the first end of the second segment to collectively form an aperture. The lighting assembly portion includes a first and second segments, each being semi-annular in shape and including a light source.

Medical device suspension systems are used in health treatment settings such as hospital examination rooms, clinics, surgery rooms and emergency rooms. These systems may suspend or support any variety of medical devices or components including surgical lights, supply consoles, patient monitors, camera detector heads, medical instruments, ventilator systems, suction devices, among others.
In these health treatment settings there is often a need for low level lighting that may provide a low level of illumination for a purpose such as ambient lighting, endo procedures, task lighting, accent lighting, and the like. Conventional lighting assemblies providing this functionality are typically provided as separate, additional components that can be difficult to assemble and/or attach to the medical device suspension system, and can detract from the aesthetics and/or functionality of the medical device suspension system.

Lighting assemblies for medical device suspension system


An electronic device, like a mobile telephone, has a first section and a second section. The first section and second section are coupled together by a mechanical connection, for example a hinge, swivel or sliding connector. Electronic components in the first section are coupled to electronic components in the second section by conductors capable of transferring power between the first and second sections. A current detector is capable of detecting currents, like surface currents, while a controller is responsive to the current detector. A plurality of reactive elements, like capacitors for example, are coupled to a plurality of switches such that the controller may selectively couple any of the plurality of reactive elements to the conductors by actuating a corresponding switch. When the current detector detects a current in excess of a predetermined threshold, the controller alters the complex impedance between the first and second sections by actuating one or more of the switches, thereby coupling one or more of the reactive elements to the conductors.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to electronic devices having multiple sections, with electronic components in each section, where power is transferred between the sections, and more specifically to a multiple section electronic device having an adaptive circuit for maximizing the efficiency of power transfer between the electrical components in each section.
2. Background Art
Electronic devices, like mobile telephones for instance, have advanced a long way in the past twenty years. Using the mobile telephone as an example, in only a short time, it has made the transformation from a large, bulky, heavy, expensive device to a device so slim, sleek, light and affordable that everyone can keep one in a shirt pocket.
Continuing the example, the mobile telephone of the late eighties was a device about the size of a shoe, with a large antenna coming out of the side. It had a battery pack the size of a fishing tackle box, and a bulky cord running between the battery pack and phone. Today, some mobile telephones are less than a quarter inch in thickness, weigh less than 5 ounces, and have internal antennae that are not even visible by the user. Modem mobile telephones even include sleek, aesthetic mechanical features as well. Some flip open like a clamshell, some swivel open like the hands of a clock, and others slide open. Indeed, phones with such mechanical features make the unopened smaller and easier to carry when not in use, yet make the phone more comfortable and more like a traditional phone when in use.
Such sophisticated mechanical opening and closing mechanisms, considered to be fashionable features by many, can create problems for the engineers and designers who make the mobile telephone. The mobile telephones of today are so small, that electrical components must be located in both sections of the phone. A display driver and radio frequency (RF) circuit may be in one section of the phone, while a microprocessor and voice encoder may be in the other section. Sophisticated electrical connections, including flexible conductors, are needed to transfer power back and forth between the sections. As the processors and RF circuits operate at high frequencies, this "electrical joint" can sometimes make the phone less efficient.
For example, when the microprocessor attempts to send high frequency messages to the RF circuitry, the electrical joint may inadvertently cause some of the energy to be dispersed. Where the phone has a metal surface, some of this power may get inadvertently coupled to the surface and become small surface or eddy currents. When the transferred energy becomes a surface current, it can't be used, for example, to transmit a call to a tower. The net result is decreased battery life and inconvenience for the user, as the user can't get as much talk time out of the phone.
One prior art solution to this problem is that of making a mobile telephone without a mechanical connection, and thus without an electrical joint. Some manufacturers do indeed offer these "candy bar" phones that do not flip, swivel or slide. The problem with this solution is that people enjoy the sophisticated mechanical features and thus are willing to even pay a premium to have them.
There is thus a need for an improved electronic device having a mechanical connection between sections that improves the efficiency of power transfer between the sections.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

Electrically adaptive mechanical connection for electronic devices


A vertical conduction power electronic device package and corresponding assembly method comprising at least a metal frame suitable to house at least a plate or first semiconductor die having at least a first and a second conduction terminal on respective opposed sides of the first die. The first conduction terminal being in contact with said metal frame and comprising at least an intermediate frame arranged in contact with said second conduction terminal.

