A remote operating lever unit (20) for operating a brake unit (10) mounted to an wheeled vehicle is provided a lever (22) for operation by a user, a main body (24) holding the lever (22) in a displaceable manner and including a control unit for transmitting a signal to the brake unit (10) based on a displacement amount of the lever (22) from a neutral position thereof, a holder (26) holding the main body (26), and a connecting portion (245, 265) detachably engaging the main body (24) and the holder (26) at an arbitrary angle around an axis (X) perpendicular to a plane in which the lever (22) displaces.

Vehicles designed for travel, in particular those comprising wheels, generally require means for controlling the speed with which the wheeled vehicle is traveling. Such vehicles include those that are powered by human interaction or those which are assisted by a motor, such as trikes, handbikes, bicycles, wheelchairs or the like.
A typical brake system used for such wheeled vehicles includes a brake device that applies a braking force to the wheel of the wheeled vehicle, and an operating lever unit for operating the brake device that is connected the brake device via a brake wire. In a bicycle brake system, for example, the operating lever unit is mounted to a handlebar of the bicycle in a position where a user can easily grip said operating lever.
One difficulty that is associated with these systems, however, is adjustment of a neutral position of the lever of the operating lever unit with respect to the handlebar of the bicycle. Such adjustment is required, for example, when the brake wire elongates after using for a long time or with very heavy use. In case of elongation of the brake wire, the distance between the lever and the handlebar changes, whereby an appropriate braking force cannot be obtained. Another situation in which it is required to adjust the neutral position of the lever, is when the distance between the lever and the handlebar no longer fits with the size of the user's hand as the user grows or as the user changes.
In order to adjust the distance between the brake lever and the handlebar, it would be necessary to change the length of the brake wire connecting a brake caliper of the brake device and the brake lever attached to the handlebar.
Several attempts to improve the workability in the adjustment of the lever position have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,082 A discloses a brake lever system including a cable attachment fitting which rides within an open slot of a brake lever body which tilts away from the departure point of the brake cable as a brake lever body is pivoted away from a brake lever housing. A threaded screw, or rod, carried within the open slot, can be adjusted to raise or lower the height of a rectangular block which forms an adjustable lower limit below which the cable attachment fitting cannot travel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,500 A discloses a brake lever reach adjustment which includes a bracket, a brake lever and a reach adjusting assembly. The bracket to be mounted to a handlebar has a cavity therein. The brake lever is pivotally connected to the bracket, and defines two opposite wings. The reach adjusting assembly has a lead screw and a movable block mounted about the lead screw. The movable block selectively supports one of the two wings, or is positioned between the two wings to adjust a position of the brake lever relative to the handlebar.
In both of the documents described above, however, the extent to which the lever can be adjusted is at most several millimeters. Therefore, if a user desires more adjustment, it would be necessary to release an end of the brake wire fixed to the brake device using a hexagonal wrench or special tools, adjust the length of the brake wire, and tighten it again. Such work requires labour and certain experience in brake maintenance.
For this reason, the conventional brake levers disclosed in the documents above, are not suitable when it is required to adjust the lever to a large degree, as the user grows up or the user changes for example. In some cases, it may be necessary to change the brake lever itself to a new one which fits to the user's hand.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a remote operating lever unit and brake system which can be easily repositioned to meet different hand sizes, different grip reach sizes of the user and different grip strengths.

Remote operating lever unit for operating brake unit, brake system, and method of repositioning lever


A container structure for solid retaining foods, such as cookies and snack chips, or non-food items, such as first aid products or golf balls, is disclosed which is sized and configured to be vendable from a vending machine which is configured for dispensing canned drinks. The container structure and method of vending disclosed presents advantages in the art in providing both vendable food and non-food items with beverages from a single vending machine, facilitates restocking of such vending machines, and provides a more readily recyclable container for vendable foods and non-food items.

1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to packaging for food and non-food items which are sized for being dispensed from vending machines.
2. State of the Art
Various types of coin-operated vending machines are known for dispensing beverage and food products. A very common type is that which dispenses soft drinks, usually cold, in standard 12 oz. cans. In a typical such machine, rows of cans are held in a refrigerated internal storage area and chute means may be positioned to move the cans to a delivery slot. When the machine is activated, such as by insertion of coinage or other form of payment, a can is released from the storage area and delivered through a chute means to the delivery slot. The chute is shaped and sized so that the can may slide or roll in an orderly way to the delivery area for grasping by the purchaser.
Vending machines for other kinds of foods such as cookies, sandwiches, candy bars, fruit, snack chips, crackers, hard-boiled eggs, and the like, are typically somewhat different than soft-drink machines. One kind of machine has coiled wires holding the goods, the packaging of which must be of relatively flat configuration suitable for holding between adjacent coils of the wire. Activation of the machine for a selected item causes the wire coil holding that item to rotate about its central axis, causing the item to move forward to the end of the coil and then to drop free to a slot where it is graspable by the purchaser. Another kind of machine has a series of flat-bottomed compartments arranged in columns on an inner housing which rotates in steps about a vertical axis. Each step brings one column of compartments in registration with doors in an outer housing, a door being openable upon payment by the purchaser.
The described types of food vending machines (as distinguished from soda can dispensing machines) are suitable for their intended purposes, but have certain disadvantages. Both kinds of machines have relatively limited capacity, and each individual item must be restocked by hand, coil-by-coil or compartment-by-compartment. The restocking process is thus time-consuming and tedious. In contrast, restocking of a soft-drink machine of the type described above is simpler and less time-consuming, since all that is needed is to place an oriented group of cans into the refrigerated holding area. The round cans tend to orient themselves in groups.
Also, the types of machines that dispense solid foods are generally much less widely distributed than are soft-drink can dispensing machines. Thus, soft drink vending machines are very prevalent, even in remote or sparsely travelled areas. As a result, a vending machine location may provide only soft drinks, or may provide only vendable food, but typically not both.
Coil-type machines are not suitable for dispensing drinks, whether in cans or otherwise. In general, the compartments of automat-style machines are not sized large enough for dispensing standard soft drink cans, though they may dispense drinks in smaller sized cans (for example six ounce juice cans). Still another problem with the coil-type machines is that the soft-sided packaging required for cookies, crackers, snack chips, etc. in these machines permits the contents of the package to be crushed or broken, which is undesirable.
Thus, a need remains for improved means for vending non-beverage food items or non-comestible items from vending machines which are widely or prevalently available for dispensing beverages. A need also remains for improved packaging for food or non-food items for vending machines.


A pivoting joint with a ball and socket joined by trunnions for use in fluid conduits, particularly firefighting devices such as portable monitors and the like. The pivoting joint can be used on an inlet of the device to provide a pivoting motion for one or more inlet hoses, and/or on the outlet of the device to direct the discharge in one or more directions. An optional one-way brake can be used to limit unintended movement about one or more axis of motion.

This invention relates generally to conduit swivels and more particularly to a ball and socket type pivot joint for use in lines where swiveling of the joint under pressure is required. A one-way brake can be fitted to the pivot joint to enable a heavy nozzle to be carried by the pivot joint without the nozzle's elevation being lowered by gravity.
Firefighting monitors are devices used to deliver large volumes of firefighting fluid such as water or foam. A monitor has an inlet that is connected to a feed hose or a pipe, and a discharge to which a nozzle is fitted. Some means is provided to vary the direction of the nozzle so that a stream of fire fighting fluid can be moved in both the horizontal and vertical directions.
Some existing monitors use ball and socket type swivels to accomplish movement in the horizontal and vertical directions. Ball and socket swivels have only a few parts and are simple to manufacture and maintain as compared to swivels that use ball bearings, for example.
Ball and socket swivels typically have very direct flow passages that can result in less pressure loss in the firefighting fluid flowing therethrough. Further, ball and socket swivels usually enable movement in all directions, but they generally have a more limited range of motion compared to ball bearing type swivels.
Typically in ball and socket swivels, the socket captures the ball so that internal pressure from the firefighting fluid does not separate the joint. The axial load due to the internal pressure is born by the ball/socket interface, which causes friction drag in the swivel during redirection. When the fluid pressure in the swivel is high, the axial force can be so great that redirecting the swivel is difficult, if not impossible.
To alleviate some of the friction drag, a ball and socket swivel with an axle passing completely through the joint is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,618. The axle bears the axial force from the water pressure thereby overcoming the high friction of a ball being pressed into a socket. Unfortunately, the presence of such an axle or other obstruction in the fluid conduit leads to turbulence and pressure loss in the fluid.
Regardless of the type of swivel used, portable monitors have never before had the ability for the hoses to enter the monitor by means of a swiveling joint, and for good reason. Reaction forces in a monitor are axially aligned with the direction of the discharge stream from the nozzle. When a portable monitor and hose are on a relatively flat support surface, the monitor is generally stable because the reaction forces plus the weight of the monitor keep the monitor in stable contact with the support surface.
The stability of a portable monitor becomes questionable when used on uneven surfaces. For example, if a portable monitor were set at the bottom of a flight of stairs, the feed hose going down the stairs into the monitor could cause the monitor inlet to tip upwards in alignment with the hose in response to the hose stiffening when fluid starts flowing.
Further, when ball and socket type swivel joints are used on a monitor discharge, the weight of the nozzle will redirect the discharge downward. Spring clutches on rotary valves are known, as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,107, but one-way brakes on pivoting conduit joints that permit an operator to easily redirect the nozzle are unknown. Thus, swivels on monitor outlets are problematic, as well.
Thus, an improved swivel is needed that does not have the above-described problems.

