A pressure sensor sub-assembly (18) has a solid-state sensing element (22) mounted on a laminated ceramic substrate (20) and has the electrical signal contacts (22a) on the sensing element electrically connected to connector pins (24) on the substrate. A manufacturing process can fabricate a batch of sub-assemblies on a substrate structure that is sub-divided to form the separate sub-assemblies. The sensor sub-assemblies can be tested, and graded, before or after the sub-division step, and then each mounted in a housing.

This invention relates to apparatus and manufacturing methods for pressure sensors that employ pressure-sensitive diaphragms. It relates in particular to apparatus and assembly methods, including mechanical and electrical features, for a discrete sensor sub-assembly having a solid-state sensing element that includes the sensing diaphragm. The sub-assembly provides a minimal configuration for testing the electrical response of the diaphragm to pressure variations, before assembly within a housing.
Typical solid-state pressure sensing elements mount a thin silicon diaphragm above an open chamber. Pressure variations cause the diaphragm to deflect into and out of the chamber. The deflections cause changes in an electrical parameter, typically capacitance or resistance, that can be measured and converted into pressure-responsive information.
The use of solid-state pressure sensing elements in hostile work environments typically requires a housing that surrounds and protects the sensing element from direct contact with the fluid being measured. One conventional housing has a metal base covered with a flexible isolation diaphragm that separates the sensing diaphragm from the fluid being measured, and that deflects with the changing pressure of the fluid. A non-corrosive, inert fill fluid is within the housing, between the isolation diaphragm and the sensing diaphragm, and transmits the pressure being measured to the sensing diaphragm. Electrical leads carrying signals from the sensing element to external contacts of the pressure sensor pass through an hermetic seal to exit from the housing. This seal is typically achieved separately for each contact with a glass-to-metal bond through the metal base.
The sensing element conventionally is tested after assembly within the housing. This results in needless expense of materials and labor, if the testing reveals a defect, for example, in the sensing element or the connections to it.
It accordingly is an object of this invention to provide an improved apparatus and manufacturing method for diaphragm pressure sensor devices, including a low cost testable format.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for the low-cost manufacture of a silicon-diaphragm pressure sensor having superior performance.
Another object of the invention is to provide pressure sensor apparatus, and a manufacturing method for the apparatus, that employ a solid-state sensing element and that operates with minimal spurious signal artifacts due to mechanical disturbance, e.g., from distortion or other unwanted stress, of the sensing element.
Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description.

Pressure sensor having a laminated substrate


In a virtual infrastructure, a single appliance is provided that hosts a centralized virtual machine monitor (VMM) control plane to effectively establish a single virtual switch across all virtual machines within one or more clusters of servers, thereby reducing the number of management points for the network administrator and facilitating easier VM migration.

Virtualization essentially transforms hardware into software by creating multiple virtual machines on one physical computer. The virtual machines thus share hardware resources without interfering with each other, enabling multiple operating systems and applications to execute at the same time on a single computer, for example, by using a virtual machine hypervisor to allocate hardware resources dynamically and transparently so that multiple operating systems can run concurrently on a single physical computer. In essence, a virtual machine is thus a tightly isolated software container that can run its own operating systems and applications as if it were a physical computer. A virtual machine behaves like a physical computer and contains its own virtual (i.e., software-based) CPU, RAM hard disk and network interface card (NIC). In this way, utilization of costly hardware resources is maximized.
Because multiple virtual machines (VM) may reside on a single computer, management points multiply, complicating VM management particularly with respect to network access control.

Centralized control plane appliance for virtual infrastructure


A heat exchanger comprising: gas flow path means for defining a flow path for flue gases from a boiler; liquid flow path means for defining a flow path for a liquid through the heat exchanger; and heat transfer means for transferring heat from the gas in the gas flow path means to the liquid in the liquid flow path means, wherein the heat transfer means forms a first thermal store.

Boilers such as combination boilers are used in many homes to provide both heating and a source of instant hot water. Typically a hot water tank is dispensed with such that, when hot water is desired, cold water is drawn directly from the cold main and is passed through a heat exchanger within the boiler, the heat exchanger being directly heated by the burning of gas. The boiler only has a finite maximum power output and hence only this maximum power can be delivered into the water, less any thermal inefficiency within the boiler. Thus, the product of the flow rate of water through the boiler and the temperature rise occurring within the boiler is limited to a maximum value. In practice that means that turning the hot tap on for a fast flow might result in the delivery of warm, but not hot water and consequently to obtain hotter water the flow rate through the boiler must be reduced such that a larger temperature rise can obtained. Local climate has a significant effect on the water temperature of the cold water main. Seasonal variations within, for example, Great Britain may cause the cold water temperature to vary within a range of typically 5° C. to 20° C. Domestic boilers are generally designed to raise the cold main temperature by 35° C. at their nominal maximum flow rate. The maximum flow rate is often determined by a restrictor (often in the form of a plastic washer) within the cold water feed path to the boiler.

Heat exchanger suitable for a boiler, and a boiler including such a heat exchanger


An interface assembly (20) and method for testing a semiconductor wafer prior to performing a flip chip bumping process are provided. The interface assembly includes a flip chip bonding pad (24) having a region (28) for performing the bumping process. A test pad (22) is integrally constructed with the bonding pad and includes a probe region (26) for performing wafer-level testing prior to performing the bumping process. The integral construction of the bonding and testing pads avoids, for example, an introduction of propagation delays to test signals passing therethrough, thereby improving the accuracy and reliability of wafer test results.

By way of background, flip chip microelectronic assembly generally refers to a direct electrical connection of face-down (hence, "flipped") electronic components onto substrates, circuit boards, or carriers, by means of conductive bumps on the chip bond pads. By way of comparison, wire bonding technology generally uses face-up chips with a wire connection to each pad. Flip chip technology has inter alia enabled substantial input/output (I/O) connection flexibility. For example, wire bond connections are generally limited to the perimeter of the die, driving die sizes up as the number of connections increase. Flip chip connections, such as area array bumps, can use the entire area of the die, accommodating many more connections on a smaller die.
FIG. 1 is a top view schematic representation of a metal bonding pad 8 (e.g., Al or Cu bonding pad) of a semiconductor device that includes a bump region 10 over the metal bonding pad 8. FIG. 1 is provided for illustrating some of the difficulties encountered in the prior art. The bump region 10—where a bumping process is to be performed for constructing an electrically conductive bump (e.g., a solder bump) for the flip chip assembly—may be defined by a passivation opening 12 in a passivation layer that surrounds the bonding pad.
It is known that for a semiconductor device that uses flip chip technology, performing wafer-level testing through the metal bonding pad to verify circuit functionality is generally not desirable prior to performing the bumping process. For example, a test probe tip that may be placed in contact with the bonding pad may gouge the metal pad surface. The resulting surface irregularities on the bump pad can lead to difficulties in establishing and maintaining strong adhesion for one or more metal layers that may be deposited during the formation of the bump. For example, prior to bump formation, a process referred to as under bump metallization (UBM) allows the fabrication of a barrier metal to prevent interaction of the metal pad with the solder bump. The UBM structure comprises an "adhesion layer" that should adhere well to both the bond pad metal and the surrounding passivation layer in order to provide a strong, low-stress electromechanical connection. Similarly, a "diffusion barrier" layer may be deposited to limit the diffusion of solder into the underlying material.
Known attempts to address the foregoing issues have involved construction of peripheral test pads that are physically separate but electrically connected to the bonding pad by way of interconnect lines. Such structures are commonly referred to as "redistribution layers (RDL)" in the industry. It has been observed that such RDL interconnect lines can introduce undesirable propagation delays to test signals and such delays can lead to lower device speeds. In the case of copper bonding pads, the use of an aluminum-alloy RDL at the uppermost level can lead to additional costs as the fabrication of the aluminum RDL requires additional processing steps of deposition, pattern and etch. Moreover, use of aluminum RDLs may lead to lower device yield as increased processing steps increase the probability of undesirable particles, thus limiting yield.
One approach proposed for wire bond connections, and hence of little practical use for semiconductors involving flip chip connections, is described in IEEE publication titled "Electronic Components and Technology Conference", at page Nos. 1323–1329, May 2003 in paper by Lois Young et al. This approach generally requires stacking at least two physically different metal pads over one another in order to form a probe region that is separate from a wire bond region. More specifically, this proposed approach requires stacking a portion of an enlarged aluminum cap over a copper pad disposed beneath the aluminum cap. A remaining portion of the enlarged aluminum cap (e.g., where the probe region is located) is disposed over a dielectric material and this arrangement may lead to cracks in the dielectric since the probe can apply a high force over the probe region. Moreover, the specific requirement of an Al "capping pad" over a copper pad is not a mere design choice since performing wire bonding to copper is generally very difficult for a production environment involving wire bond connections. No such considerations are applicable for flip chip connections.
Another known attempt has involved probing wafers after the bumping process is performed. For different considerations, this attempt also fails to provide a fully satisfactory solution. For example, this post-bumping probing technique may lead to incremental costs since there is a possibility that the bumping process (that takes valuable time and resources) may have been performed in an already defective wafer that should have been discarded prior to continuing with any such bump fabrication processes. Moreover, one may not be able to identify mis-processing steps that can occur during the bumping process itself, unless diagnostic partitioning studies are performed on the wafer.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide structures and techniques for allowing a semiconductor device or wafer to be tested prior to a bumping process so that wafer level tests can be undertaken without compromising the integrity of the metal bonding pads therein and without introducing delays to signals used for test purposes.