As it is well known, power electronic device packages essentially comprise a power electronic device integrated in a chip or in a die and mounted on a metal frame. The package also comprises some electric connection pins, projecting from a protection body or envelope realized with an insulating plastic material, for example an epoxy resin [Molding compound]. Connection pins allow, once the package is mouned on a printed circuit board, electronic signals to be transmitted between the power electronic devices and the conduction paths defined in the board.
Over the last few years, power device development has been highly sped up in view of reducing more and more the overall dimensions thereof, particularly for applications on mobile devices such as personal computers, mobile phones and the like.
This volume reduction has been obviously allowed also by the technology evolution and by the increase in the functions which can be integrated in a single chip wherein the power device is realized.
Moreover, the need to reduce the package dimension and weight increases with the higher and higher miniaturization of the power devices comprised therein.
In particular, the package size and the weight have considerably reduced over the last few years and, through the most recent technologies, the ratio between the highest "chip size" and the "package footprint" went from about 0.3 in the early nineties to about 0.8 at the end of the century.
The continous progresses in the microprocessor technology have also led to an increase in the operating frequency of power devices thus increasing the field of application thereof.
Obviously, in order to keep the power at the high operating frequencies, the current supplied to the devices, and thus the power density distributed on the printed circuit board wherein they are assembled, must be increased. Consequently, the printed circuit board parasitic components contribute to generate losses both in the static and in the dynamic performances of the installed devices.
Moreover, the operating frequency increase also calls for a particular attention in reducing the parasitic inductances both in the package and on the printed circuit board. It is thus important that packages have such a configuration as to ease the assembly in parallel of more units on the board.
In the particular case of a package for a power device better performances can be obtained by reducing the device output resistance as well as the parasitic capacitances and the protective body or envelope thermal resistance.
In fact, as it is well known, a Q-factor (FFOM) to evaluate the power package efficiency is the product of the output resistance (Ron) and of the package occupation area (foot print).l The lower is this value, the more efficient is the package.
European patent application no. 0179714 by Thomson-CFS describes a first known solution to realize a power device package, schematically shown in FIG. 1. This solution provides the replacement of bonding wires (which traditionally allow the electronic device contact pad to be electrically connected with corresponding connection pins of the package incorporating them) with bridge copper foils. Therefore the resistive contributions linked to the device-package connections and to the current distribution on the device surface, as well as the thermal resistance thereof, are reducted, as it can be seen in the table of FIG. 4.
Although advantageous under several aspects, this first known technical solution has however a notable package size, thus keeping the package Q-factor high.
A second known solution, variously developed, is represented by a power device realized by means of a metal container, conveniently shaped, which brings the device drain on the same level as the upper surface thereof. An example of this embodiment is shown in FIG. 2 and described in the document MOSFET BGA design guide—Fairchild Semiconductor—August 2002. This solution allows the device output resistance to be reduced, since wire connections are missing, and the package occupation area to be reduced, since a protection resin is missing. Moreover, the metal container allows the heat exchange with the outside to be increased.
Although advantageous under several aspects, this second known technical solution has some drawbacks linked to the coplanarity between the metal container and the flat surface. Moreover, the resin absence makes the device more subject to the external environment effects with subsequent problems in terms of reliability in time.
It is also known to realize so-called vertical conduction multi-die packages. This embodiment provides that dies or power devices are arranged the one onto the other. This solution allows the assembled silicon area to be doubled, but at the detriment of the package thickness. An example of this technique is shown in FIG. 3 and described in U.S. patent application No. 2002/0096748 wherein two back-welded devices are used, through a back to back arrangement, in correspondence with the metal frame sides.
This known solution, although advantageous under some aspects, requires a connection between the power device source and gate terminals which traditionally occurs by means of wires, thus increasing the output resistance. Moreover, in the assembly step, this embodiment requires a device locking system suitable to prevent the same from moving from the positions thereof during a welding compound thermal reflow process (US 2002/0096748) and a double passage in the bonding equipments in order to connect the other electrodes of the two devices.
The technical problem underlying the present invention is to realize a vertical conduction power electronic device package having such structural and functional features as to allow drawbacks mentioned with reference to the prior art to be overcome and as to be consistent with the traditional surface assembly methods in order not to increase the production and assembly cost on the printed circuit board.

