A system and method for transferring data between alternately evaluated first and second logic blocks of a dynamic logic pipeline. Associated with the system and method is a transparent data-triggered pipeline latch for controlling data flow between the first and second logic blocks. During an evaluation period accorded the first logic block, data existing at the logic block's data inputs is evaluated. Substantially simultaneously, the data-triggered latch is reset. As valid data is output from the first logic block, the latch is triggered. Immediately after the latch has been triggered, and before a clock-triggered evaluation period is accorded the second logic block, the data stored in the latch is output to the second logic block. Propagation of the early arriving data may be halted by ANDing the early arriving data signals with clocked signals which remain invalid. The invalid signals may comprise clock or data signals. Early arriving data is beneficial when supplied to static logic gates, or when transmitted through heavily loaded data lines which are associated with a propagation delay. A preferred embodiment of the latch comprises high and low level mousetrap data controls. Each control is coupled with a respective high or low level mousetrap data input, output, and storage node, and further comprises an input trigger, an input trigger disabler, a data storage device, a reset mechanism, and a reset disabler. The latch allows data to be driven out when valid, rather than in response to a clock edge.

The invention generally pertains to dynamic logic pipelines, and more specifically, to a transparent data-triggered latch for use in a dynamic logic pipeline employing vector logic and dynamic logic gates.
Dynamic logic gates are used in the conventional design of logic circuits which require high performance and modest size (pipelines are an example of such a circuit). Dynamic logic gates are much faster than static logic gates. Essentially, a dynamic logic gate is a circuit which requires a periodic electrical precharge, or refresh, in order to maintain and properly perform its intended logic function. Once the electrical precharge on the dynamic logic gate has been discharged, the dynamic logic gate can perform no other logic functions until subsequently precharged.
As described in the U.S. Patent of Yetter entitled "Universal Pipeline Latch for Mousetrap Logic Circuits", U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,423, the speed of dynamic logic pipelines may be improved by latching the data piped into each of the pipeline's logic stages. Yetter teaches a pipeline which uses vector logic and comprises dynamic mousetrap logic gates. A pipeline latch or latches is associated with each logic stage of the pipeline. Each pipeline latch has a latch reset mechanism, an input trigger mechanism, a disabling mechanism, a flip-flop mechanism, an output gating mechanism, and a latch enable pull-up mechanism. The logic stages of the pipeline are alternately clocked. Thus, while the even numbered stages are receiving a high clock signal for instigating propagation of data, the odd numbered stages are receiving a low clock signal for instigating a logic precharge, and vice versa. As a result, the precharging of logic does not detract from the pipeline's operation.
The high and low clock times for each stage of Yetter's pipeline are designed to be substantially equivalent, but due to inherent manufacturing inequalities, clock asymmetry results. Clock asymmetry creates advantaged and disadvantaged clock phases. However, due to Yetter's pipeline latches, pipeline stages operating in a disadvantaged phase can steal time from those operating in an advantaged phase.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,423 to Yetter is hereby incorporated by reference for all that it discloses.
Although Yetter's pipeline increases pipeline efficiency by using rising and falling clock edges as triggers, there may be instances wherein valid data is held in limbo while a pipeline stage waits for the next clock edge. That is to say, situations can arise wherein it is advantageous to propagate data to a next logic stage before the next logic stage receives a clock trigger.
It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide a pipeline latch which has data-triggered outputs, thereby enabling data to be driven when valid, rather than upon receipt of a clock edge.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a pipeline latch which is transparent, thereby enabling data to be stored with essentially no impact on circuit timing.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a pipeline latch which allows useful work to be done in that time which exists between the storage of valid data, and a clock edge's enablement of a downstream logic stage.

Transparent data-triggered pipeline latch


The present invention provides applicators for performing thermokeratoplasty. One embodiment of such applicators includes two generally tubular electrical conducting elements coaxially disposed relative to one another and separated by an electrically insulating element having a selected thickness. At least a portion of each conducting tube is coated with an electrically insulating and thermally conductive material, e.g., anodized aluminum, so as to electrically insulate the conducting tubes from corneal tissue upon placement of the applicator on a subject's cornea while facilitating extraction of heat from the cornea.

The invention pertains to the field of keratoplasty and, more particularly, to thermokeratoplasty, especially electrically-induced thermokeratoplasty such as radio frequency or microwave thermokeratoplasty.
The object of keratoplasty is to correct vision by reshaping of the cornea. For nearsighted persons, this reshaping involves flattening that ideally decreases the refractive power of the eye and causes the image to focus upon the retina, as opposed to focusing images in front of the retina. Invasive surgical procedures, such as laser-assisted in-situ keratonomileusis (LASIK) may be used, but there are associated complications, such as the dry eye syndrome associated with severing of corneal nerves, and the need for a healing period after surgery.
Thermokeratoplasty is a noninvasive procedure that may be used to correct the vision of nearsighted persons by flattening the cornea. Generally, the cornea is heated to a point where collagen fibers in the cornea shrink, which results in stresses that tend to reshape the cornea. Thermokeratoplasty may be performed by the use or absorption of electrical energy, which is typically cycled in the microwave or radio frequency band for this purpose. Microwave thermokeratoplasty uses a near-field microwave applicator to apply energy to the cornea, raising the corneal temperature. At about 60° C., the collagen fibers in the cornea shrink, and the onset of shrinkage is sudden. Resultant stresses from this shrinkage reshape the corneal surface. Application of energy in this manner may cause reshaping that flattens the central cornea when the energy is applied in circular or ring-shaped patterns around the pupil.
Devices and methodologies for microwave thermokeratoplasty are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,543 to Trembly et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference to the same extent as though fully replicated herein. The microwave applicator comprises an open-ended coaxial antenna driven at 915 MHz or 2540 MHz with an internal coolant system that drives flow of saline coolant transverse to the antenna axis. The '543 patent advances the art by providing applied electrical field theory for open-ended coaxial applicators and the related specific absorption rate, e.g., by using the Swicord and Davis technique in addition to heat transfer theory involving the Nusselt number, the Reynolds Number, and the dimensions of the gap between the antenna and the cornea.
Generally, these devices and methodologies are referred to as "microwave thermokeratoplasty" even though emissions at 915 MHz are slightly below the 1 GHz cutoff that many persons use to identify the microwave band. The term "radio frequency thermokeratonomy" may be used to describe energetic keratoplasty by excitation at lower frequencies. Microwave and radio frequency thermokeratoplasty may be used to achieve similar results, but the applied energy affects the tissue in different ways according to the various theories of operation where the radio frequency heating of tissue has a larger resistive heating component.
FIG. 1 is a side midsectional view illustrating a conventional microwave applicator 100 deployed for use in microwave thermokeratoplasty operations on a cornea 102. An oscillator drives microwave field emissions on concentric microwave conductors, such as conductive metal tubes 104 and 106. A dielectric 108 fills space between the tubes 104 and 106. A central passageway 110 permits the flow of coolant 112 into a flow gap 114 of about 0.3 mm to 0.5 mm between a terminal antenna end 116 and a Mylar™ (a trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company Corporation, of Wilmington, Del.) film 118. The flow gap 114 places the central passageway 110 in fluidic communication with exit annulus 120 for circulation of coolant 112. The Mylar™ film 118 comes into direct contact with cornea 102 at interface 122, which may optionally have a concave down configuration adapted so as not to over-stress the cornea 102 by excessive flattening.
As shown in FIG. 1, the configuration of applicator 100 provides a microwave field that distributes itself downward through the coolant in flow gap 114 and into the cornea 102. The tubes 104 and 106 form an inefficient near-field applicator ideally having a penetration depth of less than about one millimeter, as opposed to a true antenna that can launch a wave. The small value of microwave penetration depth is an intentional design feature that is intended to protect the endothelium or back surface 124 of cornea 102 because the endothelium 124 is regarded to be incapable of regeneration after thermal damage. Coolant 112 flowing in the flow gap 114 cools the cornea at interface 122 by forced convection. The Mylar™ film 118 retains the coolant 112 in flow gap 114 and also prevents the flow of electrical current from tubes 104 and 106 into the cornea 102. By balancing the heating effects of applied microwave field against the cooling benefits of coolant 112, a local maximum of temperature is produced at near mid-depth of the cornea 102 while protecting the corneal epithelium (front surface) and the endothelium 124 (rear surface) from thermal damage.
A number of problems have arisen in use of prior microwave applicator devices. Chiefly, the amount of applied energy is unpredictably related in terms of a precise biological effect, such as by administering energy to produce a predetermined amount of vision correction. The thermal flux at depth in the cornea can be calculated according to theory with a high degree of precision; however, the thermal flux is not calibrated to a measurable biological effect in terms of an applied treatment modality. For example, it is undetermined what level of thermal flux is required to flatten a particular cornea to a desired level of diopter adjustment. This uncertainty is exacerbated by the characteristically sudden onset of thermally-induced shrinkage in the cornea. There is no clear way to determine in the course of treatment if, for example, the outermost layer of corneal cells known as the epithelium is undergoing thermal damage as a result of treatment, and this uncertainty can lead to a painful period of healing while the epithelium regenerates. Critical, small dimensions in the applicators may vary with machining errors, assembly or use, most notably in the dimensions of flow gap 114 for the coolant. Even small machining errors in these dimensions result in the applicator producing asymmetric treatment rings and associated astigmatic effects on the "corrected" vision resulting from use of these devices.
There is a need to improve the predictability of effectiveness of microwave thermokeratoplasty applicators and to reduce the unintended harm that such devices may produce.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A tuneable impedance surface for steering and/or focusing a radio frequency beam. The tunable surface comprises a ground plane; a first plurality of elements disposed in an array a first distance from the ground plane, the distance being less than a wavelength of the radio frequency beam; and a second plurality of elements disposed in an array a second distance from the ground plane, the second plurality of elements be moveable relative to the first plurality of elements.

