A payout tube for enabling payout of filamentary material having inherent twist characteristics from a coil of the filamentary material wound in a figure 8 configuration with a payout hole extending from the inner layer to the outer layer of the coil, wherein the payout hole has an oval or diamond shape; an inner end of the payout tube being adapted for insertion into the payout hole and having an oval or diamond shape corresponding to the oval or diamond shape of the payout hole, the payout hole having a diameter of at least ninety degrees; the payout tube having an inner diameter increasing in size from the inner end to the outer end thereof; and a collar formed around the outer end to support the payout tube against the outer surface of a container. The container may have a hingeable panel, the panel including a diamond or oval-shaped opening; the payout tube being formed of container-type material and having an outer end opening conforming to the diamond or oval-shaped panel opening, and a flap member extending from each of the sides of the diamond or oval-shaped opening and extending through and around the edges of the diamond or oval-shaped panel opening for supporting the payout tube with the panel in a closed position; the payout hole in the wound coil having a diamond or oval-shaped opening with a diameter greater than ninety degrees; and the payout tube having an inner end having a diamond or oval-shaped opening for extending into the diamond or oval-shaped opening of the payout hole.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the winding of coils of filamentary material in a figure 8 pattern on a mandrel and paying out the wound filamentary material through a payout tube inserted through a payout hole in the wound coil extending from the inner to the outer coil thereof and through a payout hole in a wall of a container without introducing kinks or twist in the paid out filamentary material. More particularly, this invention relates to such winding techniques providing twistless payout of types of filamentary material having inherent twist, usually formed during manufacture of the filamentary material, such as CAT 5 and CAT 7 cable.
2. Related Art
The REELEX (a trademark of the assignee, windings, of the subject application) system of coiling, which consists of a winding of figure 8s distributed radially around a mandrel and providing a radial hole extending from the inner to the outer coil and through which the coiled filamentary material is to be withdrawn (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,419), works properly if the filamentary material has little or no inherent twist in it. However, If the filamentary material has inherent twist, the payout will not perform properly because the loops of the figure 8's must be free compensate one another, thereby canceling the twist caused by each other. If this compensation does not occur, then loops that contain twist will come free of the payout tube winding wall and cause tangles. This occurs when winding cables with twist winding lays that are very close, as for example, with the higher data rate cables.

Coil with large payout hole and tube for kinkless payout


A low compression ratio internal combustion engine with extended dwell at or near piston top dead center to facilitate substantially complete combustion providing a higher engine output power. A pre-combustion chamber passes high temperature and pressure combustion products into the cylinder of the engine.

This invention is related to developments by the present applicant in connection with International Patent Applications PCT/AU89/00275; PCT/AU91/00244; PCT/AU94/00529and PCT/AU94/00569 the contents of which International patent applications are incorporated herein by reference and nominated as split-cycle arrangements. By employing lobed shafts as the means of transmission of linear piston motion to rotary output motion a wide range of varying piston motions can be achieved simply by varying the shape of the lobes. A particular advantage arises in that by appropriate designing of the profiles of the lobes on the shafts the pistons can be controlled in such a manner as to vary their dwell time at any position between top dead center and bottom dead center as well as at those limits of piston motion.
A particular advantage arises where the piston dwell time is extended at its top dead center position to facilitate combustion of the fuel charge while the piston remains at that location to enable maximum energy transmission to the piston and thereby achieve the best possible conversion of combustion energy to engine output power and torque.
In previous disclosures rotary machines of this form have contemplated the use of 50 mm diameter pistons having a 6 mm stroke. Typically the combustion chamber being the volume above the piston at top dead center within the cylinder and head of the engine or machine, has been sized at 2 mm high with a 50 mm bore.
With a 50 mm diameter piston and a 6 mm stroke the swept volume is approximately 11.8 cc for each cycle of motion of the piston while the head volume of the cylinder with the piston at top dead center is approximately 4000 cubic millimeters. The effective cubic capacity of the cylinder is, eg. 10.3 cc. being the swept volume of the cylinder after closing of the exhaust port slit in the cylinder's sidewall as the piston travels toward TDC.

Low compression ratio internal combustion engine


A point-of-sale display unit for engagement with a cantilevered support member has at least one shelf and a base member. The base member defines a track configured to receive a portion of the cantilevered support member. The unit engages with the cantilevered beam through a sliding arrangement and is rigidly maintained thereon through a combination of various mechanical forces in a position without obstructing access to the primary load held and displayed by the cantilevered system.

Retail stores, such as hardware stores for example, utilize cantilevered support members such as forward extending I-beams to support and display certain materials and products on the sales floor. For example, hardware stores often employ a series of rigid I-beams that extend substantially parallel and coplanar for supporting elongated materials such as lumber, deck boards and sheathing products. Such an arrangement efficiently offers customers with an appealing view of and facile access to the displayed products. The products are accessed easily by sliding or lifting off the distal (front) end of the cantilevered I-beam.
Most hardware stores discourage or even prohibit use of floor standing retail displays positioned in front of cantilevered display systems because they impede access to displayed lumber products and can be dangerous in light of the somewhat heavy and bulky nature of the displayed planks. As such, a common drawback to the above-described cantilevered retail display system is that products associated or for use with the displayed lumber products (such as screws, nails, adhesives and insulating materials) cannot be displayed in close proximity.


The application relates to a device for quickly and precisely aligning and fixing foil blades on the body part of a blade roll. The rotary blade roll has a rotating shaft, at least one roll body part arranged with torsional strength on the rotating shaft, at least one foil blade supported by the roll body part, and a row of holding and positioning pins in the roll body part. Magnetic elements arranged in rows retain the foil blade flatly on the peripheral surface of the roll body part. The foil blade has a thin flexible magnetically permeable base plate and at least one sharp one-piece cutting edge of a predetermined cutting shape projecting from the base plate. The base plate has a leading edge, a trailing edge, two side edges opposing each other, and, in a front zone adjoining the leading edge, a plurality of slots aligned with the cutting edge. The holding and positioning pins radially project from the peripheral surface with a height (h) approximately corresponding to the base plate thickness (d1) and project into the slots. The width (b1) of the pins corresponds with the slot width (b) so that the foil blade can be axially displaced and repositioned within the range of the slot length (d5) while being fixed and reproducibly positioned peripherally to the roll body part.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a blade roll, preferably for the manufacture of letter envelope blanks as more particularly set forth herein.
2. The Prior Art
A blade roll of this type is known from DE 33 02 038 to the same applicant. It serves for cutting out window openings in blanks of window letter envelopes. In connection with this blade roll, a foil blade of the type similar to a printing plate is mounted on a punching roll and held there by purely mechanical means. The foil blade, which is chamfered at its ends, is suspended on a carrier part, and clamped and tensioned at its trailing end by means of holding and tensioning means. The blades always must have a defined length between their fastening elements, and require precisely executed chamfers. Furthermore, the mounting or exchanging of a foil blade requires substantial time expenditure.
It is also known according to applicant""s DE 198 41 834.5 to arrange foil blades on a blade roll. The foil blade is fixed in this connection with a chamfered front end in a slot of the roll with the help of a clamping strip. The remaining part of the foil blade is held on the periphery of a blade cylinder by means of magnetic force, the cylinder being structured in the form of a dish. The manufacture of the roll slot and clamping strip as well as of the chamfer of the foil blade requires high precision and labor expenditure. Furthermore, the clamping strip has to be removed and installed with each blade exchange.
EP 0 312 422 B1 discloses a rotating cutting device in connection with which a foil blade for punching out window openings is held on the periphery of a dish-like blade cylinder by magnetic force alone. For positioning a foil blade on the blade cylinder, the leading edge of the foil blade is fixed and aligned on a strip slightly projecting beyond the periphery of the cylinder. The cutting device does in fact permit quick positioning and fixing of a foil blade on the blade cylinder; however, it has the drawback that the foil blade can get displaced on the blade cylinder under unfavorable cutting conditions, or even may get destroyed in the worst case. Therefore, cutting is possible with the blade roll against a jointly rotating counter roll, but no cutting is possible against a stationary counter bar.
The invention is concerned with the problem of designing a blade roll in particular for the manufacture of letter envelopes so that foil blades arranged on its roll jacket can be quickly exchanged and positioned and fixed with adequate accuracy.
The problem is solved according to the invention by arranging holding and positioning pins in a row in the roll body part. The pins radially project from the peripheral surface with a height (h) approximately corresponding with a thickness (d1) of the base plate. In a front zone adjoining the leading edge, the base plate has a number of slots aligned in one alignment with the cutting edge. The width (b) of the slots corresponds with the width (b1) of the holding and positioning pins projecting into the slots. In this way, the foil blade can be axially displaced and repositioned within the range of a slot length (d5), but is fixed and reproducibly positioned in the peripheral direction of the roll body part. Additional features of the invention are set forth below in association with the description and the drawing.
The invention has the particular advantage that the foil blades can be quickly and comfortably positioned and replaced on the blade roll. The foil blades are held here on the peripheral surface of the blade roll both positively by the holding and positioning pins engaging the slots of the base plate, and retained there non-positively by magnetic holding forces. Also, it is advantageous that the foil blade can be displaced axially parallel on the blade roll as the holding and positioning pins are being inserted into the slots. A variable axially parallel positioning of the foil blade is possible in connection with a slightly asymmetric arrangement of the holding and positioning pins on a strip. Another advantage is that the blade roll as defined by the invention can use conventional foil blades of the type described in the parallel application DE 198 41 834.5, with angularly chamfered leading ends and clamping strips adapted to such ends.

