The invention relates to a fin stabilization system adapted to minimize roll about the longitudinal axis of the boat during sharp cornering at very high speeds. In one form, equipment such as a machine gun is mounted to the bow of the boat and targets are adapted to be engaged in high-speed maneuvers when cornering and the deck of the boat is not excessively rolled whereby blocking visibility in a turn.

a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to stabilizing systems for boats, and more particularly for a stabilizing system which better enables boats to make sharp turns, and particularly sharp turns at relatively high speeds where the roll of the boat (rotation about the longitudinal axis of the boat) is minimized.
b) Background Art
When some boats having a shallow draft are making relatively sharp turns at high speeds, instability can be a problem. In some instances and with some configuration of boats (if not many configurations), when the rudder or the motor is turned as to execute a sharp turn, the boat will lean into the curve/roll, with the side of the boat on the inside of the curve moving downwardly into the water, and the opposite side on the outside of the boat being raised upwardly from the water. In this situation, it sometimes happens that the rear portion of the boat will slide or "skip" laterally, and then may tend to right itself with the boat tilting back the other way with the other side portion of the boat being lowered into the water. Not only does this create undesired instability, but it also does not permit proper execution of the sharp turn. The present invention is designed to alleviate that problem.
By way of pertinent background previous prior art design such as that known in U.S. Pat. No. 6,520,107, the boat a tendency to "heel over" whereby the boat rotates about its longitudinal axis into the direction of the turn. This is undesirable in a situation where the boat is desired to remain in a substantially planar position about the longitudinal axis and in a situation such as where a firearm is mounted in the bow portion of the watercraft where the term, "guns on target" is necessary to complete combat operations and maneuvers. For the disclosure of the present invention is well adapted to keep the boat flatter and less rotation about the longitudinal axis of the boat (roll) in the course of a turn, particularly where high lateral accelerations are exerted on the boat.
One prior art method of lifting the stern portion of the boat is to use trim tabs which are essentially vertically downward extending surfaces that extend into the water and provide a vertical lift in the aft portion of the boat to level it out. These are hydraulic trim tabs that are always placed on the stem of the boat. It has been found that the trim tabs are inadequate to prevent rotation about the longitudinal axis of the vessel in particularly in high G and sharp turns which is necessary in certain maneuvers such as military maneuvers. Trim tabs have been wholly inadequate to maintain a roll which is here in defined as rotation about the longitudinal axis of the boat.
Other known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,295 (Stables) where in the introductory portion of the patent (column 1), there is discussed the problem of "spin out" which is indicated as a problem of personal watercraft due to their more forward center of gravity. There is provided on each rear side portion of the boat a pair of inner and outer plates 10 and 11, each outer plate 10 having a length which can vary from eighteen to thirty inches. In column 2, line 34, it is indicated that the outer plate 10 will extend below the bottom edge of the hull 15 by approximately one inch, but it is indicated that the device is not necessarily limited to that dimension.
The operation of this apparatus is discussed on column 3, beginning on line 21. It is pointed out (beginning on line 28) that a unique feature of the outer plate 10 is its shape, and it is stated that this eliminates a detrimental reaction known as "sticking" in the aircraft industry. Beginning on line 34, it indicates that as the outer plate 10 moves laterally while in the turn, if it were perfectly rectangular, a low pressure area down the center of the plate would form, and thus the lower pressure area would create a suction that would stick the plate to the water. Then, when the boat is coming out of the turn and returning to a straight course, the craft must be over-steered to break the plate loose. This results in a brief period of loss of control. The patent indicates that the sides of the outer plate 10 are not parallel, and this discourages the "alignment" of any fluid circulation and reduces the formation of the pressure area. It can be seen in viewing FIGS. 1 and 4, that the upper and lower surfaces and the front and rear surfaces are non-parallel with one another.
Also in FIG. 5, the outer plate is positioned at the side of the boat and is aligned so that in a frontal view this plate slants downwardly and slightly inwardly toward the center of the boat. Thus, it would appear that as one side of the boat dips into the water making a sharp turn, this slant off the vertical would become more pronounced.
Additional patents show various sorts of plates or stabilizers that are mounted to the boat so as to protrude into the water.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,884 131 (Rodriquez) shows a "jet propelled watercraft stabilizing system." This shows what appear to be shaped more like fins that one would see commonly on a fish, with these fins protruding outward and downwardly from the rear side of the boat. In reading the patent, it would appear that the person steers the boat in large part by leaning to one side or the other and causing the fin to dip into the water. The angular position of the fins is adjustable and trim blocks are provided to accomplish the positioning of the fins at different angles.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,888 B2 (Bertrand et al.) shows stabilizing fins which are removably secured to either side of the small watercraft. FIG. 6 gives a rear view of the stabilizing fin, and it would appear to have more of an appearance of a right angle triangle with the hypotenuse of the triangle having a curve and one side of the triangle attaching to the boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,009 B1 (Schulz et al.) shows a sailboat having a dagger board that can be retracted or extended downwardly into the water on opposite sides of the boat to control side slip or leeway.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,472 (Skedeleski et al.) shows a flexible fin applied to the edges of a surf board for added stability.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,371 (Kelley et al.) shows a catamaran stabilizing structure where there is a stabilizing dagger board on each hull. The center board has a double-wing stabilizer with adjustable pitch.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,473,502 (Wittkamp) shows a pontoon boat with pontoons on opposite sides in something of a catamaran structure where there are keel-like elements, such as shown at 38, and one end of which is secured to the pontoon.
By way of general background it should be noted that when the boat is chinning the propeller portion of the motor is hitting "bad" or aerated water where the propellers are no longer in the higher viscous regions of regular water but in pure air or in air water mixture which has a lower density and lower counter force on the propeller causing an increase in the rpm's of the propellers. For example, when a propeller (or one of two propellers in a dual motor boat) is outside the water, it can reach very high rpm's (e.g. 6,000 rpm's). When this high velocity rotation reenters the water the momentum of the propeller as well as the applied torque from the motor can cause an abrupt acceleration thereby injuring the driver and passengers of the boat (such as breaking their tailbone and ribs). This is referred to as "chinwalking". Therefore it is advantageous to have the boat maintain a substantially minimal roll during a relatively sharp high-speed corner. In an environment such as a personal watercraft (i.e. a jet ski) this is not an issue because such watercraft are propelled by a jet propulsion hydraulic system, not a propeller which is most commonly used in a propeller driven system.
It should be noted that in the normal operations of boats, when engaging in a turn there is a de-acceleration and an excessive roll. For terms of definition, a certain degree of roll (i.e. 7–20 degrees) which in normal boating craft is sufficient and in some cases desirable because the net thrust with the lateral centrifugal force in gravity is substantially in line with the planar surfaces of the boat such as seats and standing areas. However, in recent times where certain combat operations necessitate a substantially lower amount of roll during turns, this excessive roll (i.e. 7–20 degrees with regard to the horizontal plane) is undesirable. Therefore even in prior art controlled turns where the velocity is lowered and the amount of roll is such that it exceeds 20 degrees, in a military or law enforcement type operation this is undesirable. It has been found in recent times that maintaining the roll of the boat to a minimum (e.g. 20–5 degrees), a gunner at the bow of the boat can maintain "guns on target" and engage a potential threat on the sea or the body of water. Further, it has been found that these turns can be engaged at full throttle and at full speed (e.g. 50 mph and at least 35–40 mph) where the roll of the boat is minimized and a wash out does not occur. The phenomena and apparatus to accomplish these goals are discussed further herein.
It should be noted that the term "guns on target" is in reference to maintaining a bead on a target during operational maneuvers. One of these maneuvers comprise high speed turns to port and starboard directions. For example, the vessel with a 50-callber machine gun mounted in the bow is making a port turn (i.e. to the left). In a prior art watercraft, the watercraft vessel will rotate into the turn where the starboard lateral portion will raise up with respect to the water thereby blocking visibility off the starboard bow and starboard side in general. This is clearly unacceptable if a potential target is located in this area. In many types of operations where such a turn is conducted, the driver may be avoiding a collision with a potential target whereby maintaining visibility and the ability to maintain a site picture is of a highest requirement.
It should further be noted that an excessive chinning or chine walking where the roll of the boat is so excessive that the propellers intermittedly engage causing intermittent thrust it is extremely undesirable in operations to have because this induces a lack of control where the boat is unstable and unsafe potentially causing injury to the driver and passengers. It should be noted that chinning is a roll where the boat rotates inwardly toward the turn. Chinning occurs where the boat rotates at the longitudinal axis inwardly in the direction of a turn and can have catastrophic effects where in some cases a boat will rotate and snap back to the opposite direction (where the outer lateral portion of the boat violently snaps downwardly) and cause bodily injury to the passengers and driver of the boat. Further, chinning or chine walking can compromise the boaters' abilities to engage in their missions such as firing a heavy machine gun, "bumping a boat" or maintaining a high speed pursuit.
It should be further noted that another benefit by implying the fin system is the vessel will track better at a lower velocity with respect to the water where the aft portion of the boat will not swing around or drift in a turn when subjected to the centrifugal forces of the turn. Therefore, essentially the vessel will go where it is intended without drifting in a low speed tracking where the rearward portion of the boat kicks outwardly away from the direction of the turn.
Therefore, it is a goal to stabilize the boat in corners to prevent chinning and roll in the course of a high G-force turn under full throttle in extreme maneuvers.

