A hydrogenated crystalline norbornene ring-opening polymer is obtained by hydrogenating 80% or more of carbon-carbon double bonds of a ring-opening polymer that is obtained by ring-opening polymerization of norbornene monomers including 90 to 100 wt % of 2-norbornene and 0 to 10 wt % of a 2-norbornene derivative having a substituent which does not include an aliphatic carbon-carbon double bond in the presence of a branching agent, the hydrogenated crystalline norbornene ring-opening polymer having a melting point of 110 to 145° C. and a branching index of 0.3 to 0.98, and a molded article is obtained by molding the hydrogenated crystalline norbornene ring-opening polymer. The hydrogenated crystalline norbornene ring-opening polymer has excellent industrial productivity, and the molded article has excellent productivity and moisture resistance.

A hydrogenated norbornene ring-opening polymer has excellent transparency and a low birefringence, and application thereof as a resin material for an optical lens or an optical sheet has been proposed (Patent Documents 1 and 2). Since the hydrogenated norbornene ring-opening polymer exhibits excellent fluidity in a molten state and has excellent eluting properties and chemical resistance, application thereof as a resin material for other applications such as a packing film or a medical container has also been proposed (Patent Documents 3 and 4).
However, since most of the hydrogenated norbornene ring-opening polymers disclosed in these documents are amorphous, their water vapor barrier properties, oil resistance, and the like are insufficient depending on the application. Therefore, a further improvement in properties of hydrogenated norbornene ring-opening polymers has been desired.
Patent Document 5 discloses a method that obtains a hydrogenated amorphous norbornene ring-opening polymer by ring-opening polymerization of a norbornene monomer having an alkenyl group with a carbon-carbon double bond at the chain end and a norbornene monomer which does not have an alkenyl group with a carbon-carbon double bond at the chain end, and hydrogenating the resulting polymer. Patent Document 5 describes that the resulting hydrogenated amorphous norbornene ring-opening polymer has excellent moldability and is suitable for forming an optical molded article by injection molding.
However, the amorphous polymer disclosed in Patent Document 5 has poor moisture resistance.
As a hydrogenated norbornene ring-opening polymer having crystallinity (i.e., having a melting point), a hydrogenated crystalline norbornene ring-opening polymer containing a repeating unit of a norbornene monomers having three or more rings has been known (Patent Documents 6 to 8). A resin film or sheet obtained using the hydrogenated norbornene ring-opening polymer disclosed in these documents has excellent transparency, heat resistance, chemical resistance, and mechanical strength.
However, a film obtained by molding the above hydrogenated crystalline norbornene ring-opening polymer does not fully satisfy the requirements for moisture permeability. Moreover, the above hydrogenated crystalline norbornene ring-opening polymer has poor solubility in a solvent, and may precipitate from a reaction solution after hydrogenating the ring-opening polymer. This may make it difficult to sufficiently purify the polymer by removing residual catalysts and the like.
Non-patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose a hydrogenated norbornene ring-opening copolymer possessing crystallinity. However, these documents do not specifically describe the properties of the polymer. Among the specifically disclosed polymers, the polymers having a high molecular weight and a narrow molecular weight distribution exhibit difficulty in producing a film with a smooth surface, since these polymers tend to undergo melt-fracture due to high shearing viscosity at a high shear rate during film formation. On the other hand, a film formed of a polymer having a low molecular weight has small tensile elongation at break (i.e., insufficient mechanical characteristics). Moreover, since the hydrogenation degree of the hydrogenated ring-opening polymer disclosed in these documents is not necessarily sufficient, a molded article obtained by molding the polymer may be easily discolored.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-60-26024    Patent Document 2: JP-A-9-263627    Patent Document 3: JP-A-2000-313090 (WO 2000/066357)    Patent Document 4: JP-A-2003-183361 (EP 559146)    Patent Document 5: JP-A-2007-262170    Patent Document 6: JP-A-2002-020464    Patent Document 7: JP-A-2002-194067    Patent Document 8: JP-A-2006-052333    Non-patent Document 1: Polymer International, Vol. 34, pp. 49-57 (1994)    Non-patent Document 2: Macromolecules, Vol. 37, pp. 7278-7284 (2000)

Hydrogenated crystalline norbornene ring-opening polymer and molded article


A digital signal processor (DSP) may receive a signal that has an x-polarization (x-pol) and a y-polarization (y-pol). The DSP may equalize the x-pol of the signal and the y-pol of the signal based on filter coefficients determined using a constant modulus algorithm (CMA). The DSP may perform phase correction on the equalized x-pol signal and the equalized y-pol signal. The DSP may identify a first frame header pattern within the phase-corrected x-pol signal, and may identify a second frame header pattern within the phase-corrected y-pol signal. The DSP may determine, based on the first frame header pattern and the second frame header pattern, a quantity of lock-in differential group delay (DGD). The device may adjust one or more of the filter coefficients to remove the quantity of lock-in DGD and to permit an amount of polarization mode dispersion to be determined based on the filter coefficients.

Optical communication systems are known in which optical signals carrying data are transmitted from a first node (e.g., a transmitter (Tx)) to a second node (e.g., a receiver (Rx)) via an optical fiber. At the Rx, the optical signal is converted into corresponding electrical signals, which are then further processed.
In some cases, the Rx may include a coherent Rx. In a coherent Rx, a received signal is mixed with an output of a local oscillator (LO) in an optical hybrid circuit, the outputs of which are provided to photodetectors to generate analog electrical output signals. For example, the analog signals may be sampled at a sample rate by analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuits configured to supply outputs for further processing by a digital signal processor (DSP) included in the coherent Rx. Thus, for the coherent Rx, the amplitude, phase, and state of polarization of the optical signal are all transferred to the electrical domain for digital signal processing in the Rx DSP component.
While travelling through the fiber (e.g., from the Tx to the Rx), the optical signal may be subject to impairments such as chromatic dispersion (CD), polarization mode dispersion (PMD), etc. CD may be caused by various frequency components in each signal traveling at different velocities. PMD may be caused by various polarization components in each signal traveling at different velocities. As a result of such impairments, the in-phase component and quadrature component of electronic signals, representative of data carried by the optical signal, may have different delay, frequency response, and polarization characteristics. PMD and CD compensation may be achieved electronically using an equalizer in the receiver.
For example, the equalizer may be a finite-impulse response (FIR) digital filter. Such filters include taps, where symbols, associated with the signal, are transferred from one tap to the next, multiplied by a coefficient at each tap, and the resulting products are summed. Typically, the coefficients are selected and/or modified based on parameters, such as estimates of CD, PMD, etc., where such estimates may be obtained by "training" the equalizer. One known method of training an equalizer is known as blind equalization. According to the blind equalization method, the equalizer may be trained based on measuring the actual received signal output from the equalizer. One known method of implementing blind equalization is use of a constant modulus algorithm (CMA). In accordance with CMA, filter coefficients are selected and modified through an iterative process, whereby a cost function (e.g., a function associated with an amplitude variation associated with the signal) is minimized.

Accurate calculation of polarization mode dispersion using blind equalization


A method for reliability estimation of temporal noise estimation in a sequence of video frames. The temporal local differences from a difference between a previous frame and a next frame in the sequence of frames is determined. A distribution of the temporal local difference is determined. Characteristics values of the distribution are determined. The characteristics values are compared to the thresholds to obtain an indication of the reliability of the temporal noise estimation. If the estimated noise variance is determined as not reliable, it will be discarded and the previous estimated reliable noise variance will be used instead indicating the noise level of the current frame.

Noise estimation is required in many algorithms to process image or video optimally. For example, in TV system, noise reduction is often applied as the first step to obtain noise-free video sequences. An optimal algorithm of noise reduction first estimates the noise variance of input video sequences, and then performs noise reduction. Noise estimation is very important in this case, because overestimation leads to image blurring and underestimation leads to insufficient noise reduction.
In order to describe the problem of noise estimation, let gt denote the incoming video frame at time instant t and gt(i,j) denote the corresponding pixel value at the coordinates (i,j) where i represents the ordinate and j represents the abscissa. Generally, we assume the input video sequence is corrupted by independent, identically distributed additive and stationary zero-mean Gaussian noise with variance σ02, that is, any pixel gt(i,j) can be denoted as:gt(i,j)=ft(i,j)+nt(i,j),  (1)
where ft(i,j) denotes the true pixel value without noise corruption and nt(i,j) is the Gaussian distributed noise component satisfyingnt(i,j)˜N(0,σ02).  (2)
Thus, the problem of noise estimation is to estimate the noise variance σ02 of the contaminated image gt without the priori information of the original image ft.
A straightforward method of noise estimation is to compute the expectation of the local variance of image gt. This method suffers from the image structure, causing overestimation. To overcome this problem, several methods have been proposed. One method excludes the local variance if the gradient magnitude of the corresponding pixel is greater than a preset threshold. However, the gradient magnitude is also related with the noise variance, so it is difficult to find an appropriate threshold. Other conventional methods first extract the noise component with little structure by applying high-pass filters on the contaminated image gt, and then perform noise estimation on the noise component. One example decomposes the image into a pyramid structure of different block sizes, wherein the noise variance is estimated from a sequence of four smallest block-based local variances at each level. Another example, a Rayleigh distribution is fitted to the magnitude of the intensity gradient, wherein noise variance is estimated based on the attribute that the Rayleigh probability density function reaches maximum at value σ0. Other methods estimate multiplicative as well as additive noise.
All of the above methods utilize the spatial local statistics to estimate noise variance. The estimation accuracy depends on the separation of the noise component and the real image signal. The robustness degrades greatly if most of image contains complicated structure.

