In the improved cooling system for a commercial aircraft galley, heat is transferred from a galley food cart by a point-of-use heat exchange system to a liquid cooled condenser. Liquid coolant for the liquid cooled condenser is circulated in a liquid coolant loop to a heat exchanger expelling heat for cooling the liquid coolant. The liquid coolant may be water or a mixture of water and glycol. A flow of cooling air from a heat exchanger cooled by the liquid cooled condenser is cycled through an air over system, through an air through system, or from a thermal convection air cooling system providing at least one cooled galley food cart surface to provide cooling. Heat may be transferred from a plurality of galley food carts to the circulating liquid coolant.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to transport aircraft galley systems, and more particularly, to systems to cool food carts prior to service by the cabin attendants.
2. General Background and State of the Art
Aircraft galley systems for modern transport aircraft incorporate food carts which are cooled to prevent food spoilage prior to use by the cabin attendants for distribution of food to the passengers. These food carts have in the past been interfaced with cold air supply systems in the galley designed to cool the interiors of the food carts. Such cool air distribution systems were generally co-located with the balance of the galley and interface with the food carts by means of gaskets connecting the food carts to a plenum providing the cool air. Conventional galley refrigeration systems typically utilize self contained air chillers which provide the cooled air directly to the food carts or refrigerated compartments. Such air chillers are typically installed above, below or otherwise within close proximity of the galley, and deliver cooled air via air ducts.
Chilling systems with remotely located liquid chillers have been developed that chill a heat transfer liquid that enters galley air cooling system devices, where heat is transferred from the compartment air to the liquid. However, since a cooled liquid is circulated, the liquid bus must be carefully insulated. As space in modern aircraft has become more at a premium and more efficient means of cooling the carts has become necessary, there has emerged a need for more efficient alternatives to such systems. Furthermore, recent FDA rulings have lowered the required temperature at which the interior of the food carts has to be kept in order to prevent food spoilage. It is important that any system that interfaces with either food or the cabin area can be configured to provide a wide range of cooling capacity as a function of the food and food carts that are to be interfaced with such a system.
Additionally, it has become more desirable to remove refrigeration equipment from the galley compartment and to find other means to properly cool the food carts without locating the entire refrigeration system in the galley area. In order to be compatible with modern transport aircraft requirements, it has become important to have an increased degree of safety and modularity for any aircraft system incorporating electronics or electric pumps, and it would be particularly desirable to locate at least a portion of such systems outside of the cabin area of the aircraft. In any event, it is important that any system that interfaces with either food or the cabin area is non-toxic and can be configured to provide a wide range of cooling capacity as a function of the food and food carts that are to be interfaced with such a system.
Aircraft air chillers are typically rated for operation at ambient temperatures of 85° F., and are capable of operating for short periods of time at ambient temperatures of up to 130° F. However, above 85° F., ambient refrigeration capacity decreases, and at 130° F., ambient refrigeration capacity is reduced approximately 60 percent. In addition, when the air chillers are not mounted within the cabin of an aircraft, the air chillers commonly do not provide adequate condenser airflow and cooling efficiency when the aircraft are on the ground in hot ambient temperatures, producing high condenser inlet temperatures. Furthermore, high operating temperatures that can occur under such conditions typically lead to higher failure rates and premature wear.
While one solution to the problem of providing adequate cooling at such elevated temperatures would be to provide an air chiller with a higher cooling capacity that would be adequate at these elevated temperatures, this would result in a significantly heavier air chiller unit which would be unacceptable for use in aircraft, and which would consume more power and would be considerably more expensive. A concomitant problem of providing such a higher capacity air chilling unit would be the requirement of removing an increased condenser airflow.
The present invention satisfies these and other requirements for aircraft galley systems.

Cooling system for a commercial aircraft galley


In a semiconductor device that needs a refresh operation for storing data, data of memory cells selected in response to a row address is read to main amplifiers through bit line pairs, sense amplifiers and data line pairs in a page-mode read operation. Thereafter, while outputting the data held in the main amplifiers to the outside, connecting transistors are turned off so as to disconnect the main amplifiers from the memory cells, and thus, the memory cells can be precharged. Also, in a page-mode write operation, while writing externally supplied input data in the main amplifiers, the memory cells can be precharged.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device equipped with a memory cells that need a refresh operation for storing data.
FIG. 12 shows the architecture of a conventional DRAM. In FIG. 12, a memory cell array 1001 includes a large number of memory cells arranged in a row direction and a column direction; a plurality of pairs of bit lines connected to these memory cells and extending in the column direction; a plurality of sense amplifiers arranged in the row direction for amplifying data on these bit line pairs; and 8n pairs of data lines 1001a arranged in the column direction. Also, a 1/8 selection circuit 1002 selects n pairs of data lines 1001a from the 8n pairs of data lines. A read amplifier 1003 amplifies data on the n pairs of data lines selected by the 1/8 selection circuit 1002 and outputs the amplified data to the outside. A write amplifier 1004 receives input data from a latch 1005 for latching the input data (writing data) of n bits and amplifies the input data.
The page-mode read operation and the page-mode write operation of such a DRAM will now be described. FIG. 13 is a timing chart for the conventional page-mode read operation and FIG. 14 is a timing chart for the conventional page-mode write operation. First, the conventional page-mode read operation will be described. In FIG. 13, data of memory cells selected in the memory cell may 1001 is amplified by the sense amplifiers to be output to the 8n pairs of data lines 1100a through the bit line pairs in a time t1. Out of the data on the 8n pairs of data lines 1100a, n pairs of data is selected by the 1/8 selection circuit 1002, and the selected data is amplified by the read amplifier 1003 to be output to the outside. In each of times t2, t3 and t4, data of n bits is output to the outside through the same processing as that performed in the time t1.
Next, the conventional page-mode write operation will be described. In FIG. 14, the input data of n bits latched by the latch 1005 is amplified by the write amplifier 1004, and the amplified data is written, through n pairs of data lines 1100a selected by the 1/8 selection circuit 1002, in memory cells selected in the memory cell array 1100a in a time t1. In each of times t2, t3 and t4, input data is written in selected memory cells through the same processing as that performed in the time t1.
Furthermore, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-6659 discloses another conventional DRAM in which a plurality of row buffers are provided, each for one row specified by a row address, data of a memory cell array is transferred to a specified buffer out of the plural row buffers in making a normal memory access, data is output from the specified row buffer in a page-mode read operation and data is written in the specified row buffer in a page-mode write operation.
In both of the two types of conventional DRAMs, however, the memory cell array is in an active state during a page-mode cycle, and therefore, a refresh operation for memory cells cannot be performed during this period. Therefore, in the case where a charge holding time of a memory cell is short as in a pure CMOS DRAM, an interval between the refresh operations is long in making a long page access, and hence, it is disadvantageously difficult to hold data.

Semiconductor device having read and write operations corresponding to read and write row control signals

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


In a monitoring apparatus adapted to monitor an image forming apparatus, a data acquisition module acquires monitoring information from at least one image forming apparatus. An HTTP server module produces a new encryption key pair including a public key and a private key. The public key is used to encrypt notification information in the user-site centralized monitoring apparatus. The private key is incorporated together with a bunch of private keys produced in the past into a data reading program. Preparations are made so that the data reading program can be downloaded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monitoring system adapted to acquire operational information associated with an image forming apparatus disposed at a user site.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional monitoring system, such as that disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 04-318746, a monitoring apparatus installed at each user site acquires information indicating the operational status of an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, or a multifunction apparatus installed at the user site and billing information, and transmits the acquired information to a host apparatus installed at a monitoring center such as a service center (or a sales company). In accordance with the received information, the host apparatus at the monitoring center manages all apparatus installed at respective user sites. More specifically, for example, information such as count data indicating the number of printed sheets, or information indicating an occurrence of a failure such as a paper jam, is transmitted to the monitoring apparatus via a communication line, and the monitoring system transfers the information to the service center that manages the image forming apparatus.
However, this conventional monitoring system has a problem with security of information, and thus there is a need for a technique that ensures high security of information in maintaining image forming apparatus.
A public communication line such as the Internet is used for connections between a plurality of monitoring apparatus installed at user sites and the monitoring center host computer system that manages the monitoring apparatus. In the case of transmission of data via such a communication line, data may be encrypted to achieve security of the data. However, when data is encrypted using a public key cryptosystem, only the monitoring center host computer system is allowed to decrypt the data. This causes the problem that when a checker at a user site wants to check the content of data transmitted from a monitoring apparatus at the user site to the monitoring center host computer system, the checker cannot read the data because it is encrypted.
Another problem is that if a decryption key (common key) used to decrypt data transmitted to the monitoring center host computer system is leaked to an unauthorized person, the unauthorized person can decrypt and read the data. This causes a problem with low security.