Method and structures for testing a semiconductor wafer prior to performing a flip chip bumping process


The invention provides a dispenser for dispensing one or two liquids simultaneously. For two liquids the dispenser has a pair of inverted containers defining bottom openings with the containers arranged in side-by-side relationship. A base is sealingly attached to the containers and has two reservoirs and associated dispensing openings. The arrangement is such that liquid from the containers will pool in the reservoirs below the dispensing outlets creating a condition of equilibrium in the containers. When the user disturbs the equilibrium, liquids from both containers flow out through the respective dispensing outlets for mixing in use, and then after dispensing air, flows into the dispenser to replace dispensed liquid thereby allowing equilibrium to again be established.. When the invention is used for dispensing a single liquid, one container contains liquid and the second container is squeezed to disturb the equilibrium and cause dispensing.

It is common to supply household liquids in containers sized for ease of handling. Some containers include structure which permits dispensing rather than pouring and these structures commonly involve some form of pump action. Because the containers are disposable, it is becoming more common for manufacturers to attempt to make the containers recyclable. However, pumps generally have numerous parts made from materials as diverse as stainless steel, rubber and various thermoplastic and thermohardening plastics. Consequently, pumps are becoming less acceptable.
A second difficulty with pump structures is cost and, although very efficient manufacturing methods keep the cost to an accepted level, there is no easy way of adapting pump technology to dispense more than one liquid at once without eventually doubling the cost of the pump parts.
This latter difficulty has been one of the key factors in limiting sales of product made up of two components which are to be kept separate until dispensed simultaneously. Such two-part products are not suitable for sale in containers which are used by simply pouring because of the inaccuracies of this procedure. There is therefore a need for a two-part dispenser having a simple structure and which is readily made without the complexities of a pump. It would be a benefit if such a dispenser could be designed to be made from materials which would permit all of it to be recycled without tedious dismantling and sorting of materials.
This invention also addresses another shortcoming of inverted liquid dispensers of the type which dispense in response to a squeezing action on the container. Typically the dispenser will provide the most liquid for a given squeeze when the dispenser contains the most liquid. As the amount of liquid decreases the dispenser contains more air and the compressibility of the air affects the amount of liquid dispensed.
This invention will also provide embodiments which are significantly less affected as the volume of liquid in the container is reduced.


Mobile communication devices, having multiple speakers and/or microphones to perform a number of audio functions, for use with mobile devices, are provided. The microphones may be housed within the communication device housing. To compensate for the unwanted signal feedback between the speakers and microphones, acoustic echo cancellation may be implemented to determine the proper distance and relative location between the speakers and microphones. Acoustic echo cancellation removes the echo from voice communications to improve the quality of the sound. The removal of the unwanted signals captured by the microphones may be accomplished by characterizing the audio signal paths from the speakers to the microphones (speaker-to-microphone path distance profile), including the distance and relative location between the speakers and microphones. The optimal distance and relative location between the speakers and microphones is provided to the user to optimize performance.

1. Field
Various features pertain to optimizing audio processing functions by dynamically compensating for variable distances and positions between one or more speakers and one or more microphones in an accessory device and/or a mobile device.
2. Background
Mobile devices are continuously evolving to add new features and/or enhance existing features. With the goal of improving audio quality, a plurality of different speakers may be used in a mobile device to enhance how a user receives audio. For instance, speakers may be distributed at various positions and/or locations of a mobile device. Likewise, to improve the capture of audio from the user, a plurality of microphones may be placed at various locations and/or positions of the mobile device. However, such arrangement of speakers and microphones tends to result in unwanted signal feedback from signals emanating from the plurality of speakers that are being captured by the plurality of microphones.
To compensate for the unwanted signal feedback, acoustic echo cancellation may be implemented. Acoustic echo cancellation can remove echo from voice communications to improve the quality of the sound, i.e. the echo cancellation algorithm can remove signals emanating from the speakers from desired user audio that are being captured by the microphones. The removing of the unwanted signals captured by the microphones requires characterizing the audio signal paths from the speakers to the microphones, including the distance and relative location between the speakers and microphones. However, such characterization is difficult to do when the microphones and/or speakers can be moved and/or its position/distance adjusted relative to each other.
Consequently, a method is needed that allows an accessory device and/or a mobile device to automatically and/or dynamically ascertain relative distances and positions between speakers and microphones.

Optimizing audio processing functions by dynamically compensating for variable distances between speaker(s) and microphone(s) in a mobile device


A random access memory (RAM) having a prescribed number of bits defining a word length includes memory cells that enable selective overwriting on a bit-by-bit basis. Each memory cell includes a logic gate for generating a gating signal in response to a supplied write signal and a bit enable signal. The gating signal selectively connects the bistable latch of the memory cell to a voltage source to enable storage of the supplied data bit. Hence, selected bits can be written to an address word, without overwriting the unselected bits in the stored word, by supplying a mask signal that selectively drives the logic gates of the selected bits. The mask signal can also be used to configure a RAM as a dynamic-width memory, enabling use of the RAM for variable-width storage applications without the necessity of external decoding logic.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for writing a selected bit of a word into a random access memory (RAM) having a prescribed number of bits defining a word length.
2. Background Art
Memory architectures are typically configured to store a prescribed number of words having a predetermined word length. Such memory structures, known as word organized arrays, have a prescribed number of columns and rows, where the column length (i.e., the number of rows) equals the number of words, W, and the row length (i.e., the number of columns) equals the number of bits per word. Word selection is thus performed using a one-out-of-W decoder. i.e., a decoder with a mutually exclusive output for each word in the memory. The address inputs to the decoder select one and only one of the decoder's outputs, thus selecting one word in the memory array. Address decoder size may be reduced using two-level decoding, where one level corresponds to a physical word and another to a logical word, such that the physical word consists of the number of bits in a row of the memory array, and the logical word consists of the number of bits of a physical word which are sensed and gated to the output at one time.
Hence, the reading and writing of data to and from a memory array involves addressing a word of memory based on its corresponding address, and reading and/or writing the word having the prescribed number of bits from the memory array.
Applications using random access memories for storing configuration data may store multiple configuration parameters within a single data byte. For example, a configuration word may be stored as a single byte (8-bits) having multiple fields of one or more bits. For example, a word may have eight 1-bit configuration values, requiring external logic to ensure that selected bits of a stored word are not overwritten.
Hence, resetting a bit of a configuration word stored in memory must typically be performed on a per-byte basis, where a selected bit is reset by addressing the word, reading the contents from memory, modifying the contents of the retrieved data word using external logic, and rewriting the modified word back into memory. Thus, this read-modify-write technique requires at least three clock cycles to modify a single bit in the memory configured for reading and writing on a per-byte basis, and requires additional external logic that increases the size and cost of the IC chip.

Random access memory having bit selectable mask for memory writes


The invention is intended to provide a fastening structure made up of a nut and a to-be-tightened member which does not get loose even when used in places where it is subject to large vibrations. The nut has a cylindrical female screw extension portion which projects from the seat of the nut and which has a female screw formed in the inner circumferential surface thereof. The to-be-tightened member which is on the male screw side is formed with a fastening hole into which the female screw extension portion is to be fitted. The inner surface of the fastening hole and the outer surface of the female screw extension portion are tapered so that there is a taper angle difference. As the nut is fastened onto the male screw, the female screw extension portion is pushed inwardly and deformed due to the taper angle difference so that the female screw formed on the female screw extension portion is pressed against the male screw. When, with the nut fastened in this way, the fastening force applied to the nut is removed, the female screw remains deformed and pressed against the male screw, preventing the nut from becoming loose.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nut and more particularly to a locking nut and a fastening structure consisting of the locking nut and a member being tightened.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Tightening and securing of a member by fastening a nut onto a male screw provided to the member is widely applied in assembling a variety of machine parts. It is noted, however, that between the male and the female screws fitted together a gap easily forms, so that the nut can be reversed and loosened with a light force.
Many proposals have been made to prevemt the loosening of the nut. They include, for example, a method which inserts a spring washer between the nut and the member being tightened, a method which tightens the nut and then deforms it by applying an external force to the nut, and a method that inserts a cotter pin into a hole cut through both the male screw and the nut.
Where the nut is subject to incessant large vibrations, like the ones used for fixing gears in automotive gear box, the spring washer is not sufficient in preventing the nut from becoming loose. The nut deforming method results in large variations in deformations and thus lacks quality stability. With the method of cutting a through-hole in the nut and the male screw, it is necessary to align the hole in the nut with the hole in the male screw, which may in turn make the tightening force become insufficient. Further, the formation of the through-hole reduces the strength of the male screw.