Pivoting fluid conduit joint and one-way brake


A marine vessel (102) is operable to emit an audible signal based upon the velocity status of the marine vessel (102). The marine vessel (102) includes a first processor component (340) operable to determine the velocity of the vehicle based upon signal inputs (140, 142, 144). The marine vessel (102) further includes a database (310) containing a set of at least two audible signals. A second processor component (300) is operable to select an audible signal from the set of at least two audible signals based on the velocity of the marine vessel (102). A loudspeaker (110) emits the selected audible signal from the marine vessel (102).

The United States Federal Government's NAVSTAR system, known generically as the global positioning system (GPS), provides worldwide positioning capability to its users with a system employing a set of fixed ground-based GPS controllers and a set of GPS satellites providing information suitable for use by passive GPS receivers. At any given time, there are at least 24 GPS satellites in operation, each orbiting Earth once every 12 hours at an altitude of 11,000 nautical miles. The position of each GPS satellite in the GPS system is calculated based on the relationship between that GPS satellite and one or more of the fixed ground-based GPS controllers.
Various components of the GPS system are operable to determine the distance between themselves, and therefore their respective positions, based on the time elapsed between the transmission of an electromagnetic signal by one GPS component and the receipt of the signal by another. Using this methodology, the GPS system has the capability to accurately determine the position of each GPS satellite with respect to the fixed ground-based GPS controllers, and therefore to the Earth itself.
Given that the electromagnetic GPS signals are traveling at the speed of light and that the distances involved are relatively short, the accuracy of the distance calculation depends on highly accurate timing synchronization, which is handled primarily with atomic clocks disposed within the various components of the system.
Each of the GPS satellites transmits signals to the other components of the GPS system. Civilian GPS satellite signals are transmitted at a frequency of 1575.42 MHz in the UHF band, while military GPS signals are transmitted at 1227.6 MHz. Signals at these frequencies can pass through clouds and fog, but will not pass through most solid objects such as buildings and mountains. Accordingly, a passive GPS receiver must have a clear line-of-sight to the GPS satellites necessary for positioning. A GPS satellite signal contains a pseudorandom satellite identification code, "ephemeris data" and "almanac data". Ephemeris data reflects satellite status and current date and time. Almanac data discloses the position of the GPS satellite and other GPS satellites in the system.
Within this framework of GPS satellites having known positions at known times, a passive GPS receiver can determine its position with respect to the Earth using the signal delay reckoning method described above. Signals from multiple satellites are required in order to calculate the position of the passive GPS receiver. Given the signal from only a single GPS satellite, a passive GPS receiver can determine only that it is at a point on a sphere of a known radius centered on a GPS satellite having a known position. Given the signal from two GPS satellites, a passive GPS receiver can determine that it is at a point on the intersection of two spheres having known radii and known central points. Based on the principles of geometry, the intersection of two such spheres is a circle lying on the plane of intersection of the two spheres. Given the signal from three GPS satellites, a passive GPS receiver can determine that it is at a point on the intersection of three spheres having known radii and known central points. The intersection of three spheres is a set of two discrete points. Accordingly, given three GPS satellite signals, a passive GPS receiver can limit the range of its possible locations to two discrete points in three-dimensional space. In practice, it is often the case that only one of these two points is near the surface of the Earth. Given four or more GPS satellite signals, the location of the passive GPS receiver can be limited to a single discrete point within a certain margin of error. As the number of GPS satellites is increased, the margin of error is, of course, reduced.
The utility of a GPS receiver to the user is much improved through the inclusion of map display capability within the GPS receiver. With this capability, the user of a GPS receiver is able to reference his or her present global position to nearby roads, geographic landmarks, and other points of interest included in the map data stored within, and displayed by, the GPS receiver.

Method and apparatus for selecting a foghorn blast pattern


Systems and methods for treating water passing through a catch basin may include first and second filters. In some embodiments, the filters each have a plurality of regions with different nominal flow rates.

Storm drain systems are designed to retain and collect runoff to be channeled to locations where it can be safely dispersed. Typically, and in particular during heavy flows, the runoff can carry particulate matter and debris. Runoff entering a storm drain system is typically collected first in a catch basin designed to remove particulate matter and debris from the runoff. Over time, silt and debris can clog the catch basin resulting, for example, in blocked outlet pipes, with water overflow and/or undesirable discharge of particulate matter out of the catch basin. Periodically, catch basins require expensive and time-consuming removal of material collected in the catch basin (e.g., using a vacuum truck) to reduce the risk of local flooding and the undesirable discharge of particulate matter out of the catch basin.


A fixed type constant velocity joint includes an outer ring (1), an inner ring (2), torque transmitting balls (3), a cage (4), and a pre loading mechanism in which either a pressing section for axially applying an elastic pressing force or a receiving section for receiving the pressing force from the pressing section is disposed in the cage (4), the other being disposed in the inner ring (2). The axial clearance between the inner ring (2) and the cage (4) is greater than the axial clearance which is due to the radial clearance of the track, and the axial clearance which is produced by the radial clearance of the track is 2.5-6.5 times as large as the radial clearance of the track. Further, the center of the outer spherical surface (2b) of the inner ring (2) is shifted to the spread side of the ball tracks (1a, 2a) over the center of the inner spherical surface (4b) of the cage, thereby improving the cross operation.

Generally, a plurality of Cardan joints (cross shaft couplings) have been used in an automobile steering device. The Cardan joint is a non-constant velocity joint which is such that when the working angle increases, the rotational variation between the input and output shafts also increases. Since it is necessary to secure constant velocity nature by combining a plurality of Cardan joints, there is a problem that the degree of freedom of design of vehicles is impaired.
Accordingly, if fixed type constant velocity joints are used as shaft couplings for steering devices, constant velocity nature can be secured at any working angle, providing the advantage of increasing the degree of freedom of design of vehicles. The fixed type constant velocity joint comprises an outer ring having a plurality of curved track grooves in its spherical inner surface, an inner ring having a plurality of curved track grooves in its spherical outer surface, torque transmitting balls incorporated between the track grooves of the inner and outer rings, and a cage for holding the torque transmitting balls.
The center of curvature of the track grooves of the outer ring (the outer ring track center) is offset with respect to the center of curvature of the spherical inner surface of the outer ring, and the center of curvature of the track grooves of the inner ring (the inner ring track center) is offset with respect to the center of curvature of the spherical outer surface of the inner ring, axially by the same distance to opposite sides, whereby the ball tracks constituted by the track grooves of the outer and inner rings are in the form of wedges spread toward the opening side of the outer ring.
In this connection, this kind of fixed type constant velocity joint has clearances created therein between the track grooves of the outer and inner rings and the balls because of the request made for functional and processing reasons. When either the inner ring and or the outer ring is fixed with the joint in the neutral position and the other is moved, such clearances appear as axial clearances, radial clearances or circumferential clearances. The track clearances greatly influence the circumferentially (rotation backlash) between the inner and outer rings. The track clearances are inevitable to the fixed type constant velocity joint from the standpoint of processing allowance and assemblability, resulting in large rotation backlash, causing the fear that such rotation backlash deteriorates the steering feel for substantially straight travel of the vehicle or is the cause of generation of abnormal sounds. To solve this problem, Japanese unexamined Patent publication 2003-130082 proposes a fixed type constant velocity joint capable of eliminating or suppressing the rotation backlash by closing the track clearances by a preloading means installed in the joint.
The fixed type constant velocity joint disclosed in Japanese unexamined Paten publication 2003-130082 has ball tracks in the form of wedges spread toward the opening side of the outer ring, and in order to close the axial clearances created by track clearances, it has an arrangement wherein a pressing section for axially applying elastic pressing force is provided on the inner ring side, while a receiving section for receiving the pressing force from the pressing section is provided in the cage. And, elastic abutment between the pressing section and the receiving section presses the inner ring toward the opening side of the outer ring, thus producing axial relative movement between the two. The relative movement closes the track clearances through the balls, thus preventing rotation backlash. Depending on the setting of the axial clearance defined by the spherical clearance between the inner ring and the cage and depending on the axial clearance produced by the track clearances, however, there are cases where the axial clearance produced by the track clearances cannot be closed completely, making it difficult to prevent rotation backlash.


