A method and apparatus for making high resolution objects by stereolithography utilizing low resolution materials which are limited by their inability to form unsupported structures of desired thinness and/or their inability to form coatings of desired thinness. Data manipulation techniques, based on layer comparisons, are used to control exposure in order to delay solidification of the material on at least portions of at least some cross-sections until higher layers of material are deposited so as to allow down-facing features of the object to be located at a depth in the building material which is equal to or exceeds a minimum cure depth that can effectively be used for solidifying these features. Similar data manipulations are used to ensure minimum reliable coating thicknesses exist, above previously solidified material, before attempting solidification of a next layer. In addition, horizontal comparison techniques are used to provide enhanced cross-sectional data for use in forming the object. Further, several techniques for automatically performing Z-error correction through the manipulation of a three-dimensional object representation are described.

The field of the invention is stereolithography, and more particularly improved stereolithography methods and apparatus for manufacturing parts or objects more rapidly, reliably, accurately, and economically.
It is common practice in the production of plastic parts or objects to first design the part and then produce a prototype of the part. This requires considerable time, effort, and expense. For example, tooling or molds may be required, even to produce just the prototype. The design is then reviewed and often times the laborious and expensive process is again and again repeated until the design has been optimized. After design optimization, the next step is production. Most production plastic parts are injection molded. Since the design time and tooling costs are very high, plastic parts are often only practical in high volume production. While other processes are available for the production of plastic parts, including direct machine work, vacuum-forming and direct forming, such methods are typically only cost effective for short-run production, and the parts produced are usually inferior in quality to molded parts.
Techniques have been developed in the past for making three-dimensional objects within a fluid medium. These techniques involve selectively curing the medium, e.g., a resin, with a beam of radiation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,041,476; 4,078,229; 4,238,840 and 4,288,861 describe some of these techniques. All of these techniques or systems rely on the buildup of synergistic energization, or curing energy, at selected points deep within the volume of the fluid medium, to the exclusion of all other points in the fluid volume. These systems however, encounter a number of problems with resolution and exposure control. The loss of radiation intensity and image forming resolution of the focused spots of the beam, as they are directed deeper into the fluid medium, create complex beam control situations. Absorption, diffusion, dispersion and diffraction all contribute to the difficulties of working deep within the fluid medium on an economical and reliable basis.
In recent years, "stereolithography" systems, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,330, which patent is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth herein in full, have come into use. Stereolithography is a method for automatically building simple or complex parts (e.g., plastic parts) by successively "printing" cross-sections or layers of a solidified fluid-like building material on top of each other, with all of the layers joined together to form a whole part. The building material may be, for example, a photopolymer which is solidifiable upon exposure to UV radiation or the like. Powder material, which forms a solidified mass when sintered by conducted or radiated heat from a heated element or source of IR radiation or the like, and powders which are solidifiable by the addition of a reactive chemical such as a binder, may also be utilized. This method of fabrication is extremely powerful for quickly reducing design ideas to physical form and for making prototypes.
One type of useful fluid medium, photocurable polymers (photopolymers) change from a liquid to solid when exposed to light. Their photospeed under ultraviolet light (UV) is fast enough to make them practical building materials. The material that is not polymerized when a part is made is still usable and remains in the vat as successive parts are made. In one embodiment an ultraviolet laser generates a small intense spot of UV. This spot is moved across the liquid surface with a galvanometer mirror X-Y scanner. The scanner is driven by computer generated vectors. After each successive surface is exposed by the laser, an elevator lowers the object further into the vat and allows another layer of fresh liquid to cover the surface of the object for formation of the next layer. Precise complex patterns can be rapidly produced with this technique.
The laser, scanner, photopolymer vat and elevator, along with a controlling computer and possibly a separate computer for creating appropriate cross-section data from initially supplied three-dimensional object data, combine together to form a stereolithography apparatus, referred to as an "SLA." An SLA is programmed to automatically make a part by drawing its various cross-sections, one layer at a time, and building the part up layer-by-layer.
Stereolithography does not use tooling, molds, dies, etc. Since it depends on using a computer to generate cross-sectional layers or patterns, an SLA can be readily linked (i.e., a data link) to computer aided design as a computer aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) apparatus.
Many photopolymers have a "minimum solidifiable thickness," i.e., a minimum thickness below which they cannot be sufficiently cured to form unsupported regions of transformed, cohesive material. For example, with presently preferred fluid photopolymers, if an attempt is made to try to form a feature of an object having a thickness less than the minimum solidifiable depth (MSD) or thickness, that feature will either simply fail to sufficiently solidify to become part of the object, or it will slump (i.e., fail to hold its shape) when the object or individual layer is moved relative to the vat of fluid photopolymer. The minimum solidifiable thickness of a building medium (e.g. photopolymer) is not only a characteristic of the building medium or material itself but it also depends on the synergistic stimulation source chosen (e.g. the solidifying radiation such as ultraviolet light) and the environmental conditions surrounding the material. For example, oxygen absorbed in a photopolymer can act as a reaction inhibitor. Therefore, as used herein, "MSD" refers to the minimum solidification depth obtainable with a given material/solidification environment combination. The minimum solidification depth can also be considered the depth resulting from the minimum exposure that is preferred for curing down-facing features of an object what ever the basis for this preferred minimum. It may be based on a desire to form a minimum solidified thickness of material from a single layer, which minimum thickness is selected for its ability to withstand curl distortion or to supply sufficient structural integrity. These definitions can apply to any fluid-like material whether liquid, powder, paste, emulsion, or the liquid. Furthermore, these definitions can also apply to building material that is applied in sheet form and then transformed.
Many liquid building materials also have a Minimum Recoating Depth, MRD, or thickness; i.e. a minimum coating thickness that can reliably be formed over previously solidified material. This minimum recoating depth, may derive from a dewetting phenomena that occurs between the liquid material and the previously solidified material. Alternatively, the MRD may simply be based on apparatus or process limitations regarding the timely formations of coatings; in other words, the minimum thickness may be set by a maximum acceptable recoating time or accuracy limitation. This alternative definition can be applied to both liquid and powder materials.
Stereolithography makes objects layer by layer. Since the MSD is the minimum solidification depth for forming unsupported regions of layers (i.e., down-facing features of the object), these regions must be given a cure depth of at least the MSD regardless of the thickness between individual layers or cross-sections from which the object is being formed. Therefore, due to the layer-by-layer formation process, even if the layers being used are thinner than the MSD, the accuracy of the stereolithographically reproduced object is limited by the MSD of the material being used.
Moreover, because of the layer-by-layer formation process of stereolithography, the MRD sets the minimum coating thicknesses that can be effectively utilized by standard stereolithographic techniques. This minimum coating thickness directly sets the vertical accuracy obtainable when using standard stereolithographic techniques.
In the remainder of the specification, the MSD and MRD may be expressed in either (1) particular units of length or (2) without units or followed by an "LT". "LT" is an acronym for "layer thickness" and in particular the thickness for layers having the desired resolution. If the MRD is expressed without units, or followed by an LT, it should be understood that it is expressed in terms of the number of layers, each possessing the desired resolution, that yield a thickness equal to the MRD.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to overcome the MSD limitation by providing a method and apparatus of practicing high resolution stereolithography when using a building material that is inherently incapable of making unsupported thicknesses of solidified material as thin as the desired level of accuracy when solidified by the chosen synergistic stimulation.
Additionally, it is accordingly an object of the invention to overcome the MRD limitation by providing a method and apparatus of practicing high resolution stereolithography when using a fluid-like building material that is inherently incapable of reliably forming coating over previously solidified material as thin as the level of accuracy desired when forming the object.
Another object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus for enhancing object production by horizontally distinguishing regions of an object, to be formed, based on their distance from a given point, points, surface, or surfaces so as to form those regions with different building parameters.
Another object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus for enhancing object production by vertically distinguishing regions of an object, to be formed, based on their distance from a given point, points, surface, or surfaces so as to form those regions with different building parameters.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for automatically performing "Z-error correction", i.e., correcting for the condition in which the relative distance between an up-facing and down-facing feature of an object produced through stereolithography is greater than a desired amount due to the MSD or MRD being greater than the desired LT of a layer situated between the up and down facing features.
Another object of the subject invention is to provide improved methods of representing an object which facilitate Z-error correction, the display of the object on a graphical display device which is not equipped to display a fine level of detail regarding the object, (e.g. insufficient processing power to display object and its movement in a timely manner) and various manipulations to the object representation such as scaling-up or scaling-down operations.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for reducing rounding errors (e.g. errors associated with rounding of polygon vertices of NURB control points to slicing planes).
Further objects of the invention include utilization of the above objects alone or in combination with any two or more of the above objects into combination methods and combination apparatus to provide further enhancements to stereolithography. Other objects, useable alone or in combination, will be apparent to one of skill in the art from the teachings found herein.

