A single phase permanent magnet motor includes a rotor, a stator, and a quadrature axis winding positioned out-of-phase from a main winding of the stator for generating an output signal representative of rotor angular position. An integrator can be coupled to the quadrature axis winding for phase retarding the output signal, and a comparator can be coupled to the integrator for detecting zero crossings of the phase retarded output signal to provide a commutation signal. The quadrature axis winding can be positioned about ninety electrical degrees out-of-phase from the main winding of the stator, and the integrator can be adapted to phase retard the output signal by a number of degrees which decreases as a speed of the motor increases. At low speeds the phase retard is preferably at about ninety degrees so that the phase retarded signal becomes in-phase with the main stator winding back EMF voltage. The motor may further include a rectifier coupled to the quadrature axis winding for rectifying the output signal, and a lowpass filter for filtering the rectified output signal to provide a signal proportional to velocity. Also the single phase motor is commutated for maximum torque production.

Conventional hermetic refrigerator compressors typically use fixed speed single phase induction motors. Variable speed operation of motors is advantageous for improving efficiency. Conventional three phase permanent magnet (PM) motors, such as those being used for heating, ventilating, and air conditioning applications, are capable of variable speed operation but are more expensive than single phase PM motors which require fewer power semiconductor switches and associated gate drivers.
Refrigeration compressors which are hermetically sealed to prevent refrigerant leakage have several requirements of their motor drives. Most such compressors are designed to operate with a preferred direction of rotation due to the passive lubrication system which usually operates correctly in only one direction. Furthermore, a three-pin connector has been adopted as an industry standard for such compressors, so it is advantageous to have a maximum of three wires between the motor inside the compressor and its controller situated outside the compressor. The motor additionally should have long term reliability under high temperature operation (typically 65.degree. C. ambient) and be capable of maintaining output torque and efficiency at rated speed by maintaining the current in phase with the motor back electromotive force (EMF) by appropriately phase-advancing the commutation signal.
Single phase PM motors require a suitable current commutation signal synchronized with the rotor position for proper operation. In most single phase applications, a Hall-effect position sensor is typically used to detect the rotor position and thereby control the motor. Such single phase motors having a Hall-effect sensor, however, generally require a total of five wires: two motor leads and three leads for the Hall-effect sensor (two too many for the standard sealing connector). Furthermore, the reliability of such sensors in the compressor environment is uncertain.
In order to avoid the use of a Hall sensor or other rotor position sensor, various sensorless control schemes have been developed for PM motors. In three phase PM motors under normal operation, there are times when one phase is open-circuited and has no current flowing in it. Under such conditions, the terminal voltage is equal to the back EMF voltage and can thus be sensed directly. Single phase motors, however, do not have natural intervals where the phase current remains zero for any length of time, and this approach is therefore not applicable.
For three phase motors, even if the phase current is non-zero, the back EMF voltage can be calculated by modeling the motor as a resistance, inductance, and back EMF voltage source, as described by M. Jufer, "Back-EMF Indirect Detection for Self-Commutation of Synchronous Motors," European Power Electronics Conference, 1987, pp. 1125-29. This technique can also be applied to single phase PM motors and has the advantage of not requiring any extra sensing leads. However, for single phase PM motors, it is difficult to provide a controllable preferred direction of rotation. Thus, the motor can start in either direction, depending on the initial rotor angular position. Fan and compressor drives generally are designed to operate in only one direction of rotation, so control over the rotation direction is critical. Furthermore, the required knowledge of the motor parameters is not always available and is subject to production and operating variations.

Quadrature axis winding for sensorless rotor angular position control of single phase permanent magnet motor


A scraper head of a scraping tool includes (i) a base having a longitudinal axis, longitudinally opposing first and second ends, and an interior threaded surface defining a longitudinally extending cavity within the base, the cavity having an open end at the first base end and a closed end within the base, and (ii) a pair of blades extending from the second base end so as to terminate in respective end portions which converge to a tip aligned with the base axis. The cavity in the base of the scraper head can threadedly and securely receive the threaded end portion of an extension pole. In use, the tip of the scraper head is positioned at the junction between a textured ceiling and a wall, and the scraper head is moved with the extension pole along the junction such that the blade end portions cut away excess texture material. A straight line is created at the junction in preparation for painting of the wall.

The invention relates to a scraping tool, and more particularly to a tool for scraping texture material from and along the junction between a ceiling and wall.
Texture material is often applied to ceilings. The texture material creates an irregular surface that effectively hides seams and enhances the appearance of the ceiling. Acoustic texture material contains particles which offer the additional advantage of sound absorption.
Application of texture material to a ceiling can, however, create an irregular line along the junction between the ceiling and a wall such an irregular line is not aesthetically pleasing, and also makes it difficult and tedious to paint the wall along the line.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a tool that can be used to scrape along the junction between a textured ceiling and wall, and create a straight line at such junction without damaging either the wall or ceiling.
The above object is realized by a tool comprising a scraper head which includes (i) a base having a longitudinal axis, longitudinally opposing first and second ends, and an interior threaded surface defining a longitudinally extending cavity within the base, the cavity having an open end at the first base end and a closed end within the base, and (ii) a pair of blades extending from the second base end so as to terminate in respective end portions which converge to a tip aligned with the base axis.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of scraping excess texture material from and along the junction between a textured ceiling and a wall, comprising: providing a scraping tool comprising the above-described scraper head and an extension pole having an externally threaded end portion threadedly received in the cavity within the base of the scraper head; positioning the tip of the scraper head at the junction between the ceiling and wall, with the end portion of one blade being adjacent to the ceiling and the end portion of the other blade being below said one blade and adjacent to the wall; and moving the scraper head with the extension pole in a direction parallel to and along the junction between the ceiling and wall, whereby the end portions of the blades cut away excess texture material to create a straight line at the junction.


An opening device designed for large sized garbage containers to open the container with a positively controlled opener to provide a safety device to protect persons against accidental closing of very heavy doors or lids on limbs of people who must have access to the inside of the container.

This invention pertains to safety devices and more particularly to a device for safely opening and closing of large sized containers for garbage or the like.
Use of large sized containers for waste materials such as garbage or waste paper or the like is fairly common particularly for businesses and multiple dwellings. These containers are generally open at the top and are closed by hinged lids formed of heavy gauge sheet metal formed with ribs on corrugations to maintain structural integrity.
The lids are hinged along one edge and can be lifted for the insertion of materials or for removal of the material, but are relatively heavy and often are not easily opened. Further, when the lids are only partially opened, there is considerable danger involved if the opening device should slip and the lid be slammed shut by gravity. This problem is worse when the lid is in the process of being closed.
Accidents caused by accidental closing of such lids have been known to cause loss of limbs, or even a crushing of the body of persons involved in some procedures with the container. Prevention of such accidents is certainly a desired goal.
By the present invention, a positive acting opening and closing mechanism is provided. The device can be adapted to many sizes of containers and is useable on containers for any substance requiring a heavy top lid.


A method is for output of position information of a medical instrument, configured to penetrate at least partly an area of the body of a patient. A structure image, an instrument image and an operation scene image are registered with one another. A registered structure image, a registered instrument image and a registered operation scene image are produced from the registration. An overlay image is displayed with a VR or AR display facility, including at least parts of the registered structure image of the registered operation scene image (BrO)—or the real view of the corresponding part of the real area of the body—and of the registered instrument image. A corresponding image generation system is also disclosed.

