A card unit on which a card attached to a connector and detached from it is loaded has a frame, which is loaded with the card and is expanded and contracted, and an attaching/detaching mechanism which attaches the card to the connector and detaches the card from the connector by expanding and contracting the frame. The attaching/detaching mechanism has a rotatable attaching/detaching lever which makes the frame expand and contract by its rotational operation. A maintaining part (maintaining surface parts) is provided, and the frame is maintained at a position, at which the card is disengaged from the connector, by the maintaining part.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an attaching and detaching constitution of a card such as a printed circuit board mounted on an electronic apparatus of a server unit and so on. In particular, the present invention relates to a card unit; a device unit, a card attaching/detaching method and an electronic apparatus suitable for the attaching and detaching of various kinds of cards which are loaded on a server unit, for example, a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) card and so on.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an electronic apparatus loaded with a lot of printed circuit boards, for example, on a server unit, a lot of cards are loaded for the purpose of extending the function of the PCI card and so on according to the scale of a system. Further, each card is attached and detached for an exchange as the need arises, for example, in a case of the extension of a function and maintenance. To cut off a power source for the purpose of performing such a card exchange imposes an excessive burden on a user, and there is also a risk in which a failure is caused. Ordinary, in the maintenance of the PCI card and so on in the server unit, after the power source is cut off, the work for an exchange is performed through access to an objective card by using a tool such as a screw-driver. Or, even a state that the power source is kept, a tool such as a screw-driver is needed in order to gain access to a card to be exchanged. Further, the management of electrostatic damage countermeasures as an example is also needed.
In connection with a card exchanging technology and so on in such an electronic apparatus, the following technologies have been known, for example. That is, as a constitution for the purpose of mounting a card such as a printed circuit board, there is a constitution in which a united card is attached to a card connector and is detached from the card connector (The Japanese Laid Open Publication No. 2002-353663 (the paragraph No. 0014, FIG. 1)). Further, there is a constitution in which an operation is performed by a lever attached to an apparatus unit when the apparatus unit is attached to an enclosure and is detached from the enclosure (The Japanese Laid Open Publication No. 2004-54967 (the paragraph No. 0037, FIG. 4, etc.))
By the way, in an exchangeable card loaded on an electronic apparatus such as a server unit, it is feared that the accuracy of connection is lowered due to the attaching and detaching between the card and a connector provided at a board side. Further, it is feared that a contact point is damaged. Because of this it is necessary to pay close attention to the attaching and detaching of the card. In a case of using a tool such as a screw-driver for the exchange of a card, it is feared that the tool comes into contact with a component such as another base board carelessly. Furthermore, an operation in which the opening and closing of a case of an apparatus is needed, for example. Because of this, in a case that the number of processes is large, the efficiency of maintenance in an exchange and so on may be lowered.
Concerning the problems mentioned above, the publications No. 2002-353663 and No. 2004-54967 do not disclose or suggest these problems. Further, these publications do not disclose or suggest a constitution for the solution of these problems.

Card unit, device unit, card attaching/detaching method and electronic apparatus


A hydrophobic polymer fiber mat that folds in response to the application of water along a predetermined fold line, thereby allowing for the formation of three-dimensional objects strictly through the targeted application of water. The fiber mat is preferably formed by electrospinning a polymer, such as poly(vinyl acetate), to form mats with average fiber diameters ranging from 0.5 to 1 μm.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to shape memory polymers and, more specifically, to a self-folding polymer web.
2. Description of the Related Art
Advances in technology aim to reduce the degree of manual labor in construction and use. Devices that self-assemble are of particular interest for various applications. Origami is among the usable techniques to fabricate self-folding or self-assembling three-dimensional (3D) structures for applications in the aerospace and biomedical fields. As an example, aerospace structures require effective deployment of self-assembled space structures. Another example of using self-folding structures is the field of drug delivery where such structures may be used for delivering therapeutic drugs to targeted areas.
One focus of current research is the development of programmable self-assembling structures. For this, computer programming is required, and the program signals are sent into the material, detailing the steps of construction. An advantage of this approach is that after construction, additional programs can be sent to the structure, allowing it to reassemble into another shape. Another approach to self-assembling structures utilizes 4-dimensional (4D) printing, where the fourth dimension is time. In this case, the printed material, or one of the printed materials, responds to an environmental stimulus, resulting in a conformational change of the printed object. Drawbacks to this approach include the current size and material limitations of 3D printing and the need for a preconceived ending state; the final shape of the object must be determined prior to printing, and the shape changing mechanism must be planned to determine the geometry of the printed object.

Water-triggered origami with a polymeric web


An apparatus in one example has: a substrate having a microstrip line; a capacitor at a predetermined location along the microstrip line, the capacitor producing a discontinuity; and a ground plane assembly on the substrate, the ground plane assembly having an opening that compensates for the discontinuity of the capacitor.

Wideband (high-speed) data transfer at rates in excess of 40 Gigabits-per-second (Mbps) is expensive for dedicated bandwidth (e.g., leased lines) over the existing telecommunications infrastructure. Over modest ranges where an unobstructed line of sight exists, a laser communication link can provide an alternative means of obtaining dedicated bandwidth at high data rates.
For this and other reasons, wireless information transmission systems in general are increasingly desirable as alternatives to costly wired installations and high telecommunications rates which prevail even for short distance communications. Radio frequency communications systems have the disadvantage of requiring that carrier frequency and communications bandwidth be assigned to an application, since the much wider beamwidths and sidelobes can interfere with each other. Thus, there is an increasing need for communications systems, such as those using light frequencies, that transmit large quantities of information in a line-of-sight application without creating interference problems.
DC blocking capacitors are used in a wide variety of applications, such as in the fields of RF (radio frequency), wireless communications, high speed electronic circuits, and traditional amplifier circuits. Each of these different fields require decoupling of different circuit sections.
In one example, laser communication transmit and receive modules require broadband DC blocking capacitors. These DC blocking capacitors have to work over multi-octave bandwidths. Current manufactures produce the broad bandwidth capacitors by attaching a 0.1 uf chip cap to an 82 pf parallel plate cap. However, due to flight requirements (for example, requirements in the space industry) for plate spacing in the chip caps, their physical size often exceeds a 50 ohm line width of a substrate they are being mounted on. This creates a discontinuity on the 50 ohm line. This discontinuity limits bandwidth, causes group delay, and generates the need for matching circuitry.

Broadband DC block impedance matching network


A sound collecting apparatus includes a base of a substantially spherical body and a plurality of microphones provided on the base, a number of the microphones having a predetermined constraint, the plurality of microphones being alternately arranged vertically relative to a horizontal plane including a center of the substantially spherical body in order to improve resolution in a horizontal direction.

An example of a technique for collecting sounds arriving in a plurality of directions includes a technique disclosed in Patent Literature 1. Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique for estimating and extracting information (a signal or a position of a target sound source) on any target sound source by linear filtering using an acoustic array device (a sound collecting apparatus) including a plurality of microphones.

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


In one embodiment, a building model is presented to a user. The building model may be a three-dimensional rendering of a geographic region. A user selects a point on the three-dimensional rendering of a geographic region. Based on the selected point one or more image bubbles are chosen. The image bubbles are photographs or similar image data. The image bubbles and the three-dimensional rendering are associated with the same geographical space. The one or more image bubbles are incorporated with the building model such that at least a portion of one of the image bubbles is displayed in a window with the building model.

Conventional street view involves the manipulation of image bubbles. Image bubbles are panoramic images collected with respect to a single perspective. The image bubbles may extend nearly 360 degrees along one or more axes. Zooming and panning within an image bubble provides a view from a particular viewpoint but cannot provide any perspective of the view with respect to surrounding areas. To view another perspective, a typical street level viewing application must be switched to the next image bubble. That is, in order to view the scene along the side of the street, a user selects a direction to move to the next image bubble and waits for the next image bubble to load. A panning operation may also be required, resulting in loading multiple images. Moreover, the relationship of the scene in the image bubble to the surrounding buildings or scenery is not conveyed using the conventional street view approach.


A semiconductor memory includes memory cell array, a voltage boosting circuit, a potential generating circuit and a sense amplifier. The memory cell array is composed of a matrix arrangement of memory cells. Each memory cell is composed of a storage device which is selectively controlled by a word line control signal and a bit line control signal supplied to a word line and a bit line at a predetermined timing. The voltage boosting circuit boosts a potential on a word line selected by the word line control signal up to a first potential that is higher than an internal power source potential. The potential generating circuit sets the potential of the bit line selected by the bit line control signal. The potential of the bit line is set to a second potential that is higher than a potential that is lower than the first potential by a threshold of the memory cell. The sense amplifier is operated using the second potential as an operating power source. The sense amplifier amplifies a potential difference between a reference bit line and a read bit line to which data stored in the selectively controlled memory cell is transmitted.