Reliability estimation of temporal noise estimation


A perpendicular magnetic recording disk is provided. The perpendicular magnetic recording disk includes an underlayer between a substrate and a perpendicular magnetic recording layer for inducing perpendicular orientation of the perpendicular magnetic recording layer, the perpendicular magnetic recording layer having a thickness in the range where the ratio of perpendicular coercivity Hc to maximum perpendicular coercivity Ho decreases with reduced thickness of the perpendicular magnetic recording layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to magnetic recording disks, and more particularly, to single-layer and pseudo double-layer perpendicular magnetic recording disks with microsized domains.
2. Description of the Related Art
In longitudinal magnetic recording (LMR) applied to hard disk drives (HDDs), a major external data storage device of computers, the size of a data record domain in a magnetic disk has decreased with microstructure as the need for high-density data recording increases. However, this decrease in size makes the data record domains susceptible to removal by thermal energy generated by operation of the HDD which is more dominant than magnetostatic energy from the data record domain. This is referred to as the super paramagnetic effect. To overcome the super paramagnetic effect, the LMR technique has been replaced by a perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technique for HDD applications. The PMR technique uses a higher electrostatic energy and lower demagnetization energy compared to the LMR technique, so it is advantageous in high-density data recording. The high-density PMR technique also has enabled detection of a micro data domain in combination with advances in the manufacture of highly sensitive read heads.
In the PMR technique suitable for high-density magnetic recording, perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy is exerted to orient the direction of magnetized domains perpendicular to the plane of a magnetic disk. Thus, head fields from a magnetic head should be induced to be perpendicular to the magnetic disk plane and thus parallel to the magnetized domains. To achieve this, a single-pole-type (SPT) perpendicular magnetic head is required. However, the SPT perpendicular magnetic head also generates a demagnetization field stronger than the perpendicular field of the magnetic head, so the perpendicular magnetic field induced by the SPT head is insufficient for recording, thus limiting use of the perpendicular magnetic recording technique in HDD applications.
The recent advances in magnetic recording technologies have enabled PMR with a ring-type magnetic head that has been used widely in LMP due to its ability to apply enhanced perpendicular magnetic fields for recording. Based on the PMR performed using the ring-type magnetic head, a single-layer PMR disk with a perpendicular magnetic recording/playback layer has been developed.
The schematic structure of a single-layer PMR disk is shown in FIG. 1. The single-layer PMR disk includes an underlayer 12 for promoting the perpendicular orientation of a perpendicular magnetic recording layer 13 formed over the underlayer 12, the perpendicular magnetic recording layer 13 having the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy to keep the perpendicular orientation of the data record domain, a protective layer 14 for protecting the perpendicular magnetic recording layer 13 from external impacts, and a lubricant layer 15.
The perpendicular magnetic recording layer 13 has the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy with a magnetic easy axis oriented perpendicular to the plane of the perpendicular magnetic recording layer 13 due to the underlayer 12. Therefore, perpendicular data recording can be achieved by perpendicular magnetic field components from a ring-type head. However, in the conventional single-layer PMR disk shown in FIG. 1, the perpendicular magnetic recording layer 13 having the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy has also a large demagnetization factor and thus strong demagnetization energy is induced in a direction opposite to the magnetic moment of the perpendicular magnetic recording layer 13, as expressed by formula (1) below:Kueff=Ku−2πNdMs2  (1)where Kueff is the effective perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy, Ku is the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy, Nd is the demagnetization factor, Ms is the saturation magnetization, and 2πNdMs2 is the demagnetization energy.
Thus, the effective perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy of the perpendicular magnetic recording layer 13 is abruptly decreased with unsatisfactory high-density recording properties, thereby limiting HDD applications of the perpendicular magnetic recording technique.
To overcome the effective perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy reduction occurring in such a single-layer PMR disk, a pseudo double-layer PMR disk capable of reducing the demagnetization energy of its perpendicular magnetic recording layer has been developed.
In the pseudo double-layer PMR disk, as shown in FIG. 2, an intermediate soft magnetic layer 26 is deposited between a perpendicular orientation promoting underlayer 22 and a perpendicular magnetic recording layer 23 to allow formation of a closed magnetic circuit through the perpendicular magnetic recording layer 23 by perpendicular magnetic field components from a ring-type head. The closed magnetic circuit formed by the intermediate soft magnetic layer 26 reduces the demagnetization factor of the perpendicular magnetic recording layer 23 and its demagnetization energy, and thereby limits reduction in the effective perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy.
FIG. 3 is a graph showing signal and noise level variations with respect to recording densities in kFRPI (kilo flux revolutions per inch) for the signal-layer PMR disk shown in FIG. 1 and the pseudo double-layer PMR disk with the intermediate soft magnetic layer shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 3, -▪- and -□- represent the signal and noise levels, respectively, of the single-layer PMR disk, and -●- and -◯- represent the signal and noise levels, respectively, of the pseudo double-layer PMR disk.
The pseudo double-layer PMR disk shows a higher signal output than the single-layer PMR disk due to retention of the effective perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy by the intermediate soft magnetic layer 26 that reduces the demagnetization energy by forming a closed magnetic circuit through the perpendicular magnetic recording layer 23. However, the intermediate soft magnetic layer 26 is also likely to cause a random orientation of neighboring magnetic fields and results in additional noise (jitter), so the pseudo double-layer PMR disk has a higher noise level than the single-layer PMR disk. Due to increases in both the signal and noise levels, the pseudo double-layer PMR disk has a signal-to-noise ratio which is too small for high-density recording. Therefore, there is a need to reduce a noise output level originating from the perpendicular magnetic recording layer 23 of the pseudo double-layer PMR disk to obtain a SNR large enough for high-density recording.
Reducing a noise level is also advantageous to the signal-layer PMR disk for improved SNR. For this reason, there have been continuing efforts to reduce a noise level amplified by the perpendicular magnetic recording layer itself in the single-layer and pseudo double-layer PMR disks for improved SNR.


A touch input method and a mobile terminal are provided. The mobile terminal includes a touch screen having a transparent display panel, a front touch panel configured to detect a touch input corresponding to the front of the transparent display panel, and a rear touch panel configured to detect a touch input corresponding to a rear of the transparent touch panel. The touch input method includes detecting a touch input from one of the front touch panel and the rear touch panel, determining whether a user's intent is a data input via the rear touch panel in response to the touch input, and displaying a keypad on a top of the touch screen if the user's intent is determined as data input via the rear touch panel.

A mobile terminal, such as a smart phone or a tablet PC, is generally equipped with a touch screen and performs various functions of the mobile terminal in response to a touch input of a user on the touch screen. The touch screen of the mobile terminal displays various keypads such as an English QWERTY, an English 3*4, a Korean 3*4, a special key, and the like. When a user touches the keypad with a hand or a pen, the touch screen delivers a touch event to a controller of the portable terminal in response to the touch. The touch event includes a touch coordinate. The controller detects the touch coordinate from the touch screen, verifies a key value which is preset in the touch coordinate in a key value table, and performs a function (for example, displays "A") corresponding to the verified key value.
The mobile terminal industry has conducted active research to put a mobile terminal having a transparent display panel to practical use. The transparent display panel is a display panel which permits the user to look at another side (for example, a rear) through one side (for example, a front) of the transparent display panel. In other words, an object positioned in the rear is projected to the front. For example, the user looks at the user's own hand which is projected to the transparent display panel with an image displayed on the transparent display panel. Likewise, the transparent display panel is characterized that the rear is visible.
The technology to implement this feature is very diverse. With a recent technology development of an Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED), the transparent display panel is likely to be popularized. In the automotive industry, the transparent display panel is already at the stage of a practical use as the configuration of an instrument panel.
The mobile terminal may have the touch screen in which the transparent display panel, the front touch panel detecting the touch input corresponding to the front of the transparent display panel, and the rear touch panel detecting the touch input corresponding to the rear of the transparent display panel are included. Accordingly, the user may perform the touch input through the rear as well as the front of the touch screen. While holding the mobile terminal, the user may touch the front with a thumb of the corresponding hand and may touch the rear with an index finger and a middle finger of the corresponding hand. In other words, the user may perform the touch input with one hand through the front and the rear of the touch screen. However, due to instability, it is difficult to perform the touch input with one hand.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.


