The present invention concerns a crown for a timepiece comprising a disconnecting gear device for preventing damage to the components of the movement of the timepiece in which it is implemented. For this purpose, the crown is provided with a housing which houses a pipe, to which one end of a winding stem is connected, carrying at least one spring and a rigid ring secured to the crown and comprising notches adapted to cooperate with the spring. In common use, a rotation of the crown causes a rotation of the pipe and thus of the winding stem, via the rigid ring and the spring. Owing to the device according to the present invention, when the mechanical resistance to the rotation opposed by the winding stem, via the pipe, exceeds a predefined threshold, the spring is deformed and is no longer driven in rotation by the rigid ring. Consequently, the winding stem is no longer driven in rotation in such conditions.

These types of crowns comprising a disconnecting gear device are known in the prior art. Such devices are known to be implemented, for example, to prevent damaging the mechanism of a timepiece when the winding stem is driven by the user to wind the barrel spring, when the latter is completely wound.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,637,987 discloses several embodiments of a crown of the aforementioned type. In all of the embodiments disclosed, the crown comprises a cylindrical housing inside which the disconnecting gear device is arranged. In particular, the housing comprises, at the periphery thereof, a strip spring secured to the crown, for cooperating with one end of the winding stem arranged inside the housing. For this purpose, the end of the winding stem has a particular shape, peculiar to each of the embodiments disclosed, fitted to the shape of the corresponding strip spring.
The cooperation between the strip spring and the winding stem is effective as long as the rotational couple to be transmitted to the winding stem from a rotation of the crown, via the strip spring, does not exceed a predefined value. When this predefined value is attained, which may be the case for example when the barrel spring is completely wound, the strip spring is deformed and stops cooperating with the winding stem. Thus, any subsequent rotational movement of the crown in these conditions is no longer transmitted to the winding stem.
The device disclosed in this American Patent has, however, a certain number of drawbacks. In fact, the structure disclosed and shown is complex both from the manufacturing and assembly point of view, in particular because of the dimensions to be considered within the field of crowns for horology. Manufacturing the various springs implemented is difficult, on the one hand because of their shape, and on the other hand, because they are mounted pre-stressed, which makes it difficult to mount them in the crown.
Another drawback of the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,637,987 arises from the necessity of providing a particular shape for the end of the winding stem arranged inside the crown, such that it can cooperate with the particular shape used for the spring. This constraint forces the manufacturer to provide different manufacturing processes for the different winding stem shapes to be used, thereby causing extra costs.

Crown for timepiece with disconnecting gear device


The level one memory controller maintains a local copy of the cacheability bit of each memory attribute register. The level two memory controller is the initiator of all configuration read/write requests from the CPU. Whenever a configuration write is made to a memory attribute register, the level one memory controller updates its local copy of the memory attribute register.

Prior art devices implemented a set of memory mapped control registers called memory attribute registers. These registers defined the cacheability of external addresses in the Level one and Level two caches inside the memory system. The entire external address space was controlled by 256 memory address registers. Each memory attribute register defined the cacheability of a corresponding portion of the address space.
In prior art devices, the memory attribute registers were not visible in the level one data cache controller. Due to this, the following performance optimizations that level one data cache controller could have implemented were not possible: merge writes for external addresses based on the cacheability of accesses; optimize some of its cache state machines based on early knowledge of cacheability; and the level one data cache controller must generates and send victims due to read accesses even to non-cacheable external addresses.

Memory attribute sharing between differing cache levels of multilevel cache


Disclosed herein is a 10-gigabit Ethernet line interface apparatus and method of controlling the same. The apparatus has N network processors, a frame multiplexing and demultiplexing block, a 10-gigabit extender sublayer processing block, a 10-gigabit Ethernet physical layer processing block, a 10-gigabit physical layer control logic, a line interface control logic, and a line processor. The N network processors are connected to the switch fabric unit. The frame multiplexing and demultiplexing block provides GMII and XGMII between the N network processors and a 10-gigabit extender sublayer processing block. The present invention can improve transmission speed and packet processing performance of a physical layer to a 10 Gbps level while maintaining basic frame standards of a 1-gigabit Ethernet switch apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a 10-gigabit Ethernet line interface apparatus and method of controlling the same, which can maintain compatibility with other gigabit Ethernet technologies and improve the transmission and packet processing speed of a physical layer to a 10-gigabit per second level by maintaining basic frame standards, such as the sizes of minimum and maximum frames and inter frame gap.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional gigabit Ethernet switch apparatus has been operated as a layer 2 Ethernet switch apparatus that allows a backbone system for interfacing all Ethernet ports at a speed of 1-gigabit per second (Gbps) and an edge system for interfacing ports between backbone systems at a speed of 1 Gbps and interfacing ports between a plurality of servers or hubs at a speed of 100-megabit per second (Mbps) to be constructed into a Local Area Network (LAN).
However, as the number of users utilizing various applications increases, the amount of traffic on the Internet and Intranet increases, so a gigabit-level desktop or server computer has been introduced. Further, data traffic on an internal network of a campus or local network between buildings increases, so a 10-gigabit Ethernet edge switch apparatus is required to interface ports between plural servers or hubs at a speed of 1 Gbps and interface ports between backbone systems at a speed of 10 Gbps.
However, a conventional 1-gigabit Ethernet switch apparatus cannot provide a speed of 10 Gbps.
Further, some communication equipment companies invest a lot of money to independently develop packet processors capable of processing 10-gigabit Ethernet packets in the form of an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), and market the packet processors. The packet processors developed in such a way are problematic in that, since they are dependent upon products manufactured by the companies which developed the packet processors, they do not have generality, and system costs increase due to the burden of development costs.
As a result, methods and apparatuses for improving 10-gigabit Ethernet technologies complying with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.3ae standards have recently been proposed. One of them is disclosed in European Patent EP 1 124,355 A2, applied by Nortel Networks Corp., and registered in August 2001. In this patent, there is disclosed a method of providing a mapping function for a common interface between Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) so as to transmit high-speed Ethernet data streams with a data speed of 10 Gbps through a synchronous packet switch network, such as standard SONET OC-192 with a line speed of 9.953280 Gbaud, in MAC and physical layer functions. However, the patent provides only a mapping function between physical layers of the LAN and WAN, but cannot provide layer 2 (L2) switching and layer 3 (L3) routing functions between a plurality of 1-gigabit ports and a single 10-gigabit port.

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


The present invention provides a system and method for transmitting an ultrawideband (UWB) signal that is composed of an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) based signal that is transmitted in an underlay manner and an impulse radio based signal that is transmitted in an overlay manner. The system and method are effective in determining an interference temperature for each of multiple carriers within the UWB signal and classifying each one of the multiple carriers of the channel as being an interfered carrier or a non-interfered carrier based on the interference temperature for each one of multiple carriers. The desired signal is then transmitted on the interfered carriers at a signal power that is not greater than the power limit of the underlay UWB policy and on the non-interfered carriers at a signal power that is greater than the power limit of the underlay UWB policy.