Locking nut and a fastening structure made up of the locking nut and a member being tightened

Kabushiki Kaisha Suzuki Rashi Seisakusho


A container having a bottom panel of quadrilateral configuration includes side walls foldably joined to side edges of the bottom panel, end walls foldably joined to end edges of the bottom panel, web structure at each corner of the container which is foldably joined to ends of adjacent side and end walls together with a locking tab foldably joined to each end edge of each end wall and defining a locking slit arranged to cooperate with a fastening slit for holding the web structure in collapsed condition and for holding the carton side and end walls in set up condition.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,358,901 issued Dec. 19, 1967 discloses a container having a bottom wall, side walls foldably joined to the side edges of the bottom wall, end walls foldably joined to the end edges of the bottom panel, collapsible web structure at each corner of the carton together with locking flaps foldably joined to the end edges of each end panel together with a locking lip or tongue foldably joined to each locking flap which together with collapsible web structure is arranged to hold the carton in set up condition when the locking lip or tongue is arranged with an end edge in abutting contact with collapsible web structure to hold the carton in set up condition.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,811 issued Sep. 28, 1971 discloses a carton blank having a bottom panel and side and end wall panels foldably joined to the bottom panel together with web panels foldably joined together and foldably joined to the side and end walls respectively and a locking tab struck from one of said web panels and foldably joined to an end of one of said side walls.

Container corner structure and container blank together with a method of forming a container corner structure


A technique for collimating light from a Light Emitting Diode (LED) device involves emitting light from an LED die, collimating the light with a parabolic reflector, and further collimating the light with a lens. A device constructed according to the technique includes an LED die, a lens for collimating light, and a parabolic reflector for collimating light from the LED die toward the lens.

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are widely used in applications such as Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) back lighting, commercial-freezer lighting, white light illumination, etc. LEDs are typically available in through-hole and Surface Mount Technology (SMT) packages. Through-hole packages are ideal for wave solder board applications. Such through-hole LEDs are typically manufactured with a leadframe having two leads. SMT packages are best used with reflow assembly. SMT devices are also useful when package size constraints are an issue. SMT devices are typically manufactured with a leadframe, or a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) or ceramics substrate.
Some applications, such as stage lighting and automotive lighting, often call for spot lighting or narrow viewing angle light—for example, the desired area of illumination may be 5–20 meters away from the light source and the area to be illuminated may be 1–3 meters in diameter (or width). The divergence of a beam can be calculated using the following trigonometric formula:2×H×tan(θ/2),where H represents the distance of the light source to the area of illumination and θ represents the viewing angle. The narrowest viewing angle for currently available LEDs is about 15°. The following table, entitled Beam Size for Various Narrow Angle LED Packages, shows the divergence of light from currently available LEDs with viewing angles of 15°, 30°, and 45°.
TABLEBeam Size for Various Narrow Angle LED PackagesViewing angleBeam size at the followingof LEDdistances (in meters)package5 m10 m20 m30 m15°1.302.605.207.8030°2.685.3610.7216.0845°4.148.2816.5724.85
As is apparent from the table, even LEDs with the narrowest viewing angles may not meet the objectives of some spot lighting applications.
Collimating light from an LED typically decreases (i.e., makes narrower) the effective viewing angle of the LED. Unfortunately, there are several obstacles to collimating light from LEDs. One such obstacle arises from the fact that an LED die does not provide a perfect point source. A typical LED die dimension is about 250 μm×250 μm (10 mils×10 mils) with an active junction area of about 250 μm×250 μm. Light can originate from any point of the active junction area. Accordingly, it is virtually impossible to ensure that light emitted from an LED die is at a focal point of a lens or reflector.
Another obstacle to collimating light from an LED arises from the fact that LED light, though it may appear to be, is not monochromatic. Photons of different wavelengths have differing indices of refraction. Accordingly, light passing from an LED die through a lens is refracted at different angles according to wavelength. The change of index of refraction according to wavelength is known in the art of optics as chromatic dispersion. Chromatic dispersion is the phenomenon that causes the separation of colors in a prism.

Avago Technologies ECBU IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A hydrodynamic fluid film journal bearing system includes a journal sleeve and one or more hydrodynamic fluid film foils positioned at least partially within the journal sleeve. The journal sleeve defines an inner diameter surface, an outer diameter surface, a wall thickness between the inner and outer diameter surfaces, and opposite first and second ends. The wall thickness of the journal sleeve is reduced at a first region located between the first and second ends, and a chamfered region is formed on the outer diameter surface of the journal sleeve between the first o-ring land and the first end of the journal sleeve.

The present invention relates to hydrodynamic fluid film bearing systems.
Hydrodynamic fluid film journal bearings, also called journal air bearings or foil bearings, can be used to provide support to rotatable components such as shafts. A typical prior art bearing assembly of this type (e.g., as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,658,079), includes a journal sleeve, a bump foil, an intermediate foil, and a top foil. The bump foil, the intermediate foil and the top foil are wrapped inside the journal sleeve in a substantially cylindrical shape, and those foils are positioned between the journal sleeve and the rotatable component. Each foil has an end that is engaged to the journal sleeve, and can have another end that is free (i.e., not engaged to the journal sleeve). During operation, rotation of the rotatable component causes a working fluid to form a cushion (often referred to as an "air bearing") that supports the rotatable component with little or no direct contact between the rotatable component and the foils of the bearing.
Conventional hydrodynamic fluid film journal bearings have a substantially cylindrical journal sleeve. These cylindrical journal sleeves have walls of uniform thickness defined between an outer diameter surface and an opposite inner diameter surface. Those journal sleeve walls are relatively thick for providing stiffness. However, such thick journal sleeve walls add considerable weight to the bearing. Weight of bearings is an important design consideration, particularly for aerospace applications.

Weight reduction for journal air bearing


A cooler including a compartment, a conduit including a first end portion configured to be in communication with the compartment and a second end portion, food product at a first product temperature entering the first end portion, a fluid discharge positioned substantially within the conduit between the first end portion and the second end portion, and a pressurized fluid source in communication with and for supplying fluid through the fluid discharge, the fluid being at a first fluid temperature less than the first product temperature, the pressurized fluid source being operable to propel the fluid through the fluid discharge to move the food product from the first end portion of the conduit toward the second end portion and to cool the food product to a temperature below the first product temperature.

In mass processing of food product, the food product is often heated by cooking or blanching the food product in a cooker using a hot heat transfer medium into which the food product is immersed. After cooking or blanching, the food product is either transferred out of the food processing system, or is cooled or chilled by immersing the food product in a cool heat transfer to stop being processed.