The penetrations of a human body with medical devices, such as endoscopes, for example a puncturing of cavities within a skull with such an endoscope, is a widely-used method for diagnostics and therapy of various diseases in medicine. In this case the medical instrument is introduced initially through a small opening into the body. In the puncturing of the ventricle system for example the instrument is introduced through a small opening in the skull cap, wherein as a rule healthy brain tissue must be pierced with the instrument in order to arrive at the destination location. In such cases the instrument must be maneuvered to said location past structures that are necessary for life. For these reasons such an intervention is associated with a high risk of complications that are the result of injury to tissue, e.g. brain tissue or vessels, and can possibly be associated with internal bleeding or with neurological deficiency symptoms.
A method that is still widely used, in particular when setting up a so-called ventricular drainage for example, is blind puncturing. In this method the destination location is reached without visual control and is based only on the experience of the operator. Therefore a number of attempts are often necessary before the destination is reached. This is naturally associated with a higher risk of the occurrence of injuries and complications, in the worst cases it is linked to neurological deficiency symptoms and a delayed recovery.
A further development of the puncturing technique resides in the use of navigation methods (neuronavigation), which allows the path of the instrument in the skull to be followed at least indirectly on a display. A disadvantage of such a presentation is the difficulty in guiding the instrument by the operator, since, for reasons of sterility, the display can mostly not be set up in a line with the direction of guidance of the instrument and the operator thus either constantly has to switch their attention between instrument and display or must adopt an unfavorable posture. This all leads, even here—despite navigation methods—to the destination frequently not being reached in the first puncturing attempt and thus to the risk of complications likewise increasing.

Output of position information of a medical instrument


A method for fabricating metal-oxide-semiconductor devices is provided. The method includes forming a gate dielectric layer on a substrate; depositing a polysilicon layer on the gate dielectric layer; forming a resist mask on the polysilicon layer; etching the polysilicon layer not masked by the resist mask, thereby forming a gate electrode; etching a thickness of the gate dielectric layer not covered by the gate electrode; stripping the resist mask; forming a salicide block resist mask covering the gate electrode and a portions of the remaining gate dielectric layer; etching away the remaining gate dielectric layer not covered by the salicide block resist mask, thereby exposing the substrate and forming a salicide block lug portions on two opposite sides of the gate electrode; and making a metal layer react with the substrate, thereby forming a salicide layer that is kept a distance “d” away from the gate electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the fabrication of semiconductor integrated circuits and, more particularly, to an improved process for fabricating high-voltage devices. According to the present invention, the salicide process is integrated with the high-voltage process, thereby reducing the resistance of high-voltage metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Integrated circuits (ICs) containing both high-voltage and low-voltage devices such as high/low voltage MOS transistor devices are known in the art. For example, the low-voltage device may be used in the control circuits as the high-voltage device may be used in electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) or the driving circuits of the liquid crystal display devices.
It is also known that self-aligned silicide (also referred to as "salicide") process is typically utilized to form metal silicide layer such as cobalt silicide or titanium silicide on the gates, source or drain regions in order to reduce sheet resistances. However, the salicide process is merely performed on the low-voltage devices. Considering hot carrier effects, the conventional high-voltage process cannot integrate with the salicide process. As a result, the sheet resistance of the high-voltage devices is high.
In light of the above, there is a need to provide an improved method for reducing the sheet resistance of the high-voltage devices.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

High voltage metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor devices and method of making the same


A polygon mirror apparatus preventing a polygon mirror from separating from a rotor, having a rotor housing integrally formed with a polygon mirror is provided. The polygon mirror apparatus includes a base, a bearing coupled with the base, and a rotating shaft installed at the bearing to be rotatable. A polygon mirror is coupled with the rotating shaft to deflect and scan incident light. A driving source rotates a polygon mirror using electromagnetic power. A stator is positioned at the bearing, and a rotor installed around the stator so as to be rotatable, and is partially inserted into the polygon mirror by insert molding.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polygon mirror apparatus with a polygon mirror made using a plastic material, and more particularly, to a polygon mirror apparatus in which a rotor frame and a polygon mirror are formed integrally.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a polygon mirror apparatus is used in a laser scanning unit (LSU) for devices such as a laser printer, a digital copy machine, a barcode reader, and a facsimile machine. The polygon mirror apparatus scans a beam emitted from a light source of the LSU, in a main scan direction, using a rotating polygon mirror.
With the development of technology, print speed of devices using an LSU has increased. Accordingly, the polygon mirror apparatus is required to rotate a polygon mirror at a high speed, and to operate for a long period. In addition, the polygon mirror is required to have a reflectance greater than 85% so as to increase efficiency of a scanning beam. To meet these requirements, conventional polygon mirror apparatus use a polygon mirror manufactured by microprocessing of aluminum that has with a degree of purity of at least 99%.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional polygon mirror apparatus includes a base 11, a bearing 13 fixed at the base 11, and a rotating shaft 15 installed at the bearing 13 so as to be rotatable. A rotor frame 17 is coupled with the rotating shaft 15. The apparatus also includes a driving source 20, and a polygon mirror 30 installed at the rotor frame 17.
The driving source 20 is installed at an outer circumference of the bearing 13 and at the rotating shaft 15 so as to rotate the rotating shaft 15 using electromagnetic power. The driving source 20 includes a stator core 21, a rotor housing 23, and a magnet 25. The stator core 21 is fixed at the outer circumference of the bearing 13 and includes a wound coil 22. The rotor housing 23 is coupled with the rotor frame 17 and surrounds the stator core 22.
The polygon mirror 30 is rotated by the driving source 20, thereby deflecting and scanning a beam incident into a reflecting mirror 31 provided on a sidewall of the polygon mirror 30. The polygon mirror 30 is coupled to an outer circumference of the rotor frame 17 and is fixed thereto with a fixing member 35. The polygon mirror 30 is manufactured using an aluminum material with a high degree of purity. The polygon mirror includes reflecting mirrors formed through micromachining of metals.
Since the polygon mirror 30 in the conventional polygon mirror apparatus is manufactured using expensive aluminum material, the manufacturing cost is high. Moreover, since complicated micromachining of metals is used to form the polygon mirror 30, the productivity is low. In addition, a separate rotor frame is used, the polygon mirror is fixed to the rotor frame with a separate fixing member. Thus, the assembly processes are complicated and the number of parts increases.


A sawhorse extender attachment adapted to be affixed to the cross beam member of a conventional sawhorse that allows the effective length of the sawhorse to be adjusted. The attachment device comprises at least one containment base member having a groove extending the full length thereof along with a pair of extension members of a trapezoidal cross-section adapted to slidingly fit within the longitudinal groove in the base member. The extension members can be extended and retracted relative to the length of the base member and locked in place at predetermined locations along the length of the elongated containment groove. Provision is made for removable pegs to be placed into the extension members where the pegs project above the top surface thereof for inhibiting lateral shifting of any work piece resting on the sawhorse extender.