Fin stabilizer to reduce roll for boats in turns method and apparatus


A drug solution inspection device includes a jig that mounts thereon a syringe containing a drug solution, an imaging unit that captures an image of the syringe mounted on the jig, an exposure unit that performs exposure on the syringe mounted on the jig, and a first control unit that controls the imaging unit and the exposure unit to acquire inspection information. In order to inspect an amount of the drug solution in the syringe, the first control unit transmits the captured image of the syringe while changing an exposure state of the exposure unit.

The present invention relates to a drug solution inspection device and a drug solution inspection method, which are capable of inspecting, in a hospital and the like, an amount of a drug solution in a syringe as a work target at a place away from a worker.
In a hospital and the like, there is work of mixing and preparing an injection drug such as an anticancer drug (hereinafter, this work is referred to as mixed injection work).
In the case of performing the mixed injection work, it is necessary to safely manage this work, and also necessary for an inspector such as a pharmacist to inspect a series of work. Items to be inspected by the inspector include: items such as a dosage of the injection drug, which can be converted into numerical values; items such as a procedure of the mixed injection and as actions of the worker, which are difficult to be converted into numerical values; and the like. Therefore, in order to visually inspect the items which are difficult to be converted into numerical values, it is necessary for the inspector to stay close to the worker from the beginning to the end of the mixed injection work. Moreover, it is also frequent that one inspector inspects a plurality of pieces of mixed injection work performed at, different places. With regard to such an inspection as described above, not only efficiency of the work has been poor, but also the inspection has been a large workload for the inspector.
Accordingly, there has been proposed a system which enables inspection at a place away from a site of the mixed injection work, and reduces the load on the inspector (for example, refer to JP 2007-260390 A).
FIG. 12 is a configuration view of a mixed injection inspection system of JP 2007-260390 A. The mixed injection inspection system shown in FIG. 12 is a system that allows the inspector to inspect mixed injection work using syringes (not shown). In each of preparation rooms 2 of a clean room 1 as a site of the mixed injection work, there are installed an imaging device 3 for capturing an image of the mixed injection work, and a display unit 7 on the worker's side. The display unit 7 displays, to the worker, contents which are inputted by an input device 6 of an inspection room 4. Moreover, the inspection room 4 for inspecting the mixed injection work is provided at a place away from the clean room 1. In the inspection room 4, there are installed a display unit 5 on the inspector's side, and the input device 6 for inputting an instruction issued from the inspector to the worker. The display unit 5 displays, to the inspector, the image of the mixed injection work captured by the imaging device 3.
With such a configuration, for such mixed injection work by a plurality of the workers in a plurality of the preparation rooms 2, the mixed injection inspection system of JP 2007-260390 A enables one inspector to issue precise instructions to the individual workers from one inspection room 4, and to inspect a series of the mixed injection work. As described above, the inspector performs inspection work at a place away from the site of the mixed injection work, whereby work efficiency thereof can be enhanced, and the load on the inspector can be reduced.
Meanwhile, there has been proposed a drug solution inspection system for accurately observing an amount of a drug solution for use in the mixed injection (for example, refer to JP 2007-93465 A).
FIG. 13 is a configuration view of the drug solution inspection system of JP 2007-93465 A. In the inspection system shown in FIG. 13, in order to accurately read a liquid level of a drug solution in a measuring device 11, the measuring device 11 is vertically positioned in front of a camera 13 by a calibration unit 12. Then, an image of a vicinity of the liquid level of the drug solution in the measuring device 11 is captured together with a scale of the measuring device 11 by the camera 13. Moreover, in order that the vicinity of the liquid level of the drug solution can be clearly seen, the measuring device 11 is irradiated with illumination light by an illumination unit 14. Furthermore, a type of a drug solution 16 and the captured image are associated with each other by an identifying unit 15, and are stored in a personal computer 17, and information is displayed on a monitor 18.
However, in the mixed injection inspection system of JP 2007-260390 A, if general interior illumination or natural light is used at the time of capturing the image of the injection drug in the syringe (not shown), the inspection work cannot be performed in some cases since an accurate amount of the injection drug cannot be grasped. Specifically, for example, when the syringe contains an injection drug with a dark color, a gasket of the syringe and the injection drug with a dark color may be assimilated with each other chromatically, and a position of the gasket of the syringe cannot be grasped only by observing the image captured by the imaging device 3, and it is difficult to grasp the amount of the injection drug.
Here, there is assumed a case of using the drug solution inspection system of JP 2007-93465 A in order to grasp the accurate amount of the injection drug. The illumination section 14 of the drug solution inspection system of JP 2007-93465 A corrects brightness of a place where the measuring device 11 is placed, and solves a shortage of a quantity of the illumination light in the vicinity of the liquid level of the drug solution. Hence, even in the case of using the drug solution inspection system of JP 2007-93465 A, if the syringe is used as the measuring device 11, the gasket of the syringe and the drug solution with a dark color may be assimilated with each other chromatically, and it is difficult to grasp the accurate amount of the drug solution only by observing the image captured by the camera 13. Therefore, even in the case of using the drug solution inspection system of JP 2007-93465 A for the mixed injection inspection system of JP 2007-260390 A, it is difficult to grasp the amount of the drug solution.

Drug solution inspection device and drug solution inspection method

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A window funnel for an aircraft is provided, which has a ring made of an elastic material, which is arranged by means of an adhesive layer on an outer side of the window funnel, the ring having a hollow profile. The ring serves as a sight screen, light screen and dust screen for the rear side of the window funnel.

In modern aircraft, in order to form cabin windows, normally window frames are inserted into corresponding fuselage cutouts and firmly connected to the outer skin of the aircraft. The window frames are covered or lined by means of a so-called window funnel, which is essentially a funnel-shaped deformation of the side panelling. Typically, a plurality of window panes are inserted into the window funnel. The window funnel has an inner side and an outer side (also called a rear side). Normally, a foam ring is fitted on the outer side of the window funnel, in order to prevent the outer side of the window funnel and adjoining elements of the window frame from being visible to a person looking from outside through the cabin window in the direction of the window funnel. Further functions of the foam ring are as a dust screen and light screen.
FIG. 1 shows, by way of example, a window region 1 in an outer wall region 2 of an aircraft.
FIG. 2 shows half of the window region 1 shown in FIG. 1, enlarged. In the outer wall region 2 there is provided a window funnel 3 which penetrates through the outer wall region 2. A window shade 4 and a first window pane 5 are provided on and inside the window funnel 3, respectively. A second window pane (outer glazing 6) is provided above the window funnel 3. A panelling 7 is provided in the outer wall region 2. The second window pane 6 is fixed in the outer wall region 2 by means of a clamping element (a so-called retainer) 8, which is connected to an outer skin of the aircraft.
On an upper part of an outer side 9 of the window funnel 3 there is provided a foam ring 10. The foam ring 10 is fastened by means of an adhesive layer (not shown) and has, in this example, the geometry shown in FIG. 3. The disadvantage of the arrangement shown in FIG. 2 is that the foam ring 10 can become detached from the adhesive layer owing to shearing forces. This may result in gaps between the outer side 9 and the foam ring 10, which is undesirable since the function of the foam ring 10 as a dust and/or light screen is then no longer guaranteed. If the foam ring 10 becomes completely detached from the outer side 9, the outer side 9 and part of the outer wall region 2 opposite the outer side 9 may possibly even be visible to a person looking along the direction indicated by arrow A.