Cooling mechanism for use with a food processing system


An audio information reproducing apparatus for reproducing audio information on a recording medium, which can be connected with a bus. In the medium reproducing control information for controlling a reproducing mode of the audio information and the audio information are recorded. The reproducing control information has an amount of information larger than that capable of being inserted into one information unit formed during transmission via the bus. In the apparatus a detecting device detects the audio information and the reproducing control information from the medium. Then, a generating device generates corresponding information indicating a corresponding relationship between the audio information and the reproducing control information. Then, an outputting device forms transmission information including a plurality of the information units including at least any one out of among the audio information, the corresponding information, and one portion of the reproducing control information and outputs the transmission information to the bus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technical field of an audio information reproducing system, an audio information reproducing apparatus and an audio information reproducing method. More particularly, the invention relates to the technical field of the audio information reproducing system, the audio information reproducing apparatus and the audio information reproducing method capable of: transmitting both of audio information including voice information and sound information except the voice information and reproducing control information used for controlling a reproducing mode of the audio information; and controlling a reproducing of the audio information using the reproducing control information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a DVD whose memory capacity has been enhanced about 7-fold capacity compared to that of a conventional CD (Compact Disk) has come into general use.
Then, as universal standards for digitally recording information in this DVD, a so-called DVD video standard for mainly recording moving picture information such as a movie, and a so-called DVD audio standard for mainly recording high quality audio information have been laid down respectively, these now are being distributed to the concerned such as who prepares moving picture information or who prepares audio information, respectively.
Out of these two standards, in the case of being based on the DVD audio standard, because of its large capacity, for example, control information for the so-called surround reproducing with presence or audio information of three channels or more for it is reproduced at a time, and the surround reproducing can be enjoyed.
In this case, in order to sufficiently enjoy the surround reproducing, it is necessary to use three speakers or more, however, there can be some cases where the user has only a reproducing speaker for right and a reproducing speaker for left.
In order to correspond to such a case, in the DVD audio standard, synthesis coefficients for synthesizing audio information of two channels has been previously prepared as a table by employing audio information of three channels or more and can be recorded with the audio information of the multiple channels in a DVD. Specifically, the audio information of 6 channels is employed in the DVD audio standard described later. The two channels of the synthesized audio information are a channel of reproducing for right side and a channel of reproducing for left side. Further, to reduce the number of channels by the synthesis is generally referred to as down mixing processing.
Now, the synthesis coefficient is a coefficient for synthesizing audio information for right channel and audio information for left channel by multiplying it by a level of audio information of each channel of three channels or more, and in the DVD audio standard, a plurality of kinds of the synthesis coefficients have been prepared as a table and recorded in a DVD.
Moreover, as to the down mixing processing, originally the down mixing processing is performed in the DVD player itself, after making them down-mix-treated for two channels, audio information is outputted to the external. However, in consideration of a simplified DVD player, reproducing in a higher quality may be performed by the procedure such that the above described synthesis coefficient is outputted with audio information of multiple channels of three channels or more into an amplifier without performing the down mixing processing itself in the DVD player, the down mixing processing is carried out in the amplifier and down-mix-treated information is outputted to the speaker, etc. The amplifier is one in which audio information outputted from the DVD player is submitted to amplification processing and the audio information is outputted into the speaker, etc.
On the other hand, in recent years, as a new standard for transmitting information in real time via a serial bus between a plurality of information processing apparatuses, for example, personal computer and digital video camera or MD (Mini Disk) player and the like, the so-called IEEE1394 standard (the officially approved name is "IEEE Std. 1394-1995 IEEE Standard for a High Performance Serial Bus") has been published. A digital video camera, a personal computer and the like equipped with a serial port being in conformity with the standard are being manufactured.
In this IEEE 1394 standard, it is standardized so that by connecting via a serial bus between a plurality of information processing apparatuses (hereinafter, referred to as simply node) such as an optical disk player, an amplifier or the like, transmission of information of the portion of multiple channels is carried out in a time divisional manner between these respective nodes. In the standard, it is standardized that transmission of information can be carried out by employing different 63 channels at the maximum within a system connected via one serial bus.
Now, in the IEEE 1394 standard, in the case where a new other node is connected with the node group mutually connected already via a serial bus one another (i.e., during bus connection), or in the case where one of the nodes is removed from the above described node group (i.e., during bus disconnection), it is standardized that the initialization of a serial bus which is referred to as the so-called bus reset is carried out. Then, a new connection mode (hereinafter, the connection mode is referred to as topology) of a serial bus is constructed in accordance with the predetermined procedure that previously has been set after the bus reset.
Then, in the case where information is actually transmitted after constitution of topology, transmission node and IRM (Isochronous Resource Manager) node are used. The transmission node is a node for initiating transmission of the information. The IRM node is a node for controlling the communication state of all of the nodes within the constituted topology, and displaying a channel used at present and transmission occupying time occupied by each nodes at present so that other node can be distinguish them. Specifically, the communication state which is controlled by the IRM node is a channel used of each node and transmission occupying time described later.
At first, the transmission node inquires of IRM node the communication state of the other nodes at present. Then, if the channel and transmission occupying time which the transmission node itself would like to use can be used, the transmission node acquires the right to transmit information. More concretely, the transmission node secures a channel for use by the transmission node and the transmission occupying time described later. Then, the transmission node initiates the transmission of the information. At the moment, immediately before the transmission of the information, the transmission node transmits the effect that display of the communication state in the above described IRM node is rewritten to the IRM node. Since the occupied channel and transmission occupying time on a serial bus are changed by the transmission node for initiating the transmission of information, it is required that the display contents are rewritten to a new communication state after this change. The IRM node which has received the effect carries out the processes for updating the display contents, respectively. Hereinafter, the display contents after the updating can be made reference from the other nodes, respectively.
Next, the above described transmission occupying time will be briefly described below.
In the IEEE 1394 standard, information from respective nodes are grouped in every unit which is referred to as an isochronous cycle and sent out. The term "cycle" is referred to a cycle formed by dividing in a time diving manner on a serial bus. The isochronous cycle includes: an isochronous transmission region including information transmitted in synchronization with the information within the other isochronous cycle and asynchronous transmission region including information transmitted in asynchronization irrelevant to the other information. Concretely, the information within the isochronous transmission region includes image information, audio information or the like. The information within the asynchronous transmission region includes control information for controlling an output and the like of the above described image information or audio information, and the like. Then, the information within the isochronous transmission region is time-shared in every different channel, and different information in every channel is transmitted, respectively.
In the isochronous transmission region, it is standardized that the time length of isochrouns transmission region within one of the isochronous cycles is 100 μ sec at the maximum. Therefore, it is required that the total time which the information assigned for respective channels within one isochronous transmission region occupies for its transmission is also made to be 100 μ sec. The transmission time which the one channel occupies within an isochronous cycle is the above described transmission occupying time.
It should be noted that the transmission occupying time may be also referred to as a working bandwidth of a serial bus depending on the situation, and may be also referred to as a working capacity of a serial bus.
On the other hand, within one isochronous cycle, when the length of the isochronous transmission region is less than 100 μ sec (including the case of 0), a time within isochronous cycle except the isocrhronous transmission region is exclusively used as an asynchronous transmission region.
According to the IEEE 1394 standard having an outline described above, since the transmission of, for example, copy control information or the like except transmission information can be possible as well as a large capacity of information can be rapidly transmitted not depending on the attribute of image information, audio information or the like in the transmission information to be transmitted, it is possible to transmit information while taking all possible measures to ensure the protection of copyright with respect to the transmission information.
However, in consideration of the case where the above described DVD player and amplifier are connected via the serial bus of the above described IEEE 1394 standard, audio information of a plurality of three channels or more as described above and a synthesis coefficient for down mixing processing are transmitted from the DVD player to the amplifier and the down mixing processing is carried out, there is a problem that since the synthesis coefficient has a large capacity of information, all of the synthesis coefficient cannot be transmitted at a time within the one isochronous cycle described above nor can be the down mixing processing carried out.
Specifically, although the above described synthesis coefficient has been previously set per one audio information of a plurality of channels to be treated by the down mixing processing and recorded in a DVD, since its information is information of a large amount as described above, it cannot be transmitted at a time within one isochronous cycle. Therefore, one synthesis coefficient has only to be resolved and they have to be individually transmitted with time differences by employing a plurality of isochronous cycles, however, in this case, there may be some instances where audio information in the amplifier after transmission and synthesis coefficient to be employed for its down mixing processing cannot be corresponded, and in this case, the down mixing processing cannot be carried out based on the predetermined association.

Audio information reproducing system, audio information reproducing apparatus and audio information reproducing method


A vibration feeding device includes a mounting seat, a vibration feeding mechanism, and a pressing mechanism. The vibration feeding mechanism includes a driving member, a rotating shaft, a rotation wheel, and at least one adjusting member. The rotating shaft is rotatably connected to the driving member. The rotation wheel is non-rotatably sleeved on the rotating shaft. The at least one adjusting member is fixed between the rotating shaft and the rotation wheel to adjust an eccentricity of the rotation wheel. The vibration feeding mechanism is mounted on the mounting seat. The pressing mechanism is connected to the rotation wheel of the vibration feeding mechanism and is driven by the vibration to adjustably move close to and then away from a workpiece.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to vibration feeding devices, and particularly to a vibration feeding device used in an electrochemical machining.
2. Description of Related Art
Electrochemical machining (ECM) is a method of removing metal by an electrochemical process. Electrochemical machining equipment used for machining small holes in a workpiece includes a vibration feeding device and an electrode connected to the vibration feeding device. Typically, the vibration feeding device includes a mounting seat, a cam, and a pressing rod. The rotation wheel and the pressing rod are movably assembled on the mounting seat. One end of the pressing rod is connected to the rotation wheel, and the other end of the pressing rod is connected to the electrode. The electrode is driven by the cam via the pressing rod to move towards the workpiece. However, a size of the cam is constant, and a vibration amplitude of the electrode determined by the cam is accordingly constant, thereby a depth of the hole machined by the electrochemical machining equipment cannot be adjusted.
Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art.

HONG FU JIN PRECISION INDUSTRY (ShenZhen) CO., LTD.


Systems and methods for managing a network are disclosed. In certain systems and methods, access to a network such as a wireless network, can be granted or denied based upon a threshold number of devices accessing the network. Moreover, access to a first service available over the network can be granted or denied based upon a threshold number of devices accessing the first service. Various network resource can be allocated to the first service based at least upon the number of device access the first service.

A network such as a local area network can comprise an access point (AP) to provide a means for one or more user devices to communicate with and/or over the network. An access point can comprise a device that allows wired and/or wireless user devices to connect to a wired network using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or related standards. An access point can be configured to provide access to one or more services such as, for example, a private network, public network, or network-related services. One or more access points can be deployed to provide an in-premises wireless network, such as a residential or business network environment. As networks such as home premises networks evolve from serving simple data cable modems to delivering multiple sophisticated multimedia services to rapidly changing mobile consumer electronic devices, a new framework to manage the resulting complex service delivery and environment is required. The shortcomings of the prior art are addressed by the present disclosure.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


In a cellular type communication system a sector antenna 12 provides coverage of a sector with a relatively low receive gain. A multi-beam antenna 20 covers the same sector with a plurality of narrower beams 21', 22', 23' and 24' providing higher gain. A multi-beam antenna system 10 provides higher gain operation by selecting the one of the narrower beams 21', 22', 23' or 24' currently providing best reception of a signal transmitted by a user and coupling that selected beam to a system receiver 18. Beam selection is accomplished by sequentially coupling each narrow beam to a microprocessor based control unit 40 and storing samples of user signals as received in each narrow beam on a continuing repetitive basis. The stored samples are then analyzed in order to select the beam currently providing best reception.