I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to sawhorses used in supporting work pieces at a convenient height as work is being performed on the work pieces, and more particularly to an attachment for such sawhorses for providing axial extension of the work surface for firm support of work pieces of varying size and shapes.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
Conventional, prior art sawhorses generally comprise first and second pairs of legs that are joined together by an elongated cross beam where the legs of each pair come together at an acute angle at the point where they join to the cross beam. Such devices have been used for centuries by carpenters and other workmen for supporting work pieces, such as lumber, panels, pipes, etc., at a convenient height so that the workmen can stand while performing operations on the object in question.
Sawhorses whose length and height dimensions can be adjusted to accommodate differing sizes and shapes of work pieces are known in the art. Exemplary of such sawhorses of adjustable size and height are described in the following U.S. Patents:
Fry--U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,860
Coultrup et al.--U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,064
Witken--U.S. Pat. No. 2,431,898
Vidon--U.S. Pat. No. 1,580,935
Kamrath--U.S. Pat. No. 970,508
Goodher--U.S. Pat. No. 89,306
In each of the above exemplary prior art adjustable length sawhorses, it is the cross beam of the sawhorse itself that is designed to be telescopingly extended and collapsed in adjustment of the overall length dimension thereof.
Many sawhorses are now in use that have a solid, non-extendable cross beam member. Such sawhorses are commonly about 36 inches in length and made from wood or metal and generally have foldable legs so that they can be collapsed and more readily transported between job sites. When working on larger panels, such as 4'.times.8' sheets of plywood doors, window or the like, it is somewhat difficult to stabilize the work piece against shifting when supported on two such non-extendable sawhorses. Thus, a need exists for an accessory device that may readily be attached to a standard, non-extendable sawhorse for permitting stable support for a variety of work pieces of differing sizes and shape configurations. It is the object of the present invention to fulfill this need.


A portable fluid storage system for use during frac jobs or other operations requiring storage of water or other fluids. The system comprises a lower chamber and an upper chamber sized to fit within the lower chamber. A lift system, such as screw jacks or rack and pinion gears, is disposed to move the lower chamber from a collapsed position to an extended position where the upper chamber is positioned above the lower chamber. A seal is disposed to engage the upper chamber and the lower chamber when the system is in the extended position. The upper chamber, the seal, and the lower chamber form a water tight compartment when the system is in the extended position. The system is transported as a traditional frac tank with a tractor or other truck. When positioned for use, the storage system is expanded to hold twice as much fluid as a traditional tank.

Hydraulic fracturing is a regular technique used by energy companies for releasing oil or natural gas from previously drilled wells. High pressure fluids injected into wells creates new fractures or channels in rock that permits an increase in rates of extraction of oil, natural gas, or other substances from the well. The hydraulic fracturing process, or frac job, requires high volumes of water or fluids, mixed with a variety of chemicals and sands, to be injected into the well. The water and other fluids need to be stored on site near the well in preparation for the frac job injection process. Additionally, water and fluids recovered from the well are often required to be stored on site. Large numbers of frac tanks are often used for this purpose.
Frac tanks are traditionally semi-trailer sized storage containers prepared for holding water or other fluids. Tanks typically hold 500 barrels (approximately 21,000 gallons) of fluid. The tanks are transported to the well by being individually towed behind a semi-tractor, where they are positioned at a site physically prepared for the housing of the required number of tanks. The use of frac tanks thus comes with a significant environmental impact. The present invention provides the ability to store additional fluid volumes with reduced environmental impact.


A hybrid drive for a motor vehicle and a method for the control thereof, the hybrid drive including a combustion engine; and a controller configured to determine an actual power demand required by the combustion engine during a present driving situation of the motor vehicle; determine a difference between a predefined power demand model of the combustion engine and the determined actual power demand; and control the combustion engine as a function of speed of the motor vehicle based on the determined difference.

In a serial hybrid drive, the drive wheels are driven by an electric drive. The electric drive, and the associated converter, is supplied by an electrical energy accumulator. A controller is configured to determine the motor power corresponding to a predefined driving situation (e.g., gas pedal position). To extend the travel range, as a range extender a combustion engine is provided which charges an electrical energy accumulator and a battery, via an alternator. The combustion engine is controlled depending on the driving situation, the power demand predefined by the driver and the actual power demand.
In a parallel and combined hybrid drive, the combustion engine works on the drive wheels, for example, via a converter and step-less gears, the electric motor acting in parallel on the drive train as a function of the power demand and acts as support. With use of a suitable coupling by way of which the combustion engine can be separated from the drive, a purely electric driving mode is also possible, the combustion engine supplying the electrical energy accumulator via an alternator and in this operating mode acts as a range extender for the serial hybrid drive described.
DE 100 07 136 A1 describes a drive power control system for a motor vehicle which uses a parallel hybrid system. A controller acting on the combustion engine is connected with various sensors detecting the driving situation, such as in particular a gas pedal sensor, travel speed sensor, battery sensor, engine rotation speed sensor. The combustion engine is controlled as a function of the torque demand required following a predefined strategy, in particular to operate said engine in an optimum efficiency range.
DE 10 2009 054 839 A1 describes a range extender for a hybrid motor vehicle. The amount of DC voltage converted from the AC voltage generated by the alternator is set by controlling the engine rotation speed of the combustion engine.
In the known hybrid systems or range extenders, the working noise of the combustion engine is often perceived by the driver as not matching the driving situation, and thus, is regarded as a disadvantage. This is the case, for example, if the combustion engine of the range extender is operated constantly at its best point, i.e., in a range in which the engine generates energy most efficiently. This best point often lies in the region of a relatively high rotation speed. Particularly, when the vehicle has stopped and at low speeds, however, it is unpleasant and unusual for the combustion engine to be operated at a higher rotation speed and hence with a loud engine noise.
Also changing between several operating points is not always acceptable to the driver. Thus it can occur that while driving at constant speed, the operating point is changed since, for example, the charge state of the battery requires this. Furthermore, from conventional vehicles (vehicles with combustion engine and manual or stepped automatic transmission), it is expected for the engine noise of the combustion engine to increase according to the fixed ratios of the transmission as the speed rises, and to diminish as the speed falls. Operating the combustion engine as a range extender with constant operating points, irrespective of speed, leads to a monotonous sound of the combustion engine, in particular without a typical noise change on acceleration and deceleration.
A further problem is the energy consideration. A range extender serves to extend the range of the vehicle when the vehicle is operated primarily electrically, which means that the combustion engine is active when the battery reaches a low charge state. To avoid further discharge of the battery, the energy generated by the range extender must be greater than the energy required to drive the vehicle and operate the ancillaries. If static operating points are allocated to the range extender in certain driving situations, e.g., full vehicle load or long uphill climbs, it may be that the power demand of the vehicle is greater than the power generated by the range extender in its allocated operating point. To compensate for this power difference, necessarily the power of the vehicle drive or drives must be reduced/limited.


A motor assembly includes a working part, a synchronous motor having a shaft, and a mechanical coupling joining the working part to the motor. The coupling has two driving teeth fixed relative to the shaft, two driven teeth fixed relative to the working part, and two middle members. The coupling provides a predetermined range of angular movement between the motor and the working part. The middle members are circumferentially distributed between the two driving teeth and between the two driven teeth, thereby each of the middle members is movable by the driving teeth to contact the driven teeth and provides an interference between a driving tooth and a driven tooth to drive the working part.