Window funnel and window region for an aircraft


A method of forming a pattern of an inorganic material film, which method is more versatile, easy, and practical. The method includes the steps of: (a) forming a sacrifice layer having a pattern on a substrate by employing a material having a different thermal expansion coefficient from that of an inorganic material of the inorganic material film; (b) forming an inorganic material layer on the substrate, on which the sacrifice layer has been formed, at a predetermined deposition temperature by employing the inorganic material; (c) lowering a temperature of at least the inorganic material layer to produce cracks in the inorganic material layer formed on the sacrifice layer; and (d) removing the sacrifice layer and the inorganic material layer formed thereon.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of forming a pattern of an inorganic material film, and specifically, to a method of forming a pattern of an inorganic material film having functionality such as piezoelectric ceramics to be used in micro devices so called micro electrical mechanical systems (MEMS). Further, the present invention relates to a structure containing a pattern of an inorganic material film formed by using such a method.
2. Description of a Related Art
In recent years, research and development of micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) applying semiconductor manufacturing processes have been increasingly made. Among the systems, the piezoelectric MEMS using a piezoelectric film as a functional film attracts attention as a high-power actuator, and is employed for micropumps, micro-cantilevers, micro ultrasonic transducers, and so on. Here, the functional film refers to a main part (typically, a layer sandwiched between electrodes) that exerts a function of an element like a dielectric film in a multilayered capacitor and a piezoelectric film in a piezoelectric actuator.
In the MEMS, it is important to finely pattern-forming the functional film. However, conventionally, for functional films having a thickness of about 5 μm or more, there are not many appropriate fine patterning methods and appropriate materials to be employed therein. For example, the etching method or the ion beam method has disadvantages that the substrate and surrounding elements are damaged, the process time is long, and the manufacturing cost is high, and therefore, the application to pattern-forming of the functional film is not so practical. Further, although the liftoff method is higher in general versatility because the material dependence is lower than that of the etching method, the photoresist generally used as a sacrifice layer in the liftoff method deforms or burns dry at about 150° C., and the method is not applicable to the case where the process temperature (deposition temperature) becomes higher then 150° C.
In the liftoff method, not only the photoresist but also silicon oxide (SiO2), polysilicon, aluminum (Al), and so on are used as the sacrifice layer, and in such a case, the constraint on the deposition temperature is eased. However, the hydrofluoric acid used when removing silicon oxide and the acid or alkali solution used when removing aluminum may cause damage to the functional film. Further, since the xenon fluoride (XeF2) gas used when removing polysilicon is expensive, the manufacturing cost rises. Furthermore, when the functional film is thicker than the sacrifice layer, the etchant penetration is blocked by the functional film and hard to reach the sacrifice layer, and thus, the removal of the sacrifice layer is difficult.
As a related technology, Japanese Patent Application Publication JP-P2001-347499A discloses a method of manufacturing a microdevice including the steps of forming a die by recessing a groove or pore pattern deeper than a desired functional material layer on a silicon layer, depositing a functional material in the grooves or pores of the pattern of the die in a thinner thickness than that of the silicon layer, obtaining a pattern of the functional material layer by removing the die. That is, in JP-P2001-347499A, the thickness of the sacrifice layer (Si layer) is slightly thicker than the functional film (PZT layer), and thus, the selective etching of the sacrifice layer with the etching gas is promoted through the space formed by the level difference between the films (paragraph 0027).
However, when the sacrifice layer is made thicker, the functional film may be affected by the stress of the sacrifice layer. Further, the longer time is required for the deposition and removal processes of the sacrifice layer, and as a result, the manufacturing cost increases. Furthermore, JP-P2001-347499A is not so practical because the photoresist and the organic compound film with poor heat resistance and silicon requiring an expensive etching gas such as xenon fluoride are used for the sacrifice layer.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Publication JP-P2004-282514A discloses formation of a piezoelectric thin film resonator having an air-gap acoustic insulation structure on a semiconductor integrated circuit by using germanium (Ge) as a material of a sacrifice layer and etching the sacrifice layer to remove it by using a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) solution, in order to form the air-gap acoustic insulation structure without property degradation due to damage on a CMOS circuit. However, when germanium is used for the sacrifice layer, some design ideas of forming a level difference on the substrate or the like is required for ensuring that the etchant reaches the sacrifice layer.

Method of forming pattern of inorganic material film comprising thermally induced cracking


An image recording apparatus includes a recording head that records an image on a recording medium, and a conveyor having an adhesive area and a charged area, that is charged by a charging unit. The adhesive area and the charged area are formed on the outer circumferential surface of the conveyor and convey the recording medium supported on the outer circumferential surface of the conveyor in a conveying direction. A medium feeder supplies the recording medium to the conveyor.

1. Technical Field
The present application relates to image recording apparatuses that record images on recording media.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among image recording apparatuses that record images on recording media such as recording sheets, those including two rollers and an endless conveying belt that extends between the two rollers are well known The outer circumferential surface of the conveying belt serves as a conveying surface for conveying recording media. The conveying belt is an adhesive belt whose conveying surface is adhesive, and can reliably support recording sheets on the conveying surface thereof. With this, accuracy in conveying the recording sheets can be improved.
When recording sheets such as plain paper sheets having low rigidity and having few projections and depressions on the surfaces thereof are conveyed by the adhesive belt, the recording sheets are firmly adhered to the conveying surface, and cannot be easily separated from the conveying surface. Moreover, since dust particles generated by the recording sheets are firmly adhered to the conveying surface, the conveying surface needs to be vigorously washed such that the dust particles are removed. This leads to an increase in cost, and not only that, leads to a reduction in the lifetime of the adhesive belt. To solve these problems, a charged belt to which the recording sheets are adhered by electrostatic force can be used. However, since the adhesive force of the charged belt is small, it is difficult to reliably support recording sheets such as inkjet photo paper sheets having high rigidity and a tendency to deviate from a flat state, or recording sheets such as kraft paper sheets having projections and depressions formed on the surfaces thereof.


A projection exposure system, intended in particular for microlithography, is used for generating, in an image plane, an image of a mask arranged in an object plane. The projection exposure system has a light source emitting projection light and projection optics arranged between the mask and the image. Starting from the mask, the following are arranged in the beam path of the projection optics: a first group of optical components with an overall positive refractive power; a second group of optical components with an overall negative refractive power; a third group of optical components with an overall positive refractive power; a fourth group of optical components with an overall negative refractive power, and, a fifth group of optical components with an overall positive refractive power. At least three optical subgroups having at least one optical component can be displaced along the optical axis of the projection optics. The first optical subgroup comprises the mask or at least one optical component from the first group of optical components. The second optical subgroup comprises at least one optical component from the second or the third group of optical components. The third optical subgroup comprises at least one optical component from the third or the fourth group of optical components. With such subgroups, efficient imaging error correction of the projection optics is possible.

The invention relates to a projection exposure system, in particular for microlithography, for generating, in an image plane, an image of a mask arranged in an object plane, with a light source emitting projection light and projection optics arranged between the mask and the image, wherein the following are arranged in the beam path of the projection optics, starting from the mask:                a) a first group of optical components with an overall positive refractive power;        b) a second group of optical components with an overall negative refractive power;        c) a third group of optical components with an overall positive refractive power;        d) a fourth group of optical components with an overall negative refractive power and        e) a fifth group of optical components with an overall positive refractive power.
Such projection optics are known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,349,005 B1 and U.S. Pub. No. 2003/1498551 A1 in the name of the Applicant. They are suitable, in particular, for use with projection light wavelengths in the DUV wavelength range. Instead of the fifth group of optical components with an overall positive refractive power, these documents also refer in places to a fifth and a sixth group of optical components, although these may be combined as a fifth group of optical components with an overall positive refractive power for the purposes of the invention described below.
Owing to the very high numerical aperture which projection optics of this type generally have, residual imaging errors occur, for example because of changes in the ambient parameters such as temperature and air pressure.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide projection optics for a projection exposure system of the type mentioned in the introduction, whose residual imaging errors are reduced.
This object is achieved according to the invention by the fact that                f) at least three (first, second and third) optical subgroups each having at least one optical component can be displaced along an optical axis of the projection optics,
wherein                g) the first optical subgroup comprises one of the mask and at least one optical component from the first group of optical components,        h) the second optical subgroup comprises at least one optical component from one of the second and the third group of optical components,        i) the third optical subgroup comprises at least one optical component from one of the third and the fourth group of optical components.
According to the invention, it has been discovered that if at least three optical subgroups according to the above selection are chosen as instruments, which can be displaced along the optical axis, for correction of imaging errors of the projection optics, then good correction is ensured for the imaging errors which typically occur, for example scaling, distortion and image field curvature. In this case, the individual subgroups need not act selectively on one imaging error in each case, but rather it is sufficient for the combination of the actions of the three subgroups to bring about the desired correction effect. The optimum adjustment of the respective subgroups can be determined with the aid of known optical design programs.
Preferably, the second optical subgroup is arranged next to the first group of optical components. In this case, at least two displaceable subgroups are present in spatial proximity, which offers the possibility of simplifying the design of the projection optics.
The third optical subgroup may be arranged in the transition region between the third and the fourth groups of optical components. For most designs of projection optics of the type mentioned in the introduction, good correction of imaging errors which typically occur is obtained in this case.
A pair of optical components, whose displacements along the optical axis are expediently coupled together, may be provided as the second optical subgroup. Such a component pair has been found to be efficient in terms of optical corrective action, as has been shown by optical calculations.
Preferably, a support body is in this case provided, which can be displaced along the optical axis of the projection optics and which supports the pair of optical components together.
This permits a simple mechanical structure for the optical components which can be displaced together.
An instrument for adjusting the wavelength may additionally be provided. According to the invention, it has been established that an instrument for adjusting the wavelength can in many cases fulfil the corrective function of an additional displaceable subgroup of optical components. In most cases, the wavelength adjustment means is easier to produce than an additional displaceable subgroup.
Preferably, the adjustment instrument includes means for altering the emission wavelength of the light source. Such an adjustment instrument is energy-efficient.
As an alternative or in addition, the adjustment instrument may include means for altering the projection light wavelength after exiting the light source. Such an adjustment instrument is easy to produce, for example by means of colour filters.
In a preferred refinement, at least a fourth optical subgroup, having at least one optical component, is provided which can be displaced along the optical axis and which comprises at least one optical component from the fifth group of optical components. With such an additional optical subgroup, it is possible to reduce other imaging errors which typically occur, such as coma and spherical aberration.
The at least a fourth optical subgroup may comprise an at most fourth and a fifth optical subgroup. With comparatively minor mechanical outlay, such an embodiment provides good reduction of imaging errors which occur, as has been shown by optical calculations.
The optical components may be designed as refractive components. With refractive optical components, it is possible to produce projection optics of the type mentioned in the introduction with comparatively minor mechanical outlay. As an alternative, however, it is likewise possible to embody the projection optics with reflective components.