This invention relates to a surface having a tunable electromagnetic impedance which acts as a reconfigurable beam steering reflector.
Steerable antennas today are found in two common configurations: those with a single feed or reflector that is mechanically steered using a gimbal, and those with a stationary array of electronically phased radiating elements. Both have shortcomings, and the choice of system used is often a tradeoff between cost, speed, reliability, and RF (radio frequency) performance. Mechanically steered antennas are inexpensive, but moving parts can be slow and unreliable, and they can require an unnecessarily large volume of unobstructed free space for movement. Active phased arrays are faster and more reliable, but they are much more expensive, and can suffer from significant losses due to the complex feed structure required to supply the RF signal to and/or receive the RF signal from each active element of the phased array. Losses can be mitigated if an amplifier is included in each element or subarray, but this solution contributes to noise and power consumption and further increases the cost of the antenna.
One alternative is to use a reflectarray geometry, and replace the lossy corporate feed network with a free space feed. The actively phased elements operate in reflection mode, and are illuminated by a single feed antenna. The array steers the RF beam by forming an effective reflection surface defined by the gradient of the reflection phase across the array. Using current techniques, such a system still requires a large number of expensive phase shifters.
There is a need for a reflective surface, in which the reflection phase could be arbitrarily defined, and easily varied as a function of position. The surface should be less expensive than a comparably sized array of conventional phase shifters, yet hopefully offer similar RF performance. Such a surface could behave as a generic reconfigurable reflector, with the ability to perform a variety of important functions including steering or focusing of one or more RF beams. It is the object of this invention to fulfill this need.
The reconfigurable reflector disclosed herein is based a resonant textured ground plane, often known as the high-impedance surface or simply the Hi-Z surface. This electromagnetic structure has two important RF properties that are applicable to low profile antennas. It suppresses propagating surface currents, which improves the radiation pattern of antennas on finite ground planes and it provides a high-impedance boundary condition, acting as an artificial magnetic conductor, which allows radiating elements to lie in close proximity to the ground plane without being shorted out. It has origins in other well-known electromagnetic structures such as the corrugated surface and the photonic band gap surface. A prior art high-impedance surface is disclosed in a pending US patent application of D. Sievenpiper, E. Yablonovitch, xe2x80x9cCircuit and Method for Eliminating Surface Currents on Metalsxe2x80x9d, U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/079,953, filed on Mar. 30, 1998.
A prior art high-impedance surface is shown in FIG. 1. It consists of an array of metal top plates or elements 10 on a flat metal sheet 12. It can be fabricated using printed circuit board technology with the metal plates or elements 10 formed on a top or first surface of a printed circuit board and a solid conducting ground or back plane 12 formed on a bottom or second surface of the printed circuit board. Vertical connections are formed as metal plated vias 14 in the printed circuit board, which connect the elements 10 with the underlying ground plane 12. The metal members, comprising the top plates 10 and the vias 14, are arranged in a two-dimensional lattice of cells or cavities, and can be visualized as mushroom-shaped or thumbtack-shaped members protruding from the flat metal surface 12. The thickness of the structure, which is controlled by the thickness of the printed circuit board, is much less than one wavelength for the frequencies of interest. The sizes of the elements 10 are also kept less than one wavelength for the frequencies of interest. The printed circuit board is not shown for ease of illustration.
Turning to FIG. 2, the properties of this surface can be explained using an effective circuit model or cavity which is assigned a surface impedance equal to that of a parallel resonant LC circuit. The use of lumped cavities to describe electromagnetic structures is valid when the wavelength is much longer than the size of the individual features, as is the case here. When an electromagnetic wave interacts with the surface of FIG. 1, it causes charges to build up on the ends of the top metal plates 10. This process can be described as governed by an effective capacitance C. As the charges slosh back and forth, in response to a radio-frequency field, they flow around a long path P through the vias 14 and the bottom metal surface 12. Associated with these currents is a magnetic field, and thus an inductance L. The capacitance C is controlled by the proximity of the adjacent metal plates 10 while the inductance L is controlled by the thickness of the structure.
The structure is inductive below the resonance and capacitive above resonance. Near its resonance frequency,       ω    =          1              LC              ,
the structure exhibits high electromagnetic surface impedance. The tangential electric field at the surface is finite, while the tangential magnetic field is zero. Thus, electromagnetic waves are reflected without the phase reversal that occurs on a flat metal sheet. In general, the reflection phase can be 0, xcfx80, or anything in between, depending on the relationship between the test frequency and the resonance frequency of the structure. The reflection phase as a function of frequency, calculated using the effective medium model, is shown in FIG. 3. Far below resonance, it behaves like an ordinary metal surface, and reflects with a xcfx80 phase shift. Near resonance, where the surface impedance is high, the reflection phase crosses through zero. At higher frequencies, the phase approaches xe2x88x92xcfx80. The calculated model of FIG. 3 is supported by the measured reflection phase, shown for an example structure in FIG. 4.
A large number of structures of the type shown in FIG. 1 have been fabricated with a wide range of resonance frequencies, including various geometries and substrate materials. Some of the structures were designed with overlapping capacitor plates, to increase the capacitance and lower the frequency. The measured and calculated resonance frequencies for twenty three structures with various capacitance values are compared in FIG. 5. Clearly, the resonance frequency is a predictable function of the capacitance. The dotted line in FIG. 5 has a slope of unity, and indicates perfect agreement. The bars indicate the instantaneous bandwidth of the surface, defined by the frequencies where the phase is between xcfx80/2 and xe2x88x92xcfx802.
For a more detailed description and analysis of the high-impedance surface, see D. Sievenpiper, L. Zhang, R. Broas, N. Alexopolous, E. Yablonovitch, xe2x80x9cHigh-Impedance Electromagnetic Surfaces with a Forbidden Frequency Bandxe2x80x9d, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 47, pp. 2059-2074, 1999 and D. Sievenpiper, xe2x80x9cHigh-Impedance Electromagnetic Surfacesxe2x80x9d, Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Calif., 1999.
When the resonant cavities are much smaller than the wavelength of interest, the electromagnetic analysis can be simplified by considering them as lumped LC circuits. The proximity of the neighboring metal plates provides capacitance, while the conductive path that connects them provides inductance. The textured ground plane supports an electromagnetic boundary condition that can be characterized by the impedance of an effective parallel LC circuit, given by             Z      s        =                  j                          xe2x80x83                        ω                          xe2x80x83                        L                    1        -                              ω            2                              LC                      ,
The sheet inductance is L=xcexct, where xcexc is the magnetic permeability of the circuit board material, and t is its thickness. For a structure with parallel plate capacitors arranged on a square lattice, the sheet capacitance is C=∈A/d, where e is the electric permitivity of the dielectric insulator, and A and d are the overlap area and separation, respectively, of the metal plates.
The surface has a frequency-dependent reflection phase given by   Φ  =      Im              {              Ln                          (                                                    Z                s                            -              η                                                      Z                s                            +              η                                )                    }
where xcex7 is the impedance of free space. Far from the resonance frequency, the surface behaves as an ordinary electric conductor, and reflects with a xcfx80 phase shift.
Near the resonance frequency, the cavities interact strongly with the incoming waves. The surface supports a finite tangential electric field across the lattice of capacitors, and the structure has high, yet reactive surface impedance. At resonance, it reflects with zero phase shift, providing the effective boundary condition of an artificial magnetic conductor. Scanning through the resonance condition from low to high frequencies, the reflection phase varies from xcfx80, to zero, to xe2x88x92xcfx80. Thus, by tuning the resonance frequency of the cavities, one can tune the reflection phase of the surface for a fixed frequency.
This tunable reflection phase is the basis of the reconfigurable beam steering reflector disclosed herein. By varying the reflection phase as a function of position across the surface, one can perform a variety of functions. For example, a linear phase gradient is equivalent to a virtual tilt of the reflector. A saw-tooth phase function transforms the surface into a virtual grating. A parabolic phase function can focus a plane wave onto a small feed horn, allowing the flat surface to replace a parabolic dish.
Features of the present invention include:
1. A device with tunable surface impedance;
2. A method for focusing an electromagnetic wave using the tunable surface; and
3 . A method for steering an electromagnetic wave using the tunable surface.
This invention provides a reconfigurable electromagnetic surface which is capable of performing a variety of functions, such as focusing or steering a beam. It improves upon the high-impedance surface, which is the subject of U.S. Provisional Patent Serial No. 60/079,953, to include the important aspect of tunability.
The present invention provides, in one aspect, a tuneable impedance surface for steering and/or focusing a radio frequency beam, the tunable surface comprising: a ground plane; a first plurality of top plates disposed a distance from the ground plane, the distance being less than a wavelength of the radio frequency beam; and a second plurality of top plates disposed a different distance from the ground plane, the second plurality being moveable relative to the first plurality.


