A method of communicating data across a channel that experiences near-end cross talk (NEXT) interference and far-end cross talk (FEXT) interference in alternate intervals. In one embodiment, the method comprises: a) determining NF, the number of bits per symbol usable in a FEXT-only mode of operation; b) determining NS, a number of bits per symbol usable in a single mode of operation; c) determining whether the FEXT-only mode or the single mode provides a higher data rate; and d) configuring a modem to transmit using the mode having a higher data rate. The FEXT-only mode may be determined to have a higher data rate when 126NF>340NS.

Telephone companies offer customers a number of ways to transport data. One popular way is called Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL). In ADSL, a small portion of the frequency spectrum is used for communicating data from the customer to the central office, and a much larger portion of the frequency spectrum is used for communicating data from the central office to the customer.
Discrete multi-tone (DMT) modulation is used within each portion of the frequency spectrum, i.e., data are carried on equally-spaced carrier signals. The combined number of carrier signals from both portions of the spectrum is implementation-dependent. ADSL implementations that comply with the ITU-T G.992.1 standard have 256 carrier signals, while implementations that comply with the ITU-T G.992.2 standard have 128 carrier signals. Future implementations are expected to have 512 or even 1024 carrier signals (see, e.g., ITU-T G.992.5).
DMT modulation provides for very efficient use of the available communication spectrum because the amount of data carried by each carrier signal is individually customized to fit the signal-to-noise ratio profile of the channel. Each carrier signal is allocated a number of data bits, and the allocation of bits may be dynamically adjusted as channel conditions change. Each carrier signal may also be allocated a small individual gain factor to further improve communications performance.
The allocation of bits and gain factors to carrier signals are typically performed using tables. A gain table includes an individual gain factor for each carrier signal. A bit table includes an individual number of bits allocated to each carrier signal. A tone table may be used to allocate specific data bits to specific carrier signals.
Some channels actually have two signal-to-noise ratio profiles. An example of such a channel is a twisted wire pair in a binder that also carries TCM-ISDN (Time Compression Multiplexing—Integrated Services Digital Network) traffic. TCM-ISDN employs time division multiplexing at a rate of 400 Hz, i.e. the central office alternately transmits data for 1.25 milliseconds, then listens for data from the customer for 1.25 milliseconds. This causes other channels to experience a noise profile that alternates at a rate of 400 Hz.
The interference can be divided into two types: near-end cross talk (NEXT) and far-end cross talk (FEXT). Some confusion can arise when discussing NEXT and FEXT since the meaning of NEXT and FEXT changes with respect to the chosen reference point. For clarity herein, the central office is hereby chosen as the arbitrary reference point, and this reference point will be used consistently throughout. NEXT interference on a given channel is caused by central office transmissions on other channels. FEXT interference on a given channel is caused by transmissions from customers on other channels. TCM-ISDN signaling alternately causes NEXT interference and FEXT interference. The NEXT interference is generally significantly worse than the FEXT interference, although this depends on the distance that the twisted wire pair travels alongside interfering channels.
The ITU-T G.992.1 and G.992.2 standards each address TCM-ISDN interference in their respective Annex C. Two solutions are offered: dual mode solution and FEXT-only solution. In the dual mode solution, two sets of tables (gain, bit, and tone) are used. One set of tables is used to construct symbols for transmission during periods of NEXT interference ("NEXT symbols"), and the other set of tables is used to construct symbols for transmission during periods of FEXT interference ("FEXT symbols"). Although TCM-ISDN signaling uses a 50% duty cycle, it is expected that on average, only 126/340 (about 37%) of the symbols will be free of NEXT interference, and hence constructible as FEXT symbols.
Although the dual mode solution offers a higher data rate, it does add significant cost to the modem in the form of additional memory for the second set of tables. This additional cost is expected to be significant for future ADSL implementations having 512 or more carrier signals due to the increased size of the tables.
The FEXT-only solution is similar to the dual mode solution except that no symbols are constructed or sent during the periods of NEXT interference. Because only FEXT symbols are used, only one set of tables is needed. Although the FEXT symbols typically carry more data than NEXT symbols, sacrificing 63% of the symbols can impose a substantial performance penalty.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a memory-efficient method for ADSL transmission in a time-varying noise environment. Such a method would preferably avoid the performance penalty of the FEXT-only solution without suffering the prohibitive expense of the dual mode solution.

Memory-efficient ADSL transmission in the presence of TCM-ISDN interferers


A gas sensor is described for detecting a physical property of a measuring gas, including detecting the oxygen concentration in the measuring gas. The gas sensor includes a sensor element having a diffusion barrier, which is arranged between a first solid electrolyte layer and a second solid electrolyte layer. The diffusion barrier has a necked-down portion, i.e., a concave profile, between the first and the second solid electrolyte layer. Accordingly, a first area, which the diffusion barrier occupies in a plane which lies between the side of the first solid electrolyte layer (facing the diffusion barrier) and the side of the second solid electrolyte layer (facing the diffusion barrier), is smaller than a second area on which the diffusion barrier covers the first or the second solid electrolyte. In order to manufacture the sensor element, a first layer made of a paste containing a pore-forming material is applied onto a blank foil, and after that, a second layer made of a paste containing a pore-forming material is applied.

A gas sensor is described, for example, in German Published Patent Application No. 198 17 012. The gas sensor includes a sensor element which is fastened in a housing and is sealed. The sensor element is built up in layers by planar technique, and has a first and a second solid electrolyte layers. Between the two solid electrolyte layers a measuring gas chamber is provided, in which a first and a second annular electrodes are arranged on opposite sides. The measuring gas present outside the sensor elements, whose oxygen concentration is to be determined using the gas sensor, is able to reach the measuring gas chamber via a gas access opening in the first solid electrolyte layer and via a hollow cylinder-shaped diffusion barrier. The diffusion barrier is arranged in the layer plane between the first and the second solid electrolyte layers. The inner and outer lateral surfaces of the diffusion barrier are aligned perpendicular to the layer plane of the sensor element. The gas access opening is produced with the aid of a bore that is carried out right into the diffusion barrier. Consequently, the gas access opening and the diffusion barrier have the same internal diameter. The measuring gas chamber is sealed laterally by a sealing frame. Such planar sensor elements may be produced by printing functional layers onto ceramic blank foils (unsintered solid electrolyte layers) using silk-screen printing. The printed blank foils are laminated together and sintered. The first solid electrolyte layer is formed before sintering by a first blank foil, and the second electrolyte layer is formed before sintering by a second blank foil.
In order to produce the structure between the first and the second solid electrolyte layers, for example, the annular first electrolyte is first applied onto the first blank foil, followed by the hollow cylinder-shaped diffusion barrier. Subsequently, over the first electrode, as well as in the opening of the diffusion barrier, a cavity paste containing a pore-forming material is applied, which, after sintering, forms the measuring gas chamber, or rather a section of the gas access opening. Finally, the second electrode is applied over the cavity paste for the measuring gas chamber. The printed first blank foil (print substrate) is laminated together with the non-printed second blank foil.
Because of the silk-screen printing process and on account of the properties of the paste forming the diffusion barrier, the lateral surface of the diffusion barrier, after sintering, is aligned inclined towards the large surface of the sensor element. Consequently, the diffusion barrier has a smaller inside diameter on the side facing the print substrate (first solid electrolyte layer), and a larger outside diameter than on the side facing away from the print substrate. With that, the path the exhaust gas has to travel in the diffusion barrier is greater on the side facing the first solid electrolyte than on the side facing the second solid electrolyte. In oxygen probes that work on the limiting current principle, since the measuring result is a function of the diffusion of the measuring gas through the diffusion barrier, it is desirable for the diffusion barrier to be constructed as symmetrically as possible, so that the path covered by the exhaust gas within the diffusion barrier varies as little as possible.
In diffusion barriers having slanted lateral surfaces, the dependence of the measuring signal on dynamic pressure changes increases. This is undesirable, since, for the engine control, the oxygen concentration in the exhaust gas, and not the partial pressure of the oxygen, is required.
The diffusion barrier may become detached from the second solid electrolyte layer in response to a strong shaking load, since the surface over which the diffusion barrier is connected to the second solid electrolyte is smaller than the surface over which the diffusion barrier is connected to the first solid electrolyte layer (the print substrate).
If the opening in the diffusion barrier is produced with the aid of a bore, so that the opening is aligned perpendicular to the large surface of the sensor element, then the cost of manufacturing the bore becomes expensive, and the inside diameter of the diffusion barrier may not be able to be designed to be greater than the diameter of the gas access opening.


