The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor devices, and in particular for forming electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection devices, using selective siliciding, in a CMOS integrated circuit. Predetermined discharge paths are created for discharging input and output buffer pads, during an ESD event, through ESD protection devices. During fabrication, an oxide layer is utilized as a mask to prevent silicided regions from forming in source/drain regions, self-aligned with the gates. The buffer transistor gate-to-contact spacing is made longer than the gate-to-contact spacing in the associated protection transistor, to shunt charge through the protection device. In a further embodiment, active area resistance is formed between the output/input buffer transistor and the ESD protection device, to further increase the resistance of the path between the buffer pad to the associated buffer transistor.

Gates of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors receive input signals and transfer output signals in the form of a voltage. The gate oxide can break down if the applied voltage exceeds certain levels. Such excess voltages are often the result of human-operator or mechanical handling operations. Triboelectricity is an electrical charge which evolves when two materials are rubbed together. Human-operators create this type of electricity by walking across a room or by removing an integrated circuit (IC) from its plastic package. Triboelectricity results in a high voltage, which when applied to the pins of an IC package in the form of electrostatic discharge (ESD) can cause breakdown of the gate oxide or overheating due to overcurrent. Such breakdown may cause immediate or expedited destruction of transistors or other devices.
In order to combat problems associated with ESD events, manufacturers of MOS devices design protection devices that provide paths through which to discharge nodes rapidly. Protection devices may be applied between the input buffer or output buffer pads of a device and the respective gates to which they are connected. During an ESD event, a typical protection transistor enters snap-back, a low resistance regime in which large amounts of current are conducted.
Certain processing enhancements, such as siliciding source/drain regions, increase the performance of small-dimension devices, but often negate the benefits of ESD protection. Gate-controlled breakdown structures are easily degradable by silicided (especially self-aligned, silicided, also known as salicided) source/drain regions. Such silicided regions easily melt, or agglomerate, during an ESD event due to their close proximity to the reverse-biased junction (the drain of the MOS transistor in snap-back) edge, which is a source of heat during an ESD event. Attempts have been made to increase the gate-to-contact spacing in ESD protection devices, placing the silicide farther away from the heat-generating area in attempts to minimize the possibility of silicide failure. However, the problem with this solution is that this increased length adds resistance that impedes current which discharges through it. Thus, current tends to flow through the n-channel devices of output buffers first, negating the benefits of the protection device.
Another problem associated with silicided source/drain regions in a protection device is known as the "ballasting" effect. Due to the greatly reduced resistance of silicided regions during an ESD event, the current discharging through the protection device may collapse into a thin filament. This leads to increased heating and earlier device failure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,853 to Mistry teaches an ESD MOS protection device formed by a salicide process. As shown in the prior art FIGS. 1A and 1B, the ESD protection device 11 is formed in part of an IC 10 by an n-channel grounded-gate transistor 11. This device has an output buffer circuit consisting of an n-channel ESD protection transistor 11, an n-channel pull-down transistor 12, and a p-channel pull-up transistor 13. The chip consists of a p(-) epitaxial layer 15 formed on a p(+) substrate 14. P-channel transistors 13 on the chip are formed in n-wells 17 in the epitaxial layer 15. N(+) source/drain regions 18, 19 for the n-channel transistors 12 and for the ESD transistors 11 are implanted into the epitaxial layer 15 and p(+) source/drain regions 21 for the p-channel transistors 13 are implanted into the n-well region 17. Transistor gates 20, 22, 23 are formed of polysilicon overlying a thin gate oxide layer and the channel regions between the source/drain regions 18, 19, 21. The use of sidewall spacers 24, 25 on the sides of the pull-up/pull-down transistors' 12, 13 polysilicon gates 22, 23 provides for self-alignment of the silicided contact areas 26, 27 on the source/drain regions 18, 21. Silicide 28, 29 is also formed on top of the pull-up/pull-down transistors' polysilicon gates 22, 23.
Unlike the other p-channel and n-channel devices, the ESD protection transistor 11 does not have silicided areas on top of the polysilicon gate region 20, nor does it have silicide on the source/drain regions 19 near the gate 20 and self-aligned with the gate 20. Mistry places the silicided source/drain regions 31, 32 of the protection device 11 farther away from the gate 20. While this technique works to minimize silicide failure in the protection device, which leads to its early failure, it does not address the issue that the n-channel device 13 of the output buffer will turn on before the protection device 11 has a chance to shunt the charge away from the internal circuitry. Metal contacts 34, 35, 36, 37 are deposited on top of the silicided source/drain regions 31, 32, 26, 27 in order to connect the devices in the desired circuit configuration. The reason why the n-channel device 13 of the output buffer will turn on first is that its path is less resistive than that through the protection device. By requiring that the gate-to-contact spacing, L, of the protection device 11 be longer than the gate-to-contact spacing of the other transistors in the IC, Mistry creates more resistance in the protection device 11. Thus, current travels through the n-channel device 13 of the output buffer first, where the resistance is lower.
There is a need for an ESD protection device in a MOS IC which prevents an n-channel device of an output buffer from turning on before all of the charge is shunted away through the protection device. There is a further need for preventing ESD charge from reaching input buffer transistors before all of the charge is shunted away through the protection device. Existing techniques do not address these problems. There is a further need for an ESD protection device which utilizes silicided regions in an effective manner, without utilizing salicide techniques, and which exhibit a decreased likelihood of failure. Furthermore, there is a need to increase resistance between output/input buffers of ICs and active devices in ways outside of adjusting the gate-to-contact spacing of structures, such as ESD protection and active devices. While such gate-to-contact spacings may be adjusted to bias discharge through the protection device, there are limitations to the amount of adjustment which is allowable when manufacturing.

ESD protection using selective siliciding techniques


A patient care equipment support is transferable between a first device having a first tapered socket and a second device having a second tapered socket. The equipment support includes an equipment supporting portion configured to support patient care equipment and a post coupled to the equipment supporting portion and extending generally downwardly therefrom. The post has first and second tapered portions. The first tapered portion is configured for receipt in the first tapered socket and the second tapered portion being configured for receipt in the second tapered socket.

Hospitalized patients often require patient care equipment to be in close proximity during hospital care. Such patient care equipment is typically supported on a patient care equipment support or rack. Illustratively, patient care equipment includes any one or more of the following: heart monitoring equipment, medical gas delivery equipment, infusion management equipment, intra-venous bags, equipment monitors, patient monitors, defibrillators, IV poles, and the like, many of which directly connect to the patient via lines or tubes.
It is desirable that patient care equipment is transferable between a patient support, such as a hospital bed, a stretcher, an ambulatory care chair, and the like, and a support structure, such as a ceiling or wall-mounted service column, a ceiling or wall-mounted equipment support arm, a floor-supported stand, a wheeled cart, a headwall, a wall of a hospital room, and the like.

Transferable patient care equipment support


This invention is an improved method for making a battery case feedthrough. It utilizes stainless steel or titanium metal clad with aluminum. The use of the clad metal enables the fabrication of the battery case and cover and feedthrough pin assembly where a high temperature ceramic-metal hermetic seal is needed between a stainless steel feedthrough pin and a ceramic insulator; and between a ceramic insulator and a surrounding hollow cylinder. A high temperature hermetic seal is also used to fasten the feedthrough pin assembly to the upper stainless steel part of the stainless steel-aluminum clad cover. Titanium can be substituted for stainless steel. Lower temperature metal-metal hermetic seals are needed between the aluminum-clad part of the cover and the aluminum battery casing.

There are different methods for forming clad metal, such as a plate of stainless steel clad with aluminum. In one method (U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,558, Hirobe, et al.), sheet metal cladding is fed onto one or both faces of the hot solidified continuously cast strip being withdrawn from the casting means and the assembly is then passed to a hot roll bonding system for cladding. Another method (U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,748, Miyasaka et al.) produces a clad metal by forming a layer of dissimilar metal powder on the surface of a base metal by cold fixing the powder to the surface under pressure, densing only the surface and a subsurface area of the layer of the dissimilar metal powder by melting and immediately solidifying in a vacuum, compressing the layer of the dissimilar metal powder together with the base metal at a temperature not higher than the solidus-line temperature of the two dissimilar metals under a pressure of not lower than 300 kgf/cm2 using a hot isostatic press, and hot working the layer of the dissimilar metal powder together with the base metal.
Ceramic to stainless steel and ceramic to titanium bonds are particular examples of ceramic to metal bonds. Braze bonding, for example, aluminum oxide and zirconium oxide ceramics to metals, including titanium, stainless steel, molybdenum, tantalum, and cobalt-chromium alloys, can be done using a braze, comprising 30% nickel and 70% titanium (U.S. provisional Patent Application, Ser. No, 60/126,531; PCT Application WO00/56677). Another example of a braze bond includes the preferred method for joining zirconium oxide containing 3% yttrium to preferably a metal alloy, namely, titanium and niobium (55% Ti and 45% Nb), using the nickel-titanium braze (50% Ni and 50% Ti) (U.S. Provisional Patent Application, Ser. No. 60/126,514; PCT Application WO00/56395).
How can a high temperature brazing operation for joining metal and ceramic be made compatible with the further low temperature joining of two metal surfaces, these two metal surfaces having a relatively low melting temperature?

