A coaxial electrical connector includes a dielectric housing having a front mating face and a rear face. A first, central terminal-receiving passage extends in a direction between the faces, along with at least one second, auxiliary terminal-receiving passage. At least one auxiliary terminal is received in the second passage. A center terminal is received in the first passage and includes an elongated mating portion projecting toward the mating face of the housing and defining a center axis. The elongated mating portion has a front mating end and a rear end. A terminating portion is spaced radially of the mating portion. A connecting portion joins the mating portion and the terminating portion. The connecting portion includes a stabilizing section which extends rearwardly along the axis from the rear end of the mating portion. The stabilizing section bears against a section of the first passage in the housing to stabilize the elongated mating portion of the center terminal.

Coaxial electrical connectors are used in a wide variety of applications for transmitting direct current, such as in charger sockets for such devices as cellular telephones or the like. Such coaxial connectors include a center terminal and at least one auxiliary terminal spaced transversely or radially of the center terminal. Distal ends of the center terminal and the auxiliary terminal respectively mate with the positive and negative electrodes of a mating element such as a female coaxial connecting device. Opposite ends of the terminals may be connected, as by soldering, to appropriate circuit traces on a printed circuit board for transmitting current. In these connector arrangements, the center terminal is a critical component of the connector.
The terminals of such connectors typically are stamped and formed of conductive sheet metal material. In order to reduce the contact resistance of the coaxial connector to improve the stability of the circuit, the mating end of the center terminal is formed or rolled into a cylindrical configuration, and the terminating end of the center terminal is appropriately stamped and formed into a configuration for mounting the terminal and terminating the terminal, such as to the printed circuit board. Processing the cylindrical mating end of the terminal requires multi-axis rolling and forming technology which is complex and may result in inconsistent quality of the terminal and the connector. In addition, it is difficult to fix the center terminal in the housing of the connector without unduly increasing the size of the housing or affecting the stability of current transmission.
In an attempt to solve these various problems, FIG. 1 shows a coaxial connector, generally designated 10, as disclosed in Chinese Patent No. 01280613. The connector includes an insulating housing, generally designated 12; a center terminal, generally designated 14; and a pair of auxiliary terminals, generally designated 16 and 18. The center terminal is inserted into a passage 12a of housing 12; auxiliary terminal 16 is inserted into a passage 12b in the housing; and auxiliary terminal 18 is inserted into a passage 12c in the housing. Center terminal 14 includes a hollow cylindrical mating portion 14a, a solder tail portion 14b and a right-angled connecting portion 14c joining the mating portion to the solder tail portion. A pair of mounting interference wings 14d project outwardly from opposite sides of the center terminal generally at the right-angled connecting portion 14c thereof. The mounting interference wings have outwardly projecting teeth 14e.
Still referring to FIG. 1, when center terminal 14 is inserted into passage 12a in housing 12, the mounting interference wings 14d are inserted into a pair of slots 12d at opposite sides of passage 12a with an interference fit to hold the center terminal in the housing. However, since mounting wings 14d are plate-like members and their contact area with inner walls of the housing is rather small, the interference affect is rather small and it is difficult to ensure stable mounting of the center terminal. Unstable mounting will affect the stability of current transmission. The mounting interference wings cannot be made significantly larger to increase the holding affect on the center terminal without significantly increasing the size of housing 12 which would be undesirable.
FIG. 2 shows another coaxial cable, generally designated 20, according to the prior art. This connector includes an insulating housing, generally designated 22; a center terminal, generally designated 24; and a pair of auxiliary terminals, generally designated 26 and 28. The center terminal is inserted into a passage 22a in the housing, and the auxiliary terminals 26 and 28 are inserted into a pair of passages 22b and 22c, respectively, in the housing. Again, center terminal 24 has a cylindrical mating portion 24a, a solder tail portion 24b and a connecting portion 24c joining the cylindrical mating portion to the solder tail portion. The mating portion has a pair of resilient contact fingers 24d to enhance the contact engagement with a mating female connecting device. In order to improve the holding capabilities of center terminal 24 within housing 22, a pair of mounting interference hooks 24e are inclined outwardly from opposite sides of mating portion 24a near connecting portion 24c. Although hooks 24e (FIG. 2) might improve the stability of the center terminal versus wings 14d (FIG. 1), the improvement is rather small even when combined with any interference effect generated by connecting portion 24c with housing 22. In order to increase the holding force, either the size of connecting portion 24c or wing portions 24e must be significantly increased which, in turn, will undesirably increase the transverse dimensions of housing 22. This would be undesirable when miniaturization of coaxial cables is ever-increasing.
The present invention is directed to solving these various problems of increasing the holding forces and, particularly, the stability of a center terminal in coaxial electrical connectors.


In one aspect, a film assembly is disclosed comprising a first optical film having a tab disposed outside a first viewable area and a second optical film proximate and parallel to the first optical film, the second optical film having a slot formed outside a second viewable area; wherein the tab and slot are arranged to permit the first and second films to be moveably interlocked. In another aspect, an interlock arrangement for an optical film stack having at least a first and second optical film is disclosed comprising a penetrating member formed on the first film and a receiving member formed in the second film, wherein the film stack is moveably interlocked when the penetrating member is moveably secured in the receiving member. In another aspect, a method of assembling optical films is disclosed, the method comprising moveably interlocking two or more optical films to form a film assembly.

Optical displays such as backlit liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are used in a variety of applications including mobile telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), electronic game systems, laptop computers, computer monitors, and television screens. Optical films are used in such displays to provide a variety of functions, including light diffusion, light polarization and brightness enhancement. Typically, several such films are stacked together within an optical display in order to improve display performance and/or battery life.
Previous methods of packaging and handling stacked films include stacking the films one at a time into a display or bonding the films to each other prior to assembly in the display. Bonding methods include thermal welding, laser welding, solvent welding, crimping, or use of adhesives, as described for example in US Patent Publication 2005/0046767A (Freking et al., titled "Adhesive Stacking for Multiple Optical Films"). When stacked, the films are typically attached to the display frame.

