A computer-implemented method for preserving the anonymity of a provisional ballot cast by a voter in an election whose eligibility to vote in the election is not yet determined comprises including a machine-readable identification marking representing an identification code associated with the voter on the paper card utilized by a voting device associating the identification code represented by the machine-readable identification marking with the contest choices stored in the results database. In this manner, upon a determination that the voter is either eligible or ineligible to vote in the election, the contest choices of the voter can be included in or excluded from, respectively, the results of the election by identifying the identification code associated with the voter and including or excluding, respectively, the contest choices associated with the identification code.

Provisional ballots are generally associated with voters in an election whose eligibility to vote in the election cannot be confirmed at the poll location. This is typically the result of a voter showing up to vote at the poll on an election day but he or she is not listed on the voter registration role for the poll. There are many reasons why a voter may not be on the voter registration role. For example, the voter may not have registered in time, the voter may have recently moved, the poll location is not associated with the voter's permanent residence or some other reason. Another reason a voter's eligibility to vote in an election cannot be confirmed is due to early voting. Typically, voters who vote early will cast a provisional ballot so that after the election, officials can check and make sure the early voter did not subsequently re-cast another ballot on the day of the election. In any case, a voter whose eligibility to vote the election cannot be determined, is provided a provisional ballot to vote with. These provisional ballots are not typically included in the election results until the voter's eligibility has been confirmed.
To permit a provisional ballot to be included in the results, typically the voter and provisional ballot are identified with a code, which may be pulled from a pre-designated list or issued by a poll book electronic system, for use in subsequent processing after eligibility is validated. In this manner, the particular provisional ballot can be tracked using the code and included or excluded from the results once the voter's eligibility is determined. After the close of the election, the eligibility of voters who have been designated provisional or challenged (e.g., given a code) is determined and a process is used to include the provisional ballots from voters who were eligible in the results and/or exclude the provisional ballots from voters who were ineligible in the results.
A variety of different types of voting equipment are used in the United States and throughout the world and each type of voting equipment utilizes different techniques for processing provisional ballots in order to maintain the anonymity of the voter who cast the provisional ballot. In jurisdictions where a voter receives a paper ballot on which the various contests to be voted on are printed, any of these paper ballots that are identified as provisional ballots may be placed in a first envelope, which is in turn inserted into a second envelope. The second, outer envelope is labeled with the code associated with the voter while the inner envelope is not marked to preserve vote anonymity and secrecy. When determining whether to include or exclude the provisional ballot, an official utilizes the code on the second envelope to determine whether the corresponding voter was eligible to vote. If the voter was eligible to vote, the official removes the first envelope from the second envelope and places it in a pile to be included in the election results. In this manner, the official is able to make a determination about the eligibility of the voter without ever having access (e.g., visual access) to the provisional ballot and the contest choices therein—preserving the anonymity and secrecy of the provisional ballot.
In jurisdictions where a voter uses an electronic voting machine, such as a direct recording electronic (DRE) voting machine, the code associated with the voter may simply be entered into the electronic voting machine by a poll worker. The electronic voting machine then stores the code in the database containing the cast vote record (CVR) for each ballot but segregates the provisional ballot or otherwise handles the ballot so that the vote sections contained therein are not included in the results until the voter's eligibility has been determined. After the election, the CVRs are uploaded into a database of an election management system along with the associated codes. After the eligibility of each voter is determined, the corresponding codes associated with the voters whose ballot inclusion and/or exclusion from the results have changed, are entered into the election management system. The election management system then uses the entered codes to locate all the associated CVRs whose selections will be included in or excluded from the results and updates the results. The election management system may also update the CVR and/or the database to show which CVRs are now included and/or excluded from the results based on the determined eligibility. Accordingly, the election management system provides anonymity and secrecy of the contents of the provisional ballot by preventing the operator of the election management system from viewing the selections of the provisional ballot.
In jurisdictions where a voter uses a hybrid voting machine, a voting machine that allows a user to electronically make their contest choices like an electronic voting machine but then prints a paper record of the contest choices that is subsequently scanned to form the CVR for the ballot, the handling of provisional ballots takes special consideration and extra effort as there is currently no way to include the provisional ballot in the tabulated results at the poll location with the option to include or exclude the corresponding contest choices in the results. One method of handling provisional ballots from hybrid voting machines is to treat the printed paper record from the hybrid voting machine like paper ballot, which allows the provisional ballot to be electronically voted and verified without including the provisional ballot in the results. In this method, the hybrid voting machine is set up to print the provisional ballot on the paper record with a review box that is marked. The marked review box indicates the ballot will be verified but rejected for tabulation. The printed paper record becomes the summary ballot after the vote is completed and when the paper record is inserted into a scanner for tabulation (e.g., scanned to generate the CVR included in the results), the scanner reads the marked review box and unconditionally returns the paper record and doesn't include the selections in the results. The returned paper record is then placed into the first and second envelopes, as described above, with a code marked on the second envelope, just like a provisional paper ballot.
Moreover, during early voting/in-person absentee voting, some jurisdictions, especially those using electronic voting machines, will assign a code to each voter but will also include all ballots cast in the early voting/in-person absentee voting in the result count (e.g., all ballots cast during early voting/in-person absentee voting are considered provisional ballots). This accommodates certain jurisdictional rules that allow a voter to vote on a designated election day subsequent to participating in early voting/in-person absentee voting and have the earlier cast ballot voided or where eligibility to vote is in question. After the close of the election, a list of the voter codes is made of those voters whose ballots are to be removed from the results. This is similar to the process used to remove the provisional ballots from the results for electronic voting machines by assigning a code to the voter. In this case, the election management system is used to select the codes of all ballots that are to be excluded from the results. The election management system accesses the CVR associated with each code and removes the contest choices from the results. The election management system may also change the status of the CVR to indicate the contest choices contained in the CVR are now removed from the results. Again, the operator using the election management system does not have access to the contents of the provisional ballot. Likewise, early voting/in-person absentee paper ballots are handled in a similar fashion to that of provisional paper ballots, described above. However, there is no method for scanning all ballots cast in early voting/in-person absentee voting to create the CVR at the poll location and including the ballot in the results with the option to subsequently remove the ballot from the results using the hybrid voting machine. At best, when using the hybrid voting machine, the printed paper record from the early voting/in-person absentee voting is treated like a paper ballot, as described above.

Systems and methods for preserving the anonymity of provisional ballots


An arrangement of an isolating support board having conductive surfaces between busbars, the support board having a portion projecting beyond the busbars in the transverse direction, and filter capacitors connected to the conductive surfaces being fastened on the projecting portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The arrangement relates to the mounting of filter capacitors in power supplies using busbars.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the case of data processing systems having a relatively high power consumption, in particular, the operating voltage is fed via busbars to a backplane. Filter capacitors are arranged on the backplane, which is designed as a printed circuit board. The filter capacitors occupy valuable space on the backplane due to their large capacitance and the large value necessitated thereby. In order to avoid this, filter capacitors have previously been screwed to the chassis and connected to the backplane by short additional connecting lines.

Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme Aktiengesellschaft


One exemplary embodiment provides a method of making an integrated circuit. The method includes forming a dummy gate structure above a semiconductor substrate, etching an exposed semiconductor substrate outside the dummy gate structure, depositing silicon oxide over the dummy gate structure and the semiconductor substrate to form a silicon oxide layer, etching source and drain contact vias through the silicon oxide layer, implanting source and drain dopants through the source and drain contact vias, removing the dummy gate structure, forming a final gate structure, etching substantially all of the silicon oxide layer, and depositing an ultra low K dielectric to form an ultra low K dielectric layer.

The majority of present day integrated circuits (ICs) are implemented by using a plurality of interconnected field effect transistors (FETs), also called metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs or MOS transistors). A MOS transistor includes a gate electrode as a control electrode overlying a semiconductor substrate and spaced-apart source and drain regions in the substrate between which a current can flow. A gate insulator is disposed between the gate electrode and the semiconductor substrate to electrically isolate the gate electrode from the substrate. A control voltage applied to the gate electrode through a gate contact controls the flow of current through a channel in the substrate underlying the gate electrode between the source and drain regions.
With the increased downscaling of the transistor structures, a number of parasitic capacitances are introduced into the device which can effectively reduce the speed (in terms of working frequency) of future and present technologies. This issue may be most pronounced for three dimensional device architectures such as fin-based or wire-based multi-gate transistors. A main concern is the parasitic capacitance between the source and drain regions, and the gate contacts, which is desirably drastically reduced.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide integrated circuits with a reduced parasitic capacitance. It is also desirable to provide improved integrated circuits with respect to a ring oscillation and improved integrated circuit speed and performance. Furthermore it is desirable to provide a process for making integrated circuits that is easily integrateable into existing process lines. Additionally, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Methods of making integrated circuits and components thereof


An operator/facsimile interface includes an Undo key that enables an immediately previous action to be reversed, thereby allowing an operator to correct an erroneous entry or a mistakenly commenced operation with one key press. The operator/facsimile interface further enables entry of alpha-numeric data from a telephone-style keyboard. Alteration of displayed alpha-numeric characters may be accomplished by actuation of arrow keys, or sequential key presses of an alpha-numeric key. A displayed alpha-numeric character may be entered by actuation of an arrow key, an Enter key or a different alpha-numeric key. Completion of an alpha-numeric entry may be signaled by actuation of a Start key or Enter key.