An arrangement for filling watering cans (16), having a container (10) for receiving liquid, wherein the container is assigned a closable outlet and an in particular closable inlet. In this case, an effective cross section of the outlet may be larger than an effective cross section of the inlet.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to an arrangement for filling watering cans.
2. Prior Art
Typical watering cans for use in the garden have on their top side a large filling opening and a handle which extends in a curved manner over the opening. Filling the watering can from a tap or by means of a garden hose is time-consuming and/or tedious.


A method of making an alloy powder for an R—Fe—B-type rare earth magnet includes the steps of preparing a material alloy that is to be used for forming the R—Fe—B-type rare earth magnet and that has a chilled structure that constitutes about 2 volume percent to about 20 volume percent of the material alloy, coarsely pulverizing the material alloy for the R—Fe—B-type rare earth magnet by utilizing a hydrogen occlusion phenomenon to obtain a coarsely pulverized powder, finely pulverizing the coarsely pulverized powder and removing at least some of fine powder particles having particle sizes of about 1.0 μm or less from the finely pulverized powder, thereby reducing the volume fraction of the fine powder particles with the particle sizes of about 1.0 μm or less, and covering the surface of remaining ones of the powder particles with a lubricant after the step of removing has been performed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an R—Fe—B-type rare earth magnet, an alloy powder for such a rare earth magnet, a method of making the powder, and a method for producing the magnet.
2. Description of the Related Art:
A rare earth sintered magnet is produced by pulverizing a material alloy for the rare earth magnet to obtain an alloy powder, compacting the alloy powder, sintering the compact and then subjecting the sinter to an aging treatment. The rare earth sintered magnets extensively used today for various applications are roughly classifiable into the two types, namely, samarium-cobalt-type magnets and rare earth-iron-boron-type magnets. Among other things, the rare earth-iron-boron-type magnets (which will be referred to herein as "R—Fe—B-type magnets", where R is one of the rare earth elements including Y, Fe is iron and B is boron) recently have been extensively applied to various types of electronic apparatuses. This is because an R—Fe—B-type magnet can exhibit a higher magnetic energy product than any other type of permanent magnet and yet is relatively inexpensive. It should be noted that a transition metal element such as Co may be substituted for a portion of Fe in the R—Fe—B-type magnet, and carbon may be substituted for a portion of boron.
A powder of a material alloy for an R—Fe—B-type rare earth magnet is sometimes prepared by a method including first and second pulverization processes. That is to say, the material alloy is coarsely pulverized in the first pulverization process and then the coarsely pulverized alloy is finely pulverized in the second pulverization process. More specifically, the material alloy is embrittled in the first pulverization process by utilizing a hydrogen occlusion phenomenon so as to be coarsely pulverized to sizes of several hundreds of micrometers or less. Thereafter, in the second pulverization process, the coarsely pulverized alloy (or coarsely pulverized powder) is finely pulverized to a mean particle size that is several micrometers using a jet mill machine or other suitable apparatus.
Methods for preparing the material alloy itself may also be generally classifiable into the two types: ingot casting and rapid cooling processes. Specifically, in an ingot casting process, a melt of the material alloy is poured into a casting mold and cooled in the casting mold relatively slowly. Typical examples of the rapid cooling processes include a strip casting process and a centrifugal casting process. In the rapid cooling process, a melt of the material alloy is brought into contact with, and rapidly cooled by, a single roller, twin rollers, a rotating chill disk, a rotating cylindrical chill mold or other similar device, thereby making a solidified alloy that is thinner than an ingot cast alloy.
In a rapid cooling process as described above, a melt of a material alloy is normally cooled at a rate of 102° C./sec to 2×104° C./sec. A rapidly solidified alloy prepared by the rapid cooling process usually has a thickness of 0.03 mm to 10 mm. The melt starts to solidify upward at the lower surface thereof that is in contact with a chill roller (which surface will be referred to herein as a "roller contact surface"). From the roller contact surface, crystals in the shape of pillars (columns) or needles grow upward in the thickness direction. As a result, the rapidly solidified alloy has a microcrystalline structure including an R2T14B crystalline phase and an R-rich phase. Fine crystal grains of the R2T14B phase have a minor-axis size of 0.1 μm to 100 μm and a major-axis size of 5 μm to 500 μm. The "R-rich phase" as used herein means a non-magnetic phase in which a rare earth element R is present at a relatively high percentage. The R-rich phase is dispersed around the grain boundaries of the R2T14B phase. The thickness of the R-rich phase (corresponding to the width of the grain boundaries) is 10 μm or less.
Compared to an ingot cast alloy, i.e., an alloy prepared by the known ingot casting (or mold casting) process, the rapidly solidified alloy has been cooled in a relatively short time. Thus, the rapidly solidified alloy has a finer structure with smaller crystal grain sizes. Also, in the rapidly solidified alloy, crystal grains are finely dispersed, the grain boundaries thereof have a wider area and the R-rich phase is distributed thinly over the grain boundaries. Accordingly, the rapidly solidified alloy is also advantageous in the dispersion of the R-rich phase.
After a rapidly solidified alloy such as that described above has been pulverized by the above-described techniques, the resultant powder is compacted using presses, thereby obtaining a powder compact. Also, by sintering this powder compact, an R—Fe—B-type rare earth magnet can be obtained.
In the prior art, a block-shaped sintered magnet, which is greater in size than a size of the final magnet product, is formed and then cut and/or processed to obtain a magnet having a desired shape and size.
Recently, however, a sintered magnet having a non-ordinary complex shape (e.g., arced shape) is in high demand. In response to this demand, even an as-pressed powder compact should sometimes have a shape that is close to that of a final magnet product. To make a compact having such a complex shape, a pressure to be applied to the powder being pressed and compacted (which pressure will be herein referred to as a "compaction pressure") should be reduced compared to the known process. In producing an anisotropic magnet, the compaction pressure is low to increase the degree of magnetic alignment of the powder particles.
If the compaction pressure is reduced, however, the resultant compact density is reduced, and eventually its strength is decreased. As a result, the compact easily cracks or chips when the as-pressed compact is unloaded from the die cavity of the press or in any of the various succeeding process steps. In particular, an alloy powder for an R—Fe—B-type rare earth magnet often has an angular shape and has a compactibility that is inferior to those of other magnet material powders. Also, if the material alloy has a fine structure as in a strip cast alloy, then the powder obtained by pulverizing such an alloy should have a sharp particle size distribution. Accordingly, the springback (i.e., the elastic recovery of a compact that is observed when the compaction pressure applied to the powder is released) is remarkably observed in such a compact. As a result, the compact also likely cracks or chips. When the compact cracks or chips in this manner, the production yield drops, thus increasing the production costs disadvantageously. What is worse, valuable material resources cannot be utilized effectively enough. Problems like these are particularly noticeable if, while a material alloy for an R—Fe—B-type rare earth magnet is finely pulverized with a jet mill, for example, powder particles of relatively large sizes are screened out using a classifying rotor to increase the coercivity of the resultant magnet.

Rare earth magnet and method for producing the magnet


An adapter for making contact between an antenna structure on a window pane of an automotive vehicle and the antenna signal processing unit which can be positioned at an optional location thereon as plug connectors for flexible leads running to the signal processing window and contact elements which are yieldable and bear against the conductive pads of the antenna structure. The adapter can be mounted at any optional location on the vehicle body.

German patent document DE 196 05 999 A1 describes the formation of a contact with a flat antenna conductor structure which can be provided, for example, on a window pane of an automotive vehicle. Below a part of the body of the vehicle a signal processing unit, including for example an antenna amplifier, can be mounted by suitable fastener means. The housing of this unit has a support in the form of an outrigger or cantilever arm, at the end of which a contacting device is provided. This contacting device is connected with the signal processing unit by conductors which are disposed in or on the rigid support. The contacting means effects a contact with contact pads or surfaces of the antenna conductor structure provided on the vehicle window pane.
The rigid carrier allows the bridging of a fixed distance between the antenna conductors and the signal processing unit. Because of the rigid nature of the cantilever arm, tolerances have to be met for the positioning of the signal processing unit with respect to the antenna conductor structure. A further drawback of this construction is that the entire signal processing unit with the carrier and the contacting portion of the device mounted on the carrier must be replaced when any part thereof can be damaged, e.g. in the case of a crash. This involves comparatively high cost since the signal processing unit in most cases is integrated into the vehicle body between the vehicle roof and the ceiling structure of the passenger compartment and thus is not readily accessible.
A further drawback is that the rigid geometry of the support and the parts to which it is connected must always be matched to a particular type of vehicle since every vehicle type has its own configuration of the vehicle body. The result of the need to match a particular construction of the processing unit, the cantilever arm and the contact assembly at the end of it to a particular body structure also means that different tools are required for producing the carriers and bodies for each type of vehicle. The result is the need for a large number of tools.
As a general matter, this earlier system has disadvantages with respect to tooling, with respect to the number of different units required for different vehicle types, the manner in which the units are mounted in the vehicle and in the susceptibility of the system to damage.