Winkler and Dxc3xcnnebier Aktiengesellschaft


The present invention relates to multiple layer aluminum brazing sheet having a core, a braze cladding, and an interliner therebetween that, when fabricated in the fully annealed condition (O-temper), forms a continuous and dense dispersoid band in the core in addition to having an additional sacrificial layer for exceptional post brazed corrosion resistance. This present invention also relates to the process used to fabricate these alloys.

Brazing sheet commonly includes a core alloy bonded to a silicon-containing brazing alloy. External corrosion resistance is a concern common to many brazed aluminum heat exchangers. For example, most brazed aluminum plate type evaporators have a coating applied to the brazed assemblies to aid in corrosion protection. Commonly this is a hexavalent chromate based coating. These coatings are recognized as the industry standard from a corrosion resistance standpoint but hexavalent chromium is a carcinogen and many countries are banning its use in the near future. Hence the necessity for a highly corrosion resistant base aluminum material is now greater than ever.
The use of an interlayer as a means of alleviating intergranular corrosion problems from penetration of Si into the core alloy of brazing sheet and minimizing localized melting of the core alloy is well documented. U.S. Pat. No. 2,821,014 to Miller describes use of an interliner to avoid in very substantial measure any penetration and resultant weakening of a core alloy by a brazing filler metal. Retention of the core alloy after brazing is generally recognized as an important consideration in the determination of post-brazed corrosion resistance. U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,964 to Finnegan et al. describes a procedure including a full anneal followed by cold working of a 3xxx series core alloy (i.e., an —H1X temper) to improve post brazed corrosion resistance. The introduction of cold working after a full anneal can result in recrystallization of the core alloy which itself provides greater general resistance to Si penetration and localized erosion during the braze cycle.
The above approaches recognize that Si diffusion into the core can have deleterious effects on corrosion resistance. Neither of the approaches, by themselves, identify highly corrosion resistant, long-life products.
An approach to achieving substantially improved corrosion resistance is documented in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,037,707 and 5,041,343, both to Fortin et al. These patents describe the use of a low Si containing (less than 0.15 wt. %) 3xxx series core alloy, fabricated to final gauge without benefit of a substantial homogenization or interannealing practice, bonded directly to a 4xxx series braze cladding containing 1–15 wt. % Si. A manganese bearing dispersoid band is described as developing within the core at a core/cladding interfacial region after the brazing cycle due to the localized diffusion of Si from the 4xxx braze cladding. The Si reduces the local solubility of Mn and precipitation of the Mn—Si dispersoids (e.g., Al12(Fe,Mn)3Si dispersoids) results in the interfacial region of Si diffusion. These Si containing dispersoids are resistant to reversion during the brazing cycle. The interfacial region becomes depleted in Mn in solid solution relative to the underlying core alloy. Corrosion attack is described as occurring preferentially within the band of precipitates before the main alloy body is attacked. Example 3 of these patents demonstrates that once the main body is attacked, corrosion occurs quite rapidly through the 3xxx core, perforating in less than 48 hours. The processes for fabricating products that are back annealed (referred to in the industry as —H2X type tempers) and fully annealed (referred in the industry as —O tempers) with corresponding annealing temperatures are also outlined.
Alloys relying on the precipitation of dense Mn bearing (e.g., Al12(Fe,Mn)3Si) dispersoids for extended corrosion resistance have found broad commercial applications for products having minimal formability requirements (i.e., in —HXX tempers), for example in radiator and heater tube applications. However, the practice described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,343 has not found commercial acceptance for fully annealed tempers as these alloys are susceptible to localized erosion of the core alloy when subjected to levels of cold working insufficient to result in recrystallization of the core prior to melting of the braze cladding. Fully annealed O-tempers are commonly specified for applications requiring significant formability and hence the material will be subjected to widely varying degrees of cold work during the forming operation. As a result of this localized melting (also termed "erosion") of the core, the formation of a dense dispersoid band in the core alloy adjacent to the cladding is largely compromised. Furthermore, the braze cladding flow is poor as a result of the enrichment of aluminum from the core alloy into the braze cladding. The net result is poor brazeability and poor corrosion behavior. The problems with localized erosion in fully annealed tempers in these alloys (i.e., alloys where the core alloy does not receive a homogenization and is bonded directly to a 4xxx braze cladding) is well documented in the literature.
As a result of the problems associated with localized erosion and its compromising effects on the development of a consistent and continuous dispersoid band, the 3xxx core alloy of O-temper brazing sheet products almost universally receives a homogenization treatment. This homogenization treatment coarsens the size of the average Mn bearing dispersoid and influences the number and size distribution of the Mn bearing dispersoids in the core alloy with the net result of promoting the ease of recrystallization and/or recovery of the core during the brazing cycle. After homogenization, there are fewer small Mn particles that can revert during the braze cycle, significantly lowering the Mn levels in solid solution. This helps to alleviate localized erosion in formed parts but largely mitigates the development of a dense and continuous dispersoid band as an effective means of corrosion protection.
Hence there exists a need for an alloy and process to produce an alloy that is supplied in a fully annealed temper, can be subjected to a broad spectrum of forming strains, can be exposed to a brazing event and subsequently develops a continuous, dense dispersoid band with minimal erosion of the core alloy. Furthermore there exists a need for an alloy that retains a high inherent corrosion resistance even after the dispersoid band region corrodes away. There also is a need for products produced from O-temper brazing sheet to have exceptional corrosion resistance particularly for use in non-chromate coated brazed heat exchangers.

Ultra-longlife, high formability brazing sheet


A device supports the processing of multiple active applications in a processor through a mapping system that securely identifies and differentiates commands issued by clients. An entity selection signal is generated by the mapping system to signal the processor to process an algorithm and provide services for a specific client using the commands identified for that client and data permitted by a client tracking system for that client. Other data accesses and commands identified for other clients are restricted when processing the algorithm.

Connected mobile computing and wireless communication technologies used for business and commerce need to protect user data and secrets. The architecture may include security engines to perform digital signing and key wrapping operations, hash operations and random number generation, with hardware and supporting software providing encryption and decryption capabilities to ensure data privacy and enhanced security.
The architecture in these systems restricts the use of secrets so that only authorized applications use particular secrets, but currently every command that uses secrets go through a cryptographic authorization check. There is a need for a mechanism to support multiple active applications that execute simultaneously that removes the need for checking authorization with every command.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

Architecture for virtual security module


A block adaptive linear predictive coding method for encoding a signal having multi-dimensional correlation, such as an image signal as improved by employing multi-dimensional blocks of error signals for making the prediction. As a preferred mode, two statistical quantities are employed to select a quantizer from a set of minimum square error two-variable quantizers based on probability models of statistical quantities.

