A cable feed-through with an elastic sealing element having at least one cable feed-through channel is provided. The elastic sealing element is assembled from two sealing element parts separated by a dividing surface and has a feed-through member which comprises the at least one cable feed-through channel and inner sealing surfaces which can abut sealingly on at least one cable sheath. At least one holding element is provided, with which the two sealing element parts can be acted upon in such a manner that the inner sealing surfaces abut sealingly on the cable sheath and the sealing element parts abut sealingly on one another with their contact surfaces respectively bordering on the dividing surface.

The invention relates to a cable feed-through with a sealing element having at least one cable feed-through channel.
Cable feed-throughs of this type are known from the state of the art, wherein, in their case, the problem of a simple assembly with a reliable sealing always exists.
The object underlying the invention is, therefore, to improve a cable feed-through of the type specified at the outset in such a manner that it can easily be assembled, on the one hand, and ensures a reliable sealing, on the other hand.

Cable feed-through and cable feed-through system


A switched mode power converter includes a transformer having a primary winding, a secondary winding, and a bias winding. A primary side power switch is coupled to the primary winding and is adapted to periodically apply an input voltage to the primary winding. An output filter is operatively coupled to the secondary winding to provide an output voltage and output current. A forward synchronous rectification device is operatively coupled in series between the secondary winding and the output filter. A free-wheeling synchronous rectification device is operatively coupled in shunt with the secondary winding and the output filter. A control circuit is coupled to the bias winding and the forward and free-wheeling synchronous rectification devices. The control circuit includes a forward driving device adapted to couple an activation terminal of the forward synchronous rectification device to a first end of the secondary winding and a free-wheeling driving device adapted to couple an activation terminal of the free-wheeling synchronous rectification device to a second end of the secondary winding. The control circuit activates the forward and free-wheeling driving devices responsive to voltage on the bias winding.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to switching mode power converter circuits. More particularly, the invention relates to single-ended, isolated switching mode power supplies that utilize secondary side, self-driven synchronous rectification.
2. Description of Related Art
Switching mode DC-to-DC power converters are commonly used in the electronics industry to convert an available direct current (DC) level voltage to another DC level voltage. A switching mode converter provides a regulated DC output voltage to a load by selectively storing energy in an output inductor coupled to the load by switching the flow of current into the output inductor. An isolated forward converter is a particular type of switching mode converter in which an input DC voltage is periodically switched across the primary side of a transformer using one or more power switches, typically provided by MOSFET devices. The transformer provides isolation between the voltage source on the primary side and a load on the secondary side. Two diodes on the secondary side rectify the switched and isolated input voltage, including a forward diode connected in series with secondary winding that conducts current to the load when the input voltage is present across the secondary winding and a free-wheeling diode connected in shunt with the secondary winding that conducts current to the load when the input voltage is not present across the secondary winding.
In order to improve the efficiency of the forward converter circuits, it is known to replace the rectifying diodes with power switches (e.g., MOSFET devices). The operation of the power switches may be controlled so that they are turned on and off in synchronism with the switched input voltage. The control signals applied to the power switches must be synchronized as closely as possible to the current inflection points of the output inductor. This synchronous rectification provides higher efficiency over the foregoing forward converter configuration since the forward voltage drop of the power switches is much lower than that of diodes.
So-called active-clamp forward synchronous rectification topologies are very popular in the telecommunication power business. The topology could be found in the power applications ranging from 50 W to 300 W. Power systems for telecommunications applications must satisfy certain considerations with respect to size and protection of the secondary side synchronous rectification MOSFETs. Isolated telecommunication power modules are typically designed to achieve a minimum size. Thus, a simple circuit is usually preferred over a more complex circuit.
Nevertheless, this simplicity of the power converter circuit is difficult to achieve. In an isolated power converter topology, it is necessary to provide bias voltage to the synchronous rectifying MOSFETs. This bias voltage is often provided by a peak charging circuit that is coupled to an additional secondary winding of the transformer, which tends to increase the size and complexity of the transformer winding structure. In addition to the bias circuitry, it is known to control the power switches using a self-driven topology in which the gates of the synchronous rectifying MOSFETs are coupled to the ends of the power transformer secondary winding. The MOSFETs are therefore activated synchronously with the changing voltage across the secondary winding. A drawback with the self-driven topology is that the operation of the power switches can not be controlled to regulate the output voltage of the power converter. Moreover, the voltage applied to the gates of the MOSFETs from the secondary winding may damage the MOSFETs. In view of these drawbacks with self-driven topology, a controlled-driven topology is known in which a separate control circuit is used to detect the current inflection points and activate the MOSFETs. But, a drawback of the controlled-driven topology is that the control circuit increases the complexity and cost of the power converter. Since it is desirable to reduce the size of power converter modules, such as for telecommunications applications, the increased complexity of the power converter due to the bias circuitry as well as the MOSFET control circuit represent significant impediments to providing a simple module structure.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an isolated forward converter power module with synchronous rectifier control and bias circuitry that overcomes these drawbacks of the prior art.

Switching mode power converter having secondary side bias generating and driving circuit to provide synchronous rectification and active clamp


The present invention provides for a method for allowing Applets to be resized independently from the WEB/HTML page they were created. The Applet is made “detachable”, from a user's point of view, from the WEB/HTML page it was initially created. Pushing a “detach” button creates a floating, independent window, extracts the Applet and places it in that new window. In the original Applet area, a “dock” button is displayed. After this transformation, it will be possible to move and resize the “independent Applet window” at will. However, by pushing the “dock” button, it is still possible to perform the opposite operation, i.e. to “dock” the Applet back on the original location, the WEB/HTML page.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for allowing Applets to be resized independently from the WEB/HTML page they were created.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Java™ programs can be designed for deployment in one of two known run-time configurations: Application or Applet.
Application is the traditional way to deploy software, with an explicit installation phase where all necessary program files and configuration files are copied, with a well-defined tree organization, on the mass storage of the target run-time system, and then several execution phases where control is transferred to the entry point of the application which begins operating as designed.
This deployment scheme has the following pros and cons:                Since program files are permanently stored on the target machine, application startup is immediate.        To start the application, a specific, explicit command must be issued by the user.        When the application starts, it is usually independent from other applications, i.e. its lifetime is not necessarily correlated to other applications' lifetime.        Space is permanently occupied on each target machine's mass storage for holding program files and configuration files.        When a new version of the program is released, in order to update the program on the target machine, another installation procedure must be done, either integral or differential/incremental [upgrade].
Applet deployment, on the other hand, has a different goal, and as a consequence of this, it differs from the previous scenario in many respects:                Applet code does not reside permanently on mass storage of the target run time system. It is stored on the mass storage of a centralized server, from which it is downloaded every time the Applet is started. This greatly simplifies administration of the target machines. If a new version of the software is released, it is not necessary to reinstall it on all target machines: it is sufficient to reinstall it on the centralized server and all target machines will download the new version at the first occasion. In situations where the same application must run on hundreds of target machines, this is a tremendous advantage over traditional installation scheme.        The Applet appears to the user as "embedded" in a WEB/HTML page, and it is transparently downloaded (from the centralized server) and activated (when download is complete) during a web browsing session without explicit commands.        Download prior to activation takes time, therefore, execution start cannot be immediate.        One or more Applets run "in" a web browser process (though possibly in several windows). When the web browser exits, all Applets also terminate, and their program files and configuration files, which were previously downloaded by the web browser, are "forgot" (unless caching is used to achieve long-term persistency of already downloaded program files).
One possible way to fulfill a frequent technical requirement coming from users, like customers of a telecommunication network management system, i.e. to make GUI (Graphic User Interface) applications accessible via web, without any prior installation on the client machine other than operating system and web browser, is to develop them as Java Applets. This is especially useful when applications are accessed and activated remotely.
Unfortunately, when GUI applications are running as Java Applets, their size is determined by the WEB/HTML page where the Applet is embedded and cannot be modified by the user like it is normally possible for any other window. Only the web browser window can be resized, but the Applet area within the WEB/HTML page cannot grow. Furthermore, Applets are hosted in a different window (i.e. the browser's one), with its own menus and toolbars, and no possibility to alter or enrich their populations with Applet-provided menus. This renders the development of GUI applications not optimized in time and computer resourses.
More in details, software deployed in Applet mode appears to the final user like "embedded" in the web page contents. Although this visual effect may be desirable from a general point of view, there is an important drawback.
The size reserved to an Applet in a web page is fixed and pre-determined. For example, if we have a "word processor" Applet embedded in a web page, it could have been decided to reserve in the web page an area of W pixels wide and H pixels tall for its graphical interface.
Since the web page may be accessed from a number of clients, and these clients might have different screen sizes/resolution, the web page must be designed to make sure that it is possible to use the word processor Applet effectively on all clients, in particular, even on clients with the smallest screen.
For this reason, quite low values are usually selected for W and H (for example, 600×400 pixels), resulting in Applet sizes which are compatible with all target machine situations, but hardly optimal for target machines equipped with large, high-resolution screens (say, 1600×1200 pixels). On these machines, the word processor Applet will appear as a tiny area less than one fourth of the total available screen size, even if the user has no other application running at the moment.
With traditional applications, in this situation, the user would use window controls to maximize the window size, in order to use all available screen space to work more effectively.
With Applets, this is not possible, because Applet size cannot be changed. The size is "hardwired" in the WEB/HTML code of the web page which is "hosting" the Applet.
The above remarks explain the "Applet size" problem. Other problems exist, however; for example, "Applet multiwindowing". This is the possibility to manage Applets just like ordinary applications, i.e. to have one independent window for each running instance of the software, which can be iconified, moved, sent to the background or brought to the foreground, . . . Applets do not have this flexibility, as they are embedded in web pages, and the best that can be done is to manage them through the web browser window which is displaying the web page which is hosting them. However this is not natural for the final user, it wastes screen space (the window usually carries as an overhead with it all menus of the web browser and the web page area around the Applet).
Therefore, while preserving the advantages connected to Applet-based software deployment and execution, there is the need to have a system to make it possible to resize Applets and to make them top-level windows.
Since Applets cannot change their size, but the surrounding WEB/HTML page can, usual known workarounds for the "Applet resize problem" include:                making Applet size as big as possible in the web page; or        use hybrid techniques to take advantage of the fact that the HTML is portion of the page can be resized; therefore, design the GUI so that only part of it is "active", with fixed size, and implemented in Java, and everything else is in HTML, possibly with JavaScript; or        configure the Applet as zero-size and open a secondary window.
However any a-priori choice about the Applet size cannot be adequate for all circumstances (there are constraints about the display size to take into account, too). Exploiting a mix of Java, HTML and JavaScript is not applicable to complex GUIs, makes application development harder and exposes the overall application behavior and appearance to variance in web browser features. The third solution is only partly acceptable because the connection between the Applet window and the web page is not evident, and the Applet can only run in the secondary window, even in case the user prefers to run it as a traditional Applet.
Other possible known solutions could be:                Design several web pages, for example one for small screens, one for medium screens, one for large screens, and reserve different Applet sizes in each situation; then ask the user to select the most appropriate web page for his/her screen resolution, or try to make this selection process assisted or semi-automatic. In any case, this does not solve the "Applet multiwindowing" problem.        Design the Applet so that although it is still actually embedded in the web page, from a lifetime point of view, its GUI is managed as an external (thus resizable, etc . . . ) window. This solves both problems, but the "Applet embedded in the web page" concept, which is appropriate and desirable in many situations, is lost.