This invention relates to facsimile apparatus, and more particularly, to an operator interface for a facsimile that provides multiple, alternative, input paths to accomplish procedures employed by the facsimile.
Once a facsimile machine has been properly set up by the operator, it operates in a substantially automatic mode to accomplish its connection, transmission and sign-off functions. If the facsimile includes a xe2x80x9cone-touchxe2x80x9d feature wherein actuations of each of a plurality of single buttons accesses prestored telephone numbers, the transmitting fax machine, upon actuation of one such button, automatically dials the remote telephone number and transmits a standard recognition signal which the receiving facsimile acknowledges. Then, the transmitting and receiving facsimiles send short messages back and forth to select the highest speed possible before sending the documents. No action is required of an operator during this action, at either the sending or the receiving end. When a transmission is completed, the facsimile units automatically disconnect and the receiving facsimile provides hard copy for the operator.
While transmission and reception operations of a facsimile are highly automated and require little or no operator input, such xe2x80x9cuser-friendlinessxe2x80x9d is often not manifest when an operator wishes to input instructions or data into the facsimile via a control panel. Facsimile/operator interfaces typically recognize only a single sequence of operations to accomplish a given input task. To determine the correct procedure sequence, the operator must refer to an instruction manual and follow its instructions slavishly to assure proper accomplishment of a desired task. Any deviation from the required sequence of operations will prevent the accomplishment of the desired task.
Facsimile operator panels employ multiple keys that enable multiple functions to be accomplishedxe2x80x94assuming the operator is aware of the proper sequence of key activations. Because of both cost and size restraints, little directory information is contained on the face of the operator panel other than short key names. Certain key names are ambiguous and lead to user confusion as to the exact function to be performed by the key.
For any given facsimile task, there are usually a number of different xe2x80x9creasonablexe2x80x9d approaches an operator might take to accomplish the taskxe2x80x94assuming that the operator has not reviewed the facsimile""s manual. Each different approach will be taken by some percentage by the operator population. The traditional facsimile interface appears intuitive to only that group of operators whose approach was implemented by the designers of the operator panel. Since modern facsimiles are sold worldwide and operator panels are used by operators from many cultures, the use of rigorous single-path procedures to accomplish facsimile-related tasks leads to user frustration and resulting dissatisfaction with the facsimile productxe2x80x94even though the facsimile operates in a perfectly appropriate manner when operated xe2x80x9caccording to the bookxe2x80x9d.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved operator/facsimile interface which provides multiple procedure paths to accomplish tasks related to the facsimile unit""s operation.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved operator/facsimile interface wherein procedure paths for accomplishing facsimile input functions are specifically designed to duplicate intuitive input procedures expected from plural operator populations.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an improved operator interface for a facsimile wherein actuation of a single key enables reversal of discrete operator inputs.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide an improved operator/facsimile interface wherein an offer of help message is displayed, based upon an assumed need for assistance.
An operator/facsimile interface includes an Undo key that enables an immediately previous action to be reversed, thereby allowing an operator to correct an erroneous entry or a mistakenly commenced operation with one key press. The operator/facsimile interface further enables entry of alpha-numeric data from a telephone-style keyboard. Alteration of displayed alpha-numeric characters may be accomplished by actuation of arrow keys, or sequential key presses of an alpha-numeric key. A displayed alpha-numeric character may be entered by actuation of an arrow key, an Enter key or a different alpha-numeric key. Completion of an alpha-numeric entry may be signaled by actuation of a Start key or Enter key.
The * and # keys in the telephone-style keyboard are assigned Yes and No functions, respectively, when the facsimile interface is in an alpha-numeric entry mode, thereby allowing immediate operator response to a displayed query. A report key enables a selective print-out of transmission and reception record data only when desired by the operator.

Facsimile having user interface with keys that enable undo, yes, no and report functions


A mesh material for a spacecraft antenna reflector is disclosed. The mesh material has a base material made from a dielectric fabric. A conductive material, such as nickel, is applied to the dielectric mesh. The type and thickness of the conductive material is adjusted to regulate the final conductivity of the reflective surface to a predefined range. The present invention utilizes a range that reduces PIM while at the same time maintains a high degree of RF reflectivity. The preferred range is 0.01 to 10 ohms per square.

High powered multichannel communication satellites for land and sea mobile communications experience a source of interference called passive intermodulation (PIM). The basic PIM phenomenon is caused by currents flowing in components with non-linear voltage-current behavior. These components then radiate and the resultant signals are picked up as noise in the system. These non-linear components can generate harmonic noise in a single carrier system, intermodulation in a multiple carrier system, and even intermodulation in a single carrier system where there is a pick-up in the system from other nearby radiations.
In most early communication systems, the multitude of noise frequencies was not a significant concern. The amplitude of the noise was several orders of magnitude lower than the signal. Space communication systems, however, require the coexistence of high power transmissions and low power receptions, often in the same radio frequency (RF) hardware. With the trend toward higher power, wider bandwidths and greater receiver sensitivity, the susceptibility of new mobile communication satellites to PIM problems is increasing.
The phenomenon of passive intermodulation is discussed, for example, in "Passive Intermodulation Product Generation In High Power Communications Satellites," Ford Aerospace & Communications Corp., 1985, and in Passive Intermodulation Interference in Communication Systems, ELECTRONICS & COMM. ENG. JOURNAL, June, 1990.
Many potential causes of PIM have been identified, but finding cures for the problem has not always been successful. Also, each spacecraft design is unique and has its own set of problems. Some general solutions to the problem involve quality workmanship, thorough testing procedures,. and proper choice of components and materials.
In order to provide protection from some PIM signals (as well as other environmental factors), communication satellites and other spacecraft typically employ protective blankets with PIM shields over the main bodies of the spacecraft. These protective blankets generally utilize conductive foils and thin film materials, or carbon-filled and thin film materials. PIM protection is also needed on auxiliary and/or protruding components, such as antennas and arrays.
Most satellites utilize a pair of antennas and may include a reflector mesh for transmitting and/or receiving signals from ground stations. The mesh is stretched and mounted over open frames. The mesh is positioned on the inside concave surfaces of the parabolic reflectors. Typically, to minimize interference, a transmitting antenna is positioned on one side of the spacecraft body and a receiver antenna is positioned on the opposite side. Satellites with a single dualpurpose antenna are typically more efficient and save significant expense, hardware and weight. Single antennas on spacecrafts also have the capability to use a common feed, filtering system, reflector and boom, which also saves weight and expense. Single antenna spacecraft are not favored however, due to potential interference problems, typically caused by PIM.
Antennas on satellites and other spacecraft normally function in the range of 100 MHz to 100 GHz, although the missions may vary widely for commercial, scientific, or military purposes. The antenna reflectors typically range up to 30-50 feet or more in diameter. These large antennas are designed to be foldable for storage and transport into orbit and deployable to their full size once the spacecraft reaches its destination. Where mesh reflectors are utilized, a flexible mesh material is typically stretched over a rib or other type of structure which has a parabolic dish shape. In the past, the mesh for the antennas has been made from a variety of materials, including metallized materials, fiberglass, polyester materials, synthetic materials, fibrous metal materials, and the like, and combinations thereof. Metallic meshes are discussed, for example, in Levy et al., "Metallic Meshes for Deployable Spacecraft Antennas," SAMPLE JOURNAL (May/June 1973).