Simultaneous multiple layer curing in stereolithography


Disclosed is a device for collecting and/or playing with circular and spherical objects. The device comprises: a base comprising an open top portion and a closed bottom portion; an open top main body comprising a rim portion, and a circular portion extending downwardly and inwardly from the rim portion to an aperture concentric with the rim portion and coupling with the open top portion of the base; a flange extending horizontally and outwardly about the rim portion; and at least one launching ramp mounted on the flange. Due to the mounting of the launching ramps on the flange the device is capable of accommodating the launching ramps outside the rim portion, that is, outside the outer circumference of the circular portion. Such an accommodation of the launching ramps provides the entire surface of the circular portion as a rolling surface for the circular and spherical objects.

Commonly, large funnel-shaped devices are used as apparatuses for demonstrating the principles of gravitational force and centrifugal force. When a circular or spherical object is launched tangentially from a guiding track on to an inner surface (i.e. a rolling surface) of the funnel-shaped device, the object gathers velocity during its descent along the guide path and the centrifugal force gathered thereby causes the object to roll along the inner surface of the device. At the same time, the gravitational force acts upon the rolling object, causing the object to roll downwards and inwards in a spiral path on the inner surface of the device, and ultimately, to drop out of the device. During the descent of the object along the inner surface of the funnel-shaped device, the object gathers velocity before exiting out of the narrow terminus of the funnel-shaped device. Such apparatuses are useful in teaching the basic principles of science to students and offer elements of entertainment and interactivity in the students' learning process.
Based on the same principles, "Wishing Wells" and "Coin Funnels" have also been devised and utilized for a plurality of reasons, such as fundraising purposes, amusement games, and the like. Such apparatuses may be installed in shopping malls, hospitals, museums, theaters, and retail stores, and other environments with pedestrian traffic to induce such pedestrians to deposit and deliver coinage into the apparatuses.
Such apparatuses generally have a guiding launch track for launching the circular or spherical objects onto a smooth trackless rolling surface. Various configurations of guiding launch tracks may be found in the prior art for launching the circular or spherical objects onto the rolling surface. U.S. Pat. No. 433,736 to Lockwood discloses a toy bank having a spiral ramp of several coils leading to a slot in the top of a drum-like base or container. U.S. Pat. No. 3,092,928 to Geiser discloses a toy for use with marbles, including an upper flat circular pan with a feed groove around its periphery leading to a tubular generally vertical track that discharges into a tangential extension of the top of an inverted conical base, so the marbles circle the base in decreasing circles an exit through a central bottom hole into a separate pan-like container.
When used for the purpose of amusement, the person playing the game may want the circular or spherical object dropped in the funnel-shaped device to remain rolling in the funnel as long as possible. This necessitates that the object utilize the maximum rolling surface available on the inner surface of the funnel-shaped device. U.S. Pat. No. Des 320,299 to Beiter discloses a "coin collector" with a guiding path disposed on the rolling surface for enabling a circular object to be launched onto the funnel-shaped device. Such a configuration decreases the rolling surface available for the objects to travel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,299 to Aspnes discloses a "Vending Machine with Coin Entertainment" having a coin feed mechanism, in addition to other structural configurations, that drops the coin into a main chute and finally onto trackless and endless structure or vortex structure where the coin rolls in a spiral. This patent does not discuss the available rolling surface of the vortex structure for the coin to travel in a spiral path.
The available arts in the current domain have in common launch ramps that are mounted directly on the funnel surface, thereby limiting the available rolling surface to the area between the launch ramps. Therefore, the available arts are mostly silent in addressing the benefit of utilizing the maximum rolling surface for the swirling circular or spherical objects. Also, with the mounting of the launch ramps directly on the surface of the funnel, said ramps block the view of the coins rolling around the funnel surface. Moreover, the launch ramps in the prior art have uniformly sloped guiding track requiring longer launch ramps for exiting the coins at desired speed and angle. Such longer ramps require more material, resulting in higher manufacturing costs.
Accordingly, there remains a need for an amusement or collection device capable of providing a maximum rolling surface for such objects, and a more open view of such objects, while at the same time avoiding the complexities of configuration, manufacturing and assembly to provide an easy-to-use and inexpensive device.

Device for collecting and playing with circular and spherical objects with launching ramps thereon