Process for allowing Applets to be resized independently from the WEB/HTML page they were created


A child proof container includes an outer shell defining an opening. An internal cartridge defines first and second storage cavities. The internal cartridge is slidable within the outer shell between an inserted position and a withdrawn position. A first cover is hingedly attached to the internal cartridge by a first hinge. The first cover pivots about the first hinge between a closed position for covering the first storage cavity and an open position for providing access to the first storage cavity. The first cover is attached to the internal cartridge such that the first cover cannot pivot to the open position until the internal cartridge is in the withdrawn position.

It is often desirable to have containers for storing various objects be child resistant. This feature is used to prevent children from accidentally coming into contact with and particularly ingesting the contents of the containers. For example, containers for things such as smokeless tobacco, medicine, or other objects are often child resistant.
One test that determines whether a container is considered child resistant is if opening the container requires a multi-step process. For instance, some child resistant containers have threaded lids that require a two-step process to remove the threaded lid from the container bottom. The two-step process requires first axially pressing the threaded lid toward the container bottom and then second rotationally twisting the threaded lid relative to the container bottom. Accordingly, with such containers, the first step is axially pressing and the second step is rotationally twisting (i.e. unthreading). Containers for other products may contain products, for example paper, with liquids absorbed thereon. The two-step opening process prevents one single action from inadvertently opening such containers and mistakenly spilling the contents. Accordingly, a user of the container can safely and securely store the product in such multi-step opening containers until they reach a proper trash receptacle.
Another problem is many objects may be used but then waste is produced that is not desirable to be placed in the user's pocket. For example, some smokeless tobacco is in pouch form. Once used, however, the moist pouch should be disposed of. If there is no available location to dispose of the used pouch, this can be problematic. Further, putting the moist pouch back in the container with the rest of the unused pouches is not desirable.
Gum, such as medicinal gum that should not be ingested by children, can have similar problems as pouches of smokeless tobacco.
The present disclosure relates to improvements in the container art.

Child resistant packaging with multiple storage compartments with hinged covers


A high-strength steel sheet having a tensile strength of at least 780 MPa and excellent punchability comprises a ferrite phase, a martensite phase, and a bainite phase. The area ratio of the martensite phase is 20%-50%; the area ratio of crystal grains having an average crystal grain diameter of less than 1.0 μm in the martensite phase is 5%-30%; the area ratio of crystal grains having an average crystal grain diameter of 1.0-4.0 μm is 70%-95%; and the area ratio of crystal grains having an average crystal grain diameter of more than 4.0 μm is less than 5%.

To reduce the weight of automobile bodies, high-strength steel sheets are actively used as materials of automobile components. Steel sheets used for structural members and reinforcing members of automobiles are mainly steel sheets having a tensile strength (TS) of 780 MPa or more. To strengthen a steel sheet, it is effective to utilize structural strengthening, and one method is to form a complex structure including soft ferrite and hard martensite. Generally, a steel sheet having this complex structure has good ductility, an excellent strength-ductility balance (compatibility), and relatively good press formability. However, in the steel sheet having the complex structure, its material properties such as tensile strength (TS) vary greatly in response to changes in the conditions of production such as annealing temperature in an ordinary continuous annealing line, and therefore the material properties tend to vary in the lengthwise direction of a coil.
The high-strength steel sheets used as materials of automobile components are subjected to punching and therefore required to have punchability. The required punchability is that the amount of wear of the punch and die is small, i.e., continuous punchability is excellent, and that variations in press formability of punched edge faces and their vicinities when continuous punching is performed are small.
When punching is performed in an actual component production process, it is difficult to control clearance (the clearance between the punch and die) to be constant because of issues such as the mounting accuracy of the die, and the clearance fluctuates within the range of 5 and 20%. Therefore, when variations in material properties within a single coil or between coils are large, variations in press formability of punched edge faces formed by punching and their vicinities are large. In this case, it is difficult to perform press forming stably in a continuous press line for automobiles. When stable press forming is difficult, it is feared that workability may deteriorate significantly.
In a highly formable high-strength cold-rolled steel sheet described in Patent Literature 1, certain amounts of Si and Al are added to reduce changes in structure caused by fluctuations in annealing conditions to thereby reduce variations in mechanical properties such as elongation and stretch flangeability.
Patent Literature 2 discloses a hot-rolled steel sheet in which deterioration in punchability is prevented by reducing the contents of Ti-based nitrides in the steel sheet.

High-strength steel sheet and production method therefor


A portable communication system provides a universal transmitter that mechanically couples to a communication device having a sound output, e.g., a cellular phone handset, and which transforms the sound output into infrared signals, e.g., pulses, for transmission to a wireless receiver, e.g., a behind the ear or in the ear receiver.