Monitoring apparatus, method of controlling the monitoring apparatus, and program therefor


A deviation in mounting a temperature sensor unit is eliminated. In a second cavity 47 for mounting a temperature sensor unit 3 of a base 4, exposed electrodes 6 that intersect at least an internal wall surface 474 of a second wall portion 45 are formed so as to be exposed within the second cavity 47. The exposed electrodes 6 include a pair of temperature sensor electrode pads 621 and 622 to which the temperature sensor unit 3 is bonded via a solder 13. The solder 13 is formed so as to cover an entire surface of the exposed electrodes 6 including the temperature sensor electrode pads 621 and 622 to which the temperature sensor unit 3 is bonded.

A piezoelectric resonator device is an electronic device in which are hermetically sealed driving electrodes of a piezoelectric resonator plate that cause piezoelectric resonance. Examples of the piezoelectric resonator device include a crystal oscillator, a crystal resonator and the like. This type of piezoelectric resonator device is constituted by a base made of a ceramic material and a lid made of a metal material. A housing of the piezoelectric resonator device is formed as a package having a rectangular parallelepiped shape. In an internal space of the package, the piezoelectric resonator plate is bonded to and held on the base with a conductive adhesive made of a fluid material. In the piezoelectric resonator device, the piezoelectric resonator plate in the internal space of the package is hermetically sealed by the base and the lid bonded to each other (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
The piezoelectric resonator device described in Patent Document 1 includes a thermistor element for use as a temperature sensor unit. In the piezoelectric resonator device, the base is constituted by: a bottom portion; a first wall portion extending upward from the bottom portion along the outer periphery of one main surface of the base; and a second wall portion extending downward from the bottom portion along the outer periphery of the other main surface of the base. Thus, the base is formed so as to have an H-shape in cross-section. The base includes a first cavity surrounded by the bottom portion and the first wall portion. The piezoelectric resonator plate is disposed in the first cavity. The base also includes a second cavity surrounded by the bottom portion and the second wall portion. The thermistor element is disposed in the second cavity.

Piezoelectric resonator device using temperature sensor unit


An allocating method for a flash memory is disclosed. The allocating method includes the following steps: adjusting a preliminary data storage capacity corresponding to the flash memory for determining a real data storage capacity of the flash memory; adjusting a preliminary spare area capacity corresponding to the flash memory for determining a real spare area capacity of the flash memory, wherein a total capacity of the preliminary data storage capacity and the preliminary spare area capacity is equal to the total capacity of the real data storage capacity and the real spare area capacity; and allocating the real data storage capacity and the real spare area capacity to the flash memory, wherein the real data storage capacity stores data, and the real spare area capacity stores parity codes generated by an error codes correction algorithm performed upon the stored data in the real data storage capacity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flash memory allocating method, and more particularly, to an allocating method for prolonging the lifetime of a NAND flash memory.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The non-volatile NAND flash memory is one of the most popular storage devices in the field of portable electronic devices or embedded electronic systems. For example, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a digital camera, an MP3 walkman, and a recorder device are all installed with a NAND flash memory. The greater the number of times the NAND flash memory is accessed, the more inaccurate the data stored in the NAND flash memory will be. The conventional way to solve the above-mentioned problem is to utilize an error codes correction (ECC) configuration in the NAND flash memory to recover the error data. For example, in the conventional NAND flash memory having a page size of 2 K bits, there is always a spare area of 64 bytes for storing the parity code generated by a specific ECC algorithm when the specific ECC algorithm performs an ECC calculation upon the data of the page, and in the conventional NAND flash memory having a page size of 4 K bits, there is always a spare area of 218 bytes for storing the parity code generated by the specific ECC algorithm when the specific ECC algorithm performs the ECC calculation upon the data of the page.
Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an allocating method of a spare area in each page of a conventional NAND flash memory, wherein the specific ECC algorithm utilizes a Reed-Solomon ECC algorithm and a Bose, Chaudhuri and Hocquengham (BCH) ECC algorithm. When a BCH 8 ECC algorithm encodes the data in the NAND flash memory, the parity code generated in the encoding process may occupy 13 bytes of the spare area in each page. When a Reed-Solomon 6 ECC algorithm encodes the data in the NAND flash memory, the parity code generated in the encoding process may occupy 15 bytes of the spare area in each page. When a Reed-Solomon 8 ECC algorithm encodes the data in the NAND flash memory, the parity code generated in the encoding process may occupy 20 bytes of the spare area in each page. When a Reed-Solomon 10 or a BCH 15 ECC algorithm encodes the data in the NAND flash memory, the parity code generated in the encoding process may occupy 25 bytes of the spare area in each page. When the conventional NAND flash memory is encoded/decoded by the Reed-Solomon ECC algorithm or the BCH ECC algorithm, 512 bytes of data storage capacity is allocated in each page. Therefore, when the conventional NAND flash memory is encoded/decoded by the Reed-Solomon ECC algorithm or the BCH ECC algorithm, the ability to correct the error data in the NAND flash memory is limited by the size of the spare area in each page. In other words, the reason that the Reed-Solomon ECC algorithm and the BCH ECC algorithm cannot provide a much better error correcting ability upon the NAND flash memory is due to the predetermined size of the spare area in each page, which is an inconvenient restriction for a user who requires frequent access of the NAND flash memory.


Applicant's invention defines a portable volleyball net and stand which comprises two standards having a set of guys in a "V" configuration connected to ground anchors and adjustable for tensioning the top of each standard. The lower net edge line passes through slots in the standard and is either directly coupled to the ground via two lines in a "Y" configuration, or is connected to guys, providing a single tensioning capability. Ground anchors of a coiled configuration are provided for strength and stability. The line connected to the top edge of the net is directed through a slot in the standard and looped about a fixed ring therein, finally exiting the standard through a second slot, for a different net height. The standards are capable of being assembled together providing portability to the system.

At present, a variety of portable volleyball apparatus have been designed to allow the transport of such a game apparatus for enjoying the sport at the beach, in a backyard or park, or otherwise.
The reader's attention is directed to U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,932, to Kessler, wherein a typical net and stand configuration is disclosed. In Kessler, a weighted base is provided for the insertion of an upright leg at an angle to provide tension and stability for the net during play. While a configuration like Kessler's may be perfectly satisfactory for recreational play, serious volleyball players such as professionals who play the game vigorously, contacting the net when spiking the ball or blocking an opponent's shot, or even where the ball is forcefully driven into the net, will not find such a configuration suitable for professional or aggressive amateur play. For professional play, the net must maintain regulation height and tension requirements throughout play.
A further attempt at providing a portable net support is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,408 to Hall, where an inclined support is added to a vertical standard to provide extra stability. Spikes on the underside of a T shaped support provide the locating and gripping means of each standard, defining the net tension predominantly by the distance between the standards. In this case, the stability of the net system depends on the ability of the spikes to resist shear forces due to the inward net tension and dynamic forces associated with play. The number and size of the spikes and the ground or surface characteristics of the play area all affect the ability of the net to withstand serious play.
A further example of the prior art is evidenced by U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,533 to Kellams. In this configuration, a pair of standards are equipped at the base with a tubular T-joint having two 45 degree elbows in a common plane with the T-joint. Each standard is affixed at its top with a pair of guy lines to keep the standard from bending in due to net tension or play. No support in any of the systems mentioned thus far have any additional tension support for the bottom of the net which is also a consideration in keeping proper tension for play.
Another variation is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,163 to Schoenig, which employs a plurality of lines attached to the top of telescoping standards. The net is attached to the standards via eyelets in the side margins, and the pole is then tensioned from the top to the ground. Schoenig is unique in its recognition that no substantial base is required at the standard's bottom, but instead, the tensioning of the lines which are attached to the top are advantageous in providing good tension for a net. However, even Schoenig has its disadvantages. The tension between the standard and the ground is prone to loosening and the tension between the net and the pole is prone to loosening. Each separate connection offers a point of tension weakening, and therefore, there are distinct limits to 1) how much tension is applied in each of five connection points for each standard, or ten altogether, and 2) the consistency of tension seen at each standard. A saving grace of Schoenig is the adjustable tensioning provided for the lines which connect the top of the standards and the ground so that the system can be "trimmed" during play. A further disadvantage to Schoenig is the number of connections which must be made in setting up the net.
The net holding assembly of Robl, U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,109 constitutes an improvement over the art previously discussed in that support is provided in the form of lines near the bottom edge of the net. However, as in the previous art, several connections must be made to establish the configuration of support, and therefore, adjustments may be weakened during play or be non-uniform, and the tension adjusting means, or cinch blocks of Robl are also somewhat cumbersome in their operation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide very high net tension to accommodate professional level volleyball play, and also to provide a quick setup for lower level recreational play. What is needed is a method of attachment and adjustment which maximizes tension in the net without relying on the discrete distance between standards, and which provides optimum tensioning of the underside of the net as well as the top.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a quickly mountable system which can be set up in minutes. The advantages to a system which can be set up quickly, with excellent tension are somewhat obvious, but in the prior art, many ties, clamps, connections or otherwise contribute to a longer setup time; time which could be spent enjoying the sport.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide consistent, adjustable tensioning which will allow the proper amount of tension to be rapidly set, to assure that professional level play is not compromised by de-tensioning of the net during play.
It is also an object of the invention to be quickly set up, quickly taken down and easily transportable, with a minimum of clamps, connections and operational steps required for setup.
It is also an object of the present invention to be rapidly assembled to preset proper net heights for regulation play for women, men, juniors, and others.