A previously obtained location of a fixed wireless device is stored and available for processing of a call or the like from the device when a location determination may be desirable. In some circumstances, the previously obtained location of the fixed wireless device may be retrieved to provide information to a public-safety answering point (PSAP) during handling of an emergency call initiated by the fixed wireless device over a wireless network.

Enhanced 911 (i.e., E911 or E-911) systems link emergency callers with appropriate public resources using an easy access code. The easy access code used throughout North America, for example, is 911. In most cases, a person in an emergency situation dials 911 to make a voice call to a public safety answering point (PSAP), although some PSAPs now support 911 text messaging as well. In order to provide emergency assistance to a caller, the E911 system attempts to associate a call with a location of the call. The location may be a physical address or other geographic reference information. The E911 system may use the caller's telephone number in various ways to identify a location that can be used to dispatch police, fire, emergency medical, and other response resources to the caller. Identifying the location of the emergency is especially helpful in situations when it may be difficult to communicate one's location, for example, during fires, break-ins, kidnappings, and other emergency events.
For a 911 call from a fixed landline, e.g. from a residence, the location determination usually entails a translation of telephone number data for the calling party's line into the calling location address (e.g. the address of the caller's residence). Effectively identifying the location of a mobile-originated call, however, presents difficulties not present in determination of location of a caller from a landline. When a mobile-originated call is made, for example, the E911 system may acquire the location of a cell tower to which the mobile device is connected. The location of the cell tower, however, may correspond to a radio coverage (cell) area of 10 to 100 square miles. Thus, precisely locating a caller within such a large area may prove difficult, or even impossible. To better assist locating mobile-originated callers, the E911 system may also attempt to obtain a more accurate position of the caller, for example, by using GPS and/or trilateration from some number of cell towers. Although this process may result in a more precise location of the caller, locating the caller using GPS and/or cell tower trilateration may take relatively long periods of time. For example, especially long periods of time may be required if the mobile terminal must initiate an initial position fix by syncing with GPS satellites, and/or the mobile device has to communicate with network-based systems that assist in position determination.
This disclosure focuses on E911 for fixed wireless devices. Fixed wireless devices are devices that communicate over a wireless network, similar to traditional mobile devices. Unlike traditional mobile devices, however, fixed wireless devices are immobile in nature. Fixed wireless devices, for example, may be situated in relatively fixed locations (e.g., such as installed at a home or office) during use for at least substantial periods. Despite being situated in relatively fixed locations, conventional fixed wireless devices operate with the same functionality and limitations associated with traditional mobile devices. For example, conventional fixed wireless devices suffer from limitations in effectively determining locations similar to those encountered in attempting to determine the location of mobile devices. Such limitations include the unreliable and/or inefficient identification of a location of a fixed wireless device that has made a 911 call.


A connector is formed from male connector and female connector which are joined together. The male connector includes a housing, a pair of plastic contact boards mounted therein, a plurality of lengths of electrically conductive plating provided each side of each contact board, and a plurality of straight, electrically conductive contact pins attached to the contact boards. The contact pins are in electrical connection with respective lengths of plating on the contact boards. The female connector includes a housing, two pairs of plastic contact boards mounted therein, a plurality of lengths of electrically conductive plating provided on one side of each contact board, and a plurality of straight, electrically conductive contact pins attached to the respective contact boards. The contact pins are in electrical connection with respective lengths of plating on the contact boards. The male and female connectors are connected together by metal shrouds provided on each connector.

This invention is generally directed to a novel shielded electrical connector which is formed from a female connector and a male connector which are mated together. Such shielded electrical connectors are commonly used in computers and other types of electronic office equipment for the connection of signal carrying lines.
Prior art shielded electrical connectors, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,901, employ a plurality of wires which are bent to form the electrical contacts in the connector. The bending of the wires causes several problems; the most prominent being that when the male and female connectors are joined together, the contacts be moved out of their correct position causing misalignment and failure to mate. In addition, because the wires must be bent to form the contacts, a thinner wire is used. This can cause problems as well.
The present invention overcomes the problems found in the prior art and presents several improvements to the prior art which will be understood upon a reading of the attached specification, in combination with a study of the drawings.


A method and apparatus for performing paper-based upload and tracking of documents is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises scanning a version of a document to obtain an image, the document having machine readable information, decoding the machine readable information from the image to obtain a destination specification, and uploading information corresponding to the image to a destination host specified by the destination specification.

Millions of surveys, prescriptions, invoices, and other documents are sent back and forth every day. Typically the originator sends a form or other document to a recipient, the recipient fills out or otherwise processes the document, and sends the result back to the originator. Substantial effort and time is spent in the overhead of addressing these documents, tracking their transit, and maintaining audit trails.
Many document management systems have been proposed and implemented. These document management systems include systems that perform form generation, store forms in databases, perform forms filing, optical character recognition (OCR), and handle the coordination of requests with responses. However, these systems do not cross organizational boundaries. Transmitting an invoice or survey or other document from one organization to another requires the use of a standard format, such as paper, e-mail, Word document, web page, etc. Of these formats, paper has the unique property that it can be viewed and modified without digital technology, thus serving as the lowest common denominator for communication.
When paper documents are returned to an organization, they must be reintegrated with the document management system. This process requires some combination of scanning, data entry, and quality assurance. Oftentimes, this work is duplicated at both the sending and receiving organizations.
Of course, many systems exist for processing barcodes and imaging documents. The barcode processing may include scanning a barcode to obtain an identifier, placing images in files using the identifier and performing database lookup operations with the identifier.
A number of document management systems employ clients and servers. Some of these system process barcodes. For example, clients exist that scan barcodes to obtain network addresses and then send documents to those network addresses. Other clients rely on having the document destination be manually entered. Servers in document management systems accept images, process images, and generate responses.


This invention is directed to a discharge controlling device for faucet, characterized in that a control lever is used to push a throttle pin axially positioned within the center of the housing, such that the pin is slidably moved up and down and engages a steel ball which is designed to control the opening and closing of a water discharge aperture. As the control lever is pushed by hand and moved from its lowest closed position to the intermediate, open position where the water can be admitted, the steel ball is pushed away from the aperture by the rod tip of the throttle pin which rises axially. At this instant, water enters through the aperture and flows out of the housing. When the hand is released from the control lever, the throttle pin will fall, and the steel ball, which is subject to water pressure, will immediately return to the position where it closes the aperture. As the control lever is moved manually from its lowest closed position to its fixed open position where it engages the locking slot, the control lever will be secured within the locking slot, and due to the locking effect of the slot, the aperture is kept open to allow continuous water flow even the hand is released. As the control lever disengages from the locking slot, the throttle pin drops and the steel ball, due to the action of water pressure, closes the aperture.

This invention is directed to a discharge controlling device for faucet which makes use of a control lever to drive a throttle pin axially positioned within the center of the housing to slide up and down, so as to control a steel ball to actuate the opening and closing of an aperture, thereby controlling the discharging of the water.
Water saving is a common and important issue. It has been a problem commonly found in household lavatory and public lavatory since the water discharge from the faucets cannot be controlled effectively. Conventional faucets are only capable of adjusting the amount of water discharge, but are not capable of stopping the water flow automatically as soon as the hand moves away from the water outlets. It is a common phenomenon in public lavatory that the faucets fail to lock tightly resulting in a great amount of water wasted. To overcome the above-mentioned problems found in household and public lavatories, it is thus necessary to provide a device which may stop the water flow automatically so as to achieve the purpose of water saving.

Discharge controlling device for faucets


The contour fidelity of reproduction of images is enhanced by matching groups of pixels with templates based on a hierarchical set of patterns. This is accomplished by isolating a symmetrical window of pixels in the image including a central pixel and matching the groups of pixels in the window with hierarchical templates. Enhancement values for the central pixel are provided based on the results of the comparison. Windows are formed so that each pixel in the image is a central pixel for at least one window. The hierarchial set of patterns is developed so that each pattern in the hierarchy is a combination of an extension pattern and the pattern immediately below it in the hierarchy. This significantly reduces the hardware requirements for implementation of the technique. Templates are developed by creating horizontal, vertical, reversed and inverted permutations of each pattern in the set. Correctable pixel locations are identified for each template, and the central pixel receives enhancement values when it is in the correctable location of at least one template. In an microaddressable printer, overscanning and increased clock frequency provide multiple segments for representing each pixel, and spot width compensation allows multiple intensity levels for each segment.