A fatigue testing system provides simultaneous cycle testing for a plurality of prosthetic devices under simulated physiological loading conditions. A plurality of sample holders containing test samples of prosthetic devices is positioned between a distribution chamber and a return fluid chamber to form an integrated test chamber. A reciprocating linear drive motor operates a rolling bellows diaphragm to cyclically pressurize fluid within the test chamber and drive the pressurized fluid through the prosthetic devices being tested. The test chamber defines a return flow conduit in fluid communication with each of the sample holders, the return fluid chamber, and the distribution chamber. Compliance chambers and throttle valves associated with each of the sample holders regulate the pressure gradient and back pressure across the prosthetic devices being tested.

Prior prosthetic valve testing apparatus and methods typically use a traditional rotary motor coupled with mechanisms to produce regular sinusoidal time varying pressure field conditions. To accurately simulate physiologic conditions and/or produce a more desirable test condition, especially at accelerated testing speeds, a non-sinusoidal time dependent pressure field may be desired. This is not easily accomplished with a mechanistic approach. Furthermore, current systems employ a flexible metallic bellows or conventional piston and cylinder as drive members to provide the pressure actuation. Flexible metallic bellows are not ideal because they require high forces to operate and resonate at frequency, necessitating the use of larger driving systems and limiting the available test speeds. Piston and cylinder arrangements are not ideal because the seals employed in these systems are subjected to fiction and thus have severely limited life in high cycle applications.
The information included in this Background section of the specification, including any references cited herein and any description or discussion thereof, is included for technical reference purposes only and is not to be regarded subject matter by which the scope of the invention is to be bound.

Fatigue testing system for prosthetic devices

BIOMEDICAL DEVICE CONSULTANTS & LABORATORIES LLC


An inflatable sealing device is used to seal a door, such as a shutter door in a submarine, when the door is closed. The inflatable sealing device includes a seal retainer positioned around the opening through a structure, such as a submarine hull or other type of wall. An inflatable seal is positioned with a retainer cavity within the seal retainer. The inflatable seal includes a seal periphery and a seal tip extending from the seal periphery. The seal periphery preferably has an elliptical cross section in a deflated state and a circular cross section in an inflated state such that the seal tip extends into a gap to seal the door when the inflatable seal is pressurized and inflated. The seal tip retracts into the seal retainer when the inflatable seal is deflated. A pressure actuator, such as a bellows, is used to pressurize the inflatable seal using an actuating fluid. The bellows can be compressed using a door arm coupled to the door such that the seal is automatically actuated to seal the door as the door reaches its fully closed position.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sealing devices, and more particularly, relates to an inflatable sealing device for sealing a door covering an opening, such as a shutter door in an underwater vessel.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Many submarines include an outer hull with a shutter door contoured to the outer hull. The shutter door opens and closes, for example, to allow devices to be ejected from the submarine. In existing submarines, a clearance is provided between the shutter door and the outer hull because close tolerance fits cannot be obtained in ship building without incurring expensive manufacturing costs. Furthermore, as sections of the pressure hull of the submarine are stress relieved, the connecting components move in relation to their original as built configuration. Therefore, even if a perfect tolerance fit was obtained with the original ship construction, the fit would no longer be perfect after the ship had been in operation for a period of time.
This clearance between the outer hull shutter door and the actual outer hull creates flow perturbations resulting in increased ship drag and ship flow noise. In an attempt to solve this problem, newer ships have incorporated a flexible seal around the shutter door. Theoretically, the seal would move when required by component operations and return to sealing position once the shutter was closed. This solution, however, met with a number of problems.
When the shutters were closed, the seal experienced force imbalances resulting from a lower pressure in the outer boundary layer portion of the hull as compared to the relatively stagnant sea pressure in the free flood area of the ship. As a result, the seal would open in order to relieve the pressure imbalance, and once the pressure was relieved, the seal would close again. This resulted in seal vibrations impacting the life expectancy of the seal.
Ejecting devices through the open shutter also damages the seal by flow forces and physical forces associated with the ejection process. Additional damaging forces were caused by physical interference between the seal and the moving parts of the shutter door during operation. This existing seal design was cantilevered approximately 2xc2xd in. from a solid support, and the maximum deflection stress was absorbed by the rubber seal itself. This seal design and the forces caused by moving the shutter and ejecting devices through the open shutter resulted in excessive seal failure.
A first object is the provision of a seal which is not subject to mechanical wear and tear as the door which it surrounds is opened and closed.
Another object is the provision of a seal which can seal large areas where obtaining a close fit is impossible.
Yet another object of the present invention is a seal that can be used around a shutter door to decrease a ship""s drag and hydrodynamic flow noise without being susceptible to forces that may cause excessive vibrations or seal failure.
Accordingly, the present invention features an inflatable sealing device for use with a door covering an opening in a structure. The inflatable sealing device comprises a seal retainer positioned around the opening in the structure. The seal retainer defines a retainer cavity and a slot extending from the retainer cavity toward the opening. An inflatable seal is positioned within the retainer cavity. The inflatable of seal includes a periphery defining a seal cavity and a seal tip extending from the periphery and into the slot. A pressure actuator is fluidly coupled to the seal cavity of the inflatable seal for pressurizing the seal cavity and inflating the periphery, whereby the seal tip moves through the slot and into the opening to engage and seal the door.
According to the preferred embodiment, the periphery of the inflatable seal has an elliptical cross section in a deflated state. The retainer cavity is shaped such that the periphery of the inflatable seal has a substantially circular cross section when in an inflated state. The retainer cavity preferably has a first region with dimensions generally corresponding to the elliptical cross section and a second region with dimensions generally corresponding to the substantially circular cross section. The seal periphery expands into the second region when in the inflated state and retracts into the first region when in the deflated state.
The present invention also features a sealable shutter door mechanism comprising a door together with the seal retainer, the inflatable seal, and the pressure actuator. The pressure actuator can be actuated by the door closing or actuated independently of the door closing.
In one embodiment, the pressure actuator includes a bellows fluidly coupled to the seal cavity. The bellows forces an actuating fluid into the seal cavity when the bellows is compressed. A door arm is preferably coupled to the door for compressing the bellows while closing the door. A spring positioned around the bellows uncompresses the bellows when the seal is to be deflated. The door can include a hinged door or a rotating door.

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


A dry cleaning clothes machine includes a washing barrel having an inlet, an outlet and a door to sealingly close the barrel. A preheating condensation chamber of distilled solvent is coupled to a first cooling circuit for the distilled vapors of the solvent arriving from a second container tank. A cooling chamber for the solvent comprises a section of a second circuit. The solvent is delivered from a third tank to the cooling chamber. An outlet of the second circuit is connected to a separation chamber and an outlet of the separation chamber is connected to the first and third tanks. The cooling chamber further includes the section of a third through circuit inside of which a refrigerating liquid flows.

The invention relates to a clothes dry-cleaning machine.
In the design and realisation of dry-cleaning machines for clothes there is a continual need to make technical improvements and pay even greater heed to the ecological norms required by law, while keeping the work rate and quality high.
At present machines exist which perform dry-cleaning by following a continuous distillation process, with practically all of the functioning devices closed in an internal closed circuit. The only two connections with the outside are the electric power connection for the principal apparatus (for example, motor compressors) and a water-supply connection for the cooling of the vapour condenser and for the cooling circuit cooling.
More precisely, the water (coming from the principal acqueduct or well and channelled into appropriate conduits) passes through small tubes, possibly equipped with fins, arranged internally to a case, which case defines the collection tank of the distilled solvent vapours, which can thus condensate and be recuperated: the water, circulating in other appropriate conduits, serves as a cooling element for the condenser of the general cooling circuit of the machine.
The drawbacks of such a connection are the following: the positioning of the machine inside the building, which obviously must be such as to enable an easy link-up to the water supply; the considerable volume of water used for the various cooling operations after each cleaning cycle with consequent high running costs, and a further, ecological problem, caused by the need to dispose of the water used by the machine, apart from the problem of actually finding a water supply that can provide the quantities of water needed.


Synchronized panel technology is provided. A method illustratively includes receiving indications of a first form factor and a second form factor. Content that is to be shared is identified. A first user interface is generated that includes the content and that is configured to be displayed on a computing device screen having the first form factor. A second user interface is generated that includes the content and that is configured to be displayed on a computing device screen having the second form factor. Indications of a first and second resolution are optionally received and utilized in generating the first and second user interfaces.

Over the past decade, several products in the telecommunication and telepresence areas have been introduced. Some of these products have been directed at enabling remote communication between multiple users. For instance, certain products have enabled remote users to view a common window within their individual displays. The remote users may use such products to review a document at the same time. Other products have included features such as relaying audio or video signals such that remote users can view or hear each other during a meeting in which the users are at different physical locations.


An ultrasonic imaging system and method is described in which the actual dimensions of images of tissue acquired with a moving transducer (22) are displayed. Since an image is distorted based upon the direction a transducer probe moves relative to the acoustic scanning direction of the transducer (22), the probe motion direction and the acoustic scanning direction are initially determined. If the probe is moving in the same direction as the scanning direction, the acoustic beam scanning speed of the moving probe relative to the tissue is determined by summing the acoustic beam scanning speed without probe motion with the probe speed. If the probe is moving in the opposite direction as the scanning direction, the acoustic beam scanning speed of the moving probe relative to the tissue is determined by taking the difference between the acoustic beam scanning speed without probe motion and the probe speed. The actual width of the image as represented in each pixel of a frame (32) acquired while the probe is moving is derived based upon a ratio of the acoustic beam scanning speed of the moving probe relative to the tissue to the acoustic beam scanning speed without probe motion. Finally, the actual dimensions of the image are displayed based upon the derived width of the image as represented in each pixel of the frame (32).