An example apparatus includes a conveyor. The apparatus also includes a first developer unit. The first developer unit is to concentrate first printing liquid. The first developer unit also is to deliver the first printing liquid to the conveyor. The apparatus also includes a second developer unit. The second developer unit is to concentrate second printing liquid. The second developer also is to deliver the second printing liquid to the conveyor to form a thick layer of printing liquid comprising the first and second printing liquid.

Electro-photography (EP) printing devices may form images on a print target by selectively charging or discharging a photoconductive member, such as a photoconductive drum, based on an image to be printed. The selective charging or discharging may form a latent electrostatic image on the photoconductor. Colorants, or other printing liquids, may be developed onto the latent image of the photoconductor, and the colorant or printing liquid may be transferred to the media to form the image on the media. In dry EP (DEP) printing devices, powdered toner may be used as the colorant, and the toner may be received by the media as the media passes below the photoconductor. The toner may be fixed in place as it passes through heated pressure rollers. In some liquid EP (LEP) printing devices, printing liquid may be used as the colorant instead of toner. In some LEP devices, printing liquid may be developed in a developer unit and then selectively transferred to the photoconductor (a "zero transfer"). For example, the printing liquid may have a charge that causes it to be electrostatically attracted to the latent image on the photoconductor. The photoconductor may transfer the printing liquid to an intermediate transfer member (ITM), which may include a transfer blanket, (a "first transfer"), where it may be heated until a liquid carrier evaporates, or substantially evaporates, and resinous colorants melt. The ITM may transfer the resinous colorants to the surface of the print media (a "second transfer"), which may be supported on a rotating impression member (e.g., a rotating impression drum).


The disclosure relates to the use of H2SO4 as an electrolyte in processes for polishing metals, specifically metal parts, for example in jewellery. According to some embodiments the polishing is carried out based on ion transport with electrically conductive free solids in a gaseous environment. According to some embodiments the solids comprise spherical particles with porosity and affinity for retaining the electrolyte so that they have appreciable electric conductivity.

Different systems for smoothing and polishing metals in mediums with free solids (particles) are known.
For a long time, a wide range of different devices have been used in which mechanical abrasion is produced via the use of particles that are not attached to any support, with different geometries and sizes, and of a greater hardness than the material being treated.
Said devices produce friction of the particles on the parts being treated due to the fact that they produce relative movement between the same.
These devices consist of rotating containers (drums), vibrating containers or sandblasters, for example.
However, all systems based on direct mechanical abrasion, such as the previously mentioned systems, have a serious drawback in that they affect the parts in a way that lacks uniformity, meaning there is a certain proportionality between the pressure exerted by the abrasive means (the particles) on the parts and the amount of material eroded, the protuberant pieces of the parts often being worn and smoothed to an excessive degree.
Furthermore, the total mechanical energy used in said systems is in many cases the reason for damage to the parts, caused by blows and deformations from excessive force.
Moreover, systems based on mechanical abrasion produce surfaces on metal parts with plastic deformation, and by doing so, they inevitably occlude significant amounts of foreign materials, in many cases making treatment unsuitable due to the contamination of the surface layers of the material.
Likewise, polishing systems that are carried out by means of galvanic treatment are known, in which the metal parts being treated are submerged in an electrolyte liquid and without solid particles, such as anodes, known as electropolishing.
Said processes have the advantage in that they produce surfaces that have no surface contamination, unlike the exclusively mechanical abrasive process previously stated.
Now, the levelling effect on the roughness of more than a few microns that is achieved is in many cases insufficient, and thus said treatments are used mainly as a finishing for prior mechanical abrasion processes.
Furthermore, there are galvanic processes in which the metal parts being treated are submerged in an electrolytic liquid that contains solids (particles) that freely move therein.
The electrolytes developed for said processes produce thicker anodic layers than in galvanic processes without particles, such that when the particles contained therein mechanically interact with the anodic layer, the roughness is efficiently smoothed down to one millimetre.
However, in both cases, the galvanic processes used to date often produce defects, such as pitting or stepped surfaces, which are related to the crystalline structure and composition of the metal being treated, the use thereof in many cases being restricted to parts which, due to their composition (alloy) and moulding and shaping treatment, have empirically demonstrated that they can be treated without said unacceptable defects.
To solve these drawbacks, this applicant is the holder of a Spanish patent application published as ES2604830A1, which discloses a process for smoothing and polishing metals by ionic transport by means of free solids, as well as electrically conductive solids to carry out said process, comprising connecting the parts to the positive pole of a current generator by means of a clamping element associated with a device, and subjecting it to friction with particles of electrically conductive free solids incorporated in a container with a gaseous environment occupying the interstitial space and which electrically contact the negative pole (cathode) of the current generator, directly through the container or a ring that acts as a cathode, and wherein the solid bodies are particles with a porosity and affinity able to retain the electrolyte liquid below the saturation amount, such that they have electrical conductivity.
Now, the object of the present invention is to provide the market with the use of H2SO4 as an ideal electrolyte for this type of process and, furthermore, in the ideal proportion of the same in the solution based on the type of metal or alloy of the parts to be polished to obtain optimal results.
As is known, H2SO4 is an acid that is widely used for stripping, etching and electropolishing processes on a wide variety of metals. It forms soluble salts with almost all metals, since it is a polyprotic acid, and substantiates the existence of anodic layers that make electropolishing possible.
Likewise, as can be seen up to now, using acids with high vapour pressures such as: HNO3, HF, HCl, etc., there is inevitable transportation of the electrolyte due to evaporation and subsequent condensation in the core of the polymeric spheres and on the surface of the parts to be polished. This leads to electrochemical attacks that are not confined to the strict geometric relationship between the spheres and the surface to be polished and, as a result, defective results.
On the other hand, using H2SO4 with a very low vapour pressure leads to fewer risks of said attacks. Thus, the results, for example on Ti, are very suitable, leading to spectacularly shiny surfaces and a very low final roughness.
On the other hand, and as a reference of the current state of the art, it can be affirmed that the applicant is unaware of the use of H2SO4 as an electrolyte in processes for smoothing and polishing metals by ion transport via free solids or other electropolishing processes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An image reading apparatus compensates inter-deviations of and a change in a color temperature of a light source while compensating a difference in the sensitivities between linear image sensors and a change in the sensitivity difference. Three linear image sensors for R, G and B of a multi-line linear image sensor read white reference image data, and a line memory stores the image data. A CPU controls an output state of each second timing signal within a timing generator line by line and independently of a first timing signal, in such a manner that peak values of the white reference image data for three lines stored in the line memory each belong to a predetermined appropriate range. This optimizes a charge accumulating time within each linear image sensor, whereby an RGB balance becomes even at an output side of each linear image sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus, and more particularly, to an image reading apparatus which compensates inter-deviations of an RGB balance which is created when a linear image sensor which comprises three linear image sensors for R, G and B successively reads scanning lines on a color original.
2. Description of the Background Art
As well known, in an image reading apparatus, such as a color process scanner for manufacturing a plate, which digitally reads an image, three linear image sensors are disposed parallel to each other in correspondence to optical color components of red, green and blue (hereinafter "R," "G" and "B") which are to be read. Each linear image sensor is formed by arranging a plurality of CCD elements in a line, and a color filter (R-, G- or B-filter) is disposed on each linear image sensor. The respective linear image sensors read R-, G- and B-components of the original pixel by pixel. Based on image data or a corrected version of the image data regarding each color component which is read in this manner, a recorded image (color-separated image or reproduced color image) is generated.
There is a relative difference between the sensitivities of the R-linear image sensor, the G-linear image sensor and the B-linear image sensor. FIG. 6 is a graph showing such a difference in the sensitivities. In FIG. 6, an incident wavelength is measured along a horizontal axis and a relative sensitivity (which is an output level which is obtained when light having a uniform distribution all over the visible light band range impinges upon the sensors) is measured along a vertical axis. As shown in FIG. 6, the R-linear image sensor is sensitive to light belonging to a wavelength band range of 600-700 nm, exhibiting the highest output level. The G-linear image sensor is sensitive to light belonging to a wavelength band range of 500-600 nm, exhibiting an intermediate output level. The B-linear image sensor is sensitive to light belonging to a wavelength band range of 400-500 nm, exhibiting the lowest output level. That is, the sensitivity of the R-linear image sensor is highest, and the G-linear image sensor and the B-linear image sensor have successively decreasing sensitivities in this order.
Due to such a difference in the sensitivities between the linear image sensors as described above, even when light from a light source which has no inter-deviations of the RGB balance (which is an RGB ratio) is read (that is, even when sunlight is read), the RGB balance is shifted at an output side of the sensors. Further, the inter-deviations in the RGB balance changes as the color filters which are disposed on the CCD elements deteriorate with time. In addition, there is virtually no case where an image is read under natural light, in reality. Rather, in most cases, image reading is performed using an artificial light source (e.g., a halogen lamp or a fluorescent lamp). Further, since artificial light sources have different color temperatures, it is necessary to adjust the RGB balance in accordance with the color temperatures of the artificial light sources which are used. Still further, since the color temperatures of the artificial light sources change with time, it is preferable to adjust the RGB balance once again every time image reading is performed.
However, no image reading apparatus has yet been realized which compensates such inter-deviations of an RGB balance between the respective linear image sensors as described above while compensating inter-deviations (including change with time) of color temperatures of light sources which are used.
There are some conventional techniques which control a charge accumulating time of a CCD by detecting a change in the quantity of light from a light source. A first group of such conventional techniques is related to an apparatus for reading a monochrome image, and unlike the present invention, is not related to an apparatus which compensates inter-deviations of and a change in color balances of a light source and each linear image sensor. In short, the respective conventional techniques detect only the brightness (luminance) of a light source and control a charge accumulating time of a CCD based on a detected change in the brightness. A second group of the conventional techniques uses means (specifically, a photodiode) for detecting a change in the quantity of light, in addition to CCDs, which makes the structure complex.