Small electric pumps, for example as used for circulating water in fish tanks and for draining water from washing machines, are well known. Such pumps are usually driven by sub-fractional horsepower single phase synchronous motors which have a long life and a simple construction allowing the stator to be fully sealed from the pump chamber and from the rotor of the motor.
Being a single phase synchronous motor, the motor can start in either direction and thus, the impeller of the pump is designed to operate in both directions. However, the starting torque is relatively low and the motor has difficulty starting under a full load. To overcome this problem, it is known to allow a limited range of free rotation between the rotor and impeller, usually up to about 360 degrees. This allows the motor to initially oscillate until it gains sufficient initial momentum before driving the impeller and its load. This is achieved by using a mechanical coupling, commonly referred to as a lost motion clutch, in which two spigots or teeth are arranged to interact. However, as the coupling allows free movement of slightly less than 360 degrees there is considerable noise and strain as the spigots crash together.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,240, sought to overcome this problem by having the spigots rotate within a sealed chamber containing a viscous fluid, e.g., an oil or grease, to absorb the knocking noise. As the volume of viscous fluid is relatively large and the pressure on the viscous fluid is also relatively large, this placed a great strain on the seal and introduced a possible source of contamination should the seal of the chamber fail during use, allowing the viscous fluid to mix with the fluid being pumped.
Thus, there is a desire for an improved coupling between a rotor of a synchronous motor and a working part such as an impeller of a pump.


Finishing tool for precision machining of holes includes a chuck unit having a driving head and a replaceable cutting element which includes at least one cutting blade and a cylindrical support shaft that is provided with a drive pin projecting from the supporting shaft. The supporting shaft being is inserted into a cylindrical hollow of the driving head and the drive head includes a support groove for receiving the drive pin, while the pin is retained by a spring-loaded return movement prevention device.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a finishing tool for precision machining of holes, comprising a chunk unit, driving head and a replaceable cutting element having at least one cutting blade, said element supported by a cylindrical supporting shaft which includes a drive pin projecting from said supporting shaft on at least one side. The supporting shaft is inserted into a cylindrical hollow of said driving head which includes a guiding recess that opens into a support groove for said drive pin.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Considerable demands on general precision regarding manufacturing and material quality are usually placed upon the finishing tools for precision machining of holes, considerably increasing the costs of such machining and the final prices.
The costs can be greatly reduced by providing a tool with an elongated shank for enabling flexible guidance into a pre-bored hole and compensation of possible misalignments of the hole and of the tool.
Tools with replaceable cutting elements which wear out sooner than supporting elements of the tool are well-suited for such application. Replaceability of the cutting element is economically advantageous in tools with abrasion resistant coatings, e.g. titanium nitride. Accordingly, effective design of replaceable cutting elements is particularly acute with the tools needed to finish small and medium diameter holes, or those within the range of 5 to 25 mm (0.196-0.0984 inches).
Tools with elongated shanks and with two to four carbide sintered guiding plates located around the circumference of the cutting part, together with a replaceable cutting blade chucked in the groove of the tool head using screws are also well known. However, the disadvantages of said design results with relatively lower productivity because of machining with only one blade and the high demands placed upon the tool holder, giving itself to the fact that the replacement and adjustment of the cutting blade chucked by a screw connection is relatively difficult, particularly with multi-spindle machines, thereby increasing idle time of the machines.
The disadvantages of these designs is the relatively unsafe fixation of the drive pin within the support groove. Typically, only a friction resistance against the effect of said compression spring hold the pin screws, resulting in spontaneous release and disengagement of the replaceable tool due to the inertial forces during stoppage of the tool or due to its impact transfer into the working position. Another significant disadvantage is that when reaming tools are used to ream smaller sized holes, it is impossible to make the outside diameter of the driving head smaller than the hole being reamed, precluding use of such tools to make deep holes.
The same disadvantage also appears in U.S. Pat. No. 2,057,143 where a further disadvantage includes the possibility of clogging of the drive pin seating groove with cuttings and impurities, thereby resulting in unreliable operation.
Also, lug type closures are well known but are dimensionally unsuitable for application on exchangeable reamers for a number of reaming operations, such as deep reaming and for those tools with a rear guide.


A connector system having a first connector and a second connector. The first and the second connector are moveable relative to one another along an axis in order to connect and disconnect the contacts of the first connector and the second connector. The first connector has a lever mounted at the pivot point and is pivotal around an angle. The lever has a surface extending in the circumferential direction and which extends substantially through the essentially along the same angle. The surface has a first planar section and a second section having a radially extending tooth system. The lever is movable from a first, second, and third position. The housing of the second connector has a complementary tooth system. The tooth systems become engaged when the lever is moved from the second to third position, thus moving the first connector and the second connector toward one another along the axis.

In the prior art, various embodiments of connectors are known. A connector can have two housings with contacts, which can be pulled together from a pre-assembly position into a final position by means of a lever arm pivotally mounted onto a housing. In doing so, the lever arm forms a bow relative to the housing. The lever arm comprises a surface from which a tooth system extends radially outwardly. The other housing has a corresponding tooth system on its surface. When the two housings are fitted together and the lever is moved, the tooth systems become engaged and the two connecting connectors are pulled towards each other along a connecting axis. When the lever arm is moved in the opposite direction, the two housings are pulled apart again by the teeth. As a result the contact elements within the housings are connected to each other when the two connecting connectors are brought together, and separated again when the two connecting connectors are pulled apart. The arrangement of the teeth on the lever and on the housing is essentially designed such that the teeth are continuously engaged. The teeth mesh as soon as the two connecting connectors are joined together.
This construction has the disadvantage that the angle which the lever describes when the two connecting connectors are joined is directly related to the distance that the two connecting connectors cover on their way toward each other. In connector systems, this distance is called the connector stroke, and it is usually shorter than the travel created by a lever movement through an angle of 180°. In practice, the angle of the lever, in the joined condition, amounts to only a few degrees to the plane of the contact elements. In order to achieve the correct stroke, the lever is aligned in a 90° angle to the plane of the contact elements, and the two connecting connectors are joined in this manner. The lever then moves only through approximately 90° to its end point, and the correct stroke is thus maintained.
In the wiring of vehicles, there is an increasing need to install multi-pin connector systems in vehicle compartments that are difficult to access. In this case the connector systems need to be designed as small as possible and, at the same time, provide a large number of contact elements. The result of development is connectors with a smaller height so that they fit through small openings and accommodate a large number of contact elements. When multi-pin connectors of this kind are assembled, a high insertion force is needed. In order to provide these high insertion forces, long lever arms are needed. In order to install these connector systems in confined spaces, the technician must be able to practically blindly connect and engage both connectors.

Connector having a housing with a first tooth system actuated by a second tooth system on a lever


Apparatus and methods for processing liquids are provided. The apparatus include open-ended, hollow reactor compartments which are detachably connected to receptor ends of tube systems. In preferred embodiments, a portion of the tube system is fixed to a rotor arm which can be rotated in a circle and moved up and down. Another portion of the tube system is coupled to a metering syringe which serves for drawing in or ejecting fluids into or from the reactor compartment and/or the tube system. A plurality of process stations such as bottles containing reagents or solvents can be arranged on a circular tray such that they can be accessed by the reactor compartment or by the receptor end if the reactor compartment has been detached from the tube system. The invention can be used, for example, for automatic protein sequencing, whereby the proteins to be sequenced are held in place by a matrix in the reactor compartment.