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The coacervation of ferrocene and ferrocene derivative is carried out in a ater-soluble polyol, coacervation mixture at a reaction temperature from about 40.degree. C. to about 55.degree. C. The coacervation mixture is comprised of about 70 to about 80 parts of a 1:1 ratio of water and a water soluble polyol selected from glycol, a glycerol, and an erythritol, a urea derivative selected from melamine and triazine, and an aldehyde or ketone selected from the water soluble aldehydes or ketones consisting of methanal, ethanal, propanal, propanone, and 2-butanone. Micro-droplets of the ferrocene derivative, 2,2-bis(ethylferrocenyl)propane, are formed by vigorous agitation of the coacervation mixture containing the ferrocene derivative. A polymeric coating on the outer surface of the micro-droplets produces a coacervate which is separated from the coacervation mixture. The coacervate polymeric coating of about 10 percent by weight enables the coated ferrocene derivative to be mixed in a solid propellant composition without rupturing and to achieve improved stability and compatibility as compared to liquid ferrocene and liquid ferrocene derivatives.

Numerous processes for controlling the dispersing of finely divided particles in solid propellant have been developed. In addition to controlling potlife of a propellant composition during the mixing and formulating procedure, the coating of finely divided particles such as an oxidizer, particularly, ammonium perchlorate, prevents or minimizes the reaction between the coated or encapsulated oxidizer with the other ingredients of the propellant or with the agents used to cure the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,480,488 issued to T. P. Rudy et al is an example of prior art process of "Self-Regulating Coating Process For Propellant Materials." This process is a process for the encapsulating of oxidizer particles which are incompatible with the other ingredients in the solid propellant composition. Due to the polar nature of the oxidizing agents, a polar monomer, tris(2-methylaziridinyl)phosphine oxide (MAPO), and a non-polar solvent n-hexadecane or purified alkane (boiling point 185.degree.-200.degree. C.) are required. Absolutely complete encapsulation is required in U.S. Pat. No. 3,480,488 because of the reactivity of the inorganic oxidizer with some of the other propellant ingredients.
More recently, U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,797, issued to applicant on Mar. 26, 1991, and assigned to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army, Washington, D.C., encompasses a process for aluminmum-encapsulated ammonium perchlorate by vapor deposition. This process yields a product which after being incorporated into a propellant composition achieves the following beneficial effects: (a) increasing the propellant's burning rate; (b) extending the storage life of interceptor motors; and (c) improving the propellant mechanical properties.
Solid propellant compositions employing ammonium perchlorate have also used ferrocene or the more expensive ferrocene derivative, liquid Catocene, the registered trademark for Syntex Chemicals, Inc. 2,2-bis(ethylferrocenyl)propane (C.sub.27 H.sub.32 Fe.sub.2), as a high burning rate accelerator.
The problem of migration of Catocene has been a concern. To inhibit the migration of Catocene from a propellant composition of rocket motor, into the liner-barrier, a larger amount is incorporated into the liner-barrier. For example, if 5% Catocene is incorporated into the propellant formulation, an amount of 25-30% Catocene in the liner-barrier is required to achieve the equilibrium conditions necessary to ensure no degradation of the propellant burning rate due to excessive migration out of the propellant.
The incorporation of Catocene has been contraindicated because of the tendency of the propellant to become increasingly sensitive to initiation by various stimuli with aging, but, because of the need of the burning rate augmentation that Catocene, and only Catocene, can provide, has necessitated its use in spite of the fact that there have been a number of serious accidents which have occurred with Catocene-containing propellants.
No satisfactory means have been discovered previously which would prevent the migration of Catocene when it is incorporated into a solid propellant. Thus, the need is highly recognized for a process to convert Catocene to a form which not only results in the reduction of its diffusibility and migratability in solid propellants but also reduces its sensitivity.
Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a method of converting potential propellant ingredients which cannot be used because of their high reactivity, hygroscopicity, incompatibility, etc. into usable propellant ingredients.
A further object of this invention is to provide a method which employs coacervation to convert the high-burning rate accelerator, Catocene, into a coacervated product.

Microcoacervation of propellant ingredients

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


A vehicle seat (car seat (S)) includes a seat cushion (S1), a seat back (S2), and a headrest (S3), the seat back (S2) including a seat back frame constituting a frame of the seat back (S2), and a seat back pad covering the seat back frame, and the vehicle seat being configured to allow an upper body of an occupant to sink into the seat back (S2) when a backward movement load acts on the seat back from the occupant's upper body. The seat back pad includes a center portion (51) configured to face a back region of the occupant's upper body, and right and left side portions (52) provided at right and left sides of the center portion (51) and each configured to protrude frontward farther than the center portion (51), and each of the right and left side portions has an upper side portion (52A) corresponding to a height of a chest region of the occupant and a lower side portion (52B) corresponding to a height of a lumbar region of the occupant, which are configured such that when they receive the backward movement load, the upper side portion (52A) is more easily deformable than the lower side portion (52B).

Conventionally, there is known a vehicle seat in which when a rear-end collision occurs, an upper body of an occupant which would move backward due to inertia, is caused to sink into the seat back to let the head of the occupant move closer to the headrest, so as to reduce impact applied to the neck of the occupant (see Patent Literature 1).


In a geothermal electrical power generating plant of the type employing one or more flash crystallizers and one or more reactor clarifiers for processing a large quantity of particulate silica that precipitates out of the hot geothermal brine as thermal energy is extracted during power production, method and apparatus for continuously separating toxic particulate scale out of the nontoxic particulate silica. A portion of the clarifier sludge underflow is treated to cause vertical separation of the scale particles from the silica particles by means of a continuous vertical countercurrent decantation process in which a liquid slurry of the silica and scale particles is flowed upwardly at a velocity greater than the terminal settling velocity of the silica and less than the terminal settling velocity of the scale. Such separation minimizes toxic waste disposal problems, and enables the large amount of particulate silica waste to be disposed of as ordinary landfill, or as an ingredient of concrete or for other purposes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of electrical power production from steam flashed from high temperature geothermal brines which have a high content of dissolved silica, and also a content of hazardous classified constitutents.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Some high temperature geothermal brine resources are known which contain very large amounts of geothermal energy, but which until recent years had not been usable for the commercial production of electrical power because of a high dissolved silica content. Thus, in the Imperial Valley of California, the Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resources Area (KGRA), otherwise known as the Salton Sea Geothermal Anomaly, is estimated to have approximately 3,400 MW.sub.e of geothermal energy available for the generating of electrical power, which is believed to be self-regenerating by percolating waters. The KGRA geothermal resource is estimated to be a greater energy reserve even than the oil reserves on the North Slope of Alaska. A similar geothermal resource is the Brawley geothermal field which is also in the Imperial Valley of California. Development of these large geothermal reources was almost completely blocked until recent years by the high dissolved silica content, which precipitated out on walls of vessels and piping in power production plants to the extent of up to about 42 inches thickness per year of scaling. This problem was resolved by Magma Power Company, now of La Jolla, San Diego County, Calif., by flashing the geothermal brine to steam for generating electrical power in a series of first high pressure and then low pressure flash crystallizers in which the dissolved silica was precipitated out on a vast silica seed particle area rather than on surfaces of flash vessels and asociated piping and valves. The use of flash crystallizers for this purpose was first taught in the Featherstone U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,535, while retrieval in reactor clarifiers of the silica seed particles useful for the purpose was taught in the VanNote U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,302,328 and 4,304,666.
In geothermal electrical power plants embodying the flash crystallizer/reactor clarifier technology for preferentially precipitating out the silica on silica seed particles suspended in the geothermal brine flowing through the plant in flash crystallizers, and then retrieving the preciptated particulate silica in reactor clarifiers, there is a huge output quantity of precipitated silica sludge that is removed from the reactor clarifiers and then thickened and pressed into filter cake for disposal and/or use as a filler material in concrete or for other purposes. A serious problem with this now conventional procedure is that there is still some precipitation which grows on walls of vessels and pipes in the plant which tends to break loose in particulate form and join the silica particles in the geothermal brine flowing through the plant, and thus become intermingled with the particulate silica in the silica sludge retrieved from the reactor clarifiers, so as to become a part of the silica sludge filter cake that must be disposed of. The problem here is that such intermingled scale particles contain a number of substances classified as hazardous materials, including but not limited to arsenic, lead, copper, zinc and silver. Prior to the present invention, this conventional silica retrieval procedure has prevented or seriously restricted the disposal of the silica filter cake as simple landfill in sanitary refuse disposal areas, thus making the disposal undesirably complicated and expensive; and it also has made the use of this filter cake plant byproduct in concrete or for other purposes undesirable or possibly even unlawful.