There is provided a lighting device includes a first frame, on which a light source unit is mounted, a second frame disposed at a front of the first frame and holding a lens, and a third frame disposed between the first frame and the second frame. The first frame and the second frame are fixed to each other to configure an integral main frame, and the third frame and the main frame are connected to each other via an elastic deformation part to be displaceable relatively in a front-rear direction at a connecting position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lighting device, and more particularly, relates to a lighting device which is suitably used as a lighting unit of a lighting apparatus configured by assembling the lighting unit and an apparatus body.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been suggested a lighting apparatus (for example, see JP-A-2012-104257) configured by assembling a lighting unit and an apparatus body, and a lighting device (for example, see JP-A-2011-151218) suitably used as a lighting unit. FIG. 5 shows such a lighting apparatus as an example. The lighting apparatus 100 includes a lighting unit 110 having an approximately cylindrical shape, and an apparatus body 120 to which the lighting unit 110 is assembled. The lighting unit 110 includes a frame 101, a light source unit 104, and a lens 105. In the lighting unit 110, the lens 105 is attached to a front side of the frame 101, and the light source unit 104 including a substrate 103 and a light emitting device 102 mounted on a mounting face 103a of the substrate 103 is attached to a rear side of the frame 101 such that light emitted from the light emitting device 102 is directed to the front side. The apparatus body 120 includes a ring-shaped housing 112 which surrounds a side surface 106 of the lighting unit 110 when the lighting unit 110 is assembled, a heat radiation member 114 provided to cover an opening of one side of the housing 112.
In the lighting apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 5, the side surface 106 of the frame 101 is provided with a plurality of protrusions 107, and an inner surface 113 of the housing, 112 is provided with engaged portions 115 corresponding to the plurality of protrusions 107, respectively. During the use of the lighting apparatus 100, the lighting unit 110 is assembled in the housing 112 such that each protrusion 107 is engaged with the corresponding engaged portion 115. The lighting apparatus 100 is configured such that the heat radiation member 114 is in contact with a rear surface 103b of the substrate 103 when the lighting unit 110 is assembled in the housing 112, so that heat generated from the light emitting device 102 can be efficiently radiated.
However, in the lighting apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 5, if a dimensional accuracy of formation positions of the engaged portions 115 or the protrusions 107 is low, the contact between the heat radiation member 114 and the rear surface 103b of the substrate 103 of the light source unit 104 becomes insufficient. That is, for example, a state (partial contact) in which only a part of the rear surface 103b is in contact with the heat radiation member 114 may occur. If such a state occurs, the heat generated from the light emitting device 102 cannot be efficiently radiated to the heat radiation member 114, a temperature of the light source unit 104 rises, and a luminous efficiency of the light emitting device 102 is reduced accordingly.


The subject disclosure is directed towards providing data for augmenting an entity-attribute-related task. Pre-processing is preformed on entity-attribute tables extracted from the web, e.g., to provide indexes that are accessible to find data that completes augmentation tasks. The indexes are based on both direct mappings and indirect mappings between tables. Example augmentation tasks include queries for augmented data based on an attribute name or examples, or finding synonyms for augmentation. An online query is efficiently processed by accessing the indexes to return augmented data related to the task.

Information workers (users) frequently work with documents, spreadsheets, databases and so forth containing mentions of various entities. For example, a spreadsheet user may have a list of camera models, or a database user may have a table of companies. The user may want additional information related to an entity or entities.
By way of example, a user may need to fill in additional information in order to complete a task. As a more particular example, to help in making a decision, a user may be tasked with augmenting a spreadsheet containing camera models, by filling in various attributes for each model such as brand, resolution, price and optical zoom. To complete such entity augmenting tasks today, users try to manually find web sources containing the desired information and merge the found corresponding data values with the existing data to assemble a complete set of data.
Other tasks related to augmenting data often come up as well. Thus in general, users may benefit from an automated solution that assists users in performing such tasks. However, existing approaches are generally unsatisfactory with respect to their level of data precision (the augmented data is often wrong) and recall (the augmented data is often unable to be found, e.g., due to poor coverage). It is thus desirable to provide an automated solution to these and other such tasks that assists users to a reasonably desirable extent.

Entity augmentation service from latent relational data


A mirror assembly, such as is used for school busses and similar vehicles, includes a mirror head including a mirror surface and a housing. The mirror surface and the housing define a hollow interior. A light bulb is provided in the hollow interior. The housing is translucent so light from the bulb can be seen outside the housing. The light bulb can be electrically connected to various elements of the vehicle's electrical system, such as turn signals, flashers, and/or headlights.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to mirror assemblies. More particularly, the present invention pertains to vehicular mirror assemblies. Even more particularly, the present invention pertains to vehicular mirror assemblies including means for illuminating.
2. Prior Art
The present invention is directed to a mirror assembly for use, primarily, with vehicles such as trucks, busses, and the like. The present invention has particular utility in association with transportation vehicles, such as school busses and the like. Typically, school busses have exterior mirrors mounted onto the front fender, or in proximity thereto, to enable the driver to have a field of view extending both downwardly and forwardly of the front end of the vehicle to ensure a viewing of any activity thereabout. Because these mirrors are exterior to the vehicle, they are viewable by persons in other vehicles and by pedestrians as well as by the driver of the vehicle.
Vehicles, especially large vehicles such as school busses, are required in most, if not all, jurisdictions to have exterior lights as a safety feature. Vehicles are also required to have rear-view mirrors. The present invention enhances safety by providing lights in exterior mirrors, which can work either independently or in conjunction with any other exterior lights the vehicle may have. The present invention can, similarly, be used in conjunction with interior mirrors.


A dispensing apparatus for dispensing a material, comprising: a removable container for holding the material; a receptacle for receiving the material, the receptacle comprising a top opening and a flange; a funnel for receiving the material from the removable container and guiding the material to the receptacle, the funnel comprising a valve holder at a lower end of the funnel and a lower opening aligned with the top opening of the receptacle; a valve member slidably coupled to the valve holder, the valve member comprising a valve aperture; a valve lever connected to the valve member, wherein when activated, the valve lever is configured to move the valve member to cause the valve aperture to align with the lower opening of the funnel, allowing the material to flow down from the funnel to the receptacle until the receptacle is filled to the top opening; a lever assembly coupled to the valve lever, wherein the lever assembly is configured to be activated by an operator inserting the flange of the receptacle into the lever assembly, and when activated, the lever assembly is configured to activate the valve lever; and a gap separating the valve member and the top opening of the receptacle, the gap having a gap width greater than zero and less than a predetermine value, wherein when the valve lever is activated and the material flows down and fills the receptacle to the top opening, the material further fills the gap, causing the material to stop flowing down.

The present disclosure relates to dispensers, and more particularly, to a dispensing apparatus and method for dispensing flowable solid materials.
Devices are known for filling receptacles with granular, particulate, and/or powdered materials that are transported from a storage container into a receptacle. Dispensing mechanisms for these devices range from open containers with scoops to coin operated machines. Granular matter, such as sand, can be provided in various colors and can be dispensed from storage containers to produce a decorative art form in a transparent receptacle. Likewise, granular food products, such as powdered candy, can also be dispensed to produce a decorative art form in a receptacle with the added attraction of being edible. However, granular or powdered food products need special care to avoid contamination.
Thus, there is a need for granular food dispensing system that allows for the controlled dispense of the materials and will also avoid contamination between the dispensing mechanism and the receptacles that receive it. In addition, it is desirable have a mechanism in a dispensing system to automatically shut off the flow of the material being dispensed when the receptacle is filled to a maximum level, so spills can be avoided.


A data storage device activity state is sampled and used to control a remote data storage device activity indicator. A disk drive activity signal is sampled by hardware either based on an edge transition of the activity signal, or on a periodic basis. If the state of the activity signal changes, state change data is sent via a controller to a keyboard. A disk drive status light on the keyboard is controlled by the change data. The controller is a USB host controller that sends the state change data to a USB function that controls the status light.

Disk drives and other storage devices are usually equipped with activity lights that indicate when the drive is actively transferring data to and from a computer system. These lights tend to flicker consistent with the activity of the drive. Further, the activity lights are located proximate the disk drives, which many times are not viewable by a user. In some cases, the drives are located in a portion of the system not viewable by a user during normal use of the drive. The system itself may be located beneath a table, and a user cannot see the activity light even if openly viewable otherwise.