A system for detecting a gap of unknown width, the system having an RF signal generator having an output interface that outputs an RF signal and that interfaces with an input portion of a test device that is electromagnetically connected with a first surface of a gap. The system also comprises an RF signal receiver having an input interface that receives an RF signal and that interfaces with an output portion of the test device that is electromagnetically connected with a second surface of a gap. The RF signal receiver generates an electrical output to an output interface when an RF signal is detected. A processor has an input interface that interfaces with the output interface of the RF signal receiver and the processor converts the electrical signal from the receiver into an indication to the user of the presence of a gap in the test device.

This invention is directed to systems and devices for measuring or detecting small gaps between metal objects.
Various devices and techniques for detecting or measuring small gaps between objects, such as metal contacts in a switch, are known. For example, the well-known micrometer is such a device for measuring small but visible distances between objects. Another example of a known device is the dielectric tester. Use of this type of tester is effective for determining the presence of gaps that are not visible, but typically destroys the article being tested. The dielectric tester can only determine whether or not a gap is sufficient for a particular purpose, but cannot determine the width of the gap.
Thus, neither the known micrometer nor the known dielectric tester can measure gaps that are not visible without destroying the article being tested.
The present invention includes a system and method for measuring and/or detecting gaps or distances that are non-visible (defined as either enclosed or otherwise obscured, or too small to be seen by the naked eye) and making such measurements without destroying the article being tested.
The present invention comprises a system having an RF signal generator having an output interface that outputs an RF signal and that interfaces with an input portion of a test device that is electrically connected with a first surface of a gap. The system also comprises an RF signal receiver having an input interface that receives an RF signal and that interfaces with an output portion of the test device that is electrically connected with a second surface of the gap. The RF signal receiver generates an electrical output to an output interface when an RF signal is detected. A processor has an input interface that interfaces with the output interface of the RF signal receiver and the processor converts the electrical signal from the receiver into an indication to the user of the presence of the gap in the test device.
Thus, according to the present invention, an RF signal is applied to one side of a suspected gap in a test object. An RF receiver is connected to the other side of the suspected gap. For example, for a metal test object, such as a switch, the signal is applied to one contact and the receiver is connected to the other.
If no gap exists, then the capacitance of the gap is a maximum, and the RF signal received by the receiver will be its strongest. (This will be referred to as the "baseline" signal for a particular test device.) On the other hand, as the gap increases in size, its capacitance decreases, and the received signal decreases in amplitude with respect to the baseline signal.
The electrical signal outputted by the receiver is proportional to the strength of the RF signal received, and thus will also decrease from a maximum (corresponding to the baseline signal) as the gap size increases. Thus, the electrical output of the receiver correlates to the width of the gap.
The electrical signal outputted by the receiver is processed using standard amplification and other digital processing devices. For example, the output of the processing may be made to detect a gap exceeding a certain threshold, which would correspond to the received RF signal dropping to an amplitude such that the electrical signal generated by the receiver fell below a threshold level, as determined by the processing.
Alternatively, two or more known gaps in the test device may be used to correlate the received RF signal to known gap widths in a test device. These calibration points may be used with the processing to generate an output of gap width for the test devices.


The disclosed embodiments provide a system that manages use of a battery in a portable electronic device. During operation, the system obtains a voltage of the battery and a state-of-charge of the battery. Next, the system calculates an effective C-rate of the battery using the voltage and the state-of-charge. Finally, the system uses the effective C-rate to manage a charging process for the battery.

Field
The disclosed embodiments relate to batteries for portable electronic devices. More specifically, the disclosed embodiments relate to techniques for performing adaptive effective C-rate charging of batteries for portable electronic devices.
Related Art
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are used to provide power in a wide variety of systems, including laptop computers, cell phones, cordless power tools, and electric vehicles. A typical lithium-ion battery cell design includes a porous graphite electrode, a polymer separator impregnated with electrolyte, and a porous cobalt dioxide electrode. The details of the transport of lithium and lithium ions in and out of the electrode granules and through the material between them are complex, but the net effect is dominated by a slow diffusion process for filling one electrode with lithium and another diffusion process for removing lithium from the other.
During charging, the slow diffusion causes a transient build-up of lithium at the surface of the graphite electrode that varies directly with the charging current and a diffusion time that depends upon various environmental, design, and construction factors. If the concentration of lithium at the graphite surface reaches the saturation concentration for lithium in graphite, more lithium is prevented from entering the graphite electrode until the concentration decreases. A significant challenge in charging lithium-ion batteries is to avoid lithium surface saturation at the graphite electrode, while minimizing the charging time by charging as quickly as possible.
The conventional charging method is called the constant-current constant-voltage (CCCV) method that charges at a constant current until a fixed upper voltage limit (e.g., 4.2 V) is reached, and continues to charge by holding the voltage limit constant until the current tapers to a cutoff limit. It is common in the field to express all currents in terms of the cell capacity. For a cell with a maximum capacity Qmax of 2500 mA·hr, a "1 C" current would be 2500 mA, where the unit C or C-rate is a capacity expressed current in units of 1/hr to be multiplied by Qmax to get the current in amps. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the constant current setting is 0.28 C, and the constant voltage phase at 4.2 V is terminated when the current decreases to 0.05 C, indicating a fully charged battery.
The problem with the CCCV method is that it largely operates blindly as neither the current or the voltage directly correlate with the lithium surface concentration, and neither is adjusted as battery characteristics vary. Consequently, the CCCV profile must assume worst-case variability to avoid saturation, and misses the opportunity to use more current when it is possible to do so.
The Adaptive Surface Concentration Charging (ASCC) method (see U.S. Patent US2009/0259420 by inventors Thomas C. Greening, P. Jeffrey Ungar, and William C. Athas) avoids lithium surface saturation during the charging process by adapting to the dynamics of the lithium transport in a battery through closed-loop control of an estimated single electrode potential (or, equivalently, an estimate of the lithium concentration at the surface of an electrode). FIG. 2 shows an ASCC charging profile, where the battery voltage is servoed to maintain the estimated graphite electrode potential to a target voltage.
The ASCC method, while appropriately adaptive, can charge unnecessarily slowly due to the over-conservative estimate of the graphite electrode potential. The ASCC method also requires characterization of specially made three-electrode cells, typically constructed with an inserted lithium reference electrode near the separator. These three-electrode cells are difficult to manufacture without creating significant differences from the characteristics of the two-electrode cells they are intended to match.
The temperature-dependent multi-step charging method (I-V-T), described in U.S. Patent US2009/0273320 entitled "Controlling Battery Charging Based on Current, Voltage, and Temperature" by inventors P. Jeffrey Ungar, Thomas C. Greening, William C. Athas, J. Douglas Field, and Richard M. Mank, provides a method for obtaining multi-step constant-current constant-voltage charging profiles that avoid lithium surface saturation while attaining near-optimal charging times. FIG. 3 shows the multiple temperature-dependent current and voltage steps of the I-V-T charging profile, along with the graphite electrode potential indicating an unsaturated graphite surface.
Like the CCCV method, the I-V-T method reduces the charging current as the battery's maximum capacity Qmax decreases by charging during the constant current phases with the current measured in capacity-dependent C-rates instead of amps. The I-V-T method also selects a different charging profile based on discrete ranges of the measured temperature. While the I-V-T method does not require characterization of specialized three-electrode cells like the ASCC method, three-electrode cells are useful for obtaining optimized I-V-T target parameters.
While the I-V-T method achieves near optimal charging times without lithium surface saturation for typical cells at the beginning of their life, the I-V-T method does not adapt to atypical or aged cells with diffusion times that are different from the cells used for I-V-T parameter characterization. With discrete temperature ranges for determining the charging profile, the I-V-T method also charges batteries unnecessarily slowly if near the upper end of the temperature range.
Hence, what is needed is a charging method that can charge as quickly as the I-V-T method, while preventing lithium surface saturation by dynamically adapting to changes in the diffusion time caused by temperature, age, and manufacturing variation. What also is needed is a charging method that does not require the characterization of three-electrode cells that are difficult to manufacture with characteristics statistically similar to the two-electrode cells they are intended to match.

Adaptive effective C-rate charging of batteries


An apparatus for sterilizing objects has a sterilization chamber and a microwave source for applying microwave radiation to objects inside the sterilization chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for sterilizing objects, particularly mattresses, blankets, wooden furniture, clothing, etc.
2. The Prior Art
There have been many different apparatuses for sterilizing objects, but they all have the disadvantage that complicated technical facilities are required to operate them. Use of such a sterilizer at home is not possible in the vast majority of cases, because of the high costs incurred.