Radio communication with mobile users in moving vehicles, for example, is typically provided via fixed base stations or cell sites. Each cell site includes one or more antennas arranged for transmission of signals to and reception of relatively low power signals from mobile user equipment presently within a limited geographical area around the cell site. To provide the desired antenna coverage, the area around the cell site may be divided into sectors. Four sectors each of 90 degrees in azimuth coverage, or three 120 degree sectors, thus provide 360 degrees azimuth coverage around a cell site. In some applications the sector may be expanded to provide full 360 degree azimuth coverage. The cell terminology reflects the necessity of providing a pattern of adjacent cells, each with its own cell site antenna installation, in order to provide mobile communications coverage over a geographic area or region larger than the limited area covered by a single such installation.
Considering one of the 120 degree sectors referred to, it is relatively straightforward to design an antenna system providing 120 degree sector coverage. The antenna system will be effective to transmit signals to any user within the desired sector coverage area. If signals are too weak to reliably reach users at the outermost edge of the sector coverage area, transmitter power can be specified at a higher level. However, for signals to be received from a user at the sector edge, user transmissions are normally subject to limitations in power transmitted from the mobile equipment. If the user's transmitted power is inadequate to achieve reliable reception from the outer portions of the sector coverage area, the overall size of the cell and the gain of the receive antenna at the fixed cell site become limiting considerations. A number of interrelated factors, including expected user population and available broadcast frequency spectrum, may also be involved in determining the optimum size of the coverage area of each cell site. It will be apparent, however, that with smaller coverage areas additional cell site installations will be necessary to provide continuous coverage over a geographical region. Additional cell site installations require the purchase, installation and maintenance of more equipment as well as increased requirements and costs of site acquisition, interconnection facilities and system support.
Use of higher gain receive antennas at each cell site would permit reliable reception of user signals at greater distances. However, for a given type of antenna, gain is directly related to beamwidth and an antenna providing coverage over a 120 degree azimuth sector typically provides relatively low gain performance. Higher gain is also possible by use of narrow beamwidth antennas providing coverage of only a portion of a sector. However, sector coverage may then entail multiple beams, or beam scanning or steering, requiring complex control and support systems in order to provide full sector coverage, with resulting higher cost and complexity and possible limitations on overall performance and user capacity.
Objects of the present invention, therefore, are to provide new and improved multi-beam receive antenna systems, and methods for receiving cellular communication signals by use of multi-beam antennas, and such systems and methods which provide one or more cost or operational advantages over prior mobile communication or other types of antenna systems.

High gain antenna systems for cellular use

Marconi Aerospace Systems Inc. Advanced Systems Division


The present invention provides a process for preparing a high-quality aliphatic nitrile in a high yield at a low cost without the dissolution of a catalyst in the product, which comprises reacting an aliphatic carboxylic acid, a lower alkyl ester thereof or a fatty acid glyceride with ammonia in the presence of a solid catalyst which exhibits a high activity even at a reaction temperature of as low as 300.degree. C. or below and is difficultly soluble in the reaction fluid; and a process for the preparation of amines by hydrogenating the aliphatic nitrile prepared by the above process. Namely, the present invention provides a process for the preparation of an aliphatic nitrile by reacting an aliphatic carboxylic acid, a lower alkyl ester thereof or a fatty acid glyceride with ammonia in the presence of a composite oxide catalyst comprising titanium oxide as the main component; and a process for the preparation of amines by hydrogenating the aliphatic nitrile prepared by the above process.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a process for preparing high-quality aliphatic nitriles in high yields.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, aliphatic nitriles are industrially produced by the reaction of aliphatic carboxylic acids or derivatives thereof with ammonia. The reaction are broadly classified into gas-phase and liquid-phase processes. According to the gas-phase process, the reaction is conducted by preliminarily vaporizing an aliphatic carboxylic acid or a derivative thereof and bringing the vapor into contact with ammonia at a temperature of 250 to 600.degree. C. in the presence of a catalyst having a dehydrating activity, e.g., oxide of Zr, Ta, Ga, In, Sc, Nb, Hf, Fe, Zn or Sn (JP-A 4-208260), aluminum oxide, silica gel, thorium oxide or titanium oxide. However, the gas-phase process involves the vaporization of the starting material and are therefore disadvantageous in that the energy cost is higher than that of the liquid-phase process.
On the other hand, the reaction is also frequently conducted according to the liquid-phase process in a batch-wise or continuous manner by heat-melting an aliphatic carboxylic acid or a derivative thereof in the presence of a catalyst and bubbling gaseous ammonia thereinto. Known catalysts for the reaction include aliphatic carboxylic acid salts of cobalt (U.S. Pat. No. 2,493,637), iron and iron compounds (JP-A 58-39653), zinc oxide, kaolin (DE-C 704494), and so on. Although these catalysts exhibit high catalytic activities at a reaction temperature of 300.degree. C. or below, they are soluble in the reaction fluid, so that the use of such a catalyst involves the separation and recovery thereof from the reaction product by specific operations, which unfavorably brings about a lowering in the yield of distillation or an increase of waste.
An object of the present invention is to provide a process for preparing a high-quality aliphatic nitrile in a high yield at a low cost without the dissolution of a catalyst in the product, which comprises reacting an aliphatic carboxylic acid, a lower alkyl ester thereof or a fatty acid glyceride with ammonia in the presence of a solid catalyst which exhibits a high activity at a reaction temperature of 300.degree. C. or below and is difficultly soluble in the reaction fluid.

Process for the preparation of aliphatic nitriles


An objective lens system having a first and a second lens group that are separated by a gap where a ray bundle between the first and second lens is substantially telecentric and the second lens group has two lens elements that are also separated by a gap. The first lens element in the second lens group is a positive optical power lens and the second lens element in the second lens group is a negative optical power lens. The objective lens system has a relatively small number of lens elements and the aberration, including chromatic, spherical, coma, astigmatic difference, and distortion, are favorably corrected. In one embodiment, the objective lens system is used in a plan-achromatic microscope objective lens having a numerical aperture of 1.25 to 1.30 with a Petzval sum of 0.1. In a second embodiment, the objective lens system with is used in an achromat microscope objective lens with improved resolution and a greater than 50% transmittance of light at a wavelength of 340 nanometers.

1. Field of invention
This invention relates to a microscope objective lens system and more particularly, to an objective lens system for light within the visible wavelengths and that may be used in a plan-achromatic immersion type infinite microscope objective with a numerical aperture of approximately 1.25 to 1.30 or an achromat immersion type infinite microscope objective which also has a transmittance of greater than 50% for ultraviolet light with a wavelength of 340 nanometers (nm).
2. Description of the Related Art
For most known plan-achromatic or achromat immersion type infinite microscope objective lenses, a large number of lens elements are used for aberration correction. Generally, additional lens elements are added to an objective lens system in order to increase aberration correction. Thus, to produce a high quality objective lens, a large number of lens elements are generally used. An objective lens system that uses a large number of lens elements, however, is expensive due to the cost of the lens elements.
Where the desired objective lens system is to have a large aperture and strong magnification, a double Gauss lens system is generally included in the objective lens. The double Gauss system typically has four to six lenses (e.g., two doublets and additional singlets, although one doublet used in conjunction with a singlet may also be used) where there are two negative lens elements located with the concave lens surfaces facing each other. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,132,845 (FIG. 1, r.sub.16, r.sub.17), to Suzuki, issued Jul. 21, 1992. In order to produce strong Petzval sum correction, the concave surfaces in the double Gauss system typically have a small radius of curvature. Unfortunately, because the radius of curvature is small, the negative lens elements in the double Gauss system are sensitive to even slight deviations in the curvature. Thus, the narrow tolerances of the double Gauss system require very precise fabrication. Consequently, an objective lens that uses a double Gauss system suffers from the disadvantages of being both difficult to fabricate and expensive.