In accordance with the invention, a silicon gate field effect device is provided with improved control over the distribution of dopants by forming thin buried layer of oxide within the silicon gate. In essence, a silicon gate device is fabricated by the steps of forming a gate dielectric on a silicon substrate and forming a first layer of the silicon gate (amorphous or polycrystalline) on the dielectric. A thin layer of oxide is formed on the first gate layer, and a second silicon gate layer is formed on the oxide, producing a silicon gate containing a thin buried oxide layer. Dopants are then implanted through the second gate layer and the buried oxide, and the device is finished in a conventional manner. The buried oxide layer, acting as a sieve, maintains high dopant concentration near the interface between the gate and minimizes dopant outdiffusion through the gate.

The invention relates to fabrication of semiconductor devices such as integrated circuits.
As semiconductor devices become smaller, methods for precisely controlling the distribution of dopants within them become increasingly important. Critical semiconductor devices, such as field effect transistors, are in large part defined by precise patterns of different dopants in semiconductor substrates. Changes in those patterns due to unwanted migration can deteriorate the operation and, indeed, the operability of such devices. As a consequence substantial efforts have been made to control the distribution of dopants. The fabrication of complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuits (CMOS circuits) is illustrative.
A variety of applications utilize CMOS integrated circuits. Many CMOS integrated circuits contain a dual-gate structure, illustrated in part by FIG. 1. Typically, formation of a dual-gate structure begins by forming a gate dielectric region 108 over a silicon substrate 100 having an n-doped region 102 and a p-doped region 104, separated (isolated) by a field oxide 106. (A dielectric material is an electrically insulating material, i.e., a material having a resistivity of about 106 ohm-cm or greater.) A polysilicon region 110 is typically deposited over the gate dielectric 108 and field dielectric 106. The portion of the polysilicon 110 overlying the n-doped region 102 is provided with a p-type dopant such as boron or BF2, and the portion of the polysilicon 110 overlying the p-doped region 104 is provided with an n-type dopant such as phosphorus or arsenic. Such dual-gate CMOS configurations typically contain a refractory metal silicide layer 112 (or other metal layer) over the doped polysilicon, the refractory metal silicide acting to lower resistance in the gate structure and thereby improve device and circuit performance.
However, n-type and p-type dopants tend to diffuse more readily in refractory metal suicides than in polysilicon. Dopants thus tend to diffuse, for example, from a region of the polysilicon 110 overlying doped silicon region 102 into the silicide layer 112, laterally in the silicide layer 112, and then back into the polysilicon 110 at a region overlying the oppositely-doped region 104. Thus, n-type dopants move into a p-doped polysilicon region and vice versa. The phenomenon is referred to herein as cross-doping. Diffusion of these cross-dopants into the area of the polysilicon adjacent to the underlying gate dielectric causes undesirable shifts in threshold voltage, an important parameter in CMOS design and operation. Moreover, the problem of cross-doping is becoming more severe as the industry moves toward smaller CMOS devices, e.g., moving towards 0.18 xcexcm length devices, and even more significantly toward 0.12 xcexcm and lower. The smaller the devices, the larger the effect of cross-dopants on properties such as threshold voltage, and the closer the devices, the less distance the dopants have to laterally travel to interfere with adjacent devices.
Problems are also created by the distribution of dopants in the implanted regions of the polysilicon 110. Advantageously, the concentration of the implanted, electrically active dopants in the final device should be as high as possible throughout the entire polysilicon layer and, in particular, near the underlying gate dielectric 108. Typically, however, after the implantation, the majority of dopants lie close to the top of the polysilicon 110, and an anneal is used to diffuse the dopants toward the gate dielectric 108. However, the anneal time and temperature required to diffuse the dopants across this distance will often undesirably allow diffusion of some of the dopants laterally within the polysilicon 110 into an oppositely-doped region of the polysilicon 110, causing cross-doping. This lateral diffusion within the polysilicon 110 is a problem regardless of whether a silicide layer is present. This mechanism of cross-doping is particularly problematic where half the distance between the active regions of adjacent devices becomes comparable to the thickness of the doped regions of the polysilicon 110. In addition, the use of thinner gate dielectric layers improves device: performance, but only where a relatively large concentration of dopants, advantageously about 1020 dopants/cm3 or greater, is located adjacent to the gate dielectric (resulting in what is known in the art as low poly-depletion). If sufficient dopants are not located adjacent to the dielectric layer, the use of a thinner gate dielectric will at best only marginally improve device performance.
It is also possible for dopant distribution to cause problems when forming a refractory metal silicide by a salicide process. In a typical salicide process, a refractory metal is deposited after formation of a polysilicon gate structure, a source and drain, and silicon dioxide or silicon nitride spacers. The device is heated to react the metal with the exposed silicon, thereby forming a refractory metal silicide. Due to a low level of bonding between the refractory metal and the spacers, the silicide typically does not form on the spacers and the unreacted metal can be etched away, leading to what is conventionally known as self-alignment of the silicide structure. Growth of the gate silicide layer in such a salicide process is detrimentally affected if too many dopants, or dopant-based precipitates, are located in the top region of the polysilicon gate structure, where the gate silicide is formed. In addition, because the polysilicon region is typically thicker when using a salicide process, the dopant diffusion distance to the gate dielectric is often increased, thereby allowing encroachment of the underlying channel region that often leads to shorts in the device.
Applicant""s copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/902,044 describes a process for device fabrication which reduces the problems of cross-doping and undesirable concentration profiles. However an even greater reduction of these problems would be advantageous. The present invention achieves such reduction.
In accordance with the invention, a silicon gate field effect device is provided with improved control over the distribution of dopants by forming thin buried layer of oxide within the silicon gate. In essence, a silicon gate device is fabricated by the steps of forming a gate dielectric on a silicon substrate and forming a first layer of the silicon gate (amorphous or polycrystalline) on the dielectric. A thin layer of oxide is formed on the first gate layer, and a second silicon gate layer is formed on the oxide, producing a silicon gate containing a thin buried oxide layer. Dopants are then implanted through the second gate layer and the buried oxide, and the device is finished in a conventional manner. The buried oxide layer, acting as a sieve, maintains high dopant concentration near the interface between the gate and minimizes dopant outdiffusion through the gate.

Process for fabricating semiconductor devices in which the distribution of dopants is controlled


A shutoff valve (2) which is switchable in a cycled manner for capacity regulation by temporarily shutting off the intake gas feed is designed as a multi-element ring valve, and is directly actuated by means of an electromagnet (12). The actuating forces for switching the shutoff valve (2) may be kept small via pressure compensation from the intake gas feed (3) to behind the anchor plate (9).