Optical film assemblies and methods of making same


This invention concerns a non-volatile memory device with a polarizable layer. The apparatus concerns a substrate, a buried oxide layer within the substrate, and a polarizable layer within the substrate. The polarizable layer is formed in a buried oxide layer of a silicon-on-insulator substrate for the fabrication of non-volatile memory. The process of creating the polarizable layer comprises implanting, through the active silicon layer, Si ions into the buried oxide layer at an ion implantation energy selected so that the implanted ion has its peak concentration between 5–50 nm from the silicon/buried oxide interface. The implantation step can occur while externally heating the silicon-on-insulator substrate at a temperature between 25–300 degrees Celsius. An annealing step may be completed to repair any damage the implantation may have created in the silicon-on-insulator substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to silicon-on-insulator structures, and more specifically to processing a polarizable layer in the buried oxide of silicon-on-insulator substrates for the fabrication of non-volatile memory.
2. Discussion of the Background
There are various types of commercial non-volatile memory that have been fabricated on bulk silicon, but no commercial non-volatile memories have been fabricated on SOI substrates that utilize a polarizable layer in the buried oxide in their operation.
Two known techniques for forming the buried oxide layer in SOI substrates are the implantation of oxygen ions in the separation-by-implantation-of-oxygen process (SIMOX) and the method of first growing a thermal oxide and then bonding. The difficulty is that the buried oxide formed using either of these commercial processes are non-polarizable.
The test for the polarizability of the buried oxide is (1) the fabrication of point-contact transistors, (2) measurement of the transistor characteristics, (3) application of a positive poling voltage to the back-gate or drain above the operating voltage and (4) remeasurement of the transistor characteristics. The procedure is then repeated, where a negative poling voltage of the same magnitude is applied to the back-gate or drain. Any significant reproducible hysteresis in the transistor characteristics indicates that the buried oxide has been polarized. These measurements were performed on a wide range of commercially available SOI substrates, and demonstrate that the buried oxides of these substrates are non-polarizable.
In the SIMOX process, a thin layer of a monocrystalline silicon substrate is separated from the bulk of the substrate by implanting oxygen ions into the substrate to form a buried dielectric layer. The SIMOX process provides a heterostructure in which a buried silicon dioxide layer serves as a highly effective insulator for surface layer electronic devices.
In the SIMOX process, oxygen ions are implanted into silicon, after which the material is annealed to form the buried silicon dioxide layer or BOX region. The annealing phase redistributes the oxygen ions such that the silicon/silicon dioxide boundaries become smoother and more abrupt, thus forming a sharp and well-defined BOX region.
One important criterion for SIMOX wafers is the defect density, which should be minimized in order to produce high quality wafers. Defect density can be defined in terms of the departure from perfect crystallinity in the silicon layer that is separated from the bulk substrate by the buried oxide layer. In general, as the oxygen ions are implanted into the wafer to produce the buried SiO2 layer, atomic silicon is displaced. Additionally, excess silicon atoms from the growing BOX region can alter the crystal structure of the top silicon layer resulting in a variety of point and extended defects, such as threading dislocations and stacking faults, during the ion implantation and/or annealing processes. These defects degrade the quality and reliability of devices, e.g., transistors, that are subsequently formed in the upper silicon layer.
It is known that, in the SIMOX substrate, structure and quality of the buried oxide layer formed under the top silicon layer by implanting the oxygen ions into the single-crystal silicon substrate depend on an ion implanting quantity (dose of ions), so that the dose of oxygen ions as 1017–1018/cm2 is required in order to form the buried oxide layer having the abrupt interface. But, there is the disadvantage of producing crystal defects in the top single-crystal silicon layer when the dose of ions is increased, and observing the relation of a crystal dislocation density and the dose of ions, when the dose of ions reaches over 1.0×1018/cm2, the dislocation density is increased and crystal quality of the top silicon layer where device elements are formed is inferior. When the dose of ions is controlled within the range between 0.5×1018/cm2 and less than 1.0×1018/cm2 in order not to produce the crystal defect, a breakdown electric field of the buried oxide layer is smaller and the breakdown voltage is decreased. Consequently, as a condition capable of obtaining the high breakdown electric field of the buried oxide layer and of achieving the low dislocation density in the top silicon layer, at an acceleration energy of 150–200 keV, for example, the ion implantation has been practiced by setting the dose of ions at around 0.4×1018/cm2 (J. Mater. Res., Vol. 8, No. 3, 1993 pp. 524–534).
At least one disadvantage is that the buried oxide layer is non-polarizable. There exists a need for a method of creating a polarizable layer in the buried oxide of silicon-on-insulator substrates.
If a polarizable layer is formed in the buried oxide, then the polarizable layer/buried oxide combination can be used for the fabrication of non-volatile memory.

Non-volatile memory device with a polarizable layer

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A script is scanned to detect character strings that match predetermined criteria. The detected character strings are sorted in order of their appearance frequency and are associated with substitute characters or character strings such that a character string having a greater appearance frequency than another character string is associated with substitute characters or character string having a same or smaller number of characters. The script is searched for a given character string, and the given character string is replaced with its associated substitute characters or character strings. The content is unidirectionally distributed whereby the plurality of character strings is not distributed.