An auto stacking machine includes a worktable (10), a plurality of chutes (20), a pair of receivers (30), and a cushioning apparatus. Three vertical plates (14) are mounted on the worktable. The chutes are attached to outmost ones of the vertical plates respectively, for receiving slot covers (60). The cushioning apparatus includes a plurality of resilient members (55) positioned behind corresponding slideways, for cushioning the dropping strip articles. Each receiver includes a number of receiving spaces, for receiving and stacking the strip articles therein. The receivers are attached to the worktable, and are horizontally moveable. A controller is arranged under the worktable, for electrically controlling movement of the receivers to switch positions of the receiving spaces.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stacking machine, and more particularly to a stacking machine for automatically stacking strip articles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Microprocessor based computer systems typically require or include facilities for connecting one or more expansion cards to the system. Expansion cards extend the capabilities of computer systems by providing dedicated hardware to achieve a variety of tasks. These expansion cards comprise graphics adapters, high speed network controllers, hard disk controllers, sound cards, and modem cards, etc.
A typical expansion card comprises a printed circuit board electrically connected to the computer system, and a slot cover attached to the printed circuit board and mechanically attached to the computer system. The slot cover is usually punched from a piece of metal plate via a punch. As a matter of fact, sites for producing slot covers, and assembling expansion cards are often different. The slot covers have to be primarily packed for facilitating conveyance from one site to another. Usually, many people are occupied for manual collecting and packing the slot covers. However, the punch usually produces 8000 pieces of slot covers per hour. It is extremely difficult for people to keep pace with the punch. Additionally, manual operation is unduly laborious and inefficient.
Thus, an auto stacking machine which overcomes the above-mentioned problems is desired.

Auto stacking machine for strip articles


In accordance with the present disclosure, a gap filler is provided for a bed that includes first and second barriers. The gap filler is configured to substantially fill a gap defined between the first and second barriers.

The present invention relates to accessories for hospital beds and particularly to a hospital bed having barriers such as siderails, footboards, and headboards defining gaps therebetween. More particularly, the present invention relates to devices configured to close or fill the gaps defined between the barriers.
It is known to provide beds with foot supporting sections which are extendable and retractable and which may be articulated downwardly, in conjunction with articulation of the head section upwardly, to form a chair-type structure. One example of a hospital bed which provides both of these functions is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,548, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. A commercial embodiment of a bed incorporating both of these features is sold by Hill-Rom, Inc., Batesville, Ind. under the brand name The TotalCare7 Bed System.
When the foot section of the bed is retracted, a footboard coupled to the foot section approaches both the heel of the patient and a foot end siderail. The gap between the foot end siderail and the footboard decreases as the foot section is retracted. The footboard is constructed of rigid materials which is eventually brought into direct contact with the patient's feet.
According to the present invention, a bed is provided including a bedframe having a head end and a foot end, a mattress positioned on the bedframe, a siderail coupled to the bedframe, and a board coupled to one of the head and foot ends of the bedframe. The siderail and the board cooperate to define a gap therebetween. The bed further includes a gap filler coupled to the board to extend between the board and the siderail to substantially fill the gap defined therebetween.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a bed is provided including a bedframe, a mattress positioned on the bedframe, a first barrier coupled to the bedframe, and a second barrier coupled to the bedframe. The first and second barriers cooperate to define a gap therebetween. The bed further includes a gap filler positioned to extend between the first and second barriers to substantially fill the gap defined therebetween. The gap filler includes a top surface and a bottom surface positioned to slide on the mattress during movement of the gap filler relative to the mattress.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a bed is provided including a bedframe, a mattress positioned on the bedframe, a siderail coupled to the bedframe, and a footboard coupled to the bedframe. The mattress and the siderail cooperate to define a mattress gap therebetween. The siderail and the footboard cooperate to define a substantial foot end gap therebetween. The bed further includes a gap filler positioned on the mattress to substantially block the foot end gap and block at least a portion of the mattress gap.
Additional features of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A planar magnetic device comprising a molded header and a planar core assembly, and a method of making a planar magnetic device. The molded header has first, second, third, and fourth sides and an aperture in the center. The first side has a plurality of terminals positioned through it. The third and fourth sides have upper surfaces that are lower than the upper surfaces of the first side. The planar core assembly comprises planar windings and a core. One side of the planar winding has a plurality of terminals with through-holes so that the primary terminals of the header are positioned through the through-holes. The core surrounds at least a portion of the planar windings. The core is shaped so that a first portion of the core is positioned in the aperture, a second portion of the core is positioned on the upper surface of the third side, and a third portion of the core is positioned on the upper surface of the fourth side.

The main difficulty in packaging high frequency power transformers and multi-winding inductors for surface mounted device applications is to provide accurate coplanarity of the device terminals during manufacturing and installation on the mounting surface or substrate. Prior art headers have used a solid plastic base with molded copper or brass terminals to prevent terminal to wire or terminal to planar winding connection from re-flow during installation and losing coplanarity with other terminals and with the bottom of the core. The ferrite cores have been mounted on the top of the plastic header or base. These prior art devices have been a problem in many applications because of the height of the device makes it unsuitable or difficult to use in low profile converters and power supplies. In addition, these prior art devices have presented cooling problems in that the plastic header between the core and the substrate acts as a thermal barrier. This cooling problem has been solved in the past by either de-rating the surface mount device, thus increasing the cost and the size of the power converter, or by using other cooling methods such as fans.
Other prior art devices have used separate surface mount strips with terminals for the primary and secondary sides of transformers. Although this configuration solves the problem of cooling the core and meets the coplanarity requirement between primary pins or secondary pins, it does not solve the problem of coplanarity between all of the terminals, that is, the primary and secondary sides, as well as the core.
Accordingly, there has been a long felt need in the art to provide a surface mount magnetic component assembly that provides coplanarity between all of the pins and the core, that presents a low profile, and that provides improved cooling capabilities.

Surface mount magnetic component assembly


In a dynamic queue load balancing method using a plurality of computers, the load level of each computer is obtained. A queue management table including information on a queue length and the number of queued requests in each queue and a queue adjustment table including information on a queue length at each load level are referred to. The queue length in the queue management table is changed to the queue length in the queue adjustment table corresponding to the obtained load level by a storage device. A queue usage rate of queue is calculated from the queue length and the number of queued requests in the queue management table. Information on the calculated queue usage rate of queue is exchanged among the computers through a communication device. According to the exchanged information on the queue usage rate, selective assignment of a processing request among queues of the computers is performed.

The present invention relates to a dynamic queue load balancing technique for performing selective assignment of a processing request among queues of a plurality of computers, thereby dynamically performing load balancing. More specifically, the invention relates to the technique that is effective for being applied to the dynamic queue load balancing technique in which a plurality of servers offer the same service and load balancing of client requests is performed among the servers.
As a conventional technique in this field, there is provided a load balancing method that uses a queue between a client and a server.
In this method, a client request is assigned to a queue with the smallest load through a load balancing mechanism, and by copying of the client request from the queue to other queues, load balancing is performed. According to this method, it is possible to achieve load balancing of client requests among the queues. JP-A-2000-56996 discloses this technique.
The disclosed method is the one in which load balancing is achieved through provision of a request scheduling computer equipped with the queue and a request processing computer (server), separately. The request scheduling computer performs queuing and scheduling of a processing request, while the request processing computer performs processing of the request. In this method, when it has taken much time for a certain request processing computer to process a certain processing request, the request is assigned to other request processing computer through the request scheduling computer. Load balancing with other free request processing computer thereby becomes possible.
These techniques aim at reduction of the average response time of a client request. In order to achieve this purpose, when a problem occurs in one of the servers at the time of processing a certain client request, it is so arranged that other server can process the client request. JP-A-7-319834 discloses the technique described above.

Method and system for managing load balancing in data processing system


The present invention provides a blade sharpening device designed for sharpening a blade for a uniform sharpening of the edge thereof. The blade sharpening device contains a base having a guide slidably movable relative to the base. The guide includes a material that receives an impression of a blade defining a blade contour. A blade holder is attached to the base for securing the blade while being sharpened. A carriage contains an elongated structure for interacting with the material of the guide which has received an impression of the blade defining a blade contour. The guide defines a sharpening path substantially aligning with the blade contour. The carriage also has an abrasive surface for sharpening the blade. In operation, the guide and carriage direct the movement of the abrasive surface along the contour of the blade for a uniform sharpening of the edge thereof.