Drive activity sampling and notification


A plurality of third fixed potential lines are wired in parallel. A group of high-potential-side fixed potential lines containing a first fixed potential line and a second fixed potential line are wired in a plurality at predetermined intervals in a direction perpendicular to the third fixed potential line. In a layout region, surrounded by a pair of adjacent third fixed potential lines and a pair of groups of adjacent high-potential-side fixed potential lines, where a first element or a second element is arranged, either one of the first fixed potential line and the second fixed potential line is wired between the pair of third fixed potential lines. In a layout region used for second elements, a second fixed potential line connecting a pair of second fixed potential lines contained respectively in a pair of groups of high-potential-side fixed potential lines that form the layout region is wired between a pair of third fixed potential lines that form the layout region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device using a plurality of high-potential-side reference voltages.
2. Description of the Related Art
A reduction in power consumption is required for an LSI (Large Scale Integration) mounted on electronic equipment. In particular, the reduction in power consumption is strongly required for LSIs mounted on battery-driven mobile devices for the purpose of securing the extended battery life. As one of methods for reducing the power consumed by the LSIs, a plurality of power supply voltages are used and a lower one of the plurality of supply voltages is used when parts, in the LSI where not so much precision is required, is to be controlled.
For example, a method has been proposed where a lower power supply voltage in the plurality of power supply voltages is used and thereby the amplitude of a clock signal is made small. A large portion of electric power consumed within the LSI is consumed as power for the charging and discharging of gate capacitances used for turning on and off gates of transistors by clock signals. The power consumed by the charging and discharging by the clock signals is proportional to the square of power supply voltage. Thus, the reduction in the amplitude of clock signal will be effective in the reduction of power consumed by the charging and discharging.
As described above, when circuitry having a plurality of power supply voltages mixed therein is to be designed, the layout of power supply lines is complex as compared with a case where a single type of power supply voltage is used. Depending on the wiring position, the degree of freedom in component arrangement may be deteriorated or increased area of circuitry may result.
As the power line is located farther away from the power supply, the power supply voltage level thereof deteriorates as compared with the original level. To reduce this adverse effect, there is a method where, for a circuit having the multiplicity of elements arranged therein, the power lines are arranged in a mesh topology.

Semiconductor device using a plurality of high-potential-side reference voltages


An organic electroluminescence device emitting white light which comprises at least two light emitting layers and an electron transporting layer comprising a heterocyclic derivative having nitrogen atom or silicon atom which are disposed between a pair of electrodes, wherein the energy gap of a host compound in each light emitting layer is in a specific range, the energy gap of the heterocyclic derivative having nitrogen atom or silicon atom in the electron transporting layer is in a specific range, and the ionization potential of the heterocyclic derivative having nitrogen atom or silicon atom in the electron transporting layer and the ionization potential of the host compound in the light emitting layer adjacent to the electron transporting layer satisfy a specific relation. The organic electroluminescence device provides a great efficiency of light emission under a low voltage and has a long lifetime, and exhibits no change in the chromaticity.

Organic electroluminescence (EL) devices which utilize organic substances are expected to be useful for application as inexpensive full color display devices of the solid light emission type having a great size, and various developments on the organic EL devices are being conducted. In general, an organic EL device has a construction comprising a light emitting layer and a pair of electrodes disposed at both sides of the light emitting layer. The light emission of the organic EL device is a phenomenon in which, when an electric field is applied between the two electrodes, electrons are injected from the cathode side and holes are injected from the anode side, the electrons are recombined with the holes in the light emitting layer to form an excited state, and energy generated when the excited state returns to the ground state is emitted as light.
Recently, organic EL devices emitting white light are attracting attention as the devices capable of the full color display using color filters in addition to applications as monocolor displays and lighting applications such as back light.
To produce the organic EL device emitting white light, a device having a light emitting layer of the laminate type which has a plural light emitting layer is proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-093583. In the organic EL device having the light emitting layer of the laminate type, white light is emitted by doping each light emitting layer with a dopant, and light other than white light can be emitted by changing the type of the dopant. However, the device having the light emitting layer of the laminate type has a problem in that the voltage necessary for the driving is great, the lifetime of light emission is short, and the chromaticity tends to change.

White organic electroluminescence device


A high power RF device has an electron beam cavity, a modulator, and a circuit for feed-forward energy recovery from a multi-stage depressed collector to the modulator. The electron beam cavity include a cathode, an anode, and the multi-stage depressed collector, and the modulator is configured to provide pulses to the cathode. Voltages of the electrode stages of the multi-stage depressed collector are allowed to float as determined by fixed impedances seen by the electrode stages. The energy recovery circuit includes a storage capacitor that dynamically biases potentials of the electrode stages of the multi-stage depressed collector and provides recovered energy from the electrode stages of the multi-stage depressed collector to the modulator. The circuit may also include a step-down transformer, where the electrode stages of the multi-stage depressed collector are electrically connected to separate taps on the step-down transformer.

In RF vacuum microwave devices such as klystrons, an electron beam is manipulated and its kinetic energy is partially converted into RF energy. This process is not fully efficient, and the depleted beam is collected by a collector. Conventionally, the energy deposited into the collector is lost as heat. In pulsed systems, the energy during the rise and fall of a driving pulse (from a modulator) is entirely lost as heat. RF energy is removed only during the flat top portion of the pulse.
There are typically three methods utilized to improve this efficiency. First, the beam to RF conversion efficiency is studied. Research in this area is ongoing, but it requires fundamental changes to the tube technology and potentially has impacts on tube performance. Second, the rise and fall times to the klystron are shortened. This is a very hard parameter to improve upon, especially for high power tubes. Third, a device called a depressed collector can be used.
Depressed collectors in RF amplifiers are a mature and successful technology for efficiency-critical applications such as space applications and UHF broadcast. They are typically employed in low power CW tubes and function by extracting energy from the spent electron beam, shown in FIG. 1. In this example, a spent beam 116 from a klystron device 100 having an output cavity 114 first passes through a reconditioner 102 and then into a depressed collector 118 having five conductive stages 104, 106, 108, 110, 112 that are biased at negative electrical potentials below the kinetic energy of the beam 116. As the beam travels through the depressed collector 118, the electron momentum decreases until collected by a stage. Ideally, the momentum is reduced to zero just as it impacts a collector stage. As less work is required to stop the electrons, this stage biasing and collection of electrons results in reduced heat dissipation in the collector. Effectively, depending upon the stage biasing topology, a portion of the beam power is recovered to some point within the driving modulator/power supply, resulting in a reduced AC power draw. Reduced power draw with the same RF power out results in a higher system efficiency.
The present state-of-the-art in multi-stage collectors can only efficiently recover energy in CW systems. The energy in the rise and fall of pulses is lost. In addition, in conventional depressed collectors, the power supplies are arranged in discharge mode which necessitates driving them to particular potentials.
Many accelerator applications utilize pulsed, high peak power RF systems with duty cycles less than 1%. Typically, a high voltage, pulsed modulator delivers a pulse to the cathode of a klystron. A pulse shape, with rise, flattop, and fall times can be defined as in FIG. 2. Because accelerator applications require high RF phase stability during the pulse, the low level RF input is only applied during the high voltage modulator pulse flat top. Therefore, all of the beam energy during the modulator rise and fall times is wasted and is dissipated as heat in the klystron collector. The amount of energy wasted in the collector is significant for short pulse, low duty cycle systems. For very short pulse applications, this problem is compounded: fast rise and fall times are very hard to achieve in high power modulators.
With a pulsed, high-power system, utilization of a depressed collector to increase system efficiency is not straightforward. The conventional method for applying a pulsed potential to a collector stage is to tap off of the secondary of the output transformer of the modulator. While appropriate for some applications, this approach is not viable for many accelerator applications: it causes deleterious cathode voltage ringing due to parasitic impedances. This ringing translates into RF phase jitter and unacceptable performance.

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


A masonry guiding tool for attachment to a backing wall, comprising a base member for attachment to the backing wall and an elbowed plumb line holder. The plumb line holder comprises an elongated mounting portion defining a first axis therealong, the mounting portion being movably carried by the base member and axially movable relative thereto along the first axis which is destined to be parallel to the backing wall. The plumb line holder also comprises an elongated plumb line support portion transversally connected to the mounting portion, the elongated plumb line support portion defining and extending along a second axis transversal to the first axis, the plumb line support portion for movably holding a plumb line. The guiding tool allows the plumb line to be movable along the first axis by axially moving the mounting portion relative to the base member, and along the second axis of the plumb line support portion by moving the plumb line along the plumb line support portion.

Masonry walls are made of stone or brick laid in stacked horizontal rows against a backing wall, made of plywood for example. To ensure that the masonry walls are properly aligned with respect to the backing wall, a mason starts by setting up the bricks (or stones or other masonry blocks) at the corner of the masonry wall in alignment with a corresponding corner on the backing wall, and then proceeds to fill in the rest of the masonry walls with brick.
Masonry guides have been used to aid the mason in the proper alignment of successive courses of brick, by providing him with a vertical reference line. For example, a rudimentary masonry guiding aid still used by masons are elongated 2″×4″ planks suitably affixed to the backing wall in a horizontal fashion, into which a nail is driven for supporting a vertical plumb line. This technique involves setting up a relatively heavy and cumbersome 2″×4″ plank in horizontal fashion using a spirit level, which can be a long and laborious task.
Alternately, masons can use dedicated masonry guiding tools. However, existing masonry guiding tools have been found to lack versatility or to involve an inconvenient set up procedure.