A commonly used process for the determination of amino acid sequences in proteins is disclosed by P. Edman and G. Begg, European Journal of Biochemistry, Vol. 1, 1967, pages 80-91. In this process, which is based upon the degradation of phenylisothiocyanate, the free N-terminal alpha-amino group of a protein is first converted into a phenylthiocarbamyl (PTC) derivative through coupling with phenylisothiocyanate (PITC) in a basic environment. The phenylthiocarbamyl derivative is cleaved in a strongly acidic environment and is cyclized through formation of a thiazolinone derivative (ATZ), which then can be converted by treatment with aqueous acid into the more stable phenylthiohydantoin (PTH) derivative. The alpha-amino group of the next in the chain of amino acids is thus set free and can be subjected to a further degradation. The PTH amino acid can be identified by using liquid chromatography.
EP-A-279882 discloses one apparatus which can be used for automatically sequencing proteins according to the above-described degradation scheme. The disclosed apparatus comprises a cup-shaped reactor vessel which spins around its longitudinal axis, and a movable pipette which connects with a syringe such that liquid can be sucked into or expelled from the pipette. The movable pipette is used to deposit various reagents and solvents on the wall of the spinning reactor vessel, where they come into contact with a sample of, for example, proteins or peptides to be sequenced. The movable pipette is also used for removing reaction products and excess products from the reactor vessel. Due to the high rotation speed of the reactor vessel (typically several hundred revolutions per minute), special designs regarding drive and bearing of the reactor vessel are required.
It is accordingly one object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for processing liquid which has a simpler design and which avoids the problems associated with a spinning reactor vessel.

Methods and apparatus for processing liquids


Systems, methods, apparatus and software can be implemented to provide a debugger agent, either separate form or integrated into the script-based testing platform, to coordinate the selection, activation, and or/operation of debuggers suitable for a particular unit and program under test. Such a debugger agent can provide run time monitoring and debugging activities where previously not possible. The debugger agent is generally independent agent, in that it can work with a variety of types of test scripts, test script handlers, programming languages, and debuggers without customization. Moreover, implementation generally needs no code instrumentation.

Many automated systems and techniques exist for stimulus/response testing of various different types of devices (so called units under test (UUT)). Examples of such units under test include printed circuit-boards, line cards, network switches, switch-routers, routers, router-switches and storage network devices, computer networks, and other electronic systems and devices. In general, such testing involves supplying test input stimuli, e.g., commands, data, etc., to the unit under test, observing actual outputs e.g., actions, data, etc., generated by the unit under test in response to the stimuli, and possibly comparing the actual outputs to outputs that are expected if the unit under test is functioning properly. Depending upon the degree to which the actual outputs match those that are expected, the testing system can indicate either that the unit under test has passed the test, has failed the test, or is operating in an undetermined state.
In many such systems, the underlying operation of the unit under test is controlled by device software such as an operating system. For example, many line cards, network switches, switch-routers, routers, router-switches and storage network devices produced by Cisco Systems, Inc., operate using Cisco IOS software. Cisco IOS software is system software that provides common functionality, scalability, and security for a variety of devices, and allows centralized, integrated, and automated installation and management of internetworks while ensuring support for a wide variety of protocols, media, services, and platforms. Testing devices that run the such software (so called "programs under test") often requires sending the devices numerous commands as if the device was being used in normal operation. Such testing is often automated, or at least partially automated using a test script handler.
In the simplest example, a test script handler executes a test script and provides the stimuli generated by the test script, e.g., one or more commands, to the unit under test. More sophisticated test script handlers can be configured to: control a variety of units under test; execute and/or pass commands from a variety of different test scripts; schedule testing operations; and report results of various test operations. FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art script based automated test system. Test system 100 includes various computer systems such as server 105 and workstations 110 and 115 which are used to develop and/or host tests for various UUTs 160, 170, and 180. For example, a test engineer might use workstation 110 to develop and host a test script designed to test various features of software executing on UUT 160. Computer systems 105, 110, and 115 are typically coupled to a test server 130 through a network such as a LAN or WAN (as shown) or directly, so that they can host tests or at least provide test scripts to test server 130 and receive test information back from test server 130.
As shown, test server 130 includes a test script handler 135 that acts as a middle agent between test hosts and the units under test. In some cases, test script handler 135 merely acts to pass test commands from computer systems 105, 110, and 115 to the units under test, and returns corresponding information about test results. In other implementations, test script handler 135 can receive test scripts (140) from various test hosts and handle the execution of those test scripts on one or more units under test. Thus, test script handler 135 generally acts to direct the traffic between UUTs and test hosts. Test script handler 135 can also coordinate the loading, initialization, and activation of software (145) to be executed on the various UUTs. Such software can be thought of as the programs under test on the UUTs. The commands from the various test scripts are designed to use the programs under test in order to fully evaluate the functionality of the UUTs, as is well known in the art. Test script handler 135 can utilize other information such as test reports 150, initialization information for the UUT software (not shown) and the like. Thus, test system 100 allows a variety of different potential users the ability to test various different devices in a controlled, efficient manner.
Since test scripts are typically designed only to provide a series of commands to the unit under test, neither the test script handlers nor the test scripts themselves implement sophisticated debugging software, such as debuggers. Debuggers are designed to assist software and test engineers in the process of tracking down errors in the operation of software and/or hardware under test. While there are many tools available to debug a program under test or the test script, there are none designed to invoke a debugger when a bug-free test script triggers a failure in a unit under test's program and to thereby allow a developer to perform familiar run-time program debugging.
In addition, many different types of scripts can target the same unit under test. For example, in a multi-host testing system, some scripts may be written in, for example, Perl, Tcl/Tk, or Expect operating on a Unix platform, while other scripts are written in other script languages in other platforms such as Windows. The program under test itself may be written in different languages such as C, C++, etc, and the unit under test may be using one or more of a variety of different processor architectures, e.g., MIPS, ARM, Intel x86, PowerPC, etc. Under such circumstances, generic source code level program debugging mechanisms would be useful for scalability to serve a large range of development and testing platforms.
Consequently, there is a need for a mechanism to facilitate application program source code debugging when application failures are triggered by test scripts.

Source code debugging method and apparatus for use in script testing environment


A system detects the location of an uncooperative emitter by measuring the power level in an RF signal using a grid of linear antennas. The linear antennas are arranged in an x,y axis with intersections strategically placed in areas of interest. A detector detects the power level in each of the leaky signal cables. A processor in communication with the detector identifies the cable intersection having the greatest power level and associates that intersection as the location of the uncooperative emitter.

The need to determine the position of an unauthorized and uncooperative emitter within structures or areas can arise due to many different reasons and under highly variable physical conditions. Geolocating radio frequency (RF) signals within structures or areas, including buildings, ships, caverns, malls, parks, etc., is a difficult problem due to radio propagation issues. More specifically, RF signals are often blocked, attenuated, or reflected by the structure's or area's materials. This hinders the usefulness of traditional geolocation and direction finding techniques. To resolve this problem, the prior art is replete with examples of hand-held or portable RF detectors that are used to zero-in on the RF signal. Unfortunately, when seeking an RF emitter under these circumstances, it is often hostile or uncooperative, and may cease operating when a search begins. What is needed is a passive system that continuously monitors a sensitive area for unauthorized RF emitters.

Geolocation of radio frequency signals within a sensitive area using a grid of linear antennas


A high speed printer is fed paper from either of two sources. An unwind machine provides one paper web from a paper roll directly into the printer. The second source is from a box feeder located alongside the unwind machine. The paper web, folded and stored in the box or boxes, is fed around mutually perpendicular angled rollers into the printer whenever a change over is required. The system obviates the need for physically moving both the unwind machine and the box feeder whenever a changeover is required to fulfill the needs of successive printing runs.