In a semiconductor memory, owing to the reduction of voltage in a system, the importance is how the semiconductor memory is operated in such a manner that a data sense speed is not reduced. It should be here noted that the thinner gate insulating film thickness of a cell transistor of a memory cell allows the voltage to be reduced at a boot level of a word line. However, on the other hand, the allowable minimum threshold voltage of the memory cell is little changed between generations.
FIG. 1 is a waveform chart of the word line and bit line associated with a read operation of a conventional DRAM (Dynamic RAM). When the reduced voltage in a system is not significant in a DRAM, a boot voltage of Vw1h1 of a word line WL is sufficiently high with reference to specifications. In this case, the drop (Vth) of the threshold voltage of the memory cell to be turned on has no adverse effect on the sense speed during the read operation. This will be described below.
In FIG. 1, a possible maximum value Vsn(1)max of a potential at "H" (high) level of a storage node of the memory cell is specified by the word line boot voltage (Vw1h1). That is, this maximum value is a: such a level that the boot voltage Vw1h1 is dropped by the threshold voltage (Vth) of the memory cell.
The "H" potential (Vb1h) of the read bit line can be set so that it may be equal to or less than the "H" potential of the memory cell. Namely, Vsn(1)max.gtoreq.Vb1h, consequently resulting in Vb1h=Vsn(1) (Vsn(1) corresponds to the value which is determined as the "H" potential of the storage node of the memory cell (.ltoreq.Vsn(1)max)). Thus, a reference bit line potential (Vb1h/2) for equalizing (or precharging) also supplies a sufficient potential to exhibit driving capability in a sense amplifier, which makes a high-speed read operation possible (in equations in the drawings, Cb denotes a bit line capacity and Cs denotes a storage capacity of the memory cell).
That is, the bit line potential on the side of the sense amplifier is linked to the storage node of the memory cell having the potential Vsn(0) or Vsn(1) corresponding to holding data. The bit line potential on the side of the sense is changed from an equalizing potential (Vb1h/2) into a sense potential (VBL(0) or VBL(1)). Here is shown that the potential of the storage node linked to the bit line is also changed into the sense potential. After that, this sense potential is sense-amplified, compared with the reference bit line potential, that is, Vb1h/2, whereby the sense potential is then read as memory cell data.
The operation of the sense amplification will be simply described below. FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of the sense amplifier. In the drawing, it is assumed that BL denotes a sense potential VBL(1) and /BL denotes an equalizing potential 1/2Vb1h. In this state, a sense amplifier drive line/SAN is changed from 1/2Vb1h into 0 V. Then, since the gate potential of an NMOS transistor Q2 is higher than that of an NMOS transistor Q1, the current driving rate of the NMOS transistor Q2 is higher than that of the NMOS transistor Q1. Therefore, the potential of /BL is reduced and becomes equal to the potential 0 V of /SAN. On the other hand, when the sense amplifier drive line SAP is changed from 1/2Vb1h into Vb1h, since the gate potential of a PMOS transistor Q3 is lower than that of a PMOS transistor Q4, the current driving rate of the PMOS transistor Q3 is higher than that of the PMOS transistor Q4. Therefore, the potential of SL is increased and becomes equal to the potential Vb1h of SAP.
In the above-described DRAM, a potential difference is made between the "L" potential Vsn(0) and the "H" potential Vsn(1) in the storage node of the memory cell where this potential difference is provided such as set sense speed at which sense data is not hindered at the time of read the memory cell. Therefore, in general, the "H" potential (Vb1h) of the bit line during read has a specification in which it is set equally to the "H" potential of the memory cell without any trouble.
However, in the case of the DRAM in which the voltage is considerably reduced in the system, as illustrated by the waveform chart shown in FIG. 2, the drop (Vth) of the threshold voltage of the memory cell has an adverse effect on the sense speed at the time of read. Next, this will be described below.
In FIG. 2, a boot voltage Vw1h2 of the word line WL is set so that it may be still lower than the boot voltage Vw1h1 of FIG. 1. Due to the same effect of the drop (Vth) of the threshold voltage of the memory cell as described above, a possible maximum value Vsn(1)max of the "H" potential of the memory cell is also reduced. As shown in FIG. 2, the "H" potential (Vb1h) of the bit line is generally set so that it may be equal to or less than the maximum value Vsn(1)max of the "H" potential of the memory cell. Therefore, the reference bit line potential (Vb1h/2) is also lower than the reference bit line potential of FIG. 1.
As a result, the sense speed is reduced at the time of read. That is, the potential (Vb1h) of an operating power source supplied to the sense amplifier shown in FIG. 3, the reference bit line potential Vb1h/2 and the sense potential (VBL(0) or VBL(1)) of the bit line are at low level as a whole. Thus, since the potential difference between VBL(1) and Vb1h/2 and the potential difference between VBL(0) and Vb1h/2 are reduced, due to the difference between MOS transistors Q1 and Q2 in current driving capability, the sense operation is prone to a faulty operation. Moreover, the reduction of the reference bit line potential causes the decrease of the potential between the gate and source of the MOS transistor in the sense amplifier. Consequently, the driving capability of a MOS transistor in the sense amplifier is deteriorated and thus the amplification is slowly operated.
Accordingly, This is feared that reliability is considerably reduced in the read operation in a sense system circuit.


A music learning aid, comprising: a first rotatable circular substrate having a radius (R1) comprising an in-use first visible circular scale displayed on the first substrate, the visible display comprising a plurality of indicia for indicating corresponding musical notes such that the musical notes indicated in the visible display scale ascend in frequency in a clock-wise or anti-clockwise direction; a second circular substrate having a radius (R3), the second substrate being arranged to be substantially concentric and rotatable relative to the first substrate by the fastening arrangement to enable the second substrate to rotate relative to the first substrates, the second substrate comprising a polygon with vertices of the polygon being located along the circumference of the second substrate, the second substrate comprising respective indicia corresponding to each of the vertices for indicating a respective musical mode selected from a set of a plurality of musical modes.

Any references to methods, apparatus or documents of the prior art are not to be taken as constituting any evidence or admission that they formed, or form part of the common general knowledge.
When either studying or communicating musical theory, the user is met with an extensive and well established language describing the various concepts that constitute music theory. This can often be overwhelming to the user and cumbersome to explore.
These concepts reflect a number of sets and subsets of musical notes of ascending or descending tone, some of which are derived from observed mathematical consistencies and others subjectively agreed upon from generations of investigation and experimentation.
The first of these sets is known as octaves identifiable by a mathematical consistency that relates the frequency of a note to the length of the vibrating string/wind column of the instrument being explored. When the length is exactly halved or doubled the frequency of the corresponding note created is either exactly doubled or halved respectively. This produces a note that is harmonically indistinguishable from its original counterpart. These notes all belong to the same pitch class and are designated the same identifying character. This identifies a pattern that repeats itself whenever a string/wind column is halved or doubled in length. The interval between these notes is called an octave.
This octave interval can then be further divided into a set of any number of individual notes. Traditionally this was done using just intonation by examining the ratios of whole numbers that fall within an octave this gives a result of varying intervals between notes. More recently a system of equal temperament is used to divide an octave into any number or equal intervals between notes. This set of all notes between octaves arranged sequentially in ascending/descending frequency is called a chromatic scale, which also repeats its pattern every octave. For the remainder of this document we will use the most common Chromatic scale of Western Music Theory, that of 12 equal temperament intervals identified by the first 7 letters of the English alphabet A-G with 5 flats/sharps identified by a b/♯ in conjunction with one of the aforementioned letters.
This chromatic scale set of notes can be further divided into a multitude of different subsets know as a keys/scales containing an combination of 2 or more notes of the chromatic scale set. Grouping notes that are more harmonious with one another or combine together to create a unique feel/mood. This subset of notes can be explored using any single notes contained within the subset as the root position/key signature creating different modes of the subset, with each mode usually differing intervals between sequential notes. This subset of notes is called a key. When subset of notes is played sequentially in ascending of descending tones it is called a scale. A key/scale is always described combining the tonic note and mode.
These subsets of keys/scales can be further divided into subsets know as chords containing a combination of any 2 or more notes contained in the Key being explored. Each note within a key subset will have a corresponding relative chord structure dependent on the intervals between the tonic of the chord and the intervals to the notes that proceed it in the scale.
In view of the above, it is desirable to provide a music learning aid which aids the user in exploring these various concepts of sets and subsets by means of a permutable visual aid that lets the user identify these various sets, how they relate to each other, how they combine to create music and the language most commonly used to describe and communicate them.