Wireless communication systems have been evolving substantially over the last two decades. The explosive growth of the wireless communication market is expected to continue in the future, as the demand for all types of wireless services is increasing. New generations of wireless mobile radio systems aim at providing higher data rates and a wide variety of applications to the mobile users, while serving as many users as possible. However, this goal must be achieved under the constraint of the limited available resources, including spectrum and power. Given the high price of the spectrum and its scarcity, the systems must provide higher capacity and performance through a better use of the available resources. The increasing spectrum shortage gives rise to a necessity for immediate solutions regarding the spectrum usage.
A strong future solution is the cognitive radio which aims at very efficient spectrum utilization employing smart wireless devices with sensing, learning, and adaptation capabilities. One of the main issues regarding the success of the cognitive radio is the development of high performance radio access technologies that can accommodate the requirements given above with highly adaptable transmission formats.
Ultrawideband (UWB) is becoming an attractive radio access solution for wireless communications, particularly for short and medium range applications. According to the modern definition, any wireless communication technology that has a bandwidth wider than 500 MHz or a fractional bandwidth greater than 0.2 can be considered a UWB system.
A basic technique considered for implementing UWB is the impulse radio, which is based on transmitting extremely short (on the order of nanosecond) and low power pulses that have a very wide spectrum. In FIG. 1, a time hopping ultrawideband (TH-UWB) system is demonstrated. Each information carrying symbol is transmitted with a number of pulses, where in this case four pulses represent a symbol. Pulses occupy a location in the time-frame based on the specific pseudo random (PN) code assigned for each user. Two different codes and the corresponding pulse locations are shown with reference to FIG. 1. Note that these two codes are orthogonal, and as such they do not interfere with each other. The pulses of another user that interferes with the code of the first user are also shown to demonstrate how interference from other users affects the system. Each block in this figure represents a number of symbols, where forward error correction (FEC) coding, interleaving, and other MAC layer protocols might be applied. Impulse radio is advantageous in that it eliminates the need for up and down-conversion, and allows transceivers of low-complexity. It also enables the employment of various types of modulations, including on-off keying (OOK), pulse amplitude modulation (PAM), pulse position modulation (PPM), and binary phase shift keying (BPSK), as well as the use of different receiver types such as energy detectors, RAKE, and transmitted reference receivers.
Another strong candidate for UWB communication is the multi-carrier approach, which can be realized using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) as illustrated with reference to FIG. 2. OFDM has become a very popular technology due to its special features such as robustness against multipath interference, ability to allow frequency diversity with the use of efficient FEC coding, capability of capturing the multipath energy, and ability to provide high bandwidth efficiency. OFDM can overcome many problems that arise with high bit rate communications, the most significant of which is the time dispersion. In OFDM the data bearing symbol stream is split into several lower rate streams, and these streams are transmitted on different carriers. Since this increases the symbol period by the number of non-overlapping carriers, multipath echoes affect only a small portion of the neighboring symbols. Any remaining ISI can be removed by cyclically extending the OFDM symbol.
In terms of adapting the transmission parameters, OFDM offers many possibilities, including the ability to adapt the transmit power, the cyclic prefix size, the modulation and coding, and the number of sub-carriers. In addition to adaptation over each packet, in the case of single carrier system, OFDM also offers adaptation of the parameters for each carrier or over a small group of carriers. In other words, adaptation can be done independently over narrower bands rather than the entire transmission band. Similarly, reception of an OFDM signal offers new designs and approaches for adaptive receivers.
In a UWB system, the unlicensed usage of a very wide spectrum that overlaps with the spectra of narrowband technologies brings about some concerns. Therefore, a significant amount of research has been carried out to quantify the effect of UWB signals on narrowband systems. The transmitted power of UWB devices is controlled by the regulatory agencies (such as the FCC in the United States), so that narrowband systems are affected by UWB signals only at a negligible level. Therefore, UWB systems are allowed to co-exist with other technologies under stringent power constraints. This fact puts significant limitation on the variety of applications, maximum data rate, and transceiver design options, and the UWB system becomes very susceptible to the effects of the narrowband systems. Systems with a spectral allocation similar to UWB are known in the art as underlay systems, or shared unlicensed systems. The severe power limitations on underlay systems restrict their usage to only very short range devices. Therefore, all current UWB efforts are in the direction of making UWB systems work in an underlay scenario with a focus only on wireless personal area networks (WPAN).
In communications system design, dealing with interference is one of the main considerations. Interference can be defined as any kind of signal received aside from the desired signal and noise. According to its origin, interference can occur in two ways: (1) Self-interference, which is caused by the transmitted signal due to improper system design. Examples of self-interference include inter-symbol (ISI), inter-carrier (ICI), inter-frame (IFI), inter-pulse (IPI), and cross-modulation (CMI) interferences. Self-interference can be handled by properly designing the system and transceivers. (2) Interference from other users, which can be further categorized as: (a) Multi-user interference, which is the interference from users using the same system or a similar technology. Co-channel and adjacent channel interferences belong to this category. Multi-user interference can be overcome by proper multi-access design and/or employing multi-user detection techniques. (b) Interference from other types of technologies. This kind of interference mostly requires interference avoidance or cancellation. It is more difficult to handle compared to multi-user interference, and can often not be suppressed completely. Narrowband interference (NBI) is a well-known example of this type of interference.
UWB systems operate over extremely wide frequency bands, where various narrowband technologies also exist with much higher power levels as illustrated with reference to FIG. 3. The influence of these narrowband technologies on the UWB system can be significant, and in the extreme case, these signals may jam the UWB receiver completely. Even though narrowband signals interfere with only a small fraction of the UWB spectrum, due to their relatively high power with respect to the UWB signal, the performance and capacity of UWB systems can be affected considerably. The recent studies show that the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of the UWB receivers is greatly degraded due to the impact of narrowband interference. The high processing gain of the UWB signal can cope with the narrowband interferers to some extent. However, in many cases, even the large processing gain alone is not sufficient to suppress the effect of the high power interferers. Therefore, either the UWB system design needs to consider avoiding the transmission of the UWB signal over the frequencies of strong narrowband interferers, or the UWB receivers must employ NBI suppression techniques to improve the performance, the capacity, and the range of the UWB communications.
NBI is not a recent problem. For other wideband systems such as the code division multiple accessing (CDMA) system, this issue has been studied extensively. In these systems, NBI is partially handled with the processing gain, and by employing interference cancellation techniques including notch filtering, predictive techniques, minimum mean square error (MMSE) detectors, and transform domain techniques. However, the NBI problem in UWB is more challenging due for a variety of reasons. First, compared to the licensed CDMA systems, the unlicensed UWB extends a much wider frequency band, but transmits less power, thus forcing the UWB system to coexist with a higher number of powerful interferers. Second, in carrier modulated wideband systems, the received signal is down-converted to the baseband and sampled above the Nyquist rate, which allows it to be processed digitally. However, the UWB signal, being already in the baseband, can not be sampled at the Nyquist rate with the existing technology. Therefore, the numerous NBI suppression techniques proposed for other wideband systems, which can be realized by means of advanced signal processing methods, are not applicable to UWB systems.
In the literature, there are numerous influential studies focusing on NBI suppression for UWB systems. The methods proposed in these studies can be classified as avoidance and cancellation techniques. NBI avoidance methods are based on avoiding transmission over the frequencies of strong narrowband interferers. Multi-carrier approach, multi-band schemes, and pulse shaping are among the various avoidance methods. The cancellation methods, on the other hand, aim at eliminating the effect of NBI on the received UWB signal. MMSE combining, frequency domain techniques such as notch filtering, time-frequency methods like wavelet transform, and time domain approaches constitute the primary cancellation methods.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a flexible and adaptable radio access technology that can take advantage of the available spectrum in an opportunistic manner.

Cognitive ultrawideband-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing


Methods and compositions are provided for increasing the feed intake of lactating animals. Incorporation of sodium sulfate decahydrate (glauber salts) into animal feed enhances the feed intake of lactating animals. Glauber salts are particularly effective as feed intake enhancers when the lactating animals are under heat stress conditions. Lactating animals provided with a diet supplemented with glauber salts in the farrowing crate until weaning show an increase in the average daily feed intake compared to animals without glauber salts in their diet.

One of the challenges faced by swine producers is feeding of lactating animals. Generally, sows do not consume enough feed during lactation to maintain their body weight. There is a strong correlation between sow weight loss during lactation and subsequent reproductive performance. Each additional unit of feed consumed by a sow during lactation can be used to preserve body weight and/or synthesize milk. Increasing feed intake of sows during lactation can lead to improved performance of breeding herds for swine producers.
Glauber salts (Sodium sulfate decahydrate; Na2SO4.10H2O), also known as sal mirabilis (miraculous salt), have historically been used as a mild laxative. It gently cleans the intestinal lining without dehydrating it. In swine production, Glauber salts are commonly used to reduce constipation in gilts and sows during and after farrowing.
The anhydrous form of sodium sulfate has been used to remove accumulation of fluids from the mammary tissue of a lactating animal. (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,452,779 to Cockerill) Sodium sulfate anhydrous, however, decreases the palatability of feed. Animal feed with high amounts of sodium can reduce the feed intake in animals. (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,171 to Nelson, M. J.)

Feed intake enhancer for lactating animals


A vehicle includes a windshield and a wiper assembly. The windshield presents a surface. The wiper assembly includes an arm and a wiper blade. The arm is movably attached to the vehicle. The wiper blade is operatively attached to the arm. The wiper blade includes a wiping member. The wiping member defines a longitudinal axis and extends between a first end and a second end. The wiping member has a plurality of radially extending protrusions that circumferentially surround the longitudinal axis such that the wiping member has a generally polygonal shaped cross-section. At least one of the protrusions is configured to maintain wiping contact relationship with the surface of the windshield as the arm moves the wiper blade to wipe the surface of the windshield.

Windshield wiper assemblies or windshield wipers are typically used on vehicle and aircraft windshields in order to improve operator and passenger visibility in wet or inclement weather. Windshield wipers usually include a wiper arm that is connected on one end to a vertical wiper post, and connected on the other end to an articulated section, which in turn connects to a blade section that is shaped or configured to retain a relatively soft rubber blade or sweep, which is the only portion of the wiper assembly that contacts the windshield surface.