The new and distinct crape myrtle plant named Lagerstroemia ‘Lava Java’ has a dense, broadly-spreading, mounded habit, is ground hardy to at least USDA zone 6, has glossy, dark-green foliage with faint marginal wine blush that emerge deep mahogany-colored. The flowers cover the shrub with magenta-rose from shiny reddish buds. The new plant resists leaf spot and powdery mildew and is useful in the landscape as a specimen, en masse, or as a container plant.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Lagerstroemia plant, commonly known as Crape Myrtle, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Lava Java' or the "new plant." 'Lava Java' is grown primarily as an ornamental for landscape use and for use as a potted plant, and is the result of an ongoing breeding program to produce new and improved garden worthy plants for the ornamental market. The new plant was the result of open-pollinated seed collected by the inventor in fall of 2010 in a cultivated landscape in Raleigh, N.C., USA using 'Whit III' U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,319 (sold under the trademark PINK VELOUR®) as the seed or female parent. The male or pollen parent is unknown, but may have been any one of a number of hybrids or cultivars in the breeding area. The new plant was given the breeder code H10-01-20.
Lagerstroemia 'Lava Java' was initially asexually propagated by stem cuttings at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich., USA in 2012. The resultant plants from successive generations have demonstrated that the new plant has remained stable and true to type in multiple and successive generations of asexual propagation.


An aminopolycarboxylic acid compound represented by the following formula or analogous thereof: ##STR1## The aminopolycarboxylic acid compound of the present invention can be used as a chelating agent for various metals, which is excellent in the biodegradability and masking effect on metals.

The present invention relates to an aminopolycarboxylic acid chelating agent, heavy metal chelate compound thereof and method for processing silver halide photosensitive materials with them. In particular, the present invention relates to a novel chelating agent for masking metal ions harmful to new bleaching agents and photographic processing agents used in a bleaching or bleach-fixing step after the treatment with a color developer.
Photosensitive materials are exposed, color-developed and then processed with a processing solution having a bleaching function. As the bleaching agents contained in the processing solution having the bleaching function, ferric complex salts are widely known. Among the ferric complex salts, ferric complex salts of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) has been known from old times. Ferric complex salt of 1,3-propanediaminetetraacetate (1,3-PDTA) having a stronger bleaching function has been widely used since several years ago. Although the rapid processing properties of ferric complex salt of 1,3-PDTA are superior to those of ferric complex salt of EDTA, the bleach fog is easily caused by a strong oxidizing power thereof, and the image-storability after the process is easily impaired (magenta stain is increased). Another problem is that because of a high oxidation-reduction potential, the decomposition is accelerated with time in a thiosulfuric acid-containing system to form sulfur. As the recognition of the global environmental safeguards is being improved recently, a bleaching agent usable in place of difficultly biodegradable ferric complex salt of EDTA and ferric complex salt of 1,3-PDTA is being developed in the photographic field in which the development of a processing agent which causes as low as possible environmental pollution demanded. The metal complex salts are usable not only as a component of a composition of a bleach-processing solution but also as that of an after-treating composition used for the intensification, reduction or toning. However, they also have the problem of the poor biodegradation.
As the compounds capable of solving these problems, those described in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication (hereinafter referred to as "J.P. KOKAI") Nos. Hei 5-72695 and 5-303186 were developed. However, it has been found that when such a compound is used, another problem occurs in some cases. For example, when a ferric complex of ethylenediaminebissuccinic acid (EDDS) described therein is used as the bleach-fixing agent, problems such as insufficient recoloring and Blix discoloration occur. A further effort must be made for solving this problem.
As the photographic process is conducted at various places ranging from a large-scale processing laboratories having a large automatic developing machine to a photo processing shops called "mini-labs" having a small automatic developing machine, the processing efficiency tends to be lowered in some cases.
One of the main causes of this problem is the contamination of the processing solution with a metal ion. The ill effects of the incorporated metal ion, which vary depending on the kind of the ion and processing solution, are the clogging of a filter in the circulation system of the automatic developer, staining of the film in the course of the process and decomposition of a color developing agent, black developing agent such as hydroquinone or monol and a preservative such as a hydroxylamine or sulfite. As a result, the photographic properties are seriously impaired.
A chelating agent which masks the metal ion has been used for solving the above-described problems in the art. The chelating agents include, for example, aminopolycarboxylic acids (such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid) described in Japanese Patent Publication for Opposition Purpose (hereinafter referred to as "J.P. KOKOKU") Nos. Sho 48-30496 and 44-30232; organophosphonic acids described in J.P. KOKAI Nos. Sho 56-97347 and 56-39359 and West German Patent No. 2,227,639; phosphonocarboxylic acids described in J.P. KOKAI Nos. Sho 52-102726, 53-42730, 54-121127, 55-126241 and 55-65956; and compounds described in J.P. KOKAI Nos. Sho 58-195845 and 58-203440 and J.P. KOKOKU No. sho 53-40900. Although some of these compounds have already been practically used, the efficiency of them was not yet satisfactory.
Compounds having a skeleton similar to that of the compounds of the present invention include ethylenediamine-N,N'-disuccinic acid described on pages 309 to 311 of "Chelate Kagaku (Chelate Chemistry)" (5) written by Kagehei Ueno and published by Nanko-do.
The masking capacity of this compound is easily variable depending on pH and, therefore, the capacity is not on a satisfactory level when the conditions of the treating solution are varied in many cases. Particularly in an alkaline developing bath in which the masking capacity of this compound for iron ion is essentially low, an excess amount of the compound is necessitated, which is photographically undesirable. Particularly, as the social demand of the environmental protection is increasing recently, the amount of the replenisher for the photographic processing solution is being further decreased and, therefore, the residence time of the processing solution in the processing machine becomes longer. In addition, as the rapid process is demanded, the concentration of the developing agent, bleaching agent and fixing agent tends to be increased and the temperature of the processing solution also tends to be elevated. Thus the deterioration in the long-time storability is becoming serious.
Further, as the concentration of the processing solution is increased for the purpose of accelerating the process, the changes of the conditions (mainly pH) become more serious. As a result, the effect of the metal-masking agent is reduced disadvantageously. Under these circumstances, the development of a more excellent, new chelating agent capable of effectively masking the metal even under unstable conditions is demanded.

Aminopolycarboxylic acid chelating agent, heavy metal chelate compound thereof, photographic additive and processing method


A computer system has a processor, a memory for storing data, and a memory controller electrically connected to the processor and the memory for controlling data transmission with the memory. The method includes driving the memory controller to retrieve a data bit located in a first memory address, and driving the memory controller to store the data bit in the a second memory address without delivering the data bit to the processor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and related apparatus for controlling data transmission in a memory, and more particularly, to a method and related apparatus for controlling data transmission in a memory without the involvement of a CPU.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a computer system 10. As shown in FIG. 1, the computer system 10 includes a CPU 12, a north bridge circuit 14, a south bridge circuit 16, a display controller 18, a display 19, a memory 20, a hard disc 22, and an input device 24. The memory 20 includes a plurality of memory units 26 arranged in arrays, i.e. each memory unit 26 corresponds to a column address and a row address. When the computer system 10 operates, the CPU 12 loads data stored in the memory 20 to a register 28 therein. The data held in the register 28 is then processed, and sent back to the memory 20. The accessing operation of the data stored in the memory 20 is processed via a memory controller 30 of the north bridge circuit 14. The memory controller 30 includes an address register 32 and a data register 34, where the address register 32 is for storing memory addresses and the data register 34 is for storing data to be written in the memory 20 and data retrieved from the memory 20. For example, when the CPU 12 executes an instruction and therefore has to move a data bit D stored in a memory unit 26a to a memory unit 26b, the CPU 12 sends an address data ADDRESSa (a physical memory address) corresponding to the memory unit 26a to the address register 32. The memory controller 30 can therefore retrieve the data bit D stored in the memory unit 26a in accordance with the address data ADDRESSa, and store the data bit D in the data register 34. The memory controller 30 then delivers the data bit D to the register 28. Since the purpose of this instruction is to move the data bit D, no logic operations toward the data bit D are necessary. The CPU 12 only outputs an address data ADDRESSb to the address register 32 and delivers the data bit D held in the register 28 to the data register 34 so that the memory controller 30 writes the data bit D in the memory unit 26b in accordance with the address data ADDRESSb.
In the process of moving the data bit D stored in the memory unit 26a to the memory unit 26b, the CPU 12 does not need to execute any operations with respect to the data bit D. However, it takes a plurality of clock cycles for the CPU 12 to move the data bit D held in the data register 34 to the register 28 and to deliver the data bit D held in the register 28 to the data register 34. As a result, the load on the CPU 12 is increased. In addition, the transmission of the data bit D consumes the bandwidth of the front-side bus (FSB) between the CPU 12 and the north bridge circuit 14.