The present invention generally relates to blade or knife sharpening devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to a blade sharpening device that can sharpen blades to provide a consistent and uniform angle along the edge of the blade.
In the industry, it is well known to sharpen blades using a blade sharpening device. Several industries and persons require a sharp blade in their business operations: knife sharpeners, chefs, knife retailers, military, knife manufacturers, restaurants, knife distributors, hardware retailers, cutlery retailers, hardware wholesalers, cutlery wholesalers, agriculture, knife collecting clubs, landscapers, farmers/harvesters, hunters, lawn mower retailers, fishermen, outdoor products distributors, woodworkers, handymen, law enforcement, police, campers, tool retailers, house painters, automotive painting, carpet Installers, upholstery, linoleum installers, winery (pruning), and gardeners.
In order to sharpen a blade, the following issues must be addressed: the angle of the grinding medium to the edge of the blade, the path that the grinding medium follows, consistency of the above two factors throughout the sharpening course, the shape of the grinding medium, and the temperature of the blade during sharpening.
One method of blade sharpening involves using a grinding medium and the skill of the user. The main purpose of the grinding medium is to use something harder than the metal of the blade and grind the blade against it, manually, with little assistance to the user in controlling the angle of the blade. This grinding medium typically consists of grinding stones made of diamond, silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, soft and hard Arkansas, ceramic, and Japanese water stones.
The drawback to using a grinding medium without further assistance is the skill required by the user is an art that is difficult to obtain for ordinary users of the grinding medium. It can produce excellent results provided that the user has the proper know-how and proper coordination. Attempting to sharpen a blade without the proper technique can result in permanent damage of the blade. Sharpening by hand is not for the amateur and it is best when performed by professional knife sharpeners.
Another drawback to this method of sharpening is the time and effort involved in sharpening blades. The user must grind the blade against the stone several times in order to "raise a burr", the sign that a side of the edge is sharpened. The same procedure must be done on the other side of the blade. Using stones of different grits multiplies the process by several times. Typically, at least two grits of stone and a honing/polishing must be used to properly sharpen a dull blade. This process requires at least 10-20 minutes per blade.
Other methods of blade sharpening address how to maintain a proper angle of the blade against the grinding medium. This category includes several types of devices such as guides, rod guides, crock sticks, slot gadgets, slide sharp, Skarb® system, and warthog system. Each of these devices will be described in further detail below.
Guides, such as the Buck Hone Master® and Razor® edge, assist the user in maintaining the proper angle of the blade to the grinding medium. The drawbacks are that the guides do not make use of the entire stone, the guide degrades during the sharpening process, and the path of the blade is still directed by the user which requires sufficient skill. In addition, it has many of the drawbacks discussed in the grinding medium above.
Rod-guided systems, such as Lansky®, GATCO®, Edge Pro Apex®, and DMT® systems, assist the user to maintain the angle of the blade to the grinding medium. More specifically, it is optimal for use of smaller sized blades. However, it has similar drawbacks featured in the guides and the grinding medium above.
Crock sticks, such as the Spyderco® system, Lansky® system, and Warthog® system, are another type of rod-guided system. With this system, the rods are held in a "V" at a predetermined angle and the blade is brought down against them in a slicing motion. It is another manual sharpening system and the user can make deviations from the set angle by tilting the blade. The drawback to this system is the rods are in a predetermined angle that the user will find difficult to adjust. It also has all the drawbacks of the previously mentioned rod-guided systems.
Slot gadgets, such as the Meyerco Sharpen-It System® and the Normark® sharpener, assist the user to maintain the angle of the blade relative to the grinding medium. With the slot gadgets, the user draws the blade through a slot a few times and this motion sharpens the blade. The drawback of these gadgets is that sometimes they damage the blade. When the slot gadget utilizes wheels, the blade changes shape over time. In addition, the overall quality of the sharpened blade is low.
The Skarb® system is a guide holding the blade in place while this system pivots on a vertical rod. It is a variation on the rod guided systems with low quality results since the angle is not kept the same throughout the blade (from 17 up to 30 degrees to the tip). Also, the Slide® sharp from CRKT® is another variation of the rod guided system having similar problems as the Skarb® (holding the angle throughout the blade).
Another method of sharpening blades involves the usage of power sharpeners. As in manual sharpening, power sharpening can be assisted or unassisted. Unassisted power sharpening involves, for example, two electric sharpeners—a belt sander and a bench grinder. With these electric sharpeners, the user passes the blade against the stone or the belt a few times to sharpen it. Sharpening blades with these two machines requires experience and skill. The belt sander or the stones are aggressive grinding mediums that can damage a blade in an unskilled user.
Assisted power sharpening is popular among both amateurs and professionals alike. The grinding medium is still a stone or a sand paper but the machines are outfitted with several guides or jigs to maintain a constant angle of the blade and guide the user for the proper sharpening. Two examples of assisted power sharpening are the Makita® and the Delta® with guides that help the user to adjust and keep the desired angle of the blade to the grinding medium.
Another two examples of assisted power sharpening are the Edge Craft's Chef® and the Fire Stone® from McGowan®. In this case, both machines use diamond hones for sharpening but the difference from the Makita® and the Delta® is that they have a guide that holds the blade in place so that the user does not wobble the blade during sharpening. They both have predetermined angles and three sets of wheels, two for sharpening and one for polishing/honing. The user makes a few passes from one slot to the other up to the polishing stage. These machines sometimes fail to produces a sharp edge on the blade and can scratch the sides of the blade.
On the professional grade, there are several types of sharpening systems. The Friedrich Dick® model, the True Hone® model, the Hook-Eye® belt grinder, and the Chef's Choice® professional are a few examples of some professional grade blade sharpening systems. Not all of them consistently create a razor edge on a blade. The machines are manufactured mainly for the purposes of a professional sharpener. Consequently, these devices still require some a skilled user for operation.
Finally, the Tormek® system uses a wet wheel and several guides and jigs for sharpening knives. It has a fully adjustable angle maker that sets the desired angle. It can grind out nicks or reshape broken tips without overheating the blade. It is an expensive tool designed for professional use. The jigs are sold separately, making it even more expensive.
In the prior art, the user's skill and "feeling" of the sharpening is paramount. The "art" part of the sharpening is still present in all of these prior art blade sharpening devices. The present invention solves the above problems in the prior art which results in a consistent, accurate and controlled process for sharpening with minimal user skill required. More importantly, the present invention directs a sharpening path of along a contour of the blade against an abrasive surface, with minimal user input. The present invention brings professional grade sharpening of the blade to the unskilled user with consist and uniform sharpening of the edge.

Blade sharpening device with blade contour copying device


The invention relates to substituted and unsubstituted 3H-benzo[1,2,3]oxathiazole 2,2-dioxides, 1,3-dihydrobenzo[1,2,5]thiadiazole 2,2-dioxides and 1,3-dihydro-benzo[c]isothiazole 2,2-dioxides, to their preparation and to their use in medicaments.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to substituted and unsubstituted 3H-benzo-[1,2,3]oxathiazole 2,2-dioxides, 1,3-dihydrobenzo[1,2,5]thiadiazole 2,2-dioxides and 1,3-dihydrobenzo[c]isothiazole 2,2-dioxides, to their preparation and to their use in medicaments.
2. Description of the Related Art
Aminobenzosultam derivatives acting as lipoxygenase inhibitors are known (WO 92/05164). Also known is the use of corresponding bifunctional derivatives as charge transporters in photoreceptors (JP 95/325942). Andersen et al. described the synthesis of toluenesulfonyl-protected derivatives and studies of reactions of these derivatives with nucleophiles (K. Andersen et al., J. Phys. Org. Chem., 10, 175–181 (1997); K. Andersen et al., J Org. Chem., 60, 2003–2007 (1995)).

Substituted an unsubstituted benzooxathiazoles and compounds derived therefrom


A method for forming a corrosion resistant electrode for a battery includes supplying an electrode for use in the battery and exposing the electrode to an environment including vaporized carbon. At least some of the carbon from the environment may be transferred to the electrode.

Lead acid batteries are well known. All lead acid batteries include at least one positive electrode, at least one negative electrode, and an electrolytic solution of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and distilled water. The actual chemical reaction, which allows the battery to store and release electrical energy, occurs in a paste that coats the electrodes. The positive and negative electrodes, once covered and/or filled with paste, are referred to as positive and negative plates, respectively. The role of the electrodes, themselves, is to transfer electric current to and from the battery terminals. Often, a primary limit to battery durability is corrosion of the electrode (e.g., current collector) of the positive plate.
Several methods have been proposed for inhibiting the corrosion process in lead acid batteries, and some of these methods have involved using carbon in various forms to slow the corrosion process. For example, Great Britain Patent No. 18,590 discloses a method designed to increase the life of a lead acid battery by protecting lead-based grids that form the positive electrodes of the battery from corrosion. This method involves treating the grids with a mixture of rubber, antimony, and graphite. The mixture is applied to the grids by either dipping the grids into the mixture or by brushing the mixture onto the grids with a brush.
As with all coating methods of this type, however, the resulting coating is relatively thick. Often, these coatings do not adhere well to the surfaces of the electrodes, and they have a tendency to fracture and flake off of the electrodes. Furthermore, additives in the coating may reduce the conductivity of the electrodes and inhibit the electron exchange processes of the lead acid battery.