Image compression is an essential element of many digital imaging systems due to the vast amount of information contained in a digitized image. Because of its simplicity, compression efficiency and ease of implementation, linear predictive coding (LPC) is often used to compress image data for storage and transmission. LPC refers to the general class of coding techniques in which the difference or error between a given signal value and a linear prediction of the signal value, based on correlated signal values, is coded. The advantage of coding the error signal is that it is less correlated, has lower variance, and is more stationary than the original signal, which make it easier to compress.
Depending on the type of image and the level of adaptability to variations in image structure, compression ratios from 2:1 to 6:1 have been achieved. Both adaptive prediction (see, for example, "DPCM Picture Coding with Adaptive Prediction" by Zschunke, IEEE Transaction on Communications, Vol. Com-25, November, 1977, pages 1295-1302), and adaptive quantization (see, for example, "Adaptive Predictive Coding with Applications to Radiographs" by M. Rabbani, L. A. Ray, and J. Sullivan, Medical Instrumentation, Vol. 20, No. 4, July-August, 1986, pages 182-191) have been examined, with most of the emphasis being placed on adaptive quantization due to its superior performance for a given hardware implementation complexity.
The predominant adaptive quantization technique is termed block-adaptive wherein a quantizer is selected from a finite set of quantizers to encode a one-dimensional block of error signals based on the statistics of independent one-dimensional blocks. A number of empirical studies have been conducted to establish the best set of single-variable quantizers (see, for example, "On the Design of Quantizers for DPCM Coders: A Functional Relationship Between Visibility, Probability, and Masking" by J. O. Limb and C. B. Rubinstein, IEEE Transactions on Communications Techniques, COM-26, 1978, pages 573-578) and multi-variable quantizers (see, for example, "A New ADPCM Image Compression Algorithm and the Effect of Fixed-Pattern Sensor Noise" by J. Sullivan, SPIE Vol 1075, 1989, pages 129-138, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,636 entitled "Block Adaptive Linear Productive Coding with Adaptive Gain and Bias," issued Dec. 5, 1989 to the present inventor, which is incorporated herein by reference). All of these studies have concerned variations in the quantizer based on one-dimensional block-to-block variations of the error signal statistics. It is an object of the present invention to provide a new block adaptive LPC technique that improves the compression ratio over the aforementioned techniques for a given image fidelity for all classes of images of interest to a human observer, thereby reducing storage requirements and/or transmission times.

Block adaptive linear predictive coding with multi-dimensional adaptive gain and bias


A power receiving unit includes a communication unit, a control unit, a detecting unit that performs metallic foreign matter detection, and a charge storage unit. The control unit is configured to control charging so electric power is stored in the charge storage unit for consumption by the detecting unit during Q-value measurement when the control unit receives a Q-value measurement command from the power transmitting device through the communication unit.

The present disclosure relates to a power receiving device, a power transmitting device, a wireless power transfer system, and a wireless power transfer method that detect the presence of a conductor such as a metal.
Recently, wireless power transfer systems, which contactlessly transmit electric power (transmit electric power by wireless), are being actively developed. In the wireless power transfer unit, an alternating signal is input to a power transmitting coil in a power transmitting device to generate an alternating magnetic field; a power receiving coil in a power receiving device receives the alternating magnetic field, and an alternating signal is retrieved to transfer (supply) and electric power by wireless.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example of the structure of a wireless power transfer system.
The wireless power transfer system 1 in FIG. 1 includes a power transmitting device 10 on a primary side and a power receiving device 20 on a secondary side.
The power transmitting device 10 includes, as an example, a power transmitting coil 11, a resistive element 12, and an alternating power supply 13, which outputs alternating signals. In the power transmitting device 10, an alternating signal is input from the alternating power supply 13 to the power transmitting coil 11 to generate an alternating magnetic field.
The power receiving device 20 includes, as an example, a power receiving coil 21, a capacitor 22 connected in parallel to the power receiving coil 21, a rectifying and smoothing unit 23, a regulator 24, and a power receiving target 25.
In the power receiving device 20, the power receiving coil 21 receives the alternating magnetic field generated in the power transmitting device 10 by, for example, a magnetic resonance method and an alternating signal is retrieved through a resonance circuit including the power receiving coil 21. The retrieved alternating signal is converted into a direct-current signal by being rectified and smoothed by the rectifying and smoothing unit 23. The regulator 24 uses the converted direct current signal to generate a constant voltage, and supplies the generated constant voltage to the power receiving target 25 such as a battery.
Usually, the wireless power transfer unit also carries out communication between the power transmitting device and the power receiving device for control purposes while transferring electric power. As the communication method, alternating signals to be transferred are often subjected to amplitude modulation (for example, amplitude shift keying (ASK)) during data communication.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a structure in which data is transmitted from the power transmitting device 10 (primary side) to the power receiving device 20 (secondary side). In FIG. 2, elements that are the same as in FIG. 1 will be given the same reference numerals.
In the power transmitting device 10, a parallel circuit formed with a resistive element 14R and a switch 14S is added to the data transmission structure in FIG. 1 between the power transmitting coil 11 and the alternating power supply 13, and a communication and control unit 16 is also included.
When data is transmitted from the power transmitting device 10, the amplitude of an alternating signal generated by the alternating power supply 13 is directly changed. Specifically, to perform amplitude modulation of the alternating signal generated by the alternating power supply 13, the communication and control unit 16 makes a switchover between the open state and closed state of the switch 14S according to the transmission data string (baseband signal).
In the power receiving device 20, a demodulation circuit 26 and a communication and control unit 27 are added to the data reception structure in FIG. 1.
When the power receiving device 20 receives data, the amplitude modulated alternating signal is rectified and smoothed by the rectifying and smoothing unit 23, the resulting direct-current signal is demodulated by the demodulation circuit 26, and a reception data string (baseband signal) is extracted. The reception data string is analyzed by the communication and control unit 27.
FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a structure in which data is transmitted from the power receiving device 20 (secondary side) to the power transmitting device 10 (primary side). In FIG. 3, elements that are the same as in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be given the same reference numerals.
In the power receiving device 20, a series circuit formed with a resistive element 28R and a switch 28S is added to the data transmission structure in FIG. 1 in parallel to the power receiving coil 21, and the communication and control unit 27 is also included.
When data is transmitted from the power receiving device 20 to the power transmitting device 10, the so-called load modulation method is usually used. Specifically, to change the value of the load resistive component parallel to the power receiving coil 21, the communication and control unit 27 makes a switchover between the open state and closed state of the switch 28S according to the transmission data string (baseband signal). The alternating signal output from the power transmitting device 10 is thereby amplitude modulated, enabling the power transmitting device 10 to observe the transmission data string transmitted from the power receiving device 20.
In the power transmitting device 10, a modulation circuit 15 and the communication and control unit 16 are added to the data transmission structure in FIG. 1.
When the power transmitting device 10 receives data, the amplitude modulated alternating signal received by the power transmitting coil 11 is demodulated by the modulation circuit 15 and a reception data string (baseband signal) is extracted. The reception data string is analyzed by the communication and control unit 16.
Another possible communication method is to use a short-distance wireless communication standard such as Bluetooth® or ZigBee® with a frequency different from the frequency of the supplied alternating signal. The above communication method, in which the supplied alternating signal is amplitude modulated, is usually used because the number of parts used can be reduced, the hardware can be simplified, and the number of frequencies used can be reduced to one.
The power receiving device 20 usually uses electric power received from the power transmitting device 10 to operate digital circuits, a microcomputer, and other elements intended for communication and control. When the power receiving coil 21 is moved apart from the power transmitting coil 11, therefore, the power supply of the power receiving device 20 is turned off.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an ordinary example of the operation of the digital circuits, the microcomputer (control unit), and the like when the power transmitting device (primary side) and power receiving device (secondary side) perform communication for control purposes to transmit electric power (to, for example, a battery).
In the examples in FIGS. 2 and 3, the control unit is equivalent to the communication and control unit 16 in the power transmitting device 10 and to the communication and control unit 27 in the power receiving device 20.
When the user or another person turns on the power supply of the primary side (step S1), the primary side carries out object detection (step S2). When the user makes the secondary coil face the primary coil, the secondary side is detected by the primary side as an object (steps S5 and S6). The primary side decides whether any object has been detected (step S3). If some kink of object has been detected, the sequence proceeds to step S4. If no object has been detected, the sequence returns to step S2.
If an object has been detected in step S3, the primary side starts to transmit electric power (step S4). The power supply of the secondary side is turned on by the electric power transmitted from the primary side (step S7).
Next, the primary side and the secondary side mutually communicate to exchange their ID numbers (identification information) (step S8). To assure safety, the primary side and secondary side then carry out mutual authentication by using authentication keys (step S9). The primary side decides, from the authentication result, whether the secondary side is a correct remote party (step S10). If the secondary side is not a correct remote party, the primary side suspends the power transmission and the secondary side stops the operation without performing charging (step S14). It suffices to perform the mutual authentication only once after the power supplies of the primary side and secondary side have been turned on.
If communication between the primary side and the secondary side is discontinued or fails in step S8 or S9, the primary side suspends the power transmission (step S15) and the power supply of the secondary side is turned off, after which the sequence returns to step S2.
If the primary side can decide that the secondary side is a correct remote party, the primary side transmits electric power to the secondary side to allow the secondary side to charge the battery. If metallic foreign matter enters a clearance between the coil on the primary side and the coil on the secondary side, an eddy current flows in the metallic foreign matter, generating heat. To prevent this, the secondary side carries out metallic foreign matter detection before starting charging.
That is, if the primary side decides that the secondary side is a correct remote party in step S10, the primary side or secondary side carries out metallic foreign matter detection (step S11); when the secondary side carries out metallic foreign matter detection, it uses the electric power transmitted from the primary.
Then, the primary side or secondary side decides whether metallic foreign matter has been detected (step S12).
If no metallic foreign matter has been detected, the secondary side supplies the electric power received from the primary side to the power receiving target to perform battery charging (step S13). It is difficult to know a time at which metallic foreign matter intrudes. To perform metallic foreign matter detection repeatedly during charging at fixed intervals, therefore, the sequence returns to step S11.
If metallic foreign matter has been detected, the primary side suspends the power transmission and the secondary side does not perform battery charging (step S14).
If, for example, the user carries away the secondary side after authentication has succeeded in step S9, the secondary side fails to receive electric power and the power supply of the control unit on the secondary side is turned off. After that, even if the power supply of the secondary side is turned on again, ID number exchanging and authentication become necessary again. That is, once the power supply of the secondary side is turned off, a restart from the initial state becomes necessary. If communication between the primary side and the secondary side is discontinued or fails in step S11 or S13, therefore, the power transmission by the primary side is suspended (step S15) and the power supply of the secondary side is turned off, after which the sequence returns to step S2.
A series of processing described above is applied to charging carried out between one power transmitting device (primary side) and one power receiving device (secondary side), that is, so-called one-to-one charging.
When so-called multiple power transmission, in which one primary side charges a plurality of secondary sides, is carried out, the primary side first uses a polling command to acquire the ID number from each secondary side. The primary side then transmits authentication, control, and charging commands with an ID number specified to carry out one-to-one communication with the secondary side. Thus, the primary side can carry out authentication, control, and charging for a particular one of the plurality of secondary sides.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-152008, for example, describes a transfer system that performs authentication between a host (primary side) 11 and a device (secondary side) 12 before it becomes ready to transmit electric power used for data communication and device operation.
In the transfer system described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-152008, the host 11 intermittently transmits second electric power, which is less than first electric power transmitted when data communication is carried out, together with a response request signal. If the host 11 then receives a response from the device 12, the host 11 transmits third electric power, which is more than the second electric power and less than the first electric power, to the device 12 together with a response request signal. If a charging completion signal is included in the response from the device 12, the host 11 carries out authentication processing. If authentication succeeds, the host 11 transmits the first electric power to the device 12. If the device 12 receives the electric power from the host 11 together with a response request signal, the device 12 transmits, to the device 11, a response including a signal indicating whether charging has been completed.