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a reciprocating compressor, in particular as a cooling or air conditioner compressor, having a system for capacity regulation which has at least one shutoff valve, which is situated on the intake side and is switchable between an open position and a closed position in a cycled manner, for temporarily shutting off the intake gas feed.
The Prior Art
Compressors having capacity regulation of the mentioned type are known from EP 982497 B1, EP 1515047 B1, or EP 1279833 B1, for example. In addition, JP 63-138490, U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,168, and other publications disclose systems for capacity regulation, in particular of multi-cylinder reciprocating compressors, which typically regulate only a portion of the cylinders (usually one of multiple cylinder banks) in the described manner with regard to the delivery rate. Due to the constantly changing environmental conditions and required cooling power, in particular cooling and air conditioning systems are operated at different loads over a wide range, which for efficient operation requires a capacity regulation system having the simplest possible design. In this regard, a disadvantage of all systems known thus far is the design of the shutoff valves for regulating the intake gas feed, which for appropriately large flow rates require large valve lifts, which allows only low cycle rates.
The object of the present invention is to improve systems of the above-mentioned type in such a way that the mentioned disadvantages of the systems known thus far are avoided, and that in particular a simple, compact actuation of even quickly cycled switchable shutoff valves is made possible with low suction losses.

Reciprocating compressor having capacity regulation

Hoerbiger Kompressortechnik Holding GmbH


A checkpointing method for creating a file representing a restorable state of a virtual machine in a computing system, comprising identifying processes executing within the virtual machine that may store confidential data, and marking memory pages and files that potentially contain data stored by the identified processes; or providing an application programming interface for marking memory regions and files within the virtual machine that contain confidential data stored by processes; and creating a checkpoint file, by capturing memory pages and files representing a current state of the computing system, which excludes information from all of the marked memory pages and files.

Virtualization technology is being widely adopted in grid and cloud computing platforms [31, 34, 23, 28] to improve server consolidation and reduce operating costs. On one hand, virtual machines (VMs) help improve security through greater isolation and more transparent malware analysis and intrusion detection [22, 24, 27, 10, 11, 14, 17, 29, 26, 19]. On the other hand, virtualization also gives rise to new challenges in maintaining security and privacy in virtualized environments. Although significant advances have been made in developing techniques to secure the execution of VMs, a number of challenges remain unaddressed.
VM checkpointing refers to the act of saving a permanent snapshot (or checkpoint) of a VM's state at an instant in time. Virtual Machine (VM) checkpointing enables a user to capture a snapshot of a running VM on persistent storage. A VM's state includes, at the minimum, its memory image and CPU execution state and possibly additional states such as virtual disk contents. The checkpoint can be later used for various purposes such as restoring the VM to a previous state, recovering a long-running process after a crash, distributing a VM image with a preset execution state among multiple users, archiving a VM's execution record, conducting forensic examination, etc. Most hypervisors such as VMware (VMware Inc.), Hyper-V (Microsoft, Inc.), VirtualBox (Oracle Inc.), KVM [35], and Xen (Xen.org) support VM checkpointing.
Despite the above benefits, VM checkpoints can drastically prolong the lifetime and vulnerability of sensitive information. Checkpoints are stored on persistent storage and contain the VM's physical memory contents at a given time instant. Data that should normally be discarded quickly after processing, such as passwords (especially clear text passwords), credit card numbers, health records, or trade secrets, can now be saved forever in persistent storage through VM checkpointing.
This vulnerability can be demonstrated using a common scenario of entering credit card information in a website. As shown in FIG. 4, the FireFox browser was started inside a VirtualBox VM. The browser was then connected to www.amazon.com, "my account" clicked to add credit card information, the number 9149239648 entered into the credit card number field, and then checkpointing was performed. When searching through the checkpoint file with a hex editor, the credit card number entered earlier was located. In some of experiments, the checkpoint file contains the string "addCreditCard-Number=9149239648", which can enable an attacker to locate the credit card number easily by searching for the string "CreditCard" in the checkpoint. Furthermore, even if the checkpointing is performed after the browser terminates, the credit card number can still be located in the checkpoint file, likely because the browser's memory was not cleared before the browser terminated. In other words, the common advice to "close your browser after logging out" may give users a false sense of security. Many users are not aware that their input data may still reside in memory even after the application that has processed such data terminates. Such users may mistakenly assume that checkpointing the VM is safe simply because the application has terminated.
Passwords in the memory of xterm terminal emulator (both running and terminated) were also identified in the checkpoint file.
Besides memory, even checkpointing a VM's disk may also end up storing users' confidential data in the snapshot. For example, Balduzzi et. al [36] analyzed 5303 public Amazon EC2 snapshots and found that many of them contain sensitive information such as passwords, browser history, and deleted files.
Previous work on minimizing data lifetime has focused on clearing the deallocated memory (also known as memory scrubbing). Chow et al. [6] and Garfinkel et al. [12] discussed in depth the problem of sensitive data being stored in memory, and observed that the sensitive data may linger in memory for extended periods and hence may be exposed to compromise. In [7], authors proposed a multi-level approach to clearing deallocated memory at the application, compiler, library, and system levels. A similar mechanism is included in Windows operating systems, which uses system idle time to clear deallocated memory pages [30]. Also, in Unix systems, it is common to clear memory before reuse [12]. However, simply clearing deallocated memory does not solve our problem because memory pages that have not been deallocated may contain sensitive information and such information may be checkpointed. As a result, SPARC also clears the memory pages of the excluded processes in checkpoints. Selectively clearing memory pages during checkpointing is much more challenging than scrubbing only deallocated memory because multiple processes may share the same memory pages (e.g. shared libraries) and we must ensure that excluding one process will not affect other processes when the VM is restored.
Garfinkel et al. [12] also proposes to encrypt sensitive information in the memory and clear the sensitive information by simply discarding the key. However, encrypting sensitive information in memory can add significant overheads to access the information and may still expose sensitive information if the VM is checkpointed at the moment when some program decrypts the sensitive information.
Features protecting virtual disk, memory, and checkpoints have found their way into research prototypes as well as commercial virtualization products. Garfinkel et al. [13] developed a hypervisor-based trusted computing platform that uses trusted hardware features such as encrypted disks and the use of a secure counter to protect against file system rollback attacks, to permit systems with varying security requirements to execute side-by-side on the same hardware platform. The platform's privacy features include encrypted disks and the use of a secure counter to protect against file system rollback attacks in which the state of a file is rolled back. [15] and [2] also suggested encrypting checkpoints. However, encrypting the checkpoint alone is insufficient because (1) it still prolongs the lifetime of confidential data that should normally be quickly destroyed after use; (2) when the VM is restored, the checkpoint will be decrypted and loaded into the memory of the VM, thus exposing the confidential data again; (3) the checkpoint file may be shared by multiple users, thus increasing the likelihood of data leakage.
VMware ACE [2], VMware Infrastructure [33], and VirtualBox [25] allow users to exclude the entire memory from being checkpointed. However, none of them provides a level of granularity that we do by selectively excluding processes from the checkpointed memory. Davidoff et al. [9] retrieved clear text passwords from the physical memory of a Linux system. Their work aimed to show that the physical RAM may retain sensitive information even after the system has been powered off, and the attacker with physical access to the system can steal information through cold boot memory dumping attacks. However, with checkpoints, the problem is significantly more severe: in the RAM, the amount of time the sensitive information persists in the memory after the machine is powered off, is limited by the RAM's ability to retain information in absence of power. However, the checkpoints are saved to the disk and the information stored in the checkpoints can persist for long time. Also, they assume that the attacker has physical access to the system, but we do not.
Several prior works have employed VM checkpointing to enable execution replay for intrusion analysis and OS debugging. Dunlap et al. [11] proposed an intrusion detection mechanism called ReVirt which allows instruction-by-instruction replay of the guest OS execution. King et al. [18] used ReVirt and disk logging to implement an OS debugger. However, neither work attempts to address data lifetime issues raised by VM checkpointing.