Others have proposed template matching techniques for more precisely controlling the size, positioning and number of picture elements ("pixels") that are printed on a xerographic photoreceptor to render bitmapped images.
Walsh et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,122, describes a method of enhancing the resolution and quality of characters of a system receiving video display pixel information and providing hard copy output. The system accomplishes this by storing at least three successive lines of video data in successive parallel connected shift registers, applying the output of the shift registers to a decoder, and generating driving signals for a printer head. As described in column 2, lines 6-10, the decoder "compares the pixels on the same lines as well as in preceding and succeeding lines that surround each specific input pixel to generate the printer head driving signal according to whether straight or curved line segments are to be formed". As described in column 3, line 67, to column 4, line 1, the enhancement of the central pixel may be determined by "progressively examining an ordered table of matches to find an equivalent image and its related enhancement."
Tung, U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,641, describes a technique for enhancing the printing of bitmapped images by piecewise matching of the bitmap with predetermined stored templates of patterns to detect occurrence of preselected bitmap features. Templates representing compound error elements common to all bitmap images, associated compensation signals for each template, and the rules governing the relationships between the matched templates and the associated compensation signals are compiled into an index matching table implemented in a high speed parallel logic array.
Template matching effectively overcomes some of the sampling errors that are caused by the use of input data that is too coarse to accurately represent the higher spatial frequency content of the image. It does not, however, solve the problems that may be encountered in existing printers due to non-linearity in the way in which the spatial positioning of the transitions in printed images tracks changes in the intensity of the transitional boundary scans.
Many of the ROSs (raster output scanners) that have been developed for xerographic printing employ a single beam or a multi-beam laser light source for supplying one or more intensity modulated light beams, together with a scanner (such as polygon scanner) for cyclically deflecting the modulated laser beam or beams across a photoreceptor in a "fast scan direction" while the photoreceptor is being advanced simultaneously in an orthogonal "process direction." In practice, each of the laser beams typically is brought to focus on or near the photoreceptor surface to provide a substantially focused "scan spot." The scan spot, in turn, scans the photoreceptor in accordance with a predetermined scan pattern because the fast scan deflection of the laser beam or beams vectorially sums with the process direction motion of the photoreceptor. Indeed, the scan pattern is dependent upon and is determined by the scan rate (scan/sec) of the scanner, the spot size that is employed, and the process speed (inches/sec) of the photoreceptor. Such a scan pattern produces an exposure pattern because the scans are superpositioned on the photoreceptor, regardless of whether the scans simultaneously or sequentially expose the photoreceptor. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention applies to printers and other display means that employ single beam or multi-beam ROSs, even though this disclosure features the single beam/single scan spot case for the sake of simplification.
Microaddressable printers and other types of display systems operate in an overscanned mode to render images by scanning one or more intensity modulated scan spots over a high gamma, photosensitive recording medium in accordance with a scan pattern that causes the spot or spots to superimpose multiple discrete exposures on the recording medium on centers that are separated by a pitch distance that is significantly less than the effective spatial diameter of the scan spot (i.e., the full width/half maximum (FWHM) diameter of a gaussian scan spot). Overscanned systems have substantially linear addressability responses, so boundary scans that are intensity modulated in accordance with the preselected offset values are used by these systems for spatially positioning the transitions that are contained by the images they render to a sub-pitch precision.
With older techniques of FWHM printing, the output resolution is limited to the scan resolution. With double overscanned printing, there are twice as many scans, effectively doubling the resolution scans in the process direction. The power to the laser diode, or "intensity" of each scan, can be controlled during the scan, giving subscan addressability. For example, in a printer with a spot size of 1/400 inch, scanning would take place at 800 scans per inch. At four levels of gray, the addressability of the printer increased to 3200 bits per inch.
Overscanning that results from the use of finer pitch scan patterns degrades the spatial frequency response of the printer in the process direction. A limited overscan is, however, consistent with the printing of high quality images because it permits the image transitions (i.e., the high spatial frequency content of the images) to be mapped onto the scan pattern with increased spatial precision.
The technique of microaddressability via overscanned illumination is more fully described in the copending, coassigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/736,989 of D. N. Curry and D. L. Hecht, entitled "Microaddressability via overscanned Illumination for Optical Printers and the Like Having High Gamma Photosensitive Recording Media," incorporated herein by reference.

Enhanced fidelity reproduction of images by hierarchical template matching


Integrated circuits having electrical interconnection in a multi-chip module or package is provided. Connections involving topological cross overs are achieved in the absence of multi-layers of metalization or vias. A plurality of metal traces in a single metalization layer are provided. Wire bonding issued to connect pads from two or more chips to a common metalization trace. Because the wire bonds can be vertically spaced from substrate traces, crossover connections can be achieved without an unwanted contact between traces and pads. A similar scheme can be used to provide connection to substrate pads.

Multi-chip modules and packages in which two or more microelectronic components are positioned on a single substrate, typically require wiring or other connection between the chips for conveying data, control signals, addresses and the like. "Microelectronic components" include integrated circuits, chip capacitors, chip resistors and crystals or oscillators. Typically, each substrate will include a plurality of locations, for forming such connections, generally referred to as pins or pads. In previous devices, interconnection was achieved between the chips using one or more layers of metalization which include a plurality of metallic lines or traces on the substrate leading, in the desired fashion, from a pad connected to one chip to a pad connected to another chip (typically by wires soldered or otherwise bonded to the pads). These previous devices were difficult to fabricate particularly in cases in which the topology of the desired connection between the chips required a crossing-over of the electrical connections. As depicted in FIG. 1, a crossing-over is required for the connection 30 between pad 118c and pad 116b and the connection 34 between pad 118a and pad 116c. The configuration shown in FIG. 1 has been simplified , for clarity, compared to the numerous pads and connections often needed in a multi-chip module or package. In the configuration as depicted in FIG. 1, first and second chips 112, 114, or dies, include a plurality of pads 116a-116n, 118a-118n. A plurality of metalization traces 22-44 are formed on or in the substrate 8 terminating in metalization connection pads 46a-46cc. The chip pads 116a-116n, 118a-118n are connected to the metalization termination pads 46 by means such as wire bonds 46a-48cc, tape bonds and the like.
In order to avoid electrical contact between the traces 30 and 34, despite the crossing-over thereof, previous devices typically required use of at least two layers of metalization 50a, 50b. In FIG. 1, the location of traces in the second layer 50b is indicated by phantom lines. Connection between the layers was provided by vertical conductive structures known as vias 52, as depicted, for example in FIG. 2. FIG. 1 depicts numerous other cross-overs achieved using traces having portions 24', 26', 36', 40', 42'44' located in the second metalization layer 50b. Trace 40, for example, has one portion in the first layer 50a to cross-over trace 38' another portion 40' in the second layer 50b to cross-over trace 42 and another portion in the first layer 50a to cross-over trace 44'.
Although this connection method is capable of providing the desired interconnection between the chips, forming vias 50 (FIG. 2) and forming more than one metalization layer 50b adds to the expense of the final product and adds to the number of process steps needed to form the product, thus increasing processing cost.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide for interconnection between chips in a multi-chip module or package, allowing for crossing-over connections while avoiding the need for multiple layers of metalization or formation of vias.

Interconnector for a multi-chip module or package


A laser diode surface mounting structure, having at least one edge-emitting laser diode chip, including two electrodes; a heat-dissipating plate for carrying one of the two electrodes of the at least one edge-emitting laser diode chip, which has a top conductive layer, a bottom conductive layer, and at least one conductive through hole extending from the top conductive layer to the bottom conductive layer for electrically conducting; two or more metal plates spaced apart from each other and located on a plane, wherein a first metal plate is located under the heat-dissipating plate and in contact with the bottom conductive layer of the heat-dissipating plate, and a second metal plate is located adjacent to and separated from the first metal plate; and an insulating frame having an opening and being disposed above the two or more metal plates for holding the two or more metal plates.