Geothermal power plant scale separation method and apparatus


A method for connecting a heat-dissipating body and a heat pipe and the structure thereof are used to improve the efficiency of heat conduction. The structure includes a heat-dissipating body and a heat pipe. The central position of the heat-dissipating body is provided with an accommodating trough for accommodating the heat pipe. A plurality of corresponding slots extends outwardly from the periphery of the trough. The other end of the slot is connected to a through hole. Tools are disposed in the slots to widen the slots and thus the periphery of the trough, so that the inner diameter of the trough is larger than the outer diameter of the heat pipe. After the heat pipe penetrates into the trough, the tools are removed, so that the inner wall surface of the trough abuts tightly against the outer circumferential surface of the heat pipe. Thus, the optimal efficiency of heat conduction between the heat pipe and the heat-dissipating body can be achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat-dissipating device, and in particular to a heat-dissipating structure having a heat pipe.
2. Description of Prior Art
With the progress of technology and modern materials, the current electronic products have more and more functions, and the volume thereof is gradually compacted. Since the electronic product is gradually compacted and exhibits high performance, the heat generated thereby is inevitably increased to a large extent. The heat generated by the electronic product will directly affect the operation and life thereof, and thus it is very important for the electronic industry to develop how to enhance the heat-dissipating effect.
The heat-dissipating device having a heat pipe is one of the common heat-dissipating solutions. The structure thereof includes a heat pipe and a heat-dissipating body. The principle of heat dissipation is explained as follows. First, one end of the heat pipe is directly or indirectly brought into contact with an electronic element. The working fluid and the capillary structure disposed within the heat pipe are used to absorb the heat generated by the electronic element. Then, the absorbed heat is conducted onto the heat-dissipating body to perform the heat-dissipating action. Such kind of heat-dissipating means has an advantage of small weight. Further, it can reduce the noise, weight, and cost resulted from the heat-dissipating device and the complexity of the whole system. Moreover, it can conduct a great amount of heat without consuming electricity, and thus has become an important way of dissipating heat.
The above way of dissipating heat indeed has some advantages, however, gaps are inevitably formed during the assembly of the heat pipe and the heat-dissipating body, so that the heat conduction between the heat pipe and the heat-dissipating body is greatly affected. Therefore, the heat-dissipating effect of the whole heat-dissipating device will be directly affected. In order to solve the thus-formed gap, according to later conventional art, a heat-conducting medium such as heat-conducting glue is applied onto the outer surface of the heat pipe, thereby to fill the gap formed during the assembly of the heat pipe and the heat-dissipating body. In this way, the heat conducting between the heat pipe and the heat-dissipating body can be enhanced.
However, filling the gap with the heat-conducting medium still has some drawbacks. Since the heat-conducting medium applied on the heat pipe is in a liquid phase, it is prone to be scraped off during the assembly of the heat pipe and the heat-dissipating body, and thus the filling effect cannot be achieved. Even, this results in environmental pollution and the waste of cost. Therefore, according to the above, how to use a more effective way of assembly to enhance the heat conduction between the heat pipe and the heat-dissipating body has become an important issue for those skilled in this art.

Method for connecting heat-dissipating body and heat pipe and structure thereof


A method, computer system, and a computer program product for enhanced rating predictions is provided. The present invention may include receiving a user input. The present invention may then include translating the received user input into an embedding matrix and inputting the embedding matrix into a deep neural network. The present invention may further include generating, by the deep neural network, an output vector, a user bias term and an item bias term based on the embedding matrix. The present invention may then include calculating a predicted rating based on the generated output vector, the generated user bias term and the generated item bias term. The present invention may then include determining an accuracy of the predicted rating.

The present invention relates generally to the field of computing, and more particularly to enhancing rating predictions.
Collaborative filtering methods collect preference information from many users in an effort to predict a user's preference on a given topic based on that user's preference on other topics. The underlying idea of collaborative filtering is that if a user's preference is similar to another user's preference on one topic, then those users are more likely to have similar preferences on other topics.

Enhancing rating prediction using reviews

International Business Machines Corporation


An inflatable device designed to provide safety information to a plurality of people. The inflatable device includes at least one meeting venue and at least one at least one physical activity feature. The meeting includes an inflatable structure.

Child safety continues to be a primary concern for parents throughout the United States. Many communities and schools have events to provide safety education to children and adults alike. One common event safety event is a fire safety event. In such fire safety events, the fire department typically provides a presentation about fire safety and what to do when encountering a fire in a home or building. During these presentations, the fire department may provide visual aids to held explain about safety. These visual aids are also helpful in maintaining the attention of the children during the safety presentation.
One type of visual aid that is used by fire departments is a mobile instruction facility. These mobile facilities are generally converted mobile homes that include various fire safety exhibits. Non-limiting examples of such mobile instruction facilities are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,526,548; 5,173,052; and 5,752,835, all of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Although these mobile instruction facilities identified in the above prior art patents are very useful and helpful in teaching children about fire safety, these mobile instruction facilities are very expensive to purchase, typically costing over $100,000. As such, many small communities cannot afford to purchase these mobile instruction facilities. In addition, these mobile instruction facilities are generally large converted trailers that require a large and secure storage facility. Furthermore, since these large converted trailers must be moved on roads or flat surfaces, the locations that these mobile instruction facilities can be used is limited. Also, because these mobile instruction facilities are typically formed in trailers, the layout of the facility is very limited, thus limiting the types of presentations that can occur in such facilities.
In view of the current state of the art of mobile instruction facilities, there is a need for a less expensive mobile facility, a mobile facility that can be used in a greater variety of locations, a mobile facility that can be easily and conveniently stored, and a mobile facility that can be configured in a variety of arrangements.


Graphics display systems include a graphics data compression circuit having a data encoder therein. The data encoder is configured to compress second color graphics data to be rendered as a second pixel of a display into a data string containing a data field and a header field. The header field contains at least one repetition flag that identifies a degree to which components of the second color graphics data match corresponding components of first color graphics data to be rendered as a first pixel of the display.

The processing and display of large quantities of graphics data in real time typically requires the use of high bandwidth processors, buses and storage elements (e.g., memories). For example, the rendering of graphics data on conventional displays often requires 32 bits of data per pixel to achieve high fidelity images with accurate color. As the sizes of displays and the number of pixels rendered on displays increases, there is a corresponding increase in the bandwidth requirements of components within display systems that perform graphics rendering operations. To reduce these bandwidth requirements, techniques have been developed to reduce the amount of data required to render images on a display for those instances where pixel color and/or pixel intensity values of adjacent pixels is equivalent. Some of the techniques for compressing data are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,825,847 to Molnar et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,750,875 to Keely et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,366,289 to Johns.

Graphics display systems with data compression and methods of performing data compression of graphics data


The present invention is directed to methods and apparatus for cleaning industrial and commercial operations hard surfaces, e.g., concrete and asphalt slabs, walls, tanks, grates, and ship hulls, contaminated by oil and chemical spills or barnacles. The methods and apparatus of the present invention produce a high velocity airflow about only the periphery of the area being cleaned by the device to provide improved entrainment and removal of cleaning fluid and dislodged debris. High velocity streams of cleaning fluid are directed against the surface from nozzles disposed on rotating arms of a hub suspended within the portable housing of the slab cleaner. The spent cleaning fluid and dislodged debris are removed by the application of a vacuum to a chamber extending about the periphery of the housing to create the high velocity airflow. Thus, high velocity airflow is developed without fear that the slab cleaner will be sucked down and become temporarily stuck on the surface being cleaned. Control of the airflow through the central housing also may be achieved through adjustment of an air vent therein, together with the action of a flexible skirt or seal about the exterior of the peripheral chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to methods and apparatus for containing and controlling waste during the cleaning of surfaces. The methods and apparatus of the present invention are particularly useful for cleaning industrial and commercial surfaces, e.g., concrete and asphalt slabs and steel surfaces such as tanks and ship hulls, which have become contaminated with oil, grease and other chemicals. More specifically, the present invention is directed to methods and apparatus which employ a unique application of a vacuum to the surface being cleaned to allow complete control of dislodged contaminants, e.g., heavy metals, radioactive materials, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and other hazardous chemicals.
2. Description of the Background
The requirement for maintaining clean work areas in industrial and commercial environments is not only necessary for the maintenance of a healthy workplace but is also important in order to prevent contamination of the environment with trace chemicals dislodged in the cleaning process. As environmental standards are strengthened, the necessity for efficiently removing debris and contamination, including oil, grease, chemicals and the like, from hard surfaces in industrial and commercial settings is increasing. Once removed from the surface, it is also necessary to contain and transport the contaminants to an appropriate treatment facility.
Many commercially used cleaning processes employ vacuum and high velocity water streams to dislodge and remove contaminants. The contaminants are typically collected with the cleaning water in a vacuum truck for temporary storage and transport to a waste treatment facility. However, those processes are so inefficient due to inadequate containment and leakage that some of the dislodged material, including hazardous contaminants, are scattered to surrounding areas by the high velocity water streams. These scattered contaminants cause contamination of previously safe areas.
A common form of manually operated cleaning device for cleaning hard surfaces has come to be known in the industry as a slab cleaner. A typical slab cleaner has the general appearance of a lawnmower. However, a rotating arm for delivery of a high pressure water spray has been substituted for the cutting blade. Many attempts have been made to connect a vacuum source to such a device to direct air over the surface in order to entrain and remove water and dislodged contaminants. In the typical prior art device, a vacuum source was connected through the single wall housing of the slab cleaner. In order to maintain adequate airflow within the housing, a flexible skirt or lip was disposed about the periphery of the housing extending downward to the surface to be cleaned. Air could flow under this skirt and into the housing.
While the foregoing arrangement was typical of most prior art slab cleaning devices, it suffered from many deficiencies. In general, there was little or no means for controlling the airflow within the housing and across the surface being cleaned. Because the vacuum acted on the total surface area covered by the housing, these prior art devices had a tendency, in some circumstances, to suck down on the surface with so much force that it was impossible to maneuver the device across the surface. In those circumstances, the cleaning operation had to be stopped and the vacuum released before cleaning could resume. If, however, the gap around the periphery of the housing was increased to prevent vacuum suck down, the additional space could allow escape of the high pressure water stream and dislodged contaminants. Airflow around the perimeter was controlled by the size of the gap between the housing and surface being cleaned. Therefore, elevation changes around the perimeter and surface deformities, e.g., expansion joints and uneven surfaces, changed the airflow path and made these prior devices sensitive, unreliable and inconsistent. At the extreme, failure to maintain an adequate seal between the periphery of the housing and the surface being cleaned resulted in inadequate airflow through the housing. In those cases, the cleaning fluid and dislodged debris was not contained under the housing or picked up and removed by the slab cleaner.
Another problem often suffered by those prior devices was ponding of the water on the work surface under the housing. Ponding occurred when the air movement through the housing was insufficient and not directed properly to draw off the cleaning water at the same rate it was being delivered by the spray arm. Water would build up under the housing. Because all of the air being withdrawn from these prior art devices was drawn from under the skirt about the periphery of the housing, a barrier of water up to an inch or more in depth could accumulate on the surface under the housing. Ponding impeded good operation of the device by creating a barrier between the high pressure water stream and the surface to be cleaned. Thus, a portion of the energy of the water stream was dissipated in the standing water, providing little or no cleaning benefit and introducing more turbulence and splashing, making containment more difficult. Further, when operated on uneven surfaces or over the expansion joints of concrete or asphalt slabs, the seal around the perimeter was totally lost, and ponded water and debris was forcefully propelled onto the surrounding surfaces.
The industrial and commercial cleaning industry would benefit greatly from improved slab cleaning apparatus and methods which could overcome the shortcomings discussed above. There has been a long felt but unfulfilled need in the industry for such improved methods and apparatus. The present invention solves that need by correcting the problems described above. The present invention offers a safe method for the precise and controlled removal of hazardous materials as well as other contaminants from industrial and commercial surfaces.