Vertical conduction power electronic device package and corresponding assembling method


The invention provides a method and apparatus for operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions, decimals, percents, proportions and equations. It allows the students to find the transparent area models on their sheets with the correct parts shaded, (2) students can count the total number of parts and the total number of shaded parts in each model, (3) the relationship of the shaded parts to the total number in each model can be named, (4) by intersecting the vertical transparent area model for one whole with horizontal transparent area models for one whole to show examples of one whole being renamed several different ways.

For generations the process of teaching students how to multiply, divide and subtract decimals and fractions, have led to a variety of teaching aids implemented in this process. Pie charts, fragmented items, and pictures are often used to help the student to visualize the segment or segments associated with the numbers. However, heretofore these aids have lacked in instructional value when attempting multiplication, and division. The current process is designed to provide students with hands-on experiences through the manipulation of models that lead to understanding and applying the principals.
The properties of one "1" are involved in renaming numbers in several different ways. Transparent area models allow the students to feel, touch, and conceptualize representations for one being used to make other representations for one whole and fractions.
The process is advantageous with respect to current processes because: (1) It allows the students to find the transparent area models on their sheets with the correct parts shaded, (2) Students can count the total number of parts and the total number of shaded parts in each model, (3) the relationship of the shaded parts to the total number in each model can be named, (4) By intersecting the vertical transparent area model for one whole with horizontal transparent area models for one whole to show examples of fractions and decimals being renamed several different ways.
The method's approach teaches the appropriate names for one whole fractions, decimals, percents, proportions and equations. All of the work that is done with rational numbers is built on the following principals: 1) one has many names, 2) any number multiplied by one is that number, 3) any number divided by one is that number, and 4) there are many ways to represent numbers.