Ultrasound is an increasingly common tool for viewing the internal body matter, such as organs or tissue, of a patient in real time. In an ultrasonic imaging system, acoustic signals having frequencies in the range of 2.gtoreq.20 MHz are transmitted from a transducer into the patient. A portion of the acoustic signals are reflected by the body matter to create echoes that are received and interpreted to produce an image of the patient's body.
In practice, the transducer is in contact with the patient's body and moved around in order to locate a particular point of interest. Images are acquired both while the transducer is stationary and while the transducer is moving. When the transducer remains stationary while scanning, measurements made in accordance with the displayed image frames, for example the length of a segment, are substantially accurate. However, when a transducer moves while scanning, each image frame appears distorted. The image appears either slightly shrunk or stretched laterally, and thus, the measured length of a segment in such an image is either less than or greater than the actual length. As a result, a physician's ability to produce accurate diagnoses of the patient being scanned may be affected by either the inaccurate image display or the inaccurate measurements taken from the image.
Therefore, there is a need for an ultrasonic imaging system that produces images with signals received from a moving transducer that more accurately depict the patient's body.

System and method for correcting the geometry of ultrasonic images acquired with a moving transducer


A three-phase power supply circuit is provided. The power supply circuit includes three LLC resonant voltage convertors, three step-down transformers, and a bridge rectifier. Each step-down transformer includes a primary and secondary coil, and each primary and secondary coil has a first node and a second node. Each step-down transformer is electrically coupled with one of the three LLC resonant voltage convertors by the first and second nodes of the primary coils. The bridge rectifier is electrically coupled with the first node of the secondary coil of each of the three step-down transformers. The second nodes of the secondary coils of each of the three step-down transformers are electrically coupled together.

Three-phase LLC power converters are commonly used in a variety of systems including telecom systems, fast chargers for electric vehicles, and other applications requiring high power density and high efficiency.
These three-phase LLC power converters typically include an inductor/transformer pair for each of the three phases. Since these components must withstand large switching currents and voltage stresses, they are commonly among the largest components and most expensive within the power converter.

Three-phase LLC power supply circuit for high voltage bus input


The invention relates to a cover for a portable device (10) comprising: a main body (2) with resilient parts, an opening (3) provided in a resilient part (8) for insertion and removal of the portable device (10); and a releasable cap (1) shaped and configured to close the opening (3) and fit over at least a part of the resilient part (8) surrounding the opening (3).

Today the increasing popularity of mobile phones has led to the requirement that mobile phones must be able to operate in different settings, such as in humid environment and the like. A user that takes part in an outdoor activity wants to be able to bring the portable device with him and that no harm comes to the mobile phone due to dust, sand, moisture or the like.
To this end, a cover for mobile phones is provided. The cover comprises resilient, softer parts that may be deformed enabling the user to press underlying buttons and the like. It also comprises substantially non-resilient, harder parts to impart stability to the cover. Transparent parts may be provided to make a display and buttons visible. There may also be parts letting sound pass, letting in sounds to a microphone and letting out sounds from speaker elements. The cover is customized to fit snugly a particular model of the portable device.
Suitably, the resilient parts are made from silicone or thermoplastic elastomer TPE or thermoplastic urethane elastomer TPU or combinations thereof. The substantially non-resilient parts may be made from hard plastic. The transparent parts may be made from high gloss plastic, and some parts may be made from plastic or glass with optical quality for location in front of camera lenses. Instead of transparent parts, the cover may be printed to indicate texts and symbols of underlying buttons. Sound permeable membranes may be made from air/gas permeable materials that are non-permeable to water and liquids, such as materials from Gore-Tex™. All such materials are known as such.
There is also a requirement that it should be easy to move the device from the cover and insert it again, when desired. Some people use the cover when working in hazardous environments, while other people spend their leisure time where the portable device may be exposed to water, dust and sand etc. Typically, a user wants to remove the device from the cover when the situation permits.
In document WO, A1, 02088914, an enclosure for a wireless communications device is disclosed that is easy to separate from the mobile device and provides the possibility to use the mobile device when it is sealed therein. The device comprises a front and a back part that are sealed together by clips, snaps or the like. The cover discloses a long seal length, which tends to deteriorate over time and therefore does not function very satisfactorily, and requires a high mechanical strength of the frame.
In document U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,456, a pouch for a remote control device is shown. The pouch has a sealable end using a Velcro arrangement. The pouch in it self is not very rigid and the seal involves a numerous of steps when manufacturing the pouch, rendering in a rather expensive manufacturing cost.
In document U.S. Pat. No. 6,980,777, B2, a pouch with a cavity that is configured to slideably receive a mobile device is shown. An access wall is locked in a closed position by biasing the access wall and using a Velcro arrangement to keep the wall sealed. The construction is rather complex to operate and discloses a rather poor seal to moisture. Furthermore, the pouch is not very rigid.


A tubular vascular stent graft with passively pulsating section where the difference between the cross-sectional areas of the lumen under the systolic and diastolic pressures after the implantation is 10% or more. The pulsating stent graft accumulates blood during the systolic pressure wave thus lowering the peak value of the tugging force at the proximal attachment site.

Tubular flexible grafts are currently a standard tool for repairing failures in the vascular system. During open surgical procedures such grafts are securely sewn onto the vessel in a manner that prevents detachment or leakage. Open surgical procedures however often carry substantial risk to the patient. In recent years a new technology has emerged which seeks to deliver grafts supported by stents through the use of catheter like devices introduced into the vascular system at a convenient location and then guided remotely to the site where the stent graft is implanted.
One of the more serious problems that the physicians using this technology have to cope with relates to the fact that the intraluminally implanted graft is less securely attached to the vessel wall and can therefore slip away from the intended location. Consequences of such slippage in the case of a large artery can be very serious. Various methods have been developed to counter this problem. Since trouble typically develops at the proximal attachment site, proximal ends of grafts have been equipped with hooks or uncovered stents, which after deployment extend beyond the treated area of the vessel to provide the necessary anchoring.