Photothermographic and thermographic diffusion transfer image-recording materials are provided wherein an auxiliary ligand for silver ions is employed to enhance transfer image density and discrimination.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat-developable color thermographic and photothermographic image-recording materials and more particularly to ones capable of providing images having good image discrimination as well as enhanced image density.
(2) Description of the Related Art
It is well known that various cleavage reactions are assisted by silver ions including reactions involving cleavage of a compound into one or more fragments.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,489 discloses silver ion assisted cleavage reactions useful in photographic systems. As disclosed therein, photographically inert compounds are capable of undergoing cleavage in the presence of silver ions made available imagewise during processing of a silver halide emulsion to liberate a reagent, such as, a photographically active reagent or a dye in an imagewise distribution corresponding to that of said silver ions. In one embodiment disclosed therein, color images are produced by using as the photographically inert compounds, color providing compounds which are substantially non-diffusible in the photographic processing composition but capable of undergoing cleavage in the presence of the imagewise distribution of silver ions and/or soluble silver complex made available in the undeveloped and partially developed areas of a silver halide emulsion as a function of development to liberate a more mobile and diffusible color-providing moiety in an imagewise distribution corresponding to the imagewise distribution of said ions and/or said complex. The subsequent formation of a color image is the result of the differential in diffusibility between the parent compound and liberated color-providing moiety whereby the imagewise distribution of the more diffusible color-providing moiety released in the undeveloped and partially developed areas is free to transfer.
Color-providing compounds useful in the above process form the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,783, a continuation in part of said U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,489. The color-providing compounds disclosed therein may comprise one or more dye radicals and one or more 1,3-sulfur-nitrogen moieties. For example, they may comprise one complete dye or dye intermediate and one cyclic 1,3-sulfur-nitrogen moiety. Alternatively, the color-providing compounds may comprise two or more cyclic moieties for each dye radical or dye intermediate and vice versa.
Thermally developable black and white as well as color photosensitive materials, whose development is effected by heating, are well known. Among the systems designed to give color images are those wherein a diffusible dye is released as a result of the heat development of an organic silver salt and transferred to the image-receiving layer whereby a color image is obtained.
Japanese Kokai 59-180548 having a Laid-Open date of Oct. 13, 1984 discloses a heat-developable silver halide photosensitive imaging system wherein the dye-providing material contains a heterocyclic ring containing a nitrogen atom and a sulfur or selenium atom which heterocyclic ring is subject to cleavage in the presence of silver ions to release a diffusible dye. An example of a suitable dye-providing material is a thiazolidine dye such as disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,783. The process involves imagewise exposing the photosensitive system to light and subsequently or simultaneously heating the photosensitive system, in the presence of a base or base precursor, under a substantially water-free condition whereby an oxidation-reduction reaction between the exposed photosensitive silver halide and a reducing agent occurs. In the exposed areas a negative silver image is formed. In the unexposed areas, the silver ion, present in inverse proportion to the silver image, causes the heterocyclic ring of the dye-providing material to be cleaved releasing a diffusible dye. The diffusible dye is then transferred to an image-receiving layer whereby a positive dye image is formed.
Copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/944,898 of J. R. Freedman et al, filed Dec. 22, 1992, describes a thermographic dye-transfer image-recording material wherein a silver salt complex is utilized as the source of silver ions made available upon imagewise heating to cleave a dye-providing material.
A heat-developable photosensitive system useful in terms of thermal development of the silver halide latent image is one which comprises a support carrying a photosensitive silver halide, a silver salt oxidizer, a thermal solvent, a reducing agent for the silver salt, a binder, preferably gelatin, and a dye-providing material capable of releasing dye upon silver ion assisted cleavage. However, in this type of system there has been difficulty in obtaining both adequate silver development and sufficient dye release.
It has now been found that, by including an auxiliary ligand capable of complexing with the silver ions of the silver salt oxidizing material in the imaging materials of the present invention, accelerated silver development, enhanced image density and improved image discrimination are obtained.

Thermographic and photothermographic imaging materials


A platform models and correlates physical activities based on users' interactions with a simple grip-metaphor design, enabling multi-dimensions actionable information to improve the health, performance and well-being of connected grip users within like-minded communities. For example, the platform captures multi-dimensional datasets generated from activities of each of a plurality of users on the online human internet of thing platform, where the activities include physical interactions with connected grips systems connected to the online human internet of thing platform. The platform then filters the captured multi-dimensional datasets into a plurality of categories and scores the filtered multi-dimensional data by the human internet of thing platform. Finally, the platform generates a multi-dimensional information modeling for each user based on the scored multi-dimensional data.

The current generation of fitness, health and sports activity trackers are defined by a typically passive always-on capture and aggregation of users' activities data over the course of day/week and month timeframe. This type of general purpose data capture, along with its simple dashboard representation, while presenting some benefit to the users, is inherently constrained by its basic lack of contextual information from the activities actually performed by the users, thus limiting the value of that data to a one-way experience where no active user feedback, coaching or interactions from users sharing similar interests are provided.
While the various products that we interact with are getting increasingly customized, by contrast, the human grip, as the main and only physical connection between a product and its user, has remained remarkably unchanged. This provides an opportunity to rethink and disrupt the accepted shape and function of this valuable human internet of things form-factor for both the consumer and professional markets.

Activities data modeling in human internet of things platforms


Provided is a slide fastener that has a flexible fastener tape, exhibits liquid-tightness, and can prevent a gap from being formed in a coupling portion, and a method of producing the slide fastener. An overlay material is formed on a front surface of a fastener tape so that the overlay material formed on a surface of a core member extends beyond a centerline in a front-rear thickness direction of a tape member. When a pair of fastener element rows engages with each other, a tip of an intermeshing head of a fastener element presses the overlay material formed on the opposite core members.

Conventionally, as one demand for a slide fastener that is opened and closed according to sliding of a slider, a configuration that prevents water or the like from entering through the slide fastener is demanded. As a configuration that prevents water or the like from entering through the slide fastener, there have been proposed a liquid-tight slide fastener (see Patent Document 1) in which an overlay material made from a synthetic resin is provided on one surface side of a fastener tape, and a water-repellent agent or an oil-repellent agent is attached to a core thread, a slide fastener (see Patent Document 2) in which the entire front and rear surfaces of a fastener tape are coated with an overlay material made from a synthetic resin, and the like.
The liquid-tight slide fastener disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a configuration as illustrated in FIG. 15. The liquid-tight slide fastener disclosed in Patent Document 1 is illustrated in FIG. 15 as a first conventional example of the invention, in which a configuration of a part of the liquid-tight slide fastener is depicted as a perspective view. As illustrated in FIG. 15, a liquid-tight slide fastener 50 has a configuration in which a coil-like coupling element row 53, through which a core thread 52 is inserted, is sewed along opposing side edges of a pair of left and right fastener tapes 51. Moreover, a liquid-tight layer 54 is formed on one surface of each of the pair of left and right fastener tapes 51.
Further, a water-repellent agent or an oil-repellent agent is attached to the core thread 52.
By configuring the liquid-tight slide fastener 50 in this manner, even when moisture or oil enter into a space portion of the coupling element row 53 from a coupling portion of the liquid-tight slide fastener 50, the entered moisture or oil can be repelled by the water-repellent agent or the oil-repellent agent attached to the core thread 52. Moreover, it is possible to prevent moisture or oil from penetrating further toward the inner side from the space portion of the coupling element row 53.
The slide fastener disclosed in Patent Document 2 has a configuration as illustrated in FIG. 16. The slide fastener disclosed in Patent Document 2 is illustrated in FIG. 16 as a second conventional example of the invention, in which a configuration of a part of one fastener stringer is illustrated as a perspective view. As illustrated in FIG. 16, a fastener stringer 60 includes a fastener tape 61 and an element row 64 that includes a plurality of element teeth 65 provided at an equal interval along a longitudinal direction of the fastener tape 61.
An overlay layer 66 made from an elastomer is formed on both front and rear surfaces of a core tape 62 and a projecting piece 63 that form the fastener tape 61, and an extension portion 67 made from the same material as the overlay layer 66 protrudes from the projecting piece 63. The thickness of the extension portion 67 is approximately the same as the thickness of the core tape 62 on which the overlay layer 66 is formed. Moreover, a flange 68 protrudes from the extension portion 67, and the flange 68 is made from the same material as the overlay layer 66 and has a thickness smaller than the thickness of the extension portion 67.
When a pair of element rows 64 engages with each other, the flanges 68 of the opposing fastener stringers 60 can be pressed and bent by intermeshing heads 65a of the element teeth 65. Moreover, when the flange 68 is bent, the whole circumference of the intermeshing head 65a is blocked by the flange 68.
As a result, a satisfactory liquid-tight state is created in the engaging portions of the engaged element teeth 65.