Method and apparatus for the manipulation of fractions using transparencies


A motor includes a shaft including upper and lower shaft members spaced axially away from each other. A shaft connecting member made of electrically insulating material is arranged axially between the upper and lower shaft members. The shaft connecting member is provided with fitting portions to which the upper and lower shaft members are to be fitted. While the upper and lower shaft members are secured to the shaft connecting member, the rotor magnet is integrally formed with the upper and lower shaft members and the shaft connecting member. With this configuration, an axial electric current is prevented from flowing through the shaft by the shaft connecting member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor. More particularly, the present invention relates to a structure for preventing electrochemical corrosion of a bearing in a motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In motors driven by a higher voltage of 100 volts or higher and controlled by PWM (pulse width modulation) control, an axial electric current caused by a potential difference in the motor has been a problem for some time. The potential difference is produced by an unbalanced voltage applied to the motor, unevenness of a gap between a stator and a magnet, or a voltage change at a neutral point in PWM control, for example. That axial electric current causes an electric discharge in a bearing in which an electrically insulating layer exists, e.g., a roller bearing in which each of inner and outer rings is provided with an electrically insulating layer. The electric discharge roughens a bearing surface, especially a rolling surface of a roller bearing or a surface of a ball. Such a rough surface plays a role in causing abnormal noise.
FIG. 7 shows a structure of an exemplary conventional motor driven at a high voltage. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the motor taken along a plane containing its axial direction. FIG. 8 is a plan view of a bearing of the motor, showing the inner structure thereof.
Referring to FIG. 7, the motor 1 includes a shaft 2 rotatable about a rotation axis J1, a rotor 3 secured to an axially central portion of the shaft 2, a stator 4 arranged outside the rotor 3 in a radial direction perpendicular to the rotation axis J1 with a gap therebetween, roller bearings 5 spaced axially away from each other and sandwiching the rotor 3 therebetween, and a frame 6 including a hollow and cylindrical portion 6a which secures the stator 4 thereto. The roller bearings 5 are retained by the frame 6. Referring to FIG. 8, each roller bearing 5 includes an inner ring 5a and an outer ring 5b. The inner ring 5a is secured to the shaft 2 and can rotate together with the shaft 2. The outer ring 5b is secured to the frame 6 and does not rotate. A plurality of balls 5c are in contact with both the inner and outer rings 5a and 5b. The balls 5c can rotate and revolve around the rotation axis J1. A space between the inner and outer rings 5a and 5b is filled with grease 5d. The roller bearing 5 further includes a retainer for retaining a circumferential gap between the balls 5c, although it is not shown in FIG. 8.
In the motor shown in FIG. 7, an axial electric current flows mainly through a path containing the frame 6, the roller bearing 5, and the shaft 2 in that order, as shown with dashed arrow. Referring to FIG. 8, when the axial electric current flows between the inner ring 5a and the outer ring 5b of the roller bearing 5, a spark occurs because the grease 5d is made of electrically insulating material. This spark roughens surfaces of the inner ring 5a and outer ring 5b, which are opposed to the balls 5c, and surfaces of the ball. That is, the roller bearing 5 is electrochemically corroded. Thus, an abnormal noise is generated during the operation of the roller bearing 5 in this state, and a life of the roller bearing 5 is shortened.


A system for a fast-rate preparation just before use of organic peroxyacids, in a hydroalcoholic environment, by mixing at temperatures lower than 40° C., preferably lower than 25° C., a first reactant and a second reactant, kept separate from each other during storage, to obtain an activated solution, the first reactant is in the solid or liquid state at a temperature from 5 to 45° C. and includes at least one acyl donating group, and the second reactant is in the solid state, at least in the temperature range from 5° C. and 40° C., and comprises a peroxide anion source in a concentration such as to provide at least 10-fold molar excess of peroxide with respect to the stoichiometric amount of the acyl-donor, a biocidal agent including at least one C1–C18 linear or branched aliphatic and/or aromatic alcohol, and a stabilizing buffer component suitable for keeping the second reactant at a desired pH value.

In the field of washing and bleaching fabrics, the use of a combination of a hydrogen peroxide precursor (perborate tetrahydrate and percarbonate) and an O-acyl activator (e.g. pentaacetylglucose) and an N-acyl donor (e.g. tetraacetylenediamine) in the same or in different compositions is known. Once dispersed in water, these components react with each other to form the peroxyacid anion. This reaction occurs in a strictly aqueous environment and at an invariably alkaline pH (pH>9). Peracid anions are instantly released upon mixing the two components with water that can have been heated to a greater or a lesser extent. Peroxyacid stability in this environment is limited to the point that the solution cannot be reused for an effective bleaching and disinfection process.
In these formulations, the activator and the peroxide source do not react with each other during storage, and are both stable under the usual storage conditions (temperature not higher than 40° C.). Several proposals have already been suggested (see e.g. WO-A-9213798) according to which, the N-acyl and the O-acyl donors are covered with or aggregated by solid organic acids such as citric, lactic and glycolic acid, so that a longer storage duration is obtained. Other proposals aim at using acylated citrate esters (see WO-A-93167), or N-acyl lactams and other acyl donors. Independently from the use and the activating species, all the above prior art proposals have the following features in common:                they react in an alkaline environment;        they form peroxyacid anions in situ;        the dilute solution is immediately used as a bleach and/or disinfectant;        limited stability of the solutions with time, owing to the degradation of hydrogen peroxide being promoted in an alkaline environment (with consequent release of oxygen), which, in turn, results in the reaction equilibrium of the peracetic acid reaction being shifted back leftwards, yielding to a decrease in its concentration (see the reaction diagram shown below):