A method for producing interpolated signal values between sampled signal values in a sampled image signal produced by a checkerboard sampling pattern is accomplished by extracting a block of 2N-by-2N signal values that correspond to a block of sampling locations of the checkerboard sampling pattern, providing a set of frequency coefficients by a discrete cosine transform with the block of 2N-by-2N signal values, and providing at least a interpolated signal value that corresponds to the interpolation location by an inverse discrete cosine transform with the set of frequency coefficients. Here, a block of 2N-by-2N signal values is extracted so that sampled signal values exist in all the pixel locations of the block.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a signal processing method for providing interpolated values between the sample values in a sampled image signal. More specifically, the invention relates to such signal processing methods for providing interpolated values between sample values of checkerboard sampling pattern.
2. Description of the Related Art
A single-chip color image sensor is employed in numerous image capturing apparatuses including digital still cameras to reduce the size and cost of the apparatus.
In the imaging plane of a single-chip color image sensor, pixels including image sensing element are arranged to two-dimension. Being overlaid with a color filter array, the pixels of the single-chip color image sensor alternate between pixels for sampling luminance component (e.g. green) and pixels for sampling one and then the other of the chrominance components (e.g. red and blue). When reconstructing an image from the sampled color image signals produced by the single-chip color image sensor, values of the luminance component and chrominance components are provided for each sample location. This is generally accomplished by some signal processing method involving linear interpolation. From the characteristic that human visual system has big sensitivity to a luminance component, it is known that the resolution of a reproduced picture relates to the resolution of a luminance component. Consequently, the resolution of a reproduced picture is greatly concerned with the way of generating interpolated luminance component.
In many digital still cameras, a single-chip color image sensor employs well known filter array pattern, the checkerboard pattern described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,065 issued Jul. 20, 1976 to B. E. Bayer. The checkerboard pattern is often called a Bayer array.
FIG. 1 shows the color sampling pattern of the Bayer array. The luminance sampling elements, labeled G, are separated by chrominance sampling elements, labeled R or B. In the Bayer array, luminance sampling elements, labeled G, occur at every other sampling location to provide a relatively high frequency sampling pattern which is uniform in horizontal and vertical directions. Chrominance sampling elements, labeled R or B, is surrounded by four immediately adjacent luminance sampling elements. In FIG. 1, the number in the upper part of the array expresses row number, and the number in the left side of the array expresses column number respectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,678 issued Feb. 10, 1987 to D. R. Cok shows a method for processing sampled image signals produced by a single-chip color image sensor having a checkerboard luminance sampling pattern. The patent discloses a signal processing method for producing neighboring hue values representing a hue component of the image at neighboring chrominance component sample locations as a function of a luminance value and a chrominance value at the neighboring locations, producing an interpolated hue value representing the hue component of the image at an interpolation location as a function of the neighboring hue values, and producing an interpolated chrominance value as a function of the interpolated hue value and a luminance value at the interpolating location. The signal processing method disclosed in the patent reduces color fringing in an image reproduced from the sampled image signal without introducing unwanted hue shifts. On the other hand, the patent discloses a way of generating interpolated luminance values that averages four nearest neighbors like a digital low-pass filter. Thereafter, the procedure for the interpolation of luminance values causes the decline of the frequency content of the image signal.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,307 issued Dec. 16, 1986 to D. R. Cok discloses a signal processing method for providing interpolated values between sampled values in a sampled image signal produced by a single-chip color image sensor having a checkerboard luminance sampling pattern. The signal processing method disclosed in the patent is characterized by: (1) providing a plurality of different interpolation routines for producing interpolated signal values appropriate for completing a respective plurality of known geometrical image features; (2) detecting which of the known geometrical image features is represented by a neighborhood of sample values; and (3) applying the interpolation routine appropriate for completing the detected feature to the neighboring sample values to produce the interpolated signal value. In a preferred embodiment of the patent, for processing a sampled image signal from a single-chip color image sensor having a checkerboard pattern, the image features are detected in a four-sample local neighborhood. The features include an edge, a stripe, and a corner.
When the image features are detected correctly, the signal processing method disclosed in the patent can provide the interpolated signal value without errors. However, it is difficult to perform detection stably when the image signal includes large noise.
As is well known, interpolated values are generated by performing an inverse discrete cosine transform (IDCT) using a block of frequency coefficients obtained by performing a discrete cosine transform (DCT) to the blocks of original sampled values, decreasing the sampling interval from that of original sampling locations. In this case, since the inverse discrete cosine transform uses the block of frequency coefficients transformed from the original sampling values, the frequency content of the image signal is not affected by the interpolated values.
The outline of the interpolation method performing a discrete cosine transform and an inverse discrete cosine transform is explained using FIGS. 2, 3, and 4.
FIG. 2 shows locations of the original pixels in one block of 8-by-8 pixels used in a discrete cosine transform. The number "i" which shows horizontal location is zero to 7 from a left end to a right end, and the number "j" which shows perpendicular location is zero to 7 from the topmost part to the lowermost part. Here, x(i, j) is defined as the signal of the pixel located at horizontal location i and vertical location j, and F(u, v) is defined as the frequency coefficient obtained by a discrete cosine transform for horizontal frequency u and vertical frequency v, it is known that F(u, v) is given by formula 1 shown in FIG. 10, where N is the number of original pixels in a column (or a row) of a block, being 8 in FIG. 2.
According to formula 1, the value u or v can vary from zero to 7. Since the value of cosine term of F(u, V) does not change by the pixel location when u=0 (or v=0), u=0 (or v=0) means a direct current of frequency zero. The value of cosine term of F(u, v) varies from cos(PI/16) to cos(15PI/16) between i=0 and i=7 when u=1, where "PI" is defined as pi. Since that variation range corresponds to a phase change of pi exactly at the interval of one block, u=1 (or v=1) means frequency fs/16, where fs is the frequency correspond to the reciprocal of a pixel interval. Since the frequency corresponds to u=7 is 7 times the frequency corresponds to u=1, the maximum frequency which u (or v) takes in F(u, v) is 7fs/16. Consequently, the locations where F(u, v) is defined in the frequency domain are shown by white points in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, the horizontal frequency u is expressed on a horizontal axis, the vertical frequency v is expressed on a perpendicular axis. The white points express not the values but the locations of the frequency coefficients.
Similarly, the resulting block of 8-by-8 frequency coefficients is transformed back to the spatial domain by use of an inverse discrete cosine transform given by formula 2 shown in FIG. 11.
For understanding the mathematical basis of interpolation, it is important to note that, upon replacing the integer variable, 2i and 2j, by integer i′ and j′ respectively, such that i′ (or j′)=0 to 15, there is obtained the relationship for the inverse discrete cosine transform given by formula 3 shown in FIG. 12, wherein x′(i′,j′) is an interpolated signal function. The pixel location of x′(i′, j′) generated by formula 3 is as being shown in FIG. 4. Since i′ is replaced by 2i, the signal x′(i′,0) corresponds to the pixel location i′=0 (, 2, 4, 6, 8, . . . , or 14) is equivalent to the signal x(i,0) corresponds to the pixel location i=0 (, 1, 2, 3, 4, . . . , or 7). Similarly, the signal x′(0,j′) corresponds to the pixel location j′=0 (, 2, 4, 6, 8, . . . , or 14) is equivalent to the signal x(0,j) corresponds to the pixel location j=0 (, 1, 2, 3, 4, . . . , or 7). That is, each pixel location shown in FIG. 4 with a white point is equivalent to the original pixel location shown in FIG. 2. On the other hand, each pixel location shown in FIG. 4 with black point is the additional pixel location. Since the frequency coefficients generated from the block of original pixels are used for reproduction of the interpolated values, the interpolated signal can be provided without affecting the frequency content of the image signal.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,375 issued Dec. 1, 1992 to M. L. Reisch and M. A. Wober discloses a method for processing a field of image data samples to provide for one or more of the functions of decimation, interpolation, and sharpening that is accomplished by use of an array transform processor such as that employed in a JPEG compression system.
However, since the zero values in a block of pixels produced by the luminance signal of checkerboard pattern are represented by an inverse discrete cosine transform as zero, there is no example in which a discrete cosine transform is applied only to the original sampled values of the luminance signal.

Signal processing method for producing interpolated signal values in a sampled signal


A method for manufacturing a smart card includes: planting a solder ball on the secure chip solder pad of the main circuit board; according to the position of the secure chip solder pad on the main circuit board, milling out a groove on the substrate on which the main circuit board is packed, such that the solder ball on the secure chip solder pad is visible at the bottom of the groove; packing the secure chip module into the groove, and by use of the solder ball on the secure chip solder pad, mounting the secure chip module onto the main circuit board. The method is capable of improving the quality of the wiring of the main circuit board; and increasing the scalability of the smart card.

A conventional microturbine electricity generation system includes a microturbine generator, and an electricity converter coupled to the microturbine generator. The microturbine generator converts fuel into alternating current (AC) supply electricity that has a frequency of several hundred Hertz (Hz) (e.g., 750 Hz). The electricity converter undergoes supply-to-output AC conversion, which converts the AC supply electricity into AC output electricity that has a frequency of 50 Hz or 60 Hz, and that is to be outputted to the mains electricity grid.
Since the conventional microturbine electricity generation system includes only one electricity converter, the electricity converter must use high current switches that have high conduction resistances to be able to endure high current stress, resulting in high power conversion loss of the electricity converter and low electricity generation efficiency of the conventional microturbine electricity generation system. In addition, when the electricity converter is not in a normal state, the conventional microturbine electricity generation system cannot work, resulting in low utilization thereof.

Microturbine electricity generation system and electricity management method thereof


A method and apparatus for insertion of filling forms within a design layout are described. One or more jog areas are identified within a circuit design layout. Subsequently, multiple filling forms are inserted within the circuit design layout, each filling form being configured to eliminate a corresponding jog area within the circuit design layout. One or more filling forms that violate at least one predetermined design rule applicable to the circuit design layout are identified. The filling forms are then adapted to comply with the predetermined design rule or rules. Finally, remaining filling forms in compliance with the predetermined design rule or rules are combined within the circuit design layout to form a circuit design output layout.

1. Field
The embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to manufacturing technologies for electronic circuits and, more specifically, to a method and apparatus for insertion of filling forms within a design layout to enable elimination of jog areas within the structure.
2. Background
In order to achieve increased semiconductor manufacturing yield, physical design data is generally inserted into a semiconductor design layout, before applying an optical proximity correction ("OPC") procedure to the integrated circuit database. The design layout is a representation of the integrated circuit and includes geometric shapes and layers that correspond to the physical structure used in actual fabrication. During the OPC procedure, the presence of small jog areas, notches, or other design errors in the design layout leads to a significant increase in data volume, reduced OPC results around the regions containing the errors, and increased difficulty in inspecting the masks of the design layout.
Typically, in an inspection process subsequent to insertion of filling forms, the design layout is subjected to a design rule checking procedure ("DRC"), which applies a collection of design rules to the layout to detect any potential design rule violations and to minimize defects in the fabrication process. In one example, one potential design rule violation relates to the encroachment of a geometric shape into the spacing mandated between the geometric shapes and layers of the design layout. Thus, any removal of jog areas and notches from the design layout should be performed with a view to achieving a DRC-clean design layout.
Several approaches have been proposed to remove the jog areas and notches from the design layout. In one such approach, the jog areas and notches are removed manually via a modification of the geometries of the design layout. However, this approach is labor-intensive and time-consuming.
Another approach involves the use of a script to insert appropriate patches to remove corresponding jog areas in the design layout. However, this approach could create a high number of circuit design rule violations, which subsequently have to be manually modified to comply with the appropriate design rules.
Thus, what is needed is a method and apparatus to insert filling forms within a design layout such that jog areas and notches present in the design layout are removed automatically in compliance with appropriate circuit design rules.

Method and apparatus for insertion of filling forms within a design layout


A system and method for the teaching of physical skills such as golf by the use of video reproduction utilizes a reverse image video by an instructor. In addition, the student receives the reverse image video on a pair of video glasses. The student does not have to perform a mental right-left translation when viewing the instructor.