The present invention discloses a network-transmission inspection method, applied to a network-transmission inspection device, including: connecting a network-connection module with a base station through a network by a network-communication device; checking whether the number of RX packets received by the network-connection module from the base station has increased at a first predetermined time interval when the network-connection module is connected with the base station; checking whether the number of TX packets transmitted by the network-connection module to the base station has increased when the number of RX packets has not increased; checking whether the connection between the network-connection module and the network-communication device is functioning properly when the number of TX packets has not increased; and increasing the network abnormal number by 1 when the connection is not functioning properly.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network-transmission inspection method, and in particular to a network-transmission inspection method arranged to check respective transmission paths with fewer checking packets.
Description of the Related Art
Presently, mobile devices are highly developed and multi-functional. For example, handheld devices such as mobile phones and tablets are capable of conducting telecommunications, receiving and transmitting e-mails, maintaining social networks, managing contacts, and playing media, wherein most of the above functions require network connection.
However, errors and disruptions frequently occur when the electronic device is connected with a network. Users usually do not notice the errors and disruptions of connection the first time. Furthermore, it requires the user to manually re-connect the network or re-start the network module, such that it causes inconvenience for users in some conditions. Moreover, the existing network inspection methods require lots of network efforts and produce unnecessary packet fees. Therefore, an efficient method for inspecting connection errors is needed.

Network-transmission inspection device and network-transmission inspection method


A method of making a film with a high dielectric constant uses a spin-on sol-gel process to deposit the film on a substrate, the film having a composition (SiO2)x(TiO2)1−x, where 0.50<x<0.75. The resulting film is annealed in an oxygen-containing atmosphere at a temperature lying in the range of 500° C. to 700° C.

High dielectric constant materials with high bulk resistivity are needed to reduce the size of capacitors in analog CMOS devices, to reduce the size of the high voltage capacitors in charge pumps of high voltage CMOS devices and to reduce the size of capacitors of intelligent MEMS devices.
Many materials have been investigated to produce these materials, including barium strontium titanate (BST), lead zirconate titanate (PbZrO3-PbTiO3, PZT) and other such high dielectric constant materials.
Unfortunately, even if these materials can achieve high dielectric constants, they generally have a leakage current higher then about 1 μA/cm2 when exposed to an electrical field higher than about 0.1 MV/cm.
Various titanium silicate thin films have been deposited using pulsed laser deposition (PLD): D. K. Sarkar, E. Desbiens, and M. A. El Khakani, Appl. Phys. Lett. 80, 294 (2002).
More recently, the deposition technique migrated to radio-frequency magnetron sputtering of a TiO2/SiO2 composite target in a reactive O2/Ar gas atmosphere. This technique allowed the deposition of titanium silicate thin films with a dielectric constant as high as 20 and a low leakage current density of about 1 mA/cm2 at 0.1 MV/cm: D. Brassard, D. K. Sarkar, M. A. El Khakani, and L. Ouellet, (JUST submitted).
Other researchers have also published on the deposition of titanium silicates using the radio-frequency sputtering:                Nishiyama, A. Kaneko, M. Koyama, Y. Kamata, I. Fujiwara, M. Koike, M. Yoshiki and M. Koike, Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 670, K4.8.1 (2001)        M. Koyama, A. Kaneko, M. Koike, I. Fujiwara, M. Yabuki, M. Yoshiki, M. Koike, and A. Nishiyama, Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 670, K4.7.1 (2001)        X. Wang, H. Masumoto, and Y. Someno, T. Hirai, Thin Solid Films 338, 105 (1999)        M. F. Ouellette, R. V. Lang, K. L. Yan, R. W. Bertram, and R. S. Owles, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A9, 1188 (1991)        R. P. Netterfield, P. J. Martin, C. G. Pacey, and W. G. Sainty, J. Appl. Phys. 66, 1805 (1989)
Spin-on technologies have been patented by DALSA Semiconductor to deposit high quality dielectrics as described in the following patents: Luc Ouellet, U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,798 Moisture-free SOG process; Luc Ouellet, U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,073 Multi-level interconnection CMOS devices with SOG; Luc Ouellet, U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,613 Preventing of via poisoning by glow discharge induced desorption; Luc Ouellet, U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,818 SOG with moisture resistant protective capping layer; Luc Ouellet, U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,983 Spin-on glass processing technique for the fabrication of semiconductor devices; and Luc Ouellet, U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,267 Curing and passivation of spin on glasses by a plasma process wherein an external polarization field is applied to the substrate.
DALSA Semiconductor has described techniques to achieve high value capacitors in semiconductor devices (indicating the need to go toward TiO2-like materials in combination with SiO2): U.S. Pat. No. 6,268,620, Method of forming capacitors on integrated circuit; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,805, Method of forming capacitors in a semiconductor device
The spin-on sol-gel technique of deposition of titanium silicates has been reported by various investigators:                Y. Sorek, R. Reisfeld, I. Finkelstein, and S. Ruschin, Appl. Phys. Lett. 63, 3256 (1993)        X. Orignac, D. Barbier, X. M. Du, and R. M. Almeida, Appl. Phys. Lett. 69, 895 (1996)        A. M. Seco, M. C. Gongalves, and R. M. Almeida, Mater. Sci. Eng., B76, 193 (2000)
However, these studies merely investigate the structural and optical properties of titanium silicate films.

Titanium silicate films with high dielectric constant


Systems and methods for cooling a drive for downhole electric equipment such as an ESP, wherein the drive's electrical components are contained in one or more sealed enclosures to protect them from contaminants in external cooling air. In one embodiment, the drive has two sealed compartments that contain electrical components. Air internal to these compartments is circulated through air-to-air heat exchangers that are positioned in an adjacent duct. Alternating horizontal and vertical passageways through the heat exchangers are formed by flat plates that are offset from each other and connected alternately at their top/bottom and side edges. Air external to the sealed compartments is circulated through the duct to cool the heat exchangers. The amount of air circulated through each heat exchanger may be controlled by valves that regulate airflow through one or more outlets from the duct.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to power subsystems for downhole equipment such as electrical submersible pumps (ESP's), and more particularly to means for cooling electric drive systems in harsh environments while preventing introduction of contaminants into the drive systems.
Related Art
Downhole equipment such as ESP systems are commonly installed in wells for purposes of producing fluids (e.g., oil) from the wells. Typically, AC power from an external source such as a power grid is converted by an electric drive system to DC power, which is in turn converted to AC power that is suitable to drive the downhole equipment. This AC power is delivered to the equipment via power cables that extend into the wells.
The electric drive for an ESP system is normally located at the surface of the well. Heat generated by the drive in the process of rectifying the input power and producing the AC output power is typically dissipated by circulating ambient cooling air through the drive. In some cases, wells are drilled in locations such as deserts, where there may be a great deal of sand and dust in the ambient air that is circulated through the drive. The sand and dust may accumulate in the drive, reducing its ability to dissipate heat.
Conventionally, this problem may be addressed by implementing a thermoelectric cooling system to help dissipate the generated heat. These systems, however, require constant power input to provide a cooling effect, and they are notoriously inefficient, so they consume large amounts of power to remove nominal amounts of heat. Although not implemented in current systems, it would be possible to provide a system that uses a working fluid and turbomachinery, such as a vapor-compression system, to cool the drive components. While this type of cooling system would likely be more efficient than a thermoelectric system, it would be much more prone to maintenance, which would be undesirable. Another option that is not currently used would be to filter the ambient air before it is circulated through the drive. In some cases, however, a portion of the sand and dust particles are small enough that they cannot be easily filtered out of the ambient air. Filters that are capable of eliminating these fine particulates would typically impede the flow of the cooling air, making this an impractical solution.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an inexpensive, efficient, low-maintenance thermal management solution for sealed electric drive systems that must operate in contaminated environments for prolonged periods of time.

Systems and methods for cooling electric drives


A packaging device formed of substantially rigid material, comprising a container, such as a cardboard carton, with a sheet of substantially rigid material, such as cardboard, fastened inside some distance above the bottom, with a perforation through the sheet, in which an article of goods to be packaged is wrapped inside of a flexible membrane, such as a plastic bag, with the free ends of the membrane drawn downwards through the perforation and pulled tightly and wrapped around at least one edge of the sheet and fastened with a staple through the membrane and the sheet of substantially rigid material which causes the goods to be held tightly against the sheet in the proximity of the perforation to protect the goods against damage due to rough handling of the container.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in packaging, more particularly to a packaging system wherein goods are secured into a container without contacting the exterior sides of the container thereby helping to prevent damage to the goods if the container is dropped. One of the objects of this invention is to provide an inexpensive method to safely package a large variety of items using identical packaging for items of different size and shape. A further object of this invention is to reduce the amount of waste products generated during packaging and shipping. A further object of this invention is to provide a packaging system that can be folded flat for storage prior to and after use.