The invention relates to a digital data distributing technique in a satellite digital broadcast, communication of multimedia content, or the like and, more particularly, to a technique for distributing digital data constructed by commands of a computer language.
In more detail, the invention relates to a digital data distributing technique for distributing digital data in a markup language (for example, XML (eXtensible Markup Language)) format using a tag which can be arbitrarily defined and, more particularly, to digital data distribution for improving a transmitting efficiency of distribution content comprising text data such as what is called a script or the like and an executing efficiency on the reception side.
In a technical field of a broadcast, digitization of data is rapidly being promoted. A digital signal has a more excellent stability and a higher data compression ratio than those of an analog signal. According to the digital signal, a larger number of channels than that of the analog signal can be assured in a predetermined band irrespective of a cable, a ground wave, and a satellite wave. Although the information in a document, an audio sound, and a video image are each quite different in the conventional information transmission, by digitizing broadcast data, they can be transmitted without being separated.
For example, in case of digital data, by transmitting various system information such as EPG (Electric Program Guide) or the like together with video information and audio information, services to the user (viewer) can be improved (the EPG incorporates a function for a recording reservation or the like to a VTR in addition to presenting information such as broadcast schedule, program names, and the like of broadcast programs).
Data in a digital format has a high affinity with information equipment such as a general computer system other than a television. For example, a tuner card for a satellite broadcast is attached to the general computer system, received EPG data is analyzed in the computer, a program table is displayed as a window on a computer display, and a program switching, a recording reservation, or the like can be realized by the operation of a mouse cursor. Naturally, broadcast data can be also digitally recorded as it is onto a hard disk built in the computer.
By transmitting data such as video image, audio sound, and the like other than the broadcast program main body by using a band, interactive performance of the broadcast program can be raised. For example, in case of a broadcast program such that alternative quiz is provided, by transmitting answers together with the video/audio data, on the satellite television broadcast receiver (namely, viewer) side, an answer menu button is prepared on the computer display and marking can be performed in response to the answering operation by a pointing device such as a mouse cursor or the like.
If the interactive performance is further raised, not only a home-use television receiver merely deals with video content but also it can be expected that it jumps as an information control tower. For example, the television receiver can become an Internet terminal or an electronic commerce terminal.
In Japan, the standardizing work regarding digital satellite data broadcast has been being progressed mainly by the ARIB (Association of Radio Industries and Businesses). According to it, in the digital satellite data broadcast, in addition to the audio/video data (AV data) constructing the satellite broadcast program main body, digital transmission data accompanied by the broadcast program is distributed in parallel therewith. More specifically, the program is propagated as a broadcast wave in a format of a "transport stream" (which will be explained below) constructed by multiplexing the AV data compressed by a predetermined compression system such as an MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) 2 or the like and the digital transmission data.
An example of broadcast program information which is multiplexed to the digital transmission data is the foregoing EPG (Electric Program Guide: electric program information). The broadcast program information can include particular information regarding the broadcast program main body such as title and date of the broadcast program main body, casting of the program, and the like. The kind of data included in the broadcast program information and its data structure are systematized to a certain extent in accordance with the service content which are provided by the program main body. For example, there are information regarding a menu and ingredients in a cooking program, a vote situation which is successively updated in an election spot news program, a personal record regarding the batting or pitching of each player and a place of a team in a professional baseball relay, and the like.
On the digital satellite data broadcast receiving system (hereinafter, simply referred to as "receiving system") side, the broadcast program information is displayed by using a partial area of a display screen for displaying and outputting the broadcast program main body. The receiving system is usually constructed by a receiver (set-top-box: STB) for receiving, station selecting, and decoding the broadcast wave and a television for displaying and outputting it and installed to an ordinary home.
A structure of content (hereinafter, referred to as "distribution content") which is distributed as digital transmission data will now be described with reference to FIG. 13.
As shown in FIG. 13, the distribution content is constructed by: various kinds of monomedia data such as still image, motion image, audio sound, and the like in addition to text data; and a display/output control program (hereinafter, also referred to as a "multimedia encoding application") which integratedly deals with those monomedia data, that is, as multimedia and specifies a state of the broadcast program information. Reference (link) information for each monomedia data can be built in the display/output control program.
In the foregoing standardizing work of the digital satellite data broadcast by the ARIB, the use of an MHEG (Multimedia and Hypermedia Expert Group) has initially been examined as a format of describing the multimedia encoding application as distribution content. The MHEG is a kind of description language which defines data attributes and presumes an application such that multimedia content is displayed on the television and the viewer extracts desired information in a video-on-demand (VOD) or digital television broadcast. Like a Japanese CS digital broadcast (SKYPerfecTV), there is also a case where the MHEG-5 has already been used.
However, according to the MHEG, an encoding space is fixed and it lacks expandability. That is, since it has to be described by using only the encoding space which has unconditionally been fixed, for example, even if one function (API (Application Programming Interface) or the like) is changed, a considerable correcting work is needed. According to the MHEG, a general recognition degree is low, the data content described by the MHEG is not so frequently circulated, and an affinity with a general computer is relatively low in terms of this meaning.
In the ARIB (mentioned before), therefore, the standardizing work of a data broadcast based on an XML (extended Markup Language) is being examined in place of the MHEG.
According to the XML, since a tag is arbitrarily defined, that is, there is no limitation in a method of describing attributes, points that a degree of freedom is high, an affinity with a general computer or Internet is high, and the like can be mentioned as points which are more advantageous than those of the MHEG. A work to set the XML to a description language of the Internet of the next generation is also being progressed.
In case of using the XML as a standard language of the digital satellite broadcast, information of the data for digital broadcast can be exchanged among various kinds of information equipment such as computer, television, telephone, and the like. According to the XML, since the attributes of the tag can be arbitrarily defined, it is stronger against the data processes as compared with the HTML specified to a layout designation. Therefore, the application of the XML to each field including an electronic commerce is also rapidly progressing.
A point that the arbitrary setting of the tag in an XML document means, in other words, that it is an object that a character string written in the document is handled as meaningful data. That is, by the definition of the tag, the tag data divided by each tag can be expressed as data having a meaning other than a mere display object. Further, by defining a structure of the tag, the XML document or the data in the document can be structured and described.
As already mentioned above, in the ARIB, the standardization of the digital satellite data broadcast is being progressed on the basis of the XML. More specifically, the work is separately executed with respect to "basic XML" and "advanced XML" as an expanded edition of the basic XML. According to the basic XML, it is specified that a presentation format which expresses an XML instance onto the display is described by using a tag.
On the other hand, the advanced XML enables attribute information of the XML instance to be added. A rule defining a describing method of the attribute information (that is, grammar of the tag) is a regulation called DTD (Document Type Definition). In the basic XML, the attribute information which is defined by the tag is fixed and the DTD is unnecessary. On the other hand, in the advanced XML, the DTD can be arbitrarily defined. For example, the DTD can be unconditionally defined every field. The attribute information of the tag which is used here includes information that is necessary in the case where when different types of apparatuses such as television receiver and computer are connected, each apparatus mutually understands the meaning of the content and processes the content and the like.
There is also a case where the XML instance itself does not incorporate style information regarding an expressing format. In this case, an expressing method of the XML instance is described by "style sheet" as a document file different from the DTD.
The style sheet is a document file for converting, for example, the XML instance into a format to display and output it onto the display screen (or converting into a print output format to a printer). The style sheet for the XML instance can be described by using, particularly, a language in an "XSL (extensible Stylesheet Language)" format, a "CSS (Cascade Stylesheet)" format, or an "XSLT (XSL Transformation)" format as a derivative standard thereof. In dependence on the description of the style sheet, the same DTD content can be expressed by exactly another format by changing font or its size and color and the like. The style sheet is transmitted as a file different from the DTD.
Besides the style sheet, with respect to the multimedia content comprising each monomedia such as audio sound, still image, motion image, and the like, in the XML instance or style sheet, the operation can be also specified by a language called a script different from the XML or XSL. Although such a script is described by a script language such as JavaScript, ECMAScript, Jscript, or the like, according to the standard of the XML, XSL, or the like, fundamentally, it is specified that the script is described by ECMAScript ("ECMAScript" is a script language standardized by European Computer Manufactures Association (ECMA)).
The distribution content comprising the XML document is accompanied with, for example, the DTD document and style sheet besides the XML document. However, there is also a case where the DTD document is not included in the XML document or the style sheet is sent at a timing different from that of the distribution of the XML document. The description language of the distribution content is not always limited to the XML but can also use another markup language format such as SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), HTML, or the like. For example, if the XML document is applied to the TV broadcast and operates together with another real-time type data and presentation is performed, there is also a case where monomedia position information in a broadcast data module called URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) of various monomedia content is also built in the XML document main body.
On the receiving system side, the received XML instance is parsing processed by a syntax analyzing program called "XML Parser". That is, the XML parser analyzes structures of the DTD document and XML instance and outputs a document object. The document object is a structured document whose tree structure has been formed in accordance with the tags in the original XML document. According to the display function of the receiving system, by interpreting the structure of the document, a layout or the like on the screen is determined and can be display outputted to the display.
In case of distributing digital data by transmitting means such as broadcast, network communication, or the like, there is a method whereby the data content such as XML document, script, or the like is data compressed from the original text format to a description of a binary (binary display) format and transmitted.
However, since a file structure of the binary format differs depending on a computer system or software, it can become an obstacle of exchange of the content between an application and a terminal. As an upstream line of the digital satellite data broadcast, the Internet which is connected on the basis of a TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is presumed. According to this Internet, there are historical circumstances such that by using a content distribution in a text format, an environment which does not depend on the kind of terminal and the software has been established.
In the digital satellite data broadcast, therefore, a method of distributing the data content as they are in the text format has been examined in consideration of the affinity with the Internet and the compatibility of the content between platforms.
A size of text data as distribution content becomes a problem here. This is because a load of a transmission path increases and a transmitting efficiency decreases in proportion to the data size.
For example, with the progress of the realization of a high function or the realization of an advanced additional value of the XML document, a document size of the script which specifies the expressing format and operation increases. In future, it is presumed that the data size of script will be larger than that of the XML document main body as a display target itself. An influence which is exerted on a load of a finite band by the distribution of the increased script is large.
Also in a receiving apparatus for receiving the distribution content, it is necessary to prepare a buffer memory of a large capacity in order to receive a large amount of data, causing an increase in costs. Since time that is required for loading into the memory also becomes long, the executing efficiency deteriorates.
In case of using a general computer system as a receiving system, usually, since the memory of a large capacity has been installed as a standard memory, the problem on the memory load is relatively small. On the other hand, in case of a dedicated satellite broadcast receiver such as a set-top-box, since a size of standard memory is generally small, the distribution content of a large capacity is fatal.
It is an object of the invention to provide an excellent data distributing technique which can improve transmitting efficiency of a distribution of content comprising text data.
Another object of the invention is to provide an excellent data distributing technique which can improve execution efficiency in a receiving apparatus for receiving distribution content comprising text data and reduce a memory load.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Distribution contents forming method, contents distributing method and apparatus, and code converting method


Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for materialized query table matching are provided that include receiving a database query, retrieving a materialized query table (MQT) from data storage accessible to a database management system, selecting a join in the materialized query table between a table that is not invoked by the query and a table that is invoked in the query, determining whether the selected join is lossless, and expanding the query to include the lossless join if the selected join is lossless, expanding the query to include the lossless join. Determining whether the selected join is lossless may be carried out by losslessly joining the table that is not invoked by the query to the query, and determining whether the lossless join to the query matches the selected join of the materialized query table.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, systems, and products for materialized query table matching.
2. Description Of Related Art
The development of the EDVAC computer system of 1948 is often cited as the beginning of the computer era. Since that time, computer systems have evolved into extremely complicated devices. Today's computers are much more sophisticated than early systems such as the EDVAC. The most basic requirements levied upon computer systems, however, remain little changed. A computer system's job is to access, manipulate, and store information. Computer system designers are constantly striving to improve the way in which a computer system can deal with information.
Information stored on a computer system is often organized in a structure called a database. A database is a grouping of related structures called 'tables,' which in turn are organized in rows of individual data elements. The rows are often referred to as 'records,' and the individual data elements are referred to as 'fields.' In this specification generally, therefore, an aggregation of fields is referred to as a 'data structure' or a 'record,' and an aggregation of records is referred to as a 'table.' An aggregation of related tables is called a 'database.'
A computer program that supports access to information in a database is typically called a database management system or a 'DBMS.' A DBMS is responsible for helping other computer programs access, manipulate, and save information in a database. A DBMS typically supports access and management tools to aid users, developers, and other programs in accessing information in a database. One such tool is the structured query language, 'SQL.' SQL is query language for requesting information from a database. Although there is a standard of the American National Standards Institute ('ANSI') for SQL, as a practical matter, most versions of SQL tend to include many extensions. Here is an example of a database query expressed in SQL:                select * from stores, transactions        where stores.location="Minnesota"        and stores.storeID=transactions.storeID
This SQL query accesses information in a database by selecting records from two tables of the database, one table named 'stores' and another table named 'transactions.' The records selected are those having value "Minnesota" in their store location fields and transactions for the stores in Minnesota. In retrieving the data for this SQL query, a SQL engine will retrieve records from the stores table and records from the transaction table. Records that satisfy the query requirements then are combined in a 'join.'
To improve the performance of satisfying a query, many databases store the results of previous queries or portions of the results of previous queries and use the stored results to satisfy subsequent queries. Such stored results for performance enhancement are called materialized query tables ('MQT'). An MQT is a table whose definition is based on the result of a query, and whose data is in the form of pre-computed results that are taken from one or more tables.
An MQT does not have to contain the results of exactly the same query to be useful in subsequent queries. A subsequent database query can sometimes be satisfied using an MQT that is similar to the query. Consider the following MQT and database query.
The MQT:                SELECT e.name empname, d.name deptname        FROM employees e, departments d        WHERE e.dept=d.idmay be used to satisfy the query:        SELECT e.name, d.name        FROM employees e, departments d        WHERE e.dept=d.id        AND d.name='Engineering'by selecting records from the MQT such as:        SELECT empname, deptname        FROM mqt        WHERE deptname='Engineering'
In this example the query selects a subset of the results of the MQT. One situation where MQTs are useful therefore includes queries whose results represent a subset of the selected records of the MQT. In some cases, the extra records are a result of having tables joined in the MQT that are not invoked in the query. One existing method of MQT matching useful in a situation where the MQT has one or more tables not invoked in the query is carried out by eliminating the extra table or tables from the MQT using referential integrity reduction until the MQT has no extra tables that are not in the query.
Another way where MQTs could be useful in satisfying the queries may involve expanding the query under certain circumstances to include tables that are joined in the MQT but are not in the query. Consider the following MQT:                SELECT e.name empname, d.name deptname        FROM employees e, departments d        WHERE e.dept=d.id
And the following query:                SELECT e.name empname        FROM employees e        WHERE e.name LIKE 'A%'
In this example, the MQT references the departments table, but this query does not. The MQT may in fact satisfy the query if joining to the departments table is a lossless join. The phrase 'lossless join' means a join between a first table and a second table that returns the same number of records as the first table. That is, a lossless join does not produce 'fan out,' more records than the first joined table, or 'fan in,' less records than the first joined table. The use of the term 'first table' and 'second table' is simply used to distinguish two tables. There is no order requirement between the first or second table. The lossless join may be lossless with respect to either table. In this example, if the join is lossless, then the join to the departments table in the MQT merely widens the result set to include some department information. Such an MQT may be useful in materialized query table matching if the query can be properly expanded to match the MQT.

Materialized query table matching with query expansion

International Business Machines Corporation


A disc brake assembly wear indicator configured to be examined by physical contact, i.e. touch, as well as by eyesight to determine wear of the brake assembly friction couple. Physical markings are provided on the assembly carrier and caliper in locations selected so that the tactile-sensible markings are furthest away when the friction couple is new or unknown and adjacent each other when the friction couple wear is at the minimally acceptable level.

The present invention relates to a wear indicator for disc brakes and, in particular, to a wear indicator that can be examined by physical contact (i.e., touch) where space permits and by eyesight and which thus permits inspection with regard to both the brake pads and rotor (hereinafter collectively referred to as the friction couple).
Disc brake assemblies for vehicles such as passenger cars and trucks are of generally well known construction and typically include a caliper, brake pads, a rotor and related hardware. The caliper is mounted in a carrier for back and forth sliding motion so that inward motion of the caliper when acted upon fluidically (air or other fluid) by operation of the vehicle brake pedal pushes the associated brake or friction pad into the revolving rotor associated with the vehicle wheel to be braked. The brake pads are typically steel plates to which heat-resistant (e.g., organic or metal-particle filled) friction material is joined by riveting, bonding or the like. The rotors are typically made of cast iron. Conventional examples of disc brake assemblies and their components are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,446,948; 6,811,002; and 6,910,554. Air disk brakes of the type used in commercial vehicles are also currently marketed by Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems and WABCO Vehicle Control Systems, the construction of which is well known to those of ordinary skill in this field. Other examples of an air brake assembly are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,022,300; 4,094,388, and 6,230,851.
Safety and cost considerations dictate that the condition of vehicle disc brake friction couple be regularly monitored and readily ascertainable. The ability to visually observe a pad wear indicator in a cost effective way is often defeated by various vehicle suspension components in addition to the associated wheel and tire. In addition, attention has been focused on the past on observing the amount of pad wear but not the amount of rotor wear which is less evident and not usually as rapid as pad wear.
In the past, it has been known to employ is vehicle brake systems and other types of machinery as well as to employ systems for indicating a wear condition of brake components such as friction discs and pads. Mechanical or electronic wear sensors have been proposed in truck disc brake systems as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,330,034 and 5,651,430. Vehicle friction couples have also been used in construction machinery as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,659 which proposes a visual brake wear indicator on which the signal indicating excessive wear of the friction material is provided by a pin visible through a window or a signal light activated by a pressure switch. As above indicated, however, visual indicators are often impractical because of sight-line obstructions, and remote sensing introduces an undesirable complexity and cost to the inspection process.
Another currently employed approach is to use the caliper position against a marking on the caliper itself to determine the condition of the brake pads. Still another conventional technique has been to insert a metal pin through a rubber sleeve so that pad replacement and rotor inspection are indicated by the edge of the rubber sleeve becoming flush with the edge of the metal pin. Alternatively, the rubber sleeve could surround the metal pin such that inspection and/or replacement would be deemed necessary when the rubber sleeve curled around the metal pin to a specific location indicated on the sleeve. In any of these cases, however, visual inspection is required but may not be possible, thereby limiting the use of these approaches to certain disc brake environments.
Other examples of disc brake assembly wear indicators or monitoring systems of varying complexity can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,648,511; 4,356,897; 5,261,508; 5,848,672; 5,931,266; 6,237,723; 6,450,587; 6,691,835; and 6,891,468. These documents are illustrative of the state of the art to which the present invention pertains.
An object of the present invention is to provide a wear indicator that reliably, accurately, and easily allows an inspector to determine either visually or tactilely the amount of wear on the friction couple, not just the friction pads.
The present invention is based upon the recognition that a highly accurate tactile wear indicator that also permits visual inspection can be achieved through the simple expedient of providing markings on the carrier as well as the brake caliper. In operation, these markings are furthest apart when the friction couple is in a new (or unworn) condition and decrease in their distance from each other as the friction couple, not necessarily just the pads, wears by an amount equal to the total wear on the friction couple system.
One advantage of the present invention, therefore, is that it permits inspection by touch where visual observation is not possible.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is that it indicates wear of the friction couple as a whole. Thus, for example, the indicator of the present invention signals the amount of friction couple wear when the pads wear down to a minimum acceptable amount but rotor wear has not occurred (as is sometimes the case with the first set of pads) or where both pad and rotor wear have occurred in combination.
By providing a physical mark such as a raised portion or an indication that is also visually observable between the caliper and carrier castings, inspection of the friction couple wear is now easily achieved as long as there is sufficient space between the brake assembly and the associated wheel for access by an inspector's fingers as, for example, exists with a 24.5 inch wheel and wide-based single wheels.
A still further advantage of the present invention is that inspection time can be significantly reduced without sacrificing accuracy and thereby presenting a reduced operating cost opportunity to customers.
The wear indicator of the present invention further contemplates that visual inspection can be enhanced with chemical markings such as paint or with adhesive stickers. In lieu of raised portions or indentations on the casting, the marking can also be subsequently machined on or ground in the casting.