Conversely, an acidic environment clearly promotes greater stability with time of both the hydrogen peroxide, and the peracid. All commercially available concentrated and diluted solutions based on hydrogen peroxide and peroxyacids have an acidic pH for this reason, for the very reason of preserving their characteristics for the longest possible time in standard storage conditions.
It is also well-known to the skilled person in the art that organic peroxyacids can be used as strong oxidizing agents for a wide variety of oxidation reactions that occur in up to (quantitatively) high yields. In many reactions for preparing these peroxyacids (see in particular "Organic Peroxides" volume 1, Ed. D. Swern, Wiley Interscience (1970) 313–335) the carboxylic acid or anhydride, or their most reactive acyl chloride or aldehyde are used as a starting material for a perhydrolysis reaction caused by hydrogen peroxide.
GB-A-931,119 describes for instance a process for producing the peroxyacid by means of the hydrogen peroxide reaction with an ester of the organic carboxylic acid, in the absence of water and in the presence of a minimum quantity of a strong inorganic acid that acts as a catalyst. This process requires that the hydrogen peroxide be dissolved in liquid ester, that water be removed and that the acid catalyst be added only upon complete removal of water.
Moreover, anhydrous processes for producing aliphatic or aromatic percarboxylic acids have been proposed. DE-3638552 discloses an innovative apparatus for the production of percarboxylic acids on an industrial scale. All these methods are special processes useful for a synthesis on a laboratory or industrial scale, but certainly not for use in the health-care, household environments or in general. Some starting reagents are in fact very dangerous, and thus they can be handled only by specialized personnel each equipped with suitable protective clothing. Other starting materials, such as acetic anhydride, are sensitive to water because of their high reactivity, and thus need to be stored under special conditions.
With reference to the detergent formulations used for bleaching fabrics, Croud et al., (WO 94/18297) have proposed a system having the same advantages as those of bleaching combinations, but where the reaction between precursor (peroxide source) and activator and/or the subsequent oxidation step is carried out under acidic conditions and at relatively low concentrations. The reaction is carried out in a typically aqueous environment at a pH lower than 6.5. Moreover, in the several Examples set forth in WO94/18297 formulations are disclosed, in which both active components (peroxide source and activator) are in solid form under given storage conditions as a single composition or as separate compositions, and thus need a third liquid component (water) so that their reaction can take place. In the same document, various concentrations of hydrogen peroxide are provided up to a maximum of 60% w/w. Even the operating temperature can vary up to a maximum of 95° C. In the formulation, there is provided a component releasing an acidic species, or suitable for reacting with a by-product of the perhydrolysis reaction for decreasing pH and maintaining the solution at a pH lower than 7. Such a component can be present as a single composition together with the activator, and be a polyol, an organic polycarboxylic acid, boric acid and sodium di-hydrogen phosphate. The formulation can also comprise a surfactant. The presence of the last component is to be ruled out in washing operations in washing-machines involving shaking, since an excessive amount of foam would be produced, and thus the washing machine would discontinue its operation.
In WO 96/18297 a typically solid biocidal composition is disclosed, which contains a peracetic anion generating system mixed with a stabilizing organic acid (citric acid, succinic acid) selected for its ability, when this composition is added to an aqueous solution at suitable concentrations, to control peracetic ion release into such aqueous solution with time. The relative ratios between the components of the generating system, on the one hand, and the stabilizing organic acid, on the other, are adjusted so that the concentration of the generated peracetic acid is higher than a concentration threshold above which it can induce a biocidal effect for a predetermined time length of action, e.g. longer than 24 hours.