Power receiving device, power transmitting device, wireless power transfer system, and wireless power transfer method


An electric vehicle of the present disclosure includes a first electric motor, a second electric motor and a controller. The first electric motor co-rotates with a wheel when the electric vehicle is driven by only a driving torque from the second electric motor. The controller is programmed to increase or decrease the driving torque from the second electric motor in accordance with a driving state of the electric vehicle so as to shift a vehicle speed out of a predetermined low speed range when the electric vehicle is driven by only the driving torque from the second electric motor and the vehicle speed is included within the low speed range.

A conventionally known hybrid vehicle includes an engine, a first motor, a power split device that distributes power from the engine between a first motor side and an output shaft side, and a second motor coupled to the output shaft (as described in, for example, JP 2016-150667A). A controller of the hybrid vehicle executes a first, second and third control in turn when the hybrid vehicle is driven by power from the second motor while an operation of the engine is stopped, and a rotation speed of the first motor that co-rotates with a rotating element of the power split device (wheel) decreases to a predetermined rotation speed. The first control energizes the first motor such that the rotation speed of the first motor becomes higher than a predetermined rotation speed in a rotational direction of the second motor. The second control corrects a torque from the second motor in accordance with an increase in the rotation speed of the first motor by the first control. The third control sets the rotation speed of the first motor to zero after the hybrid vehicle stops. The above predetermined rotation speed is set to a resonant rotation speed or a rotation speed close thereto in order to reduce vibration (resonance) and/or noise such as rattle noise due to a cogging torque (reaction torque) of the first motor.

Electric vehicle and control method thereof


A semiconductor structure includes a semiconductor substrate; a first well region of a first conductivity type in the semiconductor substrate; a metal-containing layer on the first well region, wherein the metal-containing layer and the first well region form a Schottky barrier; and a first heavily doped region of the first conductivity type in the first well region, wherein the first heavily doped region is horizontally spaced apart from the metal-containing layer.

Schottky diodes are commonly used in applications requiring fast switching, for example, in power circuits. Also, while standard silicon diodes have a forward voltage drop of about 0.6 volts, Schottky diodes voltage drop at forward biases of around 1 mA is in the range of 0.15V to 0.45 V, making them useful in voltage clamping applications and preventing transistor saturation. This is due to the Schottky diode's higher current density.
FIG. 1 illustrates an application including a power circuit to provide a current to a load circuit. The power circuit includes a high side and a lower side with metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET) PM1 and PM2, respectively. When the high side is turned off, the lower side needs to quickly provide a current. However, body diodes Bdiode, which are parasitic diodes, have low switching speeds. Therefore, an external Schottky diode is typically added to improve the switching performance.
Conventionally, discrete Schottky diodes, which are individual Schottky diodes each individually packaged, are used as external Schottky diodes. However, using discrete Schottky diodes have drawbacks. First, the added connecting wires cause an increase in parasitic capacitance and parasitic conductance, and thus the switching speed of the Schottky diodes are degraded. Furthermore, the manufacturing cost and complexity are increased.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a semiconductor device that may incorporate Schottky diodes to take advantage of the benefits associated with increased switching speed while at the same time overcoming the deficiencies of the prior art.

Integrated Schottky diode and power MOSFET

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A charging and equalizing method for a battery having a control computer in a charging system in communication with a plurality of module processors. Charging and equalization pauses periodically for voltage measurement by the module processors. The control computer determines when to equalize battery cells in the modules based on their open circuit voltages transmitted by the module processors. A selected group of cells in each module can be equalized. Equalization is carried out in the modules until all of the module processors indicate that equalization has been completed. Charging can then resume until charging is complete or cells reach a maximum voltage given by the control computer. In an alternative embodiment, a selected group of cells may be partially bypassed while charging to reduce the charge rate of the cell.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a power management method for a modular battery.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
High power level rechargeable batteries are often necessary for specific applications. These batteries are made up of a plurality of series connected cells grouped in modules. In electric vehicle applications, batteries such as this are often capable of delivering in excess of 100 KW at a voltage of 400 VDC or above. A battery of this nature can have in excess of one hundred cells divided into individual modules or banks of cells.
A battery of this power level must be handled very carefully and monitored very closely during charge and discharge. This is particularly true of lithium ion batteries. The voltage of each cell must be monitored during discharge to ensure that no cell voltage is allowed to drop below approximately 2.1 VDC. Allowing a cell voltage below this level may cause irreversible damage to the cell. More importantly the voltage of each cell must be carefully monitored and controlled while charging overcharging a cell beyond approximately 4.3 VDC can result in catastrophic failure of the cell.
It is also desirable that all cells remain at the same voltage level, charge at the same rate, and reach the desired final voltage level at the same time. In practice, however, this is not the case; cell charge and discharge characteristics vary. All cells must be monitored very closely during charging. If any cell (or group of cells) reaches a predefined upper voltage limit prior to the rest of the cells, charging is suspended and the rogue cells must be discharged to the voltage level of the other cells. This process is referred to as "cell equalizing" or "cell equalization".
Monitoring battery temperature during charge and discharge is also very important. Cell temperatures should not be allowed to exceed a predetermined temperature. If this temperature is reached, corrective action must be taken immediately. This corrective action can include shutting down the charge or discharge process or activating a cooling system.
These problems are specifically acute when using lithium-ion batteries; however, other battery chemistries have similar problems. In view of the prior art, there is a need for a battery monitoring and charging system that allows full monitoring and control of the battery.