A sole configuration for a golf club head that provides the benefits of a sole configuration incorporating a medial ridge design. The medial ridge divides the sole into a toe and heel section. The sole further comprises a first and a second recess in the toe and heel sections respectively, wherein the first and second recesses are downwardly convex thereby allowing for the center of gravity of the golf club head to be positioned lower than in a golf club head having recesses that are downwardly concave. The first recess has a horizontal concavity that is in an opposite direction from the concavity of the second recess.

It is understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that golf clubs are typically classified into three main categories: wood-type golf clubs, iron-type golf clubs and putters. The terms "wood" and "iron" are used to refer to a type of golf club for performing specific functions, and are not used to limit the respective categories to specific materials. In fact, present day wood-type golf clubs, iron-type golf clubs and putters are manufactured using various materials such as wood, iron, stainless steel, titanium, tungsten, aluminum, composites, plastics, ceramics and the like.
In a wood-type golf club head, the bottom wall, also commonly referred to as the sole, can incorporate the many different design philosophies of various designers and manufacturers. Examples of existing sole configurations include soles having a smooth planar surface, a rounded downwardly convex surface, a surface with raised rails, or a surface having one or more recesses. One such design is that of a soleplate comprising a medial ridge extending from the front section of the soleplate near the face to the rear section of the soleplate. The soleplate further comprises downwardly concave recesses in the toe and heel sections, as shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,240,252; 5,301,945; and 5,470,069; the complete disclosures of these three patents of which are herein incorporated by reference. This previous soleplate was designed with a medial ridge to ease the club head through the grass or turf prior to impact with a golf ball, while the downwardly concave recesses improved the player's ability to hit a golf ball from various sidehill lies. While this soleplate configuration has been considered successful in improving the playability of golf clubs, it is believed that further improvements to playability can be achieved by further lowering the center of gravity of such a golf club head.


Systems and methods for detecting the mode (a.k.a., state) of a fuse or set of fuses in a device such as an integrated circuit. One embodiment comprises a method for determining three fuse states (uncut, cut, and destroyed) by comparing the fuse voltage with two reference voltages. Each fuse state has a different (indicative) impedance and is associated with a fuse voltage. The fuse voltage is below, between, or above two reference voltages, thereby determining the fuse state. One embodiment includes the fuse in series with a read transistor as well as two reference voltage generators, each comprising a resistor and a transistor (equivalent to the read transistor). Both resistors' impedances are greater than the uncut fuse impedance and one is less than the cut fuse impedance. Two comparators are used to bracket the fuse voltage, indicating that the fuse is uncut, cut, or destroyed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to fuses in integrated circuits (IC's) and more particularly to systems and methods for detecting the state of a fuse or set of fuses that are used to persistently store data in an IC.
2. Related Art
It is sometimes necessary to maintain some device specific information for a device such as integrated circuit (IC). It is convenient if not necessary to store this information in the IC itself. In order to do this, some part of the circuitry must act as a persistent storage. One solution is to incorporate into the circuitry a set of fuses and encode the desired information by programming it into the fuses. There are various trade-offs in the choice of components for this task, such as size, ease of programming, persistence etc.
One conventional method is to incorporate laser fuses into a device. These fuses are programmed by evaporating the fuses' metal links (in other words, the fuses are "cut"). The programmed information is then read by determining which of the fuses have been cut and which have not. Cut fuses may, for example, be interpreted as 0's, while uncut fuses may be interpreted as 1's. The programming is permanent.
The opportunities to program laser fuses are limited to a small window of time in the manufacturing process when the fuses are exposed. An additional limitation on the use of this type of fuse is the minimum size of such fuses. This is a limitation because of the wavelength of the laser. The wavelength of the laser is typically large relative to the feature size of contemporary IC's, so the laser may not be able to accurately cut the fuses. The use of a laser to cut the fuses may also cause unintended collateral damage.
An alternative to laser fuses is electrically programmable fuses such as Ti-Silicide or other metal-silicide fuses. These (and fuses of similar construction) may also be referred to as poly fuses or eFuses. An eFuse is programmed by passing a large current through the fuse to "cut" it. The mechanism underlying the programming of an (metal-silicide) eFuse is based on the agglomeration of the material of a silicide layer in the fuse. The agglomeration occurs when the current density (and temperature) are sufficient to bring about an appropriate degree of electromigration. These fuses are smaller and more readily programmed than laser fuses. An eFuse can be programmed at a more convenient stage in the manufacturing process, or at some time well after manufacturing. Also, the potential for collateral damage is decreased (with proper programming).
Electromigration is the mass transport caused by the (gradual) migration of the ions in a conductor due to the momentum exchange between moving (conducting) electrons and nearby diffusing metal atoms (ions). Over a period of time a sufficient number of atoms are forced far from their original positions, and gaps (voids) are created, restricting or preventing conduction. Agglomeration refers to the piling up of the migrating atoms.
Normally, electromigration does not occur in semiconductors, but instead occurs in an IC's metal interconnects. Designers have taken advantage of this effect by constructing fuse components out of appropriately affected materials such as Ti-Silicide, which can then be subjected to high currents/voltages to program the fuses. However, when the current is too large or applied for too long, the fuse can be damaged or even destroyed. Other problems may arise. For example, in some cases, a short circuit can occur in nearby components.
An eFuse, both in its unprogrammed, unaltered (a.k.a. uncut) state and properly programmed (a.k.a., cut) state, carries a current and has an impedance in a specified range. If the fuse is programmed with current that is too high, the fuse can be damaged or even destroyed, leaving it with an impedance well outside the desired range(s). There is also the potential for collateral damage to other components in the device.
A conventional read circuit can distinguish between an unprogrammed (uncut) and programmed (cut) fuse, but cannot identify an improperly programmed (destroyed) fuse. It is, however, important to be able not only to read the fuse, but also to determine whether the fuse has been destroyed. It would therefore be desirable to provide systems and methods to distinguish between the three fuse states: uncut; cut; and destroyed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for determining the state of a programmable fuse in an IC


A golf club head is provided with an impact surface formed of a shape memory alloy. The shape memory alloy is selected to have a transformation temperature applicable for the range of normal golf playing temperatures, that is in the range between about 0 and 15 degrees C. This selection of the transformation temperature of the impact surface provides an effective variation of the stiffness of the golf club head that compensates for changes of the stiffness of a golf ball with changing temperatures.

The present invention relates to golf club heads and particularly to golf club heads having impact surface portions fabricated from shape memory alloys.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,384 to Sata et al. discloses a golf club head wherein the impact surface of the club head is fabricated from a thermoelastic type martensite transformation alloy, such as a NiTi-based or a copper-based alloy, which is said to have improved carry and directional stability by reason of the use of a thin plate as an impact surface and because of the stress-induced martensite elastic characteristics of the material.
Pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/760,251, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a golf club head having an impact surface formed of "pixels", which may comprise shape memory alloy. In one embodiment pixels comprise wires arranged in an array, with wire ends forming the impact surface. Alternately, the pixels may comprise portions of the impact surface that have received different treatment, such as annealing. This prior application indicates that when using a shape memory alloy material, such as NiTi-based alloy, the pixel wires may be in a "superelastic" or "optimized elastic" condition. It is additionally stated that the pixels may be a mixture of superelastic and Martensitic material.
The above discussed disclosures do not address the temperature variation of the mechanical characteristics of shape memory alloys, but assume that the properties remain constant over the usual range of playing temperature, which is about zero to +40 degrees C.
It is generally observed that the performance and impact characteristics of golf balls change with playing temperature. At colder temperatures, for example in the range of zero to 10 degrees C., golf balls tend to have stiffer characteristics. When a ball is struck with a club, the impact will result in vibrations of different frequencies and different amplitudes in the club shaft because of the ball stiffness, which affects the flight of the ball. The stiffness of a conventional club head stays constant throughout the temperature range. At warmer playing temperatures, for example in the range of 30 to 40 degrees C., the ball tends to be more easily deformed upon impact, and different shaft vibrations will occur when the ball is struck by the club head.
The inventors have concluded that it would be desirable to provide a club head having an impact surface whose properties vary with temperature in a manner that complements the temperature variations of the golf ball and allows for a relatively constant interaction between the club head and the ball irrespective of the temperature. Accordingly, at cold temperature the club head impact surface would be softer, to offset the relatively stiffer ball. At higher temperatures, the impact surface would be stiffer, to offset the relatively softer ball. A temperature controlled club head would allow a golfer to have the same feel and club head-ball interaction on cold days and warm days.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,772,112 and 4,896,955 there is discussed the temperature variation of mechanical properties of NiTi based shape memory allows, and particularly the use of the "optimized elastic" properties of the alloy for application to eyeglass frames. In those patents the stated objective was to provide frame components that exhibit elastic properties over a wide temperature range of -20 to +40 degrees C. The material is also capable of exhibiting shape memory characteristics, in addition to elastic characteristics, at the lower temperatures within that range. The object of these patents is to allow bending of an eyeglass frame at different temperatures and allow it to return to a usable shape without permanent deformation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a golf club head with an impact surface that has different and desirable mechanical characteristics at different playing temperatures, to thereby provide a softer impact associated with the Martensitic phase at lower temperatures and to provide a stiffer impact associated with the austenitic phase at higher temperatures which reduces vibrations and provides a more constant feel for the club.