Disc brake friction couple wear indicator


A medical sensor assembly comprises a flexible plaster adapted for adhesion on the skin of a patient and a sensor configured for transdermal measuring a physiological parameter, wherein the sensor has a measuring part insertable into the skin and a contact part for providing a signal connection to a measuring unit. It is proposed that the plaster has a flap which is adhered to an intermediate section of the sensor between the measuring part and the contact part.

The invention relates to a medical sensor assembly comprising a flexible plaster adapted for adhesion on the skin of a patient and a sensor configured for transdermal measuring a physiological parameter, wherein the sensor has a measuring part insertable into the skin and a contact part for providing a signal connection to a measuring unit.
In the area of medical technology in the field of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), a similar assembly is proposed in U.S. Publication No. 2012/0035447. This document discloses an implantable sensor device in connection with a rigid base plate, which is part of a disposable or body-mount fixed to the body by means of a plaster. In this connection a wearing period of at least several days is intended. Thus, inadvertently detaching the carrier plaster from the body should be avoided.


Systems and methods for annotating speech data. The present invention reduces the time required to annotate speech data by selecting utterances for annotation that will be of greatest benefit. A selection module uses speech models, including speech recognition models and spoken language understanding models, to identify utterances that should be annotated based on criteria such as confidence scores generated by the models. These utterances are placed in an annotation list along with a type of annotation to be performed for the utterances and an order in which the annotation should proceed. The utterances in the annotation list can be annotated for speech recognition purposes, spoken language understanding purposes, labeling purposes, etc. The selection module can also select utterances for annotation based on previously annotated speech data and deficiencies in the various models.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for annotating speech data. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for reducing the time required to annotate speech data.
2. The Relevant Technology
A dialog application is an application that is able to receive speech input, recognize the speech input, interpret the speech input, and generate a response to the speech input. Many companies use dialog applications to receive and respond to customer inquiries regarding bill payments, order status, complaints, etc. While a dialog application can reduce the costs associated with receiving and responding to customer inquiries, the development of a dialog application is an arduous task that requires considerable time to complete.
One of the tasks in developing a dialog application is to annotate the speech data that is used to build and train the automatic speech recognition system and the spoken language understanding system. Annotating the speech data for purposes of speech recognition involves, for example, identifying the phonemes that are included in each utterance of the speech data. Annotating the speech data for purposes of spoken language understanding involves using an annotation guide to assign a call type to each utterance in the speech data. Annotating the speech data is a time-consuming task because tens or hundreds of thousands of utterances are usually required to build and train the speech recognition models and the spoken language understanding models of the dialog application and it often takes fifty minutes to annotate one minute of speech data.
The amount of annotation that can be done on a particular day is limited by the number of people that are available to annotate the utterances or speech files included in the speech data. Currently, the annotation to be performed for a particular day is selected using a random selection process. Random selection is very general and does not address the deficiencies of the dialog application. The inability to quickly annotate the speech data has an impact on the development of the dialog system.

Reducing time for annotating speech data to develop a dialog application


An image scanning apparatus is provided with a housing having a first inlet, a second inlet and an outlet, which are spaced from each other. A width of the first inlet is wider than that of the second inlet. A first guide is defined in the housing, connected to the first inlet and the outlet and has first and second guide surfaces opposing each other. A second guide is defined in the housing, connected to the second inlet and a confluence position, and has third guide and fourth guide surfaces opposing each other. The confluence position is defined in the second guide surface, the third guide surface is defined on the second guide surface side of the second inlet side with respect to the confluence position, a driven roller exposing from the third guide surface, and a scanning unit arranged between the confluence position and the outlet.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an image scanning apparatus configured such that a skew phenomenon, or oblique proceeding of a sheet conveyed therein is suppressed.
2. Conventional Art
Conventionally, there has been known an image scanning apparatus which is configured such that oblique proceeding of a sheet conveyed inside the apparatus is prevented or suppressed. Such a conventional scanning apparatus generally has, for example, a housing, a first guide part, a second guide part, a scanning unit and a sheet conveying unit. For example, the housing has a first inlet opening, a second inlet opening and an outlet. The second inlet opening is located next to the first inlet opening in a width direction thereof, a width of the second inlet opening being smaller than that of the first inlet opening. The outlet communicates with the first and second inlet openings. The first guide part is provided to the housing. The first guide part connects the first inlet opening with the outlet, and has a curved part. The second guide part is also provided to the housing. The second guide part linearly connects the second inlet opening with a confluence position which is located in the vicinity of the curved part of the first guide part. The scanning unit is provided inside the housing. The conveying unit is provided inside the housing.
The second guide part has a second guide surface. The second guide surface extends from the second inlet opening to the confluence position, and configured to contact a medium (e.g., a card) introduced from the second inlet opening from below. The first guide part has a first lower guide surface and a first upper guide surface. The first lower guide surface is connected to the second guide surface at the confluence position. The first lower guide surface located on the downstream with respect to the confluence position extends in a direction substantially similar to a direction where the second guide surface extends, and is configured to contact the medium passing the confluence position from below. The first upper guide surface faces the first lower guide surface. The conveying unit has a first conveying part. The first conveying part has a driving roller and the driven roller. The driving roller is provided on the first lower guide surface side at the first guide part, and inside a path extending from the second inlet opening to the outlet in the width direction. The driving roller is configured to rotate about a driving shaft (rotation shaft) which is located on the outlet side with respect to the confluence position. The driven roller is arranged on the first upper surface side at the first guide part. The driven roller is rotatably supported about a driven shaft (another rotation shaft) which is located above the driving axis of the driving roller, or above a plane extending in a direction from the confluence position to the outlet (i.e., in a sheet conveying direction). The driven roller inside a path extending from the second inlet opening to the outlet in the width direction is spaced from the driving roller by a predetermined amount.
In such a conventional image scanning apparatus, the conveying unit conveys the medium guided by the first guide part and the second guide part to the outlet. The scanning unit scans an image formed on the medium which has passed the confluence position. At this stage, the first conveying unit conveys the medium introduced from the second inlet opening to the outlet via the confluence position. On the other hand, the first conveying unit is configured such that the driven axis of the driven roller is located above the driving axis of the driving roller, and the driven roller is spaced from the driving roller by the predetermined amount, thereby a relatively wide medium introduced from the first inlet opening is not sandwiched by the driving roller and the driven roller.