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


A computer which includes a computer chassis and a door is disclosed. The chassis includes a slot and the door includes a corresponding slot which are aligned when the door is in the closed position so as to create an opening which extends through the chassis and through the door. A tab assembly is inserted into the opening. The tab assembly includes two tabs which are coupled together such that the tabs may move laterally with respect to each other. The tabs may be moved into an extended position such that they latch the door to the chassis. A padlock may then be inserted into an opening within the tab assembly so as to lock the tab assembly in the extended position and thereby lock the door to the chassis.

Prior art methods for securing a door to a computer chassis involve the use of screws which engage openings in the door and corresponding openings in the computer chassis. The use of screws means that a screwdriver is required to remove the door. The process of removing multiple screws takes time. Furthermore, screws are not desirable as they are difficult to manage and they require a tool to insert and remove. In addition, screws take a significant amount of time to put in and remove and they can be easily lost.
It is desirable to limit a user's access to the internal components of the computer. This prevents an unauthorized operator from opening the computer door and accessing internal components of the computer and possibly damaging the computer or add-on components located within the computer chassis. In addition, by restricting unauthorized access to the internal components of the computer, theft of hardware is prevented.
One type of prior art device, includes a hinged access panel which locks using projecting flanges which are engaged by a padlock. The access panel is typically attached to the left or right side of the chassis and the access panel pivots away from the main computer for access to internal hardware and components. Matching projecting flanges, one located on the door and one located on the chassis, include openings which receive a padlock.
However, designs which use projecting flanges require that a flange be formed in the door and that a second flange be formed in the chassis. Typically, the door flange is formed by bending a detail which includes an opening such that the detail projects as required to mate with the corresponding flange in the chassis. Typically, the flange of the chassis is also made by forming a detail within the structure of the chassis and bending the detail. Thus, designs which use projecting flanges are expensive since the detail must first be machined into the chassis and bent into the proper shape. In addition, forming the flange on the door is expensive since the detail must first be machined into the door and bent into the proper shape.
Alternate manufacturing methods involve the welding of flanges onto the door and onto the chassis. This is also expensive since the parts must be manufactured separately, precisely aligned, and separately welded.
One recent prior art method for preventing unauthorized access to components located within a chassis involves locking a door that attaches to the chassis using a metal L-shaped bar. The L-shaped bar is inserted into an opening in the front of the chassis. The bar extends through an opening in the back of the chassis. A projecting flange extends from the chassis. The projecting flange has an opening that corresponds to an opening in the bar so as to allow a padlock to be inserted through the opening in the flange and through the opening in the L-shaped bar in the back of the computer. Once the end of the L-shaped bar is locked, the door may not be removed since the other end of the bar extends across the front of the door.
Latching mechanisms that use an L-shaped bar to secure a door that is located on the front of the computer are difficult to operate since the user must first get behind the computer to unlock the padlock. Next the user must move around to the front of the computer and remove the L-shaped bar. Then the door may be opened or removed as dictated by the design of the system. Numerous steps are required to open this type of latching mechanism and the process takes a significant amount of time. Furthermore, this type of design may confuse users since the door is on the front of the computer and the lock is in the back of the computer. This can be confusing to users that want to open the door because they can see the mechanism for opening the door but they cannot readily see the locking mechanism unless they look behind the computer. Thus, users who attempt to open the door typically think that the door is simply stuck, and they may try to force the door open, causing unplanned damage to the door and to the latching mechanism.
What is needed is a latching mechanism which will secure a door to a chassis and which is easy to operate and easy to lock and unlock. In addition, a latching mechanism which is inexpensive to manufacture and install is required. Moreover, a latching mechanism will give the user feedback with regard to whether or not the mechanism is locked is required. The present invention provides an elegant solution that meets the above needs.


Holding device for use with a tool for mechanical tightening of a screw connection in a bone-anchored dental implant without the tissue which surrounds the implant being stressed, the holding device having a first part which rotationally locks to the implant, an arm rigidly connected to the first part, and extending at essentially right angles from the first part, and an additional part engaging a stationary part of a tightening tool so that undesirable rotation movements are prevented during tightening of the screw connection. The additional part which engages the stationary part of the tightening tool during tightening of a screw connection is mounted pivotably on arm and additional part is pivoted relative to arm to allow release of the tightening tool from the holding device after tightening the screw connection.

A counter-holder of this type is already known from SE 8903797-2 and is used together with drilling equipment during the dental operation for tightening the screw connection which secures the so-called spacer against an anchoring element, preferably a titanium screw, a so-called fixture, implanted in the bone. With this known counter-holder, controlled, mechanical tightening of a screw connection of a dental implant is possible without any torque being taken up by the bone, that is the screw (the fixture) remains unstressed during mounting itself.
As can be seen from FIG. 2 in SE 8903797-2, the counter-holder has a first, tubular part, the base portion of which is provided with an internal space adapted to the spacer so that the spacer is locked and cannot be rotated in relation to the tubular part after the tubular part has been slipped over the spacer. Accordingly, the internal space is in the form of a hexagonal recess in order to fit the cylindrical, hexagonal upper portion of the existing spacers. The internal hole through the tubular part has a diameter such that the screwdriver tool of the drill can rotate freely in this space.
The tubular part is rigidly connected to a fork, the base of which extends essentially at right angles to the center line of the tubular part and the shanks of which are essentially parallel to said center line. The fork is U-shaped and is positioned with one shank on each side of the handpiece of the drill. The shanks have such a length that they extend beyond the diameter of the handpiece. As a result of this, the tightening torque will be taken up by the shanks of the fork instead of stressing the spacer and thus the fixture.
When a predetermined screw tightening torque has been achieved, the handpiece of the tool offers resistance to one shank of the fork. The tightening torque gives rise to a reaction torque which is the same as the tightening torque but in the opposite direction, which means that the tissue which surrounds the implant remains unstressed.
When the predetermined screw tightening torque has been achieved, the tightening tool and the counter-holder are to be removed, which can sometimes be difficult since the handpiece of the tool bears against one shank of the fork with the force which has been built up in the system. When the tool and the counter-holder are to be removed, this force must be released and there is then a risk that the tool or the implant are still stressed inadmissibly.
Instead of the metal spacers which have mainly been used until now, and which are also described in the abovementioned Swedish patent, it is also previously known to use ceramic distance pieces which, like the earlier metal spacers, are secured against the fixture with the aid of a distance screw which is screwed down into a drilled hole in the fixture with the aid of the tightening tool. There are advantages in using ceramic distance pieces instead of the metal distance pieces which were mostly found on the market until now, mainly for aesthetic reasons because the ceramic material is more similar to the surrounding teeth than metal material, but also because the ceramic material can be prepared and more easily individually shaped so that the outer shape of the distance piece is adapted to the anatomical situation in each individual case.
But there are also disadvantages with the ceramic material, mainly in terms of its strength. The material is more brittle and can fracture, especially if too great stresses occur in the material during tightening against the fixture. There is therefore also a risk of fractures in the material when the tool and the counter-holder are to be removed after tightening as a result of the abovementioned "locking" of the tool against one shank of the fork.

Releasable holding device preventing undesirable rotation during tightening of a screw connection in a bone anchored implant


The present invention provides a LED driver for control the brightness of the LED. An inductor and a switch are connected in serial with the LED for control the current of the LED. A control circuit is developed to generate a control signal for switching the switch in response the LED current. A diode is parallel coupled to the inductor for freewheeling the energy of the inductor through the LED.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a LED (light emission diode) driver, and more particularly to a control circuit for controlling the LED.
2. Description of Related Art
The LED driver is utilized to control the brightness of LED in accordance with its characteristic. The control of the LED is to control the current that flow through the LED. A higher current will increase intensity of the brightness, but decrease the life of the LED. FIG. 1 shows a traditional approach of the LED driver. The voltage source 10 is adjusted to provide a current ILED to LEDs 20˜25 through a resistor 15. The current ILED can be shown as equation (1),
                              I          LED                =                              V            -                          V                              F                                                                                20                                      -                          V                              F                                                                                21                                      -            …            -                          V                              F                                                                                25                                                          R            15                                              (        1        )            wherein the VF20˜VF25 are the voltage drop of the LEDs 20˜25 respectively. The drawback of the LED driver shown in FIG. 1 is the variation of the current ILED. The current ILED is changed in response to the change of the voltage drop of VF20˜VF25, in which the voltage drop of VF20˜VF25 will be change due to the variation of the production and operating temperature. The second drawback of the LED driver shown in FIG. 1 is the power consumption of the resistor 15. FIG. 2 shows another traditional approaches of the LED driver. A current source 35 is connected in series with the LEDs 20˜25 for providing a constant current flow through the LEDs 20˜25. However, the disadvantage of this circuit is the power loss of the current source 35, particularly as the voltage source 30 is high and the LED voltage drop of VF20˜VF25 are low. The objective of the present invention is to provide a LED driver for reducing the power consumption and achieving higher reliability. The second objective of the present invention is to develop a high efficiency method for controlling the brightness of the LED.