Present practice in print shops that utilize high speed laser printers require that an unwind machine be replaced by a box feeder when perforated paper sheets are to be fed from boxes of folded, but connected sheets into the laser printer for printing. The perforated paper comprises a plurality of sheets integrally interconnected to one another and folded one on top of another so as to be stored in boxes. The box feeder may include suitable means for splicing the paper web from box to box, and the paper web is provided over sprockets rather than requiring the usual tension free loop as is the case with a conventional unwind machine of the type described in the above-identified application Ser. No. 218,512.
The present invention provides for the unwind machine to be left in place even when the paper web to be printed is fed from boxes into the laser printer. This result is made possible by providing a path for the perforated paper web fed from the box feeder so as to allow the web to be fed directly into the laser printer without requiring removal and replacement of the unwind machine. As a result, the downtime of the printer is minimized, and greater versatility is provided for the print shop operator in that paper web from a roll can be printed upon, or in the alternative perforated paper web from boxes can also be printed on in the same high speed laser printer.
Small print shops are generally set-up for handling perforated paper fed from a box feeder. However, such small print shops face the necessity for adapting to the feeding of paper from a roll in an unwind machine that may or may not provide for rewinding the paper on a paper roll after it is printed upon. The present invention also allows printing on paper web from a roll in the unwind machine. The paper is then fed from the laser printer after it is printed upon into a folder. Alternatively, perforated paper can be fed from a box feeder through a pair of angularly related rollers and into the laser printer for printing. The printed paper can then be fed into the same folder is desired.
A general purpose and object of the present invention is to provide for alternative feeding of paper web either from a paper roll in a conventional unwind machine, or from a conventional box feeder provided alongside the unwind machine. Heretofore, one or the other of these two machines had to be located in alignment with the input end of the laser printer in order to function in the manner known in the prior art. The present invention provides an improved set-up whereby down time for the laser printer is significantly reduced from that normally required to replace one or the other of the unwind machine or the box feeder as required to set-up for printing upon paper webs of different source characteristics, that is, a roll of paper or a box of integrally connected perforated paper sheets.

Alternative feeding from roll or box into laser printer

Energy Saving Products and Sales Corporation


A method for determining an optimal configuration and redundancy allocation for a system containing a plurality of units grouped into a plurality of elements and one or more modules. The method conducts random statistical sampling of a combinatorial space reflecting the possible combinations, redundancies and integrations of the units and elements in a given system. For each sample combination, the method calculates an optimization metric that reflects the reliability and/or the cost of that combination. The optimization metric may incorporate relative weighting of constraints used to evaluate whether the combination is optimal. The optimum configuration will be the configuration having the lowest optimization metric out of all the samples.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to product manufacturing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many manufactured systems, such as computers, incorporate redundant devices into their designs to ensure that the system continues to function even after a device failure. Before failure of any given device occurs, however, the redundant devices are inactive and therefore tend to increase the overall cost of the product along with increasing reliability. Further, different devices have different failure rates, which should be taken into account when selecting which devices to duplicate for redundancy purposes. More particularly, devices having higher failure probabilities are usually made redundant as a matter of course, while devices having lower failure probabilities may or may not be made redundant, depending on the desired system design.
Because greater redundancy leads to higher system costs, a system designer normally tries to balance reliability with costs. Other manufacturing parameters, such as complexity, may also influence the number of redundant units. Systems to be used in applications where reliable operation is critical may consider cost reduction a lower priority and incorporate more redundant units, even for units having lower failure probabilities. The result is a system that may have a higher cost along with its higher reliability. Conversely, systems where low cost is a higher priority than maximum reliability may have fewer redundant devices, which may also reduce the product's reliability.
Further, for devices that are too expensive to make redundant, it is possible to provide redundancy by combining other types of devices that together carry out the same function as the original, more expensive device to improve reliability and keep the system under control. It is also desirable to integrate multiple functionalities into, for example, a single board in the system. Greater integration may increase the cost overhead for the system, but the overall board cost may be less than the sum of the costs of the individual devices. Integration may also necessitate replacement of an entire board if one functionality fails, but the failure probability of the individual devices on the board should be considered to determine the likelihood of this occurrence. Failure probability is normally a factor that determines the composition of the board itself (e.g., which components will be integrated together on a single board).
Capacity is yet another factor to be considered in a system design. The device configuration should adequately meet expected target capacity demands. This places limits on the number and/or configuration of the units incorporated into the system. Thus, given these and other dimensions, maximizing reliability given cost and/or capacity constraints is a complicated task. Other dimensions, such as integration, redundancy of a more expensive device using a combination of less expensive devices, different priorities for reliability and cost, system capacity, etc. make determining an optimum configuration even more complex because there are so many possible combinations and factors to weigh against each other. Determining an optimum configuration and redundancy allocation for a given system design can take many months through trial and error. Further, because trial and error processes necessarily introduce human error, it is difficult to ensure that the configuration obtained by such processes is truly optimized or even quasi-optimized.
There is a desire for a faster, more reliable way to determine an optimal configuration in a system design.