A lubricating system is affixed to and rotates with a rotary drive shaft, and provides automatic lubrication of the rotating bearings of a universal joint or similar articulated juncture in the shaft while the shaft is rotating. The present system includes a series of conventional automatic lubricators which are affixed to the shaft by a novel bracket. The bracket components provide for installation from the sides of the shaft, in order to avoid any requirement to disconnect the shaft at one end to pass the bracket over the end of the shaft. Each component group securing each side of the bracket portions together is configured to closely balance the weight of one lubricator in a partially depleted state, in order to avoid any undue balance problems on the shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to automated lubricating systems, and more specifically to a lubricating system which is affixed to a rotating drive shaft or the like and which rotates with the shaft. The present lubricating system supplies lubrication at intervals for bearings located at rotating universal joints and similar driveline junctures where it is not possible to provide a stationary lubrication fitting.
2. Description of the Related Art
Universal joints, constant velocity (CV) joints, and similar components are often designed to require periodic lubrication. While the automotive industry has generally turned to permanently lubricated joints, many types of large machinery utilize relatively large U-joints and the like, with such large joints generally requiring periodic lubrication for the bearings therein. This is true in many industries, e.g. maritime shipping and various machines used in heavy industry, most particularly large paper manufacturing machines. In many cases such machines are run essentially continually, as starting and stopping the machines and their production at the end of a workday or workweek cannot be justified economically.
Conventional lubricating systems for such drive line fittings, require the machine to be shut down periodically in order to stop the joint and access the lubrication fitting(s) thereon. Down time for such a machine may be on the order of $300 per minute or $18,000 per hour, depending upon the size and production capacity of the machine. The requirement to employ mechanics to lubricate the driveline systems adds further to the cost of maintaining such a machine. The alternative of running the machine until damage occurs due to lack of lubrication is even less desirable. The down time noted above is only one of the factors, which must be considered when a machine is shut down due to damage. The removal, repair, and installation time and costs involved in the repair of a large driveline are considerable in very large machinery.
Accordingly, a need will be seen for a lubrication system which may be affixed to a rotary shaft, and which provides periodic lubrication on demand for universal joints and/or other fittings on the shaft, which require periodic lubrication. The present invention responds to this need by means of a bracket assembly affixed around the diameter of the drive shaft, with the bracket holding a plurality of automated lubrication dispensers therein. The conventional lubrication or grease fittings located at the universal joint trunnions are removed, and lubricant distribution and supply lines are connected between the universal join grease fitting receptacles and the lubrication dispensers secured within the bracket of the present invention. The dispensers may be controlled by internal timers, radio signals, or other means which do not require any form of direct physical connection between the rotating apparatus and a stationary controller, to dispense lubricant periodically as required by the equipment without any requirement to shut down or stop the operation of the equipment.
A discussion of the related art of which the present inventors are aware, and its differences and distinctions from the present invention, are provided below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,808 issued on Oct. 20, 1987 to Walter D. Haentjens, titled "Shaft Mounted Bearing Lubricating Device," describes an annular lubrication system wherein the lubricant supply surrounds a stationary housing. A set of impeller blades attached to the rotating inner shaft dips into the lubricant supply to splash oil to the bearings in the assembly. The Haentjens lubrication system can only be used with shaft assemblies having essentially vertical orientations, due to the annular oil supply surrounding the stationary external housing; no means is provided for lubricating multiple points on a rotating shaft. In contrast, the present lubrication system is not sensitive to orientation, and the entire system is affixed to the rotating shaft, rather than having a portion of the system affixed to a stationary structure as in the Haentjens device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,574 issued on Jan. 24, 1989 to Johan C. M. Bras, titled "Lubrication Device," describes a generally conventional lubricant reservoir for affixing to a stationary lubrication port on a machine or the like. The Bras device includes a spring motor for periodically opening a passage to allow lubricant to flow from the device, with the motor being controlled by an electronic timing circuit. The Bras apparatus is incapable of lubricating multiple points on a rotating shaft and cannot be secured in its entirety to such a rotating shaft, as provided by the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,704 issued on Aug. 2, 1994 to John Hoff, titled "Rotating Lubricating Technique For Equipment," describes a lubricating system for the chain drive of a wheeled irrigation machine. The Hoff lubricating system comprises an oil reservoir which rotates with wheel rotation, to dispense a measured amount of oil to a distribution channel which provides oil to the chain drive. The Hoff system can only operate at relatively low wheel rotational speeds, as centrifugal force would result in the oil being thrown to the outer or upper portion of the reservoir and dispensed constantly. It is also noted that the distribution channels of the Hoff lubrication system are fixed relative to the rest of the structure, and do not rotate with wheel rotation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,180 issued on Sep. 24, 1996 to Kiyoshi Yanagisawa, titled "Bearing Lubricating Apparatus For Rotary Machine," describes a system having a rotary mechanism and shaft disposed within a stationary housing. The Yanagisawa apparatus includes a disc which passes through the oil reservoir during rotation of the shaft, to throw oil where it can be gathered for distribution to the bearings. As with other similar systems, the Yanagisawa system cannot operate with heavier viscosity lubricants and includes stationary components.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,794 issued on Mar. 31, 1998 to Anton T. Orlitzky, titled "Auger-Driven Automatic Lubricator," describes an oiling device similar to that of the Bras '574 U.S. Patent discussed further above. The Orlitzky lubricator includes an electronic timing device to direct the lubricator to deliver lubrication at certain predetermined times. However, the Orlitzky lubricator still cannot be installed upon a rotating device or structure, and cannot deliver lubrication to a plurality of bearings simultaneously, as can the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,764 issued on Sep. 14, 1999 to Claus Helbig, titled "Lubricating Device For Rotating Parts, Especially A Rotating Hollow Shaft," describes a relatively complex system which is completely contained concentrically within a rotating assembly. The Helbig device includes centrifugal switches which in turn causes a gas to be generated to pressurize the lubricant delivery system. The system provides lubrication for two concentric telescoping shafts, and cannot lubricate the plurality of separate bearings of a universal joint trunnion or the like, as provided by the present lubrication system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,229 issued on Oct. 26, 1999 to Anton May et al., titled "Automatic Lubricant Dispenser," describes another lubricator device with lubricant reservoir, configured for a stationary installation. The May et al. device closely resembles the lubricator of the Orlitzky '794 U.S. Patent discussed further above, but is actuated by a manually operated switch on the top of the device. Accordingly, the May et al. cannot be installed on a rapidly rotating piece of equipment, as the actuation switch would not be accessible.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,804 issued on Aug. 15, 2000 to Horst Kretschmer et al., titled "Lubricating Device For Lubricating The Profiled Tubes Of A Telescopic Shaft," describes a lubrication system performing a similar function to that of the Helbig '764 U.S. Patent discussed further above. While FIG. 1 of the Kretschmer et al. drawings shows a telescoping tube assembly with a U-joint on each end, no lubrication to the U-joint bearings is provided. The Kretschmer et al. lubrication system is directed only to lubrication of the two sliding telescoping tubes, and not to any external bearings at either end of the tube assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,969 issued on Oct. 3, 2000 to Walter Graf et al., titled "Method Of And Apparatus For Lubricating An Apparatus Having A Number Of Lubricant Locations," describes a lubricating device quite similar to that described in the '229 U.S. Patent to May, described further above. It is noted that May is the second inventor in the Graf 969 U.S. Patent. The primary difference between the two devices is that the lubricator of the Graf et al. '969 U.S. patent includes electronic means to count the number of revolutions of a rotating component and dispense lubricant accordingly. The Graf et al. '969 U.S. Patent also describes the use of a plurality of such devices to lubricate a corresponding plurality of lubrication points. However, no mounting or attachment to a rotating structure is disclosed, as provided by the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,470 issued on Jan. 30, 2001 to H. Mike Huddleston et al., titled "Self-Lubricating Bearing," describes a lubrication system for a sleeve bearing in a centrifugal clutch assembly. The bearing is described as being porous, i.e., an Oilite® bearing or the like. One or more circumferential grooves are formed in the structure surrounding the bearing, and the grooves are packed with grease. Huddleston et al. do not provide any means for lubricating the bearing at predetermined periodic intervals, nor for lubricating a series of separate rotating bearings, as provided by the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,810 issued on Jun. 18, 2002 to Ayzik Grach et al., titled "Method Of Lubricating And Lubricant Spraying Apparatus," describes a lubricant spray device which is synchronized with the rotation of a rotating object to spray lubricant only upon a certain portion of the object at each revolution. The lubricant supply and sprayer components are stationary relative to the rotating object and are not in direct contact with the object being lubricated, unlike the present lubrication system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,478,116 issued on Nov. 12, 2002 to Jorn H. Klausen et al., titled "Lubricating Oil Supplying Arrangement For An Apparatus Having A Rotating Apparatus Shaft," describes a multi-lobe rotary oil pump which is internally installed and concentric with a rotating shaft. The Klausen et al. pump cannot provide lubrication to multiple bearing locations from a corresponding number of externally disposed lubricating devices, as provided by the present lubricating system invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,557,651 issued on May 6, 2003 to Duane E. Norby et al., titled "Automated Lubricant Dispensing System And Method For A Horizontal Directional Drilling Machine," describes a lubricating system for use with machine tools, for lubricating the workpiece and cutting tool during machining operations. Such lubrication is completely different than that used in the present invention, as cutting tool lubrication is contaminated by material removed from the workpiece and must be filtered and processed if it is to be reused. The cutting oils or lubricants used for such operations are also considerably lighter than the lubricants used in bearings and the like. In any event, the Norby et al. lubrication system is stationary and does not rotate with the cutting tool, but sprays the lubricant onto the rotating cutting tool during the machining operation.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/79,336 published on Jun. 27, 2002 to Michael Weigand et al., titled "Lubricant Dispenser," describes a device similar to those disclosed in the '229 U.S. Patent to May and '969 U.S. Patent to Graf, both of which have been described further above. While such lubricators may be used with the present invention, it is noted that Weigand et al. do not provide any means for securing their lubricator to a rotating object, nor do they provide an installation having a series of such lubricators installed on a rotating object and connected to a corresponding series of separate bearings on the rotating object, as provided by the present lubricating system invention.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/144,864 published on Oct. 10, 2002 to Siegfried Kramer, titled "Multi-Point Lubrication Distribution System," describes a single, centrally located lubricant reservoir and pump which supplies lubricant to a series of bearings or the like by means of a manifold and rotary distributor which sequences the delivery of lubricant to each location. The lubricant reservoir and pump of the Kramer system appear to be quite similar to those described in the '229 U.S. Patent to May, the '969 U.S. Patent to Graf, and the '336 U.S. Patent Publication to Weigand et al., each of which have been described further above. As in the other devices of which the present inventors are aware, Weigand et al. do not disclose any means of mounting such a lubricant system on a rotating object. Moreover, the Kramer et al. device teaches away from such an installation, due to the imbalance which would be created by attaching only one such lubricator to one side of a rotating object.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/10,572 published on Jan. 16, 2003 to Mark S. Henry et al., titled "Lubrication System For A Bearing," describes a device having a single stationary oil supply which delivers oil to a fan installed within the hub of the rotating assembly. The fan draws air and oil from the lubricant system into the rotating assembly, to lubricate the bearings therein. Henry et al. do not disclose any specific type of lubrication reservoir and pump system for use with their invention, and disclose only a single such lubrication supply.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/31,554 published on Feb. 13, 2003 to Robert E. Rockwood, titled "Centrifugal Pump Having Oil Misting System With Pivoting Blades," describes a device having a series of radially disposed oil splash blades hingedly secured to a rotary shaft. The blades pick up oil from a stationary reservoir, and sling the oil within the reservoir and housing to lubricate components therein. Rockwood does not provide a series of lubricant reservoirs and dispensing units affixed to a rotating shaft for lubricating a series of separate bearings on the shaft, as provided by the present lubricating system invention.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/75,043 published on Apr. 24, 2003 to Brad Rake, titled "Apparatus And Method For Lubricant Condition Control And Monitoring From A Remote Location," describes a device for detecting humidity buildup in an oil supply, and drying the oil by injecting dry air into the system. The Rake system includes a stationary dryer system which is connected to a stationary oil supply at the bearings of the shaft of the device being lubricated. None of the components of the Rake assembly are affixed to any of the rotating components of the device being lubricated, nor does Rake disclose multiple lubricators servicing a corresponding number of lubrication points on a rotating shaft, as provided by the present invention.
European Patent Application Publication No. 704,654 published on Apr. 3, 1996 to Anton Orlitzky, titled "Auger-Driven Automatic Lubricator," is the European filing of the '794 U.S. Patent to the same inventor, discussed further above. The same points of difference between the '794 U.S. Patent to Orlitzky and the present invention are seen to apply here as well.
Finally, German Patent Publication No. 10,054,712 published on May 29, 2002, describes a device which is very similar to the lubricator of the Helbig '764 U.S. Patent discussed further above. The same points of difference noted in the discussion of the Helbig '764 U.S. Patent are seen to apply here as well.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a lubricating system affixed to a rotary shaft solving the aforementioned problems is desired.