The package structure of a conventional edge-emitting medium and high power (output power greater than 50 mW) laser diode is shown in FIG. 1, including FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, where FIG. 1A shows the structure of a laser diode chip, and FIG. 1B shows the package structure of a conventional laser diode. Referring to FIG. 1A, the laser diode chip is structurally based on a substrate (100), and then atoms are deposited on the substrate by various deposition methods to form an epitaxial layer (101). The epitaxial layer (101) for a red or near-infrared (0.7˜1.1 μm) laser diode is usually deposited on a substrate of gallium arsenide (GaAs) crystal. The epitaxial layer (101) for an infrared (1.1˜1.9 μm) laser diode is usually deposited on a substrate of indium phosphide (InP) crystal. These substrates are provided for heat dissipation and mechanical support and their thickness is about 0.3 mm. The epitaxial layer (101) is a compound of arsenic, gallium, indium, phosphorus, aluminum or other elements of the III-V family, comprising nearly ten sub-layers of different compositions and with total thickness of about 1 μm. A laser cavity (106) is a small cuboid about 50 μm wide and 500 μm long buried in the epitaxial layer (101) and made by lithography, emitting a main laser output cone (107) outwards and a sub laser output cone (108) in a direction opposite to the output direction of the main laser output cone. At the top of the substrate (100) and under the epitaxial layer (101), metal is plated for conducting electricity (not shown in FIG. 1A). Referring to FIG. 1B, it shows a conventional laser diode package structure, in which a laser chip is soldered or glued to a metal layer (105) which is deposited on a heat-dissipating plate (also known as submount, 103), and a bonding wire (102) is connected to the top of the laser chip and another metal layer (109). The metal layers (105 and 109) are used as soldering pads, marked + and − respectively, for connecting electrical wires (not shown) to supply electrical power to the laser diode chip. The heat-dissipating plate (103) is in close contact with an enclosure (104, usually a thin metal plate). Generally, the enclosure (104) is glued to the heat-dissipating plate (103) for a medium power laser diode, and soldered to the heat-dissipating plate (103), which is plated by metal on both sides, for a high power laser diode. The enclosure (104) is closely contacted with a heatsink (110) to further dissipate heat. In the conventional package structure, the electrical current flows in and out by additional lead wires to the laser diode chip via the metal layers (105, 109) marked + and −. The heat generated from the laser cavity is conducted from the heat dissipating plate (103) and the enclosure (104) to the heat sink (110). At the interface between such as the epitaxial layer (101) and the heat-dissipating plate (103), made of materials with different coefficients of thermal expansion, the thermal stress will be generated and distort the crystal lattice, and hence decrease the laser generation efficiency, quality and life. This is a technical barrier that should be overcome for medium and high-power lasers. To implement a high-power edge-emitting laser diode, both high current and high heat dissipation capacity need to be provided concurrently. There are four factors should be taken into consideration. Firstly, the heat is mainly generated at the laser cavity (106) and must be dissipated quickly, but the substrate is too thick and its thermal conductivity is too low. Therefore, most of conventional laser diode chips are mounted with their epitaxial layer (101) attached to the heat-dissipating plate (103) in order to shorten the pathway to dissipate the heat. Secondly, the coefficient of thermal expansion of the heat-dissipating plate (103) is preferred to be close to that of the epitaxial layer (101). Otherwise, the thermal stress is generated and the crystal lattice of the epitaxial layer (101) is distorted, greatly reducing the efficiency and life of the laser cavity (106). Thirdly, to avoid the thermal stresses, soft materials may also be interposed between the epitaxial layer (101) and the heat-dissipating plate (103), such as indium or silver glue, to absorb the deformation caused by the thermal expansion on both sides. However, such materials are not perfect. For example, the indium is easily oxidized to become hard, and the electrical conductivity of the silver glue is not high enough, rendering voids being generated after heating, resulting in a barrier to heat and current, and hence both materials are unable to withstand high current. Fourthly, part of the heat will still be dissipated through the bonding wires (102). That is, if the bonding wires are located asymmetrically on the chip, the thermal stress will be generated.
Therefore, the conventional laser diode chip structure is unable to simultaneously meet the requirements of high current, high heat-dissipation capacity and low heat stress as described above. Therefore, it leaves a large space for improvements. It will further be explained as follows.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,825,054A uses silicon for a heat-dissipating plate. Although silicon is a semiconductor and thus electrically conductive, it has a much lower conductivity than metal. The thermal conductivity of silicon is 149 W/(m·K) and its thermal expansion coefficient is 2.6 ppm/° C., while the thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient of aluminum nitride (AlN) are 285 and 4.5, respectively. The thermal expansion coefficient of aluminum nitride is closer to gallium arsenide (GaAs, 6.86) and to indium phosphide (InP, 4.60) and has much better thermal conductivity. In this patent, heat is dissipated by a very long insertion-typed lead, the pathway is too long for high power laser diodes (greater than 100 mW).
DE 10 2015 114 292 A1 discloses two embodiments. The laser chip is directly placed on the lead in the first embodiment and placed on FR4 or ceramic PCB in the second embodiment. Although copper is good conductor of heat and electricity, its expansion coefficient, 16.5, is much larger than 6.86 of gallium arsenide, and thus it is unlikely to be applied to high power laser diodes. U.S. Pat. No. 9,379,517B2 does not use a heat-dissipating plate, and thus it cannot carry a laser chip with a large heat dissipation capacity.
In U.S. Pat. No. 9,728,935, metal is plated on the top and bottom surfaces and two sides of an aluminum nitride heat-dissipating plate for passing through electrical current. However, the thickness of the plated gold is limited, and the current path is too long. Thus, it is not suitable for medium and high power laser diodes.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,130,807 discloses a laser diode structure with tungsten-copper alloy (CuW) as the heat-dissipating plate. Although the thermal expansion coefficient of CuW, 6.5 ppm/° C. (taking W90Cu10 alloy as an explanatory example), is close to 6.86 ppm/° C. of gallium arsenide, its thermal conductivity, 170 W/m·K, is lower than 285 W/m·K of aluminum nitride, and hence the patent is not good enough for high power application.
US2018/0062346A1 discloses a structure which connects a plurality of laser diodes serially by wire bonding, in which conventional aluminum nitride heat-dissipating plates are used. The plates are gold-plated on the top and bottom sides, and thus do not conduct electricity directly from the top side to the bottom side. With such a structure, the wires bonded on heat-dissipating plates are asymmetrically arranged on single side, thus thermal stress is inevitable.
Thus, the currently available package structures of the laser diodes still have many drawbacks as described above. The present invention is developed to solve the above problems by proposing one novel package structure.


Disclosed is a coated type organic EL display wherein the light extraction efficiencies of all organic light-emitting elements are improved even when the organic light-emitting elements have different organic light-emitting layers for respective emission colors. Specifically disclosed is an organic EL display which comprises a substrate and a red organic light-emitting element (R), a green organic light-emitting element (G), and a blue organic light-emitting element (B) arranged on the substrate. Each organic light-emitting element has a pixel electrode that is a reflective electrode, a functional layer formed on the pixel electrode by coating, an organic light-emitting layer arranged on the functional layer, a counter electrode that is a transparent electrode arranged on the organic light-emitting layer, and a tapered bank that defines the functional layer formed by coating. A dimension of a bank-to-bank gap at a top of the bank differs among the R, G, and B elements.

An organic EL display has a plurality of organic light emitting elements arranged on a substrate. The organic light emitting element basically has a pixel electrode, an organic light emitting layer and a counter electrode. Holes and electrons form electron-hole pairs in the organic light emitting layer, and function as luminescent exciters such that the organic light emitting layer emits light. Lights emitted from the organic light emitting layer are extracted outside through a transparent electrode of the pixel electrode or counter electrode. This light extraction efficiency is several %, and improvement of the light extraction efficiency is demanded.
To increase the light extraction efficiency, one of the pixel electrode and counter electrode is used as a transparent electrode, and the other one is used as a reflective electrode (see, for example, Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2). This is because lights emitted from the organic light emitting layer are efficiently extracted from the transparent electrode. In this case, part of lights emitted from the organic light emitting layer are emitted toward the transparent electrode, and the other part of lights go toward the reflective electrode and are reflected on the reflective electrode toward the transparent electrode. Consequently, by preventing attenuation of both of light going from the organic light emitting layer to the transparent electrode and light reflected by the reflective electrode toward the transparent electrode, it is possible to increase the light extraction efficiency.
A technique has been reported of arranging a transparent conductive film between a metal electrode which is a reflective electrode and an organic light emitting layer and adjusting an optical distance from an organic light emitting layer to a reflective electrode such that extracted light does not attenuate (see Patent Literature 3, Patent Literature 4 and Patent Literature 5).
Further, a technique is known of forming a function layer (for example, organic light emitting layer) of an organic light emitting element by coating and drying a solution including a material of the function layer. A coating area of the solution is defined by partition walls (banks). For example, a technique has been reported of using fluorine resin for the partition walls (banks) which define the coating area (see Patent Literature 6 and Patent Literature 7). By adequately setting the heights and taper angles of the partition walls, it is necessary to set the thickness of the function layer formed by coating and improve film thickness uniformity.
A shape profile of the function layer formed by coating varies depending on the solute of a solution and the type of solvent, and content ratio of these. For example, when a color filter film of each color of the organic light emitting element is formed by coating, the solute of a solution for coating varies per color. Hence, when the heights and taper angles of the partition walls (banks) are the same, the shape of the color filter film varies per color. Hence, a technique has been reported of increasing film thickness uniformity of color filter films by changing the heights and taper angles of the partition walls (banks) per color of the color filter (see Patent Literature 8).


A new and distinct cultivar of Zonal Geranium plant named xe2x80x98Klefeuerxe2x80x99, characterized by its upright and uniform plant habit; freely branching and flowering habit; early flowering habit; and brilliant red-colored flowers arranged in rounded umbels held above the foliage on upright and strong peduncles.