Method and related apparatus for controlling data transmission in a memory


A method for dry heat transfer printing a wall covering material utilizing a system comprising at least one transfer cylinder having a heated working surface, comprising processing a non-woven fibrous web material in paper form in overlapping contact with a sublimation dye transfer paper having a decorative pattern to be printed, around a portion of the working surface of the transfer cylinder between a first location and a nip roller engaged against the working surface which exerts a rolling force against the web material, the transfer paper and the working surface as the transfer cylinder rotates about a central axis thereof, at a processing temperature to effect transfer of the decorative pattern from the transfer paper to the web material, the system including a tensioning mechanism disposed proximal the first location, which, in combination with the nip roller, maintains the web material at a sufficient tension to preclude lateral movement of the web material during processing of the web material and the transfer paper on the cylinder, and separating the web material containing, the printed decorative pattern from the transfer paper at a second location proximal to the nip roller.

Wall covering undergoes numerous physical changes as it is transformed from dry roll form, applied to a wall surface, and ultimately removed. Generally, wall covering is unrolled in a dry state, and in preparation for hanging on a wall surface is wetted with paste or submersed in water to activate a prepaste. The wall covering is then bookfolded to enable it to either shrink or expand and allow the wall covering adhesive to "setup". The wall covering is then applied to the wall by stretching and pulling it into position, and then smoothing the same with tools and rollers to evacuate air bubbles and eliminate seams. At this stage, the wall covering is allowed to dry on the wall surface, hopefully without stretching or shrinking. At some time in the future, the wall covering may be stripped from the wall surface, usually a difficult task without causing damage.
Wall coverings must meet several design criteria. The decorative printing should be resistant to UV light, as long term exposure causes undesirable fading. The surface should be washable to enable cleaning everyday spills and inevitable dirt accumulation over long periods of time. The material should be adapted to prevent the formation of bacteria and mold. The texture and surface of the material should be aesthetically pleasing, and the material if so desired should be embossable and paintable. Finally, the materials employed in the process should be environmentally safe and meet ASTM-84 flame certification standards.
Paper wall covering is normally "wet" printed, either by inexpensive single color printing or highly complex and relatively expensive multiple color printing. It has been the dominant wall covering material, and still remains popular. However, due to several shortcomings it has given away a significant market share to vinyl supported wall coverings. Paper has the disadvantage of low physical durability, requires careful preparation of the wall surface before hanging, and is susceptible to expansion and shrinkage during hanging. Paper is usually not washable, susceptible to cracking, and not easily strippable when the wall covering is to be removed.
Another common wall covering is vinyl supported, and utilizes high volume "wet" printing and embossing processing with in-line rotor screen and gravure printing. Vinyl supported wall covering is physically durable and washable, but must be backed by a paper, scrim or non-woven material which adds to the cost and complexity of manufacturing. Furthermore, vinyl is difficult to apply to wall surfaces and requires significant drying time. It also is a good host for mold and bacteria due to its low permeability, and requires a large capital investment for processing.
Non-woven material is commonly used as a backing material, and has lowered manufacturing costs for vinyl supported wall coverings. Non-woven backing improves the physical characteristics of vinyl supported wall covering and increases its strippability, adhesion, and surface appearance. However, without a vinyl plastisol coating or a vinyl laminated surface, non-woven materials are not aesthetically suitable for wall covering. The porous nature and uneven texture of non-woven materials generally causes "bleed through" and dimpling, both considered undesirable results in printing. In addition, without a vinyl plastisol or vinyl laminated surface, non-woven materials are not washable since their low surface durability results in excessive piling.
In summary, printed wall covering paper has acceptable aesthetic qualities with low capital investment, but suffers low physical durability and poor strippability. Vinyl has superior aesthetic qualities for printing and strong physical durability, but requires a supporting material, thereby increasing manufacturing complexity and costs. Non-woven materials used as a backing improve vinyl supported wall covering in adhesion, strippability, and embossing, but are not independently suitable for wall covering without a vinyl plastisol coating or vinyl laminated surface.

Process of dry printing a paper-like non-woven wall covering material


Embodiments of the present invention may include a vehicle seat apparatus of a vehicle seat. The vehicle seat apparatus may have a seat pad, a plate member connected to the seat pad, and a linear member mounted to the plate member.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to vehicle seat apparatuses for mounting a linear member such as a wire harness to a vehicle seat.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a vehicle seat, there are clips for positioning a wire harness (See Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 2-49650). The clips are connected to a plurality of portions of the wire harness. Each clip is inserted into a pad of a seatback. As a result, the wire harness is mounted to and positioned relative to the seatback. However, when the occupant sits on the seat, the load of the occupant is applied to the seatback. Thereby, the pad of the seatback is deflected, making the clips subject to detachment.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a vehicle seat apparatus able to prevent a linear member such as a wire harness from being detached from the seat pad.


Compositions and methods for conferring insecticidal activity to bacteria, plants, plant cells, tissues and seeds are provided. Compositions including a coding sequence for a Brevibacillus-derived delta-endotoxin polypeptide are provided. The coding sequences can be used in DNA constructs or expression cassettes for transformation and expression in plants and bacteria. Compositions also include transformed bacteria, plants, plant cells, tissues, and seeds. In particular, isolated delta-endotoxin nucleic acid molecules are provided. Additionally, amino acid sequences corresponding to the polynucleotides are encompassed, and antibodies specifically binding to those amino acid sequences. In particular, the present invention provides for isolated nucleic acid molecules having nucleotide sequences encoding the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:2, 4, 7, or 10, or the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15, as well as variants and fragments thereof.

Brevibacillus is a spore-forming bacterium that has been suggested for probiotic effects. For example, Brevibacillus brevis is now well established as a biocontrol agent in many areas, and has been shown to have efficacy against Botrytis and powdery mildew disease (Edwards and Seddon, Edwards and Seddon (1992) Recent Advances in Botrytis Research. The Netherlands: Pudoc Scientific Publications; Bacillus brevis as a Biocontrol Agent against Botrytis cinerea on Protected Chinese Cabbage; pp. 267-271) and Fusarum head blight (FHB) (Zhang et al. (2005) J Zhejiang Univ Sci B. 6(8):770-777). By comparing the activity of B. brevis Nagano against Botrytis cinerea with that of pure gramicidin S and the antibiotic-negative mutant B. brevis E-1, Edwards and Seddon ((2001) J Appl Microbiol. 91:652-659) showed that the mode of antagonism exhibited was antibiosis due to the presence of gramicidin S. There are some other antibiotics (for example tyrocidins and gramicidin D) reported to be produced by B. brevis (Saito et al., 1970, Adv Enzymol. 33:337-380).
Brevibacillus laterosporus comb. nov. (Shida (1996) Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 46:939-946), previously classified as Bacillus laterosporus, is an aerobic spore-forming bacterium that can also demonstrate pathogenicity to insects. In common with B. sphaericus and B. thuringiensis, B. laterosporus produces parasporal bodies, which in this species may be canoe-shaped and which serve to cradle the spore (Hanney (1957) J. Biophys. Biochem. Cytol. 3:1001-1010) or can even be present in different shapes (Smirnova et al. (1996) Res. Microbiol. 147:343-350). However, these parasporal bodies were not considered to have any entomocidal activity (Favret and Yousten (1985) J. Invertebr. Pathol. 45:195-203) until Orlova et al. ((1998) Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64:2723-2725) demonstrated that some crystals produced during sporulation are highly toxic to Aedes aegypti and Anopheles stephensi larvae.
Some B. laterosporus strains show no apparent toxic activity to any test organism, and the observed toxicity is not homogeneous among toxic isolates (Favret and Yousten (1985) J. Invertebr. Pathol. 45:195-203, Rivers et al. (1991) J. Invertbr. Pathol. 58:444-447, and Singer (1996) Adv. Appl. Microbiol. 42:219-261). The results of the first bioassays with B. laterosporus demonstrated that some strains presented a larvicidal activity which was 1,000 times lower than that of the B. thuringiensis var. israelensis standard (Favret and Yousten (1985), Rivers et al. (1991)). These results discouraged the use of B. laterosporus in biological control. No entomocidal activity has been demonstrated against plant pathogens using isolates of Brevibacillus sp.