System and method for security and privacy aware virtual machine checkpointing

The Research Foundation for The State University of New York


A photosensitive lithographic printing plate supplying apparatus includes a first suction device, which sucks an upper surface of an uppermost photosensitive lithographic printing plate of photosensitive lithographic printing plates stacked such that respective photosensitive surfaces thereof face downward and which raises the uppermost photosensitive lithographic printing plate, a second suction device, which sucks the upper surface of the raised uppermost photosensitive lithographic printing plate so as to support the photosensitive lithographic printing plate at one end thereof, and a rotating device which rotates the photosensitive lithographic printing plate supported on one end by the second suction device so that a photosensitive surface of the photosensitive lithographic printing plate faces upward. Accordingly, the photosensitive lithographic printing plates are supplied to an exposure device without the photosensitive surfaces thereof being contacted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for supplying photosensitive lithographic printing plates to an exposure device which exposes the photosensitive lithographic printing plates.
2. Background Information
For photosensitive lithographic printing plates (hereinafter, "printing plates") used in an offset rotary press for newspapers, there is a direct reproduction recording system using an OPC (organic photo conductor) photosensitive material. The OPC photosensitive material is formed by an organic photo-semiconductor being applied to a conductive supporting body such as aluminum or the like, so as to form a photoconductive photosensitive layer. In this type of a direct plate manufacturing system, the photosensitive layer is charged before exposure. As a result, after exposure, when the photosensitive layer contacts a conductive member, such as metal or the like, the electrostatic image formed by exposure is disturbed. Therefore, great care must be taken in handling the OPC photosensitive material.
Generally, a plurality of printing plates are stored or transported in a state in which they are stacked on a holding stand. When the printing plates are supplied to an exposure device, they are loaded together with the holding stand onto a supplying device which is provided adjacent to the exposure device. The printing plates stacked on the holding stand are supplied by the supplying device to the exposure device successively from the topmost plate.
A surface plate is provided in the exposure device. The printing plate is placed on the surface plate such that the photosensitive surface of the printing plate faces upward. The printing plate positioned on the surface plate is electrostatically charged, and is exposed by a laser beam or the like which is modulated in accordance with an original image. An electrostatic latent image is thereby formed. The printing plate on which the electrostatic image has been formed is removed from the surface plate and is conveyed into a developing portion.
In order to load the printing plate by the supplying device on the surface plate such that the photosensitive surface of the printing plate faces upward, the printing plates have been set in advance on the holding stand with their photosensitive surfaces facing upward. These printing plates are usually transported from the holding stand to the exposure station one by one with the upper surface thereof being sucked by suction cups or by nip rollers. Examples are illustrated in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2-23861 and Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2-19952.
However, when the printing plates, especially the OPC photosensitive materials, are sucked by the suction cups or contact the rollers, traces of the suction cups or rollers remain on the printing plates even after exposure. A drawbacks arises in that this effects the image formed on the photosensitive surface of the printing plate.

Method of and apparatus for supplying photosensitive lithographic printing plates


A voice coil bobbin, which transmits a motive force from the voice coil wound around the bobbin to a diaphragm, includes a main part, a reinforcement part formed on the surface side of the main part, and a middle part formed between the main part and the reinforcement part and made of a material which has a lower density than the other two parts, preferably a non-woven cloth. Thus, there can be provided with the simple-design, high-rigidity voice coil bobbin with high internal loss and a speaker system capable of high-quality sound reproduction.

The present invention relates to a voice coil bobbin and a speaker system.
Electric/acoustic conversion devices such as microphones and speakers are well known. One example of such devices which convert electrical signals into acoustic signals is a commonly known speaker system with a cone-shaped diaphragm (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-277561).
This speaker system includes an annular magnetic circuit made up of a plate, a magnet, and a yoke, and arranged at the lower end of an annular speaker frame. High-density magnetic flux is formed in the magnetic gap between the yoke and the plate of the magnetic circuit. A voice coil is wound around a tubular voice coil bobbin such that it can vibrate along the axial direction. The front side edge of this voice coil bobbin is secured to the center hole of the cone-shaped diaphragm, and the outer periphery of the diaphragm is secured to the speaker frame via a surround.
The voice coil bobbin is required to be able to transmit a motive force which is generated in the voice coil by the input of an audio signal precisely to the cone-shaped diaphragm. Accordingly, it is required to be lightweight for high efficiency transmission, and to have a high specific modulus of elasticity so that it can prevent deformation which may be caused by the vibration, and high internal loss so that it can attenuate unwanted vibration. Paper has been commonly used as the material which satisfies these requirements because paper is low in density and has appropriate rigidity, and also it is inexpensive. Other materials have also been used, such as foils of metals (e.g. aluminum or duralumin), or resin films (e.g. polyimide).
In high power speakers, a relatively large drive current is inputted to the voice coil to generate a large motive force, and therefore the voice coil bobbin is required to have high rigidity, and also high internal loss to attenuate unwanted vibration in the high frequency range. However, these physical properties are sometimes contradictory and cannot be achieved at the same time depending on the material of the bobbin, and if the voice coil bobbin is made of a single material, it is technically difficult to satisfy both of these requirements.


An electrical connector includes an insulative housing defining a receiving space (110), a number of contacts retained in the insulative housing, a cable (6) electrically connected with the contacts, and a shielding member (5) enclosing on the insulative housing to form a cavity (120). The contacts comprise a set of first contacts (2) and a set of second contacts (3), each of the first and second contacts having a contacting portion and a tail portion. The cavity has a smaller length than the receiving space along a transverse direction, the cavity is stacked on one side of the receiving space along an up-to-down direction, the cavity has a lateral boundary coplanar with the receiving space, the second contacts are received in the receiving space, and the first contacts are retained in the cavity for transmitting high speed signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector having improved contacts arrangement.
2. Description of Related Art
Universal Serial BUS (USB) is a widely used input/output interface adapted for many electronic devices, such as personal computers and related peripherals. Nowadays, USB-IF has published several specification editions for USB, and transmitting rate of USB has become higher and higher. As electronic industry develops, higher transmitting rate of USB based connection accessory is needed.
A USB 3.0 specification over USB 2.0 has been adopted for transmitting high speed data. A USB 3.0 connector has five additional contacts for high speed signal transmission. A USB 3.0 connector of Powered-B type has two lateral contacts, one of the two lateral contacts being a power contact, and the other one being a ground contact. The power contact can supply power for peripheral equipment connected with the USB 3.0 connector of Powered-B type, without the need of additional power supply. However, some electronic devices, such as game consoles, require a large current flow, making the power supply system of the electronic device unstable.
Hence, an electrical connector with improved contacts is desired to overcome the above problems.

Electrical connector with improved contact arrangement


An electronic control device for controlling operations of an electric parking brake and a service brake: determines a release impossible state in which release operation cannot be performed, based on a fact that a motor current that is supplied to an electric motor of the electric parking brake during release control is maintained in a state of a locked rotor current; and performs, when the release impossible state is determined, back-up pressurization for pressing the piston by generating a brake fluid pressure in the wheel cylinder using the service brake and for pressing the friction-applying member against the friction-applied member.

In related art, PTL 1 discloses a vehicle brake mechanism in which an EPB and a service brake that is formed by a hydraulic brake device are combined. In this brake mechanism, when the EPB is actuated and released, the EPB and the service brake that uses hydraulic pressure are used at the same time. Thus, the volume of the EPB is reduced and size reduction and cost reduction are attained. Specifically, when the EPB is actuated and released, the brake fluid pressure in a wheel cylinder (hereinafter referred to as a W/C) is increased (hereinafter referred to as back-up pressurization) by the service brake, a piston in the W/C is pressed, and a load applied to a motor of the EPB is reduced. Thus, the actuation and release of the EPB can be performed even when the output of the motor is reduced. Further, a road slope angle and a load weight etc. are detected in advance. Based on these pieces of information, the necessity for hydraulic assist when the EPB is actuated and released, and a hydraulic pressure value to be generated by the service brake when the hydraulic assist is necessary are estimated, thus generating an appropriate hydraulic pressure by the service brake.


In one embodiment, a method comprises: establishing, by a secure executable container executed by a network device, a two-way trusted relationship with a verified subscriber that enables secure user access by the verified subscriber to a secure peer-to-peer data network, including creating a secure public key and a first device identifier uniquely identifying the network device, for insertion into a first device identity container that provides secure identification of the network device in the secure peer-to-peer data network; obtaining a second device identity container for a second network device and comprising a second public key owned by the second network device and a second device identifier uniquely identifying the second network device; and establishing a corresponding two-way trusted relationship with the second network device based on executing a prescribed secure salutation protocol with the second network device based on the second public key and the second device identifier.

This section describes approaches that could be employed, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or employed. Hence, unless explicitly specified otherwise, any approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application, and any approaches described in this section are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The Internet Protocol (IP) has enabled the Internet to evolve from a set of connected research institutions and universities to a world wide web of connected IP devices that enables worldwide communications between user-controlled devices ("user devices"), Internet of Things (IoT) devices (devices that do not require user control), and server devices providing ever-increasing cloud-based based services such as social networking services, business transaction services, media distribution services, data storage services, etc. The enormous success of the Internet is based on the deployment of IP routing protocols that enable a "source" device (having a corresponding "source IP address") that is connected to the Internet to reach a "destination" device (having a corresponding "destination IP address") that also is connected to the Internet.
This universal reachability also has introduced severe security threats to each and every IP device that is connected to the Internet, because any "threat device" originating at a "source" IP address (e.g., a malfunctioning network device infected by malware or a network device operated by a malicious user) can threaten any "target device" at a "destination" IP address in an attempt to steal private data, disrupt the target device, etc. Hence, this universal reachability has resulted in losses on the order of billions (or even trillions) of dollars in losses due to attacks on targeted devices, including attacks on personal devices, as well as attacks on large-scale corporate, government, and/or military networks. Individuals and institutions collectively have expended billions of dollars in network security in an attempt to thwart or mitigate against online attacks, yet malicious users still have been able to overcome network security attempts.
Domain Name System (DNS) Servers have been used to provide reachability information for Internet destinations. Unfortunately, DNS servers can suffer cyber-attacks that can cause an IP device to be improperly directed to a hostile destination that can attack the IP device with malware. Attempts to secure DNS servers (e.g., DNS Sec) to avoid attacks have proven to be complex and difficult to implement.