Apparatus and method for cleaning surfaces by removing and containing waste


In a method of data reduction of a luminance and/or chrominance signal of a digital picture signal by means of fractal image coding, in which method each image of the luminance/chrominance signal is divided into range blocks of n.times.n pixels each, in which a domain block is searched for each range block, which domain block is imageable on the range block with a minimal deviation while using a transformation function, which domain blocks have twice the size of the range blocks, and in which information on the transformation functions is transmitted, from which information the image data are regained at the receiver end in an iterative process, the search for appropriate domain blocks is facilitated in that the data of each range block are examined on geometrical basis functions which are possibly satisfactory approximations of the data structure of the range block, in that a difference value is computed from the basis function found for the best approximation of the data structure of the range block and the data of the range block, which difference value represents a residual roughness, in that the data of the domain blocks are examined on geometrical basis functions which are possibly satisfactory approximations of the data structure of the domain block, in that a difference value is computed from the basis function found for the best approximation of the data structure of the domain block and the data of the domain block, which difference value represents a residual roughness, in that the search for the domain block which is imageable on a range block with a minimal deviation, and the associated transformation function is performed with reference to the computed difference values of the range block and the computed difference values of the domain blocks, and in that information on the mutually balanced basis functions of this block and of the most favorable domain block, as well as the transformation function, by means of which the most favorable domain block is imageable on the range block, is transmitted for each range block as a data-reduced data current instead of the luminance/chrominance signal.

The invention relates to a method of data reduction of a luminance and/or chrominance signal of a digital picture signal by means of fractal image coding, in which method each image of the luminance/chrominance signal is divided into range blocks of n.times.n pixels each, in which a domain block is searched for each range block, which domain block is imageable on the range block with a minimal deviation while using a transformation function, which domain blocks have a larger size than the range blocks, and in which information on the transformation functions is transmitted, from which information the image data are regained at the receiver end in an iterative process. The invention also relates to arrangements for performing the method.
A method of data reduction of a picture signal or of components of a picture signal by means of fractal image coding, in which an image is divided into range blocks and domain blocks, is known from "Image Coding Based on a Fractal Theory of Iterated Contractive Image Transformation, Arnaud E. Jacquin, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, Vol. 1 (1), pp. 18 to 30, January 1992. According to Jacquin, an image of a picture signal is split up into what are called range blocks. Each range block is assigned a function, which should have the property of contractivity, and images an arbitrary block, referred to as domain block, on the range block. These functions of all range blocks of an image jointly constitute a function system which is also referred to as iterated function system.
At the encoder end, this method presents the problem that a domain block must be found for each range block, which domain block should be imageable on the range block with minimal errors while using the transformations found. To this end, all domain blocks in question must be examined on these criteria. It should be noted that the domain blocks may fundamentally be arranged arbitrarily in the image. Thus, for example, a block of 2n.times.2n pixels should not only be examined on its original location, but also, for example, rotated 90.degree., 180.degree. and 270.degree. in different directions. The process of searching an appropriate domain block for each range block in an image is thus very elaborate.

Method of data reduction by means of a fractal image coding and encoder and decoder for performing the method


In an example embodiment, an adaptive method of prefetching data blocks from an input/output device comprises predicting the address of each read operation reading a data block from the input/output device, the prediction based on the address of the immediately preceding read operation from the input/output device; tracking, for each read operation, whether each read operation reads a block data from the same address of the input/output device predicted for the read operation; and prefetching a data block for a read operation from the input/output device in accordance with the state of a state machine, the state of the state machine depending upon whether immediately preceding read operations read a data block from the same address of the input/output device predicted for the read operations.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for prefetching I/O data blocks. In particular, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for adaptively prefetching data blocks from the input/output devices of a server.
2. Description of the Related Art
The latency incurred when reading I/O data can greatly diminish performance since the requesting device usually requires the requested data in order to perform some pending process or instruction. It is conventional to attempt to effectively shorten the latency by prefetching the data expected to be requested in a read operation. However, most systems and methods for prefetching data in anticipation of a read operation operate either by design or by mode bit programming. In a prefetch by design, the data is always prefetched. Since a prefetch of data utilizes system resources, it can be extremely disadvantageous to always prefetch in applications where the prefetched data is rarely the data that is requested in the next read operation. In prefetch by mode bit programming, there is a bit in the read request that is programmatically set by processor instructions to indicate whether or not data should be prefetched. For example, a value of "1" for the mode bit indicates prefetch and a bit value of "0" for the mode bit indicates don't prefetch. The condition for setting the prefetch mode bit is static and usually predefined in an I/O interface of the processor requesting the data or in a memory controller for the memory from which the data is read. For example, in the 450GX chipset available from Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif., read cycles for a PCI bus are divided into several different types (memory read, memory read line, memory read multiple, etc.) and prefetching is done only for certain designated types of cycles. When a command is issued, the mode bit is set according to the designation for that command.
Whether the prefetch is by design or by mode bit programming, it is carried out universally for all data requests made by the processor I/O interface or for all read operations handled by the memory controller for the memory. This can be quite disadvantageous, for example, in servers where a large amount of I/O data is frequently transferred between the processor, memory and several different I/O devices in different block sizes and the lack of efficiency in transferring I/O data blocks may have a larger effect on overall performance than the speed of the microprocessor has on overall performance. It also may be that the buses and/or I/O cards connecting the I/O devices to the microprocessor is the bottleneck and the performance of these I/O subsystem components to be improved.
Conventional servers typically have a significant number of I/O devices and a bus master for each I/O device. If there is any prefetch routine, it is carried out in common for all bus masters and in all circumstances. Even in those servers where prefetch is available, it is preset at design time or is set as a user option in response to a prompt during the set-up configuration of the system and is static from that time forward. Neither the user nor a processor in the system can change the prefetch mode bit during operation.
Even though the prefetch option may be selected during configuration, the performance of the server is still less than optimum because the I/O devices in the server may be of radically different types, store different kinds of data and/or vary from each other in the addressing sequence by which the data blocks containing the data are read out. For example, a pre-recorded CD-ROM may store large contiguous blocks of image data and the read out of such image data by an optical disk drive may consist of many sequential addresses. Another I/O device may store heavily fragmented user data and the data readout from such a device rarely consists of sequential addresses. A prefetch system designed for a single microprocessor, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,573, is not suitable for use in a server.