Wiper blade for wiping a surface of a windshield


An engine and a motor/generator are installed in a vehicle as drive sources. The vehicle is capable of traveling in a condition where the engine is stopped. A monitor varies an indicator in accordance with an operation performed by a driver and a condition of a device installed in the vehicle, and displays the indicator to the driver. When a startup condition based on the operation performed by the driver is satisfied, the device is stopped, and the engine is kept stopped until a predetermined delay time elapses. While the engine remains stopped, variation of the indicator is restricted.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a control system for a vehicle, and more particularly to a technique, employed in a vehicle installed with an engine and an electric motor as drive sources, of displaying an indicator in accordance with an operation performed by a driver and a condition of a device installed in the vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
A vehicle installed with an electric motor for use during travel in addition to an engine is available. In this type of vehicle, travel can be performed using the electric motor alone while the engine is stopped. When a large driving force is required, such as when an accelerator depression amount is increased, the engine is started in order to realize the required driving force.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-33947 (JP 2009-33947 A) discloses, in paragraph [0060] and so on, a technique of starting the engine following a predetermined time delay rather than starting the engine immediately.
As described above, in a vehicle installed with an electric motor as a drive source, travel can be performed while the engine is stopped, and in this travel condition, a driver cannot recognize how much power is being consumed when an engine rotation speed is displayed in a conventional manner. Therefore, a power or the like of the vehicle is displayed instead of or in addition to the engine rotation speed. The displayed power may vary in accordance with the accelerator depression amount and an operating condition of a device such as an air-conditioning device.
Certain drivers, however, do not take into consideration the power that is consumed by an in-vehicle device, and therefore such drivers may experience a sense of discomfort when the displayed power varies in response to variation in the condition of the in-vehicle device. This situation may arise when startup of the engine is delayed as described in JP 2009-33947 A. In other words, the displayed power may vary in response to variation in the condition of the in-vehicle device even though the engine has not been started.


A high-power light pulse generating apparatus in which an optical fiber doped with a rare earth element is used in an optical system for facilitating control and and adjustment of the apparatus. The light output power and the pulse width thereof can be varied simply by changing the characteristics and the length of the optical fiber. In the high-power light pulse generating apparatus, an output of an optical pumping light source (2) is inputted to an optical coupler (3) which constitutes an optical loop in cooperation with the optical fiber (1) doped with a rare earth element, an optical decoupler(4), an optical switch (5A), an isolator (7) and an input port of the optical coupler (3). By turning on the optical switch (5A), a high-power light pulse can be generated through the optical loop and extracted from an output port of the optical decoupler (4).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a light pulse generator apparatus. More particularly, the invention is concerned with a high-power light pulse generating apparatus which includes an optical loop constituted by an optical switch, optical fiber and other optical elements and which is capable of outputting a high-power light pulse by turning on an optical switch for a short time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For making available a light pulse of high power, there are used a gas laser and a solid laser. Among others, a Nd-doped YAG pulse laser incorporating a Q-switch can emit a peak power higher than 1 kW.
A structure of a high-power light pulse generating apparatus known heretofore is shown in FIG. 2. In this figure, a reference numeral 11 denotes a light source for optical pumping, 12 denotes a lens, 13 denotes a Nd-doped YAG laser rod, 14 denotes a pulse generator, 15 denotes a driver, 16 denotes an optical switch, and finally a numeral 17 denotes a half-mirror. The Nd-doped YAG laser rod is excited by output light of the optically pumping light source 11 through the lens 12. The pulse generator 14 drives the driver 15 for operating the optical switch 16 as a Q-switch. A part of a resonance light beam emitted through the optical switch 16 is extracted externally through the half-mirror 17. With the structure of the light pulse generating apparatus shown in FIG. 2, a light pulse of high power can be obtained. However, this known apparatus suffers from a problem that it is difficult to realize alignment of the optical axis and change a width of the light pulse because of massive configuration of the optical system as employed.

High-power light pulse generating apparatus

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


An adjustable eyeglass frame temple is disclosed that provides fast and easy adjustment. The primary adjustment is a is a two piece telescoping temple that is adjusted by a screw within the temple thru a twist-lock (32) mechanism. The screw is accessible from the rear portion of the temple allowing the temple to be adjusted while the eyeglasses are being worn. It is also possible for eyeglass wearers to make the adjustments by themselves, while wearing the glasses.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to adjustable eyeglass frames, and more particularly to adjustable eyeglass frames having telescoping ear pieces that are further adapted to rotationally swivel and lock in place for additional comforted.
2. Prior Art
Today, millions of people wear eyeglass frames, and more particularly to filter sunlight, and for safety when working in factories, for example. The two most important aspects of making a usable pair of glasses are the proper grind of the lenses, and the proper sizing of the frame. Although adults usually have minor difficulty in finding proper frames, this is not always the case, especially when the glasses are used on a worksite for safety reasons. These glasses can be used with many different employees and will tend to be difficult to fit the vast majority of employees.
A much larger problem arises when glasses are needed for children. Since children grow quickly, it is possible that a child may outgrow a frame in less than one year. Constantly upsizing eyeglass frames can become expensive. Moreover, in addition to adjusting the length of the temples a need exist for a means to rotationally adjust or swivel the temple member for better fit and comfort.
In the past, several attempts to provide means of adjusting frames have been patented. U.S. Pat. No. 1,252,126, to Letzeisen discloses a frame having a wire temple. The temple was slidably attached to the frame with a locking adjusting screw. This adjusting screw can be loosen to allow the temple to slide back and forth until the desired length of temple is found. The nut can then be locked in place, restraining the temple.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,841,052 to Pollmiller, U.S. Pat. No. 1,751,804 to Fischer, U.S. Pat. No. 2,503,275 to Klienman, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,856,813 to Kudelko all disclose eyeglass adjusters utilizing some type of adjusting screw mechanism to adjust the temples. In these patents, the temples are fitted with an adjusting screw portion fitted into a threaded portion. As the adjusting screw is turned, the earpiece is either extended or retracted from the temple.
Typically, these devices include some type of locking mechanism to provide the temple from moving thereby changing the distance setting. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,584,938 and 4,153,346 disclose an alternate means of adjusting the temples. These devices utilize sliding bars having discrete position settings to make the adjustments. In these devices, the temple is held with a pin that secures the bar. The pin is then removed, the bar either extended or retracted until a new set position is aligned with the pinhole, and the pin is replaced.
One of the drawbacks to all these devices is that they all must be adjusted when they are off the wearer's head. This requires the wearer or the fitter to place the frame on the wearer's head, check the fit, remove the frame, make an adjustment, check the fit, remove the frame, make adjustments and so on.
Another drawback of the fixed slide-pin devices is that the pins provide fixed sizes, which limit their use in many cases and will not provide exact fits in many cases. Tuttle in U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,782 developed a lengthwise adjustable temple wherein a lengthwise screw could be turned from the front of the glasses and thereby adjust the length only.
It is an object of this invention to provide adjustable glasses that can be adjusted in the temple both lengthwise and rotationally while the user is wearing them.
It is another object of this invention to provide adjustable glasses that have a twist-lock mechanism on each temple as the adjusting mechanism for temple members that have the portion fitting over the ear angulated or circular.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an adjustment means for glasses that is totally concealed inside the barrel of a twist-lock.
It is yet a further object of this invention to produce adjustable glasses having a swivel or rotational adjustment means that does not interfere with the operation of the temple hinges.
It is yet a further object of this invention to produce adjustable glasses that have a self locking adjustment mechanism for both length and the angle of the earpiece.


An array of Fresnel reflectors is presented with an adjustable focus. The focus of the array is controlled by only a few mechanical parts and simple inputs. One preferred embodiment of this device is to collect sunlight and focus it onto a photovoltaic (PV) cell or a boiler, for the purpose of collecting solar energy. This solar collector, or heliostat, is easily adjusted so that it always directs the sun's rays onto the PV cell or boiler.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a mirror array with an adjustable focus. A preferred embodiment of the invention is in the field of solar energy collection. Such devices are commonly called heliostats, and often—as in this case—can adjust throughout the year, according to the season. Furthermore, many heliostats track the sun daily from east to west
2. Description of Related Art
The prior art contains many examples of adjustable mirror arrays, many of which are primarily or exclusively designed as solar collectors. These heliostats employ a great variety of methods to attain the goal of focusing sunlight on a common point. Some of these heliostat arrays contain many individually controlled mirrors, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,122,827 and 7,192,146. Other arrays, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,102,326, 4,425,904, 4,466,423, and 4,832,002 contain mirrors that are linked together mechanically, but with cables or belts. The arrangement of cables requires, however, that each mirror moves the same amount under a single input, but the present invention moves each mirror a different amount in order to preserve the parabolic geometry of the reflector array. Furthermore, it is believed that cables may pose a liability, as they can break. Related U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,110,010, 7,677,241 and 7,905,227, are mechanically linked with configurations that appear more robust than the arrays using cables.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,349,718 looks similar in some respects to the present invention, but is actually substantially different, particularly regarding the movement of the mirrors. It appears that they can be independent or linked together, but if linked, they are to be forced to move the same amount.

Incident and reflective mirror array focusing by kinematic function control


A rack system is provided that is suitable, for example, for installation to a kitchenware washing assembly. The kitchenware washing assembly may include a tank for holding fluid for washing kitchenware, and walls defining the tank and being arranged to hold the fluid in the tank. The rack system generally includes a mounting fixture connectable to the tank of the kitchenware washing assembly, and a rack connectable to the mounting fixture for holding the kitchenware in the tank. The rack is adjustable relative to the mounting fixture between a first position in which the rack is connected to the mounting fixture, and a second position in which the rack is connected to the mounting fixture.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Commercial washers have been in the marketplace for decades. Many of the commercial washers that are currently on the market include multiple tanks for various cleaning stages (e.g., a scraping tank, a washing tank, a rinsing tank, a sanitizing tank, etc.). The washing tank, at a basic level, typically includes features such as a rectangular tank for receiving kitchenware to be washed therein, a drain in the tank, a valve for closing the drain, outlets attached to walls of the tank for directing water down into the tank, and a pump to circulate water from within the tank into a manifold that feeds the water through the outlets.