Packaging device using membrane, platform and aperture as a means of restraint


For high spatial resolution imaging a structure marked with luminescence markers, light that has an effect on the emission of luminescence light by the luminescence markers is directed onto a sample with an intensity distribution having a central zero point. Scan areas of the sample are scanned with the zero point. Luminescence light emitted out of a local area including the zero point is registered and assigned to the respective location of the zero point in the sample. Several copies of an object of interest are arranged in the scan areas and subjected to varying surrounding conditions. The individual scan areas are scanned with the respective zero point at least two times at two different stages of reactions to the varying surrounding conditions. Dimensions of the scan areas are limited such that they are not larger than 75% of a distance of intensity maxima delimiting the zero point.

In known methods of and in scanning luminescence light microscopes for spatial high resolution imaging a structure in a sample, the structure being marked with luminescence markers, light that has an effect on the emission of luminescence light by the luminescence markers is directed onto the sample with an intensity distribution that has a zero point and intensity maxima neighboring the zero point for increasing the spatial resolution. Often, this light is luminescence inhibiting light inhibiting the emission of luminescence light by all those luminescence markers which are outside the zero point. The luminescence light emitted out of the sample may thus be assigned to the location of the zero point in the sample, as only luminescence markers located there are able to emit luminescence light.
For instance, in STED fluorescence microscopy, fluorescence markers previously excited by means of excitation light are de-excited again by means of stimulation light as fluorescence inhibiting light, except of those fluorescence markers in the area of the zero point, so that only the fluorescence markers located in the area of the zero point may have emitted fluorescence light measured afterwards. This fluorescence light may thus be assigned to the location of the zero point in the sample. The spatial distribution of the fluorescence marker within the sample is determined by scanning the sample with the zero point. In this way, the shape and the spatial distribution of a structure in the sample, which is marked with the fluorescence markers, may be imaged.
In GSD fluorescence microscopy, the fluorescence inhibiting light transfers those fluorescence markers outside the area of the zero point into an electronic dark state so that they are no longer excitable for emission of fluorescence light by means of excitation light.
In RESOLFT fluorescence microscopy, fluorescence inhibiting light is used which transfers photochromic fluorescence markers out of a fluorescent state into a non-fluorescent state, except of those fluorescence markers in the area of the zero point. When the fluorescence markers are afterwards subjected to excitation light, only those fluorescence markers in the area of the zero point of the intensity distribution of the fluorescence inhibiting light are excited for the emission of fluorescence light by the excitation light. Thus, the fluorescence light emitted by the fluorescence markers in the sample may also be assigned to the location of the zero point of the intensity distribution of the fluorescence inhibiting light in the sample, here.
In all methods of high spatial resolution scanning luminescence light microscopy described up to here, there is an essential danger of temporarily or even permanently bleaching the luminescence markers in the respective sample, i.e. of deactivating them so that they can no longer emit luminescence light. This danger is due to the fact that the intensity of the luminescence inhibiting light has to be very high in order to stop essentially all luminescence markers outside the area of the zero point from the emission of luminescence light and to also strongly spatially delimit the dimensions of the area of the zero point out of which the luminescence markers may still emit luminescence light. With this high intensity, the luminescence inhibiting light already stresses the luminescence markers in the sample when the area of the zero point of the luminescence inhibiting light gets closer to the luminescence markers, i.e. already before they get into the area of the zero point for a first time and thus prior to luminescence light emitted by them being registered for the first time. This may have the consequence that luminescence markers having a tendency to bleach may not be used in the described methods at all or may at least not be used with high intensities of the luminescence inhibiting light as they are desirable for maximizing the spatial resolution.
Several approaches were pursued to avoid the described problems of a temporal and particularly of a permanent bleaching in high resolution scanning luminescence light microscopy. German patent application publication DE 10 2005 027 896 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,719,679 B2 belonging to the same patent family teach to apply stimulation light to a sample in STED fluorescence microscopy in pulses at comparatively long temporal intervals or while very quickly scanning the respective sample with a zero point of an intensity distribution of the stimulation light so that same areas of the sample are subjected to the high intensity of the fluorescence inhibiting light in maxima neighboring the zero point at an optimized temporal repetition interval, only. In this way, the intensity of fluorescence light obtainable from the sample is increased, as the rate at which the fluorescence markers get into a permanent or only slowly decaying dark state out of an excited intermediate state due to further excitation by the stimulation light is reduced considerably. In other words, the overall amount of fluorescence light obtainable from the entire sample within a certain period of time is maximized by means of the comparatively long repetition interval at which each individual area of the sample is subjected to the intensity distribution of the fluorescence inhibiting light. This procedure also reduces the tendency of the fluorescence markers to bleach as a higher population of excited states out of which a photochemical destruction of the fluorescence markers may occur is avoided.
For carrying out high spatial resolution fluorescence microscopy even with fluorescence markers tending to bleach, German patent application publication DE 10 2011 051 086 A1 and US patent application publication US 2014/0097358 A1 belonging to the same patent family teach to adjust scanning conditions with regard to each other, which—besides a scanning speed at which the sample is scanned and a light intensity of an intensity distribution of fluorescence inhibiting light—include properties and a concentration of the fluorescence markers within the sample, in such a way that the fluorescence light is emitted out of the area of a zero point of the intensity distribution of the fluorescence inhibiting light as individually detectable photons. An image of a structure in the sample, which is marked with the fluorescence markers, is then composed of the locations of the zero point, to which the detected photons are assigned during several repetitions of scanning the sample with the zero point. In this way, the probability of bleaching the fluorescence markers, before they are reached with the zero point and thus measured for the first time, is reduced. This is due to the fact that the probability of bleaching is correlated with the intensity of the fluorescence light obtained from the individual fluorescence markers. As the fluorescence light is minimized to individual photons, the danger of bleaching is also minimized. Generally, however, in the method known from DE 10 2011 051 086 A1 and US 2014/0097358 A1, the zero point of the fluorescence inhibiting light still only reaches the individual fluorescence markers after they have previously been subjected to the high intensities in the area of the intensity maxima of the fluorescence inhibiting light neighboring the zero point.
For being able to also use bleaching-prone substances in high spatial resolution scanning luminescence light microscopy, it is known from International patent application publication WO 2011/131591 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 9,024,279 B2 belonging to the same patent family to move a measurement front across the sample in which a structure of interest is marked with luminescence markers. In the measurement front, the intensities of optical signals increase over a depth of the measurement front which is smaller than the diffraction barrier at the wavelength of the optical signals in such a way that a portion of the luminescence markers which emit luminescence light is increased starting from non-existing and then reduced back to non-existing again by first transferring the luminescence markers into a luminescent state and by then transferring the luminescence markers into a non-luminescent state. The luminescence light out of the area of the measurement front is registered and assigned to the respective position of the measurement front in the sample. The assignment of the luminescence light to a certain location along the measurement front may also take place at a spatial resolution beyond the diffraction barrier by, for example, assigning the registered photons to a single luminescence marker in a same way as in a light microscopic method known as GSDIM.
An option of increasing the speed of imaging a structure of interest of a sample in scanning luminescence light microscopy is to scan the sample with a plurality of zero points of luminescence inhibiting light in parallel. Here, the luminescence light emitted out of the sample is separately assigned to the individual zero points of the luminescence inhibiting light. From German patent DE 10 2006 009 833 B4 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,903,247 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,646,481 B2 belonging to the same patent family it is known to form an intensity distribution of luminescence inhibiting light with a grid of zero points in that two orthogonal line patterns of luminescence inhibiting light are superimposed within the sample. An interference between the light of the two line patterns is avoided so that their intensity distributions simply add up. The desired zero points of the intensity distribution of the luminescence inhibiting light remain at the crossing points of the line-shaped zero points of both line gratings, and they are delimited by neighboring intensity maxima of the luminescence inhibiting light. To completely scan the sample in the area of the grid-shaped arrangement of the zero points, it is sufficient to shift each zero point over the distances to its nearest neighbors in the two directions of the two line patterns. Again, most of the luminescence markers in the sample are subjected to high light intensities of the luminescence inhibiting light before one of the zero points reaches them so that they are registered for the first time. Thus, the luminescence markers have to be selected such that they withstand these high light intensities without bleaching.
