A cleaning system including: a cleaning device for cleaning laterally conductive deposits from the imaging surface; an AC bias member, adjacent to the imaging surface and positioned downstream from the cleaning device; and a power supply for biasing the AC bias member to generate corona that contacts the imaging surface to degrade laterally conductive deposits that lead to lateral charge migration on the imaging surface.

The present invention relates to brushes, especially cleaning brushes employed in xerographic printing machines, and more particularly to a cleaner brush for removal of semi-conductive contaminants such as laterally conductive films on a photoreceptor.
In known electrostatographic reproducing apparatii, a photoconductive insulating member is typically charged to a uniform potential and thereafter exposed to a light image of an original document to be reproduced. The exposure discharges the photoconductive insulating surface in exposed or background areas and creates an electrostatic latent image on the member which corresponds to the image contained within the original document. Alternatively, a light beam may be modulated and used to selectively discharge portions of the charged photoconductive surface to record the desired information thereon. Typically, such a system employs a laser beam.
Subsequently, the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive insulating surface is made visible by developing the image with developer powder referred to in the art as toner. Most development systems employ developer which comprises both charged carrier particles and charged toner particles which triboelectrically adhere to the carrier particles. During development, the toner particles are attracted from the carrier particles by the charged pattern of the image areas of the photoconductive insulating area to form a powder image on the photoconductive area. This toner image may be subsequently transferred to a support surface such as copy paper to which it may be permanently affixed by heating or by the application of pressure. Usually, all of the developed toner does not transfer to the copy paper, and therefore cleaning of the photoreceptor surface is required prior to the point where the photoreceptor enters the next charge and expose cycle.
Commercial embodiments of the above general processor have taken various forms and in particular various techniques for cleaning the photoreceptor have been used such as a rotary cleaning brush. Generally the bristles of such a cleaner brush are soft so that as the brush is rotated in contact with the photoconductive surface to be cleaned, the fibers continually wipe across the photoconductive surface to produce the desired cleaning without significant wear or abrasion to the photoreceptor.
A problem associated with cleaner brush is the removal of laterally conductive salt deposits on the photoreceptor. The problem is more acute in printing machines employing the image on image (IOI) process in which a relatively gentle non-interactive development system and a brush cleaner system is used. The result is that over time the belt surface becomes increasingly contaminated, leading to image degradation and visualization of interdocument zone features in jobs with mixed media sizes. Applicants have found that Lateral Charge Migration (LCM) manifests itself when abrasion or wear of the photoreceptor is insufficient to remove semi-conductive species that accumulate at the photoreceptor surface as a result of photoreceptor interactions with corona emissions and/or volatile organic contaminants.
Subsequent developments in cleaning techniques and apparatii, in addition to relying on the physical contacting of the surface to be cleaned to remove the toner particles, also rely on establishing electrostatic fields by electrically biasing one or more members of the cleaning system to establish a field between a conductive brush and the insulative imaging surface so that the toner on the imaging surface is attracted to the brush by electrostatic forces. Thus, if the toner on the photoreceptor is positively charged then the bias on the brush would be negative. Therefore, the creation of a sufficient electrostatic field between the brush and imaging surface to achieve the desired cleaning effect is accomplished by applying a DC voltage to the brush.
There has been provided a cleaning system comprising: a cleaning device for cleaning debris from the imaging surface; an AC bias member, adjacent to the imaging surface and positioned upstream from said cleaning device; and a power supply for biasing said AC bias member to generate corona that contacts the imaging surface to degrade LCM contaminates on the imaging surface.
There has also been provided an electrostatic printing machine having a cleaning system comprising: a cleaning device for cleaning debris from an imaging surface; an AC bias member, adjacent to the imaging surface and positioned upstream from said cleaning device; and a power supply for biasing said AC bias member to generate corona that contacts the imaging surface to degrade LCM contaminates on the imaging surface.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

AC biased conductive brush for eliminating VOC induced LCM


An optical magnetic disk recording/reproducing apparatus is capable of reproducing address data when recording data signals on a magneto-optical disk and when deleting data signals from a magneto-optical disk. The reproduction of address data is performed with a high degree of stability. The apparatus includes an optical head, photoelectric voltage converters, various adders, a differential device and several switches. A first switch switches between a first position in which an output of the first switch is connected to the output of the differential device and a second position in which the output of the first switch is connected to a reference voltage. A second switch includes a first position in which an output of the second switch is connected to the output of one of the adders and a second position in which an output of the second switch is connected to the output of the first switch. Several control signal generators control the switches. Thus, the first switch outputs a signal from a differential amplifier during data reproduction and outputs a reference voltage during data recording and erasing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical magnetic disk recording/reproducing apparatus for high density digital recording, and the playback signal processing circuit thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Optical magnetic disk recording/reproducing devices have been developed and marketed by numerous companies in recent years as high capacity data storage devices with a high data transfer rate. Commonly known as magneto-optical disk drives, read/write magneto-optical drives are still technologically immature in many ways, and particular improvement in the stability of the data reading, writing, and erasing operations is needed.
The present invention therefore relates to an optical magnetic disk recording/reproducing apparatus comprising a reproducing component that reproduces a stable address signal for the data recording and erasing operations.
The conventional optical magnetic disk recording/reproducing apparatus is described below with reference to the accompanying FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the reproducing device in a conventional optical magnetic disk recording/reproducing apparatus. In this device a magneto-optical disk 1 is driven by a spindle motor 2, and data is recorded to and reproduced from the magneto-optical disk 1 by the optical head 3. The optical head 3 in turn comprises a laser, lens, actuator, and polarized beam splitter. The laser power of the optical head 3 is controlled according to the control signal 24 output by the laser drive circuit 4. The magnetic bias 5 is used to modify the magnetic properties of the magneto-optical disk 1. The outputs from the photoelectric voltage conversion circuits 6-9 are added by adding amplifier circuits 10 and 11, the outputs of which are input to adding amplifier circuit 12 and differential amplifier circuit 13. The selector switch circuit 15 is controlled by control signal 18 to choose either the adding amplifier 12 or differential amplifier 13 output. The output from the selector switch circuit 15 is applied to the automatic gain control circuit 19 and digitizing circuit 16, and further to the detection circuit.
The address area, which is output from the adding amplifier 12, and the data area, which is the output from the differential amplifier circuit 13, are selected by the selector switch circuit 15 to generate and output a single signal consisting of both an address and a data area. The signal from the selector switch circuit 15 is applied to the automatic gain control circuit 19 for gain control.
The AGC 19 controls the gain of the output signal from the selector switch circuit 15, as shown in FIG. 2. During data reproducing mode, since the address signal and data signal waveforms have nearly equal amplitude, the output of the AGC 19 does not result in any gain change in the address area and data area. However, during writing or erasing mode, the amplitude of the data signal is amplified by a predetermined amount (FIG. 2 waveform (a)) to increase the laser power incident to the magneto-optical disk 1. Thus, the address signal level deforms during these modes in response to the change in the data signal. Furthermore, signal saturation in the data area also occurs. To remove such a drawback the automatic gain control circuit 19 is provided so that the data area gain is reduced as shown in FIG. 2 waveform (b). The output signal is then converted to a digital signal by the digitizing circuit 16, and then output to the detection circuit.
The problem with this construction, therefore, is that need for an automatic gain control circuit 19 to enable stable reproduction of the address area and data area during data recording, erasing, and reproduction results in an unavoidable increase in device size.
In addition, since the response of the automatic gain control 19 is very slow, it is difficult to enable stable detection of the address area, such as the sector mark, during data recording and erasing because of the residual level changes in the address area.

Magneto-optical disk recording and reproducing apparatus capable of reproducing a plurality of disk types

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method of fabricating a liquid crystal cell comprises the steps of providing a substrate whose one surface is coated with an alignment material containing spacers by spin coating method, and patterning an alignment layer by irradiating a light to the selected part of the alignment material.