Disclosed is a slit lamp microscope capable of forming a slit superior in terms of parallelism. The slit lamp microscope includes casings (100L and 100R) to the bottoms surfaces of which slit blades (107L) and (107R) are fixed and which are connected together so as to be rotatable around shaft members (102), and an inter-casing distance varying member (87) adapted to change the distance between the casings (100L and 100R) in correspondence with vertical movement of an ascent/descent shaft (86). Coil-like portions of torsion springs (103) are wound around the shaft members (102) to which the casings (100L and 100R) are connected. The torsion springs (103) urge the casings (100L and 100R) so as to bring the slit blades (107L and 107R) close to each other. Further, the casings (100L and 100R) are equipped with U-shaped springs (106) urging protrusions (100L′ and 100R′) thereof so as to press them against the shaft members (102).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slit lamp microscope for use in a field of ophthalmology, and more specifically to a slit lamp microscope with a special contrivance in its portion related to the formation of a slit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A slit lamp microscope has been used as a kind of microscope for use in the field of ophthalmology. A slit lamp microscope, which makes it possible to observe various lesion parts of an eye to be examined through a contrivance in illumination, is used for day-to-day diagnosis by eye doctors.
JP2003-299619 A (claims, paragraphs [0019] to [0026] in the specification, and FIGS. 1 and 2) discloses an example of the construction of a conventional slit lamp microscope. The slit lamp microscope as disclosed in the above-mentioned publication includes: an illumination system which applies slit light to the eye to be examined (hereinafter simply referred to as "the eye") through a prism to make it possible to observe a sectional image of the portion of the eye to be observed; a background illumination system which illuminates the periphery of an illumination field of the eye given by the illumination system to make it possible to observe the portion of the eye to be observed and the periphery thereof; an observation system for observing the portion of the eye to be observed and the periphery thereof; a stationary guide member detachably arranged in the vicinity of the prism of the illumination system; and an irradiation unit which holds a light guide member guiding background illumination light from a light source provided in the illumination system, which is arranged so as to draw a turn track with respect to the stationary guide member around the reflection point of the prism or a point in the vicinity thereof, and which applies background illumination light emitted from the light guide member to the prism from a different direction to change the irradiation field with respect to the eye, whereby it is possible to clearly observe not only the lesion part of the eye but, at the same time, the entire image thereof.
In the following, the construction of the conventional slit lamp microscope as disclosed in JP 2003-299619 A will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11. FIG. 8 is a schematic side view showing the external construction of the slit lamp microscope. FIG. 9 is a schematic side view showing the optical configuration of the slit lamp microscope. FIGS. 10 and 11 are a perspective view and a plan view schematically showing how a slit is formed in the slit lamp microscope.
As shown in FIG. 8, the slit lamp microscope 1 includes a base 4 supported on a table 2 so as to be capable of being moved in a lateral horizontal direction and a longitudinal horizontal direction by means of a movement mechanism portion 3, an operating handle (joy stick) 5 adapted to displace the base 4 in the lateral horizontal direction and the longitudinal horizontal direction through tilting operation, an observation system 6 and an illumination system 8 supported by the base 4, and a-chin-rest stand 10 equipped with a chin rest 10a and a forehead pad 10b for the subject arranged opposite to a lens barrel main body 9 accommodating the observation system 6. Provided on a side surface of the lens barrel main body 9 is an observation power adjusting knob 11 for varying the observation power. Further, an imaging device 20, such as a CCD, is connected to the lens barrel main body 9. Further, below the observation system 6, there is arranged a prism 12 for reflecting observation light in the direction of the eye (not shown).
As shown in FIG. 9, the observation system 6 of the slit lamp microscope 1 includes the prism 12, an objective lens 31, a scaling optical system 32, a condensing lens 33, a beam splitter 34, a relay lens 35, a prism 36 for shifting the optical path to the eyepiece lens barrel 9a side, and an eyepiece 37 arranged in the eyepiece lens barrel 9a. An image of the eye E of the subject is formed at an image formation point P, and is observed by an eye Eo of the examiner.
The imaging device 20 includes a condensing lens 41 for condensing the light branched off by the beam splitter 34, a mirror 42 reflecting the light from the condensing lens 41 at right angles, and an imaging camera 43 consisting of a CCD or the like.
The illumination optical system 21 constituting the illumination system 8 includes a light source 51 consisting of a halogen lamp or the like, condensing lenses 52 and 53 for condensing light emitted from the light source 51, a slit 54 allowing transmission of only a portion of the light transmitted through the condensing lenses 52 and 53 to form slit light, a condensing lens 55 condensing the light transmitted through the slit 54, and a strobe light source 56 consisting of a xenon lamp or the like arranged between the light source 51 and the condensing lens 52.
The slit 54 and the eye E are arranged at positions optically conjugate with respect to the condensing lens 55. As a result, slit light (local illumination light) is applied, for example, to the cornea of the eye E, making it possible to observe a sectional image of the cornea.
A background illumination system 70 includes a light guide 71 consisting of an optical fiber serving as a light guide member led out from a position in the vicinity of the light source 51, and an irradiation unit 74 which holds the light guide 71 and which is provided so as to draw a turn track around a reflection point R of the guided light at the prism 12. Part of the light from the light source 51 is guided to the irradiation unit 74 by the light guide 71. The irradiation unit 74 projects the guided light onto the prism 12 from a direction different from that of the light from the illumination system 8 to irradiate the eye E with the light. As a result, the periphery of the lesion part of the eye E is irradiated with the light. The irradiation unit 74 is capable of changing the irradiation field with respect to the eye E.
The slit 54 of the illumination system 8 is formed by a slit forming means 100′ as shown in FIG. 10. The slit forming means 100′ includes left and right casings 100L and 100R. FIG. 11 is a top view of the casings 100L and 100R. When it is said right or left, it means here the direction as seen from the examiner, that is, the direction as seen from the eyepiece lens barrel 9a shown in FIG. 8.
The casings 100L and 100R are arranged so as to form a cylinder with a gap 109 therebetween. Further, the casings 100L and 100R respectively have pairs of protrusions 100L′ and 100R′ arranged at positions opposed to each other. The protrusions 100L′ and 100R′ are configured so as to constitute a part of the cylinder. Further, as shown in FIG. 11, formed in the bottom surfaces of the casings 100L and 100R are screw holes 108L and 108R for providing through threaded engagement a pair of slit blades forming the slit 54 (see slit blades 107L and 107R in FIG. 3 described below).
Protruding from the outer peripheral surfaces of the casings 100L and 100R of the slit forming means 100′ are bearings 101L and 101 R so as to be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance. The bearings 101L and 101R are provided only on the front side as seen in FIG. 10. The protrusions 100L′ of the casing 100L and the protrusions 100R′ of the casing 100R are fitted into ring members 105 while holding columnar shaft members 102 therebetween. As a result, the casings 100L and 100R are connected so as to be rotatable around the shaft members 102. The shaft members 102 and the ring members 105 are provided respectively for the pairs of protrusions 100L′ and 100R′ arranged in an opposed relation.
When the examiner performs a predetermined operation to change the width of the slit 54, an ascent/descent shaft 86 is moved in the axial direction thereof, that is, vertically. A Mount-Fuji-shaped inter-casing distance varying member 87 with tapered sides is fixed to the upper end of the ascent/descent shaft 86 by screws 87a. The tapered sides of the inter-casing distance varying member 87 are arranged so as to be held in contact with the bearings 101L and 101R.
In order to reliably hold the side surfaces of the inter-casing distance varying member 87 in contact with the bearings 101L and 101R and to avoid slippage or the like as much as possible, the casings 100L and 100R are equipped with an urging means (not shown) consisting of a spring or the like urging the casings 100L and 100R so as to bring the above-mentioned pair of slit blades close to each other. The urging means also exerts urging force so as to press the protrusions 100L′ and 100R′ of the casings 100L and 100R against the shaft members 102. As the urging means, there is provided, for example, a U-shaped spring on the inner peripheral surfaces of the casings 100L and 100R. The U-shaped spring is arranged at a position lower than the shaft members 102 constituting the rotation shafts of the casings 100L and 100R, that is, at a position nearer to the slit blades than the shaft members 102.
The inter-casing distance varying member 87 moves vertically with the ascent/descent shaft 86. When it moves upwards, the. inter-casing distance varying member 87 functions so as to increase the distance between the bearings 101L and 101R. As a result, the casings 100L and 100R are rotated around the shaft members 102 so as to enlarge the gap 109. With this rotation, the distance between the pair of slit blades mounted to the bottom surfaces of the casings 100L and 100R increases, and the width of the slit 54 increases. When, in contrast, the inter-casing distance varying member 87 moves downwards, the distance between the bearings 101L and 101R is reduced, and the casings 100L and 100R are rotated around the shaft members 102 so as to diminish the gap 109, reducing the distance between the pair of slit blades to diminish the width of the slit 54.
It should be noted that the slope of the sides of the inter-casing distance varying member 87 is formed so as to be relatively steep in the upper portions and relatively gentle in the lower portions thereof. Thus, when the width of the slit 54 is small, fine width adjustment is possible, and, when the width of the slit 54 is to be increased, it can be done so at a stretch.
The conventional slit lamp microscope, constructed as described above, is known to have a number of problems.
First, since the slope of the lower portions of the side surfaces of the inter-casing distance varying member 87 is gentle, slippage is likely to occur between the side surfaces and the bearings 101L and 101R, and, due to the urging force of the urging means, it can happen that slippage actually occurs to cause the slit 54 to close spontaneously. This leads to a deterioration in the accuracy in the slit width, which is of importance in observation by using the slit lamp microscope. Further, when such spontaneous closing occurs, additional time is required to re-adjust the slit width, resulting in an increase in inspection time, which leads to an increase in the physical burden on both the examiner and subject. In particular, for the examiner, who has to examine a number of patients a day, such spontaneous closing of the slit is nothing but a bother.
When the urging force is weakened in order to avoid slippage between the side surfaces of the inter-casing distance varying member 87 and the bearings 101L and 101R, the connection between the casings 100L and 100R and the shaft members 102 is loosened, so that there is a fear of a problem arising in terms of the parallelism of the slit as described below.
To prevent spontaneous closing of the slit, there is often provided a brake means for braking the descent of the ascent/descent shaft 86 and the inter-casing distance varying member-87. Usually, this brake means is accommodated in a knob for performing the operation of opening or closing the slit, and consists of something like a disk brake for restraining rotation of the knob. In a typical case, a felt member is used as the disc, and braking is effected by compressing the felt member by means of a spring or the like through the intermediation of a washer or the like. Apart from this, a brake means is used which restrains knob rotation through adoption of a wave washer.
In such conventional brake means, which is adapted to restrain knob rotation as described above, the rotation of the knob is rather heavy. Accordingly, a great force is needed when adjusting the slit, which is disadvantageous in terms of operability.
It might be possible to effect design change so as to make the slope of the side surfaces of the inter-casing distance varying member 87 steeper; it should be noted, however, that the conventional slope configuration has been adopted for such a long time that many examiners are quite used to the relationship between its operating amount and slit width change; thus, such design change is not so desirable from the viewpoint of operability.
Another problem in the prior art is related to the parallelism of the slit. When observing and inspecting an eye by using a slit lamp microscope, it is desirable for the slit to be formed parallel. In the prior-art technique, however, there are cases in which it is rather difficult to form the slit parallel. It is to be assumed that the difficulty is due partly to the heat of the light source and partly to the accuracy at the time of production.
When a slit lamp microscope is used for a long period of time, the interior of the apparatus may attain high temperature due to the heat from the light source. The temperature attained can be as high as approximately 60° C. In view of this, the ring members 105 are formed in a somewhat large size taking into account the thermal expansion of the protrusions 100L′ and 100R′ of the casings 100L and 100R, of the shaft members 102, and, further, of themselves. Accordingly, depending upon the temperature inside the apparatus, the connection between the protrusions 100L′ and 100R′, the shaft members 102, and the ring members 105 can be loosened. That will make it impossible for the casings 100L and 100R to rotate uniformly to the right and left, resulting in formation of a distorted slit which is not parallel.
Similarly, the parallelism of the slit can be influenced by production errors in the casings 100L and 100R, the shaft members 102, and the ring members 105.