Microscope objective lens with separated lens groups


Described is a SDH or SONET telecommunication network element provided with a plurality of interfaces for managing first SDH or SONET flows, comprising: a) a plurality of first layer ports for managing second SDH or SONET flows, wherein the ports are individually programmable as concerns the hierarchical structure of the managed flows, and b) a switching system coupled to the interfaces and to the ports, in order to implement the switching of virtual containers between the SDH or SONET flows, wherein the switching system is programmable as far as the switching to be implemented is concerned.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a SDH or SONET telecommunication network element and to a method for managing such an element.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Every telecommunication network can be seen as a set of network elements (electronic and/or optical apparatus) intercommunicating through electrical, optical or radio connections.
The telecommunication network providers are willing to purchase and install flexible apparatus to match easier and more economically the networks to the users' service requirements.
Furthermore, the providers prefer apparatus which can be completely and easily managed by network management systems.
Generally, a telecommunications apparatus is of modular type and comprises several boards; each board has its own function; the purchaser of the apparatus decides also its "configuration", namely which and how many boards are to be inserted. For example, if the apparatus should be initially able to manage 256 SDH flows at 155 Mbit/sec, it comprises a proper number of boards to comply with such requirements. If, after some years, the requirements are changed and it is necessary for example to manage 16 SDH flows at 155 Mbit/sec and 256 SDH flows at 622 Mbit/sec, some of these boards are removed and discarded (as they are no more useful) and new boards are inserted for the new requirements. Of course, such a situation is not appreciated by the providers.
Similar problems occur even if there is the need to re-configure the network without increasing the traffic management capacity of apparatus.

Programmable element of synchronous network and method for managing it


A measuring device with a daisy type cantilever wheel enabling easier setting of a measuring head and modification head by rotating the daisy type cantilever wheel, enabling modification, adhesion of a sample, and application of a force to a sample specimen by using centrifugal force, and also enabling an easier measurement of a variation of characteristic vibration frequency and vibration amplitude of a cantilever array is provided.

Conventionally, variations of characteristic vibration frequency and vibration amplitude of a cantilever in a cantilever array comprising a plurality of cantilevers have been measured by scanning with an electric sensor or an optical sensor on the cantilevers aligned in a line (see a non patent document 1 below).
FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of such a measuring device with a series of inline type cantilevers.
In FIG. 1, 101 is a base plate, 102 is a cantilever array in which cantilevers are aligned in a line along the base plate 101, 103 is an optical measuring head driven in the inline direction (a) in order to measure variations of characteristic vibration frequency and vibration amplitude of cantilevers, and 104 and 105 are modification heads for fixing modifier material on the cantilever array 102
In addition, investigations have been carried for the purpose of utilizing each cantilever and/or each probe as a material sensor by modifying each of the cantilever and/or probe with a particular material (see non patent documents 2 and 3 below).
In the investigation disclosed in the non patent document 3, printing of modifier materials on cantilevers is performed by positioning a nozzle of an inkjet printer in a 3-dimensional xyz coordinate.
In addition, non patent documents 4 and 5 disclose methods of modifying cantilevers using an inkjet printer.
Several kinds of measuring methods and devices using several kinds of cantilevers as indicated below have been proposed by the present inventor.
(1) A cantilever array with a simple structure enabling correct detection of a surface of a sample, a fabrication method thereof a scanning probe microscope using therewith, a sliding device of guiding and/or rotating system, a sensor, a homodyne laser interferometer, a laser Doppler interferometer with an optical exciting function of a sample, and a method for exciting a cantilever (see the patent document 1 below).
(2) A cantilever as a micro 3-dimensional structure comprising silicone micro wires, fabrication methods thereof and devices using the cantilever (see the patent document 2 below).
(3) A method and device for measuring vibration of a cantilever in a cantilever array comprising plurality of cantilevers (2-n) mutually having different characteristic vibration frequencies, wherein each characteristic vibration frequency of the cantilevers is successively excited by modulated optical excitation to measure the vibrations by the laser Doppler interferometer (see the patent document 3 below).
Non-patent document 1: Gerhand Grosch, "Hybrid fiber-optic/micromechanical frequency encoding displacement sensor", Sensors and Actuators A, April 1990, Vol. 23, Issues 1-3, pp. 1123-1131.
Non-patent document 2: James C. Mabry, Tim Yau, Hui-Wen Yap, John-Bruce D. Green, "Developments for inverted atomic force microscopy", Ultramicroscopy 91, (2002), pp. 73-82.
Non-patent document 3. M. K. Baller, H. P. Lang, J. Fritz, Ch. Gerber, J. K. Gimzewski, U. Drechsler, H. Rothuizen, M. Despont, P. Vettiger, F. M. Battiston, J. P. Ramseyer, P. Fornaro, E. Meyer, and H.-J. Guentherodt: "A cantilever array-based artificial nose", Ultramicroscopy, 87(1-4), (2000), pp. 1-9.
Non-patent document 4: Bietsch A, Zhang J Y, Hegner M, Lang H P, Gerber C; "Rapid functionalization of cantilever array sensors by inkjet printing", NANOTECHNOLOGY 15(8) August 2004, pp. 873-880.
Non-patent document 5: Bietsch A, Hegner M, Lang H P Gerber C; "inkjet deposition of alkanethiolate monolayers and DNA oligonucleotides on gold: Evaluation of spot uniformity by wet etching", LANGMUIR 20(12) Jun. 8, 2004, pp. 5119-5122.
Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-114182.
Patent document 2: WO 03/102549 A1
Patent document 3: WO 2004/061427 A1

Measuring device with daisy type cantilever wheel

Abstract: The measuring device with a daisy type cantilever wheel comprising a disk-like base plate, a cantilever array with cantilevers, the longitudinal axes thereof being arranged approximately in the radial direction of the disk-like base plate, a rotational mean of the disk-like base plate, the cantilever array being arranged thereon, a positioning device of the cantilever array, an optical measuring head arranged in a position corresponding to the cantilever array for measuring the movement of the cantilever, whereby the variations in the vibration frequency and/or the vibration amplitude of the cantilevers are successively detected according to the rotation of the disk-like base plate.


A mechanism is described for transferring data between a pair of relational databases on client and server machines. A client component creates a first pipe in the client, and sends information to a server component, enabling it to create a second pipe in the server. The client component then calls the data unloading utility of the client database, causing it to start to unload the data into the first pipe. The client component then starts up a Send process in the client, which reads data from the first pipe and sends it to the server. At the server, the server component calls the loading utility of the server database, specifying the second pipe as input. As the data arrives at the server, the server component writes it into the second pipe, from where it will be read by the loading utility and written into the server database.

This invention relates to a data transfer mechanism. The invention is particularly, although not exclusively, concerned with a data transfer mechanism for transferring data between relational databases on client and server machines.
Conventional techniques for transferring data between two relational databases require the data first to be read from the source database into a flat file and then to be transferred from the flat file to the target database. However, a problem with this is that this process tends to be slow, and so can take an excessively long time if large amounts of data are involved.
The object of the present invention is to provide an improved data transfer mechanism.

Data transfer mechanism between databases using a separate pipe at each database


An elastic shaft coupling has a drive-side interface and an output-side mechanical interface. Both interfaces are intended in each case for connecting the shaft coupling to an adjacent machine element. The shaft coupling has at least two elastic rubber elements which are connected behind one another between the drive-side and the output-side interfaces and the axial material thickness of which increases in each case at a growing radial spacing from the center axis of the shaft coupling. To reduce the amount of rubber of the shaft coupling with retention of its elastic properties, the respective rubber elements are of non-uniform configuration with regard to their torsional rigidity and to be precise are so non-uniform that the torsional rigidity of one of the two rubber elements is always at least one and a half times as great as the torsional rigidity of the other rubber element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an elastic shaft coupling having a mechanical interface on the drive side and on the power take-off side, both interfaces for connecting the shaft coupling to an adjacent machine element, in each instance, whereby the shaft coupling has at least two elastic rubber bodies placed one behind the other between the interface on the drive side and on the power take-off side, whose axial material thickness increases with an increasing radial distance from the center axis of the shaft coupling, in each instance.
2. The Prior Art
Such a shaft coupling is known from the German Offenlegungsschrift [examined patent published for public scrutiny] DE 197 14 420 A1 of the same applicant.
Elastic shaft couplings of the type stated initially serve to damp rotary vibrations in drive trains. Furthermore, they even out radial and axial offset of individual sections of the drive train, relative to one another. For example, the transmission of a ship is generally mounted in fixed manner, while the ship diesel is mounted elastically. The offset of the engine resulting from vibrations and hull deformations is compensated by means of an elastic shaft coupling that is disposed between engine and transmission. Furthermore, the elastic shaft coupling damps rotary vibrations that occur in the system.
The elastic rubber bodies of such couplings have the form of a rotation body, the rotation surface of which is approximately V-shaped. Because of this geometry, the axial material thickness of the rubber increases with an increasing radial distance from the center axis of the shaft coupling, in order to guarantee a uniform stress distribution within the rubber body, over its entire diameter.
In the selection of the coupling for the predetermined drive train, the individual torsion spring constants and mass inertia moments of the rubber bodies and their flanking disks are significant parameter values. In order to vary these, in terms of design, in the past the increase in material thicknesses of the rubber bodies was changed, as were the material-specific spring constants. However, in this connection the axial material thicknesses of the rubber bodies were always varied in identical measure, and this led to the result that the rubber bodies always appear with mirror symmetry in a mirror plane perpendicular to the center axis of the shaft coupling. Since the same material was also always provided for the two rubber bodies, this led to the result, in the final analysis, that the torsion spring constants of the individual rubber bodies were approximately identical. The amount of rubber resulting from this was accepted as being a given.