This invention pertains to a method and system for teaching a physical skill. More specifically, the invention pertains to a method and apparatus wherein the positioning and body motions of an instructor are to be learned by a student.
Physical skills or manual tasks may be defined as tasks where the human being inputs some kind of controlled physical effort and receives feedback information as to the result of the controlled effort. Included within such tasks are those performed with the arms, hands and legs. Also included are tasks performed with the aid of machines, tools or instruments to provide mechanical advantage, accuracy, speed, force or stability. Such tasks are found in every day life, in sports and in work. Examples of such tasks in sports includes shooting basketballs, shooting arrows, hitting tennis balls and swinging golf clubs to hit golf balls.
Many attempts have been made to develop systems and methods which permit the teaching or training of physical skills and manual tasks. The teaching of golf is representative of the type of physical skill in which it is extremely difficult for students to learn even from one having an exceptionally good skill set. More specifically, learning to perfect a golf swing is a challenge for most golfers even under the training of the most experienced golf professionals. All methods of effective golf training developed to date utilize some method of feedback so that the student can visualize how to make changes in his or her golf swing to more closely approximate a desired golf swing.
One approach which has been developed in the past utilizes video technology. In the video systems which have been developed to date, a video image of a professional golfer is shown to the student. The student after viewing the professional's golf swing, then attempts to mimic the swing.
In some systems, the student's swing is also videotaped and shown back to the student so that he can compare his/her swing to that of the professional. In other systems, the student's swing is viewed at the same time as the video of the professional by use of split screen video displays or, in some instances, by superimposing the image of the student on the outline of the professional.
In still other systems, a computer animation of the professional's swing is made, or a computer animation of a golf swing, which is a composite swing formed from the swings of many professionals, is used. In the instance where a computer animation is used, the student sees either a simple computer model of a golfer or the outline of a golfer and is instructed to again mimic the swing viewed. One significant disadvantage to utilizing prior computer animation models is that the models have typically been two-dimensional images. The use of such two-dimensional images have provided inadequate visual guidance and/or feedback to the student.
In most systems, the student receives feedback by viewing a video made of his/her golf swing. However, in many of these systems, the feedback is provided after the student has made his/her swing, i.e., the feedback is delayed in time. In other systems, the feedback is provided in real time by projecting the student's video image at the same time that the instructional video is played.
Right-handed students are most likely taught by right-handed instructors. By right-handed it is meant that the swing of the golf club in hitting the golf ball is from the player's right to the player's left. When the instructor faces the student so that the student can observe the instructor, all the movements of the instructor are in the opposite direction that the student must move to mimic the instructor's movements. The mental interpretation that a student must make in viewing the instructor's movements and translating the viewed movements into the student's opposite direction movements impairs the learning process.
There are several problems to be considered in the presentation of performance information to a student or trainee. The student can receive and use only a limited amount of information in a given time period. The inclusion of distraction information in the learning process impedes the student's ability to absorb the skills being taught by forcing the student to use mental resources which might otherwise be used in learning the skills.
Learning a physical skill or manual task such as a golf swing requires the student to simultaneously absorb many different elements of the instructor's stance and movements before during and at the close of the skill or task.
It is desirable to provide a method and apparatus which will make the learning of physical skills, including athletic skills, more efficient and easier.
The primary application of the present invention is improvement in the speed and accuracy of learning physical skills and manual tasks and improvement in the level and consistency of the performance obtained.

Method and system for teaching physical skills


A flow-through gas cell and a method for passing a sample gas through a flow-through gas cell for spectroscopy are disclosed. In an embodiment, a flow-through gas cell is disclosed. The gas cell includes a substantially cylindrical interior cavity. The interior cavity comprises an inner surface that is reflective. In addition, the gas cell includes a gas inlet and a gas outlet. In the gas cell, a source is disposed on a side of the gas cell, and a detector is disposed on the same side of the gas cell as the source. The source emits electromagnetic radiation, and the detector detects electromagnetic radiation. The gas cell further includes mirrors disposed on opposing ends of the interior cavity.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of spectroscopy and more specifically to a multi-pass reflective cell for spectroscopy.
2. Background of the Invention
Spectroscopy involves measuring the absorption or radiation of energy by a substance. Typically, gas cells have been used for spectroscopy measurements. The conventional gas cell includes an electromagnetic radiation source optically aligned with a detector. A sample gas is passed through the gas cell with electromagnetic radiation from the source passing through the sample gas in the gas cell to the detector. One potential drawback to this type of measurement is that some substances may exhibit a poor instrumental response either due to the concentration of the substance of interest or due to its lack of interaction with the source energy, which may lead to the inability of the detection system to be able to make an adequate measurement due to the path of the electromagnetic radiation within the gas cell not being of sufficient length. This result may be a consequence of the Beer-Lambert law of spectroscopy as represented by the following equation:−I=I0e−abc,where I is the final light intensity that reaches the detector, I0 is the incident light from the optical source, a is the molar absorption coefficient that is specific to each sample, b is the pathlength of the light that interacts with the sample, and c is the concentration of the substance in the gas cell.
To overcome such drawbacks, gas cells have been developed with an increase in the length of the electromagnetic radiation interaction path within the gas cell. The increase in length has been accomplished by lengthening the overall tube and thereby increasing the optical pathlength. A disadvantage of this development includes the requirement of a large tube, which may limit the applicability of the device in many instances. In other cases, gas cells (i.e., multi-pass cells) have been developed with mirrored surfaces within the cell body that reflect the electromagnetic radiation in either a circuitous or oscillatory manner within the cell, which may cause the incident optical energy to interact With the substance of interest one or more times. Drawbacks to such gas cells include requirements that the source and detector must be optically aligned since the measurement efficiency of the device is often directly related to the efficiency of the optical energy transfer from the source to the detector. For this same reason, in the case of multi-pass cells, the mirrors used to reflect the light back and forth must be precisely aligned depending upon the overall pathlength desired, which may lead to design difficulties and performance degradation due to any optical misalignments caused by impacts or optical slippage that may occur during normal usage of the device. Further drawbacks include the inefficiencies involved with cables that connect the source and the detector to a circuit board such as a printed circuit assembly. In many optical devices using gas cells, the position of the optical elements often preclude the utilization of multiple circuit boards in order to facilitate the design, which may lead to additional complexity for the overall instrument system.
Consequently, there is a need for an improved gas cell for use in spectroscopy measurements. Further needs include a gas cell with an increased radiation path length. Additional needs include a gas cell that does not require optical alignment of the source and detector. Moreover, needs include the ability to shorten or eliminate electrical connections such that the associated source and detector electronics may be simplified.

Non-dispersive electromagnetic radiation detector


An elecotrophoretic display device includes a first substrate, a gate line formed on the first substrate, a data line crossing the gate line to form a defined area, a source electrode connected to the data line, a drain electrode facing the source electrode to define a channel area, a color filter formed on the first substrate, a first electrode formed on the color filter, the first electrode electrically connected to the drain electrode, a second substrate facing the first substrate, a second electrode formed on the second substrate and a fluid and a plurality of charged particles interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an electrophoretic display device, and a method of manufacturing the electrophoretic display device, and more particularly, to an electrophoretic display device capable of improving display quality.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
An electrophoretic display device is a flat display device. The electrophoric display device displays an image by using an electrophoresis characteristic of moving charged particles. The moving charged particles are disposed between two electrodes facing each other. The charged particles move toward one of the electrodes having an opposite polarity to that of the charged particles. The opposite polarity is generated due to voltage difference generated by the electrodes.
The electrophoretic display device includes an upper substrate having a color filter and a lower substrate having a thin film transistor and a pixel electrode. The electrophoretic display device includes a micro capsule interposed between the upper substrate and the lower substrate. Particles having a white color and a black color are dispersed in the micro capsule. When the upper substrate and the lower substrate are coupled to each other, misalignment between the two substrates can occur so that display quality can be deteriorated.
When the micro capsule is formed between the upper substrate and the lower substrate, a polyethylenterephthalate (PET) based layer supporting the micro capsule can be attached to the upper substrate.
However, when light, incident from the outside and passing through the upper substrate, passes through the PET, the light can be dispersed so that a color mixing can occur. For example, a red light or a blue light can exit from a green pixel portion.

Electrophoretic display and the manufacturing method thereof


A microscope includes a microscope arm having an interior and an exterior surface. The interior surface has at least one recessed portion disposed therein extending from the interior surface of the microscope arm to an inner recess surface of the microscope arm. The recessed portion forms a surface for gripping the microscope. A portion of the recessed portion is, preferably, disposed above the stage and below the objective turret of the microscope. The recessed portion may comprise a textured surface for increasing the static coefficient of friction thereof.