Pesticidal genes from brevibacillus and methods for their use


A clutch device, in particular a booster clutch device, including at least a clutch flange and a clutch hub, which are arranged coaxially to each other and are coupled with each other by means of a spring device having a multi-stage spring characteristic is provided. The clutch flange forms a plate basket to hold lamellae for a clutch.

A central component of such a booster clutch device is a so-called torque sensor. The booster clutch device has a pilot clutch and a main clutch. In particular, a motor and a transmission are provided, which are connected or coupled by the booster clutch device. The pilot clutch and the main clutch are connected to each other by the ramp system referred to above. A transmissible torque from the motor to the transmission corresponds to a main clutch contact force. The main clutch contact force corresponds to an axial movement of a contact plate (plates of the main clutch). An axial movement corresponds in turn to a rotation of a ramp around an angle. A transmissible torque therefore corresponds to a rotation of the ramp around an angle. The relationship between torque and angle can be depicted by a ramp torque characteristic.
The torque sensor can be envisioned as a torsion spring device, which is situated in particular between the transmission and the main clutch. If a load alteration now occurs, then the transmitted torque in the drivetrain changes, which in turn changes the tension of the torsion spring device. To avoid jamming of the ramp system under such load alterations, the spring characteristic of the torsion spring device must be adjusted accordingly, and must correspond as closely as possible to the ramp torque characteristic. This makes it possible to ensure than when the load changes, the changing torque to be transmitted can then be transmitted reliably by adjusting the contact force of the main clutch. A torque sensor inserted into a drivetrain makes it possible for a rotation to be caused when such a variation of torques occurs under a load alteration, where the torsion spring angle that occurs corresponds to a torque. If the torsional spring stiffness is too low, then the torsional spring device can rotate too severely, so that one of the ramps assumes a position in which the contact force is too low compared to the torque to be transmitted. But if the torsional spring stiffness is greater than the ramp torque stiffness, the ramp may remain jammed.
Such clutch devices or booster clutches having torque sensors are known, but they are highly complex, and are correspondingly demanding in terms of manufacture and installation. Furthermore, these clutch devices have numerous individual parts, each of which requires expensive processing in order to guarantee the functioning of the clutch device.

Abstract: The clutch device shown and described here is less complex than corresponding clutch devices which are assumed to be known, functions of the plate basket and the torque sensor being combined. That makes fewer parts necessary, but they continue to have the same functions. The construction is less complex, assembly requires less effort, and the costs are reduced accordingly. The clutch device is flexibly adaptable to different requirements.


A digital circuit comprises a plurality of functional circuits and a finite state machine. Each functional circuit comprises a digital macro, a resistance control device and at least one device with capacitance. The digital macro is coupled to a ground. The resistance control device is electrically connected between the digital macro and an always-on power mesh. The at least one device with capacitance is electrically connected between the resistance control device and the ground. The finite state machine is electrically connected to the resistance control device, and is configured to adjust the resistance of the resistance control device.

Due to the limitations of chip area and power consumption, a mobile device may tend to adopt a digital circuit that integrates all components of a computer or other functional circuits into a single chip. The digital circuit may also comprise power switches to divide the functional circuits into several different power islands. The power supplies of the power islands are independent of each other. Namely, each of the functional circuits in the digital circuit is connected to the power supply through its power switches so the connection between the power supply and a functional circuit can be shut down by turning off the power switches when the functional circuit is idle. Thus, the power island divisions can help the digital circuit to save power consumption.
As the operation frequency of the mobile device increases, the functional circuits in the mobile device may influence each other, especially functional circuits that are processing radio-frequency (RF) signals, including a global positioning system (GPS), wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth (BT) and frequency modulation (FM). These radio-frequency functions involve high frequency analog signals and high speed digital operations that consume huge digital currents and induce lots of switching noises. The high frequency spurs generated by the switching noises may fall into the interested RF band and couple to the RF receivers through the package or substrate causing sensitivity degradation of the RF receivers. The sensitivity degradation may get even worse when the chip size becomes smaller and the digital current becomes larger.
To reduce the mutual influences between the functional circuits, including the sensitivity degradations on functional circuits processing RF signals, extra circuits may be required to compensate the high frequency spurs. However, it could be very difficult to further embed more circuits into the digital circuit since the chip size has been strictly limited for mobile devices. Also, the current consumed by the functional circuits may vary with different operational modes so the high frequency spurs may also be changed, which makes it even harder to solve the issue of sensitivity degradation for functional circuits processing RF signals. Therefore, a solution without increasing the chip area is needed.


A toilet training device may include an ornamental support device and an attachment device. The ornamental support device may be adapted to rest upon a floor with a centerline of the ornamental support device aligned with a centerline of a toilet. The ornamental support device may include a footrest adapted to extend away from both sides of a centerline of the ornamental support device. The attachment device may be secured to the ornamental support device and adapted to removably secure to a toilet bowl basin rim.

Existing toilet training devices include training toilets, child seats, stepstools, and ladders. Training toilets may be used as stand-alone miniaturized toilets. However, these must be emptied after use and are not used in combination with a conventional, flushable toilet. Child seats may be used in combination with traditional toilets to provide a seating are that is small enough to support a young child. However, child seats do not provide support for a child's limbs or emotional comfort to a child sitting upon the seat. Stepstools provide a way for children to access an adult size toilet. However, stepstools do not provide any arm support or emotional comfort for a child seated upon the toilet. Ladders may be similar to stepstools and extend higher than a stepstool. However, ladders do not provide emotional support or assist in keeping a child positioned on a toilet seat.
None of these existing devices provide familiarity or comfort to a child using a toilet. Additionally, none of the existing devices provide a support structure positioned in front of the child and above the location of the child's feet while the child is seated on the toilet A need exists for a device, which provides such emotional and physical support for a child learning to use an adult toilet.
This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.


A germanium-on-insulator (GOI) device formed on a GOI structure with a buried oxide (BOX) layer disposed therein and an active layer disposed on the BOX layer having active regions defined by isolation trenches and the BOX layer. The GOI device includes a gate formed over one of the active regions. The gate defines a channel interposed between a source and a drain formed within one of the active regions.

The present invention generally relates to the manufacture of semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) devices, and, more specifically, relates to the manufacture of germanium-on-insulator (GOI) devices.
Traditional silicon-on-insulator (SOI) transistor devices typically have a gate defining a channel interposed between a source and a drain formed within an active region of an SOI substrate. Such SOI devices have several advantages over devices formed on conventional bulk substrates: the elimination of latch-up, improved radiation hardness, dynamic coupling, lower parasitic junction capacitance, and simplified device isolation and fabrication. Such advantages allow semiconductor device manufacturers to produce low-voltage, low-power, high-speed devices thereon. For example, metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) are commonly formed on SOI structures. However, MOSFETs formed on such SOI structures suffer from a short-channel effect.
The short-channel effect refers to the effect caused by reducing a xe2x80x9clongxe2x80x9d channel to a xe2x80x9cshortxe2x80x9d channel. A channel length is xe2x80x9clongxe2x80x9d where a depletion layer formed under the channel has a depth equal to its length. When a channel length is shortened to an extreme, the depletion layer extending from the drain side spreads in the direction of the source region and contacts with the depletion layer of the source side.
As a result, a potential barrier in the vicinity of the source is lowered by the drain voltage and a current flows by itself even when no voltage is applied to the gate electrode. In this case, an energy band between the source and the drain changes continuously. This is the punch-through effect which lowers the withstand voltage between the source and the drain.
While various countermeasures have been taken to reduce the short-channel effect described above, a general measure, which has been taken most frequently, is channel-doping. Channel-doping is a technique for suppressing the short-channel effect by doping a trace amount of an impurity element such as P (phosphorus) or B (boron) shallowly in the channel region (as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open Nos. Hei. 4-206971, 4-286339 and others).
However, the channel-doping technique has a drawback in that it significantly restricts the field effect mobility (hereinafter referred to simply as a mobility) of the MOSFET. That is, the movement of carriers is hampered by the intentionally doped impurity, thus dropping the mobility.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a device formed on a semiconductor-on-insulator structure with increased performance and better characteristics enhanced by a higher mobility of an active layer as compared to a conventional silicon layer.
According to one aspect of the invention, the invention is a germaniumon-insulator (GOI) device formed on a GOI structure. In one embodiment, the device is a MOSFET. The MOSFET device includes a gate defining a channel (e.g. a p-type doped region) interposed between a source and a drain formed within one of the active regions defined by isolation trenches and a BOX layer.
According to another aspect of the invention, the invention is a method of fabricating a GOI device on a GOI structure. The method includes the step of forming a GOI structure. Additionally, the method includes the step of forming within an active region of a GOI structure a source and a drain with a channel interposed between. The method further includes the step of forming a gate on the active region of the GOI structure.