An auto gain controller (AGC) and a control method thereof are provided. An input signal is amplified by a radio frequency (RF) amplifier and an intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier. When strength of the input signal is lower than a threshold, a gain curve of the RF amplifier is lowered while a gain curve of the IF amplifier is raised. When the strength of the input signal is greater than the threshold, a takeover point (TOP) of the IF amplifier is changed from a first takeover point to a second takeover point.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an auto gain controller (AGC) and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a three-stage dual-loop AGC and a control method thereof for adaptively controlling the gain of a radio frequency (RF) amplifier and the gain of an intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier.
2. Description of Related Art
Along with the development of technologies, television set is no more necessary for watching television programs. Instead, television programs can be displayed on any display apparatus by using a set-top box or a video card. Besides, due to the advancement of communication and compression techniques, the conventional analog television broadcasting has been gradually replaced by digital television broadcasting. A user can receive analog television signals or digital television signals through an analog tuner or a digital tuner.
For wirelessly transmitting a television signal, the television signal is first converted into an intermediate frequency (IF) signal and then into a radio frequency (RF) signal by a transmitter. Then, the RF television signal is transmitted through an antenna of the transmitter. On the other hand, a receiver receives the RF television signal transmitted by the transmitter through an antenna thereof and then converts the RF television signal into a video signal by filtering and amplifying the RF television signal. Usually, the RF television signal received by a receiver is low in voltage level or in strength, thereby being not provided directly to a demodulator. Accordingly, the RF television signal received by the receiver has to be amplified. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a conventional receiver 10. Referring to FIG. 1, the receiver 10 has an antenna (not shown), a RF filter 12, a RF amplifier 14, an IF filter 16, an IF amplifier 18, and an auto gain controller (AGC) 20. The RF filter 12 is a tracking filter, which converts an input signal SIN received through the antenna into a RF signal SRF. The RF amplifier 14 amplifies the RF signal SRF and outputs an amplified RF signal SARF. The IF amplifier 18 is a surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter, which filters the amplified RF signal SARF and outputs an IF signal SIF corresponding to the desired television channel. Thereafter, the IF amplifier 18 amplifies the IF signal SIF into an IF output signal SOUT. Generally speaking, the frequency range of the RF signal SRF is wider than the frequency range of the IF signal SIF.
In order to allow the level of the IF output signal SOUT to fall within an range acceptable to the demodulator, the AGC 20 determines the strength of the input signal SIN according to the IF output signal SOUT and outputs gain control signals AGC1 and AGC2 for respectively controlling the gain of the RF amplifier 14 and the gain of the IF amplifier 18. Since one gain control signal is used for controlling the gain of the RF amplifier 14 and the other gain control signal is used for controlling the gain of the IF amplifier 18, the gain control method described above is referred to as dual-loop auto gain control.
FIG. 2 illustrates the relationship between the RF gain GRF of the RF amplifier 14 and the strength of the input signal SIN and the relationship between the IF gain GIF of the IF amplifier 18 and the strength of the input signal SIN. Referring to FIG. 2, the relationship between the RF gain GRF of the RF amplifier 14 and the strength of the input signal SIN is represented by a RF gain curve 32, and the relationship between the IF gain GIF of the IF amplifier 18 and the strength of the input signal SIN is represented by an IF gain curve 34. Besides, three different levels of strength V1, V2, and V3 of the input signal SIN are illustrated in FIG. 2, wherein V1<V2<V3.
Generally speaking, when the AGC 20 controls the gains of the RF amplifier 14 and the IF amplifier 18, the RF gain GRF does not exceed GRFmax1, and the IF gain GIF does not exceed GIFmax1. For example, when the strength of the input signal SIN is smaller than V1, the RF gain GRF and the IF gain GIF are respectively equal to GRFmax1 and GIFmin1. Besides, when the strength of the input signal SIN is between V1 and V2, the RF gain GRF remains at GRFmax1, and the IF gain GIF is gradually reduced from GIFmax1 to GIFmin1 along with the increasing strength of the input signal SIN; when the strength of the input signal SIN is between V2 and V3, the IF gain GIF remains at GIFmin1, and the RF gain GRF is gradually reduced from GRFmax1 to GRFmin1 along with the increasing strength of the input signal SIN; and when the strength of the input signal SIN is greater than V3, the RF gain GRF and the IF gain GIF are respectively equal to GRFmin1 and GIFmin1.
However, the problem of adjacent channel interference is not considered in the dual-loop auto gain control method described above. In other words, the image quality of a desired television channel may be affected when an adjacent channel has very strong signals.

Auto gain controller and control method thereof


The present invention relates to a novel trisazo reactive dyestuff compound of the following formula (I):

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel compound, and more particularly, relates to a novel trisazo orange reactive dyestuff compound.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, the development of reactive dyestuffs goes toward the economical demand of high fixation, good build up and good wash-off so that not only the new reactive dyestuffs, in its properties, contain sufficient substantivity to improve the fixation, but also the unfixed parts of the dyestuffs need good wash-off property.
For a polyazo orange reactive dyestuff with properties of high color yields and high fixation, the trisazo reactive dyestuff compound of the following formula (A) disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,160,101 and that of the following formula (B) disclosed in China patent No. 1730565 have more than one reactive group resulting in higher fixation.

By various experiments, the present inventor develops a dyestuff which exhibits the properties of high color value, high fixation, stable binding between the fibers and the dyestuffs, excellent wet fastness, light fastness and wet fastness.

Abstract: wherein, R, A, B, D, and m are defined the same as in the specification. The trisazo reactive dyestuff compound of the present invention exhibits the properties of good solubility, good alkali-resistant solubility, and good wash-off, while dyeing cellulose fibers.


The present invention is directed to a pattern-unbonded nonwoven fabric having continuous bonded areas defining a plurality of discrete unbonded areas, which is suitable for use as an improved loop fastening material for hook and loop fastening systems. The fibers or filaments within the discrete unbonded areas of the present invention are dimensionally stabilized by the continuous bonded areas that encircle or surround each unbonded area. The spaces between fibers or filaments within the unbonded areas remain sufficiently open or large to receive and engage hook elements of a complementary hook material. The hook material can be any of a wide variety of commercially available hook components which, as is known in the art, typically include a base material from which a plurality of hook elements project. The present invention further is directed to a process for making such a pattern-unbonded nonwoven fabric including the steps of providing a nonwoven fabric or web, providing opposedly positioned first and second calender rolls and defining a nip therebetween, with at least one of said rolls being heated and having a bonding pattern on its outermost surface comprising a continuous pattern of land areas defining a plurality of discrete openings, apertures or holes, and passing the nonwoven fabric or web within the nip formed by said rolls.

Mechanical fastening systems, of the type otherwise referred to as hook and loop fastener systems, have become increasingly widely used in various consumer and industrial applications. A few examples of such applications include disposable personal care absorbent articles, clothing, sporting goods equipment, and a wide variety of other miscellaneous articles. Typically, such hook and loop fastening systems are employed in situations where a refastenable connection between two or more materials or articles is desired. These mechanical fastening systems have in many cases replaced other conventional devices used for making such refastenable connections, such as buttons, buckles, zippers, and the like.
Mechanical fastening systems typically employ two components--a male (hook) component and a female (loop) component. The hook component usually includes a plurality of semi-rigid, hook-shaped elements anchored or connected to a base material. The loop component generally includes a resilient backing material from which a plurality of upstanding loops project. The hook-shaped elements of the hook component are designed to engage the loops of the loop material, thereby forming mechanical bonds between the hook and loop elements of the two components. These mechanical bonds function to prevent separation of the respective components during normal use. Such mechanical fastening systems are designed to avoid separation of the hook and loop components by application of a shear force or stress, which is applied in a plane parallel to or defined by the connected surfaces of the hook and loop components, as well as certain peel forces or stresses. However, application of a peeling force in a direction generally perpendicular or normal to the plane defined by the connected surfaces of the hook and loop components can cause separation of the hook elements from the loop elements, for example, by breaking the loop elements and thereby releasing the engaged hook elements, or by bending the resilient hook elements until the hook elements disengage the loop elements.
Mechanical fastening systems can be advantageously employed in disposable personal care absorbent articles, such as disposable diapers, disposable garments, disposable incontinence products, and the like. Such disposable products generally are single-use items which are discarded after a relatively short period of use--usually a period of hours--and are not intended to be washed and reused. As a result, it is desirable to avoid expensive components in the design of such products. Thus, to the extent that the hook and loop components are employed in such products, the hook and loop components need to be relatively inexpensive in terms of both the materials used and the manufacturing processes for making these components. On the other hand, the hook and loop components must have sufficient structural integrity and resiliency to withstand the forces applied thereto during normal wear of the absorbent article, in order to avoid potentially embarrassing situations for the wearer that can result from premature separation or disengagement of the hook and loop components.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,761,318 to Ott et al. discloses a loop fastening material useful in a mechanical fastening system for disposable articles. The loop fastening material disclosed by this patent includes a fibrous layer having a plurality of loops on a first surface adapted to be releasably engaged by a mating hook fastener portion and a layer of thermoplastic resin adhered to a second surface of the fibrous structure opposite the first surface. The thermoplastic resin anchors the loops in the fibrous structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,122 to Noel et al. discloses a loop fastening material useful in a mechanical fastening system for a disposable article. The loop fastening material disclosed by this patent includes a backing of orientable material and a multiplicity of fibrous elements extending from the backing. The fibrous elements are formed by continuous filaments positioned on and intermittently secured to the backing when the orientable material of the backing is in its dimensionally unstable state. The fibrous elements are formed by the shirring of the filaments between spaced, fixed regions of securement to the backing when the orientable material is caused to be transformed to its dimensionally stable state such that it is caused to contract or gather along its path of response. Thus, the loop material of this patent requires a backing of orientable material, such as an elastic or elastomeric or heat shrinkable material, that is caused to be transformed from a dimensionally stable state to a dimensionally unstable state and returned it to its dimensionally stable state.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,612 to Goulait discloses another a loop fastening material useful in a mechanical fastening system for a disposable article. The loop fastening material disclosed by this patent includes a nonwoven web secured to a backing. The nonwoven web serves to admit and entangle the hooks of a complementary hook component. The nonwoven web has a specified basis weight range of between about 5 to about 42 g/m.sup.2, an inter-fiber bond area of less than about 10 percent, and a total plan view bonded area of less than about 35 percent.
Notwithstanding the teachings of the aforementioned references, the need nonetheless exists for an improved loop fastening material for a mechanical fastening system, particularly as such are used in disposable personal care absorbent articles. The pattern-unbonded nonwoven loop fastening material of the present invention is soft and cloth-like and, therefore, aesthetically appealing in terms of appearance and feel. The pattern-unbonded nonwoven fabric of the present invention has sufficient structural integrity and dimensional stability that, unlike certain of the prior art loop materials, the need for attachment to a support or backing layer to anchor the fibers or filaments within the nonwoven fabric is eliminated. The pattern-unbonded nonwoven fabric of the present invention is relatively inexpensive to produce, especially in comparison to conventional loop materials formed by knitting, warp knitting, weaving, and the like, yet exhibits satisfactory, comparable and/or improved peel and shear strengths as compared to conventional loop fastening materials when used with commercially available hook fastener materials.