A sea electrical survey method for hydrocarbon deposits, situated under seabed not exceeding 10 meters of depth, is disclosed, comprising: providing a plurality of multi-channel bottom systems with receiving lines having at least three electrodes and capable to register electromagnetic signals, excitation devices generating a series of computer-controlled alternating-sign pulses, a horizontally positioned dipole, synchronizing the excitation devices and bottom systems, submerging the systems upon the seabed along a predetermined direction, aligning the receiving lines, moving the dipole within the survey zone, excitation of the pulses, registering signals, measuring the potentials difference and the spatial derivatives of the signals during the pulses and the pauses, recording data, analyzing the data with accounting the fields behavior in time and in space simultaneously, determining the environment resistivity and environment polarizability based on a predetermined mathematical model, and compiling the deposit prognosis. Preferable distance, time, and angular parameters are specified.

Nowadays different methods of sea exploring for location of hydrocarbons deposits are widely used. These methods are application-dependent and commonly employ excitation electromagnetic field pulses acting upon the seabed, subsequent registration of the changes in the near-bottom strata electromagnetic parameters, and analysis of the obtained data for detection of existing anomalies and determination of their nature. Such exploring is typically carried out using different research complexes or sets of apparatus and equipment (herein further called a research complex—RC), as, for instance, taught in RU 2236028, 2004; SU 1122998, 1984; SU 1798666, 1996; SU 1434385, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,840, 1981; U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,518, 1986.
There is a well-known method of sea electrical survey on a drifting ice-floe provided by means of a research complex comprising excitation and receiving devices, a source of alternating-sign periodical current pulses and a data processing system (taught in RU2069375, 1993). The essence of this method is that excitation and receiving devices are placed upright under ice in a water layer. The feeding (excitation) pulses are provided by the aforesaid source of several dozens amperes by means of ERS 72 or another system, the data processing is provided by means of a digital electrical survey system of a CESS type. The section profiling is completed with a fixed distance between the points of excitated (irradiated) and thereafter received (reflected) signals, wherein the excitation is provided by the alternating-sign pulses. According to the method, only the vertical component of the electric field is measured. However, this method can't be used for measurements during movement of the vessel, as it is based on excitation of a water layer immovable in relation to the ice-floe. Moreover, this method may not be employed in the case of relatively small depths where the free drift of the ice-floe is difficult.
Another prior art apparatus is known for measurement of the seabed resistivity (as described in GB 2390904) by means of vertical electric and magnetic dipoles, placed at a towed underwater device, and a set of bottom systems. However, this device is inapplicable in the condition of shallow water because of installation difficulties. Moreover, the method utilizing the aforesaid apparatus is insufficiently accurate, since it doesn't fully deploy the analysis of seabed strata polarization characteristics.
There is a known method of induced polarization (IP), which is more universal and promising for survey carried out from sea vessels (e.g. taught in RU 2236028; RU 2253881, SU 1798666; SU 1434385; U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,840; U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,518). This method allows to take into account both conductivity and polarizability (polarization ability) of the seabed strata during the survey stage of "building the profile" of the strata.
There are also known prior art methods and devices described in patents RU 2236028 (that teaches to use unipolar current pulses and a generator dipole located along the axis of the measurement line) and RU 2253881, wherein the water surroundings are excitated by means of an electromagnetic excitation horizontal generator line, towed behind the vessel. The measurement of primary (excitated) and secondary (reflected) signals is carried out by another electromagnetic receiving line, towed by the vessels, which line having a length in the range of from 500 up to 1000 m. This device is practically inapplicable in the shallow water conditions, where the vessel, which the installation is based upon, ought to be situated at a sufficient distance from the shore in a predetermined depths zone. Moreover, such method restricts the possibility of obtaining data, since it contemplates only two options: either excitation of the surroundings at a fixed distance symmetrical relatively the probe point, or immediately at the probe point with two measurement devices.
There is another known apparatus (taught in SU 1434385, 1988), including a feeding line placed on the seabed, which line has a length from 5 to 10 times greater than a prescribed research depth. A generator is connected to this line, and measurement gauges are connected to the measurement device. After adjustment of the device and compensation of the natural field signals and proper polarization of the gauges electrodes, the electric field is excitated in the line by passing the current pulses through, and at the end of each pulse and after a predetermined time interval, one measures corresponding signals of induced polarization, and on the basis of the obtained results one performs the profile section modeling. The disadvantage of this method is its low productivity caused by relatively small measurement area, determined by the length of the feeding line.
The closest prior art solution to the instant invention is a research complex (RC) disclosed in a Russian Federation patent RU0048645. The complex comprises a vessel where a generator and a block of excitation field formation (BEFF), that allows generating pulses in a discrete mode. The complex also comprises a measurement device and auxiliary devices. BEFF is connected with the vertical dipole submerged into water with feeding electrodes. A lower end of the dipole is positioned at a distance not exceeding 100 m from the seabed.
A set of bottom systems (BS) is employed for the signals registration. For this purpose typical electrical or magnetic bottom systems with flexible arms are used. Receiving electrodes are mounted on the flexible arms, fixed to the BS. These bottom systems are situated in such a manner that at least three systems would be placed in the area of probable deposits, and a predetermined number of systems would be placed beyond it.
The RC includes, in particular, a number of auxiliary devices, such as a block of self-emersion of the bottom systems; a block of registration and processing (BRP); a non-radiating ballast device, ensuring dissipation of the generator's power in the intervals between the pulses, which ballast device comprising pairs of receiving electric dipoles oriented in different directions and having equal moments; the apparatus for determination of the vessel location, the sea depth etc.
The RC employs the following survey method: before the installation of the bottom systems, when the vessel reaches the beginning point of a profile to be surveyed, the clocks of BEFF and the bottom systems are synchronized. The bottom systems are then installed along the profile in predetermined prescribed points, so that at least three systems are situated in the area of probable deposit, and the rest of BS is situated beyond its bounds.
After installation of the systems, the vessel is positioned at a distance, equal to at least the sea depth, from the profile beginning, the generator line is descended upright, so that the lower feeding electrode would be disposed at a distance not exceeding 100 m from the seabed. Thereafter, the BEFF is activated and forming bidirectional electromagnetic pulses with pauses, which pulses cause polarization of the seabed strata. During the pauses, the vessel generator is connected to the ballast device that reduces surges of the load current.
BRP then provides the measurement of the dipole's current with a predetermined discreteness established by a pre-programmed computer, both during the pulse and in the pause between the two subsequent pulses, determining the beginning and the ending time of each pulse. The bottom systems register the signals with the aforesaid predetermined discreteness, both during the pulse and in the pause between the pulses. Based upon the obtained data, that characterizes both conductivity and polarizability of the seabed strata, one builds a section profile, and, analyzing the profile, one makes a conclusion about presence or absence of oil-and-gas deposits.
The above solution has however certain shortcomings. Particularly, it is practically impossible to use in the aforementioned RC in a transit shelf zone with a depth not exceeding 10 meters, since a typical vertical generator line may have a length in the range from several dozens up to several hundreds meters that is much greater than the depth.

Method and device for sea electrical survey of oil-and-gas deposits


A cover and housing having a mounting arrangement, especially for a selector lever housing. According to the invention, the cover is fastened by means of two bearing points to provide a method of fastening a cover that can be mounted simply without adjustment and provides an exact fit for the cover. The first bearing point is made cylindrical and the axis of this cylinder runs parallel to a mounting direction or placement direction of the cover. The second bearing point is made wedge-shaped and the wedge axis lies in a plane that is perpendicular to the mounting direction or placement direction and is aligned so that it is not parallel to a tangent at the first cylindrical bearing point.

This application claims the priority of German application 196 31 941.2 filed in Germany on Aug. 8, 1996, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a mount for a cover in a housing, especially a selector lever housing.
Covers always are subject to the problem of mounting them so that they fit exactly on a housing. Especially in housings for selector levers, but also in other housings in which operating elements project through the cover, the additional problem arises that the selector lever or operating element is intended to move in the openings in the cover provided for the purpose with tolerances that are as close as possible.
A goal of the invention is to provide a mount for a cover that can be mounted simply without adjustment and fits exactly.
This goal is achieved according to the invention by providing an arrangement comprising a first bearing point formed by respective mating cylindrical surfaces on the cover and housing with a cylinder axis extending parallel to a placement installation direction of the cover on the housing, and a second bearing point formed by respective mating wedge-shaped surfaces on the cover and housing, with a wedge axis lying in a plane perpendicular to the placement direction of the cover and not parallel to a tangent at the first bearing point. Two bearing points serve as a mount for a cover. The first bearing point is made cylindrical and the axis of this cylinder extends parallel to a mounting direction or placement direction of the cover. The second bearing point is made wedge-shaped and the axis of the wedge lies in a plane perpendicular to the mounting direction and/or placement direction (in other words, parallel to the cover as a rule) and is aligned so that it is not parallel to a tangent at the first cylindrical bearing point (does not extend through the cylindrical first bearing point). According to one advantageous feature of certain preferred embodiments of the invention, fastening means such as screws and the like are used to fasten the cover in the vicinity of the two bearing points. As a result, exact positioning of the cover is further improved since the forces of the fastening means act directly on the bearing points.
It is also contemplated according to certain preferred embodiments of the invention to insert the fastening means into the axis of the cylinder, especially in the case of a cylindrical bearing point. This simplifies the manufacture of a corresponding cover since a single stepped bore in the cover provides both the receptacle for the bearing point and the through opening for the mounting means.
It has been found to be advantageous In the case of the second wedge-shaped bearing point to arrange the axis of the wedge parallel to the principal lengthwise dimension of the opening of the cover so that lengthwise tolerances in the cover can be accepted without the positioning of the selector lever or the operating element with respect to the opening being changed.
It is also contemplated in certain preferred embodiments to provide for a cover that is held at the two bearing points as described above to extend over other assemblies, for example another housing. In the case of such covers, it was previously known to position the cover centrally relative to the positions of two housings, and to secure it there. On the other hand, the proposed design makes it possible to position the cover relative to a single housing and thus ensure for example that an operating element projecting out of this housing can be guided with low tolerances though an opening provided in the cover.
Moreover, in this connection, if the cover is mounted on the other assemblies or housings by means of mounting elements that are float-mounted, assurance is also provided that no stresses can develop inside the cover, even with position tolerances between the individual assemblies or housings.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