A rumble strip rolling device for attachment to a conventional asphalt roller. The rumble strip rolling device includes a support member for attachment to the asphalt roller, a pivot member having one end thereof pivotally secured to the support member for movement between a first position and a second position, a slide member slidably mounted on the pivot member for movement between a third position and a fourth position, a first hydraulic cylinder for adjusting the pivot member between the first position and the second position, a second hydraulic cylinder for adjusting the slide member between the third position and the fourth position, a roller drum assembly having a roller drum frame and a roller drum rotatably supported on a shaft that is supported by the roller drum frame, and a connector for pivotally connecting the roller drum frame to the slide member. The shaft has a first axis substantially perpendicular to a direction of movement of the asphalt roller and the roller drum frame is pivotal about a second axis substantially parallel to the direction of movement of the asphalt roller. Pivotal movement of the roller drum frame about the second axis allows the shaft and the roller drum thereon to remain substantially parallel to a surface being rolled during rolling operations. The first and second hydraulic cylinders enable the vertical and lateral position of the roller drum assembly to be selectively adjusted during use and non-use of the roller drum.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device attached to a conventional asphalt roller for the purpose of creating a series of depressions, typically known as rumble strips, in fresh asphalt.
2. Description of Related Art
In an effort to increase the safety of highway travel, many states utilize rumble strips to warn motorists of a hazardous situation. Typically, the rumble strips are placed on the shoulder of the road to warn motorists that they are about to veer off the road, or in the roadway itself to warn motorists of upcoming toll booths, construction, or intersections. As a vehicle drives over a series of rumble strips, the rumble strips produce noticeable vibrations in the steering column and an audible sound. Both the vibrations and the sound are useful to alert a driver who is unaware of an upcoming situation or who is drowsy and unaware of the vehicle's position on the roadway.
Rumble strips are typically formed as grooved patterns in the surface of the roadway. The two fundamental techniques used to create rumble strips are milling and rolling. The milling process involves passing a toothed milling drum over the road surface. As the milling drum rotates, the teeth thereon cut shallow radius grooves into the road surface. To properly space apart the grooves, a mechanical or hydraulic system sequentially raises and lowers the milling drum. In contrast, the rolling process involves passing over the road surface a rolling drum equipped with a plurality of radially spaced profile strips. As the rolling drum rotates, the profile strips displace still soft asphalt to form a groove corresponding in shape to the profile strips.
The related art contains several examples of devices useful for treating road surfaces. U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,713 issued to Zanetis on Nov. 7, 1989, discloses a pavement planar which is carried on the twin lift arms of a skid-steer front end loader. The pavement planar has a housing and a toothed drum which is rotatably mounted within the housing for planing operation of the road surface. A frame member is secured to the lift-arms of the front end loader, and the housing is mounted to the frame member for lateral adjustment upon a pair of guide arms and tilting adjustment about a trunnion having fore-aft axis. Depending upon whether the housing is clamped to the frame member, a single hydraulic cylinder provides for tilting adjustment of the housing about the trunnion or lateral adjustment of the housing along the guide arms.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,391,017 issued on Feb. 21, 1995, 5,484,228 issued on Jan. 16, 1996, and 5,607,255 issued on Mar. 4, 1997, each to Thomas et al., disclose an apparatus for cutting Sonic Noise Alert Pattern (SNAP) depressions or rumble strips in the surface of an asphalt road. The Thomas et al. '017 reference discloses the use of an eccentric member provided in direct contact with the road surface, whereby rotation of the eccentric causes raising and lowering of a cutting drum during the course of a single revolution. The Thomas et al. '288 and '255 references disclose cam member provided in direct contact with the road surface, whereby rotation of the cam member causes raising and lowering of a cutting drum as the cam surfaces of the cam member contact the road surface during the course of a single revolution.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,490 issued to Murray discloses a piston wheel for use on an existing cold milling machine. The piston wheel is preferably a pentagonal wheel which causes raising and lowering of a cutting head on the cold milling machine, whereby as the machine moves forward over the surface to be cut, the cutting head will be raised and lowered to produce intermittent cuts or rumble strips in the pavement surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,547 issued to Thomas et al. on Oct. 10, 1995 discloses a machine and method for forming the aforementioned SNAP type depressions in an asphalt road. The machine includes a single milling head with spaced bit sets that contact the road surface to form the depressions. The milling head is lowered to perform the necessary cutting action, the machine is advanced to effect the size of the depression, the milling head is raised to terminate the depression, and finally the machine is advanced farther to begin a new cutting procedure until a predetermined number of depressions have been formed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,495 issued to Johnson on May 16, 1995, discloses a cutting machine which includes a cutting head and a drive device for driving the cutting head, as well as an engaging device for moving the cutting head out of and into contact with the road surface. The engaging device includes a hydraulic cylinder which is under control of an electronic proportional valve operated by a computer controller. The computer controller is programmed to raise and lower the cutting head as a function of the distance travelled by the machine as it moves forward over the road surface. The computer controller receives electrical impulses from a conventional wheel mounted encoder.
In the article Ready to Rumble appearing in the March 1997 issue of Asphalt Contractor, the article indicates that rolled rumble strips may be formed by an attachment drum on the roller or by mounting bars on a drum roller. The article continues by suggesting that the attachment is not a full machine, but is instead controlled with an hydraulic arm. The article makes no suggestion for using more than one hydraulic arm.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

Asphalt roller attachment for rolling rumble strips


A hollow waveguide directional coupler comprises two hollow waveguide sections that are coupled to each other by a plurality of coupling openings formed in a wall extending between the hollow waveguide sections. Two adjacent coupling openings have a distance of 3λg/4. from each other, λg being the wavelength of the nominal center frequency of the operating frequency range of the directional coupler.

The present invention relates to a hollow waveguide directional coupler having two hollow waveguide sections connected to each other by a plurality of coupling openings formed in a wall extending between the hollow waveguide sections.
Such directional couplers are generally known. Directional couplers of this type having two coupling openings are described e.g. in Meinke-Gundlach, Taschenbuch der Hochfrequenztechnik, 5. Auflage, Springer 1992, Chapter L7.4. Such directional couplers have good directivity for wavelengths λg in a range of four times the distance between the coupling openings, where λg is the wavelength of the nominal centre frequency of the operating frequency range of the directional coupler. The directivity is based on the fact that the fields coupled at the two openings from the transit hollow waveguide section to the driven hollow waveguide section propagate in both directions in the driven hollow waveguide, and that the fields that propagate in the same direction as in the transit waveguide interfere constructively, whereas, in the opposite direction, they have a phase difference of λ/2 and thus cancel each other.
Hollow waveguide directional couplers having a plurality of coupling openings are described e.g. in R. Levy "Analysis and Synthesis of Waveguide Multi-aperture Directional Couplers", IEEE Trans. on Microwave Theory and Tech., Vol. MTT-16, No. 12, December 1968 and in H. Schmiedel et al. "Field Theory Design of Rectangular Waveguide Multiple-Slot Narrow-Wall Couplers", IEEE Trans. on Microwave Theory and Tech., Vol. MTT-34, No. 7, July 1986.
The dimensions of these coupling openings and the wall sections between them are obviously proportional to the RF wavelengths with which they are to be used. Applications in the millimeter-wavelength range require dimensions of the coupling openings and the wall portions which are difficult to manufacture with conventional manufacturing techniques such as edging and machining. In particular when strong couplings are required, a high number of coupling openings is necessary, because the cross section area of a single coupling opening is limited by the requirement that a wall portion separating it from an adjacent coupling opening must be strong enough to withstand the loads to which it is exposed during manufacture.
It is readily apparent that the effort for manufacturing such a directional coupler increases with the number of coupling openings that must be manufactured. The effort for the manufacture of the directional coupler does not only increase linearly with the number of required coupling openings or, what is more or less equivalent, with the length of the coupling section, but exponentially. The reason for this is the non-vanishing probability that during manufacture a wall portion becomes damaged and the complete directional coupler is thus spoiled. The higher the number of existing wall portions, the less is the probability that all of them will survive the manufacture undamaged.