Pattern-unbonded nonwoven web and process for making the same


A thermal stress resistance evaluating method of a semiconductor device includes: forming a test circuit on a corner of each of unit regions arranged on a wafer in an array arrangement; forming a TEG chip by dicing a TEG chip region which is determined by grouping at least two of the unit regions in a predetermined shape; assembling a packaged TEG chip from the TEG chip; and executing a temperature cycling test on the packaged TEG chip by using the test circuit on the TEG chip. According to such a configuration, by adjusting the predetermined shape, the packaged TEG chip of various sizes can be formed in accordance with the design of the product chip size.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of evaluating a semiconductor device, such as an evaluation of a thermal stress resistance property and the like. The present invention also relates to a semiconductor wafer having a test element.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, a semiconductor chip is formed in a wafer. The semiconductor chip is diced and packaged and then shipped as a product. In order to insure that the packaged product excellently operates after the shipping, the various tests such as the temperature cycling test and the like are executed.
(A) Arranging Inhibited Region of Chip Corner
In the temperature cycling test, there is a case that a phenomenon which must be avoided in product occurs. As examples of such a phenomenon, the generation of a crack on a passivation layer and the metal interconnection slide, which are caused by temperature variation are listed. The layer crack and interconnection slide are caused by the generation of the thermal stress caused by the difference of the coefficient of thermal expansion between the passivation layer of the semiconductor chip, the metal interconnection of the semiconductor chip and the molding resin (also, there is cases of different material) covering on the semiconductor chip.
In some cases, in order to avoid such a phenomenon, the arrangement of elements and interconnections on the chip corners of the semiconductor device is inhibited. The distribution of the thermal stress on a semiconductor chip is shown in FIG. 1, in which the thermal stress is maximal in the chip corner region which is farthest from the center of the semiconductor chip. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the foregoing phenomena by employing preventive measures for inhibiting elements and metal interconnections from being arranged on the chip corners. The size of the arrangement inhibited region is determined experientially.
(B) Evaluating TEG
In order to insure that a packaged product is good, a test chip having an evaluation TEG (Test Element Group) is used. FIGS. 2, 3 show examples of the test chip formed on the wafer.
A test chip 3, which has the same size as the design size of the product semiconductor chip, is formed on the wafer 1. In the example of FIG. 2, the size of the semiconductor chip is represented by A×B (the lateral width A and the longitudinal width B). Thus, the size of the test chip 3 to evaluate the semiconductor chip is also represented by A×B. In the example of FIG. 3, the size of the semiconductor chip is represented by C×B. Hence, the size of the test chip 3 to evaluate the semiconductor chip is also represented by C×B.
In a certain stage of designing the semiconductor chip, in order to verify the property of the packaged product, the test chip adapted to the design size of the semiconductor chip in that stage is formed and mounted on the package. After the result of the evaluation for the property of this packaged test chip is checked to be good, the product semiconductor chip is packaged.
In Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-A-Heisei, 2-179486, a method for evaluating a thermal stress resistance property of a resin sealed type semiconductor device is described. The TEG pattern described in this document contains interconnections 101, arranged parallel to the two sides of the chip and bent at a right angle on the diagonal of the chip and repeatedly arranged at a constant pitch 105 from the chip end to the center, as shown in FIG. 4. According to this document, since the foregoing TEG chip is used, the various factors with regard to the passivation layer crack and the metal interconnection slide can be evaluated quantitatively and systematically.
In Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-A-Heisei, 6-5663, a test semiconductor device on which a plurality of test elements are formed is described. This test semiconductor device is characterized in that, an activated region in which the elements are formed is separated into a plurality of regions by a scribe region formed in the shape of a grid, and one or two or more bonding pads are arranged in the plurality of thus-formed regions.    (A) The arrangement inhibited region formed at the chip corner can be an obstacle for the reduction of the chip size. Thus, the arrangement inhibited region is desired to be requisite minimum size. The size of the arrangement inhibited region is desired to be quantitatively determined based on a certain data.    (B) When the test chip is used, the size of the test chip is formed in accordance with the design size of the semiconductor chip. However, there is a case that the size of the semiconductor chip is changed because of some reasons occurred in designing. Therefore, a technique is desired which enables the size of the test chip to be changed, in accordance with the design change of the semiconductor chip.

Method of evaluating thermal stress resistance of semiconductor device, and semiconductor wafer having test element


The invention relates to the protection of an electric drive system. If a voltage spike occurs on the input of a current converter of the electric drive system via the intermediate circuit, then in order to dissipate said voltage spike in the electric drive system, a change is made to and fro between a motor operating mode and a generator operating mode in order to dissipate the electrical energy from the intermediate circuit capacitor. For the motor operating mode and the generator operating mode, in each case suitable space phasor vectors can be predefined. This permits particularly simple and rapid activation in order to dissipate the electrical energy in the electric drive system.

The present invention relates to a protective device for an electric drive system, to an electric drive system and to a method for operating an electric drive system.
Electric drives of hybrid vehicles or electric vehicles comprise an electric machine, such as for example a permanently excited synchronous machine or an asynchronous machine. The electric machine of such a drive system can be supplied with an alternating voltage by means of a pulse inverter. In this context, in the case of a fault state in the drive system, it may be necessary to set a safe state in the inverter. Such a safe state can comprise, for example, an active short circuit in which the individual phases of the electric machine are short-circuited by means of the inverter. A further safe state constitutes, for example, the free-wheeling mode. In this context, all the switching elements of the inverter are opened. A flow of current is possible here only across the free-wheeling diodes which are provided in parallel with the switching elements of the inverter.
Document DE 10 2011 081 173 A1 discloses an operating state circuit for an inverter and a method for setting operating states of an inverter. In particular, in this context there is provision to switch either into a free-wheeling state or an active short circuit as a function of a determined rotational speed of an electric machine.

Protective device for an electric drive system, electric drive system, and method for operating an electric drive system


A photoresist mask composed of a plurality of isolated plane patterns having no opening is formed on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate. The breakdown of the gate oxide film due to charge build up can be prevented because no photoresist mask opening patterning is involved.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process of manufacturing a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a process of manufacturing a semiconductor device which includes an ion implantation step.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ion implantation is indispensable as a method of doping impurities in the process of manufacturing semiconductor integrated circuits and is employed in the process of manufacturing MOS ICs for formation of the channel stopper of an isolation zone, for control of threshold voltage, for formation of a source-drain and so forth. It is advantageous, particularly in formation of a self-aligned source-drain, that ions can be implanted in a self-aligned condition with a gate electrode made of polycrystalline silicon or the like.
An ion implanting step in formation of a source-drain of a CMOS IC according to the prior art will be described with reference to FIG. 1A and 1B which is a sectional view of FIG. 1A along the line A-B.
First, N-well 2 is formed on P type silicon substrate 1 as shown in FIG. 1B, and then field oxide film 3 for isolation of elements is selectively formed by LOCOS (local oxidation of silicon) selective oxidation. Then, gate oxide films 4 and 4a are formed by thermal oxidation and a polycrystalline silicon film is deposited on the whole surface. Phosphor, which is an N type impurity, is introduced into the polycrystalline silicon film by thermal diffusion, and then the polycrystalline silicon is selectively etched by photolithography to form gate electrodes 5 and 5a.
Subsequently, a source and a drain are formed. Ions of arsenic are selectively implanted into source-drain regions for an N channel FET, and then, the ions of boron are selectively implanted into source-drain regions for the P channel FET.
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a source-drain forming step for an N channel FET, that is, an arsenic ion implanting step. In the prior art, photoresist 6 is so patterned that it is open only to the N channel FET region, that is, the arsenic ion implanting area 10 as shown in FIG. 1B.
An ion implanting step is carried out in the formation of an ohmic layer in a source-drain region according to the prior art when a wiring of a CMOS IS is formed, will be described with reference to FIG. 1C and FIG. 1D, which is a sectional view of FIG. 1C along the line A-B. Source 8, 8a and drain 9, 9a of a MCOS IC are formed. Subsequently, the interlayer insulating film 7 is formed, as shown in FIG. 1D, and then etched by photolithography to form contact holes for wiring.
Then, ions of phosphor are selectively implanted into the N channel FET area and ions of boron are selectively implanted into the P channel FET area in order to form ohmic layers in sources 8 and 8a and drains 9 and 9a.
FIGS. 1C and 1D illustrate an ohmic layer forming step for source 8a and drain 9a for a P channel FET, that is, a boron ion implanting step. In the prior art, photoresist 6 is so patterned that it is open only to contact holes 11a and 11b of the P channel FET into which ions of boron are to be implanted as shown in FIG. 1C.
Photoresist masks are used for selective ion implantation in the formation of a source-drain for an N channel FET and the formation of a source-drain for a P channel FET. Since photoresist is a high insulator, the surface potential thereof is raised by irradiation of charged particles such as ion implantation (the phenomenon will be hereinafter referred to as charge-up). For this reason, there arises a problem that when a high or medium concentration of ions is implanted for the formation of the source-drain region, the potential at the gate electrode is raised, exceeding the isolation voltage of a gate oxide film due to charge-up of a photoresist surface, thereby destroying the gate oxide film. Further, if ion implantation is performed through the opened photoresist in the case of the formation of the source-drain region, the surface of the photoresist is charged up, and moreover, since charge accumulated in the opening areas is not readily discharged, there is another problem in that the potential around the openings is raised so high that the gate oxide film may be broken. Also when an ohmic layer for formation of wiring to the source-drain areas is formed by ion implantation, the potential of the photoresist around the openings is similarly raised so high that a breakdown of the gate oxide film may occur.
Further, when the size of an opening decreases as miniaturization of the pattern of a semiconductor integrated circuit proceeds, a repulsive force may sometimes act upon the opening to break down the photoresist opening pattern due to the charge accumulated in the surface of the photoresist.