User values and selections are collected and provided to a report server that customizes a generically defined report pursuant to the user values and selections. An ordered set of report parameters is declared in the definition of a report and then this parameter definition is used to drive user prompting and execution of the report. As parameter values are collected in sequence order, a value retrieved or specified by the user for one parameter may be used to generate the set of the allowed values or default value of a parameter later in the sequence. Parameters are dynamically presented to the user. After values for all parameters been retrieved or specified, a report is generated by the report server.

Information systems often need to retrieve values from a user so that the appropriate information is delivered to the user at the right time. In query-based reporting systems, this can be accomplished through report parameterization. Parameters allow for reports to be customized based on user choices. Conventional reporting products, however, only provide static parameter selection. In this manner, data dependencies are not exploited by the report generator, leading to inefficient processing and presentation of data and reports. Moreover, conventional reporting products provide inefficient and unfriendly presentation of subsequent data and selectable parameters to the user.
For example, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a conventional method of report processing and generation. At step 200, a report definition is retrieved which includes the list of parameters and, if specified, the possible values for each parameter. Then, at step 230, a parameter from the list is retrieved and it is determined at step 240 if the parameter is marked for dropdown (it has multiple possible values). If so, all the possible values of the field are selected at step 250, and provided to the user. This can be a long cumbersome list of values. The user is then prompted for a value from the dropdown list(s) at step 260. If the parameter is not marked for dropdown at step 240, then processing proceeds directly to step 260 with the user being prompted for value(s) (not from a dropdown list). It is then determined at step 270 if any parameters are remaining in the list from step 220. If so, processing returns to step 230. After all of the parameters have been retrieved and used to prompt the user for value(s), then a report is executed, at step 280. It should be noted that in this conventional method, data dependencies are not exploited by the report generator, and the choices presented to the user are not dynamically determined or subset-limited based on his previous selections.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a dynamic reporting product including systems and methods that overcome the problems of the prior art and more precisely and efficiently tailor information delivery to a user's needs. It is desirable to provide cascaded parameters, such that a user selectable parameter is dependent on an earlier user selection.

Declarative sequenced report parameterization


An ergonomic microscope (1) and a microscope carrier (2) are disclosed. The microscope encompasses a stand (3) which possesses a stand base (3a) that defines an external contour (3b). The microscope (1) is placed onto the microscope carrier (2). The microscope carrier (2) comprises a body (4) and a left and a right hand rest (6). The left and the right hand rest (6) are attached to the body (4) so as to pivot freely and independently of one another. A height adjustment of the microscope carrier (2) results in a pivoting of the hand rests (6) in such a way that their front edges (6a) rest on the bench surface (50) regardless of the height adjustment.

German Patent 101 48 781, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,717,724 discloses a microscope carrier with which the microscope can be brought into an ergonomic position for the user. A base plate with adjustable tilt simultaneously also serves as an armrest. In the center of the base plate, a support plate that adjusts the microscope in terms of height and tilt is provided for the microscope and also connected to it. Because the base plate and carrier plate are connected, a plurality of adjustment steps are needed in order to establish the ergonomically most favorable position. In addition, the base plate occupies a large installation space, which is detrimental to closely-packed utilization of laboratory benches.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,354 describes an ergonomically adjustable carrier plate for a microscope. The microscope is mounted immovably on said carrier plate. At least one threaded foot is necessary in order to adjust the tilt of the carrier plate. Handrests for the user are not provided, so that when a microscope has been adjusted in terms of height, a user must adopt an extremely unfavorable hand position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,705 describes a microscope stand that is adjustable in terms of height. Armrests can be added to the stand in order to achieve an ergonomic working position. The armrests possess only one fixed height, so that an optimally ergonomic working position is in fact achieved only for one set height of the microscope.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,730,923 describes a microscope that can be tilted, together with the illumination device, in order to achieve an ergonomically favorable working position for the user. No handrests exist. Tilting of the microscope, and thus also of the microscope stage, is not suitable for many microscopic experiments.
The apparatuses described in the aforesaid patents do not meet the criterion of allowing an ergonomic position of a microscope to be easily established. Furthermore, the means for attaining the ergonomic position should occupy minimal space on an installation surface.

Ergonomic microscope and microscope carrier


A magnetic disk apparatus includes a plurality of hard disk drives (HDDs) and a decoder for transforming logical addresses received from a host to physical addresses respectively assigned to the HDDs. The HDDs each have a magnetic disk section including at least one magnetic disk for storing data, a magnetic head section for selectively writing or reading data in or out of the magnetic disk section, and a drive control for controllably driving the magnetic head section in accordance with the physical addresses output from the decoder. The decoder has a function for transforming the logical addresses of a diagnosis command received from the host to the physical addresses of the HDDs while the drive control has a function of controlling a write/read test with the physical addresses produced by the function of the decoder. The decoder further has a function of setting the physical addressees of the radially innermost cylinders of the HDDs as the physical addresses to be diagnosed. The decoder additionally has a function of allocating, when the logical addresses of the diagnosis command are continuous addresses, dividing the logical addresses and then allocating them to the physical addresses.

The present invention relates to a hard disk apparatus and, more particularly, to a magnetic disk apparatus having a single logical hard disk drive (HDD) implemented by a plurality of HDDs or physical HDDs.
A plurality of physical HDDs constituting a single logical HDD appear as if it was a single physical HDD, as seen from a host system. The logical HDD has cylinder areas each assigned to a particular physical HDD. The physical HDDs are provided with serial numbers (#1, #2 and so forth) in the ascending order of the cylinder number of the logical HDD.
It has been customary for, e.g., a host system to perform a write/read test with the above conventional magnetic disk apparatus, diagnosing the writing and reading operation of the apparatus including a drive control system. The write/read test enhances the reliability of the apparatus. The prerequisite with the write/read test is that data stored in magnetic disks by the user be protected from damage ascribable to the test.
In the HDD, user cylinders are arranged from the outer circumference toward the inner circumference and allow user's data to be written therein, as desired; only the radially innermost cylinder is assigned to diagnosis. At the time of the above test, writing and reading is executed with the innermost or diagnosis cylinder so as not to disturb the data stored in the user cylinders.
However, the problem with the conventional magnetic disk apparatus is that when the diagnosis is effected on the diagnosis cylinder of the logical HDD, it is not effected on all the physical HDDs This is because only the radially innermost cylinder of the logical HDD is assigned to the diagnosis. Specifically, the diagnosis cylinder is allocated only to a particular physical HDD, but not allocated to the other physical HDDs.

Hard disk apparatus capable of transforming logical addresses of apparatus diagnosis cylinders to HDD-by-HDD physical addresses


A magnetic sensor, formed from a pair of magnetically free layers located on opposing sides of a non-magnetic layer, and method for its manufacture, are described. Biasing these free layers to be roughly orthogonal to one another causes them to be magnetostatically coupled in a weak antiferromagnetic mode. This enables the low frequency noise spectra of the two free layers to cancel one another. Careful control of the SH/TW ratio is an important feature of the device.