Establishing and maintaining trusted relationship between secure network devices in secure peer-to-peer data network based on obtaining secure device identity containers


A semiconductor device utilizing die edge contacts is provided. An integrated circuit die has a post-passivation layer with a trench filled with a conductive material extending from a contact to a die edge, thereby forming a die edge contact. Optionally, a through substrate via may be positioned along the die edge such that the conductive material in the trench is electrically coupled to the through-substrate via, thereby forming a larger die edge contact. The integrated circuit die may be placed in a multi-die package wherein the multi-die package includes walls having a major surface perpendicular to a major surface of the integrated circuit die. The die edge contacts are electrically coupled to contacts on the walls of the multi-die package. The multi-die package may include edge contacts for connecting to another substrate, such as a printed circuit board, a packaging substrate, a high-density interconnect, or the like.

Since the invention of the integrated circuit (IC), the semiconductor industry has experienced continued rapid growth due to continuous improvements in the integration density of various electronic components (i.e., transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.). For the most part, this improvement in integration density has come from repeated reductions in minimum feature size, which allow more components to be integrated into a given area.
The past few decades have also seen many shifts in semiconductor packaging that have impacted the entire semiconductor industry. The introduction of surface-mount technology (SMT) and ball grid array (BGA) packages were generally important steps for high-throughput assembly of a wide variety of IC devices, while at the same time allowing for reduction of the pad pitch on the printed circuit board. Conventionally packaged ICs have a structure basically interconnected by fine gold wire between metal pads on the die and electrodes spreading out of molded resin packages. On the other hand, some chip scale packages (CSP) or BGA packages rely on bumps/balls of solder to provide an electrical connection between contacts on the die and contacts on a substrate, such as a packaging substrate, a printed circuit board (PCB), another die/wafer, or the like. Other CSP or BGA packages utilize a solder ball or bump placed onto a conductive pillar, relying on the soldered joint for structural integrity. An underfill material is also typically placed between the IC and the underlying substrate, e.g., packaging substrate, to provide mechanical strength and to protect the IC from environmental contaminants.
In these embodiments, the point of electrical contact between the various substrates is the solder bump. The use of different substrates often means a difference in respective coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE). Due to this difference, the various substrates may expand/contract at different rates as the devices experience temperature cycles. This can create excessive amounts of stress in the joint region that may cause the joint to crack and/or cause other problems, such as delamination issues.

Die edge contacts for semiconductor devices

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


A transmission for a hybrid drive having transmission input and output shafts, a further transmission input shaft and an electric machine, which drives the further transmission input shaft. A main transmission has first and second partial transmissions with a plurality of gear planes and a pair of concentric fourth shafts, and shift elements. A range group can couple the main transmission and has a planetary gearset with three transmission elements. The first element can couple either of the transmission input shafts via the shift elements. The second element is connected to the transmission output shaft and can couple a gear plane of the partial transmissions via the shift elements. The third transmission element can be fixed to the housing or blocked against the first or second transmission element.

Such a generic manual transmission is known from DE 10 2010 063 582 A1. The manual transmission is part of a hybrid drive having an internal combustion engine and an electric machine, which are both coupled to the manual transmission in a driving manner. For this purpose, the manual transmission has two transmission input shafts, one transmission input shaft of which is drive-connected to the internal combustion engine and the other transmission input shaft of which is connected to the electric machine. The manual transmission has a main transmission having two concentrically arranged countershafts, of which one countershaft is formed as a solid shaft and the other countershaft is formed as a hollow shaft and each forms part of a partial transmission of the main transmission. A plurality of gear planes coupled to the respective countershaft are assigned to every partial transmission. The gear planes include gearwheel sets, which can be selectively shifted by means of shift elements, such that different gear ratios between the transmission input shaft and the transmission output shaft and/or between the further transmission input shaft and the transmission output shaft can be achieved.
Such manual transmissions permit at least two separate drives, namely an electric machine drive and, for instance, an internal combustion engine drive, to act on a joint drive train, for instance of a motor vehicle. In this way, the drive train can be driven by a superposition of the drive torques of both drives or solely by the drive torque of one of the drives.

Manual transmission for a hybrid drive, method for operating a hybrid drive, and hybrid drive


A golf putter is provided which includes a golf club shaft having a first end and a putter head assembly. The putter head assembly includes a main body member, a front face portion and a back face portion. A recessed area is defined by the front face portion. A resilient member circumferentially surrounds the head assembly including the recessed area to form a front striking surface of the head assembly at the front face portion. Finally, a mechanism is provided for adjusting the tension of the resilient member across the front face portion.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to golf clubs and, more particularly, to a golf putter having a resilient striking face. Specifically, the present invention relates to a golf putter design wherein the resilient striking face is adjustable to the needs of a golfer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A typical round of golf involves 18 holes of play with par being generally 72 strokes for most courses. Preferably, a hole of golf involves a drive shot, a fairway shot and two putts. In such an example, 36 strokes of the 72 strokes of a round of golf utilize a putter. Of course, for most golfers the putter will be used even more often depending upon the golfer's ability. Consequently, a great deal of attention is focused on the putting aspect of the game of golf. In response to this, the design and construction of golf putters have undergone significant changes over the years.
Putters have been constructed from a wide variety of materials and have exhibited a multitude of designs over the years. A golf putter typically has a metal head secured to a shaft with or without a hosel, and the head generally has a striking face with a loft of several degrees. This loft is preferably designed into the face due to the fact that when a ball is putted, it initially moves across the green by sliding. As the frictional forces of the green cause the spin rate of the ball to increase, the ball eventually stops sliding and begins to spin or roll, and it is while the ball is rolling that the putt has the greatest amount of directional stability due primarily to the inertia created by the rolling ball. Consequently, it would follow that the sooner the ball begins to roll, the greater the control a player has over his putt. This is particularly true on very well kept greens. By utilizing a putter having a negative loft, then, top spin is imparted to the ball when struck which increases the tendency of the ball to roll rather than slide.
A number of designs have been created to increase this top spin upon striking of the ball. One area of club head design is in the use of inserts at the striking face of the putter. These inserts are intended, at times, to change the loft angle and in other instances to provide a different resiliency due the use of different materials in the insert. An example of putter or golf club head designs utilizing inserts or materials to change the resiliency of the face of the head include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,562,956, No. 1,939,414, No. 4,805,922, No. 5,407,196 and a French Patent to Marcorelles.
Other putter head designs which are intended to increase resiliency of the club head as well as to provide more top spin include club head designs having cores of different materials such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 726,885. Still another technique of altering the top spin of a ball when struck by a putter involves the use of synthetic covers for today's golf ball. Since the cover of the golf ball has become harder in recent years, it has become desirable to provide a softer striking face for the putter in order to accommodate the harder ball.
Still another design for enhancing resiliency to the club head of a golf club, as opposed to a putter, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 890,836. In this patent, a plurality of strings are wound about a frame which is then secured to the face of a golf club, and once the desired tension is achieved with the strings, they are soldered in place in order to prevent unwinding and to retain the desired resiliency.
One of the other concerns in designing and using a putter is that of dwell time, that is the amount of time that the putter face and the ball are together. Different types of inserts or putter face materials maintain the ball and the putter face in contact for various microseconds at impact. In other words, some inserts for putter faces hold the ball to the face a bit longer than others. Thus, the softer the ball and/or the softer the putter face, the greater the dwell time, which increases accuracy. Moreover, increased dwell time reduces the skid time and enables a putter to provide more top spin and more quickly initiate rolling on the green. All of this enables a golfer to control his or her putts and increase putting accuracy.
Unfortunately, changes in technology have enabled ball manufacturers to provide golf balls of various different hardness and these, coupled with putters having striking faces of various different resiliencies, provide combinations of significant differences. This is added to the fact that each golfer has his or her own unique putting stance and capabilities. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to have a putter wherein the striking face is not only resilient to provide more dwell time and increase top spin, but would enable the golfer to adjust the resiliency of the putter face for his or her own needs or desires depending on the types of golf balls that the golfer is utilizing as well as golfer preferences. To date, such a putter head design does not exist, and it would be highly desirable to provide a putter with such capabilities.


A motor control device for controlling a swing motor which moves a head is provided with a disturbance observer and an operation suspending unit. The disturbance observer outputs a compensating signal for compensating a driving voltage V for driving the swing motor. The operation suspending unit suspends an operation of the disturbance observer, based on a detection signal supplied by a velocity sensor which detects an angular velocity of the swing motor and the driving voltage signal V for driving the swing motor. The operation suspending unit operates when the signal voltage in the disturbance observer exceeds a reference level. This arrangement solves the following problem arising when the disturbance observer is employed for controlling a motor: when the motor comes into collisions with a stopper at an edge of the motion space, the disturbance observer further drives the motor so as to oppose a motion caused by the collisions, thereby exacerbating the collision.