An automotive radar system that is switchable between one or more high power modes and one or more increased channel modes. The radar system includes multiple transmit antennas, an integrated circuit including a transmit chain generating a positive transmit signal and a negative transmit signal that together form a differential transmit signal, and a coupling interface. The coupling interface configurably couples the differential transmit signal to two transmit antennas of the multiple transmit antennas to selectively drive the two transmit antennas in either a differential mode or in a power-combining mode that combines power from the positive transmit signal and negative transmit signal to drive a first transmit antenna of the multiple transmit antennas while isolating a second transmit antenna of the two transmit antennas.

In the quest for ever-safer and more convenient transportation options, many car manufacturers are developing self-driving cars which require an impressive number and variety of sensors, often including arrays of acoustic and/or electromagnetic sensors to monitor the distance between the car and any nearby persons, pets, vehicles, or obstacles. Many such arrays, however, are unable to provide a desired level of resolution without incurring too great a power and/or spacing penalty. Thus, there is room for improvement in the art.

MIMO radar system with dual mode output power amplification

SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC


The invention relates to a method of invoking privacy related to a user equipment (1) capable of accepting push messages in communications network, which push message is a message a server may send to the user equipment (1) without the user of the user equipment (1) asking for it and the server having the ability to be able to act as a push message initiator. The method comprises the steps of: (i) sending a first request for the personal user data from the user equipment (1) to an origin server (2) over a first channel (A); (ii) the origin server (2) sending a request for personal user data to a supporting server (3); (iii) the supporting server (3) sending a push message over a narrow band channel (C) to the user equipment (1) indicating said request for the user data made by the origin server (2); (iv) the user equipment (1) responding to the push message at least by an allowing message or a disallowing message for the request of data over said narrow band channel; and (v) the supporting server (3) providing the data to the origin server (2) at least partly in response to the allowing message, and rejecting the data providing otherwise.

The interaction model of World Wide Web WWW is based on a simple client-server interaction as shown in FIG. 1. The client-server relationship can be defined by the relationship between functional entities (for example, managed objects or network layers) in which one entity uses a service provided by another. The user of the service may be called a "client" and the provider of the service may be called a "server". The term interaction can be described as a situation that occurs when one service affects the operation of the other service.
The basis of WWW interaction is that the client requests a resource from the server based on a uniform resource identifier (URI), e.g. uniform resource locator (URL). This identifier individualizes both a file or a directory in the Internet and a protocol needed to use them. Based on this interaction model the server is able to provide some service to the client.
In the process of this interaction the server will often require data from the client. Such data may include the client's PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) Digital Certificate, or perhaps some details about the user on whose behalf the client makes the requests (e.g. username, password, users address).
Due to various constraints in the wireless world the interaction model differs from the model described above. In the wireless model an additional server is introduced to distribute the load across the network. This interaction model is shown in FIG. 2. Instead of making the request of the client directly via the link A, the origin server can request information about the client off the supporting server via the link B.
These supporting servers have many uses. Some examples are:                gathering location data about the user (Location Servers);        storing and distributing of identity certificates on behalf of the user (Certificate Servers);        describing the attributes of a user's terminal (User Agent Profile Server); and        acting as repositories of data.
For various reasons (including legislative) it is considered that personal data should be distributed within strict guidelines. In recent years there has been growing concern about users' privacy on the Internet. This has lead to various guidelines and directives from organizations like OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and development) and EU (European Union). The guidelines although quite similar from the various sources are well summed up by the US FTC (United States Federal Trade Commission) Fair Information Practices (FIP) in the Electronic Marketplace. The FIP recommends that users' privacy should follow the 4 following guidelines (http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/index.html):                Notice—A user should be notified what personal data is used, who is using it, and how it is used;        Choice—A user should have a choice as to whether or not to allow that use;        Access—A User should have access to that data where ever it is used; and        Security—User data should be protected at all times using reasonable security precautions.
The World-Wide-Web Consortium (W3C) has defined a mechanism for terminals to determine the conditions under which personal information may be transmitted to applications. The mechanism is called P3P (Patform for Privacy Preferences. It is actually a framework for:                defining privacy policy on application servers (i.e. specifying formally what information is gathered and how it is used);        defining how clients may define their own privacy preferences; and        how privacy policies may be compared.
P3P does not prescribe specific implementations (beyond relying upon XML (Extensible Markup Language) for defining the policies), but several prototype systems provide the following functions:                alerting the user each time a WWW site is accessed whose policy differs from the user preferences; and        requesting the user to authorize the transmission of personal information to the WWW-site.
There exist two state of the art methods for accessing control to user data. A very common access control method is that of using black/white list to control the access to a resource. A black list is a list of entities not allowed to access the resource. If the black list exists all entities are allowed to access the list except those on the black list. A white list is the list of entities allowed to access the resource. If the white list exists no entities are allowed to access the list except those on the white list.
Although this is a rather simple way to provide the level of privacy protection there are some drawbacks, reasons why the method is not applicable to support privacy invoking within guidelines. It is a static method and it has no way of dynamically dealing with data requests. Supposing the user wishes to visit the origin server. The steps they would have to go through are as follows:
1) First they would have to determine what data the origin server may require;
2) Then they would have to go to the appropriate supporting server (or servers as there may be several involved);
3) Then they can proceed to the origin server in order to be served.
Furthermore, there is only the possibility of black or white lists. There is no capability of having a "grey" list where the user is queried to see if they wish to allow the origin server have the data.
Another possibility for accessing control is a method in which the origin server assembles a set of the data it requires and presents it as a list for the client to digitally sign. The origin server then presents this digitally signed list to the supporting server when requesting the personal user data. This method would however involve extra round trips and cryptographic processing on the client. It was precisely these problems that required the use of supporting servers. In other words this scheme would negate the advantage of supporting servers.
The scheme relies on PKI which in turn requires digital certificates. As the digital certificate itself can contain personal user data the simple fact of using the digital certificate could in itself compromise user privacy.
Partially due to the fact that "Privacy" as such is a new area there has been no efforts made in the standards which refer to supporting servers to address the privacy issue. It can clearly be seen from the above use cases that the data contained on supporting servers is personal user data, and that data should be used in accordance with the appropriate privacy guidelines.
One of the problems associated with the above mentioned current situation is that privacy has not been addressed in wireless Internet standards. Thus there is no defined nor implemented method for supporting servers to protect the privacy wishes of users. Currently the situation with supporting servers is that there is no intervention on behalf of the user when the supporting server receives the request for information. This means that there is no way for the user to receive notice or make a choice with regards to her/his own personal data.


An article transport vehicle is provided in which it is difficult for the transported article support portions to interfere with the supported portion of the transported article while reducing transmission of vibrations to the transported article, during a travel of the travel member or during a vertical movement of the vertically movable portion. A support unit which is vertically moved relative to a travel member is provided with a guiding supporting portion for guiding and supporting transported article support portions for supporting a supported portion of a transported article such that the transported article support portions can be moved to support positions and to retracted positions, and a damper element which is located between a vertically movable portion and the guiding supporting portion and receives load from the guiding supporting portion and which is elastically deformable in a vertical direction.

An example of an article transport vehicle which transports a transported article with the article suspended and supported thereby is disclosed in JP Publication of Application No. 2006-298535 (Patent Document 1). This article transport vehicle includes a travel member which travels along a travel path, a support unit which suspends and supports the transported article, and a vertical movement actuator which vertically moves the support unit with respect to the travel member. The support unit includes a vertically movable portion which is moved vertically by the vertical movement actuator, transported article support portions which supports a supported portion of the transported article, and a support actuator which moves the transported article support portions to support positions in which the transported article support portions are located directly below the supported portion and to retracted positions in which the transported article support portions are retracted from their positions directly below the supported portion. In addition, the support unit includes guiding supports which guide and support the transported article support portions such that the transported article support portions can be moved between the support positions and the retracted positions. And damper elements which are elastically deformable in the vertical direction are provided on the top surfaces of the transported article support portions.
The damper elements provided to the top surfaces of the transported article support portions receive the load of the supported transported article. In other words, in the article transport vehicle of Patent Document 1, transmission of vibration to the transported article, during a travel of the travel member or during a vertical movement of the vertically movable portion, is reduced by interposing the damper elements between the transported article support portions and the supported portion of the transported article. However, the thickness, or the vertical dimension, of the transported article support portions increases by providing such damper elements on the top surfaces of the transported article support portions. Thus, it becomes more likely for the transported article support portions to interfere with the supported portion of the transported article when the transported article support portions are moved from the retracted positions to the support positions in order to support the supported portion of the transported article with the transported article support portions.