Pelargoniumxc3x97hortorum cultivar xe2x80x98Klefeuerxe2x80x99.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Zonal Geranium plant, botanically known as Pelargoniumxc3x97hortorum, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Klefeuerxe2x80x99.
The new Zonal Geranium is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Stuttgart, Germany. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new Zonal Geraniums with uniform plant habit, upright peduncles, and interesting flower and foliage colors.
The new Zonal Geranium originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in 1997 of the Pelargoniumxc3x97hortorum cultivar xe2x80x98Klesathaxe2x80x99, disclosed in U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 09/250,007, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Pelargoniumxc3x97hortorum identified as ZN 104, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar xe2x80x98Klefeuerxe2x80x99 was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny from this cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Stuttgart, Germany, in June, 1998.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken at Stuttgart, Germany since 1998 has shown that the unique features of this new Zonal Geranium are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Klefeuerxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Klefeuerxe2x80x99 as a new cultivar and distinguish it from other known Zonal Geranium cultivars:
1. Upright and uniform plant habit.
2. Freely branching and flowering habit.
3. Early flowering habit.
4. Brilliant red-colored flowers arranged in rounded umbels held above the foliage on upright and strong peduncles.
Plants of the new Zonal Geranium differ primarily from plants of the female parent, the cultivar xe2x80x98Klesathaxe2x80x99, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the Zonal Geranium are more compact and not as vigorous as plants of the cultivar xe2x80x98Klesathaxe2x80x99.
2. Plants of the new Zonal Geranium have more rounded umbels than plants of the cultivar xe2x80x98Klesathaxe2x80x99.
3. Plants of the new Zonal Geranium have brilliant red-colored flowers whereas plants of the cultivar xe2x80x98Klesathaxe2x80x99 have orange red-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Zonal Geranium differ primarily from plants of the male parent, the selection ZN 104, in the following characteristics:
1. Leaves of plants of the new Zonal Geranium do not have a distinct zonation pattern whereas leaves of plants of the selection ZN 104 have a distinct zonation pattern.
2. Plants of the new Zonal Geranium have brilliant red-colored flowers whereas plants of the selection ZN 104 have deep red-colored flowers.
The new Zonal Geranium can be compared to plants of the cultivar xe2x80x98Manepixe2x80x99, not patented. However, in side-by-side comparisons conducted in Stuttgart, Germany, plants of the new Zonal Geranium differed from plants of the cultivar xe2x80x98Manepixe2x80x99 in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Zonal Geranium were not as compact as plants of the cultivar xe2x80x98Manepixe2x80x99.
2. Plants of the new Zonal Geranium had more rounded umbels than plants of the cultivar xe2x80x98Manepixe2x80x99.
3. Plants of the new Zonal Geranium had brilliant red-colored flowers whereas plants of the cultivar xe2x80x98Manepixe2x80x99 had orange red-colored flowers.


A die cushion controlling apparatus for controlling an operation of a cushion pad, which comprises a pad drive mechanism for driving to raise or lower the cushion pad while applying an upward energizing force, a load measuring unit for measuring a load generated in the cushion pad, a time detecting unit for detecting a generating time and a vanishing time of the load, and a control unit for controlling the pad drive mechanism so that a load measured value measured by the load measuring unit follows a preset load pattern during a period from when the time detecting unit detects the generating time of the load until when the time detecting unit detects the vanishing time of the load.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a die cushion controlling apparatus and a die cushion controlling method which controls an operation of a cushion pad synchronously with an operation of a slide of a press machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a press machine, a die cushion apparatus (hereinafter merely referred to as a "die cushion") is provided for controlling folds in a throttling work. A conventional die cushion generates a cushion pressure while driving to raise or lower a cushion pad by using a hydraulic pressure or an air pressure. In order to raising throttling workability of the press machine and prevent a work from being broken or strained, it is necessary to control the cushion pressure of the die cushion in high accuracy, and particularly, it is necessary to control the cushion pressure at the time of lowering operation of the cushion pad in high accuracy.
The die cushion using only the air pressure cannot control the cushion pressure in high accuracy at the time of operating the cushion pad. The die cushion using the hydraulic pressure can control the cushion pressure in high accuracy at the time of operating the cushion pad under the control of a hydraulic pressure. However, there is a drawback that the structure of a hydraulic apparatus is complicated, and severe maintenance and management is required. Therefore, recently, a die cushion having an electric servomotor which has a simple structure and which does not need severe maintenance and management is noted.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-202327, a control technology of a die cushion having a rotary electric servomotor is disclosed. FIG. 18 is a view showing a conventional press machine and its control system.
In the press machine shown here, a slide 2 is coupled to an eccentric portion of a crankshaft in a slide drive mechanism 1. The slide 2 is raised or lowered in response to a rotation of the crankshaft. An encoder is provided in the crankshaft, and a signal is outputted from the encoder to a controller 100 in response to the rotation of the crankshaft. The controller 100 obtains a position of the slide 2 by using this signal.
Also, in the die cushion shown here, the output shaft of the servomotor 16 is coupled to a screw portion 112b of a ball screw 112, and this screw portion 112b is screwed into the cushion pad 11. When the screw portion 112b of the ball screw 112 rotates in response to the rotation of the servomotor 16, the cushion pad 11 is raised and lowered along the screw portion 112b. The servomotor 16 is provided with an encoder and a signal is outputted from the encoder 19 to the controller 100 in accordance with the rotation of the servomotor 16. The controller 100 obtains a position of the cushion pad by using this signal.
At an initial time of one stroke operation of the slide 2 from a top dead point, the controller 100 controls the position of the cushion pad 11 in accordance with the position of the slide 2. By this control, the cushion pad 11 is lowered at a lower speed than a lowering speed of the slide 2 and operated so that an upper die 3a is contacted with a work 4 at a predetermined position. When the upper die 3a is contacted with the work 4, the cushion pad 11 starts receiving a load of the slide 2. At this time, a current value of the servomotor 16 is changed. When this current change is detected, the controller 100 obtains a cushion pressure based on the current value, and controls the servomotor 16 so that the obtained cushion pressure follows the pressure pattern of the preset cushion pressure. Then, the cushion pad 11 lowers while generating an upward energizing force, and reaches a bottom dead point.
An error of the control affects to throttling workability, and causes the work 4 to be broken or strained. Therefore, the controller 100 needs to control the operation of the cushion pad 11 so that the obtained cushion pressure follows to the set pressure pattern.
With respect to an accuracy of the operation of the cushion pad, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-202327 has a problem. Generally, a feedback control must be a closed loop for measuring a physical amount in a control object and controlling the control object based on its measured value. If the feedback control of the cushion pressure of the cushion pad is performed, it is necessary to measure the load generated in the cushion pad.
However, in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-202327, no physical amount is measured from the cushion pad side, and the current value of the servomotor for driving the cushion pad is merely measured. Though the load generated in the cushion pad and the current value of the servomotor have a certain relative relation, but it cannot be said that they always have a predetermined relationship. Therefore, it is severely said that the feedback control of the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-202327 does not become a closed loop. In the technology of the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-202327 from such a point, there is possibility of being not able to accurately control the operation of the cushion pad. In the worst case, the work generates a breakage or a strain.
The present invention is made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and aims to solve the problem by performing the feedback control of the cushion pressure in a closed loop and controlling a cushion pressure of a cushion pad in high accuracy.

Die cushion controlling apparatus and die cushion controlling method


A system for communicating multiple page messages or pages via a forward overhead control channel (FOCC) of a cellular network control channel to a cellular-compatible receiving device and combining the data obtained from each received page to form an aggregate message comprising a data sequence. A cellular communications device operating in a normal state responds to a page received via the FOCC by comparing the received page to one or more masks maintained in its memory. If the received page contains a predetermined characteristic and matches a corresponding mask maintained by the receiving device, then it responds by transitioning from a normal state to a receive device identifier state. In the receive device identifier state, the cellular communications device monitors the FOCC for a page having a special identifier assigned to that device. Each received page is compared to a mask corresponding to the special identifier and maintained in memory of the selected device. In response to a match, the cellular communications device transitions from the receive device identifier state to a receive data state and operates to monitor the FOCC for pages containing commands. In the receive data state, the cellular communications device can respond to pages containing commands by accepting data values for each received command page and combining the data values to form a data sequence.