Short range, wireless transmission of audio is an established and convenient manner for users to listen to sound sources such as television, stereo and computer multimedia devices without disturbing others. Typically, such privacy listening systems employ one or two earphones mounted into a headset that contains the receiver circuitry and power supply.
Generally, wireless communication systems use one of acoustic, radio frequency, infrared, and inductive techniques for short range transmission of audio. Radio frequency and infrared signal transmission are most commonly used for such short range transmission; however, magnetic induction is also used as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,791 to Strohallen et al., entitled "Low Power Wireless Communication System Employing Magnetic Control Zones," issued 30 Jun. 1998.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,791, a receiver configured as a behind the ear (BTE) hearing aid, an in the ear (ITE) hearing aid, or as a cordless headset is described. A transmitter unit, which may include a microphone for picking up external sounds, modulates audio sound to drive a magnetic transmission element, e.g., a neck loop, for transmission to the receiver. The receiver, which includes a magnetic receiving element, demodulates the received signal to provide a sound output to the user. In one embodiment of U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,791, a headset which includes the receiver containing the magnetic receiving element, also may include an infrared (IR) transmitter for transmitting signals back to a base station for two-way communication.
Various types of phones are available, such as cordless phones, cordless cellular phones, corded phones, etc. In particular, cellular phone usage has increased dramatically over the years. Most hand-held radiotelephones, such as mobile phones, or cordless telephones are designed to assume at least the size of a conventional handset during operation, e.g., a fixed handset configuration or a flip phone configuration, with the antenna being in close proximity to the user's head. Recently, health concerns over cell phone radiation and the safety concerns over use of the cell phones while driving (e.g., desire for hands free operation) invite significant new development in this technology.
Several earpiece receivers have been described for phones even though the generally sizeable circuitry and battery power requirements for IR receivers pose a significant challenge to subminiaturization and have generally precluded the use of a comfortable and convenient subminiature earpiece. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,149 to Weatherill, entitled "Portable Communications Device With Wireless Transmitter and Detachable Earpiece Including a Wireless Receiver," issued 9 Mar. 1999, describes a portable communication device, i.e., a phone, having a detachable receiver part which can be placed against the ear for use. The portable communications device has an integral transmitter for communicating with the detachable receiver part. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,643 to Radley, entitled "Hand-Held Radiotelephone Having Two-Part Construction," issued 12 Oct. 1999, describes a radiotelephone having an earpiece that is spatially separated from the other components of the radiotelephone and includes an IR receiver. The housing of the handheld radiotelephone includes an IR transmitter, i.e., the transmitter is integral with the radiotelephone.
It will be recognized that in each example, the transmitter is integral with the phone. As such, the external wireless earpiece receiver will only function with a particular type of phone.
Further, IR systems have been criticized for being restricted to line of sight communications. While line of sight communications provide for a relatively secure communication link, IR communications have been described as requiring considerable power. For example, the amount of power required by an IR receiver is generally proportional to the ambient light conditions in the user area and the range or distance from the transmitter. Thus, as the ambient light level increases, the power that is needed generally increases. In a like manner, as the range or distance from the transmitter to the receiver increases the power required also increases.

Low power infrared portable communication system with wireless receiver and methods regarding same


A blood glucose measuring system includes a lancet assembly and a meter for use with the lancet assembly. The lancet assembly has a lancet member with a lance, a lancet body having a drive wing extending outwardly from a side, and a sinuous portion, and an elongated carrier having a lancet member recess to contain the lancet member. The elongated carrier has an open end, a closed end, a side elongated opening for receiving the drive wing therethrough, and an anchoring member operatively connected to the end of the sinuous portion. The meter includes a measuring circuit, a lancet trigger, and a lancet driver where the lancet driver includes a driver piston engageable with the lancet trigger and a charging member that operatively engages with the driver piston to move the driver piston into an armed position and to stop the driver piston when released from the armed position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to testing body fluids. Particularly, the present invention relates to a lancet used for obtaining a sample of body fluid for testing. More particularly, the present invention relates to a lancet and test strip combination. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a diagnostic system incorporating a lancet and test strip combination and an electronic meter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The examination of blood samples in clinical diagnostics enables the early and reliable recognition of pathological states as well as a specific and well-founded monitoring of physical condition. Lancets and lancet devices enable blood sample collection especially for home monitoring by diabetics.
A blood sugar level that is either too high or low can lead to adverse physical consequences for a diabetic. Personal blood sugar determination is important for diabetics to aid in controlling and maintaining blood sugar levels with the use of insulin and other medications. A lancet is used to pierce the skin (usually a finger) and produce a small blood sample. Lancing the skin is painful. For diabetics who are required to test their blood sugar level several times a day, lancing several times a day is a painful but necessary procedure. The blood sample is then placed on a test strip for analysis and the blood glucose level is read by a blood glucose meter. Various devices have been devised for lancing the skin of a user as well as combination devices that include lancets and analytical device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,620,112 (2003, Klitmose) discloses a disposable lancet combined with a reagent carrying strip which carries a reagent that indicates the concentration of a blood component in a blood sample placed in contact with the strip The reagent carrying strip is connected to the lancet, e.g. by molding. One end of the lancet is sharpened for piercing the skin. The strip is sheet-like and has a first side and a second side, which sides are both accessible for the user, such that the reagent carrying strip can be inserted into a blood glucose meter. A weakened tear line is provided at a connection between the lancet and an edge of the reagent carrying strip so that the reagent carrying strip may be easily disconnected from the lancet.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2003/0050573 (Kuhr et al.) discloses an analytical device containing a lancet comprising a lancet needle and a lancet body, the lancet needle being movable relative to the lancet body and the lancet body being composed, at least in the area of the tip of the lancet needle, of an elastic material in which the tip of the lancet needle is embedded, and an analytical test element which is permanently connected to the lancet body. In addition the invention concerns an analytical device containing a lancet comprising a lancet needle and lancet body which is in the form of a hollow body in the area of the tip of the lancet needle and surrounds the tip of the lancet needle, the lancet needle being movable relative to the lancet body and the hollow body being composed at least partially of an elastic material, and an analytical test element which is permanently connected to the lancet body.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,658 (2003, Heller et al.) discloses an analyte measurement device includes a sensor strip combined with a sample acquisition device to provide an integrated sampling and measurement device. The sample acquisition device includes a skin piercing member such as a lancet attached to a resilient deflectable strip which may be pushed to inject the lancet into a patient's skin to cause blood flow. The resilient strip is then released and the skin piercing member retracts.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0130042 (Moerman et al.) discloses an apparatus having a meter unit, a lancet and an electrochemical sensor. The meter is reusable while the lancet and the electrochemical sensor are incorporated into assemblies intended for single use. The meter has a housing within which a lancet is engaged with a mechanism for moving the lancet, a connector disposed within the housing for engaging an electrochemical sensor specific for the analyte, and a display operatively associated with a connector for displaying the amount of the analyte to the user.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0082522 (Douglas et al.) discloses a device and method for lancing a patient, virtually simultaneously producing and collecting a small fluid sample from the body. The device includes a lancing needle, drive mechanism, kneading or vibration mechanism, optional suction system, and sample ejection mechanism.
A disadvantage of the above prior art is that each of the lancets are rigid and rely solely on the spring action of a firing mechanism to retrieve the lancet after firing or, in the case of the Heller device, the specimen piercing speed of the lancet is uncontrolled and depends on the quickness of the user. Further, the prior art that provides for shallow depth penetration of the lancet generally includes a sophisticated system to knead the surrounding lanced area by ultrasonic action, piezo-electric or mechanical oscillation to stimulate the blood flow from the wound to draw the blood into a pumping system. It should also be noted that none of the prior art lancet sensor combination devices are currently available in the marketplace, which indicates that the prior art devices do not provide a reasonable, cost-effective, useful, and workable system for a lancet sensor combination test strip and meter.
Currently available, prior art, blood glucose meters include those known as the Accu-Chek® Aviva system by Roche Diagnostics, the One-Touch® system by LifeScan, the Glucometer® DEX system by Bayer, the True Track® system by Home Diagnostics, and the Freestyle® system by Abbott. Although these meters advertise various advantages such as fast and reliable test results, small volume requirements and reduced pain systems, each of the currently available meters requires the use of a separate lancing device to obtain the blood sample from the patient. Some require the occasional use of a control reagent to calibrate the meter. All, however, require a patient to carry both the meter and the lancing device with the appropriate number of disposable test strips and lancets. None of these currently available meters, on the other hand, are capable of accepting a combination lancet sensor test strip or eliminating the need for a separate lancing device.
Therefore, what is needed is a lancet assembly that has an inherent return action upon piercing a specimen. What is further needed is a lancet assembly that can incorporate an analytical test strip. What is also needed is a test strip diagnostic, handheld meter that is capable of driving a lancing device and electronically testing a blood sample. What is still needed is a diagnostic, handheld meter that is usable with a lancet sensor test strip combination.


An antenna system including a radiation element retainer device including an attachment element configured to attach a radiation element to the radiation element retainer device. An attachment element attaches one radiation element to the radiation element retainer device. The radiation element retainer device is configured to be arranged with a circuit board carrier, such that the radiation element is electrically connectable to a circuit board, arranged at the circuit board carrier, as the radiation element is fixed on the radiation element retainer device by the attachment elements. The antenna system further includes a main board and a plurality of sets of attachment elements. The attachment elements are integrated formed with the retainer device, such that the attachment elements and the main board include one single piece of material that forms the radiation element retainer device.

An Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) is composed of numerous radiation elements. Due to the numerous radiation elements the AESA can be directed in a desired direction, by using a number of different frequencies of coherent radio energy that interfere constructively at certain angles in front of the antenna.
To achieve the desired effect, that the radio energy, from the individual radiation elements, interfere constructively the radiation elements must be positioned with an exact predetermined distance relative each other. Normally, each radiation element is mounted at circuit board carrier which then includes a number of radiation elements with Transmittal Receiver Modules (TRM), distribution network, power and logic. The radiation elements are mounted directly at the circuit board carrier or at a separate board which then can be mounted on the circuit board carrier. The high precision required in the mounting of the individual radiation elements relative each other, results in complex mounting solutions, and thereby high costs for the manufacturing of the mechanics, the mounting of the radiation elements and the handling of the all the involved parts.
The mounting solutions used so far in the AESA, are similar to the ones used for holding and supporting of circuit boards. With this background, the U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,135 is considered as closest prior art and discloses a attachment element for mounting and holding a printed circuit board onto a support panel, another printed circuit board or the like. The attachment element has a unitary flange extending outwardly from it; this unitary flange is used to attach the attachment element to a support panel or another printed circuit board, as by welding. To mount numerous radiation elements with the attachment element of U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,135 with the high precision needed for the use in a AESA would be very time consuming and expensive, since at least two unitary retainers has to be welded with high precision for each radiation element.


Disclosed is a novel process for splicing webs of pressure sensitive laminate material. When webs of pressure sensitive laminates are spliced by conventional methods and wound into rolls, the resultant splices must be located and removed when the roll is later converted into pressure sensitive products. The novel splice is achieved by eliminating the top tape used in a conventional splice and overlapping a face sheet of one laminate web over the other laminate web to join the webs. For many processes, this novel splice is printable and does not have to be edited out, and it is at least as strong as those made with tapes. Also disclosed is a novel spliced pressure sensitive laminate.

The present invention is directed to a novel splice and to a method of splicing together two webs of pressure sensitive laminate material. The invention uniquely enhances the quality and rate of conversion of laminate stock before die cutting to matrix-stripped laminated stock.
The following definitions will be helpful to facilitate understanding of the invention:
Release liner: usually paper that has been treated with a silicone release agent.
Face sheet: usually paper, foil or film.
Pressure sensitive adhesive: an adhesive which can be formulated to provide varying degrees of removability from surfaces to which it is applied.
Pressure sensitive laminate: a combination of a release liner with a face sheet temporarily adhered to it by means of a pressure sensitive adhesive. When the face sheet is stripped from the release liner, the pressure sensitive adhesive permanently adheres to the face sheet.
Die cutting: the process of cutting through the face sheet only of a pressure sensitive laminate in a desired pattern to form labels and the like.
Matrix or Lace: the area of face sheet surrounding the die cut desired pattern (e.g., labels) that is stripped away after the die cutting operation to leave matrix-stripped laminate stock with labels remaining on the release liner.
The prior art can be described with reference to FIGS. 1,2,3 and 4.
In FIG. 1 a conventional pressure sensitive laminate 10, is shown in cross-section. This laminate 10 is prepared by bringing together a face sheet 14 with a release liner 12 that has been coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive 16.
In the preparation of products such as labels, referring to FIG. 2, parent roll 18 of laminate 10 before die cutting is cut by die cutting apparatus 20 (illustrated schematically) which cuts through face sheet 14 but not release liner 12. Following the die cutting operation a matrix of face sheet 14 is stripped away from release liner 12 with holes 22 where the die cut labels 24 have been cut and are left intact on release liner 12.
The parent rolls of laminate 10 before die cutting are manufactured in a laminating process into intermediate parent rolls of various lengths. These intermediate parent rolls are then rewound and slit into final parent rolls for die cutting at the widths and lengths ordered by the customer. In the rewinding process it is often necessary to make splices to satisfy customer length requirements and to remove defects in the parent rolls. A conventional splice of this nature is depicted in FIG. 3 (in cross-section) and in FIG. 4. FIG. 3 shows a conventional butt-type splice for pressure sensitive laminates. This splice is prepared by butting the expiring end of laminate 10b against the leading end of laminate 10a at the butt line 26. The splice has five layers which consist of three splicing tapes plus a face sheet and a release liner.
Splicing tape 28 is applied on the butt line 26 transversely across the width of the webs on the release liner side. A clear tape 30 is applied on the butt line 26 transversely across the width of the webs between the release liners 12a and 12b and the face sheets 14a and 14b. The purpose of tape 30 between the face sheets and the release liners is to prevent adhesive of tape 28 from working its way up through the gap between the two abutting release liners and sticking to the adhesive 16 on the back side of face sheets 14a and 14b. If the two adhesive layers were to contact each other and adhere, the face sheet's matrix would break during die cutting. Lastly, splicing tape 32 is applied on the butt line 26 transversely across the width of the webs on the face sheets 14a and 14b.
FIG. 4 is an overhead view of the face sheet surface of laminates 10a and 10b showing splicing tape 32 extending diagonally across the face sheets. Splicing tape 32 must have good adhesive strength to form the splice and the backing must have good internal strength to maintain the splice through the various converting operations in which the web will be subjected. For this reason paper tapes are usually not adequate. Tapes that normally provide the required strength are plastic tapes.
As one examines the conventional splice, it is apparent that it is not suitable to go through the conversion process and end up as part of the finished product. Splicing tape 32 joining the face sheets of laminated webs 10a and 10b is typically of a different material and color than the two face sheets. Thus, the tape represents a significant change in surface quality, printability and/or other functionality.
Another disadvantage is that the conventional splice has less than maximum strength to offset stresses that could pull apart the joined webs when they are subjected to high shear forces. As shown in FIG. 3, the laminate 10 is cut all the way through with the cuts in the face sheet and the release liner being aligned. If either the face sheet or the release liner separates, due to a poorly made splice or excessive tension, the other web will most likely separate, as well. Also, the face sheet tape in the typical splice straddles both face sheets, with approximately half of the tape on one face sheet web and one half on the other. To separate the two webs, the tape must slide across the face sheet a distance of only half the width of the tape. Thus, the typical butt-type splice lacks maximum resistance to shear forces when the spliced web is pulled through a winding or unwinding operation.

Method of splicing a pressure sensitive laminate


A low coherence light beam is irradiated to the eyeball. A backward scattered light beam, which is reflected from each depth position in the eyeball, and a reference light beam, which is reflected from a mirror capable of moving, are caused to interfere with each other. A first backward scattered light beam, which comes from the interface between the cornea and the anterior aqueous chamber, and a second backward scattered light beam, which comes from the interface between the anterior aqueous chamber and the crystalline lens, are thus separated accurately from each other. An optical absorbance of the anterior aqueous chamber (the aqueous humor) is calculated from the intensities of the two backward scattered light beams. Each of a plurality of low coherence light beams having different wavelengths is irradiated to the eyeball, and the aforesaid operation is repeated. The concentration of glucose in the aqueous humor is measured by utilizing near-infrared spectroscopy. The measurement is thus achieved non-invasively and accurately.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for measuring a concentration of glucose in a living body. This invention particularly relates to a method and apparatus for measuring non-invasively the concentration of glucose in the aqueous humor in the anterior aqueous chamber of the eyeball, and a method and apparatus for measuring non-invasively the concentration of glucose in the blood in accordance with the concentration of glucose in the aqueous humor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The mean level of glucose in the blood varies for different persons and is an important index for determining whether drugs are to be or are not to be administered to diabetic patients.
The concentration of glucose in the blood has the characteristics such that it fluctuates markedly within a very short time in accordance with food intake, physical activity, a complication by another disease, or the like. Urgent dosage is often required due to a sharp increase in concentration of blood glucose.
Therefore, as forpatients having suchadisease, it is desired that the concentration of glucose in the blood can be monitored at as short intervals as possible. Ordinarily, monitoring of the concentration of glucose in the blood is carried out by lancing the finger of the patient in order to obtain a drop of blood, analyzing the drop of blood, and thereby measuring the concentration of glucose in the blood. Since the lancing of the finger is painful, it is difficult to compel the patients to undergo the measurement procedure many times per day.
Accordingly, recently, in lieu of the invasive measurements having the drawbacks described above various non-invasive measuring methods, which are not accompanied by pain, have been proposed.
The non-invasive measuring methods are primarily based upon the findings in that the concentration of glucose in the aqueous humor, which fills the anterior aqueous chamber located between the cornea and the crystalline lens of the human eyeball, has strong correlation with the concentration of glucose in the blood, though the level of correlation varies for different persons. With the non-invasive measuring methods, the concentration of glucose in the aqueous humor is measured non-invasively.
For example, a glucose sensor system, wherein the angle of rotation of infrared radiation having impinged upon the aqueous humor is measured, and the concentration of glucose having relationship with the angle of rotation is thereby determined, is proposed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,560.
Also, a technique for measuring stimulated Raman light from glucose is disclosed in, for example, WO 92/10131.
Further, a device for measuring the optical properties of light reflected from the crystalline lens of the eye is described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,743. Furthermore, a method for measuring the concentration of glucose in the aqueous humor is described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,197.
However, with the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,743, light reflected from the interface between the cornea and the aqueous humor cannot be eliminated, and information representing absorption at the cornea is detected together with the necessary information. Therefore, the accuracy, with which the concentration of glucose in the aqueous humor is determined, cannot be kept high.
Further, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,743, nothing is disclosed as to technical means to be used for measuring a minute change in absorbance. Therefore, the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,743 cannot be appropriately used in practice.
As for the glucose sensor system proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,560, many compounds other than glucose in the aqueous humor are optically active and take part in rotation of the plane of polarization. Also, the cornea exhibits biref ringence and therefore causes rotation of the plane of polarization to occur. Accordingly, with the glucose sensor system proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,560, wherein the concentration of glucose in the aqueous humor is determined from the angle of rotation, the measurement accuracy cannot be kept high.
With the technique disclosed in WO 92/10131, in order for stimulated Raman light fronglucose tobe measured, a pump laser beam having a high intensity is introduced into the anterior aqueous chamber and in a direction normal to the vision line optical axis. Therefore, a practical measuring system cannot be constituted easily.