Small projector type lamp devices for forming a cutoff line and for not forming the cutoff line having LED as a light source are formed by using small reflectors and small convex lenses made of resin. A shade having an approximately horizontal reflection surface extended to a rear side from a front end of a bent edge portion and a front end step portion formed in a front end of the reflection surface are formed in the small reflector of the lamp device, and a shade having the reflection surface is formed in the small reflector of the lamp device. A plurality of lamp devices are incorporated into a housing so as to structure a vehicular lamp device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a projector type vehicular lamp device applied as a head lamp and using a light emitting diode (LED) in a light source.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a conventional projector type vehicular lamp device 100 (for example, refer to a microfilm of Japanese Utility Model Application No. 4-76322 (Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Publication No. 6-41010). The vehicular lamp device 100 comprises a light source bulb 2 provided near a first focus of a concave mirror 1, and a convex lens 3 modulating a light flux outgoing from the light source bulb 2 and reflected on the concave mirror 1 to an approximately parallel light flux so as to emit to a front side of the vehicular lamp device 100 (a left side in FIG. 1).
In detail, the vehicular lamp device 100 is structured such that a shade 4 is provided between the light source bulb 2 and the convex lens 3, and a light distribution pattern having a preferable cut line can be obtained as a beam for when vehicles go by each other (hereinafter, refer to as a low beam) by the shade 4.
The light source bulb 2 is structured such that a filament thereof is positioned at the first focus of the concave mirror 1, and an electric connecting portion thereof is fitted to a tubular opening portion 1a. A frame 5 is attached to an open end of the concave mirror 1, the convex lens 3 is firmly attached to the frame 5, and the frame 5 bears the shade 4.
Further, the vehicular lamp device 100 is structured, as shown in FIG. 2, such that a ventilating through hole 1b is provided in an upper side just near the tubular opening portion 1a for attaching the light source bulb 2 in the concave mirror 1, and a pair of ventilating through holes 1c are provided in a lower side just near the same, respectively.
A temperature of the vehicular lamp device 100 becomes generally high in the periphery of the light source bulb 2 at a time of lighting, however, since a heat generated by the light source bulb 2 is radiated on the basis of a heat convection generated between the through holes 1b and 1c, the temperature around the light source bulb 2 is inhibited from being increased.


Disclosed is an apparatus for detecting a belt-cutoff of a dryer. The apparatus comprises a drying drum accommodating a laundry therein; a motor applying a rotational force to the dry drum; a belt wound around the drying drum and a rotating shaft of the motor; and a belt cut detecting unit provided adjacent to the motor in order to sense the belt-cutoff, wherein the belt cut detecting unit is pressed as the motor is rotated by a turning moment when the belt is cut off.

1. Field
This document relates to an apparatus for detecting a belt-cutoff of a dryer and a method for detecting the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a drum-type dryer is designed to perform the drying operation while rotating laundry loaded in a dry drum. The laundry rotates and drops by the rotation of the dry drum. High-temperature dry air introduced into the drying drum is mixed with the laundry to vaporize the moisture soaked in the laundry. The dryer may be classified into a condenser-type dryer and an exhaust-type dryer. The former is designed such that the air in the drying drum is directed to a condenser and a heater and is then returned to the dry drum. That is, the air circulates in the dryer without being exhausted out of the dryer. The latter is designed such that the air in the drying drum is directed to the condenser so that the moisture contained in the air can be eliminated and is then exhausted out of the dryer.
Particularly, according to the condenser-type dryer, the air circulating in the dryer absorbs the moisture from the laundry loaded in the drum and passes through the condenser to be lowered in its temperature by a heat-exchange. As the temperature of the air is lowered, the moisture contained in the air is condensed. The condensed water is pumped out by a condensing pump and is then exhausted to outside.
On the other hand, according to the exhaust-type dryer, high-temperature high-moisture air absorbing moisture from the laundry in the drum is exhausted out of the dryer via a lint filter.
In both the exhaust-type and condenser type dryers, as the laundry lifts and drops by the rotation of the drum, heat-exchange between the high-temperature dry air and the laundry is briskly incurred.
Meanwhile, according to the conventional drum-type dryer, a drum belt is wound around an outer circumference of the drum, and also the drum belt is wound around a motor shaft, and therefore the drying drum is rotated by a rotational force of the motor.

Apparatus for detecting a belt-cutoff of dryer and method for detecting the same


Methods and apparatus are disclosed for applying multiple Link Aggregation Group (LAG) entities on the same set of physical links, thus making bundling of individual services or conversations possible by the different LAG entities within Link Aggregation. Each LAG entity is configured such that a single physical link is Active and all the other links are Standby. Each LAG entity may be regarded as a “bundle.” Thus the services/conversations are bundled into a LAG entity and are handed-off on the Active link during normal operation. If service hand-off is not possible on the Active link (e.g., due to a failure), then the LAG entity switches over to a Standby link thus the service/conversation is handed-off on that formerly Standby link. Bundling may simplify operations of control and signaling.

Link Aggregation is widely used to aggregate multiple links between a pair of nodes in order to be able to transmit user data on each of the links participating in a Link Aggregation Group (LAG) (see, e.g., IEEE 802.1AX 2008). Aggregating multiple network connections in this fashion can increase throughput beyond what a single connection can sustain, and/or can be used to provide redundancy in case of a failure of one of the links. The "Distributed Resilient Network Interconnect" (DRNI) project (see IEEE 802.1AXbq/D0.4) specifies extensions to Link Aggregation in order to be able to use link aggregation on a network interface even between more than two nodes.
Among its aims, the 802.1AXbq project aims to provide means for enforcing that the frames (e.g. IP packets) of a given conversation are transmitted by a particular physical link. Furthermore, congruency is aimed to be provided—meaning that the same physical link is used for a particular conversation both in the forward and the backward direction. In addition, load balancing is also aimed to be supported, such that multiple links of a LAG are used for frame transmission, and a single link is used exclusively as an "Active" link for all traffic while a "Standby" link goes unused.
In case of a network interface a conversation can be referred to as a service, as typically a service is handed-off through the interface. The service handed-off on an interface may be a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) thus the service identifier may be a VLAN Identifier (VID), such as Service VID (i.e. "S-VID") (typically identifying services on Network to Network Interfaces (NNIS)) or a Customer VID (i.e. "C-VID") (typically identifying services on User to Network Interfaces (UNIs)).

Technique for bundling in link aggregation


A method of manufacturing a first phosphor of which emission spectrum shape well matches with a color filter of three primary colors of light, a light-emitting device including the first phosphor, and an image display apparatus including the light-emitting device are provided. The light-emitting device includes a semiconductor light-emitting element emitting excitation light and the first phosphor absorbing the excitation light and emitting green light. The first phosphor contains a solid solution of aluminum element and a metal element M selected from the group consisting of Mn, Ce and Eu in crystals of an oxynitride having a β-type Si3N4 crystal structure, an amount of oxygen in the crystals being not higher than 0.8 mass %.

A phosphor is used in a vacuum-fluorescent display (VFD), a field emission display (FED) or a surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), a plasma display panel (PDP), a cathode-ray tube (CRT), a white light-emitting diode (LED), or the like. In any of these applications, in order to cause the phosphor to emit light, the phosphor should be supplied with energy for exciting the phosphor, so that the phosphor emits visible light by being excited by excitation light having high energy such as vacuum ultraviolet, ultraviolet, electron beams, and blue light. As a result of exposure of the phosphor to the excitation light, however, luminance of the phosphor tends to lower and deteriorate, and hence the phosphor less likely to experience lowering in luminance has been demanded. Accordingly, instead of conventional phosphors such as a silicate phosphor, a phosphate phosphor, an aluminate phosphor, and a sulfide phosphor, a sialon phosphor has been proposed as the phosphor less likely to experience lowering in luminance.
An exemplary sialon phosphor is manufactured with a manufacturing process as generally described in the following. Initially, silicon nitride (Si3N4), aluminum nitride (AlN), and europium oxide (Eu2O3) are mixed at a prescribed mol ratio, to fabricate a mixture. Then, the mixture is held in nitrogen at 1 atmosphere (0.1 MPa) at a temperature of 1700° C. for 1 hour and fired with hot pressing, to manufacture the sialon phosphor (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-363554 (Patent Document 1)). It has been reported that α sialon activated with Eu ions, that is obtained in this manufacturing process, serves as a phosphor emitting yellow light at 550 to 600 nm as a result of excitation with blue light at 450 to 500 nm.
In addition, a blue phosphor activated with Ce and including a JEM phase (LaAl(Si6-zAlz)N10-zAlz) as host crystals (see International Publication No. 2005/019376 (Patent Document 2)), a blue phosphor activated with Ce and including La3Si8N11O4 as host crystals (see Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-112922 (Patent Document 3)), and a red phosphor activated with Eu and including CaAlSiN3 as host crystals (see International Publication No. 2005/052087 (Patent Document 4)) have been known.
A phosphor in which a rare-earth element has been added to β-type sialon (see Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 60-206889 (Patent Document 5)) has been known as another sialon phosphor, and it has been shown that a phosphor activated with Tb, Yb, and Ag serves as a phosphor emitting green light at 525 nm to 545 nm. A temperature for synthesizing the phosphor described in Patent Document 5, however, is as low as 1500° C., solution of an activating element in a solid state within crystals is not sufficient, and it remains in grain boundary phase. Thus, the phosphor achieving high luminance has not been obtained.
A phosphor in which divalent Eu has been added to β-type sialon (see Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-255895 (Patent Document 6)) has been known as a sialon phosphor emitting high-luminance fluorescence, and it has been shown that this phosphor serves as a green phosphor.
Here, unlike general illumination applications, a light-emitting device serving as a white light source used as a backlight source in a liquid crystal display or the like serving as an image display apparatus desirably has a narrow emission spectral line width of three primary colors of blue, green and red. The three primary colors are obtained as a result of transmission of white light through color filters transmitting only these respective colors. Here, green emission spectrum lying between blue emission spectrum and red emission spectrum is particularly required to be narrow in the emission spectral line width and to well match with the color filter for three primary colors.