A computing node which reduces substantially and effectively reduces the power consumed by a memory is provided without affecting the efficiency whereby a processor accesses the memory. The computing node executes a user program sent by a control node. In case of which a message including the capacity of the memory required to execute a user program is received, a memory rank corresponding to the capacity of the required memory is made active by a memory controller before the user program is loaded into the memory.

This invention relates to a method of memory control and process control of a computing system, and particularly to a method of reducing the power consumption of a main memory taking account of program execution and process control.
In an ordinary computing system, power is consumed by the operation of the hardware with which the computing system is provided. Hardware means the processor, main memory (memory), secondary storage and Input/Output (I/O) devices, for example.
In case of which a computing system consumes power in large amount, a large amount of heat is generated simultaneously. For this reason, a cooling installation for removing the heat generated by the computing system must be installed. Apart from the cost of the power consumed by the computing system, the cooling installation also incurs costs.
A system design is therefore required which takes account of the power consumed by the computing system and the performance of the computing system. From the viewpoint of saving battery power, it is also important to reduce the power consumed by the operation of the hardware in modular devices.
The main memory with which a computing system is provided is one of the hardware devices which generally consume power in large amounts. For example, computing systems such as large scale computing systems and super parallel computing systems have very high capacity main memories. Hence, of all the power consumed by the hardware in the computing system, the proportion consumed by the main memory device is large.
Today, main memories in computer servers, personal computers and modular devices have increasingly high capacities.
However, while control is commonly executed to reduce the power consumed by the processor and peripheral devices, control is not usually executed to reduce the power consumed by the main memory. Henceforth, it will thus be necessary to also reduce the power consumed by the main memory.
In general, the main memory stores commands and data for the processor to execute processing. Specifically, the processor loads an operating system (hereafter, OS) and application software stored by a secondary storage, into the main memory. The processor then extracts commands included in the OS and application software which were loaded into the main memory, and executes processing.
At this time, in case of which the processor executes computational processing, the main memory is used also as a means to store data required for the processor to execute computations, data for computational processing, and computation results.
It may not be absolutely necessary to load commands and data required for executing process of the processor from the secondary storage device into the main memory. For example, In case of which the plural computers with which a computing system is provided are mutually connected by a network, commands and data required for executing process of the processor are stored by the main memory via the network. Also, if the computers with which a computing system is provided are mutually connected by high-speed I/O devices, commands and data required for executing process of the processor are stored by the main memory via the high-speed I/O devices.
The main memory in a computing system records data by whether or not a charge has accumulated in a capacitor. Specifically, in case of which the capacitor stores a charge, "1" is stored, and in case of which the capacitor does not store a charge, "0" is stored. An operation (refresh) for maintaining the data stored by the main memory must be executed.
The main memory usually has plural power control management modes, and can usually change to another mode via a memory controller or the like. For example, it can change from a normal mode to a low power mode.
In the low power mode, although power consumption is low compared with the normal mode, the speed with which the processor accesses the memory decreases. The main memory may be, for example, a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) or SRAM (Static Random Access Memory).
The power mode of the main memory is also changed by the memory controller in units of memory rank divided by the main memory. A memory rank is a unit in which the memory controller can control power independently.
In order to reduce the power consumed by the computing system, the memory controller has a logical/physical address translation table, and the memory controller operates the translation table so that the used memory area can be concentrated in any desired memory device. Alternatively, the operating system manages an unused memory list for each memory device, and allocates memory starting from memory devices which have little unused memory (memory usage is high). By this process, the memory controller changes over the power mode of an unused memory device to the low power mode (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,954,837).
A technique is also known wherein only a memory device in which data is stored is periodically refreshed, in order to reduce the power consumed by the memory device (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,714).
In a parallel computing system, from the viewpoint of solving the problem of the heat generated in the computing system, and energy-saving, temperature distribution information is generated based on the temperature information detected by a temperature sensor. A method is known for executing the process of job scheduling of the computers in a parallel computing system based on the generated temperature distribution information (e.g., JP 2004-126968 A).
On the other hand, in a technique for reducing the power consumed by the processor, a command for operating a computing circuit is first detected, and the computing circuit to be operated is activated first. Another technique is known where, after computations by the computing circuit are completed, the activated computing circuit is inactivated (e.g., JP 2005-235204 A).

System and method of reducing power consumption of a main memory


A housing for spindle motor with low height has an improved structure to facilitate the chucking by previously forming a chucking groove first formed into a corner part along the inside of a chucking portion, and its fabricating process is improved to simultaneously fabricate important parts since the chucking is facilitated as such. Here, a shallow annular groove with an optional width is previously formed along the innermost side of the bottom plane of a flange part to fabricated the bottom plane of the flange part at a time during a precise fabricating process of cutting the parts requiring precision tolerance free from a chuck of a cutter tool that grips an outer circumference of a disc part. Its fabricating is performed by chucking a cylinder part to expose the bottom plane of the flange part, i.e., the disc part, cutting the disc part to exactly maintain the verticality with the bottom plane of the flange part by simultaneously fabricating the outer circumference of the disc part to have the same dimension down to the bottom of the annular groove, releasing the chucking of the cylinder part to chuck the opposite outer circumference side of the disc part so as to make the edge end of the chuck be deeply engaged down to the bottom of the annular groove, and sequentially cutting inner and outer diameters of the cylinder part, upper plane of the flange part and a shaft hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin and slim type spindle motor housing, and more particularly to a housing with a structural improvement and a fabricating method for easily fabricating the same by means of the improved structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a hard disc drive employed for a portable personal computer such as a notebook computer becomes more favorable as it gets thinner. Therefore, a motor for hard disc drive is also to be of a thin slim type spindle motor, and a motor housing for forming the thin and slim type spindle motor should be so low as shown in FIG. 1.
In view of the construction of housing 1, a disc part 12 has an outer circumference 12a of an optional thickness, a shaft hole 13 perpendicularly perforates through the center of disc part 12 for assembling a motor shaft 4, and a cylinder part 14 protrudingly installed upward around the periphery of shaft hole 13 for the purpose of assembling of a stator 5 and inserting a bearing 6. An upper jaw 14a is formed to the lower end of the outer periphery of cylinder part 14 to sustain stator 5.
A flange part 11 extends from outer circumference 12a of disc part 12 to be thinner than disc part 12 in a manner to extend at the upper thickness portion of outer periphery 12a for making the bottom plane of flange part 11 place on the upper plane of a PCB substrate 7.
The most important part in assembling as described above is, as shown in FIG. 2, the bottom plane of flange part 11, which becomes a reference plane. Besides, shaft hole 13 for tightly fitting with motor shaft 4 therethrough, upper jaw 14a for sustaining stator 5, outer circumference 12a of disc part 12 and so on should be precisely fabricated.
Also, in considering the fabricating process of the foregoing housing, a pre-processing is performed via a molding method such as a die casting for forming overall configuration at a time and then a cutting processing is performed upon portions that require precision tolerance via a lathe, etc.
The most serious problem in fabricating the housing is to perform a chucking operation more than three times when the parts requiring the precision tolerance are subjected to the cutting process by means of the lathe.
For example, referring to FIG. 3A, after performing the first chucking for temporarily chucking the outer circumference side of unprocessed disc part 12, the upper plane of flange part 11, cylinder part 14 and upper jaw 14a of cylinder part 14 are subjected to a rough-cutting process.
Successively, cylinder part 14 of opposite side is secondarily chucked as shown in FIG. 3B. Then, the bottom plane of flange part 11 and outer circumference 12a, which should be precisely fabricated because of being the reference plane, are fabricated.
After outer circumference 12a of disc part 12 is subjected to the normal chucking again as shown in FIG. 3C, the upper plane of flange part 11, cylinder part 14 and upper jaw 14a of cylinder part 14 are precisely fabricated.
The reason of performing the chucking thrice is in that cylinder part 14 is to be necessarily chucked while the outer circumference 12a of disc part 12 is processed, but neither cylinder part 14 even nor outer circumference 12a of disc part 12 is precisely processed yet. For this reason, the precise fabricating in the sequence of the first chucking of chucking disc part 12, the second chucking of chucking cylinder part 14 and the third chucking of chucking disc part 12 should be performed.
The conventional housing structure described as above involves the drawback in that, because of being difficult to separately provide the portion which is to be chucked at the bottom plane side of flange part 11 of housing 1, the bottom plane of flange part 11 being the reference plane and shaft hole 13 cannot be simultaneously processed, thereby processing the opposite side in advance and then reversely turning it to chuck for performing the processing again. Due to this fact, the verticality of the reference plane of flange part 11 with cylinder part 14 and that of the reference plane of flange part 11 with shaft hole 13 cannot be assured.
In some cases, despite that outer circumference 12a is low, if the chucking is forcibly executed prior to simultaneously processing the reference plane, shaft hole 13, stator cylinder part 14, a corner part 12b as shown in FIG. 2 cannot be thoroughly fabricated to result in a problem of additionally processing corner part 12b later.