A process for producing a polymer or a crosslinked article having a region in which the polymerization rate or crosslinking rate is varied is disclosed, comprising irradiating a photopolymerizable substance or photo-crosslinkable substance with laser light having an uneven distribution of intensity. The process is suitable for mass production of polymerization rate- or crosslinking rate-distributed articles. An arbitrary distribution pattern can be designed and formed under good control, and distribution regions having a fine shape can be formed with excellent precision. A plurality of distribution regions having a regular shape can be formed at a high density with high precision.

It is known that a polymer having an uneven distribution of a polymerization rate, i.e., a polymer with its polymerization rate varied depending on location within the polymer (hereinafter referred to as polymerization rate-distributed polymer) can be obtained by impregnating a polymerizable monomer into a substrate with a concentration gradient, followed by polymerization. According to this technique, however, the impregnated monomer concentration shows a diffusion distribution having the highest concentration in the periphery of the substrate, and it is difficult to provide a highly concentrated region at a prescribed position, e.g., inside the substrate. That is, the process has a narrow freedom of polymerization rate distribution.
A modification of the above-described process has been proposed, in which part of the surface of a substrate is covered with an impermeable mask to control the site where a polymerizable monomer is impregnated. However, this modification makes no difference in terms of diffusion distribution from the site of impregnation toward the surroundings, and the freedom of polymerization rate distribution is still limited. Therefore, whichever process one may choose, a concentration distribution is determined by the type of substrate and polymerizable monomer and environmental conditions. The processes are difficult to control, freedom of the possible pattern of polymerization rate distribution is extremely narrow, and there are difficulties in controlling distribution mode and in freely designing polymerization rate-distributed regions.
On the other hand, it has been proposed to expose a photopolymerizable compound or a photo-crosslinkable compound to light through an optical mask having a binary pattern having openings at varied intervals to produce a polymerization rate-distributed polymer or a crosslinked article with its crosslinking rate unevenly distributed (hereinafter referred to as a crosslinking rate-distributed article) based on the areas of the irradiated portions (exposure portions) and unirradiated portions (non-exposure portions). However, this process is disadvantageous in that preparation of such an optical mask requires much time and labor, an optical mask must be prepared for every pattern of proposed distribution, and incident light is diffracted by the optical mask, resulting in poor reproduction precision of distribution. In particular, the diffraction of light becomes greater as the pattern is made finer. Therefore, the process lacks reproducibility in forming fine regions needing highly precise control as in the formation of microlenses.

Process for producing polymerization or crosslinking rate-distributed article and process for producing lens, lens array or waveguide using the process


A method for modifying a stamping die to compensate for springback includes the steps of stamping a first part using a base, or pre-existing die set, and creating a surrogate die having the shape of the first stamped part. These steps are followed by simulated stamping of a blank with the surrogate die, where the blank is shaped according to the desired finished part. Then, the base die is modified by mapping the forming stresses, from the stamped blank, to an indicator blank, which is allowed to relax and then is employed as a template for modification of the base die. Following this, the accuracy of the newly modified base die is determined by stamping a second part in the modified base die and by comparing a number of dimensions of the second part with a number of corresponding dimensions of the desired finished part.

The present invention relates to a method for using a software routine to determine modifications to metal stamping dies required to produce parts which meet design intent notwithstanding springback of the stamped material.
"Springback" is a phenomenon characterized by the regressive movement of stamped materials, particularly metals, following removal of a stamping from a press. In general, dies must be constructed to overbend materials, so as to produce finished parts meeting all required dimensional specifications. Springback compensation presents a major obstacle during stamping tool development, especially for lightweight materials such as aluminum and high strength steels. If not properly accommodated, springback may cause the shape of stamped panels or structures to deviate unacceptably from the intended design, rendering the stamped part unusable. As manufacturers of motor vehicles, in particular, move to the use of more aluminum, as well as higher strength steels, to save vehicle weight, the more pronounced springback tendencies affecting these materials adds as much as six months to the standard tooling development time of a vehicle manufacturer. This timing is incompatible with current market demands.
Known practices for compensating for springback primarily employ manual correction through an iterative, or trial-and-error, process. Thus, long years of experience are needed for an engineer to properly predict and correct for springback. This itself is a problem because materials such as aluminum and high strength steels have springback characteristics which are significantly different from those of mild steel—the staple material of vehicle bodies for more than one hundred years. The present invention provides a method for tooling design to accommodate shape distortions introduced by springback. Because the method may be completely computer based, it may be applied during early draw die development stages, without the necessity of a physical prototype.

Method for modifying a stamping die to compensate for springback


After forming a conductive layer on the entire surface of an insulation substrate, a resin mask of poly lactic acid etc. resin which will hydrolyze in an alkali aqueous solution is integrally formed on the insulation substrate so that a part to which a conductive layer of a predetermined pattern is to be formed is exposed. Then, a conductive layer is overlaid on the part exposed from the resin mask by means of electrolytic plating using an acidic bath composition. The interface between the resin mask of poly lactic acid etc. resin and the conductive layer reproduces an accurate contour of the pattern. Thereafter, the resin mask is efficiently removed by hydrolysis using an alkali aqueous solution, and finally the conductive layer is removed by chemical etching to thereby form a conductive layer having the predetermined pattern on the surface of the insulation substrate.

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a circuit component such as circuit substrate or connector, which is partially plated.
Conventionally, as a method for forming a circuit board on a dielectric substrate, there is known a method comprising the steps of: forming a dielectric substrate in a predetermined shape out of a dielectric material; forming a conductive layer consisting of a conductive material on the entire surface of the dielectric substrate by nonelectrolytic plating; forming a resin mask on the dielectric substrate so that a surface part where a conductive layer of a predetermined pattern is to be formed is covered and the remaining surface part is exposed in the surface of the dielectric substrate on which the conductive layer has been formed; etching the integral piece of the dielectric substrate and the resin mask to remove the conductive part on the dielectric substrate that is not covered with the resin mask; and removing the resin mask from the integral piece of the dielectric substrate and the resin mask that has been etched, thereby forming a conductive layer of a predetermined pattern on the surface of the dielectric substrate (Publication of unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 11(1999)-17442). Then, since the resin mask is manually removed by using a tab that has been formed integrally with the resin mask, the efficiency of mask removing is extremely poor in this conventional example.
In view of the above, it is an object of the invention to provide a method for manufacturing a circuit component in which efficiency of mask removing is improved, the contour of a pattern along the mask is easily and accurately reproduced, and the productivity is improved.
Also, it is another object of the invention to provide a method for manufacturing a circuit component which enables accurate and economical patterning by forming on a conductive substrate a pattern of a conductive layer having different properties from the substrate, and applying a resin mask in the case of components having a highly spatial shape such as connectors.
A brief description of the invention relating to a method for manufacturing a circuit component is as follows. That is, the method comprises the steps of: forming an insulation substrate in a predetermined shape out of an insulation material; forming a conductive layer of a conductive material on the entire surface of the aforementioned insulation substrate as a primary plating by nonelectrolytic plating; integrally forming a resin mask of a material having the property of hydrolyzing in an alkali aqueous solution and of resisting an acidic aqueous solution on the insulation substrate by forming the resin mask so that in the surface of the insulation substrate formed with the conductive layer, the part to which a conductive layer of a predetermined pattern is to be formed is exposed; overlaying a conductive layer by means of electrolytic plating with an acidic bath composition on the exposed part as a secondary plating; removing the resin mask by hydrolysis using an alkali aqueous solution; and removing the conductive layer of the primary plating by chemical etching, thereby forming a conductive layer of the predetermined pattern on the insulation substrate. The above material of resin mask has a property of hydrolyzing by an alkali aqueous solution and resists to an acidic aqueous solution, examples of which including saturated fatty acid esterified starch, poly lactic acid, aliphatic polyester, or a mixture or a copolymer of poly lactic acid and aliphatic polyester.
As described above, since the resin mask having the property of hydrolyzing in an alkali aqueous solution and of resisting an acidic aqueous solution is integrally formed on the insulation substrate, and the resin mask is removed by hydrolysis using an alkali aqueous solution, it is possible to remove the resin mask with high efficiency.
Another brief description of the invention relating to a method for manufacturing a circuit component is as follows. The method comprises the steps of: forming a conductive substrate in a predetermined shape out of a conductive material; integrally forming a resin mask on the conductive substrate so that a part to which a conductive layer having a predetermined pattern is to be formed is exposed; overlaying a conductive layer of the predetermined pattern having a different property from the conductive substrate on the surface of the conductive substrate by electrolytic plating with an acidic bath composition with respect to the exposed part; and removing the resin mask by hydrolysis using an alkali aqueous solution. Also the above material of resin mask has a property of hydrolyzing by an alkali aqueous solution and resists to an acidic aqueous solution, examples of which including saturated fatty acid esterified starch, poly lactic acid, aliphatic polyester, or a mixture or a copolymer of poly lactic acid and aliphatic polyester.
According to the present invention, it is possible to make patterning accurately and economically by employing a resin mask in the case of components having a complicated three-dimensional shape such as connectors.