The present invention relates to a method of fabricating a liquid crystal cell, and more particularly to a method of fabricating a liquid crystal cell wherein an alignment layer is patterned by irradiating an ultraviolet light into the selected part of an alignment material coated on a substrate so that a sealant may be properly printed on the substrate.
Liquid crystal molecules must be appropriately aligned to obtain a high contrast ratio and uniform brightness of a liquid crystal display. Alignment is achieved by rubbing two alignment layers which are coated on the opposing surface of two substrates, and in order to maintain the gap between the two substrates to a specified value, a spacer is deposited in a spraying operation in which static electricity assists the bonding of the to the substrate. After depositing the spacer, the substrates are sealed with a sealant and liquid crystal material is injected into the gap between the two substrates.
As the structure of liquid crystal molecules changes by an external applied voltage, the liquid crystal element obtained by the above described process can be used as a optical device. The optical characteristic of the LC element depends on the cell gap and the alignment uniformity.
FIGS. 1A-1F show a conventional process of forming an alignment layer on a substrate surface by roll coating. As shown in FIG. 1A, an alignment material is provided to the gravure roll 2 from the nozzle 1, and the alignment material is coated on the gravure roll 2 surface with a uniform thickness controlled by the doctor blade 3. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1B, the alignment material is rolled and moved onto the printing plate 5 which is formed on the surface of the printing roll 4. Then, as shown in FIG. 1C, the alignment material is rolled and coated onto the surface of a first substrate 6 which is laid on a moving plate 8. The thickness of the formed first alignment layer 7a as shown in FIG. 1D is controlled by the doctor blade 3, the concentration of the alignment layer forming material, and the pressure of the printing roll 4. Then, the first alignment layer 7a is baked and rubbed with a fabric in a chosen direction.
FIGS. 2A-2C show a conventional process of fabricating a liquid crystal cell. As shown in FIG. 2A, the first alignment layer 7a is applied on the first substrate 6 and a sealant A is printed on the first substrate 6. And, as shown FIG. 2B, a second alignment layer 7b is applied on a second substrate 9, and spacers B are deposited on the second substrate 9 to maintain a specified cell gap. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2C, the first and second substrates 6,9 are attached together. Then, the liquid crystal cell is obtained by injecting the liquid crystal into the gap between the two substrates 6,9.
In above mentioned method of forming an alignment layer, however, a part of the alignment material adhered onto the print plate is liable to be volatilized, and after coating the alignment layer on the substrate, a considerable amount of the alignment material remains attached to the print plate. Further, as shown in the FIG. 1E and FIG. 1F, the edges a,b of the alignment layer 7a coated on the first substrate 6 is deformed to cause an irregular alignment of liquid crystal molecules. Furthermore, the electrical interaction between the adjacent spacers causes disclination where the alignment of LC molecules is not defined.
In order to solve the above described problem of roll coating, the spin coating method can be performed, but because the alignment layer formed by the spin coating has a deformed outline, a sealant is liable to be formed on a part of the alignment layer, which can deteriorate the sealing property. Therefore, when a liquid crystal material is injected into the gap between the substrates, the liquid crystal material can leak out through the deteriorated sealing spot.

Method of forming an alignment layer and a liquid crystal cell having same using patterning by light irradiation


A burglar- and weather-resistant cover for an opening such as a door or window. The cover includes a pair of opposed and generally parallel tracks with an upper housing extending therebetween. A plurality of louvers are generally parallel and connected to the upper housing by a first cable in a manner that allows the first cable to be coiled, and to a pair of second cables which engage the louvers in a manner that spaces the louvers at regular intervals. The cover further includes a pair of locking members, with each locking member coupled to one of the tracks an movable between a first position and a second position. The locking members are adapted to automatically move from the first to the second position when the louvers are deployed from a retracted position to a deployed position. The cover further includes a plurality of spacing members positioned at regular intervals along the second cables and engage the horizontal flanges of the louvers such that the vertical flange of one louver overlaps the next lower louver. The spacing members prevent movement of the engaged louvers in either direction along the second cables, thereby preventing the separation of adjacent louvers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to protective window coverings and, more particularly, to a reinforced burglar- and storm-resistant cover for windows and doors.
2. Description of Related Art
It is often desirable to protect the windows, doors, and other openings of homes and business establishments from intrusion by unwelcome elements. Protective covers are used to secure an area from burglary and vandalism, and also to provide protection from weather-related effects such as violent storms or hurricanes. Conventional covers used for this purpose include rolling protective shutters which are constructed of a plurality of interconnected elongate slats or louvers.
In one form, a protective cover includes a frame which houses a plurality of L-shaped louvers which are deployable to form a curtain which covers the opening. One such protective cover is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,065 to Alligood. The louvers disclosed in the Alligood patent have a horizontal flange through which support and deployment cables pass, and a vertical flange extending downwardly from the horizontal flange proximate the front of the cover. The louvers are retained within a pair of tracks and an upper housing in a retracted position when the window, door, or other opening is exposed. In this position, the louvers are stacked one on top of another, with the stack having a combined thickness equal to the width of a horizontal flange plus the thicknesses of each of the vertical flanges. Accordingly, channels in the tracks dimensioned to accommodate the combined thickness of the stacked shutter.
To provide protection for the door or window, the louvers are lowered to a deployed position, thus forming a curtain which covers the opening. In the deployed position, the louvers are spaced such that the vertical flange of one of the louvers overlaps the louver immediately below. In this way, the curtain formed by the louvers completely covers the opening.
Positive pressure is caused by high speed winds blowing against the outside of the building and the shutter curtain. The Alligood shutters can withstand wind loads up to at least about 250 mph.
As positive pressure is created on one side of the building, negative pressure is created on the opposite side of the building as the high speed winds pass over and around the building. The negative pressure on the opposite side of the building is significantly less than the pressure inside the building and may pull out the walls, windows and roof if the pressure in the house is not equalized to match the negative pressure. To equalize the pressure, the vertical flanges of the Alligood shutters instantly deflect outwardly slightly from the overlapped horizontal flanges to place the interior of the building in fluid communication with the exterior. In this way, the pressure differential decreases as the internal pressure equalizes with the negative pressure, thereby preventing the walls, windows and roof from being pulled away from the interior.
In the deployed position, the louvers are no longer stacked and, consequently, a narrower channel can accommodate the louvers. The maximum thickness of the curtain in the deployed position is equal to the width of one horizontal flange plus the thickness of one vertical flange. Because the channels of the tracks are wide enough to accommodate the stacked louvers, the deployed curtain has room to move laterally within the channels and to allow a person to lift the curtain and gain access to the covered opening. To address this problem, Alligood provides two manual mechanisms which essentially narrow the channel when the curtain is deployed to prevent substantial lateral movement of the louvers within the channel.
In a first embodiment, a pair of hinged plates are provided, with each plate running parallel and connected by hinges to one of the tracks. The plates are provided with notches corresponding to horizontal flanges of the louvers extending rearwardly in the channels. After the louvers are deployed, the hinged plates are manually positioned in the channels by rotation about the hinges. In this position, the notches in the plates engage the corresponding horizontal flanges to prevent substantial lateral or horizontal movement of the louvers.
The Alligood patent discloses an alternative mechanism in the form of elongated locking angle members. Each of the angle members is located within one of the channels with a lower end pivotally connected to the track proximate the bottom of the channel. The point of connection is located at a distance from the front wall of the track slightly greater than the width of the deployed curtain. In the retracted position, an upper end of the angle member is placed against the back wall of the track to accommodate the stacked louvers. In the deployed position, the upper end of the angle member is manually rotated into position against the louvers and is locked in place by securing the upper end to the side wall of the track.
While these mechanisms effectively provides bracing for the louvers, the manual nature of these mechanisms presents challenges in operation. For example, the hinged plate mechanism requires access from the inside of the cover to rotate the plate into position and, therefore, cannot be used with windows that cannot open, such as plate glass windows on store fronts. Additionally, covers using the angle member mechanism wherein the locking pin or bolt is inserted from the outside of the cover will be difficult to lock when mounted on windows on the second floor or higher. Therefore, a need exists for a mechanism for bracing the curtain which is automatically engaged when the louvers are deployed to cover an opening.
The Alligood patent also discloses that the louvers are suspended in a desired spaced relationship by crimping stop-like members, for example mechanical pop-rivets, to support cables which extend through aligned holes in the louvers. The stop-like members prevent the louvers from moving in the downward direction along the cables, but do not prevent a louver from being lifted upwardly away from the next lower louver, thereby exposing the opening.
To prevent separation of the louvers and to strengthen the curtain, vertically disposed reinforcing members, or unitizing bars, are positioned periodically in engagement with the louvers. These unitizing bars are manually placed in contact with the louvers to prevent relative vertical movement of the deployed louvers. However, as with the locking mechanisms, the unitizing bar presents a difficulty in application for windows that do not open and some windows located above the first floor. Therefore, a need exists for an improved mechanism for preventing separation of the deployed louvers.

Reinforced burglar- and storm-resistant cover for windows and doors


A multiple bladder flood control system, for preventing flood waters from reaching a protected area from a flooding area, comprising a bladder assembly. A trough is dug between the protected area and the flooding area, having a trough bottom, a trough first side, and a trough second side which are all preferably surfaced with concrete. The trough first side faces the protected area, and the trough second side faces the flooding area. The bladder assembly is anchored to the trough bottom with an anchor plate. The bladder assembly comprises at least a lowermost bladder and at least one upper bladder. The bladders are attached with a common connecting surface which faces the flooding area. The bladder assembly is normally deflated, is stored fully within the trough, and the trough is covered with a cover plate. When flood waters are advancing, the cover plate is removed and the bladder assembly is inflated. The lowermost bladder remains in the trough and is pressed against the first wall by water entering at the second wall. The upper bladders extend above the trough to prevent the flood waters from reaching the protected area.