Glucose concentration measuring method and apparatus with a coherent source and heterodyne interferometer


An enhanced traction device for use with a vehicle having dual tandem wheels includes a series of generally parallel track pads, each track pad having an alignment portion and a traction portion defining first and second ends. Each traction portion includes an inner surface for contacting the vehicle wheels and an outer surface for contacting ground. Each alignment portion extends away from a respective traction portion outer surface and is configured to pass between the dual wheels. The alignment portions maintain proper positioning of the track pads upon the dual tandem wheels of the vehicle. The traction device further includes a first chain coupled to each respective track pad first end for maintaining a predetermined spacing between said track pad first ends. Similarly, the traction device includes a second chain coupled to each track pad second end for maintaining a predetermined spacing between the track pad second ends.

This invention relates generally to vehicle traction devices and, more particularly, to a traction enhancement device for use with a vehicle having dual tandem wheels. More particularly, the present invention provides enhanced traction for construction trucks having dual wheels that may otherwise become stuck when operating in muddy conditions.
Rainy weather is often a significant problem for construction companies in that heavy equipment such as construction trucks having tandem wheels may become stuck in the mud. Or, the construction trucks and crews must simply wait until the ground is dry enough to enable the trucks or other heavy equipment to operate without becoming stuck. Having to wait for dry weather before operating construction trucks may cause the predetermined construction schedule to be compromised and to potentially jeopardize the profitability of the job.
Various devices have been proposed in the art for enhancing the traction of vehicles having dual rear tires. Specifically, interlinked track pads have been proposed that surround the tires and wheels which turn along with the wheels and which spread the weight of the vehicle over a wider surface area to prevent the vehicle from getting stuck. Although assumably effective for their intended purposes, the existing or previously proposed devices have required structures that either surround the outer edges of the tires or included other means for maintaining the track assembly in proper alignment upon the wheels.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have an enhanced traction device for use on vehicles that have dual tandem wheels for reducing the chances that the vehicle will get stuck in the muddiest of weather conditions. Further, it would be desirable to have an enhanced traction device that maintains its plurality of track pads upon the tandem wheels using a plurality of alignment portions or a spacer positioned to extend between the tandem wheels of the vehicle.


An insulation arrangement for thermally and acoustically insulating an aircraft fuselage, which comprises at least one insulation packet arranged on an exterior skin of the aircraft. The insulation packet includes dimensionally rigid foam, and comprises a shape corresponding at least with a structural component on the exterior skin, as the result of which the insulation packet is retained on the structural component even without any additional attachment elements. As a result, ventilation openings need not be provided, thereby reducing condensation water accumulating in aircraft insulation.

Conventional insulation packets for thermally and acoustically insulating an aircraft fuselage consist for the most part of voluminous nonwoven materials, which are used in matte form, comprise attachment openings through which retainers are passed, and can be easily compressed during attachment to the fuselage structure by means of attachment clips to be secured to the retainers. To prevent moisture from penetrating into the insulation material, use is made of sheathing films that incorporate ventilation holes to enable pressure compensation and prevent damage to the film when installing the insulation packet. At the same time, the ventilation holes prevent the insulation packets from expanding in flight given a drop or rise in cabin pressure.
During a prolonged flight, condensation water accumulates inside of such insulation packets, which primarily has two essential causes. On the one hand, the insulation packets can directly abut the inside of the structure of the aircraft fuselage, which is coated with a thin film of condensation water after practically every flight. On the other hand, moist air makes its way into the insulation packets as the result of convective effects and diffusion by way of the ventilation holes and also diffusion through the closed sheathing film, where they lead to water condensation when the incoming air drops below the dew point during flight owing to the low temperatures of the aircraft fuselage. To remove the condensation water, drainage holes are often incorporated on the bottom of the insulation packets, but are only effective under certain conditions, since part of the condensation water gets retained in the form of drops on the pores or fibers of the insulation material. Furthermore, additional moist air gets into the insulation packets through the drainage holes, which can accelerate water condensation in the insulation even more. In the end, this leads to extra weight in the aircraft and accelerated ageing of the insulation.
EP 1 124 720 B1 and US 20040175516 A1 show an insulation arrangement for insulating the interior of an aircraft with insulation packets, which are completely enveloped by film that allows the diffusion of gases.
In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.

Condensation water-free insulation system for passenger aircraft


This invention provides a high-yield bacterial strain for producing tetramethylpyrazine named Bacillus pumilus RX3-17. The strain has been deposited in China Center for Type Culture Collection on Apr. 19, 2006. The deposit number is CCTCC M 206043. The bacterial strain, isolated from soil, is rod-shaped, 1.5 μm to 3.0 μm in length and 0.6 μm to 0.7 μm in diameter. The colony color of the strain is milky-white. The strain has typical physiological and biochemical characteristics of Bacillus pumilus. The 16s rDNA sequence of this strain shares a similarity of 99% with other Bacillus pumilus strains. This invention belongs to the domain of biotechnology. The strain can be applied to the production of tetramethylpyrazine with glucose as the substrate, solving the bottleneck of low yield in bacterial tetramethylpyrazine fermentation.

Tetramethylpyrazine was originally isolated from Ligusticum wallichii in 1957. Tetramethylpyrazine, whose tonality could be described as cocoa, coffee, lactose, vine, and galbanum, is wildly used as flavoring additive in food, tobacco, and alcohol industries. It is the main biologically active alkaloid existing in the Chinese herb Chuanxiong which improves blood circulation, tonifies qi and removes blood clots and is routinely used in China as medicaments for several diseases, such as heart-and-brain's vein disease, breath system disease and glomerular disease.
There are three methods, i.e. biosynthetic method, direct extraction from plants, and chemical synthetic method, for tetramethylpyrazine production.
As to biosynthesis of tetramethylpyrazine, the application of biotechnology mainly refers to microbial technology which includes screening and mutation of strains and fermentation technology. To date, there are some such reports out side of China and mainly in France, Japan, Germany, and the US.
Tetramethylpyrazine can be fermented from some kinds of sugars. The current research status of biosynthesis of tetramethylpyrazine is as follows.
Kosuge et al. firstly identified that some microbes are capable of pyrazine production and they found Bacillus subtilis was a tetramethylpyrazine producer in 1962. Now people know that some bacteria and epiphyte can synthesize different kinds of alkyl pyrazines (Seitz, 1994; Gallois, 1984). Yamaguchi et al. once tried to utilize these microorganisms in submerged fermentation but failed in industrialization because of the too low product concentration in fermentation broth (1993).
Itohiki-natto is one of the most popular fermentative foods due to its special pyrazine flavor. It is fermented from Bacillus natto on soybean solid medium by Japanese. However, the results were poor for solid-state fermentations were experiential methods. The yield of flavor substances was less than 22 μg/kg wet weight (Kosuge et al. 1971).
Besson et al. from France did a lot of work in this field. They yield 0.58 g/kg utilizing Bacillus subtilis IFO 3013 by solid-state fermentation on soybean medium (1998). This was the best result reported of tetramethylpyrazine biosynthetic methods. But there are still great efforts before the realization of industrialization.
Due to the low concentration of tetramethylpyrazine in plants, extraction of tetramethylpyrazine from plant materials is a costly technology and unfit for industrialization. While the method of chemical synthesis can bring in high yield of tetramethylpyrazine, it demands intensive reaction conditions and more sophisticated equipments. Moreover, the resulting tetramethylpyrazine is not regarded as natural product and there are serious problem in protecting environment. In contrast, the method of biosynthesis has the advantages such as natural product, low material costs, mild reaction conditions, environmentally benign and is considered as the future study of tetramethylpyrazine synthesis with very good prospects. However, isolation of tetramethylpyrazine producing strains from nature is a difficult job and yields from wild strains obtained by this way are usually low. As well as the low start base of other microbial ways, technologies of tetramethylpyrazine production by biosynthesis are immature and have not been industrialized.