Article transport vehicle with damper element


An infusion cap for a bottle having a threaded neck is screwed onto the threaded neck and by removing a locking tab a portion of the cap may be pressed toward the bottle to discharge an infusion substance into the bottle. In a modified embodiment instead of pushing against the cap, a portion of the cap is rotated on the bottle threads to discharge a substance to be infused from the cap into the bottle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a bottle closure cap which contains an infusion substance in a reservoir in the cap, and when desired the infusion substance may be deposited in the bottle to mix with the material contained in the bottle without removing the cap from the bottle.
2. Background Art
The prior art shows several approaches to providing an infusion cap with the infusion material stored in the cap dispensed into the bottle or container for mixing with the liquid or other substance in the bottle. Typical of the prior art are the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,859,898, 3,079,022, 4,793,475, 5,465,835, 5,967,309, 6,372,270, 6,820,740, 6,840,373 B2, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0218015 A1.

Infusion cap with reservoir shiftable downwardly


The present invention relates to an alignment inspecting system for liquid crystal substrate, comprises an alignment mechanism located on corners of the substrate, and the alignment mechanism including a horizontal alignment device for exerting pressure to edges of the substrate, wherein a flattening device for applying longitudinal pressure to the substrate is further included. The present invention can be concluded with the following advantages: this alignment inspecting system for liquid crystal substrate can be used to correct the bending of the substrate during alignment process, so as to reduce the bending and deformation of the substrate which in turn creates poor contact between the probe and the substrate. As a result, incorrect reading can be avoided.

In the manufacturing process of liquid crystal display panel, after HVA (high resolution vertical alignment) alignment, the liquid crystal substrate is checked by the liquid crystal inspecting apparatus with a nominated voltage is applied to the substrate, the substrate is lit and an image is captured by the CCD (charge coupled device), then the captured image is compared with the internal pre-established image so as to determine whether the alignment is qualified or not. For a substrate with a dimension up to 2200 mm*2500 mm, feeding it into the inspecting apparatus will easily cause it to bend and deform during the alignment checking process. When the voltage supplier is moved upward, it may readily create poor electrical contact between the probe and the substrate, resulting the image captured by the CCD (charge coupled device) is inconsistent with the actual situation. An inaccurate determination could be resulted.

Alignment inspecting system for liquid crystal substrate

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd


A method for fabricating a photoconductor coupled liquid crystal valve comprising the step of; deposing a transparent electrode on a transparent substrate; forming on said transparent electrode a photoconductive layer formed of amorphous silicon by the ECR; forming on said photoconductive layer an optical shielding layer formed of amorphous silicon by the ECR; forming on said optical shielding layer an optical reflection layer; forming an orientation film on said optical reflection layer; laminating on said orientation film a transparent substrate having a transparent electrode and another orientation film stoked thereon by the above method in such a manner that the two orientation films face each other with a spacer interposed therebetween; and disposing liquid crystals into said spacer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fabricating optical devices generally referred to as photoconductor coupled liquid crystal light valves of photoaddress type liquid crystal light valves (hereinafter, referred to as photoconductor coupled liquid crystal light valves) which utilize the photoconductive effect of photoconductive layers and the electro-optical effect of liquid crystals. These photoconductor coupled liquid crystal light valves are used in image display apparatus, image processing apparatus, optical information processing systems, or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently the photoconductor coupled liquid crystal light valves utilizing the photoconductive effect of photoconductive layers and the electro-optical effect of liquid crystals have been drawing attention as optical devices to be used in image display apparatus, image processing apparatus, optical information processing systems, and the like. FIG. 6 illustrates the basic construction of a photoconductor coupled liquid crystal light valve, which as shown in the figure comprises a photoconductive layer 1, a reflection layer 5, a liquid crystal layer 2, orientation processing films 6a and 6b, two transparent electrodes 3a and 3b sandwiching them and disposed on glass substrates 7a and 7b, respectively, and an external power supply 4 which serve as a voltage applying means for applying a voltage to the transparent electrodes. Means for writing into and image-reading from the device, although not shown, are of course included therein.
The basic operating principle of this device is described below, where for simplicity the impedances of the reflection layer 5 and the orientation processing films 6a and 6b are assumed to be far lower than those of the photoconductive layer 1 and the liquid crystal layer 2.
First, an a.c. voltage V.sub.0 is applied to the photoconductive layer 1 and the liquid crystal layer 2 via the transparent electrodes 3a and 3b from the external power supply 4. The voltages applied to the liquid crystal layer and the photoconductive layer in this case are at values resulting from allocating the voltage V.sub.0 in proportion to the impedances of the photoconductive layer 1 and the liquid crystal layer 2. The voltage which will be applied to the liquid crystal layer 2 without incident light thereon is so set as to be adequately smaller than the threshold voltage (V.sub.s1) at which the liquid crystal layer will yield the electro-optical effect. This means that no electro-optical effect is not produced by the liquid crystal layer 2 at the initial state.
Assume that the region to which the light is applied is PC.sub.1 and that to which the light is not applied is PC.sub.d. When light is applied to the photoconductive layer 1, the impedance (Zp) of the region PC.sub.1 of the photoconductive layer 1 greatly decreases to a value far smaller than the impedance of the liquid crystal layer 2, which implies that most of the voltage V.sub.0 greater than V.sub.s1 is applied to the liquid crystal layer 2. As a result, there develops an electro-optical effect to the liquid crystal layer 2 of the region PC.sub.1. In contrast to this, the liquid crystal layer 2 of the region PC.sub.d remains having the initial voltage applied thereto, without causing the electro-optical effect. Thus, the light pattern (optical information) written into the photoconductive layer 1 has been formed on the liquid crystal layer 2.
The light pattern may be reproduced by applying reproductive light to the liquid crystal side from the light source (not shown).
According to the above-described operating principle, when the reproductive light is applied, the light that has penetrated the liquid crystal layer 2 and reached the reflection layer 5 will permeate up to the photoconductive layer 1 without being fully reflected by the reflection layer 5. This permeated light may cause the impedance of the photoconductive layer of the relevant region so as to disturb the image pattern of written light, disadvantageously.
In fact, optical reflection layers for ordinary use employ a layer provided by stacking thin layers in two types having a great difference in the induction rate to about 10 to 20 layers with a thickness of 1/4 of the wavelength of the readout light. However, nonuniformities in the precision of film thickness as well as in surface orientation make it greatly difficult to attain a reflectance of 99.9% or more. For this reason, there has been a problem that the reading light may permeate into the photoconductive layer to disturb the image pattern. This problem has been remarkable especially when the amount of reading light is very large, such as when a liquid crystal light valve is used as an image display device.
As a means for solving the problem, it has been proposed that an optical shielding layer which absorbs the reproductive light is provided between the reflection layer 5 and the photoconductive layer 1 (see FIG. 6). For such an optical shielding layer previous proposals have been such that a layer in which a pigment has been mixed into an organic material is put into use as the optical shielding layer, or that as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication HEI 3-18829 between the liquid crystal layer and the photoconductive layer there is provided a metallic optical shielding layer having an island-like shape and a size of 18 .mu.m or so for each side.
On the other hand, referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, the photoconductive layer 1 for this photoconductor coupled liquid crystal light valve has been proposed in various materials from organic to inorganic materials. For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publications SHO 57-150821, 58-34435, 58-199327, 59-81627, 63-253924, and the like it has been proposed that amorphous silicon be used as the photoconductive layer. The primary reason these proposals employ amorphous silicon is that it has a high sensitivity and a high resistance.
Moreover, in any of the proposals, this amorphous silicon is formed into films by a known fabrication method, the Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition (hereinafter, referred to as P-CVD) or the sputtering method.
As will be understood from the operating principle of the device stated before, the impedance of the photoconductive layer without writing light incident thereon needs to be made as large as possible. This is because the impedance is required to be at least greater than that of the liquid crystal layer. The film thickness of such a photoconductive layer of the photoconductor coupled liquid crystal light valve is, for example according to the Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication SHO 57-150821 and the like, 3 .mu.m or more for the thickness of the amorphous silicon layer.
However, the film formation rate by the conventional P-CVD or sputtering method is no more than 10 A/sec. This results in a prolonged depositing time for a 3 .mu.m film as long as 50 min., making the device fabrication costly.
Yet further, attaining the value of 10 A/sec. by these methods would require the RF power or gas pressure to be increased. This would accelerate reactions among plasma active seeds in vapor phase, causing (SiH.sub.2).sub.n powder to be generated during the excitation of the plasma. The powder would adhere onto the substrate under film formation, serving as the core for abnormal growth of amorphous silicon, which would lead to some image deficiency in the end device and therefore to less yield in the device fabrication.
As another problem, after film formation with the generation of powder involved as shown above, a large amount of the powder will remain within the vacuum layer of the plasma equipment. On this account, the inside of the vacuum layer needs to be cleaned before proceeding to the next fabrication process, requiring great amounts of labor and time.
In consequence, the fabrication methods as conventionally proposed would result in less-yield, higher-cost devices, which are far from feasible to put into practical use in terms of bulk production.
Moreover, in an attempt to take measures for providing the photoconductor coupled liquid crystal light valve employing amorphous silicon as its photoconductive layer as shown above with the aforementioned optical shielding layer that absorbs reproductive light, it is necessary to take out amorphous silicon from the vacuum equipment after its film formation and then move it to application equipment dedicated to organic material layer or separate film forming equipment dedicated to metal layer. Thus new equipment is necessitated for forming the optical shielding layer, further increasing the device fabrication cost. Also, foreign matters would adhere onto amorphous silicon when it is taken out, which may cause deficiencies in the optical shielding layer, optical reflection layer, and liquid crystal layer to be subsequently fabricated. These deficiencies would be causes for electrical short-circuit and the like which occur between the two transparent electrodes, resulting in deficiencies in liquid crystal image patterns.
When an organic material is employed as the optical shielding layer, there may arise a mechanical nonconformity due to a difference in thermal expansion coefficient from the amorphous silicon layer, which is of inorganic material. As a result, there have been some cases where peeling would occur at the interface between the amorphous silicon layer and the optical shielding layer. As a still another disadvantage, when a metal layer of island shape was employed, the size of one pixel would depend on the size of the island, thus restricting the enhancement of the resolution.
The Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication SHO 59-81627 has disclosed one in which the optical shielding layer is given by amorphous silicon containing fluorine and hydrogen. This instance would involve use of SiF.sub.4 more expensive than SiH.sub.4 as the material gas, fabrication by the glow discharge method, and adjustment of the substrate temperature in preparing the optical shielding layer, thus accompanied by a difficulty in reducing the fabrication cost.
The Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication SHO 63-253924 provides a fabrication by the P-CVD method, incapable of solving the above-described problems.
Furthermore, the inventors of the present invention have reported a method for forming a photoconductive layer made of amorphous silicon by the ECR method (The Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Hei 3-126920). Even in the light valve thereof, however, it was difficult to solve the aforementioned problem that the reading light may permeate into the photoconductive layer to disturb image patterns.