The invention relates to a multiple bladder flood control system. More particularly, the invention relates to a flood control system which employs a plurality of vertically stacked bladders, which are normally stored in a subterranean trough, but which are selectively inflatable during a flooding condition to create a barrier to stop advancing flood waters.
Events of recent years have shown just how devastating flooding can be. Although flooding is somewhat expected in coastal regions, these recent events have shown that even those living in desert regions are susceptible to flooding.
Once the water starts rising, there is little that a resident can do to stop the waters from destroying his home.
Probably one of the oldest attempted solutions is to create a wall of sandbags around the property, or adjacent to an overflowing river. Sandbags seek to block rising water by presenting a heavy barrier for the water. However, an effective sand bag barrier requires two things--a lot of sand, and a lot of people to fill the bags and hoist them into place. Thus, an individual homeowner will typically lack the materials and stamina necessary to complete the sandbag wall building task.
In lieu of sandbagging, several devices have been proposed at an attempt at creating different types of inflatable barriers. However, these devices typically fail, since their configuration and anchoring makes them unsuitable for combating the forces inherent in surging flood waters.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.


A process of producing quantum fine wires, it is called silicon nanowires, too, which allows silicon quantum fine wires to grow into desirable shapes. In this process, gold is deposited on a silicon substrate to a thickness of 5 nm or less, and the silicon substrate is heated at a temperature of 450.degree. C. to 650.degree. C. in an atmosphere containing silane gas at a pressure less than 0.5 Torr, whereby drops of a molten alloy of silicon and gold are formed on the surface of the silicon substrate and the silane gas is decomposed by the action of the molten alloy drops as catalyst, to allow silicon quantum fine wires to grow into such desirable shapes as to be uniform in diameter without any bending.

The present invention relates to a process for producing quantum fine wires, it is called silicon nanowires, too, and particularly to a process of allowing silicon quantum fine wires to grow on the surface of a silicon substrate at a lower temperature.
A material in the form of quantum fine wires can exhibit new physical properties different from the physical properties inherent to the same material in the bulk form by the nanometer size effect. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, for a silicon (Si) quantum fine wire, the band gap increases with a decrease in diameter. Also, the material in the form of quantum fine wires has a direct transition type band gap, although the same material in the bulk form has an indirect transition type band gap. Consequently, in the silicon quantum fine wires, the re-combination luminous efficiency of excited electrons-positive holes significantly increases, and the luminous wavelength is shifted on the short-wavelength side, which enables emission of visible light.
The silicon quantum fine wires exhibiting these physical properties have been produced by a process of etching a silicon substrate using electron beam lithography or the like. Such a process, however, has a difficulty in production of silicon quantum fine wires, having a uniform distribution of shapes over a wide region, at a high integration.
To solve this problem, there has been proposed a technique in which a large number of silicon quantum fine wires are allowed to grow on a silicon substrate using a VLS (Vapor-Liquid-Solid) process (E. L. Givargizov: J. Vac. Sci. Techno. B11 (2), p449). This technique involves vapor-depositing gold on a silicon substrate and forming drops of a molten alloy of silicon and gold on the surface of the silicon substrate, and heating the silicon substrate while supplying silicon chloride (SiCl.sub.4) gas diluted with hydrogen (H.sub.2) gas as a silicon source gas, whereby allowing the growth of silicon quantum fine wires Wagner et al.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 4, No. 5, 89 (1964); and Givargizov: J. Cryst. Growth, 31, 20 (1975)!.
In the above technique, silicon chloride gas reacts with hydrogen gas, to produce silicon by a thermal decomposition expressed in a chemical equation (1). EQU SiCl.sub.4 +2H.sub.2 .fwdarw.Si+4HCl (1)
The above thermal decomposition is accelerated by the catalytic action of gold on the surfaces of the molten alloy drops formed on the silicon substrate. The silicon thus produced is diffused in the molten alloy drops in a liquid state, and is bonded to solid silicon at the liquid-solid interface. Thus, silicon quantum fine wires grow on the surface of the silicon substrate.
The above related art technique, however, has a problem. Namely, in this technique, the reaction allowing the growth of silicon quantum fine wires must be performed at a temperature being as high as 1000.degree. C. At such a high temperature, silicon chloride is possibly decomposed, though being in a slight amount, on a surface portion of the silicon substrate on which the molten alloy drops are not formed, with a result that each of the silicon quantum fine wires would be formed in a cone shape with a thick root portion. The silicon quantum fine wires such cone shapes cannot exhibit the uniform quantum confinement effect over the entire silicon quantum fine wires.


The invention provides a novel amino acid, neo-tryptophan, as well as polypeptides containing this novel amino acid such as neurotensin analogs. In addition, the invention provides neo-tryptophan derivatives, serotonin-like neo-tryptophan derivatives, and polypeptides containing such derivatives. The invention also provides methods for making neo-tryptophan, neo-tryptophan derivatives, serotonin-like neo-tryptophan derivatives, and compositions containing these compounds. Further, the invention provides methods for inducing a neurotensin response in a mammal as well as methods for treating a mammal having a serotonin recognition molecule.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a novel amino acid, neo-tryptophan, as well as polypeptides containing this novel amino acid.
2. Background Information
Tryptophan is an essential component in human nutrition since it is not synthesized by the body. In addition, tryptophan is a hydrophobic amino acid that is part of many polypeptides.
Polypeptides as well as many other types of compounds such as neurotransmitters and drugs can exert profound effects on the body. For example, neurotensin (NT) is a tridecapeptide that induces antinociception and hypothermia upon direct administration to brain. Systemic administration of NT does not induce these effects since NT is rapidly degraded by proteases and has poor blood brain barrier permeability. Currently, two NT receptors have been identified and cloned. The first NT receptor is designated NTR1, while the second is designated NTR2. Both NTR1 and NTR2 are G-protein coupled receptors that are expressed by various brain tissues.
Serotonin (5HT) is a neurotransmitter that is essential to brain function. Multiple serotonin receptors and transporters have been identified and cloned. Briefly, de novo synthesis of serotonin from tryptophan occurs in the cytoplasm of a cell. Once synthesized, vesicular monoamine transporters package the transmitter into vesicular compartments so that its release can be regulated. Once released into the synapse upon proper stimulation, the transmitter can bind specific serotonin receptors, can be degraded by specific enzymes, and/or can be transported back into a cell by specific plasma membrane serotonin transporters and then re-packaged into vesicles. Thus, both serotonin receptors and transporters specifically recognize serotonin.
Apomorphine is an example of a drug that also influences brain function. Specifically, apomorphine is a non-selective dopamine D2/D3 receptor agonist. At low doses, apomorphine (e.g., 25–200 μg/kg) activates pre-synaptic receptors, while at higher doses (e.g., 600 μg/kg) it influences post-synaptic sites. Thus, the behavioral affects of apomorphine vary with dosage. In mice and rats, high doses of apomorphine cause a characteristic climbing behavior as well as oro-facial stereotypies such as sniffing and licking behaviors. Using these high doses of apomorphine, atypical neuroleptic compounds have been identified based on their ability to block potently the climbing behavior while causing little change to the sniffing and licking behaviors. Both typical and atypical neuroleptic compounds have been used to treat schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Atypical drugs are preferred because of their lower propensity to cause motor side effects (e.g., extrapyramidal side effects such as parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia).

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research


A passenger conveyor comprising an endless conveyor track, a power source configured to supply power to said endless conveyor track, an entrance allowing a passage to the conveyor track, an exit allowing a passage away from the conveyor track, and a balustrade beside the conveyor track. Guide elements are positioned at the entrance/exit on a floor at proximity of an end of the balustrade. The guide elements are laterally elongated, and are configured to guide rolling or moving objects to/from the conveyor without contacting or being obstructed by the balustrade. The guide elements include a source of electromagnetic waves which radiate the electromagnetic waves to an entrance/exit zone of the passenger conveyor.