Shanghai Apple Flavor & Fragrance Co., Ltd.


According to an example aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method, comprising: receiving an input ordered set of transactions after a genesis block or a preceding compressed block in a chain of blocks, generating a compressed block on the basis of the input ordered set of transactions, wherein processing of the compressed block results to an equivalent final state as processing of the input ordered set of transactions, and providing the compressed block to a distributed network for establishing a new chain epoch and replacing a set of uncompressed blocks associated with the input ordered set of transactions.

Blockchains are increasingly applied for recording transactions without relying to a centralized entity. Changes in resource ownership in a blockchain network take the form of blockchain transactions secured by strong cryptography. Information provided in a blockchain transaction may be stored as a new block in the blockchain in response to validation of the respective blockchain transaction. Blockchain state information shared by the nodes may store all transactions and history carried out in the blockchain network. Application of blockchain technology and the ledger enable a way to track the unique history of transactions by the individual nodes in the network.
Blockchains generally provide a completely auditable log that includes every single transaction ever done in a blockchain network, which is very useful in a number of use cases. However, due to this nature, scalability of blockchains is affected by their ever-growing size due to new transactions.


The invention is a method of right justifying a line in an address field to be printed on a mail piece. A list of addresses is submitted as part of a mail piece print job, and a first address is selected from the list. The printing system initializes the vertical edge of the address field; and, after initialization one or more fonts are selected for printing the address field on the mail piece. The address field is scanned by the printing system and an end of line position of the Optional Endorsement Line (OEL) is determined relative to the right vertical edge of the print field. If the end of the line is past the initialized right edge, then the end of line position becomes the new vertical edge delineation and the line is a justified line. If, however, the end of line position is not past the vertical edge, then the initialized edge is retained as the right-most reference point of the print field. Each of the subsequent lines in the address field is scanned for length and an end of line position determined. If the length of the subsequent line exceeds the length of the OEL, then the OEL is extended by adding characters until its length is equal to the length of the longest subsequent line. After scanning each of the lines in the address field for length, the justified line is printed, then each of the subsequent lines of the address field are printed.

The present invention relates generally to the field of addressing systems for use in producing mail pieces, and more particularly to a method for producing the Optional Endorsement Line of the address field in a manner that consistently meets the requirements of the U.S. Postal Service.
The challenges of mail delivery within the United States and in the growing ranks of industrialized countries has grown so that, in the United States alone, the postal service delivers approximately 600 million pieces of mail per day. To the growing postal burden is added the requirements of keeping address data accurate and readable by both mail handling machines and the mail carriers that physically deliver the mail. With the need to reduce costs while improving the efficiency and reliability of postal operations, continuous review of methodology and the systems used to implement operations is required. Thus, the growing burden of delivering mail efficiently results in the development of regulations by the United States Postal Service (USPS) that are designed to take the best possible advantage of the technology available for mail handling.
Among the requirements for mail handling, is the printing of an Optional Endorsement Line (OEL) containing certain required data for specific classes of mailings. The requirements also include formatting requirements that must be adhered to when the OEL is printed on a mail piece as part of the destination address block. Further, two specific requirements within the OEL parameters are that the OEL be printed as the top line in a destination address, and that the OEL be right justified relative to the destination block data. Therefore, when properly printed, none of the lines that appear beneath the OEL in a destination address are allowed to have characters that are printed further to the right than the right most character in the OEL.
Though there are a number of applications commercially available for printing destination block data, those applications are generally limited by either the inability to meet the justifications requirements, or those applications place restrictions on the printable region or modify the destination address to ensure justification of the OEL. A further limitation of the prior art, lies in the inability of systems capable of right justification to be able to maintain the integrity of the destination block data while printing each address of the address list. The prior art can set a right justification parameter for a group of addresses, but must manually adjust the parameters as each individual address is printed from the list, or simply maintain the parameter initially selected. A clear limitation then is in the efficiency of the prior art system; or, in the inability of the system to accommodate justification changes for an entire address list rather than simply a single selected parameter.
Some existing applications ensure the right justification of the OEL data statically by restricting the printable area within the destination address block and then extending the OEL so that its right most character is printed at the right most position within the destination address block. This method does not ensure that all addresses will be able to be printed in their entirety because of the restricted print area. In the following example from the prior art, for instance, the printable region is delineated by a dashed line: ##STR1## The OEL (the top line) in the above example is extended to print all the way to the right of the printable region. The suite number in the address field was intended to read "STE 101," but because the data exceeded the restricted print region as determined by the OEL, the "101" became truncated. To avoid truncation within the street address line, the application would be required to horizontally compress the printed line to ensure that all the data would be printed.
Other existing applications use a fixed length OEL whose length is pre-determined to ensure that the OEL's right most character will be further to the right than the data which may be printed below it. Unfortunately, this example of the prior art does not guarantee that data for every address line will in fact be shorter than the OEL unless the address list and associated data are scanned or read completely before setting the length of the OEL.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide for a method of right justification of a single line in a destination address (specifically the OEL), "on the fly," so as to meet the requirements of the USPS without abridging destination address data.

Method of address printing justification


A video processing circuit detects a risk boundary that is a part of a boundary between a dark pixel and a bright pixel, and is determined in accordance with the tilt azimuth of liquid crystal molecules from a boundary changed over the previous frame to the current frame and, for at least one side of dark pixels and bright pixels brought into contact with the detected risk boundary, corrects a video signal designating the application voltage of a liquid crystal element corresponding to the pixel of the frame brought into contact with the risk boundary out of a plurality of frames from the current frame to k frames (here, k is a natural number) following the current frame such that a lateral direction electric field generated between the dark pixel and the bright pixel decreases.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technique for reducing display defects on a liquid crystal panel.
2. Related Art
A liquid crystal panel has a configuration in which a liquid crystal is interposed between one pair of substrates maintained so as to be separated from each other by a constant gap. Described in detail, the liquid crystal panel has a configuration in which pixel electrodes for pixels are arranged in a matrix pattern on one substrate, a common electrode is disposed so as to be common to the pixels on the other substrate, and a liquid crystal is interposed between the pixel electrodes and the common electrode. When a voltage according to a gray scale level is applied and maintained between the pixel electrode and the common electrode, the alignment state of the liquid crystal is defined for each pixel, and thereby the transmittance or the reflectance is controlled. Thus, in the above-described configuration, only a component of an electric field applied to liquid crystal molecules in a direction from the pixel electrodes to the common electrode (or in the opposite direction), that is, in a direction perpendicular to a substrate surface (vertical direction) contributes to display control.
However, in a case where the pixel pitch has become narrow due to a recent trend of reduction in size and higher precision, an electric field that is generated between pixel electrodes adjacent to each other, that is, an electric field is generated in a direction parallel to the substrate surface (lateral direction), and the effect thereof is becoming such that it is no longer negligible. For example, if a lateral direction electric field is applied to a liquid crystal to be driven by a vertical electric field, such as a VA (Vertical Alignment) type or a TN (Twisted Nematic) type, a defect in the alignment of the liquid crystal (that is, reverse tilt domain) occurs, thereby causing a display defect.
In order to reduce the effect of the reverse tilt domain, a technique of contriving the structure of a liquid crystal panel, for example, by defining the shape of a light shielding layer (opening portion) in accordance with the pixel electrodes (for example, see JP-A-6-34965 (FIG. 1)), a technique of clipping a video signal having a set value or more based on a determination that the reverse tilt domain occurs in a case where the average luminance value calculated from video signals is equal to or less than a threshold value (for example, see JP-A-2009-69608 (FIG. 2)), and the like are proposed.
However, according to the technique of reducing the reverse tilt domain by means of the structure of the liquid crystal panel, the aperture ratio can be easily decreased. Furthermore, there is a problem in that it is difficult to apply the technique to a liquid crystal panel that has already been manufactured without taking the structure thereof into account. On the other hand, according to the technique of clipping a video signal having a set value or more, there is a problem in that the brightness of a displayed image is limited to the set value.

Liquid crystal pixel correction using pixel boundary detection


A leak detector apparatus for a pressurized cylinder having a cylinder of a radius (r) with a slidable piston in the cylinder with a gas filled chamber positioned between a cylinder end and the piston face. The length (L) of the chamber is calculated according to load changes on the piston where the volume (Vc) of the chamber changes. The pressure and temperature of the chamber are measured as well as the length. These values are inputted to a processor to solve the ideal gas law equation PV=nRT where a change in n for a change in length indicates a leak.