Process of manufacturing a semiconductor device by using a photoresist mask which does not encircle an area of implanted ions


The present invention relates to a siloxane monomer containing a trifluorovinylether group and a sol-gel hybrid polymer prepared using the monomer, more particularly to siloxane monomer with novel structure prepared by reacting alkoxychlorosilane with a Grignard reagent containing a trifluorovinylether (—OC2F3) group, a method of preparing the same and a sol-gel hybrid polymer containing a perfluorocyclobutane (PFCB) group prepared from sol-gel reaction using said siloxane monomer containing a trifluorovinylether group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a siloxane monomer containing a trifluorovinylether group and a sol-gel hybrid polymer prepared using the monomer, more particularly to siloxane monomer with novel structure prepared by reacting alkoxychlorosilane with a Grignard reagent containing a trifluorovinylether (—OC2F3) group, a method of preparing the same and a sol-gel hybrid polymer containing a perfluorocyclobutane (PFCB) group prepared from sol-gel reaction using the siloxane monomer containing a trifluorovinylether group.
2. Description of Related Art
Fluorine (F)-containing polymers are widely used for such materials as thermoplastic polymers, membranes and elastomers because of good thermal stability, low dielectricity and superior hygroscopy, flame resistance and chemical resistance. Especially, they are used to manufacture optical waveguide devices. However, it is difficult to make fluorine-containing polymers into electronic devices, because they do not have good adhesivity to silicon wafers.
On the other hand, siloxane-containing sol-gel polymers are known to have good thermal stability and adhesivity to silicon wafers.
Currently, development of fluorine-containing polymers having superior adhesivity and thermal stability is highly required.

Siloxane monomer containing trifluorovinylether group and sol-gel hybrid polymer prepared by using the same

Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology


In an embodiment, a method comprises initiating a monitoring session for a communication path including creating and storing monitoring session state data; sending, to a first responder computer of the communication path, a first request to initiate a first state servlet that is configured to monitor continuously during the monitoring session one or more characteristics of one or more processes that the first responder computer may perform; sending, to the first responder computer, monitoring instructions to monitor the one or more characteristics of the one or more processes; while the monitoring session is active and the first responder computer is in the communication path, receiving and collecting monitored information from the first responder computer; in response to determining that the first responder computer is not in the communication path or that the monitoring session has become inactive, automatically and autonomously ending the monitoring session.

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Certain network service assurance tasks require continuous monitoring of the systems that are used to deliver an end-to-end networking service. For example, interactive video requires monitoring end-to-end service levels and statistics at various systems along communication paths to determine whether any service bottlenecks exist. A bottleneck may occur when, for example, one or more links along the communication path is excessively utilized.
Another example of such service tasks involves path monitoring to determine potential trouble spots, which could include one or more systems along the communication path that cause a high loss of packets as video data is transmitted. A network administrator can monitor interactive video and path monitoring by configuring monitoring functions on routers and switches and observing result data.
While monitoring a video stream can be useful, monitoring communication paths is CPU-intensive, and hence should be performed sparingly. In fact, due to the large amount of CPU resources required, usually only a small fraction of video flows can be monitored. Most often, video monitoring along certain communication paths is disabled by network administrators. Alternatively, video monitoring might be turned on only when needed, but monitoring data will be available and capable of retrieval only for those video flows for which monitoring was turned on earlier.
Continuous monitoring of communication paths, and each of the systems along the paths, may involve considerable effort and is usually performed inefficiently. For instance, monitoring typically involves configuring monitoring functions on more systems than necessary, and provides more information than required.
Moreover, once set up, monitoring of the paths is usually kept in place much longer than necessary. As a result, effectiveness of service assurance activities is limited and may cause considerable waste of management bandwidth and CPU cycles because a great deal of the collected data is never used.

Continuous autonomous monitoring of systems along a path


A target control value of the brake fluid pressure generated in dependence on the braking operation amount is set by using a first coefficient determined in dependence on the vehicle speed in an early phase of a braking operation performed by a vehicle operator and a second coefficient determined in dependence on the braking operation amount and the vehicle speed during a later braking action. The increase in the braking force for the buildup control can be restrained in an early phase of the braking operation so that the onset of deceleration in an early phase of the braking action for the given braking operation can be made gradual in a manner corresponding to the vehicle speed while a favorable buildup control is achieved by increasing the deceleration as the vehicle speed decreases in the course of the braking action.

Conventionally, a vehicle brake device using a brake-by-wire technology is known which uses a hydraulic cylinder actuated by an electric actuator such as an electric motor to produce a brake pressure. It is known that the braking force tends to be reduced toward a latter part of a braking action when the brake pedal is depressed by a constant stroke owing to the mechanical property of the brake device, and this may prevent the vehicle from slowing down at a deceleration intended by the vehicle operator. Therefore, the vehicle operator has to depress the brake pedal further in order to achieve a desired deceleration, and this may complicate the braking operation for the vehicle operator.
In the case of the brake-by-wire system which uses an electric actuator configured to be operated so as to produce a brake fluid pressure corresponding to the depression stroke of the brake pedal (braking operation amount), in order to overcome such a problem, the electric actuator may be controlled such that the braking force or the deceleration is increased as the vehicle speed decreases during the course of the braking action so that a decrease in the braking force or a decline in the deceleration owing to the reduction in the frictional coefficient may be avoided (or the so-called buildup effect may be enhanced). See Patent Document 1, for instance.
According to the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, the ratio of the target braking force (brake fluid pressure) or the target deceleration to the depression stroke of the brake pedal (braking operation amount) is varied depending on the vehicle speed. In particular, the ratio of the target braking force (target deceleration) to the depression stroke of the brake pedal is increased with a decrease in the vehicle speed so that the target braking force (target deceleration) increases with a decrease in the vehicle speed even though the depression stroke of the brake pedal is constant. It is said that a good braking action can be thereby achieved in a late phase of the braking action.


The invention as described provides a method and system for tokenless authorization of commercial transactions between a buyer and a seller using a computer system. The method comprises the steps of registering a buyer, wherein the buyer registers with the computer system a PIN, at least one registration biometric sample, and at least one buyer financial account. The method also includes a seller registration step, wherein the seller registers with the computer system at least one seller financial account. In a proposal step, the seller offers a proposed commercial transaction to the buyer usually comprising price information. If the buyer accepts the seller's proposal, in an acceptance step, the buyer signals his/her acceptance by adding to the proposed commercial transaction the buyer's personal authentication information comprising a PIN and at least one bid biometric sample which is obtained from the buyer's person. In a transmission step, the bid biometric sample and PIN are forwarded to the computer system. The computer system compares the bid biometric sample with registration biometric samples for producing either a successful or failed identification of the buyer in a buyer identification step. Upon determination of sufficient resources, a financial account of the buyer is debited and a financial account of the seller is credited, in a payment step. Therefore, a commercial transaction is conducted without the buyer having to use any portable man-made memory devices such as smartcards or swipe cards.