As is well known, microscopes are optical instruments used to view, examine and study very small objects. There are many different types of microscopes with different types being best suited for particular applications. Types of microscopes include, but are not limited to: compound microscopes, stereomicroscopes, confocal microscopes, inverted microscopes, and laser microscopes, etc. While advancements in microscope optics and microscopy methods have burgeoned in recent years, means for safely and efficiently transporting microscopes have not.
Indeed, microscopes are often required to be transported, for example, from the point of manufacture to the point of sale and/or to the point of use. Typically, when microscopes are transported from point of sale to point of use, they are transported within shipping containers or microscope cases that are specifically designed for such use. Such containers and cases typically comprise shock absorbing materials for preventing the microscope from becoming damaged. Such methods of transporting are perhaps, the safest. Alternatively, where a microscope is transported, for example, from one laboratory to another within a building, the microscope may be placed on a wheeled cart or the like for safe transport. Transporting a microscope via a cart while somewhat safe, is simply not as safe as transporting a microscope within a container specifically designed therefore. However, where a microscope is transported, for example, from one room to another or from one location to another within a same room, the microscope is usually transported by hand. Because hand transportation of microscopes is perhaps, the most dangerous method for transporting a microscope, as many school children may attest, when transporting a microscope by hand, the prudent individual grasps an arm portion of the microscope with a first hand and uses their remaining free hand to support the microscope from below its base.
While such methods are usually sufficient for transporting a microscope by hand, the incorporation of carrying means into a microscope stand offers additional assurance that the microscope will not be damaged during hand transport. While means, for example handles, for transporting microscope are known, such means may statically protrude from the microscope stand, which can be problematic when space is limited, swing in and out from the body of the microscope stand as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,427,270, or they may extend and retract from the body of the microscope stand, etc. While handles that swing in and out or extend and retract have advantages over those that statically protrude, such handles often require complex mechanical means in order to perform their operations. The addition of mechanical devices for handles can increase the manufacturing cost of a microscope.
What is needed then is a means for securing and transporting a microscope that does not statically protrude from the microscope stand and does not require complex mechanical means.


There can be provided a casting film for producing a ceramic green sheet which film comprises a substrate film, an undercoat layer and a cured layer, wherein the undercoat layer is composed of a condensation polymer from a metal alkoxide and/or a partially hydrolyzed product of a metal alkoxide, and the cured layer is formed by heat treating at 40 to 120° C., an addition reaction type silicone resin composition containing a photosensitizer in a coating amount of 0.01 to 0.3 g/m2 expressed in terms of solid content, and thereafter ultraviolet irradiating the composition to cure the same. The casting film, which is employed for the production of a ceramic green sheet to be used in a ceramic capacitor, a laminated inductor element and the like, can easily be produced, has favorable adhesiveness to a substrate film, is excellent in ceramic slurry coating property and releasability from a ceramic green sheet, and possesses high flatness that has never been realized by any of the prior arts together with high antistatic property.

In general, accompanying the market demand for miniaturization and weight-saving for electronic devices in recent years, the part items which constitute the devices are required to be thin-walled and lightweight.
For instance, electronic devices such as a capacitor, a laminated inductor element and the like that have heretofore been part items fitted with leads are made possible to be downsized through the practical application of a technique in which a monolithic structure equipped with an internal conductor is formed by simultaneously firing a ceramics layer having a prescribed pattern along with a laminate composed of an electroconductive layer. However, further miniaturization thereof is required at the present time.
A ceramic capacitor is usually produced by using a process comprising the steps of firstly preparing slurry by mixing ceramic powders having a high dielectric constant of a compound having perovskite-type crystalline structure such as barium titanate, a binder, an organic solvent and the like; applying coating of the slurry to a casting film made of polyethylene terephthalate or the like and drying the same to prepare a ceramic green sheet; then forming an electrode pattern on the resultant green sheet by means of screen printing or the like by using a conductive paste; peeling the ceramic green sheet off the casting film; subsequently laminating a large number of the printed ceramic green sheets in a prescribed order; bonding the same under heating and pressurizing; cutting the same into the form of desirable chips; subjecting the chips to firing treatment; and sintering the same.
On the other hand, the laminated inductor element is usually produced by using a process comprising the steps of firstly preparing a ceramic green sheet on a casting film by using magnetic ceramic powders such as ferrite in the same manner as the foregoing; then forming a coil pattern on the resultant green sheet by means of screen printing or the like by using a conductive paste; subsequently peeling the ceramic green sheet off the casting film; and then following the above-mentioned procedure to prepare the laminated inductor element in the form of chip.
The ceramic capacitor and the laminated inductor element each in the form of chip are required to be more and more miniature in order to cope with the demand for miniaturization as mentioned hereinbefore. Accompanying such demand, the ceramic green sheet, which has a thickness of 5 to 20 μm at the present time, is required to be thinner.
Since the previous casting film cannot cope with the green sheet which is made to have such a small thickness, a film having further high performances are necessitated, namely a casting film which is excellent in ceramic coating property and releasability from a ceramic green sheet and which has an extremely high flatness free from wrinkles and the like due to thermal shrinkage.
There has hitherto been generally used as a casting film, a polyethylene terephthalate film (PET film) which has been subjected to releasing treatment with a silicone resin based releasing agent of heat-curable addition reaction type. However, the silicone resin based releasing agent of heat-curable addition reaction type must be crosslinked usually at a high temperature of 140° C. or higher in order to assure a stable cured film. Consequently, wrinkles due to thermal shrinkage inevitably take place on a PET film in the releasing treatment step. Wrinkles due to thermal shrinkage, when being present on a PET film, bring about the problem in that the ceramic slurry cannot be made into a uniform thin-film sheet at the time of film forming.
Under such circumstances, in order to suppress the occurrence of the wrinkles due to thermal shrinkage to the utmost, an attempt is made to carry out the processing treatment with the silicone resin based releasing agent of heat-curable addition reaction type by lowering the processing rate under a condition of a lower temperature (110 to 130° C.). Nevertheless, the above-mentioned attempt gives rise to problems of not only inferior productivity but also insufficient curing, poor adhesion stability of the silicone resin for the PET film and poor coating property of the ceramic slurry.
In addition, a silicone resin based releasing agent of ultraviolet-alone-curable type which has a functional group such as an epoxy group, an acrylate group, a mercapto group or the like is known as a low temperature-curable silicone resin based releasing agent. However, the silicone resin based releasing agent just mentioned is difficult to assure uniform coated surface of the silicone resin and besides, is unstable and inferior in releasability of the ceramic green sheet.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventors had developed a casting film for producing a ceramic green sheet which casting film is obtained by applying coating of an addition reaction type silicone resin composition as a releasing agent containing a photosensitizer to a substrate film in a specific thickness, heat treating the coating at a prescribed temperature, and thereafter irradiating the same with ultraviolet rays {for instance, refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 198910/2001}.
Nevertheless, it has been proved that the film coated with a silicone resin has a high electrification property, thus causing various problems. For instance, surface electrification sometimes allows foreign matters to adhere thereto, thereby bringing about a defect or fault on the ceramic slurry to be applied onto the film. Moreover, film surface electrification sometimes causes fluctuation and repelling of the ceramic slurry to be applied thereto, thus failing to obtain a uniform thin film sheet. Further, such a problem is sometimes caused in that the slurry is disintegrated by defective peeling due to peeling electrification of a casting film for producing a ceramic green sheet in a step of peeling the ceramic slurry off the film.
Accordingly, importance has been attached in recent years to antistatic property of a casting film for producing a ceramic green sheet in addition to the above-mentioned adhesiveness to the substrate film, coating property of the ceramic slurry, releasability of the ceramic green sheet and a high flatness.

Process film for use in producing ceramic green sheet and method for production thereof


A hybrid vehicle has a rechargeable battery, an internal combustion, a generator, and a control unit that controls the driving of the hybrid vehicle. The control unit determines a utilization mode of regenerated energy in the hybrid vehicle, according to a charged ratio of the battery and a braking force of the hybrid vehicle, from a first mode in which the regenerated energy is charged in the battery, a second mode in which the regenerated energy is consumed to drive the generator with the internal combustion engine as a load, and a third mode in which a part of the regenerated energy is charged in the battery and the remainder is consumed to drive the generator.

A HEV (Hybrid Electrical Vehicle) includes a motor and an internal combustion engine, and runs based on a driving force of the motor and/or the internal combustion engine depending upon the driving conditions of the vehicle. HEVs are divided roughly into two system types; a series system and a parallel system. A series system HEV runs based on power of the motor. The internal combustion engine is used to generate electrical power. The electrical power generated in a generator by means of power of the internal combustion engine is used to charge a battery or supplied to the motor. A parallel system HEV runs based on a driving force of either or both of the motor and the internal combustion engine. A series/parallel system HEV is also known in which both the systems are combined. In the series/parallel system HEV, a clutch is released or applied (disengaged or engaged) according to the driving conditions of the vehicle, whereby a transmission system of driving force is switched to either the series system or the parallel system.
In the HEV, in order to obtain a braking force that corresponds to a braking force obtained by an engine brake, regenerative braking is used in which the motor is caused to function as a generator while the vehicle is being decelerated. Regenerated energy that is obtained during the regenerative braking is generated for a braking force that is needed by the vehicle that is running, and therefore, it is not possible to control the amount of regenerated energy. Although the regenerated energy is used to charge the battery, the battery that is fully charged cannot absorb the regenerated energy.
FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a regenerated energy absorbing system of a hybrid vehicle described in patent literature 1. In the regenerated energy absorbing system shown in FIG. 20, an electronic control unit 4 detects that regenerative braking is activated from a signal sent from a brake switch 9. Then, when the regenerative braking is in operation, an inverter 6 is controlled so that regenerated energy generated in a motor 7 is used to charge a battery 5. However, in the case a voltage of the battery 5 is detected by a voltmeter 12 to be found that the voltage detected is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, the supply of fuel to an engine 1 is stopped, and the inverter 6 is activated so that a generator 2 is activated to operate as a motor that rotates the engine 1 as a load by means of the regenerated energy to thereby absorb the regenerated energy.