It is known to use an endless conveyor track for transporting passengers so that the passengers are transported on top of a moving conveyor track. For instance, autowalks and escalators are this type of passenger conveyors. Escalators have a plurality of steps connected to each other. The steps serve as conveying elements on top of which the passengers are to be transported from entrance level to exit level. In autowalks, a plurality of pallets, which are connected to each other, are often used as the conveying elements so that they together form a conveying surface on top of which the passengers are transported, which is essentially stepless throughout the track section which is accessible to passengers. An autowalk can be a horizontal or an inclined autowalk (moving ramp). Also such autowalks exist, where the conveyor track is in the form of an endless belt.
Passenger conveyors may include auxiliary devices/elements at its entrance and/or exit to provide additional functions for the passenger conveyor. Such devices/elements are e.g. those meant to guide the passengers. A special need for guidance may rise, for instance, when a passenger arriving to the passenger conveyor is transporting big objects, which he needs to bring on the conveyor with him. Such objects may include a bag, a shopping trolley or other objects the passenger wants bring onto the conveyor track. In some countries it may be even allowed to take a baby carriage to the conveyor. It is known to position a guide element or guide elements, at the entrance and/or at the exit of the passenger conveyor, which guide element defines lateral limit to movement of the rolling object. These guide elements are sometimes called as trolley guides. A guide element may be installed on the floor at proximity of the balustrade end, forming an elongated lateral guide for an object rolling on the floor to/from the conveyor, so as to guide the rolling object to/from the conveyor without contacting the balustrade. Another need for guidance is the need for indicating the passenger the running direction of the passenger conveyor sufficiently early so he avoids walking onto the conveyor at its exit. This could otherwise easily happen for instance when the conveyor is in standby mode. This problem has been solved by installing light signaling devices in the balustrade, which radiate light towards the entrance/exit zone. This light is of suitable color to indicate the passenger the running direction of the passenger conveyor. The auxiliary devices may include also traffic detectors. A need for detecting passenger presence has made it common in modern passenger conveyors that the sender and the receiver of a proximity sensor are installed in the balustrade, usually in the balustrade pedestal, which produce a detecting beam towards the entrance/exit zone, i.e. the space in front of the conveyor track via which space the passenger must pass so as to get on the conveyor track or away from it. If the detecting beam is cut by a passenger or an object he's transporting, the passenger conveyor system may take it into account and control the passenger conveyor based on the detection. Alternatively the detection can be used for passenger counting, or the detections in entrance and exit zone can be compared for determining whether the conveyor track is empty of passengers.
In prior art, a set of auxiliary devices/elements chosen by the client has been included in the passenger conveyor by adding several separate devices on the passenger conveyor. A problem has been that the passenger conveyor entrance/exits have eventually had multiple devices/elements for auxiliary functions, which have required separate installing positions and wirings. They are all protected separately from vandalism or impacts. On the other hand also adding the auxiliary components and functions as add-on features, has not been optimal. For instance in modernization it required dismantling, and rewiring and on-site work. The auxiliary devices have not been visually nor structurally compatible to each other, so multiple separate devices have been installed. The devices have been large or due to compromises their positioning has not been adequate to achieve optimal reliability of the function.


For detecting label stops in a label printer, a label stop sensing device is provided. In one implementation, the label stop sensing device comprises a sensor configured to sense print media being fed through a printer, wherein the print media comprises a plurality of labels separated by gaps. Also, the label stop sensing device includes a gap detecting module having a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) module. The FFT module is configured to receive time domain signals of the sensed print media from the sensor and to obtain frequency domain signals. The gap detecting module is configured to detect the gaps between the labels on the print media based on at least the frequency domain signals.

Generally speaking, label printers are used in a number of different environments for printing various types of labels. In a logistics environment, for example, shipping labels may be printed onto self-adhesive labels and then placed on packages for tracking purposes. Pharmacies may print medical/patient information on labels that are applied to medicine containers. These and other types of label printers are used by many different types of businesses for various printing needs.
It should be understood from the above examples that each label printer may be configured for printing on a specific size and shape of labels. There are some label printers, however, that may even be configured to print onto different sizes and types of labels when they are properly adjusted for the appropriate labels.
Before being printed, self-adhesive labels are usually attached to a continuous band of media stock that is fed through the printer. There may be differences in the media stock depending on the suppliers. For example, the sizes of the labels may be slightly different or the gaps between the labels may also differ slightly. Therefore, many label printers include sensors for detecting where each label is positioned on the continuous stock to control how to feed the media for printing.
Although many label stop sensors (LSSs) are able to detect a gap in between two adjacent labels on the media, at times the LSSs may fail to detect some gaps. In other situations, the LSSs may incorrectly interpret certain characteristics of a label (e.g., labels having pre-printed text or images thereon) as a gap. Therefore, a need exists for providing LSSs that can accurately detect gaps or label stops on continuous media being fed through label printers. By properly detecting every gap and by preventing the detection of false gaps, material waste can be minimized.


A slide mounting bracket structure includes a main bracket, an auxiliary bracket, a first engaging member, a second engaging member, an actuating element, a linking member and an elastic element. The main bracket is provided with the actuating element and the linking member at its inner side, and the auxiliary bracket is provided with the first engaging member and the second engaging member at its outer side. The actuating element corresponds to the first engaging member. The linking member has a part penetrating the main bracket, and has a support stand corresponding to the second engaging member, which further drags the auxiliary bracket to engage in sliding, and brings a second folded plate to depart from a first folded plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slide mounting bracket structure, particularly to an auxiliary bracket that is capable of sliding relatively to a main bracket, which frees the tools for the attachment and removal of the slide promptly with respect to a rack.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A handy mounting of a bracket integrated with a slide to a metal rack is frequently viewed in the rack-mounted computer system.
This category of the slide brackets, are quite copious in their designs; however, the leading trends recently come in features of tool-less and prompt mounting and demounting, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,891,727 B2 and 7,192,103 B2.
The foregoing disclosed prior art are focusing on a "sliding bracket" technique. In the U.S. Pat. No. 6,891,727 B2, once a mounting bracket is setup, the demounting of it can only be approached from its lateral, which means it would possibly be hard to demount a single slide and bracket of a server from arrays of slides and brackets of servers. The U.S. Pat. No. 7,192,103 B2 patent features a dismount of bracket at the front of the slide. Unfortunately, the prior art exhibits a complexity and enormity in its structure.


A DNN hardware accelerator and an operation method of the DNN hardware accelerator are provided. The DNN hardware accelerator includes: a network distributor for receiving an input data and distributing respective bandwidth of a plurality of data types of a target data amount based on a plurality of bandwidth ratios of the target data amount; and a processing element array coupled to the network distributor, for communicating data of the data types of the target data amount between the network distributor based on the distributed bandwidth of the data types.

A deep neural networks (DNN) is a link of an artificial neural network (ANN), and can be used for deep machine learning. Artificial neural networks can have a learning function. Deep neural networks have been used for resolving various problems, for example, machine visual and voice recognition.
It is one goal of the industry to optimize an internal data transmission speed in a deep neural network to further accelerate a processing speed thereof.

Deep neural networks (DNN) hardware accelerator and operation method thereof

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


An outrigger assembly includes at least one support unit including a first elongated support arm and a second elongated support arm cantilevered and secured to the first support arm. A joist-supporting arm is removably engaged with the front end portion. The assembly further includes an upper support arm cantilevered and secured to the first support arm. A support member having opposed end portions is secured thereto and to the first support member. The upper support arm includes a plurality of L-shaped members mated along an edge thereof. An elongated board is positionable between adjacently disposed rear end portions. The front end portion exerts an upward force against the work area joists while the upper support arm exerts a downward force against a top surface of the work area such that the forces become balanced.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to an outrigger assembly and, more particularly, to an outrigger assembly for supporting a platform adjacent to a work area.
2. Prior Art
As is generally well known in the building industry, it is often necessary during construction of a structure to support workers above the ground on a scaffold so they can conveniently reach and work on parts of the structure higher than they can reach from the ground. The prior art is replete with myriad and diverse wall supported scaffolding constructions. While all of the prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with respect to their failure to provide a simple, efficient, and ruggedly constructed scaffold device that can easily and quickly be assembled and disassembled on site to assist roofers and framers in the performance of their appointed tasks.
As most individuals in the construction trades are all too well aware, the need for stable, ruggedly constructed scaffolding is an absolute necessity both for the safety and welfare of the workers, and also to facilitate the performance and completion of a variety of different tasks.
Accordingly, a need remains for an outrigger assembly for supporting a platform adjacent to a work area in order to overcome the above-noted shortcomings. The present invention satisfies such a need by providing an assembly that is safe to use, compact, portable and cost effective. Such an outrigger assembly is easy to set up and break down, thus resulting in time savings, an increased amount of work completed and improved productivity. The present invention provides superior support when compared to ladders, jacks and scaffoldings known in the industry. Commercial workers, as well as do-it-yourself enthusiasts, can appreciate the benefits of using the outrigger assembly for their construction projects.

Outrigger assembly for supporting a platform adjacent a work area


There is provided a multilayer ceramic electronic part including: a ceramic body including dielectric layers; an active layer including a plurality of first and second internal electrodes formed to be alternately exposed to both end surfaces of the ceramic body; upper and lower cover layers formed on upper and lower portions of the active layer; and first and second external electrodes formed on both end portions of the ceramic body, wherein the first external electrode includes a first base electrode, a first conductive layer formed on the first base electrode at a corner portion of the ceramic body, and the second external electrode includes a second base electrode, a second conductive layer formed on the second base electrode at a corner portion of the ceramic body, the first and second conductive layers being positioned outside the active layer in a thickness direction of the ceramic body.