With the ever-increasing need to increase the data areal density in hard disk drives, the magneto-resistive (MR) sensor that is used as the read-back element is increasingly required to have better spatial resolution while continuing to maintain a reasonable signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio. FIG. 1 shows the structure of a typical state of the art current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) MR read head. This usually includes a CPP-GMR (giant-magneto-resistive) or TMR (tunneling-magneto-resistive) head, which are the two main MR sensor structures in use in state-of-the-art hard disk drives.
The CPP MR head shown in FIG. 1 has top and bottom reader shields, 11 and 12. Hard bias (HB) magnets 13, at the sides and MR sensor stack 14, are located between the reader shields. HB 13 has longitudinal magnetization 15 and provides a biasing field for sensor stack 14 thereby orienting magnetization 16 of the free layer within the stack in the longitudinal direction. In today's hard drive, the magnetic head's flying height, above the disk storage medium layer, is already less than 10 nm and is approaching the regime of less than 5 nm, so the freedom to decrease the fly height further in order to increase the reader spatial resolution is reaching its limit. Thus, contemporary attempts to increase reader spatial resolution focus on reducing the read head's reader-shield-spacing (RSS), (designated 17 in FIG. 1).
To reduce RSS, both the thickness of MR sensor stack 14 and that of HB layer 13 need to decrease. However, thinning down the HB layer also implies a smaller HB pinning field at the free layer (FL) edges that will further degrade the SNR of the sensor. Additionally, a CPP MR sensor includes a multi-layer structure in proximity to the free layer which provides a reference direction for free layer magnetization rotation during signal read-back. Further decrease of sensor stack thickness will be limited by this reference multi-layer structure, which will become unstable and produce noise at low thicknesses. Thus, for the thinner RSS design to work well, a thin stack MR sensor without the reference structure and without the strong HB field is needed.
The prior art [2][3] has suggested the possibility of limiting the sensor to three layers—two magnetically free layers positioned on opposite sides of a non-magnetic layer. The two magnetic layers should be essentially identical, having similar magnetic moments, thicknesses and dimensions. An antiferromagnetic (AFM) coupling field exists between the magnetic layers either through magnetostatic interaction or by AFM type coupling through the non-magnetic layer [4][5].
Thus, in the absence of an external field, the magnetizations of the two layers will be anti-parallel to each other. However, for this type of tri-layer MR sensor to function at its maximum sensitivity, the two magnetizations need to be oriented nearly orthogonal to each other at zero applied state. An external permanent magnet may be used to bias the two magnetizations to around 45 degree relative to the air-bearing surface (ABS). In this way, the relative angle between the two magnetizations is close to 90 degree, i.e. the maximum sensitivity position.
The prior art is, however, silent as to how such tri-layer sensors will perform when their relative physical dimensions are varied or even if such variations could play a significant role in the sensor's applicability to actual magnetic read heads. The present invention explores some of these possibilities.    [1] Y. Zhou, "Thermally Excited Low Frequency Magnetic Noise in CPP structure MR heads," IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 43, pp. 2187, 2007    [2] S. Mao, et al, "Differential CPP reader for perpendicular magnetic recording," US 2005/0105219 A1 (2005)    [3] C. Hou, et al, "Biasing for tri-layer magnetoresistive sensors," US 2005/0088789 A1 (2005)    [4] W. F. Egelhoff Jr., and M. K. Kief, "Antiferromagnetic coupling in Fe/Cu/Fe and Co/Cu/Co multilayers on Cu(111)," Phys. Rev., B vol. 45, p.p. 7795, (1992)    [5] S. S. P. Parkin, R. Bhadra, and K. P. Roche, "Oscillatory magnetic exchange coupling through thin copper layers," Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 66, p.p. 2152, (1991)    [6] J. Faure-Vincent et al., "Antiferromagnetic coupling by spin polarized tunneling" J.A.P. vol. 93, p. 7519 (2003)A routine search of the prior art was performed with the following references of interest being found:
U.S. Pat. No. 7,177,122 (Hou et al), U.S. Patent Applications 2006/0002035 (Gao et al), 2005/0105219 (Mao et al), and 2005/0088789 (Hou et al) all teach the tri-layer MR sensor, but do not mention the importance of the aspect ratio of strip height to track width or ferromagnetic coupling.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,572, Fujikata et al. discuss reducing surface roughness to improve the quality of the MR sensor while U.S. Patent Application 2005/0118458 (Slaughter et al) teaches reducing surface roughness to reduce orange peel coupling.

Low noise magneto-resistive sensor utilizing magnetic noise cancellation


An electronic device can be enhanced to enable its user to navigate about and view, on the device's display, different portions of a page or document while the device remains in a zoomed-in mode that magnifies the portion of the document that the device is currently displaying. Upon entering the zoomed-in mode, the device can magnify a portion of the document on the display. While in this mode, the device can react to user-produced gestures in a manner that is different to the manner in which the device would react to the same gestures otherwise. Responsive to user-produced gestures while in the zoomed-in mode, the device can navigate to other portions of the document while remaining in the zoomed-in mode, so that those other portions are also presented magnified. The device's user is not forced to first zoom-out from one document portion in order to zoom-in on another document portion.

A graphical user interface (GUI) allows a user to interact with an electronic device, e.g., personal computers (e.g., desktop, laptop), mobile digital devices such as smartphones and tablet computers and MP3 players, portable media players and gaming devices, household appliances, and office equipment.
A common approach to the architecture of a GUI is known as "windows, icons, menus, pointer" (WIMP). In WIMP approaches, a physical input device can control the position on a display of a pointer controlled by a pointing device. The display can present information organized in windows. Action can be initiated using gestures with the pointing device. In personal computers such elements can be modeled as a desktop.
Mobile digital devices, such as smartphones and tablet computers, due to constraints in space and available input devices are known to implement interaction techniques often referred to as post-WIMP user interfaces. Such interfaces can support interaction using one or more fingers in contact with a touch screen display. This approach can allow gestures such as pinching and rotating. Such gesture types are typically unsupported by simple WIMP pointer/point device combination.

Gesture interpretation in navigable zoom mode


A thin-client device broadcasts a configuration request message over a network. In response to the configuration request message, the thin-client device receives a configuration response message including a first set of configuration information. The thin-client device determines if the configuration response message includes a second set of configuration information. If the configuration response message does not include the second set of configuration information, the thin-client device broadcasts a status message over a network. In response to the status message, the thin-client device receives a status response message with the second set of configuration information.