Lubricating system affixed to a rotary shaft


The present invention displays a broadcast program without causing discomfort to the viewer caused by a shift in the display position. The burn-in of the display apparatus when displaying EPG and GUI images is prevented. When viewing a channel, the timing of events such as the broadcast start time of the next program and the insertion of CM video are acquired from program attribute information such as the SI and metadata. Information such as the time of the next program or insertion of an advert is detected from the attribute information, and video data that is displayed in the display area of the display unit is changed at that time. The change in video data is executed when setting the area of the video data to be applied to the effective video data area to the display area, by changing the coordinate data of this area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to display signal control apparatus provided with methods to avoid burn-in of display apparatus by outputted image signals, display signal control methods, associated programs and storage media.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a display such as a cathode-ray tube (CRT) display, also referred to as the so-called Braun tube, or a plasma display shows the same image continuously for a long period of time, phosphor deterioration occurs only in brightly displayed areas. Consequently, only this part experiences a reduction in the amount of light emitted, generating a so-called burn-in. After prolonged display of the same image on the display apparatus, a viewer will be able to observe this burn-in in the form of unevenness of luminance level. For example, see FIG. 13A.
When the video signal of a broadcast program with an aspect ratio of 4:3 is displayed on a display apparatus with a 16:9 aspect ratio while maintaining a 4:3 aspect ratio, burn-in occurs in the boundary between the image display area and the image non-display area of the display apparatus. In addition, even with a broadcast program with an aspect ratio of 16:9 (known as a full image displaying condition), if an image such as a channel logo or the constant characters, such as a scoreboard of a baseball game, is broadcast for long periods, the patterns of the logo or characters may easily be burnt into the display position. For example, see FIG. 13C.
In addition, there are situations in which the display apparatus shows for long periods images such as an electronic program guide (hereafter referred to as EPG) or a graphic user interface (hereafter referred to as GUI) for various settings and controls. Burn-in occurs frequently in such situations because the EPG and GUI are still images with high contrast.
In order to prevent burn-in during the display of a broadcast program on a display apparatus, there is a method of fixing the display position of a broadcast program and moving it.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-268579 discloses a method to shift the display position of an image at regular time intervals. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-167874 discloses a method to shift the display position of an image when the continuous display time of the image in the specified area exceeds a specified amount of time. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-328520 discloses a method to shift the display position of the broadcast program every time the received channel of a television broadcast (broadcast station) is changed, as well as a method to shift the image display position when the difference between the present frame and the previous frame of the video signal is large.
In addition, as a method to prevent burn-in of the EPG and GUI images referred to above, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-170465 discloses a method of lowering the luminosity of the GUI image of the display apparatus when the GUI image has been displayed for a set amount of time. In addition, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-63224, there is a method to randomly shift the display position of the GUI image and display luminance level of the display apparatus at each field. Further, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-195852, there is a method of shifting the display position of an icon image every time it is displayed.
Although the art described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2-268579 and 5-167874 can prevent burn-in of a display apparatus, they shift the display position of the broadcast program, thereby causing discomfort to viewers when they perceive the shift.
As for the art disclosed in documents such as Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-328520, in which the broadcast channel display position of the broadcast program is shifted every time the broadcast channel is switched, the display position of the broadcast program is not shifted unless the broadcast channel is changed. Therefore, when viewing a broadcast program on the same channel for a prolonged period, there is the risk of burn-in of the display apparatus. In addition, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-328520, when there is a large difference between the previous and present frames, it is possible to prevent burn-in of the display apparatus by switching the displayed screen, i.e., detecting such events as scene changes and shifting the display position of the broadcast program. However, even during one broadcast program there is a plurality of scene changes. For this reason, when there is a scene change, the shifting of the display position of the broadcast program will be perceived by the viewer, e.g., when there has been a movement in the display apparatus of the kind shown in FIGS. 13A to 13B, and FIGS. 13C to 13D.
FIG. 13B shows a situation in which the image in the display apparatus as shown in FIG. 13A has been shifted in an exaggerated fashion from the center to the left side of the display area. In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-328520 discloses a technique to prevent burn-in of the display apparatus at the boundary between the video display area and the video non-display area when displaying a side panel or a letter box. In the full image displaying condition, shifting of the display position does not take place. In other words, in this disclosure, there is no way to deal with burn-in of the display apparatus in the full image displaying condition caused by display of channel logos and characters.
On the other hand, the conventional art related to preventing the burn-in of the display apparatus caused by EPG or GUI images, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 7-170465 and 10-63224, can prevent the burn-in of the display apparatus caused by EPG or GUI images. However, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-170465 causes discomfort in the viewer due to the sudden reduction in luminosity of the EPG or GUI images.
Furthermore, in the technique disclosed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-63224, the viewer perceives in units of one field the shifting of the display position or change in luminosity, and this causes discomfort in a similar manner to that caused in the cases of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2-268579, 5-167874, and 2004-328520. In addition, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-195852, if it were assumed that the icon images of this document are EPG or GUI images, it would be necessary to turn the displaying of the images off once and then display them again in order to shift the display position of the images. For this reason, the frequency of shifting the display position would be low, and there would not be a sufficient reduction in the degree of burn-in of the display apparatus. In order to frequently shift the display position of the images, it would be necessary to turn the images on and off repeatedly in a short period of time, and the apparatus would therefore lack severely in user-friendliness.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a display signal control apparatus, a display signal control method, a program, and a storage medium that are capable of preventing or reducing burn-in of the display apparatus without causing the viewer to feel discomfort while in any viewing mode.

Display signal control apparatus, and display signal control method


A satellite communication system includes a hub, a repeater, a scheduling unit, and a remote. The scheduling unit is configured to synchronize a communication of the system based on an elapsed time between (i) an arrival at the remote of a downstream reference frame transmitted by the hub and retransmitted by the repeater, and (ii) an arrival at the remote of an upstream frame transmitted by the remote and retransmitted by the repeater.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to communication networks and in particular to an apparatus, system, and computer program for synchronizing communications in a satellite communications network by accurately determining an arrival time of a signal from a remote terminal.
2. Discussion of the Background
Geo-synchronous satellite communication networks have existed for decades in various topologies and using various methods for sharing a fixed bandwidth channel between multiple users (Pritchard, Wilbur L., and Joseph A. Scivlli, Satellite Communication Systems Engineering, Prentice-Hall, 1986, incorporated herein in its entirety by reference). As these networks evolved, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) and Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) bandwidth sharing techniques, and bandwidth efficient Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) modulation have become de facto standards for Layer 1 (physical layer) although many other techniques and modulations are used to some extent.
Pure TDMA mesh networks exist, in which all remotes (user nodes) take turns transmitting in a half duplex fashion. Pure FDMA point-to-point, or Single Channel Per Carrier (SCPC) networks, exist to allow full duplex transmission and reception. Many commercially viable network systems have evolved into a hybrid star topology, taking advantage of the broadcast nature of geo-synchronous satellites by using a SCPC downstream carrier from a central hub to all user nodes, and using one or more TDMA upstream(s) shared by all user nodes to communicate with the hub.
Conventional satellite communication networks include a central control server 10 (hub) and a plurality of remote terminals 14 (remotes) that exchange information via a geo-synchronous satellite 12 (satellite) as shown in FIG. 1. The hub sends information to the remotes using Single Channel Per Carrier (SCPC) method and the remotes respond to the hub using Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) method.
The hub includes a signaling protocol that conveys channel allocation assignments between all remotes and the hub to determine how many transmission opportunities to grant each remote during an upcoming time interval according to a set of pre-configured rules. A synchronization process guarantees that messages sent via this signaling protocol are received and applied by all remotes during the same time interval such that communication parameters may be changed at least as often as every time interval. The time intervals may be as short as 40 ms (plus processing delay) for real time operations.
A popular and simple implementation of the TDMA upstream channel is to use an ALOHA technique enabling any remote to transmit to the hub any time the remote has data to send and relying on the probability that no other remote chose to transmit at that time which would cause a collision. Once the demand for bandwidth exceeds a predetermined percentage of the upstream channel, a more complex methodology is required to schedule TDMA bursts so that collisions are prevented.
However, because the satellite is a "mirror" that redirects data coming from the remotes to the hub or viceversa, to synchronize communications it may be necessary that a time synchronization of the data coming from the plurality of remotes is achieved before that data arrives at the hub or otherwise the hub is not able to "understand" that data. In other words, in the TDMA method, different slots are allocated to each remote such that no two remotes send data to the hub at the same time.
Even with a control application that assigns to each remote unique slots in a frame for communicating with the hub, collision of data from multiple remotes arriving at the same time at the hub is possible. One cause of this collision is the fact that the physical movement of the geo-stationary satellite is not taken into account by the conventional control applications that determine and allocate the slots in the frame for each remote.
Although the satellites are geo-stationary, meaning that the satellites are relatively fixed above a particular position above the Earth, in reality, each geo-stationary satellite moves randomly inside an imaginary box having a size given by multiplying the distance from the ground to the satellite with an angle of 0.01° measured in radians. This movement of the satellite introduces unexpected and unaccounted delays, which might result in a loss of communication between the hub and the remotes.
FIG. 2 illustrates additional problems with conventional network communication methods, as recognized by the present inventors. This figure represents two timing scenarios, labeled as follows: No Synchronization, and Conventional Synchronization. In each scenario, HRxSOFn(ta) represents the nominal time a start of a data burst time frame (i.e. Start of Frame (SOF)) is received from remote "n," and kmax*2 represents the maximum variation of reception time, or tracking error, for the worst case remote, due to minor perturbations in the satellite position. The frame's relative frame sequence is "a."
In the No Synchronization scenario, SOFs are unconstrained and arrive at various times due to variations between the propagation delays of each remote. In the Conventional Synchronization scenario, a time Rcdn (Remote Conventional Delay for User Node n) is added at each remote so that SOFs from all remotes are received synchronously to the Hub's transmit reference SOF.
The conventional approach synchronizes HRxSOFn of each remote, but arrival time variations resulting from satellite tracking errors disadvantageously results in some of HRxSOFn occurring during hub frame n and some of HRxSOFn occurring during hub frame n-1.
Further, in the conventional approach, Rcdn is chosen to synchronize HRxSOFn with subsequent Hub transmit SOF, which results in simultaneous arrival of SOFs sent at different times in the frame sequence. Thus, data bursts arriving at the Hub cannot be assumed to have all been sent during the same frame time, thereby complicating network control methods and increasing response time to control commands sent from the Hub. In addition, neither approach takes into consideration the movement of the satellite relative to the hub and the remotes.
The industry is in need of a network system that combats these problems and enables standard off-the-shelf networking equipment using standard protocols to take advantage of a communication satellite's ability to reach remotes at extreme distances and in areas of the world where broadband terrestrial communication is not practical, irrespective of the delays introduced into the satellite communication network by various of its components or the movement of the satellite.