An apparatus such as an optical disk apparatus or a magnetic disk apparatus is generally arranged (1) to perform tracking servo control for positioning, on a specific track of a disk, an optical pickup or a magnetic head so as to record and reproduce information to and from the disk, and (2) to perform access control for quickly moving the optical pickup or the magnetic head to a target track. Therefore, such an apparatus requires a motor for moving the optical head or pickup in a radial direction of the disk.
Problems, arising from the motor, such as distortion in characteristics including occurrence of mechanical resonance characteristics, changes of sensitivity (parameters), or disturbances due to vibrations and shocks, adversely affect control characteristics of the motor. To counteract these problems, some studies have been made.
For example, a study on control of joints of a robot, which intends to cope with the above-mentioned problems, is reported by Kohei Ohnishi (the Journal of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan, Vol.110, No. 8, 1990, pp. 657-660).
According to the article, it is considered that deviation from the ideal characteristics and response of a motor due to characteristic distortion, parameter variations, vibrations or shocks is attributed solely to a disturbance torque applied to the motor. The article discloses a method utilizing a so-called disturbance observer, by which the disturbance torques are collectively estimated and fed back to the motor.
FIG. 36 is a block diagram illustrating the system utilizing the disturbance observer, and FIG. 37 is a block diagram illustrating the system which is equivalently re-drawn.
In FIG. 37, the right half configuration of a disturbance observer 513 is for obtaining entire torque T.sub.1, which is applied to the motor 510, while the left half configuration is for obtaining a nominal value T.sub.2 of driving torque T.sub.m. The torque T.sub.1, includes the driving torque T.sub.m and disturbance torque T.sub.dis, and is obtained by (1) conducting approximate differential operation so as to convert a rotation velocity (angular velocity) .omega. of the motor 510, which is detected by a sensor, into an angular acceleration in the bandwidth whose upper angular frequency is g, and then (2) multiplying the angular acceleration by the amount of reduced gain g during the approximate differential operation and a nominal value J.sub.n of the moment of inertia J. The nominal value T.sub.2 of the driving torque T.sub.m is obtained by multiplying drive current I of the motor 510 by a nominal value K.sub..tau.n of torque constant K.sub..tau..
The disturbance observer 513 obtains an estimated value PT.sub.dis of the disturbance torque T.sub.dis in accordance with the difference (T.sub.2 -T.sub.1) and multiplies this difference by a reciprocal of the nominal value K.sub..tau. n of the torque constant K.sub..tau. so as to obtain a compensating current I.sub.cmp for canceling the above-described difference.
According to the system using the disturbance observer 513, the compensating current I.sub.cmp is added to a reference drive current I.sub.a.sup.ref for the motor 510 so as to obtain an actual drive current I, and the actual drive current I is supplied to the motor 510 so as to suppress the affections in the motor 510 due to such as the various characteristic distortions, the parameter variations, the vibrations and shocks applied from outside. As a result, the transfer function from the reference drive current I.sub.a.sup.ref to rotation angle .theta. is given as K.sub..tau.n /J.sub.n .multidot.s.sup.2 (s: Laplace operator), which is determined by the nominal values of the torque constant K.sub..tau. and the moment of inertia J.
FIGS. 36 and 37 indicate that the motor has a constant term D of viscosity. However, the disturbance observer 513 does not have a block which specifies it. Therefore, it is contained in the disturbance torque T.sub.dis, and the disturbance torque T.sub.dis is suppressed, thereby never appearing.
The low-pass filter {g/(s+g)} in the left half configuration of the disturbance observer 513 is derived from the equivalent conversion. The low-pass filter has no affection at angular frequencies not higher than the angular frequency g, in which a signal is approximate-differentiated, while it affects on the bandwidth at angular frequencies higher than g.
The use of such a disturbance observer for controlling a motor, however, causes the following problem. When the motor or other elements driven by the motor are moved beyond the motion space and come into collisions, or when great shocks are applied to these elements, it is likely that the motor is greatly driven, thereby damaging the motor and the elements driven by the motor.
For example, it is assumed, in a machine with a structure such that an arm is rotated by a motor, that when the rotating arm is abruptly obstructed by, for example, collisions of the arm against a wall, this means for the arm and the motor that a disturbance acceleration (or a disturbance angular acceleration) is abruptly applied to them and obstruct their normal action. Accordingly, the disturbance observer further drives the motor so as to offset it, thereby causing the arm to be further forcibly pushed against the wall.
As a result, mechanical or electrical overload is given to the arm and the motor, and they are damaged in the worst case. This is not restricted to such collisions against a wall. Even when some great shocks happen to the motor or the arm, the disturbance observer also regards it as the shocks obstructing the normal motion of the motor, thereby causing the same phenomenon.
These problems are not unique to such a driving system utilizing a disturbance observer for driving a rotary motor, but are common to a driving system for driving a linear motor often utilized in an optical disk apparatus, as well as a swing motor for use in a magnetic disk apparatus. In addition, in an apparatus for recording and reproducing information, such as the optical disk apparatus or the magnetic disk apparatus, the motor moves minute and damageable elements such as the optical pickup or the magnetic head. Therefore, the affection of such a problem is necessarily great. Accordingly, it has been difficult to apply the disturbance observer to such an apparatus so as to control a motor, in spite of its preferable effects such as suppressing characteristic distortion of the motor and disturbances.


A bag fastener with a fixing piece includes a locking piece insertable into a fastening body, such that the fastener does not unlock in use. When the unlocking the fastener from a locked condition, the locking piece is released and unlocked from the fastening body. Accordingly it is possible to use the fastener safely because it is not unlocked in use by natural forces, in contrast with known fasteners which are unlocked in use by natural forces acting on the fastener.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a locking device for a use in a bag for student, a waist sack, a rucksack and the like and more particularly to a bag fastener with a fixing piece having a safety device in order that the bag fastener may not be separated naturally in use.
2. Description of Related Art
Previously, fasteners have been known in which the insert is merely locked or unlocked in the fastening body. However, the prior art fasteners described above include several defects in which the insert is separated from the fastening body due to the excessive weight of the bag while walking or it is easily unlocked even if some force is exerted on the unlocking pusher in a crowded bus and so on. Accordingly, the bay may be opened and its contents will often be inadvertently poured out.

2-Dong 901 Daewon Mansion, 245-1 Younsun 4-Dong


The invention relates to a medical bag which is intended for the infusion of a medicament by means of gravity. The inventive bag comprises: at least two compartments, namely a first compartment (1) containing a medicament in the form of a solution and a second compartment (2) containing a rinsing solution; and means for separating/communicating the compartments, which prevent the rinsing solution from automatically entering the medicament compartment except at the end of the infusion period. The rinsing solution ends the infusion, by rinsing the medicament bag and the infusion line, such as to prevent any risk of contamination or leakage of residual medicament from the bag or line.

The present invention relates to the infusion of medication contained in a flexible bag, which flows into the veins of a patient via an infusion line, under the effect of gravity, the bag being suspended above the patient.
More particularly, the invention relates to a bag for medical use for infusing medication by gravity, comprising at least two compartments, one containing medication and the other containing a rinsing solution, and separation/communication means for automatically rinsing the medication bag and infusion line.
The invention is intended to solve, simply and inexpensively, two major problems encountered with this type of infusion, namely:                the loss of some of the medication: The infusion line has a non-negligible volume, in particular in the case of small infusion bags. The amount of medication remaining in the line plus the residual amount contained in the bag is not infused into the patient who thus does not receive the prescribed dose;        the risk of contamination due to the toxicity of the medication: the medication infused may be extremely toxic or allergenic (cancer medication, antibiotics, etc.) and there may be a risk of contamination when the care personnel purges the air from the perfusion line before connecting up to the patient or when disconnecting the infusion line.
The solution to these two problems consists in rinsing the line before and after infusion and rinsing the bag after infusion using a harmless, inexpensive solution (isotonic sodium chloride for example).

Infusion bag with integrated rinsing system


A new and distinct cultivar of Lavender plant named ‘Blue Royalty’, characterized by its compact, upright and somewhat outwardly spreading plant habit; freely branching growth habit; durable green-colored leaves; freely flowering habit; large dark purple-colored flowers positioned on long and strong peduncles; and good garden performance.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Lavender plant, botanically known as Lavandula angustifolia, and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Blue Royalty'.
The new Lavender plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Nuis, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new strong Lavender cultivars with attractive plant form and flower coloration.
The new Lavender plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in July, 2004 of a proprietary selection of Lavandula angustifolia identified as code number 1755, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote', not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Lavender plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor in August, 2005 as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled outdoor nursery environment in Nuis, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new Lavender by terminal cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Sappemeer, The Netherlands since November, 2005, has shown that the unique features of this new Lavender plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.