In recent years, the communications industry has shown a growing interest in various types of wireless communications systems for communicating voice and/or data between numerous remote sites and a central location. It is well recognized that the use of a dedicated telephone facility for a conventional telephone system is not a convenient or economical option for all communications applications. For example, for many industrial applications, a central data collection site has a need for acquiring information from a variety of remotely located monitoring devices that collect data about the operation or performance of equipment. To overcome the limitations of the conventional telephone system, a two-way wireless communications link is often necessary to permit a response to a communication initiated from another location. In an attempt to solve the problem of supplying a response to an initial communication, the industry has offered various wireless communications systems, including two-way radios, cellular mobile radiotelephones, and paging systems.
A conventional radio communications system uses a base station transceiver located at a site for favorable radio propagation and a set of transceivers typically located in vehicles, such as for police or trucking dispatching systems, or at remote equipment sites that communicate data in response to a command signal from the base station transceiver. Most radio communications systems are useful for conducting communications between short distances, such as within the boundaries of a town or city, via a very high frequency (VHF) radio link.
Although conventional radio communications systems are useful for specialized communications applications, two-way radios are not widely accepted for general purpose communications. The use of two-way radios is generally regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the allocated frequency spectrum is relatively limited. Furthermore, the quality of communications is subject to the propagation conditions between communications sites. Two-way radio equipment is generally large and heavy and, as a result, is unlikely to be carried by a user at all times or to be installed in small or existing equipment.
Another form of two-way communications is a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system, which is connected to the extensive public switched telephone network (PSTN) and permits communications between a mobile radiotelephone user and anyone with a conventional telephone (or another radiotelephone). Typical CMR systems are characterized by dividing a radio coverage area into smaller coverage areas or "cell" using low power transmitters and coverage-restricted receivers. The limited coverage area enables the radio channels used in one cell to be reused in another cell. As a cellular mobile radiotelephone within one cell moves across the boundary of the cell and into an adjacent cell, control circuitry associated with the cells detects that the signal strength of the radiotelephone in the just-entered cell is stronger, and communications with the radiotelephone are "handed-off" to the just-entered cell. Thus, a CMR system can supply two-way communications for an array of cells, thereby supplying communications for a much wider area than conventional two-way radios.
Conventional radiotelephones generally offer both voice and data communications capabilities and, accordingly, the radiotelephone service is generally supplied at a cost that is commensurate with combined voice and data services. Nevertheless, this combination of both voice and data communications may exceed a user's requirement for communicating by only voice or data. In addition, real-time voice or data communications is not always desirable by a user who wishes only to receive a message without having a current activity disturbed. Similar to two-way radios, the frequency spectrum for the CMR system radio channels, particularly voice channels, is a limited resource.
Radiopaging systems include pagers, which are miniature receivers, and at least one radiopaging terminal having a transmitter that covers a selected geographic area containing numerous pagers. To respond to a page received via the conventional one-way radiopaging system, the paged party typically must find an available conventional telephone and initiate a telephone call to the party that initiated the page. Alternatively, the paged party can place a responsive call by use of a mobile radiotelephone, if available. Radiopaging systems having two-way communications capability for receiving a page and transmitting an acknowledge receipt of a page are also known. Such paging acknowledgment systems are most useful for local area "on-site" communications systems in view of the power limitations of the transmitters associated with the pagers.
Present radiopaging acknowledgment systems require a large capital investment for the purchase and installation of equipment to implement a two-way communications system that covers a wide communications area because the number of acknowledgment receivers (and transmitters) is a function of the limited transmitting power of the transmitter associated with each of the pagers. Although the radiopaging industry is interested in supplying a page acknowledgment to subscribers of paging services, the cost of implementing the paging acknowledgment system has discouraged many service providers from installing such paging acknowledgment systems.
To overcome the limitations of prior communications systems, the assignee for the present invention has developed a system for communicating data via a cellular network control channel of a CMR system. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,526,401 and 5,546,444, which are assigned to the assignee for the present application and contain subject matter fully incorporated herein by reference, describe an adapted use of the existing architecture of a CMR system in an efficient and cost-effective manner to support communications via the CMR system, including collection and reporting of data obtained at remote sites. A data message system includes data reporting devices, at least one mobile switching center (MSC), and a data collection system connected directly or indirectly to the MSC or a Signal Transfer Point (STP). Each data reporting device can monitor the operation of a remote data source to collect selected data. The data reporting device can transmit a data message containing the selected data via a cellular network control channel of the CMR system when the data reporting device first identifies itself or "registers" for operation with the MSC. Alternatively, the data reporting device can send the selected data via the cellular network control channel in a data message formatted to represent a "call origination" signal. In turn, the MSC can send the data message to the data collection system via a communications link. In this manner, the data message system takes advantage of an installed base of cellular communications equipment by using the cellular network control channel for data communications between a central location and one or more remote sites.
The data reporting device of the data message system typically communicates with the MSC via the reverse overhead control channel (RECC) of the cellular network control channel. In contrast, the MSC can communicate with a cellular-compatible device, such as a data reporting device, via the forward overhead control channel (FOCC) of the cellular network control channel. The conventional technique for sending a message to a cellular mobile radiotelephone from an MSC is the transmission of a page message over the FOCC. For example, a conventional cellular mobile radiotelephone can be stimulated by a transmission of the MSC to locate the mobile telephone unit when an incoming call from a landline has been placed to this unit. The data requirement for this type of trigger message is minimal for conventional cellular communications and, consequently, each message is independently processed as a complete data packet. This works well for the paging operations conducted by an MSC with conventional cellular mobile radiotelephones via the FOCC, but significantly limits the amount of information that can be provided by the MSC to a data reporting device of the data message system developed by the assignee of this application.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for transmitting a data sequence that extends beyond the capacity of a single conventional paging message of a CMR system. There also exists a need for adapting the paging mechanism of a CMR system to support the transfer of commands and data that exceed the scope of transmission via a single discrete paging message. The present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior paging system of a CMR system by sending a sequence of paging messages that can be aggregated at the reception site to obtain an increased data capacity for communications from an MSC to a cellular-compatible device.

System for communicating messages via a forward overhead control channel


A swivel base for use with a training aid having a top member and a bottom member, the top member for receiving a training aid and the bottom member for receiving a holder or stand. The top member is coupled to a ball bearing and a mounting member fixedly coupled to the bottom member is rotatably coupled to the ball bearing to allow the top member to rotate relative to the bottom member. A locking mechanism which has a locking pin coupled to the bottom member secures the top member in one or more stationary positions.

The present invention relates to a swivel base for use with a training aid, such as a hairdressing training aid or a headform for hair styling practice and instruction. A headform is a three dimensional model of a human head. Some headforms have hair similar to human hair. Headforms having hair are used in hairdressing training by instructors for demonstration and instruction in hairdressing techniques. Headforms may also be used in hairdressing instruction by students to practice hairdressing techniques. During instruction of students using a headform, there exists a need to provide students with a 360 degree view of the headform, while also being able to prevent rotation of the headform when desired and to stably support the headform to demonstrate hairdressing techniques.


An improved glide head is useful for testing the glide quality of a disc. The glide head includes an air bearing surface, pads extending from the air bearing surface and a contact sensor, the contact sensor providing an output in response to an impact on the pad. The air-bearing surface defines a resting plane. The pad protrudes from the air-bearing surface such that the pad projects below the resting plane of the air-bearing surface.

The invention relates to glide heads for evaluating the glide quality of a disc surface, and to related methods. More particularly, the invention relates to glide heads that detect vibrations resulting from collisions of the slider with a defect on a disc surface.
Disc drives are used for storing information, typically as magnetically encoded data, and more recently as optically encoded data, on a disc surface. Glide tests are used to check disc surfaces for defects. Glide tests allow computer disc manufacturers to control and assure the quality of the disc media. Generally, all hard drive discs are tested before shipment. During a glide test, the glide head or slider flies over a disc surface generally at a predetermined clearance from the disc surface, known as the glide height or fly height.
If contact occurs between the glide head and a disc defect or asperity, the glide head vibrates and deforms. The vibrations can be measured with a piezoelectric transducer (PZT), which generates a potential difference between the electrodes of the PZT due to deformation of the transducer. Specifically, when the glide head interacts with a defect on the spinning disc, simultaneously excited vibrational modes of the PZT and the head result in voltages at corresponding frequencies. If the magnitude of measured voltages exceed predetermined threshold values, the disc may be rejected.
As storage densities on disc recording media become larger, fly heights of read/write heads generally become smaller. Lower fly heights impose narrower restrictions on acceptable magnitudes of defects on a disc surface since higher defects are more likely to result in contact between the read/write head and the disc. Contact between a read/write head and a disc generally results in damage to the head and/or to the disc. The glide quality of a disc directly relates to the ability of a head to fly adjacent the disc at a fixed distance from the disc without colliding with a significant defect on the disc that results in deformation of the head with a magnitude above a threshold value. The glide quality of a disc is related to the disc smoothness, although other defects also may alter glide quality.
As the tolerances on the disc smoothness (glide quality) decrease, glide heads must fly correspondingly closer to the disc surface in order to measure defects with elevations matching or exceeding the tolerance levels. Glide heads generally are designed to have a fly height that is sensitive to the linear velocity of the disc surface relative to the glide head. To achieve detection of smaller asperities on the disc surface, the disc velocity can be decreased to decrease the fly height of the glide head.