Rack systems for use with kitchenware washing assemblies and related methods


A macrocell structure 20 having a honeycomb form is preheated to cure to a cure depth falling within a range where a flexibility of prepregs in the macrocell structure remains. Subsequently, prepregs 31, 32 are arranged along a side wall of the preheated macrocell structure 20, so as to make a preliminary structure 40. Then, the preliminary structure 40 is heated while the inside of the prepregs 31, 32 in the preliminary structure 40 is vacuumed. Thereafter, the preliminary structure 40 is heated while imparting an internal pressure thereto within a mold 5, so as to be cured, whereby a resin structure 1 is produced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing a resin structure.
2. Related Background Art
As a resin structure, one having a hollow part formed therewithin has conventionally been known. An example of methods for producing this kind of resin structure is one disclosed in Patent Document 1. This method comprises overlaying a prepreg on an inner face of a mold, placing a bag adapted to inflate when filled with pressurized air on the inside of thus obtained prepreg laminate, and heating to cure the prepreg laminate while pressing it against the inner face of the mold by inflating the bag (Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 3690744).


A microchip matrix light source module includes at least two LEDs formed on a surface of a substrate. The light source further includes a light reflector formed on a surface upon which the LEDs are formed and interposed between the LEDs and configured to reflect and thereby redirect laterally emitted light from the two LEDs. The light reflector may include an inner body. The body may be covered, in part or in whole, with a light reflecting layer such as a metal layer. The body of the light reflector may include a layer corresponding to a layer in one of the two LEDs.

Currently a microchip array of LED devices has drawn much attention due to its application to detectors, imaging sensors, and micro-displays. While microchip array LEDs are promising as a light source for micro-displays, several aspects may be problematic.
For example, the light energy from each LED device should be directed to an observer efficiently, i.e., the light should be collimated after it is emitted by LED devices. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional solution for collimating light from LED devices. An array of microlenses 100 formed on LED devices 102 is proposed by Choi et al. in a paper at Phys. Stat. Sol. (c) 2, No. 7, 2903-2906, Mar. 11, 2005. A light 101 emitted from LED devices 102 can be focused to a focal point at an observer and the energy efficiency can thereby be improved. However, LED device 102 can laterally emit a light beam 104 to a nearby LED device possibly causing optical cross-talk. Such optical cross-talk may degrade the color saturation of the LED devices.
To solve the optical cross-talk problem, U.S. Pat. No. 6,882,101 proposes a structure shown in FIG. 2. An opaque material 202 is filled between LED devices 204 formed on a substrate 200. Lateral emissions of light from LED devices 204 can thereby be absorbed by the interposed opaque material 202 and an optical cross-talk can be reduced. However, since lateral light emitted by each LED device 204 is absorbed, this lateral light energy can not be used for display, and the energy efficiency is lowered.

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A stitched fabric including a foam core and a yarn stitched through and forming stitch holes in the foam core, where the yarn extends over at least a majority of a width and a length of the stitched fabric. In some cases, the yarn and the foam core are free from contact by another layer on either side of the foam core. In some cases, a barrier layer is disposed over at least one side of the foam core and a melted portion of the barrier layer fills a portion of the stitch holes. In some cases, the foam core is a closed cell aerogel foam core.

Garment makers and others in similar industries have a continuing goal of creating or making available to consumers the most comfortable product for the intended end use.
Several factors, either alone or in combination, may affect the overall comfort of a particular product. These factors may include, but are not limited to, whether or to what extent the product is air permeable, breathable, water resistant or waterproof, or stretchable. In addition, the comfort of a particular product may hinge on whether the product provides effective insulation.


A signal processing apparatus includes a decoding unit, an analyzing unit, a synthesizing unit, and a selecting unit. The decoding unit decodes an input encoded audio signal and outputs a playback audio signal. When loss of the encoded audio signal occurs, the analyzing unit analyzes the playback audio signal output before the loss occurs and generates a linear predictive residual signal. The synthesizing unit synthesizes a synthesized audio signal on the basis of the linear predictive residual signal. The selecting unit selects one of the synthesized audio signal and the playback audio signal and outputs the selected audio signal as a continuous output audio signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for processing signals, a recording medium, and a program and, in particular, to an apparatus and a method for processing signals, a recording medium, and a program capable of outputting a natural sounding voice even when a packet to be received is lost.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, IP (Internet protocol) telephones have attracted attention. IP telephones employ VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) technology. In this technology, an IP network, such as the Internet, is employed as part of or the entirety of a telephone network. Voice data is compressed using a variety of encoding methods and is converted into data packets. The data packets are transmitted over the IP network in real time.
In general, there are two types of voice data encoding methods: parametric encoding and waveform encoding. In parametric encoding, a frequency characteristic and a pitch period (i.e., a basic cycle) are retrieved from original voice data as parameters. Even when some data is destroyed or lost in the transmission path, a decoder can easily reduce the affect caused by the loss of the data by using the previous parameters directly or after some process is performed on the previous parameters. Accordingly, parametric encoding has been widely used. However, although parametric encoding provides a high compression ratio, parametric encoding disadvantageously exhibits poor reproducibility of the waveform in processed sound.
In contrast, in waveform encoding, voice data is basically encoded on the basis of the image of a waveform. Although the compression ratio is not so high, waveform encoding can provide high-fidelity processed sound. In addition, in recent years, some waveform encoding methods have provided a relatively high compression ratio. Furthermore, high-speed communication networks have been widely used. Therefore, the use of waveform encoding has already been started in the field of communications.
Even in waveform encoding, a technique performed on the reception side has been proposed that reduces the affect caused by the loss of data if the data is destroyed or lost in a transmission path (refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-218932).

Apparatus and method for processing signal, recording medium, and program


A driving substrate and a display panel are provided. The driving substrate includes driving modules. Each of the driving modules includes two electrodes. Each of at least one of the two electrodes includes convex parts, and each of the convex parts protrudes from one of the two electrodes where the convex parts are located towards the other one of the two electrodes.

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are widely used in the display field as light-emitting components. LEDs can be used as backlights of liquid crystal display panels. LEDs with smaller size, such as micro-LEDs and nano-LEDs, can be used as pixels in display panels. When the LEDs are used as pixels, a driving substrate is provided to drive the LEDs. Due to limitations in the manufacturing process of the LEDs, it is difficult for LEDs to directly grow on the driving substrate, and thus it is necessary to transfer the manufactured LEDs to the corresponding positions of the driving substrate in batches with transfer technology. However, the transfer technology in the related art has a low transfer accuracy, resulting in inconsistent luminous efficiency between different pixels.

Shanghai Tianma Micro-Electronics Co., Ltd.


Embodiments of the present invention provide III-V-on-insulator (IIIVOI) platforms for semiconductor devices and methods for fabricating the same. According to one embodiment, compositionally-graded buffer layers of III-V alloy are grown on a silicon substrate, and a smart cut technique is used to cut and transfer one or more layers of III-V alloy to a silicon wafer having an insulator layer such as an oxide. One or more transferred layers of III-V alloy can be etched away to expose a desired transferred layer of III-V alloy, upon which a semi-insulating buffer layer and channel layer can be grown to yield IIIVOI platform on which semiconductor devices (e.g., planar and/or 3-dimensional FETs) can be fabricated.

The fabrication of semiconductor devices involves forming electronic components in and on semiconductor substrates, such as silicon wafers. These electronic components may include one or more conductive layers, one or more insulation layers, and doped regions formed by implanting various dopants into portions of a semiconductor substrate to achieve specific electrical properties.
Field-effect transistors (FETs), such as planar metal-oxide-semiconductor FETs (MOSFETs) and 3-dimensional FinFETs, are semiconductor devices. Silicon on insulator (SOI) platforms for FETs comprise layered silicon-insulator-silicon substrates on which FETs can be built, and such platforms can reduce parasitic device capacitance and improve performance.
III-V FET technologies use compound semiconductors selected from group 13 (old group III) and group 15 (old group V) of the period table of elements, such as ternary III-V semiconductor alloys comprised of indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs). III-V FETs on silicon platforms (e.g., such as CMOS platforms) can be difficult to fabricate on account of mismatched lattices of III-V materials and silicon, which can cause strain at the interfaces of such materials and result in defects in the semiconductor devices.

Fabrication of III-V-on-insulator platforms for semiconductor devices

International Business Machines Corporation


A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a semiconductor structure, a metal pad, and a stress releasing material. The semiconductor structure is disposed on the substrate. The metal pad is disposed on the semiconductor structure. The metal pad includes a through hole therein. The stress releasing material is disposed in the through hole.