The present disclosure relates to a multilayer ceramic electronic part capable of having improved reliability by improving corner coverage performance of an external electrode, and a board having the same mounted thereon.
In accordance with the recent trend toward miniaturization of electronic products, the demand for multilayer ceramic electronic parts having a small size and high capacitance has increased.
In accordance with the demand for multilayer ceramic electronic parts having a small size and large capacitance, external electrodes of multilayer ceramic electronic parts have also been thinned.
According to the related art, generally copper is used as a conductive metal in order to form external electrodes, an external electrode paste is prepared by mixing glass, a base resin, an organic solvent, and the like, with this metal, the external electrode paste is applied to both end surfaces of ceramic bodies. Then, the metal in the external electrodes is sintered by sintering the ceramic bodies.
The external electrode paste contains a conductive metal such as copper (Cu) as a main material to thereby ensure a chip sealing property and electrical conductivity between the external electrodes and chips, and contains glass as an auxiliary material to thereby serve to provide adhesion between external electrodes and chips simultaneously with filling an empty space at the time of sintering shrinkage of the metal.
However, as the multilayer ceramic electronic parts are miniaturized and have large capacitance, in order to secure the capacitance, a design for increasing the number of stacked internal electrodes and decreasing thicknesses of upper and lower cover layers has been generally applied.
Therefore, internal electrodes are formed to the vicinity of corner portions of the ceramic bodies at which a thickness is decreased at the time of forming external electrodes, such that the multilayer ceramic electronic parts may be easily exposed to physical or chemical impacts.
For example, as external electrodes of multilayer ceramic electronic parts have been thinned, thicknesses of the external electrodes in the vicinity of the corner portions of the ceramic bodies have been further decreased to reduce corner coverage performance. Therefore, a problem such as infiltration of a plating solution may occur.
Further, in the case of external electrodes used in high capacitance electronic parts, at the time of sintering the external electrodes, in order to decrease thermal impacts, a material capable of being sintered at a relatively low temperature may be used. For example, in the case of glass softened at a relatively low temperature, the external electrodes have relatively weak acid resistance at the time of plating. Due to these features, in the case in which plating layers are formed on outer portions of external electrodes, the plating solution may easily infiltrate, which becomes a main cause of deteriorating product quality due to deterioration of moisture resistance reliability.

Multilayer ceramic electronic part and board having the same mounted thereon


A method for correlating routing errors to link failures in a network, the method including detecting a link failure between a first and a second router NODES in a network, associating a first node address indicated in a first routing table of the first router with a first partition of network, where a next hop of a packet destined for the first node address is the second router, associating a second node address indicated in a second routing table of the second router with a second partition of the network, where a next hop of a packet destined for the second node address is the first router, and correlating an error notification resulting from the failed delivery of a packet with the link failure where a source address of the packet corresponds to the first node address and a destination address of the packet corresponds to the second node address.

Connectionless computer networks, such as Internet Protocol (IP) networks, are typically formed by connecting multiple routers to each other using either point-to-point connections or the Data Link Layer of the International Standard Organization's Open System Interconnect (ISO/OSI) network model, commonly referred to as "layer 2." One of the main features of a connectionless network is the ability of a network node, such as a PC, to connect directly to any of the routers and send/receive packetized data to/from any other network node connected to any other router. To accomplish this each node is typically uniquely identified by a unique network address, known in IP networks as an IP address.
Routing of packets in a connectionless computer network is now described by way of example with reference to FIG. 1. When a node A (100) sends a packet to a node B (102), A (100) must specify the address of B (102) as the destination address of the packet. The first router R1 (108) that accepts the packet forwards the packet to the next router R2 (110) on the path to B (102), whereupon R2 (110) forwards the packet to the next router R3 (112) on the path to B (102), and so on. When the packet reaches the router to which B (102) is directly connected, it is forwarded to B (102). It may thus be seen that, for any given destination address to which a packet is addressed, every router in the network should know the packet's next "hop," i.e., to which next router the packet is to be forwarded. Each router typically maintains this information in a routing table, shown as routing tables 116 and 118, which contains a mapping between addresses or address groups, such as IP subnets, and the next hop for packets destined for these addresses.
When a link connecting two routers in a network fails, a partitioning of the network may occur. Thus in FIG. 1, if the link between R1 (108) and R2 (110) fails, nodes A (100) and C (104) can still communicate with each other but not with nodes B (102) and D (106), and vice versa. Each router will typically automatically detect this situation and update its routing table accordingly, such as by eliminating entries whose next hop is unreachable. However, nodes in one partition may still try to send packets to nodes in the other partition. When this occurs, a "no route to destination" error is typically generated and logged by the first router to detect the problem, which then reports the problem to the network management system (NMS). The NMS must then decide what action to take, such as tracing the error to its root cause. In large networks where there may be many active communication sessions between nodes at one time, a single link failure event might cause numerous "no route to destination" notifications to be generated in every router in one partition which receives packets that are destined for the other partition and reported to the NMS. Thus, where the existence of a link failure is already known to the NMS, it would be advantageous to know whether or not a routing error is caused by the link failure, as well as which nodes might be affected by the link failure, obviating the need for the NMS to take action that it would normally take.

Root cause correlation in connectionless networks


The invention relates to a high-pressure fan which comprises an electric motor provided with a shaft that goes through it; blade wheels which are mainly made of a carbon fibre-based composite material, arranged on both sides of the electric motor and mounted directly on the shaft of the electric motor; fan housings surrounding the blade wheels; and an intermediate channel which connects a pressure opening of one fan housing to a suction opening of the other fan housing, the intermediate channel being integrated into the base structure of the high-pressure fan.

The invention relates to a high-pressure fan which comprises an electric motor provided with a shaft that goes through it; blade wheels which are mainly made of a carbon fibre-based composite material, arranged on both sides of the electric motor and mounted directly on the shaft of the electric motor; fan housings surrounding the blade wheels; and an intermediate channel which connects a pressure opening of one fan housing to a suction opening of the other fan housing, the intermediate channel being integrated into the base structure of the high-pressure fan and located substantially below the electric motor and the blade wheels mounted to it.
This type of compact high-pressure fan except for the intermediate channel structure integrated to the base structure is known from FI patent 101564. When the blade wheels are made of a mainly carbon fibre-based composite material, the weight of the blade wheel is considerably reduced in comparison with the conventional steel and aluminium blade wheels. In spite of this, it has been possible to design the blade wheels at least as strong as when using the conventional materials. Due to the light weight of the blade wheels, they also do not require separate bearings and the bearings of the electric motor suffice. Due to the light weight of the rotating parts and the possibility to use smaller slide bearings instead of roller bearings, it has also been possible to raise considerably the rotation rate of the fan. The first critical rotation rate of the high-pressure fan is at the same time also at a higher level than that of the conventional solutions, which facilitates the use of rotating control in the entire area of operation, the control being easy to implement by means of a frequency converter.
The two series-connected steps of the high-pressure fan, i.e. the entities formed by each blade wheel and fan housing, are in this solution according to FI patent 101564 connected to each other by means of an intermediate channel running over the entire fan structure.
Even though this known high-pressure fan structure provides the significant advantages listed above, problems are still caused by said intermediate channel that requires a lot of space and causes vibration especially at high rotation rates.
An intermediate channel structure integrated to the base structure is in turn known from SU invention report 1710849.


An information processing device, method and computer program storage device that cooperate to handle different user interface situations differently. An exemplary device detects an external object as being in a touch state when and external object is in contact with a detection surface, and an adjacent state when the external object is within a predetermined distance from said detection surface but not in contact with said detection surface. A processor, when operating in a first mode, processes the touch state differently than the adjacent state. Also, the processor when operating in a second mode, processes said adjacent state as if it was the touch state.

Recently, as input interfaces of mobile terminals such as cellular phones or digital cameras, touch panels are frequently used. As the types of touch panel, there are a capacitive type, a resistive type, an infrared ray shielding type, and the like.
For example, in a capacitive-type touch panel, the position of a finger is detected by detecting a change in the electrostatic capacity by using electrodes arranged at each position. The electrostatic capacity of the electrode increases as an object causing a change in the electrostatic capacity such as a finger approaches. On the other hand, the electrostatic capacity of the electrode decreases as the object is located farther away.
As above, in a terminal having the capacitive-type touch panel, generally, the function is realized by detecting a touch on a touch panel based on the magnitude of the electrostatic capacity.
However, in a case where a user wears a glove, and it is difficult to touch the touch panel with a bare hand, the electrostatic capacity does not change even when the touch panel is touched by the user. Accordingly, it is difficult to detect a user operation.
In order to respond to such a case, there is a technique in which the resistance value of a touch sensor is measured, in a case where the resistance value is greater than a reference value, a user is determined to have worn a glove, and a threshold value used for determining On/Off of a touch panel operation is set to be lower than a case of a bare hand (JP-A-2008-33701). According to such a technique, by setting the threshold value to be lower in a case where the user wears a glove, the sensitivity of the touch panel can be improved.