Li D et al.: Extended-resolution structured illumination imaging of endocytic and cytoskeletal dynamics, Science 2015 Aug. 28; 349(6251) disclose a method of spatial high resolution imaging a structure in a sample, the structure being marked with activatable fluorescence markers, wherein the sample is successively scanned with coinciding line- or plane-shaped zero points of light intensity distributions of fluorescence activation light and fluorescence inhibiting light in different directions, and wherein the fluorescence light emitted by the sample is registered with a camera. By means of evaluating the registered light intensities, an image of the structure of interest in the sample may be reconstructed whose spatial resolution is increased due to narrowing down the coinciding zero points of the fluorescence activation light and the fluorescence excitation light out of which no fluorescence light is emitted from the sample. Further, in this known method, the zero points of the fluorescence activation light and of the fluorescence excitation light which simultaneously acts as fluorescence deactivation light are delimited by intensity maxima of the fluorescence activation light and the fluorescence excitation light. All luminescence markers in the sample are subjected to the high intensities of the fluorescence activation light and the fluorescence excitation light in the area of these intensity maxima, before they get into the area of the coinciding zero points of the fluorescence activation light and the fluorescence excitation light. Thus, the risk of bleaching the fluorescence markers, before they contribute to the relevant measurement signal, is very high in this known method as well.
International patent application publication WO 2014/108455 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 9,267,888 B2 belonging to the same patent family disclose a method of high spatial resolution imaging a structure in a sample, the structure being marked with luminescence markers, in which the sample, like in STED fluorescence microscopy, is subjected to excitation light and to stimulation light as luminescence inhibiting light to reduce the area of the sample to which fluorescence light emitted out of the sample and detected may be assigned to the area of a zero point of the stimulation light. For protecting the luminescence markers against high intensities of the stimulation light in the area of its maxima neighboring the zero point, the sample is additionally subjected to excitation inhibiting light whose intensity distribution has a local minimum which coincides with the zero point of the stimulation light. This excitation inhibiting light may particularly be switch off light which switches switchable luminescence markers located outside the minimum of the excitation inhibiting light into an inactive state in which they are not excitable for emission of fluorescence light by means of the excitation light. Particularly, the luminescence markers may be switchable fluorescence dyes as they are used in high spatial resolution RESOLFT fluorescence microscopy. In the method known from WO 2014/108455 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 9,267,888 B2, however, the switchability of the luminescence markers is, primarily, not used for increasing the spatial resolution but for protecting the luminescence markers against bleaching due to the high intensities of the stimulation light.
R A Hoebe et al.: Controlled light-exposure microscopy reduces photobleaching and phototoxicity in fluorescence live-cell imaging, Nature Biotechnology, Volume 25, No. 2, February 2007, pages 249 to 253 disclose a method of confocal fluorescence microscopy in which a sample is scanned with focused excitation light to image a structure in the sample, the structure being marked with luminescence markers. Here, the excitation light is switched off in each position of the focused excitation light within the sample as soon as a number of photons which are emitted by the excited luminescence markers in the sample and registered by a detector reach an upper threshold corresponding to a desired signal-to-noise ratio. The excitation light is also switched off if the number of the emitted and registered photons does not reach a lower threshold within a predetermined part of the maximum pixel dwell time, because this indicates that no relevant concentration of luminescence markers is found in the sample at the respective position of the focused excitation light. In this way, the load of the sample by excitation light is considerably reduced as compared to subjecting the sample to the same amount of light at each position.
T. Staudt et al.: Far-field optical nanoscopy with reduced number of state transition cycles, Optics Express Vol. 19, No. 6, 14 Mar. 2011, pages 5644 to 5657 disclose a method called RESCue-STED which transfers the method described by R A Hoebe et al. for confocal fluorescence microscopy to STED fluorescence microscopy. Here, the sample is only subjected to the high intensities of the stimulation light as long as necessary or suitable.
German patent application publication DE 10 2013 100 174 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 9,377,406 B2 belonging to the same patent family disclose a method of spatial high resolution imaging of a structure of a sample, the structure comprising a luminophore. The sample, in a measurement area, is subjected to an intensity distribution of luminescence inhibiting light comprising a local minimum. Then, the sample, in the measurement area, is subjected to luminescence excitation light which excites the luminophore out of an electronic ground state into a luminescence state, and luminescence light emitted out of the measurement area is registered. The registered luminescence light is assigned to the position of the local minimum within the sample. The luminescence inhibiting light disturbs the electronic ground state of the luminophore such that the luminophore, in the disturbed electronic ground state, has a reduced absorption cross-section for the luminescence excitation light in the disturbed electronic ground state. Prior to registering the luminescence light, the sample may be subjected to STED light in the measurement area which also has a local minimum in the center of the measurement area. If this local minimum is even smaller than the local minimum of the intensity distribution of the luminescence inhibiting light, the spatial assignment of the luminescence light may be delimited even stronger, such that that the spatial resolution in imaging the sample is increased even further. The local minima of the STED light and the fluorescence inhibiting light are concentrically arranged with regard to each other in all positions of the local minimum of the intensity distribution of the fluorescence inhibiting light within the sample.
German patent DE 10 2013 114 860 B3 and U.S. Pat. No. 9,719,928 B2 belonging to the same patent family disclose a method of determining the locations of individual molecules of a substance in a sample. In this method, the individual molecules of the substance are in a fluorescent state in which they are excitable by excitation light for emission of fluorescence light, and distances between the individual molecules of the substance keep a minimum value. The individual molecules of the substance are excited by excitation light for emission of fluorescence light, an intensity distribution of the excitation light comprising at least one zero point. The fluorescence light from the excited individual molecules of the substance is registered for different positions of the at least one zero point of the intensity distribution of the excitation light. Here, a distance between nearest neighboring positions of the at least one zero point, in which the fluorescence light from the excited individual molecules of the substance is registered, is not higher than half the minimum value. The locations of the individual molecules of the substance are derived from the course of the intensity of the fluorescence light from the respective molecule over the positions of the at least one zero point of the intensity distribution of the excitation light in the area of interest of the sample.
International patent application publication WO 2010/069987 A1 and US patent U.S. Pat. No. 8,520,280 B2 belonging to the same patent family disclose a method of dynamically shifting a light beam with regard to an optic focusing the light beam. This method may be used in STED microscopy. In scanning the sample, quick adaptive scanning patterns may be realized which avoid dark background areas or object areas which are of no interest for other reasons to achieve an increased picture repetition rate due to a reduced number of picture points.
US patent application publication US 2012/0104279 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,586,945 B2 belonging to the same patent family disclose a fluorescence light scanning microscope comprising a birefringent chromatic beam forming device. Particularly, the scanning microscope is an STED microscope. Both excitation light and STED light pass through the birefringent chromatic beam forming device, the beam forming device not affecting the formation of an intensity maximum of the excitation light in the focus of an objective lens but having the effect that the STED light forms an intensity distribution comprising an intensity minimum at the location of the intensity maximum of the excitation light.
European patent application publication EP 2 317 362 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,705,172 B2 belonging to the same patent family disclose a microscopic method with increased resolution in which a sample is twice scanned with an intensity maximum of excitation light to generate two pictures of the sample. Scanning points which form the basis of both pictures are offset by a step size below the optical resolution limit of the method with regard to each other, and the resulting differences of the pictures are evaluated for obtaining an increased spatial resolution. A similar method is known from German patent application publication DE 10 2013 017 468 A1 and US patent application publication US 2016/024042 A1 belonging to the same patent family.
US patent application publication US 2013/0201558 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 9,188,784 B2 belonging to the same patent family disclose a beam shaping device for shaping a beam with a central zero point. The beam shaping device may be used in STED microscopy. In this known beam shaping device, a scanning angle which is adjusted in scanning a sample with the beam is limited, because it disturbs the relative phase shifts of the beam which are adjusted by different waveplates for forming the central zero point.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,679,741 B2 discloses a method of high spatial resolution examination of samples which belongs to RESOLFT microscopy using switchable substances. In one embodiment, the known method comprises a formation of a plurality of zero points of fluorescence inhibiting light to examine the sample in a plurality of partial areas at the same time.
There still is a need of a method of high spatial resolution imaging a structure in a sample, the structure being marked with luminescence markers, in which the load to the luminescence markers in the sample by high light intensities is generally reduced so that even luminescence markers which are sensitive to high light intensities may be used, and a structure in the respective sample may be imaged repeatedly to measure reactions of an object of interest to changing surrounding conditions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of locally imaging a structure in a sample at high spatial resolution in order to detect reactions of an object of interest to altered environmental conditions

MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN E.V.