As development of integrated circuit (IC), the semiconductor industry has experienced continued rapid growth due to continuous improvements in the integration density of various electronic components such as transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, and the like. For the most part, these improvements in integration density have come from repeated reductions in minimum feature size, which allows more components to be integrated into a given area. These integration improvements are essentially two-dimensional in nature, in that the area occupied by the integrated components is essentially on the surface of the semiconductor wafer. Various techniques have been developed to attempt to incorporate extra dimensionality into IC structures. One technique is referred to as a two and a half dimensional structure. These structures typically have interposers having a die stacked on the interposer. Interposers have been used to redistribute ball contact areas from that of the chip to a larger area of the interposer. Other techniques stack chips in a three dimensional (3D) structure, which allows for greater functionality with a reduced footprint of the structure.

Semiconductor device, integrated circuit structure using the same, and manufacturing method thereof

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.


A polymer composition that contains a liquid crystalline polymer and a pearlescent filler is provided. By selectively controlling the type and relative concentration of these components, the polymer composition and shaped parts formed therefrom can be achieved that have a pearly luster appearance similar to parts plated with metals, such as copper, brass, or bronze.

Foodstuff articles (e.g., cookware and bakeware) are often formed from metals, such as copper, bronze, brass, etc. Although strong and very conductive, metal foodstuff articles tend to be relatively heavy, corrosive, and can produce loud and noisy sounds when handled. In light of the above, various attempts have been made to use high performance polymers, such as thermotropic liquid crystalline polymers, to manufacture some types of foodstuff articles due to their excellent chemical resistance and thermal properties. One of the difficulties with these polymers, however, is that their color is not readily altered by conventional means. This is particularly problematic for foodstuff articles in which a lustrous appearance is often desired. As such, a need currently exists for a liquid crystalline polymer composition that has a lustrous appearance for use in foodstuff articles.

Liquid crystalline composition having a pearly luster


A multiple address radio network in which there is a central station and remote radio sites. The central station transmits control and data acquisition signals to the radios at the remote radio sites and the radios at the remote radio sites transmit to the central station acquired data. Each remote radio has an automatic frequency calibration circuit for adjusting its associated remote radio to reduce frequency offset between the radio frequency carrier transmitted by the remote radio and the radio frequency carrier transmitted by the central station by adjusting the temperature compensated crystal oscillator of the automatic frequency calibration circuit. Toward this end, a microprocessor of the frequency calibration circuit detects and measures the offset frequency and controls a digital potentiometer for adjusting the temperature compensated crystal oscillator.

The present invention relates in general to multiple address radio systems and, more particularly, to a multiple address radio system having automatic radio frequency calibration.
In earlier multiple address systems between the central station and the remote radio sites, technicians were required to visit remote sites for calibration and adjustment of the frequency offset of the remote radio at the remote radio sites.
Temperature compensated crystal oscillators have been employed in the transmission of radio frequency signals from a central station and from the remote radios at the remote radio sites. Over a period of time, temperature compensated crystal oscillator frequencies may vary. The variations in the oscillation frequencies for temperature compensated crystal oscillators are not consistent, or the same. Therefore, the output radio frequency of the central station and the output radio frequency of a remote radio at a remote radio site may vary. In narrow band channels, a radio frequency offset between a central station and a remote radio at a remote radio site tend to degrade data communication quality.
Remote radios at remote radio sites have employed automatic radio frequency control. In the use of automatic radio frequency control, a voltage at the remote radio site is sampled and temporarily held in order to change the bias voltage of the temperature compensated crystal oscillator. The bias voltage momentarily alters the output radio frequency of the temperature compensated crystal oscillator. For a remote transceiver radio which changes between a receive state and a transmit state continuously while being polled, a delay in the automatic radio frequency control can increase the bit error rate. At fringe areas in which the signal strength from the master station is weak, a remote transceiver radio using automatic radio frequency control may tend to track and lock onto an incorrect central station.

Multiple address radio system having automatic radio calibration for reducing frequency offset between radio frequency carriers


A cartridge may be loaded with a powder column containing stratified, stacked layers of propellant, each powder layer over-compressed to a specified degree, with the burn rate controlled by the specified degree of over-compression applied to each respective powder layer. The application of a highly compressed powder column reduces the burn rate, and may force one or more of the powder layers to launch with the projectile down the barrel. Accordingly, the powder column is forced to burn in a manner similar to fuel burning in a solid fuel rocket engine. This greatly reduces the pressure(s) developed in the chamber, and permits the force of the burning powder to be efficiently focused on forward propulsion. The rapidly increasing set of sequential ignitions provides higher and higher energy densities with each subsequent ignition, and creates a more uniform linear acceleration of the projectile for the full length of the target barrel.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to cartridges for guns and ordnances, and more specifically to cartridges having rapidly increasing sequential ignitions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most projectiles are conventionally accelerated using chamber-based systems, in which a pressure spike is created in a cartridge. Following that pressure spike, the ability to accelerate a projectile using the full length of a desired barrel is greatly diminished, resulting in an untapped potential of the barrel length for optimized acceleration. The most common approach to solving this problem has been the use of stratified propellants, or blended powders using regular powders intermixed with powder containing chemical retardants to slow the natural burn rate of the powder to extend the burn further down the barrel. Both methods add unnecessary cost and complexity to manufacturing the desired cartridge-based solutions. Most stratified propellant approaches utilize a lacquer or resin that must cure prior to loading the next layer of powder, which is undesirable during commercial manufacturing. Another approach has been the use of spacers, typically consisting of metal, felt, or other similar materials placed between powder layers to deflagrate the natural burn rate. These methods can reduce the case volume and present mass production challenges in the insertion process. Powders with retardants are less efficient, more costly, and are limited in their ability to provide ever-increasing pressure for the full length of a barrel. Duplex loads have also been attempted, whereby a layer of one type of powder is stacked directly above a layer of another type of powder without a barrier. This method, however, has been minimally effective, as a flashover of both powders can occur. The second layer of powder can only burn slightly faster, or the flashover of the two powders can create dangerous pressures and lower velocities. Some prior art solutions are presented below for reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 34,615, A. Shannon in 1862 references perforated diaphragms whereby the number of perforations determines the burn rate between layers.
U.S. Pat. No. 751,519 describes the use of tinfoil or felt diaphragms to slow the burn rate between layers.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,920,075 describes the use of lacquer or salt discs to separate layers as well as igniting from the front and moving rearward.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,072,671 describes cellulose capsules mixed throughout powder intended to delay the second ignition.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,622 describes using gas permeable barriers to separate charges.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,541 describes the use of a hermetic barrier comprised of polymeric resin and a support disc.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,062 describes the uses of a cellulosic thermoplastic deterrent or burn rate modifier.
There exists, therefore, a need for a simpler, more efficient way to manufacture cartridges that can accelerate a projectile to higher velocities with lower pressures and recoil.

Cartridge with rapidly increasing sequential ignitions for guns and ordnances


A system for communicating information between at least two medical devices implanted within the body of a subject using volume conduction of electrical signals as a means of communication and wherein one of the implanted medical devices is configured to provide electrical stimulation to the tissue is disclosed. The system comprises a first implant device having at least two transmit electrodes configured to transmit electrical stimulation pulses, wherein one of the electrodes may be a common return electrode, an encoding means configured to employ a channel as a transmitter transmission medium for stimulation pulses and encoding the information into the stimulation pulses, a second implant device having at least two receive electrodes configured to receive the transmitted stimulation pulses with encoded information, and a decoding means configured to decode the information encoded into the stimulation pulses. The disclosed system provides reliable and efficient communication between implantable devices.

Patent document WO2007/028035 discloses a system for communicating information within the body of an animal. The system comprises a first device comprising a transmitter configured to transmit a signal via a quasi electrostatic coupling to the body of the patient and a second device comprising a receiver configured to receive the transmitted signal via a quasi electrostatic coupling to the body of the patient. The data is transmitted using a carrier signal having a carrier frequency typically in the range of about 10-100 KHz. Data is encoded using known modulation techniques such as amplitude modulation, frequency modulation or phase modulation of the carrier signal.
The solution disclosed in WO2007/028035 may not be well suited for electro-stimulation devices as the stimuli can contaminate the data signals. This can result in unreliable data transmission. Further, the data signal generation may require additional electronics. Dedicated signal generation circuits may be needed to generate the data carrying signal and dedicated transmit/receive electrode pairs may be needed to transmit and receive the data signals.
Hence, it would be advantageous to have an improved system that can reliably communicate information between two medical devices implanted within the body of a subject.

System and method for communicating information between implantable devices


A safety switch input diagnosis device includes a circuit formed from a series connection of an emergency stop switch and a line having a resistor. A connection state of the emergency stop switch and failure modes of the lines are diagnosed on the basis of a voltage value at one end of the circuit. Consequently, an operation of the switch and failure modes of a circuit relating to the switch can be diagnosed.