Housing for spindle motor and fabricating method thereof


There is disclosed an information displaying medium having a base member and a writable displaying unit disposed thereon. The writable displaying unit has a reversible displaying element including a polymer/liquid crystal composite film. A processing means including a control means and an information recording unit is buried in the base member and functions as a semiconductor device. A communication means is buried in the base member for exchanging signals with an external apparatus.

An information displaying medium is a promising information transfer means formed by providing a card, i.e., a base sheet, with a repeatedly writable displaying unit and capable of displaying different pieces of information as occasion demands. The information displaying medium when used, for example, as a customer card, services to the customer can be improved by displaying messages and such on the information displaying medium.
Various writable, reversible displaying elements intended for use for forming writable displaying unit have been proposed. Heat, light or magnetism is used for recording information on and erasing recorded information from the reversible displaying element. A reversible displaying element employs a fatty acid dispersed polymer film formed by dispersing a fatty acid that changes its phase between an opaque phase and a transparent phase in a polymer matrix. Another reversible displaying element uses the reversible opening and closing of lactone rings of a leuco dye by a developer/subtracter agent. A third reversible displaying element employs a polymer liquid crystal. A fourth reversible displaying element employs microcapsules containing magnetic powder.
The visibility of those known reversible displaying elements will be examined. The reversible displaying element employing a leuco dye indicates blue images on a white background and becomes light blue in an erased state. The reflection densities of the background, the images and the erased state measured by a Macbeth reflection densitometer (RD-918) are about 0.1, about 1.5 and about 0.3, respectively. Although the initial visibility is satisfactory, residual images remain after erasing. The reversible displaying element employing a fatty acid dispersed polymer film indicates white images of 0.4 in reflection density on the background of 1.2 in reflection density having metallic luster and has metallic luster in an erased state of 1.2 in reflection density. White characters displayed on the background having metallic luster is difficult to recognize and the visibility of the reversible displaying element is unsatisfactory.
The reversible displaying element employing microcapsules containing magnetic powder displays black images of 1.5 in reflection density on a silvery background of 1.0 in reflection density and becomes silvery in an erased state of 1.0 in reflection density. The visibility of black characters on the silvery background is unsatisfactory.
The reversible displaying element employing a polymer/liquid crystal composite film, when used in combination with a black dichroic dye, displays black images of 1.4 in reflection density on a white background of 0.5 in reflection density and becomes white in an erased state of 0.5 in reflection density. Black characters displayed on the white background are easy to recognize, the visibility of the reversible displaying element is excellent and residual images may not remain after erasing.

Polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) film using heat or an electric field to change state and the other to change back


In a transmitting method for transmitting a transmit signal sequence by a number of subcarriers, a plurality of subcarriers F1, F2, . . . FNSCH exclusively for a synchronization channel are provided, a signal sequence of synchronization channel SCH is transmitted by the plurality of exclusive subcarriers, and a common pilot CPICH or dedicated signal DPCH is transmitted on the other subcarriers. In this case, the signal sequence of the synchronization channel is subjected to differential encoding processing and the differentially encoded signal sequence is transmitted by the exclusive subcarriers.

This invention relates to a transceiver apparatus and to transceive broadcasting. More particularly, the invention relates to a transceiver apparatus and transceive broadcasting for transmitting a transmit signal sequence using a number of subcarriers.
Multicarrier modulation schemes have become the focus of attention as next-generation mobile communication schemes. Using multicarrier modulation not only makes it possible to implement wideband, high-speed data transmission but also enables the effects of frequency-selective fading to be mitigated by narrowing the band of each subcarrier. Further, using OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) not only makes it possible to raise the efficiency of frequency utilization but also enables the effects of inter-symbol interference to be eliminated by providing a guard interval for every OFDM symbol.
In recent years, there has been extensive research in multicarrier CDMA schemes (MD-CDMA) and application thereof to next-generation wideband mobile communications is being studied. With MC-CDMA, partitioning into a plurality of subcarriers is achieved by serial-to-parallel conversion of transmit data and spreading of orthogonal codes in the frequency domain.
An orthogonal frequency/code division multiple access (OFDM/CDMA) scheme, which is a combination of OFDM and MC-CDMA, also is being studied. This is a scheme in which a signal, which has been divided into subcarriers by MC-CDMA, is subjected to orthogonal frequency multiplexing to raise the efficiency of frequency utilization.

Transceiver apparatus and transceiving method


Apparatus and method for curing coating on articles using multi wavelength IR and UV energy sources, which can be pulsed in a system for analyzing and producing in-line programmed production of the finished product.

1. Field of Invention
Known methods of thermally curing coatings in laboratories and production facilities, include:                a.) heating of coatings via hot air convection ovens, which may require 25-45 minutes for full curing;        b.) infrared pre-heating coatings prior to convection heating, which reduces the curing time; and,        c.) infrared heating coatings for the total curing process which offers significant reduction of curing time, see Applicant's co-pending application Ser. No. 09/843,967, filed in Apr. 27, 2001 disclosing an in-line curing operation.
The above-methods include the coating curing process of:                a.) powder coat processing where the powder is heated until it gels and held at a curing temperature for, in most materials, cross polymerization; and,        b.) wet coat processing where fluid is driven from the coating and held at a curing temperature for thermal setting or cross polymerization.
There are numerous types of coating materials, all of which require specific curing temperature vs. time profiles when processing wet coatings. Also, specific gels and processing temperature vs. time profiles are required when processing powder-coating products. Normally, specific process details for establishing production finishing systems having appropriately designed features are not available to the finishing system designers. This can potentially cause over or under design of the required production facility.
Known methods of curing coatings via ultraviolet energy sources include preheating the powder coating to a gel temperature prior to being exposed to the ultraviolet energy source. This process typically utilizes an infrared energy source operating in the medium wave length range, which permits energy to be transferred into the coating via radiant energy penetration principles. This method offers significantly improved energy transfer rates. Using medium wavelength energy, normally does not allow penetration deep enough to directly introduce heat into a substrate material on which this coating is placed. The substrate material will in turn draw energy from the coating. The thicker the substrate, the greater the energy drawing magnitude; thus, creating large temperature gradients across the coating thickness and extending the processing time. Energy is drawn from the coating, which delays a wetting action between the coating and substrate. This energy drawing of the substrate from the coating also increases the temperature gradients across the coating thickness which decreases uniform cross linking and/or curing of the coating material. The greater the temperature gradients across the coating, the greater the time lag of the bonding process between the coating and the substrate. The higher the temperature of the substrate, the better the wetting action and thus, the better the bonding action at a coating and substrate interface.
The process may utilize conventional hot air convection or long wavelength infrared heating sources to apply energy to the surface molecules of the coating (no radiation penetration) in this case, the energy is transferred inward by conduction principles. These methods require substantial time and create significant undesired temperature gradients across the coating thickness. These sources of energy require significantly longer times to process than the afore-mentioned medium wavelength infrared source.
It is also known to use short wavelength energy sources as a means of curing coatings. When short wavelength energy sources are utilized, they offer the ability to heat the coating very rapidly, and, in most coatings materials, penetrate through the coating. Most of the energy is deposited in the coating; however, a substantial amount of energy is still delivered into the substrate. The amount of energy introduced into the substrate is affected by the coating material's formulation and thickness. This introduction of energy into the substrate reduces the temperature gradient across the coating thickness, and enhances initiation of the on-set of polymerization or curing, as well as, bonding at the coating and substrate interface.
Even though the short wavelength energy source has excellent capabilities, there are inherent features in certain applications, which create limiting processing conditions. For example, when the energy needs to be reduced in an appropriately designed curing system because the conveying mechanism velocity must be reduced, the normal response is to reduce the voltage in order to reduce energy. The wavelength of the energy source may be reduced to provide a temperature where its wavelength may be in the medium or long wavelength energy spectrum, which diminishes the unique features of short wavelength energy. Examples of these limitations would be one where a curing oven, utilizing short wavelength sources, was appropriately designed for a given production velocity and a need to reduce the velocity develops due to a production limitation. In this case, the energy wavelength would be greatly changed, causing process deficiencies due to inadequate energy penetration.
Normally, when curing coatings with ultraviolet energy sources, the coatings are thermally processed before exposure to the ultraviolet source. The pre-heating methods and their inadequacies are noted above. Ultraviolet energy sources have discrete energy radiation peaks. Critical production and specification requirements can arise from the paint manufacturer. Their enhancing light sensitive additives must function at discrete frequencies of the process ultraviolet energy source to attain adequate curing.
There are numerous types of coating materials, all of which require specific pre-heat temperature/time profiles and ultraviolet energy spectrum data. The lack of laboratory test information and its coordination with production performances sometimes leads to the construction of production facilities being under or over designed.
Laboratory pilot test systems typically consist of a conveyorized arrangement, which requires significant floor space. They normally utilize a single type of thermal source with minimal process controls. These systems include heating methods with inadequacies as defined above. They likewise include minimal programming and recording instrumentation.

Rapid efficient infrared curing powder/wet coatings and ultraviolet coatings curing laboratory applied production processing