Information processing device, method of processing information, and computer program storage device


A shopping cart has a vertically movable horizontal shelf that is normally positioned near the upper rim of the basket of the cart. The shelf is spring biased so that as it becomes loaded with shopping items, it tends to move downwardly within the basket. The upwardly oriented unloaded position of the shelf allows the cart to be nested with another such cart for storage. The shelf is mounted to the front wall of the cart on a pair of spaced apart telescoping tracks with springs biasing the shelf in the upward position. As the shelf is unloaded it tends to move upwardly thereby making it easier to unload the shopping cart.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to shopping carts, and more particularly to a shopping cart having an improved method of loading and unloading the cart through the use of a movable shelf.
2. Description of Related art
The following art defines the present state of this field:
Nicholl et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,812,187 describes a nestable shopping cart with a movable bottom. This invention provides an improvement to shopping carts which the basket component may be expanded for added capacity without interfering with the ability of the carts to be nested together when not in use.
Young, U.S. Pat. No. 2,958,536 describes a telescoping grocery cart having a moveable bottom. This invention provides a means for increasing the loading capacity of the conventional telescoping cart by the provision of means for moving one or more of the walls of the cart outwardly from the normal lines of the cart structure as the lading is placed therein.
Oliver, U.S. Pat. No. 3,787,063 describes a shopping cart having a container adapted to receive articles therein, and having also wheels enabling the cart to be propelled along the aisles of a supermarket or similar establishment. The cart includes wheel-equipped frame structure having a container supported thereby for selective angular displacements between a generally horizontal position of use and a generally vertical position in which a plurality of carts can be disposed in successive juxtaposition with frame and container portions of one cart nested within frame and container portions of an adjacent cart. The container has a movable bottom wall displaceable between retracted and extended positions in accordance with the magnitude of the weight supported at any time by the bottom wall, thereby making the chamber defined by the container automatically expandable to accommodate the size of the load placed therein by a shopper, and automatically retractable as such load is removed therefrom to facilitated unloading of the chamber at the check out counter of such market. The movable bottom wall is floatingly supported so that it will not bind if subjected to asymmetrical loading.
Close, U.S. Pat. No. 3,456,763 describes an invention related to a shopping cart and associated apparatus to assist unloading of said cart. The shopping cart includes a basket having a liftable tray covering the bottom thereof. The tray may be raised as the basket is being unloaded to lift goods in the basket to the level of the checkout stand and the top of the basket wall. Elevating means are connected to the tray for raising same to render the goods supported thereon accessible for unloading.
Ettlin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,893 describes a planar, rigid structure intended to provide a removable, horizontal division of the interior of a four wheeled wire frame grocery cart. A flat, rigid structure, dimensioned for the particular manufacture of cart, possesses a member for obtaining support from at least one of the several pairs of opposed longitudinal bars found in the standard wire frame cart construction. The member enables positioning of the shelf by abutment of one side of said shelf against one interior side of the cart while holding the opposed side of the shelf from a position above the level of abutment and then simply releasing.
Ruttenberg et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,437,176 describes a grocery cart with an inclined bottom having a front opening gate system. This invention relates to an automatic cart unloading system utilizing a wheeled cart which has a substantially inclined bottom wall sloping downwardly toward the front of the cart and a frontwardly opening gate system. The shopping cart is designed to be used with a check stand having a substantially depressed zone therein and open at one end. A conveyor system is disposed in the depressed zone. The counter is further provided with means for holding a shopping cart against the open end of the check stand and with means for opening the gate on the shopping cart. Thus, when a cart is so held and its gate so opened the goods in the shopping cart will gravitationally slide out of the cart onto the conveyor system.
McConnaughhay, U.S. Pat. No. 3,513,944 describes a shopping cart unloading apparatus for facilitating ready unloading of grocery carts or merchandise shopping carts of self service stores. The apparatus includes means for elevatingly tilting or bodily lift-tilting a shopping cart so that its fore and aft axis is tilted downwardly. The apparatus includes a pivotally liftable carriage adapted to coactingly receive and lift a shopping cart. The carriage includes reach structure for pivotally moving a shopping cart in an upwardly sweeping arc thereby lift-tilting the basketed merchandise within easy reach of the checkout cashier.
Swanson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,709 describes an unloading assembly for shopping carts, which assembly moves the contents of the cart from the cart onto a stand, which stand may contain a scanner head for reading the prices on the individual items moved from the cart and across the top of the stand. Movement of the contents of the cart is accomplished by a belt which is positioned in the bottom of the basket of the cart and trained over a pair of spaced idler rollers, there being driving means carried by the stand whereby a pair of driven rollers of the driving means may be brought into engagement with the conveyor belt and one of the idler rollers and thus drive the belt and move the contents of the basket therefrom and onto the stand. An elevating mechanism may be provided on the stand to vertically shift the driving means and the cart to a position where the bottom of the cart basket is aligned with the top of a stand when the top of the stand is initially at a greater heights then the bottom of the basket.
Celms, U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,044 describes a gate construction for a shopping cart basket wherein a gate panel is disposed between sidewalls of the basket for closing an end thereof. The gate panel has its lower edge pivotally supported on a pair of brackets mounted to the sidewalls adjacent the lower comers thereof. A latch structure coacts between the sidewalls and the upper corners of the gate for holding the gate in a closed position.
Ulmer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,180 describes a shopping cart of the over-the-counter type that includes front gates that slide under the basket of the shopping cart for storage purposes. The gate bumpers that are constructed and defined to permit the slide-under action are interlocked with the front gate to prevent the ready theft of the front gate from the shopping cart. The front gate is provided with a positive latch to the basket to further prevent the unintentional opening of the gate. The baby seat compartment has a gate that may be pivoted forwardly and rearwardly as well as an upright back supporting position. The shopping cart is constructed of a single frame element for supporting the basket and baby compartment and functioning as a cart handle. The basket is pivotally supported on the frame element to permit it to be swung rearwardly to a storage position over the baby seat compartment. The forces transmitted to the baby seat compartment for elevating the basket are transmitted to the handle rather than the baby seat compartment.
The prior art teaches various apparatus for improving the loading and unloading of a shopping cart. However, the prior art does not teach a vertically movable shelf, mounted to move in accordance with shelf loading on a pair of spaced apart telescoping tracks, so as to make the unloading of items in the cart easier. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.


Apparatus and methods for converting raster illustrated parts images into intelligent vector-layered files. The method involves recognizing and removing reference labels from the raster illustrated parts image to produce a reference label scrubbed file. Reference lines are recognized and removed from the reference label scrubbed file to produce a scrubbed file. The scrubbed file includes a reusable base graphic. The scrubbed file is converted to a vector file in which the reusable base graphic is embedded. One or more vector layers are added to the vector file to produce the intelligent vector-layered file. Each vector layer includes vector elements corresponding to one of the recognized reference labels and its one or more reference lines.

Illustrated parts drawings identify a hierarchy of details or assemblies and parts in a manner showing how the details and parts fit together. Illustrated parts drawings may show multiple details such as the exemplary illustrated parts drawing shown in FIG. 1 that includes three details labeled G, H and I. Typically, the details include references or items numbers that are indexes into a parts list where additional information about the assemblies and parts is available. A single illustrated parts drawing can include many details with dozens of item numbers.
It is a common practice to use illustrated parts drawings with task lists. A task list specifies construction or maintenance steps, where each step references one or more the parts on the illustrated parts drawing. For a particular step, a user typically must search the drawing for the parts referenced in the step to view the part and how it relates to other parts. However, searching for the part can be time-consuming and prone to errors, especially as the number of parts contained in the illustrated parts drawing increases.
An existing method of improving the usability of electronic illustrated parts images with task lists is to separate the various images of the illustrated parts drawings for each step of the task list and then identify only the details and parts referenced in that step. In this method, the same base drawing is used repeatedly but with only the relevant, and different, parts being identified each time. This method immediately draws the user's attention to the parts or items on the drawing that are relevant to the current step of the task list. For example, FIG. 2 shows an illustrated parts image being used with an exemplary task list. As shown in FIG. 2, the illustrated parts image identifies only the parts or items relevant to or mentioned in the current task list step (i.e., "Remove bolts, washers, and nuts"). Although this method has proved successful for its intended purpose, the cost of manually creating and maintaining numerous slightly modified versions of the same drawing, however, is prohibitively expensive.
Another method of improving the usability of electronic illustrated parts images is to provide an illustrated parts image with one or more intelligent objects. Indeed, existing computer software programs and tools allow for the authoring of intelligent illustrated parts images with intelligent objects and constructs, such as item numbers and locators. By way of example only, an illustrated parts image may be provided with an item number that is disposed at the end of a reference line (e.g., lead line, leader line, arrow, bulleted line, etc.) and that is associated with a link or index to database information about the particular component or part referenced by the item number. Accordingly, a user-click on an item number queries a database and thus allows the user to access database information associated with the item number. As another example, an illustrated parts image may be provided with a locator. As before with item numbers, a locator is also disposed at the end of a reference line. However, a locator is associated with zooming functionality that allows a user to zoom in on a particular portion (e.g., component, part, detail, assembly, etc.) of the illustrated parts drawing with a user-click on the locator. Accordingly, both item numbers and locators allow a user to access additional information by way of a user-click thereon.
However, there are many existing illustrated parts drawings that comprise unintelligent raster images (bitmapped graphics) that do not provide high-level structures, such as text records or graphical primitives. For at least this reason, raster illustrated part images have had very limited functionality in electronic information systems.