A plurality of blanks divided at a division end face 5 or a blank-bonded product comprising a plurality of blanks sintered and bonded together are or is compressed in the same mold, so that they are plastically deformed until the division end faces 5 are cohered. Thereafter, a load is applied to the plastically worked product in a direction of breaking of the division end faces 5 to break the division end faces 5 and divide the plastically worked product into a plurality of members. In this manner, a split type mechanical part having irregularities meshed with each other on mating faces and easily positionable relative to each other can be produced with a good dimentional accuracy.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing a split type mechanical part such as a connecting rod, a cap for the connecting rod, and a split sliding or plain bearing for use, for example, in an internal combustion engine, a piston-type compressor, a piston pump and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a connecting rod has a shape such that a smaller end 6 including a piston pin hole 3 is connected with a larger end 7 including a hole in which a crank-pin of a crankshaft is fitted, as shown in FIG. 1. The larger end 7 is in a half-split state in which it is divided at a mating face (division end face) 5 for easy assembling, and the connecting rod includes a main body section 1 and a cap section 2. The main body section 1 and the cap section 2 are integrally fixed to each other by a bolt passed through a bolt bore which is not shown.
When the main body section 1 and the cap section 2 of the connecting rod are produced, the main body section 1 and the cap section 2 are formed into an integral configuration by casting, forging or the like, and subjected to a cutting and a following processing such as scraping and shaving, or both of the members are separately fabricated by casting or forging and subjected to a scraping and shaving processing or the like.
When the connecting rod is produced in a powder metallurgical process, the main body section and the cap section are compacted and sintered into an integral configuration, and if necessary, the resulting material is subjected to a forging to provide a high density, and then divided into the main body section and the cap section. The following four methods are examples of such dividing methods: 1) a method in which division aiding holes are previously provided in an intended breaking area, and the product is broken at the intended breaking area, as described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 47453/82 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 26087/90; 2) a method in which a cutout groove is provided in each of opposite end faces of the intended breaking area, the remaining wall portion is broken, and the resulting members are then cut, as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 44890/83; 3) a method in which portions having different hardnesses are previously provided in an intended breaking area by a carburizing hardening, and the product is broken at the intended breaking area, thereby providing irregularities on the broken face; and 4) a method in which a groove is previously provided in a molded product at a place to serve as an intended breaking area, and an oxide film is formed in the groove by sintering and forging, and then the product is broken.
In the case of a method of adjusting the degree of true circularness, the size and the shape of a blank such as a cast product, a forged product, a sintered product and the like formed into an integral or divided configuration by cutting or scraping and shaving processing, a high-level processing technique is required and in addition, the number of processing steps is large, and therefore, there is a room for improvement for a reduction in cost.
As compared with a classical producing process including such scraping and shaping, the above-described conventional breaking/dividing method is advantageous in respect of cost, because it includes no step of scraping and shaving the divided end faces. In addition, such method has an advantage that the broken faces can be used directly as mating faces, and irregularities to be meshed with each other are produced on the mating faces and hence, the main body section and the cap section can be positioned.
However, such conventional method has problems that a considerably large breaking load is required for the division, that there is a limit for selection of the material, because a deformation is liable to be produced in the case of a material having a high ductility as in an aluminum alloy, that the product may be broken at a location other than the intended breaking/dividing area, and that there is a room for improvement in the work of positioning during assembling.

Process for producing split type mechanical part


A signal level detect circuit configured to assess an input signal with varying amplitude signal levels and to generate an indicator signal includes an input circuit configured to receive the input signal and to process the input signal, the input circuit including a first node on which the input signal is sampled; a comparator configured to compare the processed input signal to a signal level threshold and generate a comparator output signal; and an active discharge circuit configured to provide a first discharge current to the first node in response to the comparator output signal. The comparator output signal changes from a low output state to a high output state in response to the comparator input signal, and the active discharge circuit generates the first discharge current to discharge the sampled input signal on the first node after the comparator output signal changes to the high output state.

A passive optical network (PON) is a point-to-multipoint, fiber to the premises optical distribution network architecture in which unpowered optical splitters are used to enable a single optical fiber to serve multiple premises, typically 16-128. A PON consists of an optical line terminal (OLT) at the service provider's central office and a number of optical network terminals (ONT) or optical network units (ONUs) near end users. A PON reduces the amount of fiber and central office equipment required compared with point to point architectures.
In a PON, downstream signals are broadcasted to all premises sharing multiple fibers. Encryption is used to prevent eavesdropping. Upstream signals are combined using a multiple access protocol, usually time division multiple access (TDMA). The OLT may range the ONUs in order to provide time slot assignments for upstream communication.
In communication systems, a receiver is disposed to detect an input signal where the input signal often has signal levels with varying amplitude. For example, signals transmitted in a passive optical network (PON) often have signal levels with widely varying amplitude. It is sometimes necessary for the receiver to make a determination of the presence or absence of a signal at the input and to provide an indication thereof.

Signal level detect circuit with reduced loss-of-signal assertion delay


An expandable endoprosthesis for a joint and adjacent bone parts has first and second joint component parts. The second component has a part at one end thereof for a portion of a joint. The second component has a telescoping stem coupled to its joint part for attachment to a long bone. The telescoping stem has an inner and an outer member axially adjustable with respect to one another by means of a threaded spindle and a threaded spindle nut attached respectively to either the inner or outer member. A pinion gear is attached to either the spindle or spindle nut for rotation therewith. An indexing system is provided to rotate the pinion a predetermined amount upon movement of the first and second joint components towards one another after implantation and thereby lengthen the second joint component stem.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention refers to an endoprosthesis for a knee joint. More particularly, it relates to an endoprosthesis including a portion which is adjustable in length after implanting.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For patients who are still growing and who receive a total endoprosthesis for the knee joint, for example, an adaptation to the growth in length of their bones is necessary. U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,546 discloses a so-called growth prosthesis comprising a pair of telescopically co-acting rod members defining a bone replacement part, wherein a spindle and a spindle nut provide for a relative adjustment of the rod members. The spindle of the known prosthesis is coupled to a bevel gear of which a gear wheel includes a drive pin which may be actuated from outside the prosthesis. Preferably the drive pin is located in an area of the joint where the thickness of the soft tissue is relatively thin so that the bevel gear becomes accessible by a mere prick incision. Therefore, only local anesthesia is required to adjust the prosthesis in length. Nevertheless an operation, although minor, is necessary. This results in a certain stress and risk to the patient.


A method and system for authenticating a message is described, in which the message contains a network address, at least a portion of which is a digital fingerprint. Embedded in the message is data, such as a code, that indicates the size of the digital fingerprint. A device receiving the message uses the size data and, for example, the public key of the sender to attempt to reproduce the digital fingerprint. If successful, the device receiving the message verifies the identity of the sender.

Security is an important part of many computer networks. One aspect of network security is the ability to verify the identity of computers and/or their users. For example, in wireless networking, it is common for a client computer to be moved out of the operating range of one wireless base station and into the range of another wireless base station. When this occurs, it is often the case that the client computer receives a new network address from the new base station. To ensure that the client computer is still able to receive messages from other computers, the client computer informs a so-called "home agent" of its new address. A home agent is a computer (such as a server) that maintains a publicly known "home address" for the client computer and keeps track of the actual or "care-of" address of the client computer. When other computers wish to send messages to the client computer, they use the client computer's home address. The home agent then forwards the message to the client's "care-of" address. If a malicious entity such as a hacker wishes to intercept messages intended for the client computer, the malicious entity could simply pretend that it is the client computer and "inform" the home agent of its new care-of address. The home agent, if it was successfully tricked, would then forward the client computer's message to the malicious entity.
The above example illustrates the importance of being able to verify the identity of a computer in a wireless context. However, it is also important to be able to verify the identity of users and/or computers in wired scenarios as well.

Method and system for authenticating messages


A method for key verification through time varying item presentation based on a key hash result comprises generating a key hash result partially based on both a global identifier provided from a source and an estimated current time at that source. After generating the key hash result, a first time-varying item is produced using the key hash result as an index for a table lookup or generated based on Certain bit patterns forming the key hash result. Thereafter, the first time-varying item is presented for comparison with a second time-varying item being contemporaneously presented at the source. These computations are repeated, giving the impression of two views or instances of the same time-varying item. An attacker might be able to match one small portion of such a time sequence of presentations, by luck, but not any large portion of the sequence.