Apparatus, system, and computer program for synchronizing communications


A heating arrangement heats a first major surface of a workpiece with an illumination energy such that a first portion of the illumination energy is directly incident upon the first major surface of the workpiece and a second portion of the illumination energy is directed such that, at least initially, the second portion would miss the first major surface. A reflector, having a central opening, reflects at least some of the second portion of the illumination energy onto the peripheral edge region of the workpiece for preheating compensation. The reflector is configured for shadow-free exposure of a second, opposing major surface of the workpiece to a flash heating energy. A workpiece manipulation arrangement is described to provide for dynamic preheating movement to vary a heating profile across the workpiece and, thereafter, move the workpiece to a flash heating position. Automatic workpiece centering is featured by the manipulation arrangement.

The present invention is generally related to the field of Rapid Thermal Processing and, more particularly, to techniques and apparatus for enhancing uniformity in Rapid Thermal Processing.
The prior art has developed a number of approaches in the use of Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) for purposes of producing state-of-the-art devices. Such devices include, for example, semiconductor chips, solar cells and nanoparticle materials. RTP has been found to be particularly useful following ion implantation processes applied to a substrate or workpiece, in which the implanted dopant atoms are left in interstitial sites where they are electrically inactive. RTP is applied with the intention of repairing the damage to the crystal lattice structure and to move dopants to lattice sites to electrically activate these dopants.
One form of RTP essentially uses isothermal heating in which radiant energy is applied for a time duration and at a cooperating intensity so as to cause the temperature of the workpiece to rise at least approximately uniformly throughout the bulk of the workpiece thickness. Thus, this form of isothermal RTP may be referred to as "isothermal RTP" and is generally characterized by treatment time durations on the order of seconds.
As device sizes and junction depths have progressively decreased with successive generations, difficulties have come to light with respect to the use of isothermal RTP. In particular, at the high temperatures that cause the desired dopant activation, it has been found that diffusion mechanisms come into play which cause the dopant impurities and other species to diffuse from their intended positions within the overall device structure. Such diffusion can result in impaired functionality of the device, in view of reduced feature sizes.
Concern with respect to undesired diffusion effects has motivated the development of what may be referred to as millisecond or flash RTP. This more recent approach to RTP is characterized by heating the workpiece in a way that deliberately produces a temperature gradient through the thickness of the wafer or workpiece. One highly advantageous approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,594,446 entitled HEAT TREATING METHODS AND SYSTEMS, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The time duration, for purposes of millisecond RTP, is from 0.1 ms to 20 ms. The premise of millisecond RTP resides in flash heating the device side of the workpiece briefly so that the bulk of the workpiece remains cooler. In this way, the bulk of the workpieces acts as a heat sink, following flash heating of the device side of the workpiece. Such an implementation is effective when the time period of the flash heating is considerably faster than the thermal conduction time of the workpiece.
Thus, millisecond RTP reduces dopant diffusion by limiting both the time at which temperature is sufficiently high to enable diffusion, in conjunction with limiting the volume of workpiece that is heated to such high temperature. Of course, pulsed RTP may be used in what may be considered as a hybrid form with isothermal RTP, for example, by heating the workpiece to an intermediate temperature and then applying pulsed energy as is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,849,831 which is incorporated herein by reference.
In addition to the aforedescribed difference with respect to diffusion effects, each form of RTP introduces other unique problems and opportunities with respect to its application. For example, with respect to isothermal RTP, heating uniformity is a concern, particularly for the reason that peripheral edges of the workpiece tend to lose energy more rapidly than the central portion of the workpiece. The edge region, therefore, tends to remain cooler than the center of the workpiece. As an example with respect to millisecond RTP, surface heating is intended to be essentially instantaneous. Therefore, pulse parameters must be carefully determined in advance to produce an intended result and there is generally no opportunity to influence the process result, once the pulse has been initiated. In contrast, it is recognized that edge cooling, in millisecond RTP, is generally of limited concern, since heating rates are generally extremely high in comparison with the rates of radiative losses or conduction and convection heat losses from the workpiece to the ambient gas in the treatment chamber.
With the foregoing in mind, U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,815 (hereinafter the '815 patent) provides one example of isothermal RTP which attempts to resolve the problem of edge cooling. In one approach, that is illustrated by FIG. 7 of the '815 patent, a heating arrangement is used that employs one heat source in a confronting relationship with a major surface of the workpiece and another, separate heat source in a confronting relationship with the peripheral edge of the workpiece. It is submitted that this approach may be unduly complex in its need for an additional heat source that requires precision control. As one alternative, FIG. 6 of the '815 patent illustrates a reflector that is situated around the peripheral edge of the workpiece for returning thermal energy that is radiated from the peripheral edge of the workpiece. In this regard, it is of note that the prior art contains many examples based on reflecting thermal energy that is radiated from the workpiece back to its peripheral edge. It is considered that this approach is generally problematic for the reason that the radiated energy that is returned is simply not sufficient to compensate for the edge cooling effect caused by a combination of radiative, conductive and convective heat loss.
Another isothermal RTP approach is illustrated by FIG. 10 of the '815 patent, which uses a heating arrangement in a confronting relationship with a major surface of the workpiece, housed within a reflective box. The workpiece is movably positioned on support pins relative to a bottom wall of the reflective box such that varying the height of the workpiece, relative to the bottom reflective wall, allows a varying amount of reflected heat source energy to reach the bottom, peripheral edge region of the workpiece. FIG. 11 of the '815 patent illustrates yet another approach to isothermal RTP which is related to the approach of FIG. 10 of the patent at least to the extent that the workpiece is supported for movement on support posts. This movement is assertedly used to vary heating of the workpiece edges during the heating interval. Applicants recognize that these support posts, unfortunately, in isothermal RTP, will generally produce cold spots on the opposing surface of the workpiece. The patent, however, does not address this problem, as will be further discussed at an appropriate point below. Further, the reflective surface extends under the wafer and it is considered that this reflector would interfere with a double-sided heating implementation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,420, issued to Lord, includes one embodiment that is deemed as suitable for rapid thermal annealing, illustrated in FIG. 5 of the Lord patent. This figure illustrates a raised reflective ring that is formed in the oven floor and situated directly under the peripheral edge of the workpiece. The perimeter wall of the reflective ring is made diffusely reflective while the interior, raised surface, that is surrounded by the reflective ring, receives a heat-absorptive black coating. Assertedly, the interior raised region cools the central portion of the workpiece with the intention of reducing temperature variations across the wafer. Other embodiments disclosed by Lord in FIGS. 2-4 of the patent are described as being prone to thermal cycling during heating. Hence, it is submitted that they are not well-suited for use in RTP processes, since these configurations will absorb energy from the heating arrangement and continue to reradiate thermal energy onto the workpiece edge, even after the heating arrangement is shut down. More particularly, the embodiment of FIG. 2 relies exclusively on the mechanism of returning thermal energy, that is radiated therefrom, to the workpiece edge, in conjunction with the mechanism of reradiating heat source energy. The latter mechanism is performed by absorbing energy from the heating arrangement, using at least one surface that is parallel with the major surfaces of the workpiece, and reradiating this energy from a surface that is in a confronting relationship with the peripheral edge of the workpiece. That is, there is no mechanism for producing reflection of the heat source energy onto the peripheral edge of the workpiece.
Still considering the Lord patent, it is of interest to note that the embodiments of FIGS. 3-5 are inherently limited to use in single sided workpiece heating configurations. That is, the reflector/radiator structures that are shown are opaque and located directly underneath the peripheral edge of the workpiece. Such structures would introduce problematic shadowing if any attempt were made to illuminate the bottom surface of the workpiece, as illustrated in the views of these figures.
The present invention is considered to resolve the foregoing difficulties and concerns while providing still further advantages.