Elastic shaft coupling having non-identical rubber bodies


A flow probe for use in a humidification system is disclosed. The flow probe is adapted to be positioned in a humidified gases flow (for example oxygen or anesthetic gases) such as that which is provided to a patient in a hospital environment. The flow probe is designed to provide both temperature and flow rate sensing of the gases flow by incorporating two sensors (preferably thermistors) and the shape and alignment of the probe enables accurate readings by reducing the occurrence of condensation on the sensors. A number of possible applications are disclosed wherein the flow sensor is included in humidification control systems which provide a patient with a desired humidity level or simplify the amount of user input required or wherein the flow sensor provides a controller with flow information which may then be used to determine certain, possibly dangerous, conditions (such as incorrect flow sensor placement, breathing circuit disconnected, no water in the humidification chamber or humidity out of required limits).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to gases distribution systems and in particular, though not solely, to respiratory humidifier systems which humidify gases for a patient, or other person in need of such gases, to breathe.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many, if not all, existing respiratory humidification systems which deliver humidified gases (such as oxygen or anaesthetic gases) to a patient, or other person in need of such gases, operate as temperature controllers. That is, the temperature of the gases leaving the humidification device in the breathing circuit is monitored and the heat source controlled in response to changes in that temperature to achieve a desired outgoing humidified gases temperature. An example of this type of humidifier control system is disclosed in our prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,084. This method of control has a number of disadvantages including:                In situations with high incoming gases temperature (approaching the desired outgoing gases temperature) little heat is necessarily supplied to the gases by the humidification process to achieve the required temperature. Accordingly, little humidification of the gases is also achieved.        The dependency on temperature sensors in this control method means that incorrect placement or connection of the temperature sensors can lead to impaired performance of the entire humidification and breathing system.        Lack of flow sensors which, if provided, would enable certain breathing circuit conditions to be easily recognised and appropriate action to be taken by the humidification device (and/or the gases supply). Flow sensors have previously not been utilised in humidification systems due to insufficient robustness and problems of condensation occurring on the flow sensor, leading to incorrect flow readings.        Gases being supplied to the patient at a pressure/humidity combination which is inappropriate. It is well known that certain humidity levels are required of gases which are to be administered to a patient. Different humidity values are specifically suitable to intact (for example face mask) or bypassed (intubation delivery of gases) airways. Temperature sensing alone can not ensure that these required temperature/humidity values are achieved.        Some existing respiratory humidification devices require users to adjust dials which have little or no intuitive relationship to the actual physical parameters they are intended to control. Often the dials adjust the required gases outlet temperature and/or the heating supplied by the heater wire provided within the conduit connecting humidifier to patient (and sometimes also the conduit connecting the patient back to the gases supply). The most important parameter in humidified gases supply to a patient is the humidity of the gases as insufficient humidity can very quickly dehydrate the patient's airways. Accordingly, users have little or no idea where to position the dials to produce the desires result of optimum humidity in the supplied gases at the existing flow rate. An automated system in which the user need only inform the humidification device if the patient receiving the humidified gases has intact or by-passed airways would be a major advance.        Many existing respiratory humidification devices display the gases temperature being supplied to the patient. As previously mentioned, the most important parameter in respiratory humidification systems is the humidity of the gases. Often, the temperature displayed has no relationship to the actual humidity of the gases being supplied to the patient due to heating in the delivery circuit and can therefore be misleading to the average health care professional. It would, therefore, be an advantage if the temperature displayed was in some way related to or indicative of the humidity of the gases being supplied to the patient.


A soft-focus zoom lens system comprises a negative front lens group and a positive rear lens group, both of which are arranged to perform a zooming operation by moving the first lens group and the second lens group, by varying the distance between the negative front lens group and the positive rear lens group, wherein the soft-focus zoom lens system satisfies the following conditions: EQU SAU/f.sub.W <-0.10 (1) EQU 0.8<D.sub.W /f.sub.W <2.0 (2). wherein:. SAU designates the amount of marginal spherical aberration at the short focal-length extremity under the full open aperture condition; PA1 f.sub.W designates the focal-length of the entire lens system at the short focal-length extremity; and PA1 D.sub.W designates the axial distance between the front lens group and the rear lens group at the short focal-length extremity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a soft-focus zoom lens system which is incorporated in a zoom lens mainly used as an interchangeable lens for a single reflex camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
A soft focus lens system, mainly for portraits, has been utilized in a telephoto lens system having a relatively narrower angle of view. On the other hand, a wideangle lens system having a wider angle of view has recently employed a soft-focus lens system for the purpose of obtaining soft-focus effects in a distant scenic views such as landscapes. However, there has not as yet been provided a soft-focus zoom lens system that can maintain soft-focus effects in the range of a wideangle to a telephoto-angle.


According to a typical invention of the inventions disclosed in the present application, a semiconductor chip with an electronic circuit formed therein is fixed to a die pad for a lead frame having projections formed on the back thereof, with an organic dies bonding agent. Pads on the semiconductor chip, and inner leads are respectively electrically connected to one another by metal thin lines. These portions are sealed with a molding resin. Further, each inner lead extends to the outside of the molding resin and is processed into gull-wing form for substrate mounting. Moreover, the inner lead is processed by soldering so that an external terminal is formed. Thus, since the projections are provided on the back of the die pad, the back of a packing material is brought into point contact with that of the die pad as compared with the conventional face-to-face contact. It is therefore possible to minimize the transfer of organic substances from the packing material. Further, since such transfer that a reduction in adhesive property occurs in the back of the die pad, is greatly reduced, the adhesiveness between the upper surface of the die pad and the molding resin is improved, whereby the resistance of SMD to the reflow is enhanced.

1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to a semiconductor device having a structure capable of preventing cracks produced due to various stresses.
Further, another invention of the present application relates to a semiconductor device capable of being reduced in size and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art:
In order to prevent cracks produced in a semiconductor device, techniques described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2-17162 (laid open on 1st of May in 1990), 2-205351 (laid open on 15th of Aug. in 1990), 3-259555 (laid open on 19th of Nov. in 1991), 1-191453 (laid open on 1st of Aug. in 1989), 4-84452 (laid open on 17th of Mar. in 1992) and 6-209055 (laid open on 26th of Jul. in 1994) have been proposed.
Further, techniques described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 4-162736 (laid open on 8th of Jun. in 1992) and 6-37127 (laid open on 10th of Feb. in 1994) and Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 4-46551 (laid open on 21st of Apr. in 1992) have been proposed to realize a small-sized semiconductor device.

Semiconductor device having a die pad structure for preventing cracks in a molding resin


An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier that a plurality of toner images of differing colors are formed on a surface, and an intermediate transfer belt positioned opposite the image carrier, the toner images formed on the image carrier being primarily transferred onto an intermediate transfer belt in a superimposed condition, and being collectively secondarily transferred from the intermediate transfer belt onto a transfer material, and the toner images of the two colors set to be approximately identical in screen angle being consecutively transferred in a superimposed condition onto the intermediate transfer belt. A drive load fluctuation correction unit corrects the drive load to the intermediate transfer belt in accordance with a cleaning device moving into and out of engagement with the intermediate transfer belt.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer and a copy machine employing an electrophotographic system or the like, or a facsimile, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus which, after temporarily transferring a toner image formed on an image carrier onto an intermediate transfer belt, forms an image by transferring the toner image onto a transfer medium.
2. Related Art
Among image forming apparatus of this kind such as a printer and a copy machine employing an electrophotographic system or the like, or a facsimile, as an image forming apparatus capable of forming a full color image, various so-called multipath (4 cycle) type image forming apparatus configured as follows have been previously proposed and commercialized. The configuration is such as to include a single photoreceptor drum, to form in order a toner image for each of the colors yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K) on the photoreceptor drum then, after primarily transferring the toner image for each of the colors yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K) formed in order on the photoreceptor drum in a mutually superimposed condition onto an intermediate transfer belt, to form a full color image by secondarily transferring from the intermediate transfer belt onto a paper which forms a recording medium.
This kind of multipath (4 cycle) type image forming apparatus employs a synchronization configuration wherein a peripheral length of the intermediate transfer belt is set to be an integral multiple of the peripheral length of a drive roller which drives the intermediate transfer belt, thereby reducing the incidence of color drift due to a frequency fluctuation of the drive roller caused by a bias or the like.
However, even an image forming apparatus employing the synchronization configuration has the following problems which cause color irregularity and other reductions in image quality. That is, an error exists in tolerance and the like in peripheral length of the intermediate transfer belt, and the peripheral length of the intermediate transfer belt varies (extends and contracts) due to environmental changes in temperature, humidity and the like. Furthermore, an error occurs in the synchronization configuration of the peripheral lengths of the intermediate transfer belt and the drive roller due to a load fluctuation when the cleaner which cleans the surface of the intermediate transfer belt comes into and out of contact therewith.
Also, in the case of photographic image quality, as a granularity of a person's "flesh color" is important, yellow, magenta and cyan are staggered by 30 degrees, but this unit that black (K), which has a high visible sensitivity as color irregularity, has the same or similar screen angle (15 degrees or less) as one of the colors yellow, magenta and cyan. As a result, although it is not inevitable that the screen angle of the black image is absolutely identical to the screen angle of another color, a problem exists wherein in the event that setting is done in such a way that the black image deviates by 15 degrees between the images of the other two colors, two kinds of interference are conspicuous, meaning that the moiré is even more conspicuous than in the case of approximately identical angles.
Furthermore, in the case of a digital type screen, as it is not possible to make the line frequency of each color identical and deviate neatly by, for example, 15 degrees or 30 degrees, there is a slight deviation of angle (for example 13 degrees or 27 degrees), meaning that the appearance of the moiré changes depending on the line frequency and resolution. As a result, when looking for an appropriate place while evaluating granularity and the like within a range of 0 to 15 degrees, considering the image quality design parameters, development, transfer and the like, it is preferable to set identical angles for the screen angles of 2 colors, with this setting becoming a necessary condition for the maintenance of photographic image quality. As a result, even though it is becoming extremely important to prevent the occurrence of a large color irregularity between two colors with an equivalent or approximately equivalent screen angle, a problem exists according to the aforementioned related arts wherein it is unable to prevent the occurrence of a large color irregularity between two colors with an equivalent or approximately equivalent screen angle.