The composition disclosed by the above prior art document is in solid form and substantially based on three components:                H2O2 and/or generator of peroxides, e.g. persalts, such as perborates, persulphates, percarbonates,        products whose properties as activators of O-acyl and/or N-acyl donating bleaching compositions of the TAED type (tetraacetylethyldiamine, acetylated sugars or other compounds of this type disclosed in the references of the state of the art);        organic polycarboxylic acid, such as citric acid and succinic acid.
Such a solution, once dispersed in water, yields peracetic ions as a disinfecting active principle with a long-lasting action.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,563 (Kralovic et al.) discloses a powdered formulation in which, regardless of whether they be stored in two or three compartments, to react with one another, the various components in the solid state are mixed in water, that makes up a further component. In Kralovic's method a (solid) perborate stored in one compartment is used as an active oxygen source, whereas a (solid) TAED acetylating agent is stored in the other. The compartments can also contain compositions in the solid state, such as a buffer system for controlling pH, corrosion-preventing materials, surfactants, sequestring agents and the like. However, the different components must always be dissolved in a liquid solvent and according to a very precise addition sequence, owing to higher or lesser susceptibility of the N-acyl and/or O-acyl donors to inactivation triggered by hydrolysis. Kralovic's powdered mixture was actually already known to the skilled persons in the art since it had already been widely used as a bleach for fabrics. Kralovic disclosed that the use of fast-rate and slow rate acetylating agents in a 1 to 1 molar ratio in powdered mixture makes it possible to obtain a solution with a more stable peracetic acid concentration of 2000 ppm. The fast-rate acetylating agent, that] in the above cited Examples corresponds to TAED (tetraacetyldiamine) is so defined since, the other conditions (pH and solution temperature) being equal, it undergoes an attack by peroxide ions at a fast rate.
The slow rate acetylating agent (acetyl salicilic acid in the above cited Examples) on the other hand undergoes a slower rate and delayed perhydrolysis, and thus it contributes in keeping the concentration of the initially formed peracetic acid stable with time in the solution. This too, like the previous composition disclosed by WO 96/18297, is a composition that, once dispersed in water, yields to a biocidal solution based on peracetic acid that is stable with time.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,721 (Bansemir et al.) the synergistic biocidal effect obtained by combining hydrogen peroxide or peracids with alcohols is disclosed.
In other words, the association of alcohols, on the one side, and organic peroxyacids and hydrogen peroxide, on the other, proposed by Bansemir, has a biocidal effect that is too limited to meet the requirements of the high level disinfection typical of the health-care field.
The preparation of peracetic acid in situ by reaction of hydrogen peroxide with peracetic anhydride and/or acetic acid in the presence of an inorganic acid catalyst is used in agriculture for carrying out controlled disinfection of hydroponic seedings as disclosed in EP-0 361 955. In fact, such method makes it possible to significantly reduce the risks associated with shipping and subsequent handling of concentrated peracetic-acid-based solutions. Such solutions are in fact corrosive and combustive, and thus, when preparing diluted solutions starting from said solutions, strict handling precautions must be adopted.
EP-0 12 781 discloses the use of O-acyl donor compounds and organic acids for the production of their respective peroxyacids by a catalyzed acid and base perhydrolysis reaction. Such compositions containing these activators are used for cleaning, bleaching and disinfecting fabrics.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,735 discloses dyes that are stable to oxidation and thus can be used to dye organic peroxyacid-based solutions over a predetermined period of time.
EP-0 953 283 (Farmec) describes a two-component system for preparing a peracetic acid based hydroalcoholic solution in situ. Such a system is, however, affected by some limitations substantially due to the following:
the system is not always adequately stable with time and provides for an N-acetyl and O-acetyl donor being dissolved in an aqueous environment, the donor undergoing degradation, particularly at relatively high temperatures (such as those reached in summertime);
no buffer system is provided in the parent solution that is suitable for simultaneously obtaining an effective and fast activation and a biocidal activity over a prolonged period of time.