Measuring the leak rate of a fluid in a sealed container is a very important procedure in many different applications. One can measure the leak rate in a pressurized gas bottle to determine whether or not the bottle exhibits a leak after a pressurized gas is placed in the bottle. As one can ascertain, for a fixed volume container one can measure the leak rate by measuring the pressure and temperature inside the container. By using the ideal gas law, which is PV=nRT (or for higher pressure the Van der Waals equation), it is easy to see that taking the ratio of pressure to temperature P/T gives a measure of the molar density (n/V) which only changes with a leak in the system. This is a well known principle and the assignee herein, namely Kulite Semiconductor Products, Inc. has a number of patents and pending applications concerning the use of the above-noted gas law to determine leaks in a container. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,985 entitled "Gas Leak Detection Apparatus and Methods" issued on Jul. 4, 1995 to A. D. Kurtz et al and assigned to the assignee herein. See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,763 entitled "Gas Leak Detection Apparatus and Methods" issued on Aug. 30, 1988 to A. D. Kurtz the inventor herein, and also assigned to the assignee herein. The above-noted patents basically use a pressure transducer which produces an output voltage proportional to the gas pressure inside a container or a vessel to be monitored. The above-noted patents employ amplifier circuits and operate on the principle of the ideal gas law which states that at normal temperatures and pressures the pressure of a gas is given by the equation PV=nRT, where V is volume occupied by the gas, P is the pressure of the gas, R is the universal gas constant, n is the number of moles of gas within the volume, and T is the absolute temperature of the gas. The output of the apparatus is proportional to the ratio of pressure to temperature, namely P/T and accordingly is independent of temperature induced pressure changes. Thus for a fixed volume a change in the value of the output signal would be indicative of the change in the number of moles of gas contained in the vessel, thereby denoting or determining a leak condition of the container. The pressure transducers may employ deflectable diaphragms which operate in conjunction with piezoresistors which typically are arranged in a Wheatstone bridge array. Such pressure transducers are well known, and Kulite Semiconductor Products, Inc., the assignee herein, has many patents which involve fabrication and implementation of pressure transducers including those capable of operating at high pressures in high temperature environments. In regard to the above, a much more complicated situation occurs when the volume (V) of the container changes over time. In general, to measure a gas leak in this case the volume must also be measured. One specific application which can create major problems is the detection of leaks in a shock absorber, such as those used in aircraft or in automobiles. While a leak in an automobile shock absorber is typically not a life threatening event, a leak in a shock absorber or a landing gear of an airplane can be catastrophic and should be quickly identified.
There is disclosed apparatus and a method for measuring leaks in an aircraft shock absorber or other similar device by measuring the pressure, temperature and displacement.

Leak detector for a pressurized cylinder


A thin film magnetic head has a configuration in which a main magnetic pole film having a magnetic pole end portion on a medium opposing surface (ABS) side facing a magnetic disk, a write shield film facing the magnetic pole end portion so as to form a recording gap film on the medium opposing surface side, and a thin film coil wound around at least a part of the write shield film are laminated. Further, the thin film magnetic head has an upper yoke magnetic pole film whose size is larger than that of the main magnetic pole film at a part more distant from the ABS than the recording gap film, and this upper yoke magnetic pole film is bonded to the side of the main magnetic pole film close to the thin film coil. In the upper yoke magnetic pole film, an end portion on the ABS side is retracted in a direction apart from the ABS in accordance with an increase in film thickness which is measured from the surface of the main magnetic pole film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin film magnetic head which performs a magnetic recording operation in a perpendicular recording scheme and a manufacturing method thereof, and to a magnetic head apparatus and a magnetic disk apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the surface recording density of a magnetic disk apparatus has been considerably improved. In particular, the surface recording density of a magnetic disk apparatus has recently reached 160 to 200 giga bytes/platter and will further robustly exceeds this value. With this increase, an improvement in performance of a thin film magnetic head has been demanded.
Roughly classifying the thin film magnetic head based on recording schemes, there are a longitudinal recording scheme which records information in an in-recording-surface (longitudinal) direction of a magnetic disk and a perpendicular recording scheme which records information in a vertical direction of a recording surface. Of these schemes, a thin film magnetic head based on the vertical recoding scheme can realize the recording density which is greatly higher than that of the longitudinal recording scheme, and a magnetic disk recorded by the thin film magnetic head is hardly affected by heat wobbles. Therefore, the perpendicular recording scheme is expected as compared with the longitudinal recording scheme. A thin film magnetic head based on the conventional perpendicular recording scheme is disclosed in specifications of, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,504,675, 4,656,546, 4,672,493, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-94997 and others.
Meanwhile, when recording data in an area at an inner periphery or an outer periphery of a magnetic disk, by using a thin film magnetic head based on the perpendicular recording scheme, a magnetic pole end portion arranged at the side of a medium opposing surface (which will be also referred to as an air bearing surface or ABS) facing the magnetic disk inclines at a given angle (Skew Angle) with respect to a track on which data is recorded.
If the write capability is high in a magnetic head based on the perpendicular recording scheme (a perpendicular magnetic recording head: which will be referred to as a "PMR" hereinafter), there may occur a problem which is a so-called write blur by which unnecessary data is recorded between adjacent tracks due to generation of this skew angle. When this write blur is produced, detection of a servo signal or an S/N ratio of a reproduction waveform is adversely affected. Thus, in a conventional PMR, a magnetic pole end portion on the ABS side in a main magnetic pole film has a bevel shape whose width is gradually narrowed along one direction (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-242607 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-203311).
As the PMR having the magnetic pole end portion formed into a bevel shape, there is known one comprising a lower yoke film, a main magnetic pole film having a bevel-shaped magnetic pole end portion, and a write shield layer facing the main magnetic pole film with a recording gap film sandwiched therebetween on the ABS side. In this type of PMR, one having a narrower track width is demanded in order to improve the recording density. Further, it is desirable to provide the excellent overwrite characteristics and prevent data from being overwritten on another data recorded on a magnetic disk. Accordingly, providing a configuration in which the lower yoke film is arranged close to the ABS is desirable.
In this type of PMR, however, since the main magnetic pole film is formed after the lower yoke film, the lower yoke film is affected and a neck height appears when forming the main magnetic pole film with the magnetic pole end portion having a bevel shape, and a part having a narrow width corresponding to a track width is extended by a length corresponding to the neck height part, resulting in the possibility of shifting from a designed length.
In order to avoid the influence by shifting of this neck height, the lower yoke film must be formed apart from the ABS, and it is difficult to increase a magnetic charge (which is also referred to as a magnetic volume) at a part close to the ABS. Therefore, the conventional PMR has a problem that providing the excellent overwrite characteristics is difficult.

Thin film magnetic head and manufacturing method thereof


Provided herein are sorbents for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, such as from natural gas and coal-fired power plant flue gases, and uses thereof.

The current state-of-the art technology for CO2 capture at scale is amine scrubbing, a chemical absorption-based technology. Another option for CO2 capture is an adsorption-based technology, where CO2 is captured and separated by solid sorbents. Current adsorption-based technologies for CO2 capture employ zeolites and metal-organic frameworks that have difficulty in selectively removing CO2 from water in a flue gas stream. A challenge of sorbents such as zeolites and metal-organic frameworks is that they are based on a physical adsorption mechanism rather than a chemical adsorption mechanism, by which CO2 is captured. In a physical adsorption-based mechanism, water can be preferentially adsorbed over CO2 so that adsorption-based technologies relying on physical adsorption can require an additional operation to separate water from CO2, and a resulting percentage of CO2 captured is compromised as well.
It is against this background that a need arose to develop the embodiments described herein.

Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


This invention describes a novel solution to providing heat redistribution and cooling to electronic devices. According to various embodiments, heat produced during the operation of the processing components in the computing device is absorbed by heat management features integrated within a supporting mid-frame. Liquid (e.g., coolants) contained in the portion of the heat management features most proximate to the processing components evaporates due to the absorbed heat, and is conducted (via convection) towards the other end of the heat management features, where the temperature is cooler. Once sufficiently cooled, the evaporated coolant condenses back into liquid form and flows back towards the other end of the heat management features.

The prevailing design methodology of mobile computing devices (such as smart phones, tablets devices, netbooks, personal data assistants, portable media devices, etc.) emphasizes slimmer profiles while offering ever increasing processing and image rendering capabilities and larger display sizes. As a natural result of minimizing the width or thickness of the underlying mobile computing devices, a similar trend of minimizing the height of the internal modules has developed out of necessity.
A common implementation of a mobile computing device includes a main printed circuit board (PCB) having one or more processing elements. The distinct lack of internal space due to the smaller form factor not only makes heat dissipation more critical, but also presents additional challenges for heat distribution and dispersal. A popular solution for managing heat levels in mobile computing devices is through the use of a series of heat sink and/or liquid cooling structures soldered using a solder paste or thermal interface material or otherwise adhered via an adhesive to a supporting panel positioned near the main PCB.
FIG. 1 depicts a side view of such a device. As depicted in FIG. 1, one or more structures for heat dispersal 120 are adhered to a support panel 110, via a solder or adhesive layer 130 on the surface of the support panel 110. As depicted in FIG. 1, the structures for heat disposal 120 typically protrude or extend beyond the vertical profile of the support structure 110. Unfortunately, conventional implementations such as these add to the thickness of the mobile devices by requiring additional space for the heat sink and/or liquid cooling structures. This clearly results in an obvious conflict with the goal of maintaining (or increasing) slimmer profiles for the mobile devices.