Method for manufacturing circuit component


The present invention relates to a decorative lighting system arranged in a bunched or clustered fashion. The system includes a lighting string having wired branches of various lengths, small light bulbs fixed to these branches, colored globes with the sleeve shaped openings and connecting members connecting the light bulbs inside of the globes. This decorative ornament includes a sleeve or cup for looping the lighting string therein and an elastic loop of material threaded and connected through and an opening in the sleeve from which the ornament can be hung.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present application relates to a decorative lighting system arranged in a grouped, bunched or clustered fashion. This clustered arrangement can be used for both indoor and outdoor use, but is primarily intended for indoor use. The system includes a lighting string formed of a series of small light bulbs strung on wiring; colored housings or globes with openings, preferably sleeve-shaped openings; and connecting members. Each of the light bulbs on the lighting string is inserted into one of the connecting members which in turn, can be inserted into an opening in one of the housings or lighting globes. Further, the lighting string is configured to provide a clustered or bunched look such as a bunch of grapes. This decorative ornament can be hung from a ceiling or from any other appropriate location.
2. The Prior Art
Lighting systems are known in the prior art. However, it would be advantageous to provide a clustered arrangement of globe-shaped bulbs in which the lighting string is arranged so that the bulbs hang at different heights to provide a clustered look. It would be advantageous to use such a cluster-shape lighting arrangement system to decorate an indoor area and to decorate other objects, or to hang from ceilings, or shelves or for hanging on a hook of a wall.

Decorative lighting system in cluster arrangement


Foot-operated assemblies and methods of using the foot-operated assemblies to control a motorcycle. A foot-operated assembly includes a shaft that defines a pivot axis, a device for mounting the shaft to the motorcycle, a rocker arm coupled to the shaft so that the rocker arm is rotatable about the pivot axis, a second arm interconnected with the rocker arm so that rotation of the rocker arm causes the second arm to rotate about the pivot axis, a feature for coupling the second arm to a gear shifter linkage or a brake cylinder rod of the motorcycle, and a foot board attached to the rocker arm so that rotation of the foot board causes the rocker arm and the second arm to rotate about the pivot axis.

The present invention generally relates to foot-operated controls for motorcycles. More particularly, this invention relates to foot-operated gear shifting and braking controls incorporated into foot boards of a motorcycle to enable a rider to keep their feet on the foot boards at all times while shifting gears and applying brakes with simple rocking motions of the feet.
Foot boards (floor boards) are standard equipment for many motorcycles, and are provided as a more comfortable option to standard foot pegs. Foot boards are usually mounted in proximity to the foot-operated controls of a motorcycle, namely, the gear shifter lever located on the lefthand side of a motorcycle and a rear brake pedal on the righthand side of the motorcycle. U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2009/0272215 to Plackis shows the conventional location of a foot board beneath a gear shifter lever of a motorcycle. In contrast to a standard toe gear shifter configured for operation with the rider's toe, the gear shifter described in Plackis is a toe-and-heel gear shifter comprising interconnected front and rear arms. The front arm is forward of the foot board for operation with the rider's toe, while the rear arm is at the rear of the foot board for operation with the rider's heel. The arms are interconnected to facilitate the usual shifting pattern of a motorcycle. Using the movement of the front arm as reference, first gear is usually one position down from neutral while the remaining higher gears are engaged by multiple incremental positions up from neutral. The rear arm avoids the need to lift the front arm up with the toe as the rider shifts to higher gears by allowing the rider to use the heel to move the rear arm down to achieve upward movement of the front arm. Though not shown, a foot board is also presumably located slightly below and behind a rear brake pedal on the righthand side of the motorcycle.
The foot board shown in Plackis is positioned so that either the toe or heel of the rider's foot can be firmly supported by the foot board during the operation of the gear shifter. For this reason, the foot board is rigidly attached to the motorcycle frame, such that the board cannot move while supporting the rider's feet, including during operation of the gear shifter.
Toe-and-heel gear shifters are often more convention to operate than a standard toe shifter because the rider is not required to lift his or her toe when shifting to higher gears. However, riders may still find a toe-and-heel shifter to be somewhat difficult to operate. For example, certain riders that have suffered lower leg injuries may find it difficult to lift their toe off the foot board and onto the front arm in order to downshift and/or lift their heel off the foot board and onto the rear arm in order to upshift.

Foot-operated control assemblies and control methods for motorcycles


A lotion saving device that includes a plurality of hollow threaded members, each of said hollow threaded members having a first threaded portion and a second threaded portion, a plurality of first threads disposed interiorly upon the first threaded portion and a plurality of second threads disposed interiorly upon the second threaded portion, the plurality of second threads disposed enantiomorphically with respect to the plurality of first threads, wherein an extant first lotion container is rotatably attachable to the first threaded portion and an extant second lotion container is rotatably attachable to the second threaded portion, said first lotion container thereby elevated and inverted relative said second lotion container, whereby lotion drains from the first lotion container and is collectable in the second lotion container.

Various types of lotion saving devices are known in the prior art. However, what is needed is a lotion saving device that includes a plurality of hollow threaded members, each of said hollow threaded members having a first threaded portion and a second threaded portion, a plurality of first threads disposed interiorly upon the first threaded portion and a plurality of second threads disposed interiorly upon the second threaded portion, the plurality of second threads disposed enantiomorphically with respect to the plurality of first threads, wherein an extant first lotion container is rotatably attachable to the first threaded portion and an extant second lotion container is rotatably attachable to the second threaded portion, said first lotion container thereby elevated and inverted relative said second lotion container, whereby lotion drains from the first lotion container and is collectable in the second lotion container.