Method of fabricating photoconductor coupled liquid crystal light valve


A phenol-free method of isolating DNA from biological material includes homogenizing a biological material with a homogenization buffer to form a homogenate. Proteins and non-DNA organic molecules are extracted from the homogenate by mixing a first extraction buffer and a second extraction buffer with the homogenate. The first extraction buffer includes chloroform and an alcohol and the second extraction buffer includes a non-ionic protein solubilizer and an alcohol. DNA is precipitated from the mixture of homogenate, first extraction buffer and second extraction buffer and the DNA is recovered by sedimentation.

The continuous advances in molecular biology, biotechnology and clinical research have resulted in an ever increasing number of uses for nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA. For example, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology has dramatically expanded the use of DNA and RNA in basic research, in clinical diagnostics, such as detection of messenger RNA by reverse transcription PCR, and the use of PCR in detection of genetic defects. The increased use of DNA and RNA has created a need for fast, simple and reliable methods and reagents for isolating DNA and RNA.
Methods of isolating DNA from complex starting materials, such as while blood, blood serum, and tissue biopsies, can include lysis of biological material by detergent in the presence of protein degrading enzymes, followed by several extractions with organic solvents, e.g., phenol and/or chloroform, ethanol precipitation, and dialysis of the nucleic acids. Such methods often time-consuming, irreproducible and give DNA of variable yield and purity. Additionally, the use of phenol as a protein denaturant can be hazardous to users.


A method for the prophylaxis and treatment of dyspeptic symptoms of unknown origin using ACE-inhibitors and a pharmaceutical peparation comprising these compounds.

Functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract are common and account for a very large number of medical consultations. On an annual basis approximately 30% of the western population experience such functional dyspeptic symptoms varying from mild indigestion to severe pain. The symptomatology may be due to an organic disease (for example peptic ulcer disease) or, more commonly, be without any known origin (i.e. absence of organic pathology in the upper gut as evidenced by various diagnostic procedures). In clinical routine the latter symptom-syndrome is commonly called "non-ulcer dyspepsia", "functional dyspepsia", or "non-organic dyspepsia". Current treatment of dyspepsia with unknown origin involves a variety of pharmacological principles, e.g. neutralization of gastric acidity or affecting the motility of the gut wall, some of which have doubtful efficacy and sometimes have severe side effects.
Dyspepsia due to peptic ulcer can be cured by intake of antacids and inhibitors of gastric acid secretion. Ulcer-like dyspeptic symptoms, also without mucosal pathology, usually respond to similar treatment. This sub-population of dyspeptic symptoms (acid-related dyspepsia) is thus defined by the symptom-relief in association with intake of neutralizing agents or of inhibition of gastric acid production by use of proton pump inhibitors or histamine H2-receptor antagonists. However, the former treatment is short-lasting and neutralizing drugs must be administered repeatedly during the day. The latter treatment has disadvantages of being expensive and exerting an impact on the gut physiology, as the antacid gastric conditions increase the risk for intestinal and/or systemic infections. Prokinetic drugs (such as cisapride) or anticholinergic compounds are other agents that are utilized to cure dyspeptic symptoms, usually with variable efficiency and high frequency of side effects. It follows that available drug regimens for treating dyspeptic symptoms are impaired by certain disadvantages.
The present invention relates to a new method of treating dyspepsia with unknown origin by pharmacological interference with the renin-angiotensin system (RAS).

Medical use of an ace-inhibitor for treatment of dyspeptic symptoms


A mounting unit for a sub-frame for fastening the sub-frame to a side member of a vehicle body may include a pipe nut installed to be inserted into a through-hole above a mounting portion of the side member, a sub-frame bracket fixed under the side member to correspond to the pipe nut and including a fastening hole to which a lower end portion of the pipe nut may be fastened, and a reinforcing bracket fixed to an inner side of the side member and fixing an upper end portion of the pipe nut.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting unit for a sub-frame, and more particularly, to a mounting unit for a sub-frame that is capable of improving assembly quality, reducing its weight, and improving NVH performance by improving ease of assembly between a side member and the sub-frame.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a sub-frame is bolted to be assembled to a front side member in a center supportive type of vehicle.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view to describe a method for assembling a general front side member and a sub-frame.
Referring to FIG. 1, the sub-frame 101 is fastened by bolts 107 to a lower part of each of respective front side members 103 so as to be assembled thereto.
In the sub-frame 101, an engine (not shown) and a transmission (not shown) are disposed in front and rear directions, and buckling of the sub-frame 101 is induced to allow the engine to be dropped since the engine is designed to not be pushed toward a dash panel of a vehicle body as a rigid body, thereby guaranteeing collision safety.
The sub-frame 101 is fastened to the lower part of the front side member 103 by the bolt 107 through a mounting unit 105 for the sub-frame (hereinafter referred to as a "mounting unit").
In order to fasten the sub-frame 101 to the lower part of the front side member 103, such a conventional mounting unit 105 includes a mounting bracket 109 that is bonded to the lower part of the front side member 103, and a pipe nut 111 that is installed between the mounting bracket 109 and the front side member 103.
That is, the sub-frame 101 is fastened to the front side member 103 through the pipe nut 111 and the bolt 107 under the mounting bracket 109.
However, such a conventional mounting unit 105 for the sub-frame has a structure in which the pipe nut 111 is simply fixed by the mounting bracket 109, thereby having a drawback of frequent defective assembly straightness and insufficient connection stiffness.
Accordingly, when a head-on collision of a vehicle occurs, the vehicle can be easily damaged.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.