A digital phase locked loop (PLL) comprises a phase/frequency comparator block including a comparator for comparing a reference signal with an internal clock signal obtained by dividing an output clock signal of the PLL circuit. The phase/frequency comparator supplies a two-bit signal, either one of the bits having a pulse width based on the difference between the phases or frequencies of the reference signal and internal clock signal. The two-bit signal is amplified by a CMOS latch amplifier during a sense enable cycle of the amplifier to be supplied to a digital controller, which in turn controls a voltage controlled oscillator via a D/A converter. The digital PLL circuit executes frequency acquisition and phase acquisition in a single mode to simplify the circuit configuration.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a phase locked loop (PLL) having a phase/frequency comparator block and, more particularly, to the structure of a phase/frequency comparator block in a PLL circuit for supplying a binary coded output for the result of the comparison. The present invention also relates to such a phase/frequency comparator block.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A PLL circuit is generally used in a microprocessor to generate a higher frequency clock signal from a lower frequency reference signal, the clock signal being in synchronism with the reference signal. A circuit configuration for a digital PLL circuit is described by Hata and Furukawa in 8th section of "DIGITAL PLL in Use of PLL-IC", (edited by Akiba Co., 1991), for example. A digital PLL circuit generally comprises a phase comparator for supplying a binary coded output for the result of the phase comparison and a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) receiving the binary coded output through a digital filter. This type of phase comparator can be implemented by a data flip-flop circuit.
An all-digital PLL circuit comprising a phase comparator for supplying a binary coded output is described by J. Dunning et al., in "An All-Digital Phase-Locked Loop with 50-Cycle Lock Time Suitable for High-Performance Microprocessor", pp, 660-670, IEICE Transaction on Electronics, June 1995.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional digital PLL circuit 10 comprising a phase comparator 11 for supplying a binary coded output to a digital controller 13 for controlling a VCO 15. The digital PLL circuit 10 also has a frequency comparator 12 for supplying a binary coded output to the digital controller 13. The frequency comparator 12 is disposed to provide a pull-in function for the digital PLL circuit 10 in a frequency acquisition mode before the phase comparator 11 functions for phase comparison in a phase acquisition mode. The changeover between the frequency acquisition mode and the phase acquisition mode in the digital PLL circuit 10 is executed by a switching circuit, not shown, after the pull-in is completed.

Phase locked loop having a phase/frequency comparator block


A system may include a switchable power domain configured to selectively be powered on and powered off during operation of the system and an always-on power domain configured to remain powered on during operation of the system, the always-on power domain including a power management unit. The power management unit may be configured to, in response to a shut down condition for powering down the switchable power domain, determine a state of a bus transaction on a communication bus between the switchable power domain and the always-on power domain and control one or more control signals for controlling the communication bus in order to manipulate completion of the bus transaction to prevent at least one of corruption of data of the bus transaction and a system freeze associated with the bus transaction.

Many traditional mobile devices (e.g., mobile phones) include one or more cameras for capturing images. To provide for image stabilization and focus, a position of a camera within a plane substantially parallel to a subject of an image as well as a position of a lens of the camera in a direction perpendicular to such plane, may be controlled by a plurality of motors under the control of a camera controller. A control system may be implemented using an applications processor of the mobile device coupled via a communication interface (e.g., an Inter-Integrated Circuit or I2C interface) to a camera controller local to the camera and its various motors. For example, the applications processor may communicate to the camera controller a vector of data regarding a target position, whereas the camera controller may communicate to the applications processor a vector regarding an actual position of the camera, as sensed by a plurality of magnetic sensors (e.g., Hall sensors) and/or other appropriate sensors.
This vector data may be communicated through various buses and stored in one or more memory buffers or registers. Oftentimes, such memory circuitry will be implemented across multiple power domains, including one or more power domains that are "always on" and one or more power domains that may be selectively switched on and off. The always on power domain may be used for critical processing and retaining critical information, while the switchable power domain may be turned off to conserve energy and/or prevent overheating.
However, a device with multiple power domains with a pipelined system communication bus may suffer from at least two data access issues that may result during power transitions.
A first data access issue is the possibility of data corruption. During operation, it is possible that a bus master in the switchable power domain is powered down while writing to a register in the always-on power domain (i.e., before the write is completed). Such powering down may result in corrupting the always-on register contents. Such corruption may put the device in an undesired state and therefore may require powering down the whole device and reinitializing it to put it back to a normal functioning state.
A second data access issue is the possibility of system freeze. During operation, it is possible that a bus slave in the switchable power domain is powered down while it is being accessed by a master in the always-on power domain (i.e., before the transaction is completed). Such powering down may result in the bus master waiting indefinitely for the transaction to complete, therefore freezing the system and requiring powering down the whole device to put it back to a normal functioning state. Such powering down may also invalidate the read data if the slave is powered down during a read transaction.

Protecting against memory corruption and system freeze during power state transitions in a multi-power domain system


An adjuster is to control operation of a lower joint and an upper joint. The lower joint couples a base to an arm, and the upper joint couples the arm to a mount. The adjuster controls the joints according to a first mode and a second mode. The first mode is to secure the lower and upper joints against adjustability. The second mode is to release the lower and upper joints for adjustability.

A computing display may be supported by a display mount, such as a locking support arm. A display support arm may have a locking knob that turns a screw to tighten an arm joint and hold the joint in place. Thus, adjusting the display for use typically needs difficult steps to be performed.

Adjusters to control lower joints and upper joints

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The invention relates to a method and system for coding segmented pictures, and to corresponding decoding method and system. In the coding system, a first sub-system defines the time evolution of said segmented pictures, or partitions, and a second one encodes both contours and textures of the regions of the successive partitions. The time evolution definition leads to a partition tree (PT) from which regions are extracted during an analysis step (AS) in order to form a decision tree (DT). A decision operation allows to select during a choice step (CS) distinct regions R.sub.S from various levels of said partition tree, in order to construct an optimal final partition (BFP) and, simultaneously, to choose the coding technique (BCT) that is the best one for each region of said optimal partition. Reciprocally the decoding method and system comprise means for defining the coding strategy chosen for each of said regions and decoding correspondingly the coded information.

The present invention relates to a method of coding segmented pictures, or partitions, that correspond to a sequence of original pictures and identify in said pictures contours and closed regions to which corresponding labels are associated, said method comprising a first definition step for defining the time motion evolution of the partitions between two successive pictures and a second coding step for coding motion, contours and textures of said regions of successive partitions, and to a corresponding coding system. The invention also relates to a signal coded by means of such a coding system, to a storage medium for storing this coded signal, to a method of decoding said coded signal, and to a corresponding decoding system.
A method and apparatus for decomposing a signal corresponding to an original picture into components using features (such as contours and regions) identified in said picture and then coding separately said components is described for instance in the european patent application EP 0389044. However such a conventional method of coding segmented pictures has no flexibility with respect to the type of segmentation that has be obtained or to the type of coding for the different areas of the original pictures. Particularly these method and apparatus are not an appropriate technical proposition as a possible solution for the elaboration of the MPEG4 (Moving Picture Experts Group) audio visual coding standard which targets interactive multimedia applications at low and very low bit rates (the limit of which is generally considered as equal or close to 1 Mbit/s.).

Segmented picture coding method and system, and corresponding decoding method and system


The invention relates to a device for mounting a saw-blade provided with an opening to a carrier which is connected to a drive device to make a reciprocating movement, wherein the device comprises: a wall extending in the direction of movement which is suitable for contact with a side of the saw-blade; a mounting body which is rotatable opposite the wall around a shaft extending perpendicularly of the direction of movement and parallel to the wall and which is provided with a protrusion which is movable into the opening arranged in the saw-blade; and urging means for urging the mounting body to a mounting position wherein the protrusion extends into the opening arranged in the saw-blade. Mounting takes place because via the sphere the saw-blade generates a moment in clockwise direction relative to the shaft. This moment is counteracted by a moment that is generated by the friction between the actuating rod and the contact surface.

The present invention relates to a device for fixing or mounting a saw-blade to a carrier which is connected to a drive device to make a reciprocating movement. The saw-blade is of the type having an opening therein.
Such devices are generally known. Such known devices are often applied for example in power jigsaws or so-called all-purpose saws.
The connection between the saw-blade and carrier in the mounting devices forming part of the prior art is mostly in the form of an element that presses the saw-blade against the carrier by means of a screw connection. Guide formations are usually arranged to determine the correct position of the saw-blade on the carrier.
The use of a screw makes it necessary to employ a screwdriver or a socket head wrench to fix a saw-blade in the saw or to remove a saw-blade therefrom. When using electrical hand tools the use of a screwdriver or the like is of course less desirable. Further, there is the possibility of this tool being misplaced, still further, the use of a hand tool is time-consuming.
The object of the present invention is to provide a mounting device in which the saw-blade is securely mounted on a carrier capable of performing a reciprocating movement, and wherein no extra tool is necessary for mounting or removing the saw-blade.