Support frame with integrated thermal management features


Embodiments disclosed herein describe systems, methods, and products for aligning wires in an integrated circuit (IC) design. An illustrative computer may identity multiple references in a first set of wires and multiple targets in a second set of wires in the IC design. The computer may determine reference target pairs from the multiple references and multiple targets. The computer may calculate a path difference for each of the reference target pairs and align the corresponding wires based upon the path difference while obeying minimum spacing rules. The computer may also allow a circuit designer to modify or override the computer selected references, targets, or reference target pairs. Embodiments disclosed herein therefore mitigate the alignment problems of shorting and incorrect spacing.

Modern semiconductor based integrated circuits (ICs) are incredibly complex and contain millions of circuit devices, such as transistors, and millions of interconnections between the circuit devices. Designing such complex circuits cannot be accomplished manually, and circuit designers use computer based Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools for synthesis, debugging, and functional verification of the ICs. EDA tools provide various functionality to facilitate different processes for IC design. One of the processes that EDA tools facilitate is the alignment of wires (also referred to as nets) in an IC design.
However, conventional EDA tools enable a restricted wire alignment functionality. For example, a conventional EDA tool allows for alignment of a wire to just a single target. The conventional EDA tool may, for instance, select a single target and provide an alignment of multiple wires to that single target. Such restricted alignment functionality has several technical shortcomings as illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1E.
FIG. 1A shows a conventional alignment of a first set of wires l1, l2, l3, l4 to a second set of wires r1, r2, r3, r4. The first set of wires l1, l2, l3, l4 may form a selection set for selecting a reference 102 (as shown, right edge of l3) for the alignment. A circuit designer may be allowed to select a single target 104 (as shown, left edge of r3), as allowed by a conventional EDA tool. Based upon this selection, the conventional EDA tool sets as the target 104 for all of the wires l1, l2, l3, l4 in the selection set. Therefore, all the wires l1, l2, l3, l4 in the selection move towards the target 104.
For the wire pairs l3, r3, the conventional EDA tool may generate a correct alignment as shown in FIG. 1B. In particular, when l3 stretches towards r3, l3 may properly align with r3 as the target 104 is at the left edge of r3. More specifically l3 may align with r3 while maintaining a minimum spacing 106. However, the target 104 being on the left edge of r3 may generate misalignment between each of wire pairs l1:r1, l2:r2, l4:r4. For example, FIG. 1C shows an alignment process between the wire pairs l4:r4 based upon the target 104 on the left edge of r3. As shown, the reference edge 108 for l4 aligns with the target 104. This alignment causes a short 110 between the wire pairs l4:r4 as a portion of l4 overlaps with a portion r4. As another example of misalignment due to the single target 104, FIG. 1D shows an alignment between wire pairs l2:r2. As shown, the reference edge 112 for l2 aligns with the target 104 and not with r2 thereby generating an incorrect spacing 114 between the wire pairs l2:r2. FIG. 1E shows the misalignments generated based upon a single target 104 selection in the conventional tool. As shown, there is a short 110 between wire pairs l4:r4, an incorrect spacing 114 between the wire pairs l2:r2, and a short 116 between the wire pairs l1:r1.
As such, a significant improvement in wire alignment processes in EDA tools is therefore desired.

Systems and methods of aligning sets of wires with minimum spacing rules


An odorant composition in the form of a colloidal suspension. A colloidal suspension odorant composition comprised of a colloidal material and a liquid fragrance component is provided. A package comprised of a multiple layer top substrate and a multiple layer bottom substrate is also provided. The colloidal suspension odorant composition may be packaged in the vapor impermeable package and the combination may be used to supply test quantities of odorants.

A number of devices for containing and otherwise packaging odorants such as perfume fragrances and flavoring agents, natural or synthetic, are known. Perhaps the most commonly known perfume packaging device is a glass bottle, in which a fragrance composition is contained. Typically, a fragrance composition contains a relatively minor amount of the extract of essential oil or oils constituting a perfume fragrance and a relatively major amount of carrier liquid, such as water and/or an alcohol, resulting in a relatively volatile composition of low viscosity. One of the problems with bottled perfume is that if tipped over when open, the contents spill readily, with the spilled liquid perfume likely rendered unusable. Also, because a bottle of perfume generally contains a bulk amount relative to the amount applied by a person in a single application, it is difficult to dispense a precise proper amount for a single application. While trial and error may assist a user in determining the proper amount, a substantial amount of the perfume is likely to be wasted. A need exists for a perfume delivery system and method that dispenses a precise preselected amount of fragrance.
It is often desirable to provide small quantities of odorants or fragrances such as perfume fragrance or flavoring agents to customers or potential customers for various reasons. Small or test quantities of odorant may be used to promote or advertise a fragrance or flavoring, for example. If a person likes the test quantity, purchase of a larger amount of the fragrance or flavoring is more likely. Also, it may be desirable to sell quantities of fragrance packaged in a size intended for a single application. It may also be desirable to send small quantities of perfume or flavoring aromas through the postal system, including as inserts in magazines. While bottles conceivably could be made small enough to contain only a single use amount of perfume, and could be made solid enough to send through the mail, such bottles would not be practical for general use or for inserting into the pages of a magazine.
Some other devices are known for providing odorant testers in magazine advertisements. For example, use of microencapsulated capsules of fragrance adhered to a paper or plastic based substrate are known, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,863 to Sweeney. Physical contact or some type of pressure or mechanical action with the microencapsulated capsules is needed to rupture or crush the walls of the microcapsules to allow the fragrance to be released for persons to sense the fragrance. The amount of physical contact required to rupture the capsules is not great and as a result, incidental physical contact often causes the unintended rupture of the microcapsules thereby causing unintended release of the fragrance.
Other known odorant packaging devices include layers of substrates adhered to one another, with the fragrance oils suspended in some medium which is sealed in between the layers of substrates. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,690 to Szycher describes a system using a polyurethane layer in connection with a fragrance oil to assist in the emission of fragrance.
One problem with existing odorant tester packages is that premature and unintended release of the fragrance occurs. Such premature release occurs during shipment, such as through the mail, resulting in a decreased amount of fragrance available at the time the package is intended to be opened. Because a magazine may contain more than one test quantity of odorant, odorant test packages which allow unintended fragrance release may commingle, thus resulting in a mixture of aromas, rather than a specific, selected aroma. Also, the United States Postal Service has promulgated certain regulations designed to minimize unintended release of fragrance, and may implement additional regulations further restricting banning the mailing of devices that emit fragrance during shipment. Sealed perfume packages of the type taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,690 to Szycher are believed to be susceptible to unwanted fragrance emission. When such perfume packages are placed in a magazine as an insert, a reader is exposed to the fragrance regardless of whether the reader desires such exposure. In the case of persons with certain allergies or sensitivities, such unwanted exposure may present a serious health threat. Vapor permeable fragrance inserts in a magazine may also discourage persons from purchasing the magazine to avoid being exposed to an undesired fragrance. In any event, it is best if people have a choice as to whether to perceive a fragrance.
Solutions containing extracts of essential oil, such as perfume, are well known. Alcohol and/or water is a popular solvent for perfume solutions. With alcohol and/or water as the solvent, the resulting solution, containing mostly solvent, has a very low viscosity. Alcohol is a common solvent because it is highly volatile and evaporates quickly, providing a quick "lift" of the fragrance. "Lift" refers to the speed that a fragrance reaches a person's olfactory senses. When a suspension medium containing alcohol is placed between two substrates of a perfume tester package, certain problems may arise. Specifically, where the two substrates are adhered together by heat, alcohol can chemically interact with the bond formed by heat. For example, the alcohol might attack the heat seal, compromising the integrity of the heat seal and thereby allowing air into the package and fragrance to escape the package. Also, when air is present, alcohol quickens the drying time of the remaining fragrance oils and, without additives, results in a solution of very low viscosity making application by a person from a sample package very difficult. Additionally, alcohol displaces space in the package which otherwise could be used for the odorant.
A need exists for an alcohol-free odorant composition and delivery system that is readily adaptable to use in a perfume tester package for use as a magazine insert or for attachment directly to a magazine page and the like. Such a perfume composition should be easy to apply, handle and remove from such a package.

Odorant composition delivery system and method