Method of manufacturing phosphor, light-emitting device, and image display apparatus

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE


An optically-excited atomic frequency standard that subjects alkali metal atoms (111) to circularly-polarized optical radiation. The atomic frequency standard is improved by the use of a circular polarizer (202) to control the intensity of the circularly-polarized optical radiation. The circular polarizer includes a linear polarizer (203) and a quarter-wave retarder (205), with the light to be circularly polarized passing first through the linear polarizer (203) and then through the quarter-wave retarder (205). In the atomic frequency standard, the optical radiation (105) to which the circular polarizer (202) is applied is itself linearly polarized, and the intensity of the circularly polarized light produced by the circular polarizer (202) is controlled by rotating (303) the circular polarizer. The degree of rotation determines how much of the linearly-polarized optical radiation passes through the linear polarizer, and thus how much circularly-polarized light is produced.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of atomic frequency standards and particularly to atomic frequency standards which are optically excited using a technology known as Coherent Population Trapping (CPT) Atomic Frequency Standards.
2. Description of Related Art
A CPT atomic frequency standard is an "atomic clock" based on the phenomenon of coherent population trapping (CPT). Like most clocks, atomic clocks use phenomena with a regular time period to measure time. In atomic clocks, the phenomena with the regular period involve atoms that make transitions between two energy levels at angular frequency ωo. In most atomic clocks realized up to now using alkali metal atoms, these energy levels are part of the ground state of the atoms. The angular frequency ωo of these transitions is typically in the microwave range, 6.834 . . . GHz for rubidium 87, for example. The transitions can be detected by several means and among others through emission or absorption or energy at the resonance frequency, or when excited at that resonance frequency, by means of effects on a light beam interacting with the same atoms.
In coherent population trapping, the atoms are subjected to circularly-polarized optical radiation at two angular frequencies ω1 and ω2 connecting the two levels of the ground state to a third level called the excited state. When the frequency difference (ω1−ω2) of the optical radiation fields is not exactly equal to the ground state resonance frequency ωo, the atoms are not trapped in the ground state. They can absorb energy from the optical radiation fields and enter the excited state. The resonance phenomenon in the ground state at frequency ωo is thus observed directly as a reduction in the transmitted radiation. When the difference frequency (ω1−ω2) is exactly equal to the atomic resonance frequency ωo in the ground state, the atoms cannot absorb the electromagnetic radiation or be excited to the excited state. As a consequence, there is a sharp decrease in the absorption of the transmitted light. This "bright line" in transmission is used to lock an radio-frequency oscillator to the difference frequency (ω1−ω2).
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a CPT frequency standard 101 of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,320,427, cited in the Cross references to related applications. At the highest level, frequency standard 101 works as follows: The current source 125 driving laser 103 is modulated by microwave generator 127 at frequency ωo/2. This has the effect of creating, in the output spectrum of the laser, sidebands spaced symmetrically on each side of the laser carrier frequency. These sidebands are separated by ωo/2 and their amplitude is given by Bessel functions Jn. The two first sidebands called J1+ and J1− situated on each side of the carrier are thus separated by the frequency ωo. They are the sidebands used as the two circularly-polarized radiation fields ω1 and ω2. Under the excitation of these two sidebands, the atoms are trapped in the ground state, they cannot absorb the light from the laser, and virtually all of the light passes through resonance cell 111 to photodetector 113; when (ω1−ω2) is not equal to ωo, the atoms are not trapped in the ground state, much more of the light is absorbed by the atoms in resonance cell 111 and much less light reaches photodetector 113. Photodetector 113 produces a current which is proportional to the amount of light that falls on it, and the current from photodetector 113 thus indicates when (ω1−ω2) is equal to ωo or not.
Microwave generator 127 is modulated at a low frequency. The modulation causes the frequency separation (ω1−ω2) to vary periodically by a small amount and this in turn causes a low frequency periodic variation of the optical radiation at photodetector 113. This periodic variation is processed to lock the microwave generator to the atomic resonance at ωo. The frequency standard produced by clock 101 is derived from the locked frequency of the microwave generator.
Light originating from laser 103 which excites the atoms in resonance cell 111 must have certain properties in order to initiate the CPT process. The gas in cell 111 is excited by circularly-polarized light at the correct wavelength and optimum optical power. The correct wavelength is achieved by setting the temperature and drive current to the laser diode providing the light, the optical power of the laser beam is controlled by attenuator 107, and circular polarization is achieved by properly aligning quarter wave retarder 109 with regard to the plane of polarization of laser light 105. In the past one adjusted the optical power by using an attenuating material (film, glass, or otherwise) placed in the beam path to reduce its intensity. The attenuating material can be placed on either side of the quarter wave retarder. In a very small system, optimization of the optical intensity is adjusted by selecting a discrete optical attenuator. Best results are generally achieved using glass neutral-density filters, but these can be quite expensive and take up larger amounts of space. They also do not come in a very wide selection of values, so they must either be paired together, taking up even more space, or a sacrifice in optimum optical power must be made.
As described above, adjusting the optical intensity has been done in the past by installing and removing attenuators. Adjusting the circular polarization has been done by rotating the quarter wave retarder relative to the plane of polarization of laser light 105 and using an external linear polarizer or other appropriate means to determine the state of polarization resulting from the rotation. However, any calibration which requires that components of the device be replaced or that calibration components be added to the device and manipulated in the device is undesirable. For example, extra space is required for the combinations of attenuators that are needed to attain the optimum optical power and for the equipment required to analyze the polarization of the light entering resonance cell 111. Further, installation and removal of the analysis equipment and/or installation and removal of the attenuators often disturbs the alignment of CPT frequency standard 101 generally and of quarter-wave retarder 109 in particular. Another related problem is that adjustment techniques which require installation and/or removal of attenuators or analysis equipment cannot be performed automatically by the CPT frequency standard itself. What is needed, and what is provided by the present invention, is a technique for adjusting the optical intensity and circular polarization of the laser beam which requires neither installation and removal of the analysis equipment nor use of attenuator 107. As will be apparent from the foregoing discussion, such a technique is useful not only in CPT frequency standards, but in any application in which circularly-polarized light of precisely-controlled intensity is required. It is thus an object of the invention to provide such a technique.
An important property of optical radiation is the polarization state. There are two basic polarization states: linear polarization and elliptical polarization. As noted above, in the present context, we are chiefly interested in circular polarization, a special case of elliptical polarization. In circular polarization, the electrical field rotates around the line upon which the optical wave propagates, unlike linear polarization in which the electrical field of the optical wave moves in planes that contain the line along which the optical wave propagates. A good elementary discussion of polarization was found in August, 2004 at www.meadowlark.com/AppNotes/Appnote%20PDF/Basic%20Polarization%20Techniques%20and%20Devices.pdf. That discussion is hereby incorporated by reference in the present patent application.
The linear polarizer has a polarizing axis, and when light propagates through a linear polarizer, the emergent light is linearly polarized in the plane of the polarizing axis. If light that is already linearly polarized is input to a linear polarizer, only the component of the linearly-polarized light that is parallel to the polarizing axis emerges; the remainder of the light is absorbed or reflected. Thus a linear polarizer can thus be used to attenuate linearly-polarized light.
Circularly-polarized light is produced by passing light through a circular polarizer. A circular polarizer has two components, a linear polarizer and a quarter-wave retarder, which are assembled in a specific orientation. A quarter-wave retarder is made from a birefringent, uniaxial material having two different refraction indices. Light polarized along the direction with the smaller index travels faster and thus this axis is termed the fast axis. The other axis is the slow axis. In the circular polarizer, there is a fixed orientation of the axis of polarization of the linear polarizer to the fast axis of the quarter-wave retarder. An orientation of 45° results in the most efficient conversion of the linearly-polarized light emerging from the linear polarizer to circularly-polarized light, but circular polarization can occur at other orientations as well.