As the number of electronic resources proliferate, the demand for applications to facilitate communications between such resources will also increase. Such applications can include electronic commerce but also secure sharing of data through encrypted or digitally signed electronic mail (e-mail) or secure access to resources through file sharing or remote computer log-on. All of these uses of cryptography require the authentication of users and other data prior to performance of a particular action. That is, it requires a level of trust to be established prior to performance of the transaction.
Specifically, in this networking age, a person is normally authenticated not by personal appearance but rather by use of a cryptographic key. In order for a particular key to correctly represent some person (or other entity), the party accepting the key would need to establish that the particular key is controlled by that person or entity. This process is normally referred to as "key verification". Current key verification techniques are either inadequate and therefore prone to error or abuse or they are so unusual and technical that an average human user might shy away from that activity.
For instance, one key verification technique (referred to as "directory verification" and first described in an Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineering (IEEE) Transaction on Information Theory publication entitled "New Directions in Cryptography" by Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman (November 1976, pp. 644–654)) involves the publication and global distribution of a printed reference that includes the name, address and assigned public key for each user. The reference is published by a trusted source and distributed in a secure manner. One of many disadvantages of the directory verification technique is that it is costly to implement. Namely, this technique would incur additional costs for publication of the reference, secure distribution of the reference, and for each listed keyholder in the directory, the proof to the trusted source that the user is the true owner of the public key prior to publication. Another disadvantage is that the names of the users may be unique in a small group, but such uniqueness diminishes for larger groups. Hence, as the size of the group gradually expands, name collisions are almost certain to occur. When names collide, any party relying on the directory's results will not always be able to locate the correct directory entry for a desired person or other entity with certainty and therefore be not always able to locate that person's or entity's public key.
Other key verification techniques include the exchange of a digital certificate in accordance with, for example, Request For Comment (RFC-2459) entitled "Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure" (January 1999). However, the X.509 mechanism also suffers from the requirement of a central trusted source and increased costs for establishing such a certificate mechanism. It also suffers from name collision with the added disadvantage that when names collide, the user of a certificate may not be aware of the collision because he or she sees only the one directory line item contained within the certificate at hand and not the neighboring region of the directory.
Yet another key verification technique has been established by the application program referred to as "Pretty Good Privacy" (PGP). The idea of PGP key verification is to bind a public key of an owner to his or her global name, such as an e-mail address, for example, without the cost of a central trusted source. PGP allows every user to generate his or her own keys and certificates. For key verification purposes, PGP computes a fingerprint of the key to be verified, in the form of a cryptographic hash result of that key. This hash result is computed independently by the keyholder's copy of PGP and the relying party's copy of PGP. These cryptographic hash results, displayed either in the form of a long hexadecimal number or a sequence of English words, are then compared by having one party read the value to the other. If the values match, then the key in question is verified.
The PGP key verification technique has the disadvantage that the technique of visually or audibly comparing a number of hexadecimal character values or a string of meaningless words is quite time consuming and strange for the user who wants to achieve appropriate authentication levels. Because of that workload, some users skip the verification step entirely.

Time varying presentation of items based on a key hash


Apparatus for rounding the ends of brush fibers made of thermoplastic material includes a system for moving a smooth treatment surface relative to brush fiber ends at a relative speed and for a selected time to cause the brush fiber ends to be heated to their plastic deformation temperature to cause the brush fiber ends to become rounded. The treatment surface includes at least a portion which has substantially no abrasion, grinding or impacting properties relative to the brush fibers but only substantially friction heating properties relative to the fibers. A method for rounding brush fiber ends is described using the described apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an apparatus and method for rounding fibre ends of brushes, whose fibres are made of thermoplastic material, more particularly tooth brushes, with a treatment surface, which is moved relatively and transversely in relation to the fibre ends, with which the fibre ends are in contact.
2. Related Technology
During the manufacturing of brushes, after the brush fibres have been inserted or formed in the brush body, the fibres are cut at their free ends in such way that they are situated in one and the same plane. Subsequently, the cut fibre ends must be rounded to remove burrs and sharp edges. Considerable efforts are applied to the quality of the rounding of the fibres of tooth brushes as well as hair brushes, which come in contact with sensitive skin.
Consequently, known brush manufacturing machines comprise several rounding steps through which the brushes successively pass, and in which the fibre ends are put in contact with grinding tools which operate from different directions in order to exert a friction on the brush fibres in all directions. With a view to obtain a particularly high quality of the rounding, which is desired for tooth brush, the fibre ends are subsequently polished. Such final treatment of the brushes can require five to ten treatment steps which therefore constitute an essential part in the total cost of the brush manufacturing. Moreover, a lot of dust is produced which is a problem factor in the final treatment of the brushes.
The rounding is problematic with the fibre ends of those brushes of which the fibres are provided with a profiled cut as a result of which the fibre ends are not situated in one and the same plane. The short fibres are difficult to be reached by the grinding elements. In order to treat them too, the long fibres must previously be kept away by retainers or such like. Devices, with which profiled tooth brushes can be treated are for example described in DE 4 425 231 A1 or DE 4 138 777. These devices are particularly expensive.
This invention aims at a device for rounding fibre ends of brushes and which guarantees at a low cost a particularly good quality with less grinding dust.

Apparatus and method for rounding fiber ends of brushes

Firma G.B. Boucherie, Naamloze Vennootschap


An extended range focus sensor is provided. In various embodiments, the focus sensor may include a relay lens assembly to image a plane between an objective lens and the relay lens arrangement to a plane near an entrance pupil of a focus detector arrangement of the focus sensor. In some embodiments, the objective lens pupil is imaged onto the focus detector entrance pupil. In some embodiments, an illumination beam passes through the relay lens arrangement and is magnified on its way to be output by the objective lens, and the reflected focus detection beam passes back through the objective lens and the relay lens arrangement and is reduced prior to being input to the focus detector arrangement. In some embodiments, the focus detector arrangement may comprising a broad range focus detector combined with a high resolution Shack-Hartmann focus detector, and in others a single extended range Shack-Hartmann focus detector is used.

Precision machine vision inspection systems (or "vision systems" for short) can be used to obtain precise dimensional measurements of inspected objects and to inspect various other object characteristics. Such systems may include a computer, a camera and microscope-type optical system, and a precision stage that is movable in multiple directions so as to allow the camera to scan the features of a workpiece that is being inspected. One exemplary prior art system that is commercially available is the QUICK VISION® series of PC-based vision systems and QVPAK® software available from Mitutoyo America Corporation (MAC), located in Aurora, Ill. The features and operation of the QUICK VISION® series of vision systems and the QVPAK® software are generally described, for example, in the QVPAK 3D CNC Vision Measuring Machine User's Guide, published January 2003, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Such systems are known to incorporate various types of focus measurement, for governing autofocus and/or surface height measurements. One known type of focus measurement is based on analysis of the contrast in acquired images. For a given field of view, the highest contrast image generally corresponds to the best focused image. A surface height measurement may be inferred from the best focused image position, since the camera-object distance corresponding to any image is generally known in precision machine vision inspection systems.
Another type of focus and/or measurement is based on the use of an auxiliary focus sensor, which is a focus sensor that does not rely on the images of the machine vision inspection system for determining the best focus position or surface height. Various known types of auxiliary focus sensors have been used including triangulation sensors, knife edge focus sensors, chromatic confocal sensors, and the like. However, such known auxiliary sensors have exhibited deficiencies such as inadequate range vs. resolution capability, and/or inadequate robustness when tracking over abrupt steps in surface height.
One type of sensor for measuring changes of distance to a workpiece surface from an objective lens is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,997, to Röss et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The '997 patent discloses a configuration in which an objective lens may be focused on a measurement object, and a focus detector (e.g., a modal aperture stop located in front of a photoelectric converter, at a detector focus plane) may indicate deviations of the measurement object from the plane of best focus. However, the '997 patent does not disclose a focus detector with an unconventional range vs. resolution capability.
To obtain high resolution measurements of surface shape, a Shack-Hartmann type of wavefront sensing technique has been used. U.S. Pat. No. 6,184,974, to Neal et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses that minute deviations of a surface from perfect flatness, such as the surface of a silicon wafer, etc., may be measured by reflecting appropriate illumination from the surface and directing it to a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor that includes a plurality of sub-apertures. However, the plurality of sub-apertures sense a relative surface profile, they do not sense an overall range (distance) to a surface, and the '974 patent does not disclose a detector configuration with an unconventional range vs. resolution capability.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,878, to Ulich et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses an adaptive optics wavefront control system including a Shack-Hartmann type of wavefront sensing technique called a coarse/fine gradient sensor, comprising two Schack-Hartmann type sensors having different focal lengths and a different ranges and sensitivities. The configuration of the '878 patent provides an unconventional range vs. resolution capability. However, while the configuration of the '878 patent is suited for adaptive optics control, it is not well suited to the physical design constraints and the range requirements of a precision machine vision inspection system of the type outlined above.
A focus and/or range sensor that overcomes the foregoing and other disadvantages, would be desirable.