In a liquid crystal display system constructed from a plurality of liquid crystal display cells stacked one on top of another, a light guide adapted to transmit light only in a direction perpendicular to the display surfaces of the liquid crystal display cells is interposed between the first liquid crystal display cell disposed nearest to an observer and the second liquid crystal display cell disposed behind the first liquid crystal display cell. Because of the provision of the light guide, the images formed on the second and third liquid crystal display cells are focused through the light guide onto the rear surface of the first liquid crystal display cell, viewed from the direction of the observer. The light guide is a sheet of optical fibers or a stack of sheet like members separated by refletion films, the plane of which are perpendicular to the plane of the display.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stacked liquid crystal display system for forming an image, for example, a color image, by superposing images displayed on a plurality of liquid crystal display cells.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have previously been proposed a variety of liquid crystal display systems for forming an image by superposing images displayed on a plurality of liquid crystal display cells. One such system is constructed by stacking component members one on top of another, in the order of a first polarizer, a first STN (supertwisted nematic) liquid crystal cell, a second polarizer, a second STN liquid crystal cell, a third polarizer, a third STN liquid crystal cell, and a fourth polarizer (U.S.P. Pat. No. 4,917,465, Japanese Patent Examined Publication No. 59-38565).
This liquid crystal display system is capable of providing a color display by combining the retardation values of the liquid crystal display cells with associated color polarizers. To produce colors, the system uses a substractive color mixture process by which three primary colors, cyan, yellow, and magenta, are mixed together to produce eight colors, white, cyan, magenta, blue, yellow, green, red, and black. It is also possible to produce a greater number of colors, such as 16, 64, and 128 colors, by displaying the three primary colors in various luminance and by varying their light transmittance ratios.
In the above stacked crystal display system, the three liquid crystal display parts, each comprising an STN liquid crystal cell and associated color polarizers disposed adjacent thereto, function to produce the three primary colors, cyan, yellow, and magenta, respectively. That is, a liquid crystal display part for producing cyan, a liquid crystal display part for producing yellow, and a liquid crystal display part for producing magenta are stacked one on top of another to construct the display system.
As described above, in the so-called stacked liquid crystal display system for producing a display by combining a plurality of liquid crystal display cells, the liquid crystal layers of adjacent liquid crystal display cells are separated by glass substrates, as components of the liquid crystal display cells, and a polarizer, thereby increasing the spacing between the liquid crystal layers, i.e. the spacing between the display surfaces. The resulting problem is that an apparent separation occurs between the superposed images as the angle between the observer's line of sight and the normal to the display surface area increases (the angle is hereinafter referred to as the viewing angle).
Therefore, in such stacked liquid crystal display systems, transmitted light is extracted in parallel, for example, by an overhead projector (OHP), so that the image formed on the liquid crystal display is projected in enlarged form onto a screen in front. In such a projection system, apparent separation of images due to an increase in the viewing angle can be avoided.
However, as it requires a high intensity backlight (light source) for projection of light, the power consumption increases, rendering battery operation impracticable. Furthermore, the projection system has such problems that it requires the provision of accessory optics, such as a Fresnel lens for screen projection, making the system further complex in construction and larger in size, and also that the projection for enlarged viewing lowers the image definition of the display.
These problems defeat the advantages of the liquid crystal display that is low power, can be driven by batteries, and is thin and light weight in construction, and thus limit the range of potential applications for the stacked liquid crystal display system.

Liquid crystal display employing light guide plate between cells


System and methods are disclosed in which pilots are used to assist in identifying grant-free uplink transmissions originating from the same UE. In one embodiment, a base station receives a grant-free uplink transmission that carries initial data from a user equipment and an initial pilot. The initial pilot is successfully decoded and the initial data is unsuccessfully decoded. The successfully decoded initial pilot and the unsuccessfully decoded initial data are stored in memory. Another grant-free uplink transmission carrying retransmission data from the user equipment and a retransmission pilot is then received. The retransmission pilot is successfully decoded and used to identify the successfully decoded initial pilot in the memory and the unsuccessfully decoded initial data. The retransmission data and the unsuccessfully decoded initial data are used to successfully decode the initial data.

In some wireless communication systems, a user equipment (UE) wirelessly communicates with a base station to send data to the base station and/or receive data from the base station. A wireless communication from a UE to a base station is referred to as an uplink communication, and a wireless communication from a base station to a UE is referred to as a downlink communication.
Resources are required to perform uplink and downlink communications. For example, a UE may wirelessly transmit data to a base station in an uplink transmission at a particular frequency and/or during a particular slot in time. The frequency and time slot used are examples of resources.
In some wireless communication systems, if a UE wants to transmit data to a base station, the UE requests uplink resources from the base station. The base station grants the uplink resources, and then the UE sends the uplink transmission using the granted uplink resources. An example of uplink resources that may be granted by the base station is a set of time/frequency locations in an uplink orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) frame.
The base station is aware of the identity of the UE sending the uplink transmission using the granted uplink resources, because the base station specifically granted those uplink resources to that UE. However, there may be schemes in which the base station does not know which UE, if any, is going to send an uplink transmission using certain uplink resources. An example is a grant-free uplink transmission scheme in which UEs may send uplink transmissions using certain uplink resources shared by the UEs, without specifically requesting use of the resources and without specifically being granted the resources by the base station. The base station will therefore not know which UE, if any, is going to send a grant-free uplink transmission using the resources. Also, assuming there is no coordination amongst the UEs, then two or more UEs may each send a respective grant-free uplink transmission using the same resources, causing a collision.

System and method for pilot assisted grant-free uplink transmission identification


A portable information terminal device having a camera feature and comprises a case provided with an image pickup module including a lens and an image pickup element and a lid member of the device provided at a predetermined position with an adapter optical system different from the lens. The lid member is linked to the case to be displaceable relative to the case between predetermined positions including a position for causing the optical axis of the lens and that of the adapter optical system to substantially agree with each other. When the optical axis of the lens and that of the adapter optical system are substantially agree with each other by displacing the case and the lid member relative to each other, the optical parameters of the synthetic optical system obtained by combining the lens and the adapter optical system are different from those of the lens.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a portable information terminal device such as cellular phone or PDA (personal digital assistant). More particularly, the present invention relates to a portable information terminal device having a camera feature.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, portable information terminal devices such as cellular phones and PDAs that are provided with a built-in camera feature have been developed due to the availability of small and low power consumption image pickup devices, electronic devices having improved processing capabilities, large capacity memories and high speed and large capacity (broad band) communication lines. Such a built-in camera feature is normally realized by using a CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) image sensor.
Since such a portable information terminal device can be put into a bag or a pocket and carried by the user, it may be provided with a flipper for preventing it from being unintentionally operated if the operation keys are accidentally turned or depressed. The flipper is closed to cover the operation keys when the device is stored or carried so that the keys cannot be turned or depressed by mistake. There are also many portable information terminal devices of the type that come in two parts. The two parts of such a terminal device are linked to each other by a hinge and adapted to be folded together. An LCD (liquid crystal display) is arranged on one of them, while operation keys are arranged on the other. Foldable devices are advantageous in that they are compact when folded, which reliably prevents operation errors, and the liquid crystal screen is relatively large and protected against damage.
Additionally, in recent years, many sophisticated multifunctional cellular phones can be utilized not only for telephone communications but also for viewing electronic mail (E-mail) and accessing Internet contents. The foldable type is advantageous for such cellular phones because they can be equipped with a large LCD that can display a large amount of information at one time. Therefore, the demand for foldable cellular phones is increasing.
Now, an increasing number of cellular phones are provided with a built-in small image pickup module and hence a camera feature.
Meanwhile, portable and foldable information terminal devices such as PDAs and hand-held PCs (personal computers) are becoming popular because they can be conveniently stored when they are carried by users and the liquid display screen is protected. Again, an LCD is arranged on one of the two parts, while operation keys are arranged on the other. An increasing number of such information terminal devices are also provided with a built-in small image pickup module and hence a camera feature.
Thus, there are a large number of portable information terminal devices that are flippable or foldable and are also provided with a built-in image pickup module.
On the other hand, the image pickup modules built-in to such portable information terminal devices are required to be compact and lightweight and hence are not provided with a zooming mechanism, unlike ordinary cameras. In other words, a single focal point lens is used. Therefore, the magnification, the view angle and other parameters of the lens are fixed to values that are suitable for snap shots and not adjustable because the built-in cameras of portable information terminal devices are believed to be normally used for snap shots. In short, the built-in cameras of portable devices provide only a limited use of obtaining snap shots (without zooming).
It may be possible to change the view angle by so-called digital zooming of partly enlarging the electrically picked up image and taking out the enlarged part. However, since the built-in camera of a small portable device needs to meet the requirements of compactness, lightweight and low power consumption, the number of pixels of the image pickup device cannot be so large. Thus, digital zooming can give rise to a problem of remarkably degrading the image quality.