A golf ball comprising a core, a cover, and an intermediate layer disposed between the core and the cover, wherein the intermediate layer comprises a non-ionomeric fluoropolymer having a formula:

Solid core golf balls are well known in the art. Typically, the core is made from polybutadiene rubber material, which provides the primary source of resiliency for the golf ball. A known drawback of polybutadiene cores cross-linked with peroxide and/or zinc diacrylate is that this material is adversely affected by absorption of water vapor, which reduces the resiliency of the cores and degrades their properties. Thus, these cores must be covered quickly to maintain optimum ball properties. A cover that protects the core from the elements and repeated impacts from golf clubs is typically made from ionomer resins, balata, and urethane, among other materials, lonomer covers, particularly hard ionomers, offer some protection against the absorption of water vapor. However, it is more difficult to control or impart spin to balls with hard covers. Conventional urethane covers provide better ball control but offer less resistance to water vapor than ionomer covers.
Prolonged exposure to high humidity and elevated temperature may be sufficient to allow water vapor to invade the cores of some commercially available golf balls. For example, at 38° C. and 90% humidity over a sixty day period, significant amounts of moisture enter the cores and reduce the initial velocity of the balls by 1.8 ft/s to 4.0 ft/s or greater. The change in compression may be reduced by 5% or more. The absorbed water vapor also reduces the golf ball coefficient of restitution ("COR"). When a golf ball is subjected to prolonged storage and/or use under ambient conditions such as 25–35% RH, as well as conditions of high temperature and high humidity, the COR of the golf ball tends to decrease over time due to water vapor absorption.
Several prior patents have addressed the water vapor absorption problem. U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,488 discloses a golf ball having a water vapor barrier ("WVB") layer disposed between a core and a cover. The WVB layer may comprise polyvinylidene chloride ("PVDC") or vermiculite. It can also be formed by an in situ reaction between a barrier-forming material and the outer surface of the core. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,885,172 and 6,132,324 disclose, among other things, a golf ball with a polybutadiene or wound core having an ionomer inner cover and a relatively soft outer cover. The hard ionomer inner cover offers some resistance to water vapor absorption, while the soft outer cover provides desirable ball control. U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,389 discloses the application of a dispersed exfoliated layered filler in an elastomeric polymer based barrier coating mixture so as to reduce water vapor permeability in golf balls and other objects by at least 5-fold. Preferable fillers include layered silicates such as bentonite and vermiculite. U.S. Pat. No. 6,287,216 discloses a wounded golf ball having a liquid center surrounded by a thermoplastic core layer formed of a hydrophobic material that has a water vapor permeation rate of less than about 170 g·mil/100 in2·24 h.
Prior art referenced above typically resort to the incorporation of a WVB material in an existing layer or a designated WVB layer to overcome the water vapor absorption problem in golf balls, escalating manufacturing cost and construction complexity. It is therefore desirable to provide cost-effective material compositions that have general characteristics suitable for golf ball constructions with concomitant WVB properties.
One particular class of polymers suitable for golf ball compositions of the present invention is fluoropolymers. Fluoropolymers are well known for their excellent resistance to outdoor weathering and ultraviolet irradiation, high degree of physical toughness, chemical inertness, water and gas impermeability, low moisture absorption, good abrasion resistance, non-tackiness, resistance to soiling, as well as a significant retention of these properties at both low and elevated temperatures. This rare combination is due to the strength of the C—F bond, one of the most stable bonds known. Other desirable properties of the fluoropolymers include high elongation, low coefficient of friction, low wear rate, good resistance to swell in solvents, low refractive index, and low dielectric constant. These desirable properties allow the fluoropolymers to be widely used as self-supporting layers or outer coatings on various substrates.
Disclosures of fluoropolymer applications in golf ball compositions, however, are limited. U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,140 describes a golf ball having a core and/or an intermediate layer comprising a functionalized fluoropolymer wherein the fluoropolymer may be an ionomeric perfluoropolymer that is sulfonated or carboxylated or a derivative thereof U.S. Pat. No. 6,133,389 discloses amorphous tetrafluoroethylene-hexafluoropropylene ("TFE-HFP") dipolymers, and other copolymers containing TFE, HFP and a third monomer, useful as coatings for golf balls. U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,464 discloses a golf ball having a lubricating material on its surface for reducing the spin imparted by a striking golf club. The lubricating material may be fluoropolymer, and the coating thickness is less than about 0.010 inches.
There remains a need, however, for further development of golf ball compositions comprising fluoropolymers, particularly non-ionomeric fluoropolymers ("NIFP"), in multi-layer golf ball constructions.

Golf balls comprising non-ionomeric fluoropolymer

Abstract: wherein X1 to X12 are hydrogen, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, CH3, CF3, linear or branched alkyl group, partially fluorinated or perfluorinated alkyl group, linear or branched alkoxy group, partially fluorinated or perfluorinated alkoxy group, aromatic, or alicyclic; at least one of X1 to X4 comprises a fluorine; m ranges from 100 to 1 percent by weight of the fluoropolymer; n ranges from 0 to 50 percent by weight of the fluoropolymer; and o ranges from 0 to 35 percent by weight of the fluoropolymer.


A network interconnect node of an internal network may communicate with an external network interconnect node of an external network, other internal network interconnect node(s) and internal network node(s). The network interconnect node may receive frames from the external network interconnect node and forward them according to a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) tagging forwarding process to other internal network interconnect node(s) or internal network node(s) based on whether the network interconnect node is active for the service associated with the frames. The network interconnect node may receive frames from other internal network interconnect node(s) or from internal network nodes and forward them according to the VLAN tagging forwarding process to other internal network interconnect nodes, internal network nodes or the external network interconnect node based on whether the frames are encapsulated frames and/or whether the network interconnect node is active for the service.

The IEEE Std 802.1ah-2008 standard defines 3 classes of service access protection. Class I service interfaces are unprotected, Class II service interfaces provide link resiliency while Class III service interfaces represent link and node redundant service interfaces. The operation of a Class III service interface switches between access nodes within both the customer and provider networks. Therefore, protection switching over a Class III service interface always results in state changes spreading over the customer and provider networks. A Class IV service interface which in addition to the Class III capabilities provides resiliency to state changes within the networks was left as an exercise for the future.
MEF 26 introduces a standard Ethernet interconnection interface in order to make Carrier Ethernet interconnections simpler and to accelerate the global adoption of Carrier Ethernet with a standard Global Interconnection mechanism. MEF 26 specifies the reference point that is the interface between two Metro Ethernet Networks (MENs) where each operator MEN is under the control of a distinct administration authority. The External Network Network Interface (ENNI) is intended to support the extension of Ethernet services across multiple operator MENs. MEF 26 enables interconnectivity between Carrier Ethernet networks from multiple operators. The ENNI is the reference point representing the boundary between two Operator MENs that are operated as separate administrative domains so that frames can be exchanged between ENNIs of the Operator MENs.
Furthermore, MEF has specified requirements for user to network interfaces (UNI).
There is ongoing work in IEEE and in MEF to extend Ethernet network interconnect capabilities to support node redundant network interconnect that would support state change resiliency (corresponding to the "Class IV" service interface). IEEE 802.1 will define a resiliency solution for the network interconnect aimed to be applied in network network and user network interfaces.
Based on the ongoing work on IEEE and MEF, the requirements on how the data plane should work are as follows:
1) Each provider selects an external link for forwarding frames of a service independently of the peer provider's selection, i.e. the decision which external link to use for sending frames to the peer is the sole decision of the sender provider. The peer provider has to live with that choice. This service management is referred to as non-congruent service management.
2) Alternatively, the peer providers may decide to make a joint decision on the external link selection and use the same external link for sending and receiving frames. This is referred to as congruent service management.
3) If a congruent service is misconfigured, the service may appear as non-congruent. In this case, the Layer2 (L2) NI has to handle it as an ordinary non-congruent service.
There is a need to be able to forward frames between L2 NI nodes of the same provider without mixing the frames that come from or go to an external link with the frames that remain network internal. In existing solutions, this is achieved by encapsulating the frames that are either received from or destined to the ENNI. The existing solutions on service access protection are mainly suited for Class III service interfaces and do not provide protection from state changes within the different interconnected networks.
The existing solutions have the following problems. They do not provide a means for tunneling frames between the L2 NI nodes of a given provider. As a consequence, the existing solutions cannot provide the data plane for emerging new requirements. Further, they are not able to use the network internal routing protocol (e.g. Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol (MSTP)) to protect the tunnel between the L2 NI nodes. Still further, current service access protection methods cannot be used in combination with Virtual Private Local Area Network (LAN) Service (VPLS).

Data plane for resilient network interconnect