Enhanced rapid thermal processing apparatus and method


A store for storing value sheets such as banknotes in a stack and for dispensing the value notes from the stack. When more than a single value sheet is dispensed from the stack, the store returns all but one of the value sheets to the stack while moving the stack to reduce friction between the returning value sheet and the topmost value sheet of the stack. Means for securing the stack are also provided: a support for the stack is anchored and/or extra pressure is applied to the stack. The store includes means for indicating when the stack contains more than a predetermined number of value sheets and means for preventing securing of the store when the predetermined number of value sheets is exceeded. A value sheet store with part of a sidewall integrally formed with the lid. A value sheet store which includes a lid attached to a housing by a hinge located on an edge of the housing. Apparatus and a method for determining the height of a stack of value sheets. A shutter arrangement in a value sheet store which acts to block an aperture through which value sheets are dispensed.

A change giver or vending machine and machines of the type accept value sheets from a user and give change in the form of value sheets. Such machines are herein referred to as "banknote handlers" or "value sheet handlers". Value sheet handlers incorporate a number of different types of value sheet stores and means for judging the authenticity of value sheets received from users and returning value sheets to users in the form of change. Value sheet handlers include suitable means to transport value sheets from one location to another.
Importantly, value sheet handlers are geographically remote from the administrator of the machine. It will be appreciated that as the value sheet handler operates, the proportions of value sheets in the handler will vary. Therefore, the administrator needs to bring value sheets to the machine and remove value sheets from the machine.
This invention is primarily concerned with value sheet stores suitable for transporting value sheets to such a value sheet handler. The administrator may fill the store with a number of value sheets and the store and the handler are designed so that the store may be inserted into the handler. It is therefore necessary that the store be able to dispense value sheets to the value sheet handler. Such value sheet stores are referred to as "payouts".
There are a number of known methods by which a payout may dispense value sheets to a value sheet handler. In one such method, the value sheets are stored in the payout in a stack supported by a pressure plate. The pressure plate is biased so that a topmost value sheet of the stack is brought into contact with an uptake roller. The uptake roller rotates to transport the topmost value sheet of the stack out of the store.
This suffers from the disadvantage that value sheets adhere to one another due to friction and/or creasin and the action of the roller may transport more than a single value sheet out of the payout. Such a bundle of value sheets may cause jams in the value sheet handler or in the payout. In the remainder of this discussion, in the context of one or more value sheets being transported from a stack, the value sheets transported will be referred to as a "bundle" although it will be appreciated that in certain instances the bundle may comprise a single value sheet.
To minimise this problem, it is know to provide an additional set of rollers comprising a first and second transport roller which engage with the bundle. In one such example, the first transport roller engages a topmost value sheet of the bundle and the second transport roller engages the lowermost value sheet. Once the bundle is engaged by both rollers, the direction of rotation of the second transport roller will be reversed for a predetermined time. Through this action all value sheets except the topmost one will tend to be returned to the store. Usually, the first transport roller will have a greater coefficient of friction than the second transport roller so that when the second transport roller engages the topmost value sheet, the action of this roller will not displace the topmost value sheet.
This suffers from the disadvantage that where the bundle comprises at least two value sheets and the displacement between the value sheets is too large, the action of the second roller rotating in the reverse direction for a predetermined time will be insufficient to drive the lower value sheet back into the store, resulting in the bundle being further transported into the value sheet handler with the associated risk of jams.
A further problem exists, even when all but the topmost value sheet are removed from the bundle. Due to friction between the returning value sheets and those on the stack, value sheets may become crumpled in the stack which can cause a jam in the payout.
Jams involving value sheets generally require the intervention of a person with an associated cost. Furthermore, the machine may be inoperable until the jam is cleared, further increasing the cost of the jam.
It is therefore desirable to prevent jams caused by returning value sheets from the bundle to the stack.


A method for transmitting control information in a wireless communication system includes: determining a link adaptation method of a user group according to quality of channels of each user in the user group; generating first control information according to common control information of all users in the user group and the link adaptation method corresponding to the user group, and transmitting the first control information to each user in the user group; obtaining contents of second control information according to particular control information of each user in the user group; performing link adaptation process for the contents of the second control information according to the link adaptation method corresponding to the user group, generating the second control information, and transmitting the second control information to each user in the user group. Corresponding to the above-described method, a method for receiving control information in a wireless communication system and corresponding devices are also disclosed.

In wireless communication systems, a plurality of users can share the same radio resource through non-orthogonally multiplexing. For convenience, the plurality of users using the same radio resource through non-orthogonally multiplexing is called users within a same user group. Currently, in wireless communication systems, different users within a user group can be assigned different power allocation coefficients so as to distinguish each user. Further, a user within the user group can receive data of its own through an interference cancellation process. In order to conduct interference cancellation, in addition to its own control information, e.g., signaling or information that assists data transmission, such as resource allocation information, channel coding rate, modulation and coding scheme, the user needs to know control information of users in previous interference cancellation stages. Therefore, the issue of how to transmit control information of users in a wireless communication system is to be addressed in the existing wireless communication systems.

Method and device for transmitting control information in wireless communication system


A flashing umbrella allowed to emit flashing light on rainy, dark day has a tubular handle connected to a hollow rod which is further connected to an upper tube. An upper collar is engaged at the upper periphery of the rod having a plurality of ribs pivotally extending therefrom. A plurality of LEDs each is installed at the end of a corresponding rib. The tubular handle has a circuit board and a battery installed therein for providing electrical pulses from the circuit board. A button switch is installed on the tubular handle for controlling the ON/OFF of the circuit board. A positive electrical line and a negative electrical line extend from the circuit board and elongate upward inside the rod and each having a plurality of branches each extending therefrom to electrically connect a corresponding LED, thereby transmitting the electrical pulses from the circuit board to the LEDs and enable the latter to flash.

This invention relates to a flashing umbrella especially one which is allowed to be manually operated to generate light in dark.
Umbrellas used at the present time do not contain a flashing effect thus on a rainy, dark day the user is in danger of being hit by a car.


A JFET having a semiconductor substrate of a first doping type, an epitaxial layer of the first doping type located on the semiconductor substrate, a body region of a second doping type located in the epitaxial layer, a source region of the first doping type located in the epitaxial layer, a gate region of the second doping type located in the body region, and a shielding layer of the second doping type located in the epitaxial layer, wherein the semiconductor substrate is configured as a drain region, the shielding layer is in a conductive path formed between the source region and the drain region.

FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a prior art N-channel junction field effect transistor (JFET) 100. The JFET is a vertical device and it comprises an N+ drain region 101 (generally as a semiconductor substrate), an N− epitaxial layer 102 located on the N+ drain region 101, a P body region 103 located in the N− epitaxial layer 102, an N+ source region 104 located in the N− epitaxial layer 102 and surrounded by the P body region 103, and a P+ gate region 105 located in the P body region 103. The JFET further comprises an interlayer dielectric layer (ILDL) 106, a source contact 107 and a gate contact 108. The source contact 107 extends through the ILDL 106 and provides electrical connection with the N+ source region 104. The gate contact 108 extends though the ILDL 106 and provides electrical connection with the P+ gate region 105. The N+ source region 104 is located in a part of the N− epitaxial layer 102 which is surrounded by the P body region 103. The part of the N− epitaxial layer 102 extends from the N+ source region 104 towards the N+ drain region 101, so as to form a conductive path.
When a bias voltage is applied to the gate contact 108, the P body region 103 will produce a pinch-off effect, so the current flowing through the conductive path can be controlled. As shown in FIG. 1, a label "A" is used to illustrate the pinch-off region generated in the N− epitaxial layer 102. Generally, in order to enhance the pinch-off effect, the width of the pinch-off region A should be set as small as possible and therefore a desired low pinch-off voltage can be achieved. However, this reduces the width of the conductive path, while increases the on-resistance. In addition, this also reduces the distance between the source region 104 and the gate region 105 and results in a low gate-source breakdown voltage. Besides, an optical lithography with higher resolution may be needed and the fabrication process may become more complicated.
Thus, it would be desired to reduce the pinch-off voltage while keeping the source region 104 far away from the gate region 105.

Junction field effect transistors and associated fabrication methods


An apparatus for distributing video content includes one or more video input modules each adapted to receive a video signal from a video source, and a video combiner for receiving the video signals from the one or more video inputs and generating a video packet data stream. The apparatus also includes at least one video output module adapted to transmit the video packet data stream, and a processor coupled to the video combiner and the at least one video output. The processor cooperates with one or both of the video combiner and the at least one video output to transcode at least a portion of the video packet data stream.