A semiconductor storage device according to the present invention comprises a plurality of memory cells each provided with an access transistor in which a source is connected to a bit line and a gate is connected to a word line and a capacitor in which a storage electrode is connected to a drain of the access transistor, the plurality of memory cells being placed in a matrix shape in column and row directions, a sense amplifier circuit connected to the source of the access transistor via the bit line, a bit-line precharge voltage generating circuit for generating a bit-line precharge voltage lower than a sense amplifier supply voltage to be supplied to the sense amplifier circuit and supplying the generated bit-line precharge voltage to the bit line, and a cell plate voltage generating circuit for generating a cell plate voltage set to be lower than the bit-line precharge voltage and supplying the generated cell plate voltage to a plate electrode of the capacitor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor storage device, more specifically to a technology for improving retention characteristics of data "1" and "0" in DRAM.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an increasingly higher integration is demanded in, particularly, an embedded DRAM in order to realize the SOC (system on chip) with reduced costs. In the DRAM, a memory array unit comprising a large number of memory cells occupies a large portion of a memory area. Therefore, in order to realize a consolidated DRAM which is more integrated, it is important to reduce an area of the memory cell itself. The memory cell is provided with a memory-cell transistor and a memory capacitor comprising an insulation film having a high dielectric constant, and it is important to miniaturize the memory capacitor in order to reduce the area of the memory cell.
In the memory cell of the stack type, the miniaturization reduces a surface area of the memory capacitor; however, the capacity of the memory capacitor is secured because an insulation film whose dielectric constant is high is adopted. It is necessary to reduce the thickness of the insulation film as thin as possible in order to increase the capacity of the memory capacitor, which, however, unfavorably increases a tunnel leak current of the insulation film of the capacitor. Further, a storage node is silicided because the miniaturizing process demands a logic compatibility, which, however, becomes a factor responsible for increasing a junction leakage in the storage node.
FIG. 10 schematically shows a retention time dependency of a storage node voltage by the leak current. In "0" data, a tunnel leakage of the insulation film of the capacitor is dominant, and the storage node voltage thereby increases toward a cell plate voltage VCP over time. In "1" data, the storage node voltage is finally reduced toward a substrate bias voltage VBB under the influences of junction and channel leakages of an access transistor.
Assuming that:                a parasitic capacitance per bit line is Cb;        a capacity of a capacitor C is Cs;        a potential difference between a bit-line precharge voltage VBP and a "0" storage node voltage V0 is ΔVDL (ΔVDL=VBP−V0); and        a potential difference ΔVDH between a "1" storage voltage V1 and the bit-line precharge voltage VBP is (ΔVDH=V1−VBP),
a dimension of a sensing signal ΔVL of the "0" data, and a dimension of a sensing signal ΔVH of the "1" data are respectively expressed as follows.ΔVL=k·ΔVDL=k·(VBP−V0)ΔVH=k·ΔVDH=k·(V1−VBP)k=1/(Cb/CS+1)
The sensing signal ΔVL denotes a potential difference generated between compensating bit lines BL and BL when data in a memory cell MC ("0" or "1") is read onto the bit line BL during a retention time tp.
It is assumed that a lower-limit value of a differential voltage (V1−VBP) in the "1" storage voltage V1 is V1m, and a lower-limit value of a differential voltage (VBP−V0) in the "0" storage node voltage V0 is V0m. An effective range of the lower-limit value V0m in the "0" storage node voltage V0 extends considerably further in terms of time, while an effective range of the lower-limit value V1m of the "1" storage voltage V1 ends considerably earlier in terms of time. More specifically, an amount of the sensing signal of the "1" data is significantly reduced after the retention time tp has passed because the leak current of the "1" data is relatively large. Therefore, the effective range of the lower-limit value V1m of the "1" storage voltage V1 rate-controls the retention time tp.
As shown in FIG. 11, there is available a method of improving the "1" data retention time (the retention time in the "1" storage voltage V1 is extended) by reducing the bit-line precharge voltage VBP and securing the sensing signal of the "1" data after the retention time has passed. An example of the method is recited in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H11-16354 of Japanese Patent Documents.
In this example, the bit-line precharge voltage VBP is set to be lower than the cell plate voltage VCP. The effective range of the lower-limit value V1m of the "1" storage voltage V1 extends considerably further in terms of time, while the effective range of the lower-limit value V0m of the "0" storage node voltage V0 ends considerably earlier in terms of time. More specifically, the effective range of the lower-limit value V0m of the "0" storage node voltage V0 rate-controls the retention time tp.
However, in the conventional technology shown in FIG. 11, while the sensing signal of the "1" data after the elapse of retention time tp can be secured, the sensing signal of the "0" data is contrarily reduced in the manufacturing process of the latest miniaturized embedded DRAM because the tunnel leak current of the insulation film whose dielectric constant is high is remarkably increased. Because the bit-line precharge voltage VBP is set to be lower than the cell plate voltage VCP, the effective range of the lower-limit value V0m of the "0" storage node voltage V0 cannot be extended to such a range that the "0" storage node voltage V0 exceeds the bit-line precharge voltage VBP. Therefore, the effective range of the lower-limit value V0m of the "0" storage node voltage V0 rate-controls the retention time tp.


A central counterparty for data management (CCDM) receives data relating to financial transactions, associates the data with metadata to create reference data, stores the reference data and provides the reference data in “push” and “pull” ways. The “push” techniques for providing the data include distributing on a data feed, sending the data to parties known to be relevant to the transaction, and sending the data to parties who have a standing query that is satisfied by the data. The “pull” techniques for providing the data include responding to queries received from a variety of parties. The CCDM generates and distributes unique, unambiguous and universal identifiers (U3id's) and associates the U3id identifiers with the reference data.

The present invention relates data processing for the financial industry, and more particularly, is directed to a centralized repository of static information involved in securities trading, with various information distribution capabilities.
Securities trading, particularly the post-trade activities of clearance and settlement, still gives rise to many errors, even almost fifty years of increasingly advanced automation.
Another problem is that different departments in a securities firm usually have their own data handling practices, and their own databases, sometimes referred to as data silos. Accordingly, it can be difficult or impossible for a firm to accurately aggregate its own data.
A further problem is that securities firms each maintain their data at their discretion in differing formats and with identifiers of their own choosing, so it can be difficult or impossible for a regulatory agency to accurately aggregate data from different firms.
A 2008 survey by TowerGroup asked firms with automated trade processing capability what were the reasons for trades being rejected from automated processing, and obtained the following results:                91.1% of automated trades are not rejected        1.8% of automated trades are rejected due to disparities between databases        3.0% of automated trades are rejected due to bad reference data        4.1% of automated trades are rejected for other reasons
In the US alone, in just one payment and settlement facility, Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), nearly $7.5 trillion of traded value is associated with trade matching on any one day. There are nearly 100 such facilities globally. Although DTCC is by far the largest these error rates are significant to the values at risk at such facilities globally.
Thus, there is a need for improved techniques for processing financial information in the securities industry.