The use of a token, an inanimate object which confers a capability to the buyer presenting it, is pervasive in today's financial world. Whether a consumer is buying groceries with a debit card or shopping in a department store with a credit card, at the heart of that transaction is a money transfer enabled by a token, which acts to identify both the consumer as well as the financial account being accessed.
From their inception in the late 1950's, token-based financial transactions have grown increasingly more prevalent at the point of sale. However, as token-based transfers have become more popular with consumers, they have also become more popular with criminals intent on fraud. Currently, fraud losses in the industry stem from many different areas, but they are mainly due to either lost, stolen, or counterfeit cards.
Credit cards operate without the use of a personal identification number (PIN). This means that a lost credit card can easily be turned into cash if the card falls into the wrong hands. While theft of a token constitutes the majority of fraud in the system, fraud from counterfeit credit cards is rising rapidly. Counterfeit credit cards are manufactured by a more technically sophisticated criminal who acquires a cardholder's valid account number, produces a valid-looking counterfeit card, encodes the magnetic strip, and embosses the counterfeit plastic card with the account number. The card is then repeatedly presented to merchants until the account's credit limit is reached. Another form of loss is caused by a criminal seller or his employees who surreptitiously obtains the cardholder's account number and enter fictitious transactions against the card and then take cash out of the till. It is estimated that losses due to all types of fraud exceeds one billion dollars annually.
Generally, debit cards are used in conjunction with a personal identification number (PIN). Lost debit cards do not generally result in fraud, unless the owner of the card wrote his PIN on the card. Furthermore, successfully counterfeiting a debit card is more difficult than with a credit card, since the criminal must acquire not only the account number, but also the PIN, and then manufacture the card as in the credit card example. However, various strategies have been used to obtain PINs from unwary cardholders; these range from Trojan horse automated teller machines (ATMs) in shopping malls that dispense cash but record the PIN, to fraudulent seller point of sale devices that also record the PIN, to criminals with binoculars that watch cardholders enter PINs at ATMs. The subsequently manufactured counterfeit debit cards are then used in various ATM machines until the unlucky account is emptied.
Customer fraud, for both credit and debit cards, is also on the rise. Customers intent on this sort of fraud will claim that they lost their card, say that their PIN was written on the card, and then withdraw money from their account using card, and then refuse to be responsible for the loss.
The financial industry is well aware of the trends in fraud, and is constantly taking steps to improve the security of the card. However, the linkage between the buyer and his token is tenuous, and that is the fundamental reason behind card fraud today
One possible solution to stolen-card fraud involves placing PIN protection for magnetic stripe credit cards, much as debit cards have PINs today. This will raise the administrative costs for each card, since cardholders will undoubtedly wish to select their own PIN for each of their 3.4 cards. In addition, this solution still doesn't address the problem of counterfeit cards.
Another solution that solves both stolen-card fraud and greatly reduces counterfeit-card fraud involves using a smartcard that includes either a biometric or a PIN. In this approach, authenticated biometrics are recorded from a user of known identity and stored for future reference on a token. In every subsequent access attempt, the user is required to physically enter the requested biometric, which is then compared to the authenticated biometric on the token to determine if the two match in order to verify user identity.
Various biometrics have been suggested, such as fingerprints, hand prints, voice prints, retinal images, handwriting samples and the like. However, because the biometrics are generally stored in electronic (and thus reproducible) form on a token and because the comparison and verification process is not isolated from the hardware and software directly used by the buyer attempting access, a significant risk of fraud still exists. Examples of this approach to system security are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,118 to Lafreniere; U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,068 to Piosenka et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,086 to Lilley et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,089 to Uchida et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,194 to Barbanell; U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,427 to Yang; U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,428 to Igaki et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,680 to Kobayashi et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,102 to Higuchi et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,901 to Hiramatsu; U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,588 to Lee; U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,797 to Usui et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,152 to Fishbine et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,025 to Fishbine et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,606 to Horie; U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,162 to Bush et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,242 to Heath, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,442 to Knapp; U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,303 to Willmore, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
An example of another token-based biometric smartcard system can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,527 to Gullman et al. In Gullman's system, the user must carry and present a credit card sized token (referred to as a biometric security apparatus) containing a microchip in which is recorded characteristics of the authorized user's voice. In order to initiate the access procedure, the user must insert the token into a terminal such as an ATM, and then speak into the terminal to provide a biometric sample for comparison with an authenticated sample stored in the microchip of the presented token. If a match is found, the remote terminal signals the host computer that the transaction should be permitted, or may prompt the user for an additional code, such as a PIN which is also stored on the token, before authorizing the transaction.
Although Gullman's reliance of comparison biometrics reduces the risk of unauthorized access as compared to PIN codes, Gullman's use of the token as the repository for the authenticating data combined with Gullman's failure to isolate the identity verification process from the possibility of tampering greatly diminishes any improvement to fraud resistance resulting from the replacement of a numeric code with a biometric. Further, the system remains inconvenient to the consumer because it too requires the presentation of a token in order to authorize a transaction.
Uniformly, the above patents that disclose commercial transaction systems teach away from biometric recognition without the use of tokens. Reasons cited for such teachings range from storage requirements for biometric recognition systems to significant time lapses in identification of a large number of individuals, even for the most powerful computers.
Unfortunately, any smartcard-based system will cost significantly more than the current magnetic stripe card systems currently in place. A PIN smartcard costs perhaps $3, and a biometric smartcard will cost $5. In addition, each point of sale station would need a smartcard reader, and if biometrics are required, a biometric scanner will also have to be attached to the reader as well. With 120 million cardholders and 5 million stations, the initial conversion cost is from two to five times greater than the current annual fraud losses.
This large price tag has forced the industry to look for new ways of using the power in the smartcard in addition to simple commercial transaction. It is envisioned that in addition to storing credit and debit account numbers and biometric or PIN authentication information, smart cards may also store phone numbers, frequent flyer miles, coupons obtained from stores, a transaction history, electronic cash usable at tollbooths and on public transit systems, as well as the buyer's name, vital statistics, and perhaps even medical records.
The net result of "smartening" the token is centralization of function. This looks good during design, but in actual use results in increased vulnerability for the consumer. Given the number of functions that the smartcard will be performing, the loss or damage of this monster card will be excruciatingly inconvenient for the cardholder. Being without such a card will financially incapacitate the cardholder until it is replaced. Additionally, losing a card full of electronic cash will also result in a real financial loss as well.
Thus, after spending vast sums of money, the resulting system will definitely be more secure, but will result in heavier and heavier penalties on the consumer for destruction or loss of the card.
To date, the consumer financial transaction industry has had a simple equation to balance: in order to reduce fraud, the cost of the card must increase. As a result, there has long been a need for a commercial transaction system that is highly fraud-resistant, practical, convenient for the consumer, and yet cost-effective to deploy.
There is also a need for a commercial transaction system that uses a strong link to the person being identified, as opposed to merely verifying a buyer's possession of any physical objects that can be freely transferred. This will result in a dramatic decrease in fraud, as only the buyer can authorize a transaction.
A further need in a commercial transaction system is ensuring consumer convenience by providing authorization without forcing the consumer to possess, carry, and present one or more proprietary objects in order to authorize a transaction. All parties intent on fighting fraud recognize that any system that solves the fraud problem must take the issue of convenience into account, however the fundamental yet unrecognized truth of the situation is, the card itself can be very inconvenient for the consumer. This may not be initially obvious, but anyone who has lost, left at home, or had a card stolen knows well the keenly and immediately-felt inconvenience during the card's absence.
Yet another need in the industry is for a transaction system that greatly reduces or eliminates the need to memorize multiple or cumbersome codes. Such a system must allow a user to access all of his accounts, procure all services to which he is entitled, and carry out transactions in and between all financial accounts, make point of purchase payments, etc.
There is further a need for a commercial transaction system that affords a consumer the ability to alert authorities that a third party is coercing the transaction without the third party being aware that an alert has been generated. There is also a need for a system that is nevertheless able to effect, unknown to the coercing third party, temporary restrictions on the types and amounts of transactions that can be undertaken.
Lastly, such a system must be affordable and flexible enough to be operatively compatible with existing networks having a variety of electronic transaction devices and system configurations.


The creation method of a dyed drawing includes a step of arranging of a mesh sheet on the surface of the canvas for the dyed drawing, arranging leaves and flowers on the upper surface of a mesh sheet, covering the plant matter with a synthetic resin sheet, creating the dyed drawing on the canvas including pushing the leaves and flowers to the mesh sheet after pressing the synthetic resin sheet with a spatula etc., the pigment of the leaves and flowers outflowing and being adhered to the canvas, and removing the mesh sheet, the leaves and flowers and the synthetic resin sheet which are located on the surface of the canvas for the dyed drawing so the dyed drawing can be created, adhering and transferring the pigment of leaves and flowers of the plant matter to the drawing paper, canvas, etc.

This invention relates to a method for creating a dyed drawing with plant matter by adhering the pigment of leaves and flowers of the plant matter to drawing paper, canvas, etc.
In the conventional dyed drawing, the leaves and flowers are located on the cloth such as cotton and hemp, and the leaves and flowers are struck by a hammer. Then, the pigment of the leaves and flowers is adhered to the cloth.
In the conventional dyed drawing, the leaves and flowers are struck with a hammer, and the pigment of the leaves and flowers is transferred to the cloth such as cotton and hemp. Therefore, it is difficult to transfer pigment from the the leaves and flowers, and it is too hard to create a beautiful dyed drawing.
Moreover, it is possible to create the drawing to only the cloth which has an uneven surface thereof such as cotton and hemp.

Creation method of dyed drawing of plant matter