Most video distribution over the Internet concerns static content (e.g., pre-recorded material such as movies and television shows), for which latency is not an issue. In the case of static content, delayed video packets can be handled by buffering prior to presenting the video.
Live video broadcasts are different in that they cannot tolerate significant latency issues. Two common types of live video are video conferencing and video surveillance.
One option for dealing with latency is simply to drop a packet that is delayed too long. Provided that a relatively small number of packets are dropped, video conferencing can tolerate such packet drops. The resulting video quality may be reduced temporarily, but for most video conferencing applications, this is acceptable.
For video surveillance transmissions, such a drop in video quality cannot be allowed to occur. Applications that use surveillance video typically rely on details contained in the video, so a certain quality threshold must be maintained.
Video may be distributed using a wide range of graphics display resolution levels (or more briefly "resolution levels"). Examples of resolution levels include QVGA, HVGA, VGA, SVGA, XGA, WXGA and XGA+. Such a wide range of resolution levels are necessary because of a corresponding wide range of client platforms, e.g., anything from a cell phone to a video monitor, which can include notebook computers, tablets, laptops, among others. Each type of client platform typically has a particular resolution level that is optimal for that platform.
The initial resolution level for video distribution is established at a receiving end of the video distribution path because the wide variety of potential clients makes it difficult for a video distributor to make the resolution level decision.
Changes in network traffic conditions may require a change in the resolution level. For example, suppose a video is initially broadcast at an SVGA level. If the available bandwidth drops to a point at which the desired frame rate cannot be maintained, the client/receiver may decide to change to a lower resolution level (e.g., from SVGA to HVGA). The resulting image may not look as good as it did with the initial resolution, but the lower resolution may permit the desired frame rate at the reduced network bandwidth.

Dynamic media transcoding for P2P communications


An extensible data analysis system for analyzing integrated circuit fabrication data produced during integrated circuit fabrication, including an application tier that selectively runs analysis nodes. The application tier has an architecture for optionally including and excluding a desired selection of the analysis nodes. The application tier architecture allows the selection of the analysis nodes to be dynamically added by a user. A data access tier selectively runs data reader nodes. The data access tier has an architecture for optionally including and excluding a desired selection of the data reader nodes. The data reader nodes interpret a desired variety of data source files containing the integrated circuit fabrication data having different formats for access by the application tier. The data access tier architecture allows the selection of the data reader nodes to be dynamically added by the user.

Integrated circuit fabrication is an enormously complex process, in which a wide range of materials, process, equipment, and know-how are brought together to form a product. Because the size of modern integrated circuits is so small, and because their design constraints are so tight, the devices themselves are easily impacted by any variations in the various factors listed above that are combined to produce them. Often, the impact on the integrated circuits is negative, costing the manufacturers millions of dollars in lost devices and productivity.
As integrated circuit fabrication costs continue to rise, yield management has become increasingly vital in helping manufacturers accelerate the ramp of new processes and technologies into production, in a manner where they can remain competitive and meet their profit margins. Finding defects and process errors during production is an important step in maximizing yield. Of equal importance, however, is finding the source of these yield problems so that corrective action can be taken quickly to optimize the processes. This is especially true for foundries, which implement many different processes and integrated circuit designs into production.
Yield management is typically implemented on computer based systems, on which an engineer can import data which they desire to investigate, and analyze the data using any one of a number of different routines that are provided by the yield management software. The results of those analysis procedures can be reported by whatever charting and display options are available in the yield management package.
Unfortunately, there are many drawbacks to currently available yield management systems. For example, yield management systems tend to have predefined capabilities, which either cannot be changed at all, or require additional development level work to change. Such rigidity can be seen in many aspects of the yield management system, such as in the analysis routines, the data input options, and the reporting options.
In regard to analysis, many integrated circuit manufacturers desire to use certain analysis procedures in their in their data analysis processes, which sets of analysis procedures tend to different from manufacturer to manufacturer. Thus, a single suite of analysis routines in a yield management system is insufficient. Further, some manufacturers desire to use customized and proprietary routines, which they do not wish to divulge to outside parties. Such routines cannot be added by the user to currently available yield management systems.
Similar limitations apply to the issue of data input. The integrated circuit fabrication process produces an enormous amount of data from an equally enormous number of different sources. Many of these data sources tend to have their own data storage architecture. Again, current yield management systems are insufficient in their ability to read all of the different data architectures that are available. Further, to build such "universal" ability into a yield management system would be cumbersome and awkward at best, and would be quickly outdated.
These limitations are also applicable to data reporting options. The number of different reporting options available, and the different preferences which exist from one manufacturer to another, tends to make it impossible to offer everyone the exact options that they desire in a traditional yield management system.
Thus, there are many shortcomings in the yield management systems that are currently offered. What is needed, therefore, is a yield management system with an architecture that reduces at least some of the problems with current yield management systems.


A computer and a system and method of cooling the interior of the computer wherein at least two fans are disposed in the interior of the computer and are operated simultaneously. At least one horizontally extending louver is provided on each fan so that, if one of the fans fails, the flow of air through the other fan is blocked by its louver to prevent interference with the air flow through the other fan.

As computers grow in speed and shrink in size, power consumed within the computer per unit volume (power density) increases dramatically. Thus, it becomes essential to dissipate the heat generated by components within the computer during operation to ensure that the components remain within their normal operating temperature ranges, since otherwise the components will fail immediately or will have too short a lifetime.
One of the most effective techniques of dissipating heat from a component of a computer is to directly apply a relatively high velocity air flow across the surface of the component to force cool the component. This raises the convective heat transfer coefficient for the surface of that component, thereby increasing the convection cooling. Most computers are provided with fans to promote force cooling, thus increasing the temperature differential between the surface of the component and the surrounding air to increase the efficiency of the heat transfer.
Of all components in a computer, the microprocessor central processing unit ("CPU") liberates the most heat during operation of the computer. It has therefore become common practice to provide a heat sink for the CPU to increase the heat-dissipating surface area for more effective cooling. In addition to the heat sink associated with the CPU, a dedicated CPU cooling fan is often used to provide force cooling and air exchange to dissipate the heat generated by the CPU. Typically, such a fan-based system incorporates a small, axial, box fan driven by a motor.
Although a fan-based system provides effective component cooling, it has draw-backs. For example, if the fan fails or locks up, there is no way to cool the CPU of the computer because there is no back-up capability. Thus the CPU may overheat causing destruction of the CPU and computer failure. A viable solution in this regard is to incorporate a secondary, redundant fan to protect the components of the computer from overheating should the primary fan fail. The redundant fan is usually designed to run continuously with the primary fan while the computer is in standard operation since it has the advantage of offering additional cooling while simultaneously fulfilling the ultimate objective for implementing the other fan.
In these arrangements, each fan moves a portion of the air being used for cooling, and the design is usually such that the total cooling capacity of the fans is greater than minimally necessary to cool the computer. Thus if a single fan fails, the airflow created by the remaining functioning fan or fans is intended to be sufficient to cool the system. However, according to these designs, if one fan fails the airflow pattern is changed since air will continue to move past the heat generating components near the fans still operating. However, the airflow past the components closest to the failing fan may be considerably reduced, or may even be reversed due to back pressures, thus creating hot spots and interfering with the air flow through the operating fans.
Accordingly, what is needed is a computer having an internal fan-based cooling system in which a single fan failure does not unduly compromise air exchange or directionality of air flow, thereby maintaining effective force-cooling of specified components.

Computer and a system and method for cooling the interior of the computer


A ventilation device including a housing including at least one horizontal louver and at least one vertical louver in an arrangement nested into each other in a cross over pattern; and a regulation device which controls at least one flow out direction, wherein the at least one horizontal louver and the at least one vertical louver are respectively supported in the housing so that the at least one vertical louver is pivotable about a vertical pivot axis and the at least one horizontal louver is pivotable about a horizontal pivot axis.

DE 20 12 000 A1 discloses a ventilation device which is provided in particular for an instrument panel component of a motor vehicle for ventilating an interior. The ventilation device includes an outer housing where a control flap for volume adjustment is provided. At an outlet end of the outer housing an inner housing is provided for controlling a flow direction of the outflowing air flow wherein the inner housing receives plural horizontal louvers that are arranged at a distance from each other and fixated in the interior housing. The interior housing is pivotably supported about a horizontal pivot axis in the exterior housing. The interior housing receives plural vertical louvers that are arranged at a distance from each other and which are oriented perpendicular to the fixated horizontal louvers. The vertical louvers have slots so that the horizontal louvers are insertable into the slots and the horizontal and the vertical louvers are arranged in a common plane in the flow out direction. The vertical louvers are controllable to pivot about a vertical pivot axis.
This arrangement has the disadvantage that the interior housing has to be controlled to pivot in order to adjust the flow direction to deviate from horizontal, wherein the interior housing protrudes for example on top in sections relative to a face aperture of the ventilation device and is recessed at a bottom side relative to the face aperture which degrades an optical appearance. Furthermore it is not possible to control the horizontal louvers independently from the vertical louvers.
DE 20 2010 000 445 U1 discloses a ventilation device with a multi-functional actuation button which is configured to adjust the horizontal louver, the vertical louver and the closing flap. Thus, the horizontal louvers are configured by a housing which is pivotable up and down and the vertical louvers are separately arranged behind the housing in an interior of the ventilation device.
Furthermore a ventilation device it is known from DE 102 26 441 B3 and DE 100 57 421 A1 in which the horizontal and vertical louvers are controllable by a single operating element wherein the vertical louvers are arranged in an interior of the housing and the horizontal louvers are arranged separately from the vertical louvers oriented towards the visible side of the ventilation device. The ventilation devices facilitate independent control of the vertical louvers and the horizontal louvers due to the separated serial arrangement, however this does not provide a homogeneous visual appearance of the flow out field of the ventilation device on the visible side.