As a technology relating to functional safety support of an operation switch for emergency stop action, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a wiring method for a robot for causing a plurality of robot controllers to perform emergency stop action by an operation of a single operation switch. The wiring method is performed by a robot system configured from a single master controller that includes a first safety monitoring section that performs emergency stop action on the basis of whether or not a safety input signal via the operation switch is inputted and a second safety monitoring section that performs emergency stop action on the basis of whether or not a safety input signal via the operation switch is inputted and outputs a permission signal, and equal to or more than slave controllers each including the first safety monitoring section and emergency stopping means that acts in response to the permission signal. In the wiring method, the master controller wires an input path for a safety input signal via the operation switch and an output path for the permission signal outputted from the second safety monitoring section of the master controller in such a manner as to allow outputting to the outside, connects the operation switch and the master controller to each other by a first connection cable, and connects the master controller and the slave controller to each other by a second connection table. The slave controller connects the first safety monitoring section to the input path for the safety input signal and connects the emergency stop means to the output path or the permission signal.

Safety switch input diagnosis device and work machine using safety switch input diagnosis device

HITACHI CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY CO., LTD.


A swiveling fluid connector includes a flexible fluid conduit connected to a check valve mounted for rotation. The flexible fluid conduit is connected between the check valve and a stationary fluid conduit. The check valve is mounted for rotating considerably with respect to the stationary fluid conduit. The flexible fluid conduit flexes to allow for rotation of the check valve relative to the stationary fluid conduit, and maintains leak-tight communication between the check valve and the stationary fluid conduit. The check valve extends through an aperture in a plate mounted in a gas services unit. Flanges on opposite ends of the check valve cooperate with the opposite surfaces of the plate to retain the check valve in the aperture, yet allow rotation of the check valve. The rotation of the check valve is limited to an acceptable range by the cooperation between protrusions and stops. The protrusions are connected to and travel with the check valve. The stops restrict travel of the protrusions, and therefore rotation of the check valve. The outlet of the check valve is preferably connected to a fluid conduit assembly having a spring-loaded base that expands to fix the fluid conduit assembly between the bottom of the check valve and a bottom shelf of the gas services unit. The expansion also fluidly connects the fluid conduit assembly to the check valve. A gas service device is connected to the fluid conduit assembly. The swiveling fluid connector allows the gas service device to be rotated. The swiveling fluid connector is constructed and arranged in a manner seeks to preclude any leakage from the gas services unit, even after numerous pivoting cycles.

Gas services units are well known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,962 discloses a prior art gas services unit. Gas services units typically provide gas related services, such as compressed air, oxygen and vacuum, to rooms in health care facilities. A gas services unit typically includes an outer shell or housing that is secured into a recess in a wall. Gas service devices, such as gas flow meters and vacuum control boxes, are housed within the shell of a gas services unit. The gas service devices are in fluid communication with remotely located gas and vacuum reserves by way of fluid conduits. A gas services unit may also include a cover, such as a picture or the like, that can be moved to alternately cover and provide access to the gas service devices therein. It is believed that by covering the gas service devices, a room in a heath care facility appears more comfortable to patients.
With conventional wall construction, the depth of the recesses that receive gas services units is limited. Therefore, a gas service device must be rotated out of its gas services unit when in use, and rotated into the gas services unit when not in use so that it can be covered. The rotating is typically facilitated by swiveling fluid connectors. An example of a prior art swiveling fluid connector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,962.
It is extremely important that swiveling fluid connectors in gas services units not leak, even after many pivot cycles. For example, oxygen leaking from a swiveling fluid connector in a gas services unit is a fire hazard. It is believed that prior swiveling fluid connectors might be susceptible to leakage after many pivot cycles. Further, prior swiveling fluid connectors must be disassembled to inspect components thereof that are critical to leak-tightness.
Thus, a need exists for new and improved swiveling fluid connectors of the type acceptable for use in gas services units.


A bearing arrangement for an internal-combustion engine forms a unit with a transmission and is mounted transversely in a body of a vehicle is held on the vehicle body by way of at least one bearing and at least one torque support.

This application claims the priority of German application 196 28 181.4 filed in Germany on Jul. 12, 1996, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a bearing arrangement for an internal-combustion engine which forms a unit with a transmission, which unit is mounted transversely of a vehicle driven thereby and is held on the vehicle body by way of at least one bearing and one torque support.
From European Patent Document EP 0 297 226 B1, a bearing arrangement for an internal-combustion engine is known by way of which an engine transmission unit is held in the vehicle body. The bearing arrangement for the unit installed transversely in the vehicle consists of two torque supports connected with the front wall of the body and arranged vertically offset with respect to one another. Additional elastic bearings are provided on the engine and on the transmission case. These bearings are arranged on both sides of a center-of-mass plane.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved bearing arrangement for a drive assembly in a motor vehicle which, in addition to a simple construction, has a space-saving arrangement of the bearings. Furthermore, a targeted support in the case of the charge cycle forces is to be ensured.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by means of an arrangement of the above referred to type, wherein a first elastic bearing is arranged on the transmission case and second and third additional bearings are arranged on a face of the engine compartment, said second bearing being constructed as an elastic stop bearing and said third bearing comprising a torque support which extends against a vehicle driving direction, and wherein the first and second bearings are arranged on the transmission case approximately in a horizontal plane.
The principal advantages achieved by means of the invention are that, for the bearing arrangement of the drive assembly, only three bearings are required, a torque support and a stop bearing being provided on the frontal side of the engine compartment. Another bearing is fastened on the transmission case. The bearings are arranged such locally with respect to the drive unit that a targeted movement of the drive assembly, particularly in the case of charge cycle forces and in the case of an idling vibration is achieved and the bearings, in addition, can be arranged in low-vibration areas. During the idling vibration, the drive assembly will swivel about a swivel axis extending through the two upper bearings. In the case of charge cycle reactions, an imaginary swivel axis will occur between the three bearings.
The stop bearing, together with the bearing fastened on the transmission case, is provided approximately in a horizontal plane by means of which a swivel axis of the drive assembly is formed which extends slightly diagonally with respect to this plane.
The stop bearing has an elastic bearing element with stops which are constructed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and may have an elastic construction. As a result, an elastic limitation of the swivel movement about the swivel axis is to take place. In particular, one stop has a curved construction and the opposite stop has a plane construction which permits an optimal stop function during a swivel movement of the drive assembly.
The elastic bearings for forming the swivelling axis are preferably constructed with a horizontal axis, whereas the stop bearing has a vertical axis. The bearing on the transmission case is arranged on the top side of the case so that the drive assembly virtually hangs on this bearing. The two other bearings are arranged such that the drive assembly stands on these bearings.
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.

Bearing arrangement for an internal combustion engine


An apparatus for regulating power allocated to components within a computer system includes a sensor to sense power drawn by a first device within a computer system, the first device having device resources needed to satisfy functional demand required of the first device. A second sensor is provided to sense power drawn by a second device within the computer system, the second device having device resources needed to satisfy functional demand required of the second device. A power-monitoring module is provided to monitor the power drawn and the functional demand required of the first and second devices. A system control module, operably connected to the power-monitoring modules, is provided to regulate power allocated to the first and second devices by optimizing use of the device resources in accordance with the temperature, power drawn, and respective functional demands of the devices.

1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to digital computers, and more particularly, to unique apparatus and methods for conserving and managing power allocated to expansion cards and other devices within a computer system.
2. The Relevant Art
In an effort to increase the functionality, flexibility, and utility of today's personal computers, workstations, servers, and the like, expansion buses such as the PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus have been provided to enable a user to mix and match desired add-on components in a computer system. Expansion buses typically interface with the main bus or local bus connected to a CPU through a bridge or other interface device. Thus, an expansion bus may operate at a different clock speed and may use different data transfer protocols than are used by a CPU and associated components connected to a local bus.
As add-on or expansion components continue to have improved performance, various existing expansion bus technologies may be reaching their limits in terms of data rates, power consumption, expandability, and the like. Moreover, as performance of these components continues to increase, the amount of power these components consume becomes an important issue to proper operation of an expansion bus. Most buses are designed to allocate pre-determined amounts of power to components connected thereto. For example, the PCI bus specification allocates 25 watts to each connected device. Nevertheless, certain components may exceed this rated allotment at times, thereby overloading the bus and associated power supply.
Power supplies are often expensive compared to other components in a computer system. The cost of a power supply may be directly related to its rated wattage. Thus, providing a power supply that is sufficient for a system, with little excess capacity, may contribute to keeping the cost of computers relatively low. Moreover, apparatus and methods used to decrease power consumed by components in a computer may enable a computer to have a lower rated power supply.
Moreover, various expansion cards may use excessive amounts of power, even when used very little. That is, due to leakage currents, high clock speeds, and the like, even when an expansion card is doing very little actual work or processing, power may be unnecessarily wasted. The use of multiple expansion cards may compound this problem, each consuming more power than is necessary. Situations such as these may easily overload rated power supplied by a bus, such as a PCI bus. Moreover, as various computing components continue to decrease in size while they increase in performance, the need for more power may make the devices larger than is necessary due to battery size.
Thus, apparatus and methods are needed to regulate, allocate, and control power provided to devices, such as expansion and add-on cards connected within a computer system. Apparatus and methods are further needed to adjust device parameters such as clock speed, logic wait states, and the like within an expansion or other device to decrease the power required by such devices.