Image forming apparatus with drive load fluctuation correction unit


Disposable cup for preparing, applying and preserving a paint to be set up on a paint spray gun characterized in that it includes on one of its end faces a closable vent device (7) forming a vent valve with valve duct (22) and valve plug (25) which allows when opened, to let the air pass for occupying the inner volume that empties and when closed, to close liquid-tightly the opening (6) of air passage to form a container for the preparation of the paint and then to form a pot for the preservation of the leftover paint. This invention is of interest to manufacturers of paint spray guns.

It is known that spray gun painters have to face difficult operations in preparing the paints, and transferring them from one container into another, which introduces the risk of spillage and paint loss. It is also known that due to increasing costs of labour, all employers try to find solutions allowing for an increase in rapidity for the interventions.
In this spirit, different solutions have been developed for disposable cups or flexible disposable bags containing the paint during the preparation and spraying work.
These solutions reduce the time involved in cleaning equipment and reduce the use of cleaning products based on solvents, which are often non environmentally friendly.
It remained to solve the problem of paint leftovers. These paint leftovers are not to be kept for a long period of time, but used for future work, for example on the same object.
It remained also to find a solution for the paint losses spilling out of the vent due to sudden movements or twists or acute tilting generated by the painter.

Disposable cup to be set up on a spray gun for preparing, applying and preserving a paint


A rapid prototyping system has a liquifier carried by a extrusion head. The liquifier is formed of a single piece of thin-wall tubing preferably made of metal, encased in a heating block. The thin-wall tube has a inlet end for receiving a filament of molding material and an outlet end for delivering the material in liquid form. A first section of the tube adjacent the inlet end functions as the entrance or cap zone. This first section of the tube is exterior to the heating block. The tube has a second section which passes through the heating block forming a heating zone. A nozzle can be formed by swaging the outlet end of the tube to a nozzle geometry, or, a nozzle may be brazed or welded to the outlet end of the tube. The heating block preferably contains a heating element in heat exchange relation to the second section of the tube to heat the filament to a temperature just above its solidification temperature. The extrusion head may alternatively carry two liquifiers that share a common nozzle, for receiving and dispensing two different materials.

This invention relates to a dispensing head for depositing layers of solidifying material in a desired pattern to form three-dimensional physical objects. One useful application for such a device is rapid prototyping of models or objects. The modeling material is selected and its temperature is controlled so that it solidifies upon extrusion from the dispensing head onto a base, with the build-up of multiple layers forming the desired article.
A rapid prototyping system involves the molding of three-dimensional objects based upon design data which is provided from a computer aided design (CAD) system. Examples of apparatus and methods for rapid prototyping of three-dimensional objects by depositing layers of solidifying material are described in Crump U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,329, Batchelder et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,141, Crump U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,433, Batchelder U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,351, Batchelder U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,722, Crump et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,785, and Abrams et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,913, all of which are assigned to Stratasys, Inc. The rapid prototyping systems disclosed in the '329, '433 and '785 patents ("Crump patents") describe an extrusion head which receives a solid state material used to form three-dimensional articles, heats the material to just above its solidification temperature, and dispenses the material as a fluid onto a base.
Various embodiments of the extrusion head are shown in the Crump '433 patent. Each embodiment includes a liquifier which consists of three zones: an entrance zone or cap, a heating zone or body and a nozzle. A first embodiment is shown in FIG. 3 of the '433 patent. FIG. 3 shows a liquifier within a extrusion head having a seal ring (i.e., a cap), a heating head (i.e., heating zone) and a nozzle. The seal ring receives a supply rod of solid material. An electric heater within the heating head heats the supply rod to a temperature exceeding its solidification temperature, reducing it to a liquid state. The liquid material then flows into the nozzle through a nozzle flow passage, and is dispensed through a nozzle dispensing outlet.
A second embodiment of the extrusion head is shown in FIG. 5 of the Crump '433 patent. In this embodiment, the supply material is in the form of a flexible strand in solid form. The flexible strand of material shown in FIG. 5 is fed through a guide sleeve to a extrusion head. The extrusion head contains a supply chamber in a top portion and a liquifier in a bottom portion. Drive rollers within the supply chamber introduce the flexible strand into the liquifier. The liquifier within the extrusion head includes a seal ring (i.e., a cap), a material supply and flow passage (i.e., heating zone) and a dispensing outlet orifice (i.e., a nozzle). The flexible strand is advanced into the liquifier through the seal ring, which provides a hydraulic seal around the internal surface of the flow passage. A heater in the form of a sleeve containing a heating coil is positioned around the flow passage and the orifice to heat the strand to a fluid state in the passage. The material is dispensed in a fluid state through the orifice.
A third embodiment of the extrusion head is shown in FIG. 13 of the Crump '433 patent. As with the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the material is supplied in the form of a flexible strand in solid form. The strand is advanced into a extrusion head through a guide sleeve. A strand advance mechanism comprising a pair of motor-driven feed rollers or pullies and advances the strand into the liquifier. The liquifier of FIG. 13 is comprised of a tubular guide member, a seal ring, a liquifier nozzle and a removable tip. The tubular guide member and seal ring together form the cap zone. The tubular guide member is made of highly conductive metal, such as aluminum or silver. It dissipates heat rapidly to maintain the flexible strand at a suitable temperature during its movement from the strand advance mechanism into the heating zone. To further dissipate heat from the guide member, a blower may be used to circulate air into the extrusion head, around the guide member. A cooling fin extending from the guide member in an "L"-shape is additionally utilized to enhance the heat dissipation from the guide member. At its lower end, the guide member is supported on the seal ring. The seal ring is made out of heat-insulating plastic to serve as a thermal seal. The liquifier nozzle surrounded by a heating coil and an outer insulation sleeve provides a heating zone in which the strand material is melted. The liquifier nozzle (i.e., heating tube) is made of heat-conducting material such as silver or preferably aluminum. The removable tip is attached to the bottom end of the liquifier nozzle by a threaded connection.
A fourth embodiment of the extrusion head is shown in FIG. 6 of the Crump '433 patent. In this embodiment, multiple materials are dispensed through separate passages into a single discharge outlet. The embodiment of FIG. 6 allows utilization of different materials to form different layers of the same article.
The Crump '785 patent discloses an extrusion head carrying two liquifiers, each having its own nozzle. The liquifiers of the '785 patent each have a cap at a receiving end, secured by a mounting ring to a tubular dispenser (i.e., heating tube). A heating coil is wrapped around each tubular dispenser to heat and melt a filament of material. In each liquifier, the material is provided in a fluid state to a dispensing nozzle and discharged through a nozzle tip. Filament is conveyed to each liquifier from a supply spool by a pair of pinch rollers driven by stepper motors.
In the aforementioned liquifiers, the cap region serves as the transition zone for the modeling material where at the entrance to the cap the temperature is below the softening point of the material and the outlet of the cap is above the temperature required to pump the material in a semi-liquid state. This requires a change in temperature of up to 250.degree. Celsius over the length of the cap. Ideal properties for the cap are a high thermal resistivity in the axial direction and low thermal resistivity in the radial direction. The previous designs, such as those described in the Crump patents, used high temperature thermoplastics or thermoset plastics such as Dupont "Vespel" SP-1, for the cap to accomplish these goals. These caps are expensive, have temperature limitations, and require a sealing mechanism between the cap and the heating body, which is typically formed of aluminum. The caps and seal are prone to leakage.
It would be desirable to form the cap zone of the liquifier out of the same medium used to form the liquifier body. A medium that is inexpensive, that allows bends in the liquifier path to be easily made, and that can further be used to form the nozzle zone would also be desirable.