Large enterprises are expanding their use of information systems. The number of employees needing access to an enterprise's information system increases as the use of information systems expand. Traditionally, enterprises use desktop computers to provide employees with access to its information systems. As employees access an enterprise's information systems, the desktop computer processes and stores the information locally. Information is transferred between server computers and desktop computers via a network as needed.
Nevertheless, for large enterprises, the deployment and administration of desktop computer systems is complicated and expensive. As an alternative to the complexity and cost associated with using desktop computers in an enterprise environment, thin-client enterprise systems have emerged. Thin-client systems use a thin-client device to receive user input and display screen output. Thin-client devices have no local processing, operating systems, or software applications. Instead, server computers process and store information associated with each thin-client device, and generate the screen displays to be sent back to each thin-client device. By consolidating all processing and storage into a relatively small number of server computers, administration is greatly simplified. Additionally, thin-client devices are less expensive than desktop systems due to their reduced complexity.
FIG. 1 shows an example thin-client system 100. Thin-client system 100 includes thin-client devices 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, and 112. An example of a thin-client device is the Sun Ray™ 100 Appliance manufactured by Sun Microsystems. The thin-client devices communicate with thin-client enterprise servers 120 and 125 via a dedicated network 115. The dedicated network may be any type of data communications system, such as a standard Ethernet network. Other wired or wireless data communication systems may also be employed. The dedicated network may include various standard networking components, such as switches, routers, hubs, bridges, or other types of communications hardware. The dedicated network 115 only carries communications between the thin-client devices and thin-client enterprise servers.
In an embodiment of thin-client system 100, a small software application on each thin-client device, referred to as a firmware, facilitates the connection and configuration of the thin-client device in the thin-client system. The firmware may also facilitate the interaction between input and output devices on the thin-client device and the network interface of the thin-client device. In an embodiment, the firmware is stored in a non-volatile memory device, such as a flash memory device, located in each thin-client device.
Thin-client enterprise servers 120 and 125 process and store data for the thin-client devices. Thin-client enterprise servers can further include an authentication server program to initiate user sessions on a thin-client device, a logging server for recording system messages, and firmware updates for updating the firmware on a thin-client device. An example of a thin-client enterprise server is the Sun Ray™ server software running on a Sun SPARC™ computer. Because all data is processed and stored by a thin-client enterprise server, the thin-client system requires at least one thin-client enterprise server. Thin-client system 100 shows two thin-client enterprise servers; however, the maximum number of thin-client enterprise servers is limited only by the capacity of dedicated network 115. Similarly, the maximum number of thin-client devices is only limited by the computing capabilities of the thin-client enterprise servers and the capacity of the dedicated network 115.
Thin-client enterprise servers 120 and 125 may also be connected to an enterprise network 130 via network connections 133 and 135. The enterprise network 130 may be any type of data communications system, such as a standard Ethernet network, or other wired or wireless data communication system. The enterprise network 130 may include various standard networking components, such as switches, routers, hubs, bridges, or other types of communications hardware. Enterprise network 130 may include other general or specialized computing devices, such as additional server computers, databases, network storage devices, and general purpose desktop computers. In an embodiment, thin-client enterprise servers 120 and 125 may access other computing devices via the enterprise network 130 to process data for the thin-client devices. Enterprise network 130 may also be connected to an intranet 140 and the Internet 150 for this purpose.
In a large enterprise, thin-client devices may need to be added or removed at any time without disrupting the thin-client system. It is desirable for a thin-client system to automatically connect and configure its thin-client devices as they are added. In an embodiment, thin-client devices use the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to automatically configure themselves and connect to the thin-client system. The DHCP provides a standard framework for passing network configuration information to hosts on a TCP/IP network. The most recent version of this protocol is found in RFC 2131, which is published by the RFC-Editor at http://www.rfc-editor.org/ and incorporated by reference herein.
In thin-client systems using DHCP, when a thin-client device is first connected with a thin-client system 100, the thin-client device broadcasts a "DHCPDiscover" message over the dedicated network 115. At least one thin-client enterprise server includes a DHCP server program adapted to manage the configuration of dedicated network 115. In response to the "DHCPDiscover" message from the thin-client device, each DHCP server on the dedicated network responds with a "DHCPOffer" message containing a set of configuration parameters offered for use by the thin-client device. The thin-client device selects one set of configuration parameters for its use, and notifies the DHCP servers of its selection with a "DHCPRequest" message. A "DHCPAck" message is sent from the DHCP Server offering the selected configuration parameters to confirm the thin-client device's selection of configuration parameters.
The DHCP standard provides network configuration parameters necessary for correct operation of standard desktop computers on a TCP/IP network. These network configuration parameters include an IP address, netmask, and gateway address. However, thin-client devices require additional parameters for correct operation in a thin-client system. These thin-client parameters include addresses for an authentication server program, a log server program, and a firmware update.
In an embodiment, thin-client system provides thin-client parameters to thin-client devices via a DHCP server. As mentioned above, the thin-client system 100 includes at least one thin-client enterprise server providing a DHCP server for the dedicated network 115. The DHCP server for the dedicated network 115 is modified to include the necessary thin-client parameters in its response to a "DHCPDiscover" message from a thin-client device. Vendor-specific tags allow DHCP servers to include additional information in their messages for a specific network environment. The DHCP server inserts a vendor-specific tag containing thin-client parameters into the "DHCPOffer" message. When a thin-client device receives a "DHCPOffer" message from the DHCP server, the thin-client device identifies the vendor-specific tag and extracts the necessary thin-client parameters. This mechanism allows a thin-client device to automatically receive network configuration parameters and thin-client parameters from a single DHCP server.
In addition to automatically connecting and configuring themselves to a thin-client system, thin-client devices also automatically update their firmware software with a version compatible with the thin-client enterprise server. The thin-client firmware will be automatically upgraded or downgraded to a version supported by the thin-client enterprise server. In an embodiment, a firmware update location is included in the thin-client parameters sent to the thin-client device by the DHCP server associated with a thin-client enterprise server. The firmware update location is a network address containing a firmware update compatible with the thin-client enterprise server. The thin-client device retrieves a copy of the firmware update from the firmware update location. The thin-client device replaces its own firmware with the firmware update. In an embodiment, thin-client device stores the firmware update in a non-volatile memory device, such as a flash memory device, overwriting any previously stored versions of the firmware.
Although a thin-client systems offer lower cost and complexity compared with desktop computer systems, it is desirable to further reduce the thin-client systems cost and complexity by deploying a thin-client system over an enterprises' existing network infrastructure and eliminating the need for a dedicated network.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a desired thin-client system 200 deployed over an enterprise network 230. Enterprise network 230 may comprise a standard TCP/IP network using Ethernet or any other wired or wireless data communication system. The dedicated network may include various standard networking components, such as switches, routers, hubs, bridges, or other types of communications hardware. The enterprise network 230 may include various standard networking components, such as switches, routers, hubs, switches, bridges, or other types of communications hardware. The enterprise network 230 may also be connected to an intranet 240 and the Internet 250. The enterprise network 230 carries communications between the thin-client devices and thin-client enterprise servers.
Thin-client devices 202 and 204 are connected with the enterprise network 230. The enterprise network 230 may also be connected with other general or specialized computing devices, such as databases, network storage devices, general purpose network server computers 210, and general purpose desktop 208 or laptop 206 computers. One or more thin-client enterprise servers 225 may also be connected to an enterprise network 230. Enterprise network 230 includes at least one DHCP server program 220 to manage the configuration of enterprise network 230. A DHCP server program 220 may be associated with a thin-client enterprise server, as in thin-client system 100, or with a general purpose network server 210.
Connecting thin-client devices directly with an enterprise network 230, as opposed to a dedicated network, presents several problems. Thin-client devices cannot operate correctly without the thin-client parameters. In a dedicated network, the thin-client enterprise server is the only DHCP server connected with thin-client devices, ensuring that the thin-client device receives thin-client parameters from a DHCP server. However, in an enterprise network, thin-client device may connect with any DHCP server on the enterprise network. Some DHCP servers are not associated with a thin-client enterprise server and will not include thin-client parameters in the appropriate vendor-specific tag. When a thin-client device contacts one of these DHCP servers, the thin-client device would receive network configuration parameters but would not receive any thin-client parameters. Moreover, in some enterprise network environments, the thin-client enterprise server may not be permitted to allocate network configurations. In this situation, DHCP servers associated with a thin-client enterprise server cannot respond to a thin-client device configuration request.
Additionally, when a thin-client device contacts a thin-client enterprise server, the thin-client device will automatically update its firmware to the version supported by the thin-client enterprise server. If the thin-client device has a more recent firmware version than the version supported by the thin-client enterprise server, the thin-client device will downgrade its firmware to the version supported by the thin-client enterprise server. However, some firmware versions may not support critical features needed to correctly operate thin-client devices in an enterprise network environment. If a thin-client firmware is downgraded to a version missing critical features needed to operate in an enterprise network environment, the thin-client device will cease to function on the enterprise network.
Thus, it is desirable to have a thin-client device which is capable of 1) automatically connecting and configuring itself on an enterprise network regardless of the location of a DHCP server; and 2) automatically updating its firmware while safeguarding against inadvertent loss of enterprise network functionality.

Discovering thin-client parameters in an enterprise network environment


Various systems to aid a visually impaired musician to learn musical notation. The system includes a microprocessor with a memory adapted to store musical notation. Multiple transducers are operatively attached to the microprocessor. The transducers are spatially located on and/or in contact with a part of the body of the visually impaired musician. Responsive to the musical notation, the microprocessor is configured to signal the transducers to provide a physical or tactile sensation to the part of the body of the visually impaired musician.

1. Technical Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to a musical notation device which enables the visually impaired to read music.
2. Description of Related Art
Visual impaired musicians find themselves in a challenging situation when trying to master existing musical compositions. Repertoire of visually impaired musicians may be limited to works available as Braille sheet music. Braille sheet music is read tactilely by the musician's hand(s) thus it is impossible to read the Braille sheet music while playing most instruments. Instrumental performance by a visually impaired musician is performed from memory.
Thus there is a need for and it would be advantageous to have a system and method for visually impaired musicians to read musical notation by tactile sensation while playing.
MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a protocol, digital interface and connectors and allows a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers and other related devices to connect and communicate with one another. A single MIDI link can carry up to sixteen channels of information, each of which can be routed to a separate device. MIDI carries event messages that specify notation, pitch and velocity, control signals for parameters such as volume, vibrato, audio panning, cues, and clock signals that set and synchronize tempo between multiple devices. The messages are sent to other devices and control sound generation and other features. The message data can also be recorded into a hardware or software device called a sequencer, which can be used to edit the data and to play it back at a later time. MIDI technology was standardized in 1983 by a panel of music industry representatives, and is maintained by the MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA). All official MIDI standards are jointly developed and published by the MMA in Los Angeles, Calif., USA, and for Japan, the MIDI Committee of the Association of Musical Electronics Industry (AMEI) in Tokyo.
Electrotactile or electrocutaneous systems are also known for delivering electrical current to electrodes placed on the user's skin to induce a tactile response. U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,879, Sevrain et al., dated May 22, 1990 describes an electro-tactile stimulator including a flexible substrate on one surface of which is formed an electrically conductive pattern having a number of electrodes which are placed in contact with a skin surface of a user.

Musical notation interface for the visually impaired


A master controller mechanical interlock including at least one linear cam to actuate multiple interlocks. Operation of the mechanical interlock is determined by the position of two cams, one of which may be connected to a key switch or a direction switch. A third cam may be incorporated to allow or restrict operation of the master controller operator interface when a predetermined configuration is selected of the operator interface, the key switch, and the direction switch.

In modern rapid transit vehicles, such as railway vehicles, the braking and propulsion controls are often effected by a master controller. These master controllers typically include an operator interface, such as a handle, which can be moved from a neutral or coast position to either a propulsion or braking position to provide a control signal throughout the vehicle. Two additional controls are also commonly coupled to the operator interface on a master controller, a key switch and a direction switch. The key switch can be placed in one of several positions, which typically include an off, run, and special charge position. There may be fewer or additional positions, and the name for each position may also differ. The direction switch can either be in a locked position (neutral) or in one of two operational positions (left and right). The key switch is used to allow the master controller to function, and the direction switch is used to select the vehicle's desired direction (forward or reverse).
Recent master controller construction techniques include an operator's interface, such as a handle, which is connected to a cam that operates a series of microswitches or position sensors. These microswitches or sensors, in certain conditions, operate motor control relays. It is desirable, however, to prevent the operation of the key switch or the direction switch in certain configurations of the handle position. Should the switches be operated in an undesired configuration, the vehicle could be turned off without application of the brakes; the direction of the vehicle could be changed while the operator interface (handle) is in a propulsion position; or in the special charge mode (or test mode), the brakes must be applied or an operator or inspector could be injured should the vehicle move. Thus, it is an object of the present invention that undesired operation of the master controller be prevented.