Portable information terminal device having camera feature


A preservative solution contains water, a water-soluble organic solvent and a crown ether. Even when the preservative solution is employed in the ink passage of an ink-jet recording apparatus and comes into contact with rubber members employed in the ink passage, the occurrence of precipitation is prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a preservative solution employed in an ink-jet recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an ink-jet recording method, recording is performed by generating fine droplets of ink according to various ink ejection methods, causing them to fly, and allowing the ink to adhere to a recording material such as paper. In such a case, the ink droplets are generated by an ink ejection method such as: an electrostatic attraction method by means of the application of high voltage; a drop-on-demand method in which mechanical vibrations or displacements are applied to ink by use of a piezoelectric element; or a thermal method which utilizes the pressure generated when the ink is heated to generate a bubble. When using an ink-jet recording method, less noise is generated, and both high-speed printing and multi-color printing are possible.
When an ink-jet recording apparatus is shipped or is held in long-term storage, a preservative solution is filled into the ink passage of the ink-jet head, irrespective of the type of ink ejection method used. In this manner, ink can be smoothly introduced into the ink-jet head without causing bubbles to be caught in the ink at the time of ink introduction after shipping or long-term storage.
A water-based ink containing water as the main solvent has been widely employed as the ink employed in ink-jet recording apparatuses.
In an ink-jet recording apparatus, rubber members are employed in an ink passage comprising an ink tank and an ink-jet head. These rubber members include: a cap which covers the nozzles of the ink-jet head; a wiper which cleans nozzle surfaces of the ink-jet head; a packing seal which is placed at the joint portion between components; a tube which supplies ink from the ink tank to the ink-jet head if the ink tank is provided separately from the ink-jet head; and the like.
However, when a preservative solution or ink comes in contact with the rubber members, additives contained in the rubber members are dissolved in the preservative solution or the ink. The dissolved additives then precipitate out as insoluble materials, thereby causing problems such as clogging of nozzles of the ink-jet head. With regard to the abovementioned problems for ink, a coloring agent exerts a chelating effect to trap components dissolved from the rubber members, whereby the precipitation of the insoluble materials is prevented to some extent. However, since a preservative solution does not contain a coloring agent, the problem of precipitation of the insoluble materials from the rubber members is more prevalent for the preservative solution.
In order to prevent clogging of the nozzles of an ink-jet head, various proposals have been made, such as: using a maintenance solution containing a chelating agent such as a polyaminocarboxylic acid; and cleaning an ink-jet head with a cleaning solution containing a chelating agent such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid.
However, even when the conventional maintenance solution or the conventional cleaning solution is employed, it is difficult to effectively prevent the occurrence of precipitation caused by contact of the preservative solution with the rubber members.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A vehicle HVAC system comprises an evaporator, a heater core, an air mixing door between the evaporator and the heater core, the air mixing door being configured to direct a portion of an airflow to either bypass or pass over the heater, and a baffle. The baffle is configured to gradually change the area available to a portion of the airflow as the air mixing door is moved.

The present application relates to vehicle heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. In particular, the present application relates to baffles and other structures used to influence air flow through vehicle HVAC systems.
Vehicle HVAC systems may include cabin controls that are used by a vehicle occupant to control the outlet temperature and airflow of the air being delivered into the vehicle cabin from the HVAC system. It may be desirable to configure an HVAC system to provide a linear relationship between the position of a temperature controller and the outlet temperature. For example, when the controller is in a position half way between the coldest and hottest settings, the outlet temperature may be about half way between the coldest and hottest outlet temperatures.
In particular, it may be advantageous to linearize the relationship between the Normalized Temperature (TN) and the controller position. The normalized temperature is defined according to the following formula:TN=(Toutlet−Tmin)/(Tmax−Tmin)where Toutlet is the average outlet temperature when the HVAC system is at a steady state for a given controller position, Tmin is the outlet temperature at steady state with the controller at the full cold position, and Tmax is the outlet temperature at steady state when the controller is in the full hot position.
One way of increasing the linearity of the relationship between controller position and outlet temperature is to position a baffle in the air flow to adjust the airflow characteristics of the system. In some systems that utilize a pivoting temperature door to direct a portion of the air flow over a heater core, a baffle may be positioned downstream from the evaporator.
It would be advantageous to provide an HVAC system having a more linear control relationship between the position of the temperature control and the normalized temperature.


A processor array (2) employs an SIMD architecture and includes a number of single-bit processor elements. Each processor element includes an arithmetic unit (ALU) and at least one operand register (Q) for the arithmetic unit (ALU). Each processor element (PE) further includes a multi-byte bit-wise shift register. Data outputs are formed in said shift register for each byte position. Data is communicated from a selected one of the outputs to the arithmetic unit via a multiplexer (Z-MUX).. In one example, the shift register is unidirectional and includes a cyclical data path which connects the least significant bit of the register to the most significant end. The register may output data from one of the outputs and shift data cyclically from the most significant to the least significant end in a single operation.

The present invention relates to parallel processing computer systems and in particular to systems employing an array of processor elements using an SIMD architecture. One example of such a system is described and claimed in U.K Patent GB-A-1445714 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,728.
A number of different approaches have been adopted to increasing the power of such systems. It is possible to increase the power of individual processor elements by, for example, increasing the width of the operands handled by the ALU or increasing the range of functions offered by each ALU. Such approaches suffer the disadvantage of tending to lose the flexibility in operation and high levels of integration which are the primary design goals of SIMD systems. They also offer poor compatibility with existing systems based on simple single bit processor elements. In practice using processor elements modified in this manner to replace a conventional array requires that the operating systems for the array be rewritten from scratch and this provides a major disincentive to the upgrading of the array.
An alternative approach is to supplement an existing array with a co-processor. This has the advantage of providing greater backwards compatibility but has the disadvantage of tending to require software which is less integrated in nature, requiring entire routines to be implemented either in the main array or in the co-processor.
With single bit processors it is necessary, within an arithmetic operation such as floating point add, repeatedly to access bits of the operands and intermediate results in memory. One approach to increasing the memory bandwidth would be to provide for each processor several independent paths to memory. This would imply either more than one memory per processor, or multiple ports into a single memory. Either of these is more costly than providing just a single memory path. The cost is even higher if the processors are on a chip and the memory is external to the chip, thus requiring more data pins for the chip. It is known, in a convolution processing system for handling image data, to connect the output of an arithmetic unit to a shift register. A selected output of the shift register is then connected to the input of a neighbouring arithmetic unit. Such an arrangement is disclosed in U.K. Patent GB-A-2180968 and its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,182.

Processor elements having multi-byte structure shift register for shifting data either byte wise or bit wise with single-bit output formed at bit positions thereof spaced by one byte


A small-sized base station employed in a mobile communication system is disclosed. To this end, the small-sized base station in a mobile communication system, according to one embodiment of the present invention, is a base station device in a mobile communication system comprising: a case which has the shape of a polyhedron and is hollow inside; a housing accommodated inside the case and having the same polyhedron shape as the case; and at least one board which is positioned between the case and the housing.

A base station in a mobile communication system refers to a system for relaying electric waves of portable terminals in a cell. The base station is mainly located on the roof of a building to relay the electric waves of the portable terminals. Accordingly, base stations exist in units of cells and control incoming/outgoing signal transmission, traffic channel definition, and traffic channel monitoring in addition to interface functions between portable terminals and switching stations in units of cells.
In addition, thanks to many advantages, control antennas capable of performing beam tilting in a vertical or horizontal direction have been widely used as antennas employed for base stations.
Furthermore, compact base stations that can reduce frequency loads and enhance call quality have been installed as systems for covering much smaller areas than the existing mobile communication service coverage. Such base station systems are used to receive data traffic intensively generated in small-scale areas. The compact base stations may be installed in buildings or homes, thereby making it possible to resolve dead spots and provide more enhanced network and convergence services.
However, the compact base stations employed for the conventional mobile communication systems have limitations in making the overall size smaller because major components mounted in the base stations, for example, a main board, a power supply unit, an antenna, a filter, a power amplification unit, and the like are stacked one above another.
In particular, although the conventional compact base stations have stable antenna characteristics with increasing cavity spaces arranged in a filter, the cavities are arranged to be narrow in a line. Therefore, the horizontal and vertical sizes of the filter having the cavities arranged therein are made larger in order to maintain the antenna characteristics satisfying customers' demands.
Particularly, since the main board and the power amplification unit are formed on one board in the conventional compact base stations, the overall size of the main board becomes large, and a problem of heat dissipation of the power amplification unit arises.

Small-sized base station device in mobile communication system