Focus detection apparatus having extended detection range


A mount structure includes a first electronic component and a second electronic component mounted to the first electronic component. The first and second electronic components include first and second terminals arrayed in strips and extending along a plurality of lines passing through first and second common points The second terminals are connected to the corresponding first terminals. The second common point substantially corresponds to the first common point. The range in which the first electronic component and the second electronic component are mounted includes a terminal region in which the first and second terminals are arrayed substantially at a specified interval, and a no terminal region in which there is no first terminals across a range wider than the specified interval or there are first dummy terminals in place of the first terminals. In the no terminal region, second dummy terminals are arrayed in strips and extend along the lines passing through the second common point.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a mount structure, an electrooptic device, and an electronic device, and in particular, it relates to a mount structure in which terminal groups including multiple terminals are conductively connected to each other.
2. Related Art
Known electrooptic devices mounted to electronic devices such as portable phones, notebook computers, and TV sets have a structure including an electrooptic panel such as a liquid-crystal display panel and a flexible wiring board mounted to the electrooptic panel. When a driving circuit for driving the electrooptic panel is mounted to the panel, the flexible wiring board supplies display data and control signals sent from the display control system of the electronic device to the electrooptic panel. When the driving circuit is not mounted to the electrooptic panel, the driving circuit is mounted to the flexible wiring board or another circuit board to which a flexible wiring board is connected. In such cases, the flexible wiring board supplies a driving signal output from the driving circuit to the electrooptic panel.
The above structure is such that multiple input terminals are arrayed in a row along a rim of the electrooptic panel, while multiple connecting terminals are arrayed in a row along a rim of the flexible wiring board in correspondence with the input terminals. When the flexible wiring board is mounted to the electrooptic panel, the input terminal row and the connecting terminal row are opposed with an anisotropic conductive film (ACF) or the like in between, to which heat or pressure is applied with a tool to bring the corresponding input terminals and connecting terminals into conductive connection.
The connecting terminal row of the flexible wiring board is in exact correspondence with the input terminal row of the electrooptic panel. However, since the flexible wiring board is mainly formed of polyimide resin, it expands or contracts greatly because of temperature changes or moisture absorption, thus changing the terminal pitch of the connecting terminal row. This causes deviations in array pitch between the connecting terminal row and the input terminal row on the glass substrate that is little influenced by temperature changes or moisture absorption to bring the connecting terminals and the input terminals out of agreement with each other, thus causing mount failure.
Thus, there is proposed a terminal structure and a method for mounting in which the multiple input terminals and the multiple connecting terminals are arranged linearly along multiple lines that pass through common points arranged apart in a predetermined direction and intersecting the direction of the array of the input terminal row and the connecting terminal row so that even if the array pitch of the connecting terminal row changes to some extent because of the expansion or contraction of the flexible wiring board, the array pitches can be agreed to each other by relatively shifting the input terminal row and the connecting terminal row in the direction in which the distances from the common points change (e.g., refer to JP-A-2003-258027).
However, even the above structure in which the array pitch can be agreed by adjustment at packaging has the problem of disagreement between terminals, causing mount failure due to uneven expansion or contraction of the flexible wiring board.
Furthermore, it also has the problem of disagreement between terminals, causing mount failure due to variations in the pattern of the connecting terminals of the flexible wiring board (e.g., variations in the width of the connecting terminals).

Mount structure, electrooptic device, and electronic device


An auxiliary outboard motor for boats comprising an electric propulsion motor having a propeller, a supporting shaft therefor with a first rack gear mounted thereon, a device for mounting the supporting shaft onto a boat, the mounting device comprising a primary mounting bracket for fastening to a boat and having a second rack gear secured thereto, a secondary mounting bracket pivotally connected to the primary bracket, the secondary mounting bracket comprising a housing having a bearing for supporting the supporting shaft for longitudinal movement with respect to the secondary mounting bracket, a reversible electric drive motor housed in the secondary bracket, and including a device for drivingly engaging the first and second rack gears for moving the supporting shaft longitudinally with respect to the secondary bracket and for pivoting the secondary bracket relative to the primary bracket for moving the supporting shaft between an operative position and a stowed position, and a device for disengaging said electric drive motor after a predetermined longitudinal travel of the supporting shaft.

A great number of electric outboard motors are in common use for propelling boats, particularly fishing boats. Such motors have the great advantage of being quiet and highly maneuverable, even when mounted on large boats, and for these reasons, are often used as auxiliary motors on fishing boats. Generally, fishing boats use a large gasoline powered engine mounted on the rear of the boat for moving the boat greater distances and/or at relatively high speeds. But such motors internal combustion engines are relatively noisy, and because of their size have reduced maneuverability when the boat is simply to be moved slowly and/or for short distances, or quietly while the user is fishing.
Such fishing boats typically have an electric auxiliary motor which is used while the boaters are fishing. These electric motors are frequently mounted by being clamped onto the transom of the boat and operable by a person sitting in the rear of the boat, or by a special mounting bracket secured on the bow of the boat and operable by a fisherman using the front fishing platform of the boat. In either case, the electric motor has a support shaft which is essentially vertically disposed with respect to the surface of the water, and an electric motor mounted on one end of the shaft. The motor is generally at right angles to the support shaft, and the support shaft houses electric wires for powering the motor. A propeller is mounted on one end of the motor shaft.
The support shaft is commonly secured to a mounting bracket which is attached to a suitable surface on the boat, such as a deck surface or the transom. When in the vertical, operational position, the support shaft is allowed to rotate in the housing in order that the thrust of the motor may be directed in the desired direction for steering the boat.
Generally, the steering is accomplished either by a foot operated pedal connected to a rack and pinion connection by a cable which causes rotation of the supporting shaft, or else is rotated by hand by means of a suitable handle extending orthogonally to the shaft, so that movement of the handle from side to side (actually an arcuate movement) causes rotation of the shaft for changing the direction of thrust and steering the boat.
A number of different bracket systems have been developed and marketed for attaching the motor to the boat, and these brackets usually are required to permit the electric motor to be retracted into the boat when the motor is not in use, or lowered into the water for use. Generally, in the operational position, the supporting shaft is vertical, i.e. perpendicular to the water surface, while in the stowed position, the supporting shaft is horizontal or parallel to the water surface.
The simplest of such brackets simply utilize a pivot pin arrangement which allows the motor supporting shaft to pivot between its vertical position, with the electric motor in the water in an operational or use position, and a horizontal or stowed position, with the electric motor out of the water. Such brackets require an additional adjustment, in order to allow the motor to be positioned at a proper depth in the water when in use, and to be fully retracted into the boat when not in use.
More sophisticated brackets utilize a parallelogram type of linkage to connect the motor supporting shaft with the boat mounted bracket, and lock the shaft securely in place in either of the two positions. Such brackets, while still permitting adjustment of the depth of the motor in the water, do not require the adjustment after each use, but enable a better lowering and raising of the motor between the two positions.
A few prior brackets have provided a motorized raising and lowering of the motor between the operational position and the stowed position. For example U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,461 issued to Brock provided such a bracket which uses an additional electric motor driving a cable and pulley system to move the outboard motor between the stowed position and the working position.
Another patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,670 issued to Peters provided another powered arrangement for raising and lowering the electric outboard, and had a separate electric motor driving a worm gear in engagement with a follower attached to the motor mounting shaft for raising and lowering the electric outboard.
In both of these prior systems, however, the operating elements, i.e. the cable and pulley of Brock or the worm and follower of Peters, are relatively large and bulky, and most of the elements are open and exposed. They are therefor likely to become tangled with fishing equipment, line or weeds, and also may be readily damaged by hard objects such as lures or equipment which become entangled therein, and prematurely worn by rain, sunlight, and other weather factors.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,734,066 to Burgess and 4,668,195 to Smith also use auxiliary motors to raise and lower the trolling motors, but only operate to raise the trolling motor in a purely vertical sense. In other words, there is no pivoting of the motor mounting shaft. Such arrangements would require significant modification of the boat for general use, and thus are not generally suited for accessory market trolling morots.
For a variety of reasons, none of the prior art motors which provided for a powered raising or lowering of the trolling motor has met with significant success. These prior art systems have been susceptible of malfunction or damage during use, thus decreasing the reliability of the mounting system. Since reliability is a very important factor in trolling motors, a very dependable system is needed in order for the bracket to achieve significant success in the field. Electric trolling motor mounting brackets are subject to very significant forces during normal use, including severe bouncing during high speed travel in a stowed position, as well as impact with underwater objects during use in an operating position.
Accordingly a primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved mounting system for electric trolling motors.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved mounting system which enables a powered stowing or deploying of the trolling motor between a horizontal or stowed position and a vertical operating position.
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved mounting system in which the electric trolling motor is pivoted between a horizontal stowed position and a vertical operating position by means of a closed motor and gearing arrangement.
Still a further object of the invention is to provide an improved mounting system for electric trolling motors which overcomes the disadvantages of prior art mounts.