Central counterparty for data management


A list display apparatus includes: a picture generating unit for generating a three-dimensional list picture, the three-dimensional list picture having a plurality of lower item cards having a respective lower items in a hierarchical structure being unfolded and expanded in a bellows configuration when shifting from an upper level to a lower level of the hierarchical structure, or the plurality of lower item cards being folded and collapsed in a bellows configuration when shifting from the lower level to the upper level of the hierarchical structure; and a control unit for outputting the three-dimensional list picture to a predetermined display unit, thereby displaying the three-dimensional list picture.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a list display apparatus, a list display method, and a graphical user interface, and is suitably applicable to, for example, a portable music player which lists a plurality of album titles, song titles, etc.
Description of the Related Art
A portable audio player stores a large number of pieces of song data by saving the large number of pieces of song data into separate folders of hierarchical structure.
In so doing, the portable audio player stores, for example, a plurality of pieces of song data that are associated with an album title into an album folder that has the album title as its folder name in the form of respective song files.
When searching for a song file desired by a user, as shown in FIG. 1A, this portable audio player displays an album list screen ALG including a plurality of album titles on the monitor of the portable audio player.
As shown in FIG. 1B, if an album title, e.g., "Destiny Border" is selected from the album list screen ALG, the portable audio player then displays a song list screen MLG which includes a plurality of song files (song titles) stored in the album folder that has the folder name "Destiny Border".
In the meantime, there has been a means for displaying hierarchically structured data in a three-dimensional fashion, by which the pieces of data are distributed and arranged from upper levels to lower levels in order toward a cone bottom in a radial configuration, and are three-dimensionally displayed as a contents tree of cone shape (refer to, e.g., Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-047778).

List display apparatus, list display method and graphical user interface


A method includes receiving a request for information from a relational database, translating the received request to at least one of an object and a relational persistent query, parsing the query to determine one or more of table names, attributes and attribute types, and generating at least one set of related files. The parsing results are used to update at least one configuration file to accept the related files for use by at least one of the object and the relational persistent query service, and execute at least one of the persistent query services based on the translated queries, wherein the persistent query services are programmed to receive the translated query. Based on the execution of the translated query, the results are either fetched from at least one of the object cache or retrieved from at least one of the database, stored, and the results are transmitted to the user.

The field of the disclosure relates generally to querying a relational database, and more specifically to querying a relational database using one or both of an external object and a relational persistent query service.
A database is a structured collection of records or data. A computer database relies upon software to organize the storage of data. The software models the database structure in what are known as database models. The model in most common use today is the relational model, also referred to as Structured Query Language (SQL) databases. Other models such as the hierarchical model and the network model use a more explicit representation of relationships. Database management systems (DBMS) are the software used to organize and maintain the database. These are categorized according to the database model that they support. The model tends to determine the query languages that are available to access the database. A great deal of the internal engineering of a DBMS, however, is independent of the data model, and is concerned with managing factors such as performance, concurrency, integrity, and recovery from hardware failures.
However, as the size of a database increases, in particular SQL relational databases, access latency increases accordingly. The most common solution to overcome this latency is to cache results of commonly queried SQL. A large amount of software has been developed to cache results of commonly queried SQL for two main reasons: to decrease the number of accesses to the database and increase the amount of data that is retrieved from each access. A type of software which is commonly used for this purpose is called an Object Persistent Query Service. Another software package is referred to as a Relational Persistent Query Service. These services are often used in combination with query and object caches. Many difficult implementation steps have been encountered in integrating Object and Relational Persistent Query Services capabilities into an application/web application. Furthermore, many detailed changes within an already operational application/web application have to be done manually, and this can be time consuming and impact the availability of the system for users. Also, both Object and Relational Persistent Query Services require resource files for mapping objects with database tables and caching results.
Thus, deploying Object/Oriented Persistent Query Service to application/web application is a time-consuming and laborious process in itself, which may sometimes be further aggravated by requiring the re-implementation of the entire application/web application. Current work on automating the process of creating object mapping files and program files uses the brute force method of creating mapping files for the entire database and corresponding object class files. The current process typically works from a database schema and is a static process and is not based on parsing the SQL query issued by the user application. The methodology of our invention is dynamic and begins with parsing of the SQL query issued by the user application to the database.

Methods and apparatus for generating dynamic program files based on input queries that facilitate use of persistent query services


Methods, systems, and devices for operating a ferroelectric memory cell or cells are described. Offsets in the threshold voltage of switching components (e.g., transistors) connected to digit lines may be compensated by using various operating techniques or additional circuit components, or both. For example, a switching component connected to a digit line may also be connected to an offset capacitor selected to compensate for a threshold voltage offset. The offset capacitor may be discharged in conjunction with a read operation, resulting in a threshold voltage applied to the switching component. This may enable all or substantially all of the stored charge of the ferroelectric memory cell to be extracted and transferred to a sense capacitor through the transistor. A sense amplifier may compare the voltage of the sense capacitor to a reference voltage in order to determine the stored logic state of the memory cell.

The following relates generally to memory devices and more specifically to offset compensation for ferroelectric memory cell sensing.
Memory devices are widely used to store information in various electronic devices such as computers, wireless communication devices, cameras, digital displays, and the like. Information is stored by programming different states of a memory device. For example, binary devices have two states, often denoted by a logic "1" or a logic "0." In other systems, more than two states may be stored. To access the stored information, the electronic device may read, or sense, the stored state in the memory device. To store information, the electronic device may write, or program, the state in the memory device.
Multiple types of memory devices exist, including random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), magnetic RAM (MRAM), resistive RAM (RRAM), flash memory, and others. Memory devices may be volatile or non-volatile. Non-volatile memory, e.g., flash memory, can store data for extended periods of time even in the absence of an external power source. Volatile memory devices, e.g., DRAM, may lose their stored state over time unless they are periodically refreshed by an external power source. A binary memory device may, for example, include a charged or discharged capacitor. A charged capacitor may become discharged over time through leakage currents, resulting in the loss of the stored information. Certain features of volatile memory may offer performance advantages, such as faster read or write speeds, while features of non-volatile, such as the ability to store data without periodic refreshing, may be advantageous.
FeRAM may use similar device architectures as volatile memory but may have non-volatile properties due to the use of a ferroelectric capacitor as a storage device. FeRAM devices may thus have improved performance compared to other non-volatile and volatile memory devices. Some FeRAM sensing schemes may, however, extract only a fraction of the ferroelectric capacitor's stored charge when determining the stored logic state. This may reduce the reliability of sensing operations or may limit memory cell (or array) size reductions that could otherwise be made.

Offset compensation for ferroelectric memory cell sensing


An improved bone screw for humans or mammals is a bone screw having exposed surfaces along a shank and threads extending from the shank with one or more selected portions of the exposed surfaces having a 3-dimensional pattern. The pattern provides enhanced resistance to thread loosening when affixed to bone. The exposed surface is on exterior portions of the threads or portions of the shank or both. The one or more selected portions of the exposed portions having a bone formation enhancing 3-dimensional patterns are in the external exposed thread surfaces or in the exposed shank surfaces or both.

Bone screws are provided in a variety of shapes and sizes. The most common employ titanium or stainless steel as a preferred material for implantation. These screws are ideal in that they do not oxidize and are very compatible with the bone structure. These screws typically employ one or more helical threads. Many are self-tapping at the proximal tip or end. The distal end of the screw has a head or some physical construction to allow torquing the screw into the bone. The shank extends between the head and the tip end and is machined with the desired threads to engage the bone structure.
The bone structure has an interior of a softer more open trabecular spacing. This region. This region is somewhat spongy or elastic in nature. The outer region of the bone is hard and more densely formed cortical bone. This hard bone can provide an excellent region to cut threads into as the screw is tightened. Historically, the screws, once fully inserted, are used to anchor bone plates, spinal fusion spacers and rods commonly used in spinal surgical repairs and to hold bone fracture fragments together.
The very nature of the helix angle cut into the shank to form the threads creates a spiral ramp inclined slightly. The bone screws are made with the threads being sharp and highly polished to make the bone entry easier. This contributes to a phenomenon that induces the bone screw to loosen over time. Ideally, new bone ingrowth occurs to help hold the fastener in place, but the occurrence of screw loosening is such that many, if not most, bone screws use anti-back out or locking features to keep the bone screw held in the bone in the event the screw tends to loosen. Secondarily, when the screw loosens it can also lower the pull out forces required to tear through the threads in the bone.
These and other issues can be reduced by a recent discovery that was initially created to enhance bone ingrowth on the exterior surfaces of implants. It was discovered that polymers like those used in implantation and metals like titanium and stainless steel could have greatly enhanced bone formation by surface patterning.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,535,388 B2; 8,414,654 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,679,189 B1*, a unique surface pattern was disclosed what in a preferred embodiment mimics under-modelled marine mammal bone. This pattern has proven beneficial in plastic and metal implants including PEEK, stainless steel and titanium. Its continuous network of voids creates regions of enhanced osteoinductivity to enhance rapid new bone growth as explained in U.S. Pat. No. 8,414,654 B2. In practice, the creation of these patterns can be accomplished employing laser technology. This manufacturing ability allows the machining to occur on difficult to reach surfaces and angles. The inventor, when applying this capacity to implants made in the form of bone screws, has found remarkable added benefits which are described hereinafter.