Optically excited atomic frequency standard


A saddle for use on a bicycle has an elastically deformable saddle body formed of a top plate forming the top wall of the saddle and a side plate hanging down from the periphery, and five binding bands laid over between a pair of opposite walls facing each other in the lateral direction in the saddle body in the component wall of the side plate. The degree to which the binding bands are tightened can be changed to adjust the cushioning property and the form of the saddle according to driver's preference etc.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bicycles, and particularly to a saddle for use on a racing bicycle, for example.
2. Description of the Background Art
Since the cushioning property of a saddle for use on a bicycle determines whether the bicycle is comfortable to ride on, improving the cushioning property is extremely important to improve the quality of the entirety of the bicycle.
FIG. 7 is a side view showing a conventional saddle for use on a bicycle.
This bicycle saddle has an elastically deformable dome-like saddle body (1) and base wire (21), like a spring rod, mounted on the bottom surface of the saddle body (1) and fixed on the seat post (7). The saddle body (1) further includes a top plate (11) forming the top wall and a side plate (12) hanging down from its periphery.
When a rider sits on the top plate (11) of the saddle body (1), the body weight of the rider causes the top plate (11) to elastically deform, or to cave in in the center. It also causes the side plate (12) hanging down from the periphery of the top plate (11) to elastically deform so as to fanwise spread out. Then the top plate (11) and the side plate (12) produce an elastic recovery force to recover their original form, which elastically supports the body of the rider on the saddle body (1) as cushion.
The quantity of deformation of the saddle body (1) with the rider seated thereon depends on the body weight of the rider. Accordingly, even with the same bicycle saddle, the cushioning property exerted by the saddle body (1) varies depending on the body weight of the rider.
Furthermore, since evaluation of the cushioning property varies from person to person, the comfortableness of bicycle saddles with the same shape will be evaluated in a variety of ways among riders.
Thus the basis of evaluation of the cushioning property of bicycle saddles varies depending on the weight, preference, etc. of the rider.
From this point of view, it is desired that the quantity of elastic deformation, or the cushioning property, of the saddle body (1) caused when a rider is seated thereon can be individually adjusted in accordance with weights and preferences about the cushioning property of the individual drivers.
With conventional bicycle saddles, however, it is impossible to adjust the quantity of elastic deformation or the cushioning property of the saddle body (1) when a rider is seated. Hence, especially with racing bicycles, riders are required to find bicycle saddles having cushioning properties suited to their own body weights and preferences from among a variety of bicycle saddles available on the market. However, it is extremely difficult to find such agreeable saddles for bicycles.


A protective enclosure for components of a computer system including a video display monitor, a printer, a keyboard and a central processing unit is disclosed for use in an industrial environment. The protective enclosure includes a housing having at least one sidewall completely enclosing the computer system. A keyboard support and storage member is pivotally connected to the sidewall for movement about a generally horizontally disposed axis between a first keyboard support position generally angularly disposed with respect to the sidewall for allowing user access to the keyboard and a second keyboard storage position generally disposed parallel with respect to the sidewall. The keyboard support and storage member defines an enclosed keyboard storage pocket for protecting the keyboard from damage in cooperation with the sidewall when in the second storage position. A printout access aperture is provided for retrieving printed paper output from a position external with respect to the housing enclosing the computer system.

Industrial computer systems commonly used for process control purposes are typically made up by combining a plurality of system components made by different manufacturers to meet the performance requirements of different system applications. While it is frequently possible to adapt each individual component for use in a harsh factory environment by providing sealing means in each compartment for excluding dust, moisture, chemical fumes and the like, the provision of such sealing means on an individual component basis is expensive and typically results in components which are characterized by the difficulties encountered in servicing the components. More important, the need for providing system components which are individually sealed seriously limits the variety of systems which can be set up using commercially available components. It has been found that the provision of sealed compartments for such systems has resulted in similar difficulties with respect to permitting free use of various components in the harsh factory environments while also permitting easy servicing of system components in a system console which facilitates operation of a system by a system operator.
In an effort to resolve these problems, factory floor operator interface consoles have been proposed, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,439. While this console provides a sealed compartment chamber for a plurality of process control or computer system components including a central processing unit of a computer, a video display unit having a screen at one end for displaying data provided by the computer, and typically a recorder unit or the like, it does not provide protection for the keyboard when not in use, or a sealed enclosure for a printer, or means to access printer output from a position external to the sealed enclosure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,121 discloses a space-efficient cabinet for housing a computer workstation. This patent discloses a space-efficient cabinet for housing a computer workstation which can include a video display monitor, a central processing unit with disk drive and a keypad. This cabinet has two generally opposed sidewalls and generally opposed front and back walls, which extend between the sidewalls. At least one horizontal surface is provided extending between the front, back and opposed sidewalls to carry the video display monitor. An inner angled shelf is also present, and is affixed between the sidewalls, to carry the central processing unit and disk drive. The shelf is angled downwardly from front to back relative to the horizontal allowing access to the central processing unit and disk drive whereby disks can be readily inserted into or removed from the central processing unit and disk drive. The angle of the shelf carrying the central processing unit and disk drive ensures a minimal footprint of the cabinet on the floor thus saving floor space. A movable partition is also provided to support the keypad. However, this device does not provide for any sealed environment to protect the computer system from a harsh industrial environment, and does not provide a printer enclosure or means to have access to the printer output from externally of the cabinet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,740 discloses a housing and storage mechanism for a terminal keyboard and display panel. This patent discloses a rectangular housing mounted vertically on a wall having a front face hinged along the lower edge for opening to a horizontal position. A keyboard is mounted on the upper portion of the housing face interiorly of the housing. A data display panel is pivotally suspended from the lower edge of the keyboard. A mechanism activated by the front face engages the lower edge of the display panel and elevates the panel to an angle inclined for convenient viewing when the front face is lowered to a horizontal position. This device is similar to U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,604 which provides for the secure positioning of the keyboard adjacent to the video display unit in either a lowered, use position or a raised, stored position. In the use position, the keyboard is maintained in a stable horizontal orientation immediately below and forward of the face plates of the video display unit. In the stored position, the keyboard is securely maintained in a generally vertical orientation immediately forward of the video display unit's face plate so as to provide protection therefore and enhance the portability of the computer terminal. While these devices provide for the protection of the keyboard and the video display terminal, there is no provision for enclosing and protecting the central processing unit and a printer, or for providing access to printer output external to the enclosure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,917 discloses construction for a sound reducing printer box. However, this soundproof box construction is not designed to protect the printer from damage in an industrial environment, and has no provision for enclosing the other components of the computer system, or for providing access to printer output external to the enclosure.

Protective enclosure for computers in industrial environment