Computer-component power-consumption monitoring and control


At each side of a ridge stripe 110, a trench is formed as a region carved relative to a wafer surface so that, at the time of cleaving, a surface irregularity that develops at a mirror facet near an active layer is prevented from reaching the ridge stripe 110.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nitride semiconductor laser element and to a fabrication method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a nitride semiconductor laser element having a nitride semiconductor laid on a substrate, like a nitride semiconductor substrate, that has a defect-concentrated region, and to a fabrication method of such a nitride semiconductor laser element.
2. Description of Related Art
Nitride semiconductors are compounds of a group III element—such as Al, Ga, or In—and N, which is a group V element. For their band structure and chemical stability, nitride semiconductors have been arousing expectations as materials for light-emitting elements and power devices, and have been tried in various applications. Particularly many attempts have been made to fabricate, as light sources for optical information recording apparatuses, nitride semiconductor laser elements that emit blue light.
In such a nitride semiconductor laser element, using a nitride semiconductor substrate that has the same cleavage direction as the nitride semiconductor layer laid on the surface thereof helps improve the lattice matching between the substrate and the nitride semiconductor layer laid thereon, and also helps eliminate a difference in thermal expansion coefficient. In that way, it is possible to reduce the strains, defects, and the like that develop in the nitride semiconductor laser element, and thereby to extend its lifetime. Inconveniently, however, a nitride semiconductor substrate contains defects (such as voids, interstitial atoms, and dislocations, which disturb the regularity of the crystal), and the density of such defects strongly affects the lifetime of the nitride semiconductor laser element.
Thus, in nitride semiconductor substrates, reduced defect densities are sought. One publicly reported method for fabricating a GaN substrate with a low defect density is as follows (see Applied Physics Letter. Vol. 73 No. 6 (1998) pp. 832-834). By an MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition) process, on a sapphire substrate, a 2.0 μm thick GaN layer is grown and then, further thereon, a 0.1 μm thick SiO2 mask pattern having periodic stripe-shaped openings (with a period of 11 μm) is formed; then, again by an MOCVD process, a 20 μm thick GaN is formed. In this way, a wafer is produced.
This is a technology called an ELOG (epitaxial lateral overgrowth) process, which exploits lateral growth to reduce defects. Subsequently, by an HVPE (hydride vapor phase epitaxy) process, a 200 μm thick GaN layer is formed, and then the sapphire substrate that forms the base layer is removed. In this way, a 150 μm thick GaN substrate is produced, and its surface is then polished flat. It is known that the GaN substrate thus produced has a dislocation density as low as 106 cm−2 or less.
Inconveniently, however, even when a nitride semiconductor laser element is fabricated by laying a nitride semiconductor layer on such a low-defect nitride semiconductor substrate, since the nitride semiconductor layer itself is composed of different kinds of film such as GaN, AlGaN, and InGaN, the differences in lattice constant among the individual films forming the nitride semiconductor layer produce lattice mismatch. As a result, the nitride semiconductor layer develops strains and cracks, which greatly influence the deterioration and hence the yield of the nitride semiconductor laser element.
Under this background, there has been developed the following method. A nitride semiconductor substrate is used that has, formed on the surface thereof, a groove, i.e., a lower-leveled portion, and a ridge, i.e., a higher-leveled portion. On this nitride semiconductor substrate, a nitride semiconductor layer is grown. This releases the strains in the nitride semiconductor layer, and thus helps reduce cracks. With this method, it is possible to reduce the cracks and strains attributable to the substrate and also the cracks and strains attributable to the lattice mismatch among the individual films forming the nitride semiconductor layer formed on the substrate. In this way, it is possible to alleviate the deterioration of and hence improve the yield of the nitride semiconductor laser element (see JP-A-2004-356454 and JP-A-2005-064469).
FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the conventional nitride semiconductor laser element just described. This nitride semiconductor laser element 50 has an n-type GaN substrate 501 as a nitride semiconductor substrate. The n-type GaN substrate 501 has, in a part thereof, a defect-concentrated region 518, and has, elsewhere than in the defect-concentrated region 518, a low-defect region. On the n-type GaN substrate 501, a nitride semiconductor layer is grown epitaxially. Thus, this nitride semiconductor layer also has, in a part thereof, a defect-concentrated region 518a grown from the defect-concentrated region 518 of the n-type GaN substrate 501, and have, elsewhere than in the defect-concentrated region 518a, a low-defect region. Moreover, the n-type GaN substrate 501 is etched in a part thereof where it has the defect-concentrated region 518 to form a stripe-shaped groove, so that, in a part where the defect-concentrated regions 518 and 518a of the n-type GaN substrate 501 and the nitride semiconductor layer are located, a groove 500 is formed that appears etched relative to the low-defect region.
More specifically, in the n-type GaN substrate 501, above the defect-concentrated region 518, a 6 μm deep groove 500a is formed. Then, on this n-type GaN substrate 501, a nitride semiconductor layer is laid through semiconductor growth using an MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition) method. The nitride semiconductor layer thus formed on the n-type GaN substrate 501 is composed of, from the bottom up: a lower contact layer 502 formed of n-type GaN; lower three-layer clad layers 503 formed of n-type AlGaN of different compositions; a lower guide layer 504 formed of n-type GaN; an active layer 505 composed of a multiple quantum well structure formed of InGaN; an evaporation prevention layer 506 formed of p-type AlGaN; an upper guide layer 507 formed of p-type GaN; an upper clad layer 508 formed of p-type GaN; and an upper contact layer 509 formed of p-type GaN.
Furthermore, the nitride semiconductor laser element 50 has a ridge stripe 510 formed on the low-defect region of the nitride semiconductor layer. Moreover, over both side walls of the ridge stripe 510 and over the etched floor surface that appears when the ridge stripe 510 is formed, a burying layer 511, which is a dielectric layer formed of SiO2, is laid to produce a stepwise refractive index distribution parallel to the active layer 505 and thereby to achieve confinement in a horizontal lateral mode. The burying layer 511 also serves as a current constricting layer, and thereby permits electric power to be supplied only via the summit of the ridge stripe 510. To enable the nitride semiconductor laser element 50 to receive electric power from outside, a p-type electrode 512 is deposited over the summit of the ridge stripe 510 and over the burying layer 511, and an n-type electrode 513 is deposited over the entire bottom surface of the nitride semiconductor laser element 50.
The nitride semiconductor laser element 50 structured as described above achieves confinement of light with the stepwise refractive index distribution in the ridge stripe 510, and thereby achieves stable lasing in a horizontal lateral mode. When actually fabricated samples of this nitride semiconductor laser element are operated at 60° C., at a low output of 30 mW, a proportion as large as 80% of them have lifetimes of 3 000 hours or more. Thus, by forming in the wafer a groove that produces a carved region 500 as described above, it is possible to achieve extremely high yields.
Inconveniently, however, when conventional nitride semiconductor laser elements 50 fabricated by common processes such as photolithography, vacuum evaporation, polishing, cleaving, and coating are operated in CW (continuous wave) lasing up to an output as high as 100 mW or more, a certain proportion of them end up in element breakdown without reaching a sufficient optical output to achieve the desired reliability. Among these conventional nitride semiconductor laser elements, the proportion of those that end up in element breakdown increases as the duration they are operated increases. Thus, depending on the operating conditions, it may occur that most of the fabricated nitride semiconductor laser elements 50 do not offer the desired reliability. As a result, when conventional nitride semiconductor laser elements are fabricated as elements to be operated at an output as high as 100 mW or more, not only are their yields extremely low, but also, when actually operated for long durations, they are liable to suffer sudden breakdown.
Investigating the Cause of Failure of Nitride Semiconductor Laser Elements
To investigate the cause of the breakdown that a conventional nitride semiconductor laser element 50 structured as shown in FIG. 11 suffers before reaching a sufficient optical output, we, the applicant of the present application, conducted an examination of the nitride semiconductor laser element 50. Specifically, to investigate the cause of the breakdown of the nitride semiconductor laser element 50, with samples thereof that suffered breakdown, we removed the coating laid on a mirror facet thereof, and examined a ridge stripe 510 portion of the mirror facet under an electronic microscope.
Through the examination of the ridge stripe 510 portion of the mirror facet under an electronic microscope, we confirmed that, as shown in FIG. 12, which is an enlarged schematic view of the ridge stripe 510 portion, a surface irregularity 517 had developed on the mirror facet of the nitride semiconductor layer, the surface irregularity 517 extending parallel to the nitride semiconductor layer. This surface irregularity 517 that developed on the mirror facet had a shape as shown in FIG. 13A or 13B, either of which is an enlarged schematic cross-sectional view taken along line A-A shown in FIG. 12.
Here, the side where the p-type electrode 512 was located was the top side, and, whereas the cleavage facet 520 of the part of the nitride semiconductor layer located above the surface irregularity 517 and the cleavage facet 521 of the part of the nitride semiconductor layer located below the surface irregularity 517 were both flat, with a surface roughness of about 3 Å in RMS value, the surface irregularity 517 was as large as several tens of nanometers. That is, either, as shown in FIG. 13A, the cleavage facet 521 below the surface irregularity 517 projected relative to the cleavage facet 520 above the surface irregularity 517 or, as shown in FIG. 13B, the cleavage facet 520 above the surface irregularity 517 projected relative to the cleavage surface 521 below the surface irregularity 517. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 14, which is a schematic view of the entire cleavage facet, the surface irregularity 517 extended parallel to the nitride semiconductor layer over a length of several tens of micrometers to several hundred micrometers.
We then examined particularly closely, of the above surface irregularity 517 that developed on the mirror facet of the nitride semiconductor laser element 50, the portion where the ridge stripe 510 confined light. We thereby found that the surface irregularity 517 concentrated at the interfaces between the individual layers, such as the active layer 505 and the evaporation prevention layer 506, located between the lower guide layer 504 and the upper guide layer 507. On the other hand, we also confirmed that, without such a surface irregularity 517, the nitride semiconductor laser element 50 offered sufficient reliability when operated at an output as high as 100 mW or more.
As described above, conventional nitride semiconductor laser elements are prone to develop a surface irregularity on the mirror facet, the surface irregularity extending parallel to the nitride semiconductor layer. As a result, when operated in CW lasing up to a high output, they may suffer element breakdown without reaching a sufficient optical output. Thus, when they are fabricated as elements to be operated at an output as high as 100 mW or more, not only are the yields of properly functioning elements extremely low, but also, when actually operated for long durations, they may suffer sudden breakdown.