The present invention relates to personal care compositions, especially those shave preparation article and skin care articles which are in the form of a porous dissolvable solid substrate having a surface resident coating comprising at least one skin treatment active. The present invention can deliver a consumer benefit as well as allow for separation of any incompatible actives in the substrate versus the coating.

Personal care compositions for use as shave preparations and/or skin care applications have traditionally been sold as a fluid (such as a liquid, gel, or foam) products or solid form (such as soap bars). Many actives which can be used in shave preparation and skin care applications, however, can be incompatible or generally not suited to be in the same fluid composition. Attempts to keep incompatible actives separate have been attempted but require separate packaging or multi-compartment packages which can involve complicated manufacture and filling processes. Solid form personal care compositions such as soap bars are useful and can be relatively inexpensive but they offer slow dissolution and sometimes limited lathering capabilities. Further, soap bars are often manufactured for multiple use and tend to become brittle and/or sticky as the bar gets worn down and repeatedly exposed to water—thus becoming non-user friendly. Despite the many attempts to commercialize personal care compositions, there remains a need for a personal care article that can be used as a shave preparation and/or a skin care application that can provide a high amount of lathering and moisturizing to the skin and can avoid incompatibilities in actives.

Porous, dissolvable solid substrate and surface resident coating comprising a zync pyrithione


A particulate precursor compound for manufacturing an aluminum doped lithium transition metal (M)-oxide powder usable as an active positive electrode material in lithium-ion batteries includes a transition metal (M)-hydroxide or (M)-oxyhydroxide core and a non-amorphous aluminum oxide coating layer covering the core. By providing an aluminum dry-coating process where the particulate precursor core compound is mixed with alumina powder in one or more procedures, higher doping levels of aluminum compared to the known prior art may be achieved. The crystal structure of the alumina is maintained during the coating procedures and the core of each mixed transition metal precursor particle is surrounded by a coating layer containing crystalline alumina nano particles. The aluminum concentration in the particulate precursor decreases as the size of the core increases.

Rechargeable lithium and lithium-ion batteries are, due to their high energy density, widely used as power sources for portable electronic devices such as cellular phones, laptop computers, digital cameras or video cameras. Commercially available lithium-ion batteries typically consist of a graphite-based anode and an active cathode where lithium ions can reversibly be embedded and released.
Previously, LiCoO2 was the most used cathode material. However, LiCoO2-based cathode materials are expensive and typically have a relatively low capacity of about 150 mAh/g. Therefore, a substitution of LiCoO2 by materials such as lithium nickel oxide based cathodes (LNO), such as LiNi0.8Co0.2O2, nickel rich lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxides (LNMO), such as LiNi0.5Mn0.3Co0.2O2, or lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxides (LMNCO), such as LiNi0.33Mn0.33Co0.33O2, is in progress. However, an important concern with these layered oxides is their thermal instability in organic electrolytes. If the battery is charged, potentially, the delithiated cathode reacts with the electrolyte, creating heat which speeds up the reaction which ultimately might cause "thermal runaway" meaning the cell explodes. Doping of the cathode, if it lowers the reactivity of the cathode with electrolyte, can help to improve the safety of the cells.
It is commonly known that aluminum can be doped into these cathode materials. It is also widely accepted that aluminum doping improves the safety properties of these materials. For example, whereas LiNi0.8Co0.2O2 is practically not applied due to a relatively high thermal instability, a related aluminum doped material (NCA) LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2, is commercially available. Generally, if aluminum is doped into a layered cathode material with a layer structure, the reversible capacity decreases by 1-2 mAh per mol % of aluminum. Thus, LiNi0.8Co0.2O2 has about 200 mAh/g reversible capacity at 4.3-3.0 V but 5% Al doped material (NCA) has about 190-194 mAh/g. This decrease in capacity, however, may be acceptable if the gain in improved safety is relatively significant.
Moreover, for applications where the energy density might be less important, for example for large size batteries like HEV or EV batteries, Li—Mn—O spinel and LiFePo4 based cathode materials are currently considered based on their better safety performance, despite their much lower energy density than above mentioned LNO, LNMO, and LMNCO materials.
Research has indicated that the solid solution "solubility" of aluminum in LNMCO cathode materials is relatively high, that the thermal instability decreases and therefore the safety increases relatively fast with an increasing aluminum doping level, and that relatively significant amounts of aluminum can be doped into LMNCO cathode materials while retaining a higher volumetric energy density than Li—Mn—O spinel or LiFePo4 based cathode materials. Considering these facts, it is obvious that aluminum doping with relatively high concentrations, for example >5 mol % Al/(Al+transition metal) may be a promising approach to achieve cathodes with superior performance compared to Li—Mn—O spinel and LiFePo4 based cathode materials.
A major problem, however, is that doping with aluminum is not a simple process. At production scale LNMCO cathodes are typically prepared from mixed metal precursors such as mixed transition metal hydroxide M(OH)2 or oxyhydroxide MOOH. The precursors are typically obtained by a precipitation of a base and acid solution, for example, 2NaOH+MSO4→M(OH)2+Na2SO4, possibly in the presence of a chelating agent like NH4OH. The precursor is then usually mixed with a lithium source (for example, Li2CO3) followed by a simple solid state reaction.
While it is possible to dope aluminum into the precursor, the problem exists that aluminum does not fit easily into the M(OH)2 structure since the transition metal is divalent while aluminum is trivalent. As a result, instead of an M(OH)2 structure more complex structures such as layered double hydroxides, containing anionic impurities and crystal water, are obtained. It is further much more difficult to obtain a good morphology. For example, under conditions (such as temperature, pH, and so on) where M(OH)2 would precipitate with a good morphology, Al(OH)3 might be soluble causing a relatively poor morphology. Typical for co-precipitation with aluminum is a relatively low density, high anionic impurity levels and the obtained powder consists usually of unstructured fluffy agglomerates instead of nicely developed particles.
An alternative known approach is the coating with aluminum through a separate precipitation following the precipitation of the M(OH)2 structure. Under ideal conditions an Al(OH)3 layer will coat the M(OH)2 core. Such approach is described in EP1637503A1 and JP2001-106534 where a lithium-nickel based cathode precursor is coated by an amorphous layer of aluminum hydroxide in a wet aluminum coating process. Wet aluminum coating is a relatively difficult process that often results in a relatively poor morphology since a sufficient density of the Al(OH)3 film might not be achieved. The existing impurity problem as described above may not be solved and it may be very difficult to achieve high doping levels of aluminum (>5 mol %) through wet aluminum coating due to the formation of relatively thick coating layers.
Furthermore, wet aluminum coating is a relatively expensive process. In JP2001-106534 it is suggested that an aluminum oxide coating can be deposited on the surface of nickel hydroxide particles, however the only method disclosed is a wet precipitation process using an aluminum nitrate aqueous solution to deposit an aluminum hydroxide coating.
Coating of cathodes or cathode precursors has been described in the previous art. Dry coating by nanoparticles as fumed silica, fumed alumina, fumed zirconium, etc has been disclosed, but to our knowledge disclosures are limited to very small coating levels, typically not exceeding 1% by weight.
What is needed in the art is a coating process that enables the formation of particulate mixed transition metal hydroxide M(OH)2 or oxyhydroxide MOOH precursors doped with aluminum that have an improved morphology compared to the known prior art.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide novel precursors that enable the preparation of higher quality aluminum doped cathode materials, such as LNMCO or NCA cathode materials, at lower cost compared to currently available precursors.

Alumina dry-coated cathode material precursors


An apparatus, method of manufacturing, and method of using a strain gage load cell anchor are provided that include a safety belt anchor for connecting a safety belt to a vehicle. The safety belt anchor may have a first anchor opening that connects the safety belt anchor to a safety belt, and the anchor may have a second anchor opening that connects the safety belt anchor to a vehicle. One or more strain gages may be provided on the safety belt anchor to measure a force applied to the safety belt anchor, such that the safety belt anchor operates as a strain gage load cell anchor.