The transparent overlay viewer interface system of the present invention provides control areas that minimize or eliminate viewer distraction. In one implementation a grid of nine transparent control areas are overlayed on a foreign language instructional program that includes video of conversational situations. Each of the control areas is assigned a control function such as replaying an utterance chunk, providing foreign language subtitles, providing a translated text, etc. The video may be displayed on a projection screen or large monitor in the classroom environment and operated by an instructor using an infrared mouse or other remote control device or a conventional mouse. The resulting transparent interface promotes viewer immersion in the video program and greater overall program effectiveness.

A common feature of computer systems used in the home and office environment is an interface by which the user can interact with the computer system. Such interfaces generally involve a control area that the user selects or activates, e.g., via key strokes or mouse inputs, to implement a function associated with the control area. Conventional user interfaces can generally be categorized as being either graphical or key based, depending on where the control area is located or implemented.
In key based systems, the control area is located or implemented on a keyboard, control pad or other input device separate from the computer screen or display. In these systems the user often must contend with complicated physical manipulation of keys or buttons on the keyboard or control pad in order to select a desired function. Such manipulation of the keyboard or control pad draws the user's attention away from the display and, therefore, can interfere with the user's involvement in the active application.
In recent years, GUI operating systems have gained favor. User interaction in GUI operating systems generally involves placing control areas, such as menus, tool bars, dialogue boxes, or icons on a screen or other display. One advantage of such GUI operating systems is that the user or viewer can interact with the operating system and application programs without diverting attention from the display. GUI operating systems thus promote user immersion in the underlying application. However, when control areas are placed on the display, they occupy part of the user's viewing space and so obstruct or distract from the user's capacity to see and focus on the underlying visual presentation.
More recently, some developers have proposed translucent or superimposed control areas that only partially occlude the visual presentation. For example, the control areas of such systems may appear as a lightly shaded image through which the viewer can see the visual presentation. With a translucent or superimposed control area, however, the viewer may still be distracted by the image of the control area and not able to focus completely on the visual presentation.


A test interface between a two sided circuit board to be tested and a test controller and it generally includes an upper and a lower test fixture each including personality plates having bores for simultaneously guiding translation pins into contact with test nodes on the circuit board under test. Circuit board tooling bores are mounted on tooling pins in the personality plates. The tooling pins tapered to a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the circuit board tooling bores. One or both personality plates are mounted such that they may move responsive to forces exerted on the tooling pins because of nonalignment such that the forces tend to equalize. This results in better overall alignment.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to a test fixture for simultaneously testing electrical circuitry on both sides of a circuit holder such as a printed circuit (PC) board, wired backplane or rigid or flex ceramics. The invention more specifically discloses a fixture which more accurately places translation pins in contact with the test nodes on both sides of the PC board under test.
2. Description of the Related Art
Circuit testing of a PC board involves making contact with each electrical point on a circuit and sequentially monitoring each and every circuit component and each and every circuit path. In this manner, opens, shorts, missing components, wrong components, backwards or improperly installed components, and out of tolerance components can be individually identified. Hereinafter, the term "PC board" will be used as exemplary of the circuit to be tested and is generally meant to include any other type of circuit that may be tested in the manner described herein.
A complete conventional circuit test system for testing a single-sided PC board includes a controller with measurement circuitry, an electronic switching matrix with bed of nails output, and an interface or fixture imposed between the bed of nails and the test circuit. The controller switches between various multiple contact points on the PC board while monitoring the performance of the component or circuit path. The controller is typically controlled by a test program using a microprocessor or minicomputer.
Each test interface or test fixture must be configured for each specific PC board to be tested. The test interface must make electrical connection between the bed of nails and each test node on the PC board. The typical fixture includes an array of translation pins specifically configured for the PC board, each pin having a first end for electrical contact with a node to be tested on the PC board and having a second end. The second ends of the translation pins form a standardized output grid for electrical connection to the bed of nails input grid of the switching portion. A personality plate includes translation pin bores conforming with placement of the test nodes. The personality plate bores guide the first end of the translation pins to the test nodes. The switching portion includes a standardized input grid of input contacts contacting the output grid. The switching portion includes localized circuitry controlled by the controller to select specific nodes for testing.
Two fixtures, typically an upper fixture and a lower fixture, are used for simultaneous testing of both sides of a PC board. A problem arises with regard to positioning of both fixtures with regard to the PC board. Typically, the lower test fixture personality plate includes tooling pins mounted in tooling pin bores corresponding to tooling bores in the PC board. The PC board is snugly mounted on the lower fixture personality plate tooling pins. The upper personality plate is positioned relative to alignment bores in the lower personality plate. Tolerances are accumulated from location of the PC board tooling bores to the lower personality plate tooling pins to tooling pin bores to alignment bores, through alignment pins to alignment bores in the upper personality plate to the pin bores in the upper personality plate and to the upper tooling pins. The build up of tolerances is such that the upper personality plate is often not correctly positioned relative to the PC board circuitry and its translation pins are not guided to the upper test nodes on the PC board.
Therefore, there has been a need for an improved test interface that provides for more accurate placement of translation pin contacts when testing a double-sided PC board.

Test fixture for two sided circuit boards


An exemplary camera device includes a holder, an image sensor, an outer barrel with an axis, an inner barrel unit. The image sensor is disposed in the holder. The inner barrel unit includes an inner barrel and at least one lens disposed in the inner barrel. The inner barrel is threadedly received in the outer barrel. The holder includes a first ring-shaped part, and the outer barrel includes a second ring-shaped part. The first ring-shaped part is coupled to the second ring-shaped part.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to optical imaging, and more particularly to a camera device and a method for making the camera device.
2. Description of Related Art
With the development of the optical imaging technology, camera devices are widely used in electronic devices, such as digital cameras and mobile phones.
Generally, a camera device 10 includes an image sensor 12, a barrel unit 16, and a holder 14, referring to FIG. 10. The image sensor 12 is received in the holder 14. The barrel unit 16 is threadedly coupled to the holder 14, and includes a plurality of optical elements (e.g., a lens 18) disposed therein. The barrel unit 16 is configured for forming an image 11. A distance between the image sensor 12 and the barrel unit 16 is adjusted by rotating the barrel unit 16, thus achieving the best imaging quality of the camera device 10.
Occasionally, the image 11 includes some defective image areas 13 when the optical elements are inaccurately produced or inappropriately assembled into the barrel unit 16, referring to FIG. 11. When the defective imaging quality area 13 overlaps a detecting area 15 of the image sensor 12, imaging quality of the camera device 10 is decreased. Therefore, such a camera device 10 is unsatisfactory.
It is therefore desirable to find a new camera device and a new method capable of overcoming the above mentioned problems.


A method is provided in one example and includes receiving a first packet of a connection between a client and a server. The first packet is tagged with a tag comprising a member id of a service node in a service cluster that includes a plurality of nodes having distinct member ids. The method can also include mapping the member id to the service node in a tag-to-node map; receiving a second packet of the connection, where the second packet is tagged with the tag comprising the member id; determining the service node from the tag-to-node map; and forwarding the second packet to the service node.

Cloud computing provides flexibility and scalability to an Information Technology (IT) organization, enabling the organization to provision new services quickly and cost effectively by addressing IT requirements and policies, meeting demands of high utilization, and dynamically responding to change, in addition to providing security and high performance. Such cloud computing environments are typically multi-tenancy multi-user environments, with users accessing common folders and files. Multi-tenancy multi-user environments may increase operational efficiency through cost-effective use of expensive infrastructure, driving up economies of scale through shared resourcing, and rapid, agile deployment of customer applications. In such and similar infrastructure, network service offerings may have to keep up with the dramatic increase in scale of network bandwidth.

System and method for binding flows in a service cluster deployment in a network environment


A quick-action chuck, in particular for a power tool, has an actuating element (20) and a control device which includes at least one mechanism (12, 22, 36, 42, 50) for controlling at least one locking device (10) that serves to absorb a chucking reinforcement force via the locking device (10) that is controllable by the control device, a positive-engagement connection can be brought about for absorbing the chucking reinforcement force.

The invention is based on a quick-action chuck.
From German Patent Disclosure DE 10109490 A1, a quick-action chuck of this generic type for a power tool is known which has a control device for controlling locking devices which serve to absorb a chucking reinforcement force. The quick-action chuck has an axially displaceable actuating element, which is coupled with a pivotably supported knob of the control device. If the actuating element is displaced rearward, in an axial direction remote from a receptacle region of the quick-action chuck, the knob is pivoted, as a result, via a transmission means, a nonpositive-engagement connection for absorbing the chucking reinforcement force is brought about between the locking devices, embodied by cup springs, and a base body of the quick-action chuck.