Nitride semiconductor laser element and fabrication method thereof


Improved clustered storage systems make use of a software toggle switch stored in a shared persistent configuration database, which allows a peer node to be rebooted into a FIPS 140 mode defined by the switch and then to take over as master while the original master node reboots into the new FIPS 140 mode as defined by the switch. Advantageously, system availability is maintained as the nodes are rebooted sequentially while a master is always available. The persistent switch allows for synchronization, while also allowing persistence of state even in the event of a system crash.

Cryptography is an important feature of modern computing systems, as it allows communication to occur without fear of eavesdropping. However, there are various degrees of cryptography, some of which are more robust and reliable than others. The Federal government has established certain standards regarding acceptable cryptographic algorithms. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has circulated the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publications 140-1 and 140-2 (generally, FIPS 140) to promulgate these standards.
The FIPS 140-2 standard establishes a Cryptographic Module Validation Program to validate that particular cryptographic modules are accredited as being in compliance with FIPS 140-2 standards. Conventional management applications that implement the Cryptographic Module Validation Program, only permits certain cryptographic methods to be used for sensitive information to the exclusion of less robust cryptographic methods. Both hardware and software modules can be validated to be FIPS 140-2 compliant.

Techniques for persistently toggling a FIPS-140 cryptographic mode of a clustered storage system


An Internet business transaction processor of the present invention has a distributed processing architecture which allows the processing load to be distributed among multiple parallel servers. The transaction processor of the present invention provides a virtual store front utilizing “others people's warehouse” approach by using a dynamic distributor selection processing system to select among a plurality of distributors based on flexible rule-based algorithm. Furthermore, a multi-level fraud check processing system allows orders to be processes that would otherwise be discarded to generate a higher yield in sales.

Traditionally, commodities such as computer related products, for example, have been sold primarily through retail stores and catalogs and, more recently, through telephone sales supported by infomercials and other print and media advertising. However these traditional models for selling computer related products suffer significant disadvantages.
Store-based retailers have limited shelf space due to costly inventory and real estate investment considerations. This limits the number of products store-based retailers can offer to their customers. Also, the personnel required to operate stores are expensive and can be difficult to hire and train. The physical store's need for personnel also limits the flexibility and efficiency of the sales process. The number of customers that can be served and the quality of service is dependent on the number of personnel dedicated to the sales process.
Store-based retailers also face the financial risk of carrying inventory that may quickly become obsolete. Physical possession of inventory also limits the speed at which these retailers can change their merchandise mix and offer new products. This is because a store must physically obtain, set up and display the products. Physical stores also can only serve customers in a limited geographic area because the customers must travel to the store to shop. To extend this limited reach, new stores must be opened in different geographic locations. However, the time required and the significant investments in inventory, real estate and personnel required at each new location, make it difficult to expand quickly into new geographic regions.
Catalog-based (e.g., mail-order) retailing provides only a partial solution to the disadvantages of store-based retailing. Catalogs do provide customers with the convenience of shopping from home or the office at flexible times. However, catalog merchandising is costly and wasteful because paper, printing, and postage are increasingly expensive and a large percentage of people to whom catalogs are sent will not use them. Also, the number of products catalogs can feature and the product information they can provide are limited due to catalog mailing, printing and other related expenses.
Catalogs are also very inflexible and provide only limited accessibility. In order to change products or prices, the catalog must be reprinted and redistributed which is both costly and time consuming. Furthermore, catalogs' accessibility is limited in that they are available only to those people to whom they are sent. Also, the catalog shopping experience is, in general, neither interactive nor personalized, yet requires extensive personnel support and manual intervention on behalf of the retailer to take and process orders.
The more recent advent of the combination of infomercials and other advertising supporting telephone sales also provides only a partial solution. The ability to order by phone provides the same inconvenience that the catalog does. However, infomercial and other advertising is extremely expensive. They are also limited in their geographic scope. Typical media outlets serve only a relatively small geographic area. To expand the geographic scope of advertising, additional media outlets in different locations must be used. This greatly increases expenses. Advertising is also limited in duration. Expense increases drastically upon extending the term of the advertising.
The advertisements and infomercials that describe the products are also limited in the scope of products they can cover. The expense limits the size of print advertising and the duration of radio and television advertising. These limitations restrict the number of products that can be covered. They also restrict the amount of information that can be provided for the products.
Recently, the Internet has emerged as a powerful new global communications and commerce medium that represents a radical new way for people to share information and conduct business electronically. Though the Internet has been well known for several years, it has been mainly used for research and as an educational medium. Hence people were initially slow to adopt it as a common means of conducting retail commerce. However, with technology advancing such that personal computers are now an affordable commodity for the average household, more and more personal computers are being acquired for home usage. In conjunction with increased computer awareness and usage, affordability and ease of accessibility to the Internet from an average household has given birth to a new type of commercial medium referred to as Electronic Commerce (i.e., E-Commerce).
The increasing functionality, accessibility and overall usage of the Internet have made it an attractive commercial medium that can offer solutions to many of the shortcomings of the traditional retail models. For instance, the Internet has radically changed the relationship between customers. Online retailers can, from a single remote computer, interact directly and simultaneously with customers across the globe.
The Internet also eliminates the traditional retail models' limited availability and barriers to expansion. On the Internet, a store is accessible throughout the world around the clock. The limitations associated with printed catalogs are eliminated as well. There is no incremental cost associated with making Internet content available to people who will not use it. Internet also provides easy adaptability to changing market conditions and allowing an interactive, customizable retail experience.
Online retailers can respond more rapidly to customer demand by frequently modifying their product offerings, shopping interfaces and pricing, simply by modifying their Web site. Additionally, the Internet improves on the limited amount of information that can be conveyed in the catalog and advertising/telephone sales models of retail sales. Web sites are inexpensive relative to the number of potential customers they reach, allowing much more information can be provided on a Web site than in any advertisement.
However, even with the advantages that is associated with the usage of the Internet as a commercial medium, there are still drawbacks in the currently existing E-Commerce retail businesses. In particular, most E-Commerce retail businesses mainly use the Internet and Web pages as an advertising medium to replace the previous catalog/infomercial type advertisements. Although some of the businesses have begun accepting product orders online via email or Web pages, the current E-Commerce businesses for the most part have adopted a hybrid business model in which the traditional business models are coupled with E-Commerce business practices.
For instance, the usage of the Internet has replaced a few of the traditional business practices such as advertising and order processing, but most of the so-called E-Commerce retail businesses of the prior art still operate by maintaining an inventory. That is to say, the current online businesses still maintain inventories in warehouses that store the merchandise to be sold. As described above, the costs associated with such business practices are high, especially in the computer related products market where their relatively short life cycle and the rapid adoption of new technologies and products make the traditional inventory store and catalog sales models particularly problematic. If the computer products are not sold in a relatively short period of time, the unsold merchandise will become obsolete due to the fast pace in which technology is evolving.
Furthermore, some of the prior art E-Commerce systems are prone to unnecessary down-time due to dependence of out-sourced services resulting in loss of sales during the down-time period. In particular, the primary use of credit cards as the preferred method of payment over the Internet has made checking for credit card fraud a necessity. To that end, almost all E-Commerce businesses are connected to a financial service center for processing fraud checks. However, if the connection to the service center is down for any reason, process of sales is halted until a fraud check can be performed. Additionally, most E-Commerce businesses rely exclusively on the results of the commercially available fraud check institutions. If the criteria set by the fraud check institution are too high, then sales that would otherwise have been profitable are lost.

Multi-level fraud check with dynamic feedback for internet business transaction processor