The present invention is directed to improved apparatus, method of manufacturing, and method of using a load cell anchor. In particular, the present invention relates to a strain gage load cell anchor capable of measuring an applied force.
Safety harnesses are used in a variety of applications to secure passengers or cargo to various supports, platforms, seats, or assemblies. Vehicles, such as airplanes, boats, or automobiles may use harnesses to hold either persons or objects securely to the vehicle and to protect the persons or objects in the event of a crash. These safety harnesses can be made of one or more individual belts that may be connected to the vehicle by one or more anchors. The anchors may include simple loops in the safety belts or more sophisticated attachment devices, and the anchors may be designed to connect to the vehicle either directly or indirectly via a seat, frame, or body of the vehicle.
Typically, force sensors, such as load cells, are used during the testing of a vehicle to assist with designing and improving the components of the vehicle by measuring the loads on the vehicle and on the passengers. In order to test vehicle safety harnesses, large load cells are attached to a test platform and connected directly or indirectly to the safety belt anchors. The load cells then return the force applied to the load cell by the safety belts and the vehicles during an experimental crash scenario.
Currently, safety harnesses are tested almost exclusively on test beds in a laboratory environment due to the size and weight constraints of current load cells. Many vehicle harnesses are anchored in tight locations with little access or surrounding space. Some safety belts connect to the vehicle via the vehicle seat, which has little room to support a separate load cell. Moreover, typical high-performance vehicles use harnesses with six to nine attachment points, which multiplies the weight and sizing problems of typical load cells when more than one source of data is required. In some instances, current safety harness test systems must elongate and/or reposition the safety belts from their in-use position in order to connect with the load cells. This may cause inaccurate measurements of the forces on the safety belts and safety belt anchors.
Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, many of these identified problems have been solved by developing solutions that are included in embodiments of the present invention, many examples of which are described in detail herein.

National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc.


An activation signal is provided in response to a user gripping force incident to a grip switch. Electronic circuitry transitions from an inactive state to an active state in response to the activation signal. The activation signal may also include encoded information regarding user identity, gripping force magnitude, user input gesturing, and the like. The electronic circuitry may use the information encoded in the signal to select or perform particular functions or operations. Power consumption of a stylus, user device, or other apparatus is reduced, or various functions are improved, accordingly.

Various electronic devices are used in countless areas of endeavor. Many such devices are built as portable, battery-powered units. Users seek to reduce energy consumption, extend battery life, improve user convenience, or enhance operation with respect to various devices.
Certain implementations and embodiments will now be described more fully below with reference to the accompanying figures, in which various aspects are shown. However, various aspects may be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the implementations set forth herein. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

Activating and using device with a grip switch


A door assembly includes multiple door panels arranged in series along laterally spaced tracks, extending laterally between the tracks, and supported for movement on the tracks. A first pair of hinge plates is secured to a first door panel, each member of the first pair being located at an opposite lateral side of the first panel. A second pair of hinge plates is secured to a second door panel, each member of the second pair being located at an opposite lateral side of the second panel. A first release pin alternately disconnects and connects the first and second hinge plates at the first lateral side of the door panels. A second release pin alternately disconnects and connects the first and second hinge plates at the second lateral side of the door panels.

The present invention relates to the field of doors and other closures supported on rollers and guided in tracks. More particularly, the invention pertains to such doors formed of hinged panels, each panel alternately connected to and separated from the other panels.
Doors for opening and closing openings in garages, sheds and other storage spaces are usually formed of panels that extend laterally between tracks located at opposite sides of the opening. The panels, arranged in a series, each carry rollers at each lateral side. The rollers are supported on the tracks, which guide movement of the door panels as the door is opened and closed. Each track includes a horizontal length located above the opening, a vertical length parallel to the sides of the opening, and an arcuate transition section connecting the horizontal and vertical lengths.
The panels carry hinges, which interconnect the panels so that the door panels move as a unit along the tracks and articulate about the axis of the hinge pin when the door passes along the transition section.
Doors of this kind are either fully opened or fully closed. When the door is open, the door panels are in the horizontal track length; when closed, the lower panel is supported on the ground and all the panels are in a vertical plane filling the opening.
There is a need for a door of this kind to be partially open and partially closed so that it allows ventilation, provides a line of sight through the opening, and prevents the entrance of animals, wind-blown debris, and other unwanted objects.

Door supported for movement on tracks between full and partial open and closed positions


An upgrade method for a Unix or Unix-like operating system, a server, and a cloud-based system include operating a server with an old operating system with a partition structure for media, wherein the partition structure includes a root partition and a usr partition; copying media to the root partition and the usr partition associated with a new operating system while the old operating system is operating; rebooting the server with the new operating system set to load; and subsequent to the rebooting, making the root partition persistent using memory and the usr partition persistent using a NULL file system.

Situations arise when operating system (OS) software has to be upgrade on already deployed Information Technology (IT) systems such as collocated web servers, cloud servers, etc. (collectively referred to herein as servers). The servers described herein utilize UNIX operating systems and variants thereof such as FreeBSD, Linux, and the like. The servers can include generic media allocation/partitioning schemas where there is only place for one OS (Operating System) image. Specifically, the servers can include a single partition for <root> and a single partition for <usr> filesystems. Disadvantageously, when the current OS has to be upgraded in these configurations, this upgrade cannot be done online. First, this limitation is because, in order to run the upgrade procedure, the OS should be running, but this is the same live OS that is being upgraded and in the same location. Second, in case something goes wrong, for example, the OS image is in an intermediate state and the whole system becomes inoperable. Thus, conventionally, such upgrades must be implemented offline—such as via some special OS image that is sitting "aside" of the main media and after booting up is able to access such media and do operations required, e.g., an offline agent. The offline agent has to be imbedded at the server procurement stage or by some special means like Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) virtual drivers. There are several disadvantages based on the aforementioned limitations. A live system cannot be easily upgraded due to the need for OS to access in for live operating the same files that upgrade process has to change. If a live upgrade is possible, then there is large time window where media is in an intermediate inoperable state. Finally, such an upgrade is destructive which cannot be rolled back after the upgrade (at least not without going through the whole upgrade—or downgrade in this case—procedure as whole).

Systems and methods for live operating system upgrades of inline cloud servers


a fluorine-containing block copolymer comprising at least one soft segment which comprises chlorotrifluoroethylene and vinylidene fluoride and at least one hard segment which comprises a fluorine-containing crystalline polymer, which copolymer has good flexibility and transparency and useful as a material for an artificial lens.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fluorine-containing block copolymer and an artificial lens comprising the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fluorine-containing block copolymer which comprises at least one soft segment and at least one hard segment and an artificial lens which comprises said block copolymer.
2. Description of the Related Art
An artificial lens made of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is commercially available and used. Since PMMA is a hard resin, an incisure of at least 7 mm length is necessary to insert the PMMA artificial lens in an eye. As the incisure is smaller the distortion of an visual image is smaller after surgery. Therefore, the incisure of at least 7 mm length is not preferable. In case of resurgery for replacing the artificial lens, it is difficult to remove the used artificial lens since many cells adhere to the surface of the PMMA lens. In addition, since a glass transition temperature (T.sub.g) of PMMA is 123.degree. C., it is impossible to sterilize the lens with steam, and the PMMA lens is sterilized with ethylene oxide (EO) gas. However, since residual EO gas tends to cause inflammation, it is necessary to remove the EO gas, but it is troublesome since PMMA easily absorbs the EO gas.
To overcome the above problems of the PMMA artificial crystalline lens, a fluorine-containing block copolymer Daiel Thermo (trade mark) T 530 is proposed. This block copolymer comprises vinylidene fluoride/tetrafluoroethylene/hexafluoropropylene blocks and ethylene/tetrafluoroethylene blocks. However, Daiel Thermo T 530 has a small refractive index of 1.357, its application is limited.

Fluorine-containing block copolymer and artificial lens comprising the same


Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method, a device and a computer program product for managing a distributed system. The method comprises sending heartbeat messages from a master node to a plurality of slave nodes, the master node and the plurality of slave nodes being included in a plurality of nodes in the distributed system, and the plurality of nodes being divided into one or more partitions. The method further comprises, in response to receiving a response to the heartbeat messages from a portion of slave nodes in the plurality of slave nodes, determining respective states of the one or more partitions. In addition, the method further comprises a state of a first slave node in the plurality of slave nodes at least based on the respective states of the one or more partitions, the master node failing to receive a response to the heartbeat messages from the first slave node.

In a distributed storage system, a consensus algorithm such as PAXOS algorithm or RAFT algorithm is often used to implement storage of critical data. The consensus algorithm permits a plurality of nodes to work collaboratively as a cluster, and when several nodes therein fail, the remaining nodes can still work well. For example, PAXOS/RAFT algorithm can provide consensus, self-maintained, and peer-to-peer replication-based key-value (KV) database service, and can tolerate no more than half of the nodes in the cluster failing. By using such high fault-tolerant algorithms, many unreliable or less-reliable systems can be used to store critical data. However, conventionally, an algorithm for ensuring data consensus may cause degradation of system performance in some cases.

Method, device and computer program product for managing distributed system