A circuit for generating USB peripheral clock comprises: an internal oscillator, a controllable frequency divider, a frequency multiplier, a receiving counter and a frequency division controller, wherein the internal oscillator generates a clock having a fixed frequency; the controllable frequency divider processes frequency division on the clock generated by the internal oscillator; the frequency multiplier processes frequency multiplication on the clock after frequency division and transmits the clock after frequency multiplication to the USB main structure; the receiving counter receives an SOF packet which is transmitted by a host according to the clock outputted by the frequency multiplier, and counts intervals of receiving the SOF packet; and the frequency division controller compares the difference between the counting result of the receiving counter and a standard interval, controls and regulates frequency division parameters of the controllable frequency divider according to a comparing result thereof.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a field of USB communication, and more particularly to a circuit for generating a USB peripheral clock and a method therefor.
2. Description of Related Arts
USB is the abbreviation for Universal Serial BUS. Due to the advantages such as high communication speed, simple interface and convenient application thereof, recently the USB has become one of the standard interfaces essential to electronic equipments such as PC, MP4, mobile phone, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), digital camera, printer and scanner. The USB is widely applied in fields of information communication, data transmission and etc.
The conventional communication systems all require a clock source with relative accuracy. The clock source is then processed with logics of frequency dividing, frequency doubling and etc. in the communication system, so as to generate a master clock required thereof for operating. The master clock collects and analyzes the data stream transmitted thereof, so as to accomplish the object of data communication. The USB communication system is no exception, and in a high-speed USB communication (with communication speed equal to or greater than 480 MHz), the system requires that the clock for data transmitting has a high accuracy (±0.5%). Therefore, technical solution adopted by the USB communication system is to connect a crystal oscillator on an external of the main body of the USB, i.e., the crystal oscillator generates an accurate clock on an external thereof, 12 MHz for instance, so as to be inputted to the internal of the chip in the main body of the USB, and is processed with frequency doubling in the internal of the chip by logic modules such as PLL (phase-locked loops), in such a manner that a high-speed clock of 480 MHz required by the system for operating is finally generated.
Due to the crystal oscillator thereof, the chip of the main structure of the USB requires at least two pins spared thereof for the crystal oscillator. Thus, in the electronics relatively having a small number of pins, the USB communication system can not be utilized for communication. E.g., the conventional electronic products, SIM card for instance, generally have 4˜7 pins, due to the requirements of other system function, the electronics are not capable of sparing two additional pins for the crystal oscillator, and thus the main structure of the USB can not be utilized for communication.
Furthermore, with the development of the production process and the improvement of the design technique, the volume of the electronics tends to be smaller and smaller, and the number of the pins thereof tends to be smaller and smaller as well. However, compared with thereof the SOC (System on Chip), the volume of the crystal oscillator component are quite large, which will restrict the development of high integration and miniaturization of the electronics. Therefore, the crystal oscillator turns into a key factor which restricts the application and development of the chips of the USB main structure.
Of course, the clock can also be generated inside the chip of the USB main structure via an RC/LC oscillator, and is supplied for the system. However, due to influence of the process variation of the RC/LC oscillator or other factors, the clock finally generated by the crystal oscillator in the chip often has a deviation of ±20% with the design target, which is not capable of meeting the demand of the system for the accuracy of transmission.
The high-speed USB requires a higher accuracy of the peripheral clock than the full speed equipments (with a communication speed of 12 MHz) and low speed equipments (with a communication speed of 1.5 MHz), and furthermore the data code rate of peripherals of the high-speed USB is 480 Mb, which is much higher than peripherals of the full-speed or low-speed USB peripheral, so the clock generating circuit for the full-speed or low-speed USB peripherals is not suitable for the high-speed USB peripherals.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide an improved circuit for generating USB peripheral clock and a method therefor to overcome the shortcomings mentioned above.

Circuit for generating USB peripheral clock and method therefor

IPGoal Microelectronics (Sichuan) Co., Ltd.


A method for synthesis of nanocomposites using polymerized carbon nanotubes and phenolic compounds, such as 2,4-dichlorophenol, 4-nitrophenol, 2-nitrophenol, 4-chlorophenol, 2,4,6-trinitrophenol and phenol, in aqueous media, as well as the application of one of such nanocomposites, namely MWCNT-g-PCA-Phenol, as a DNA extraction agent. The aforementioned nanocomposites enable the isolation of genomic DNA of plant samples. Pursuant to the present invention, the toxicity of free phenols used in DNA extraction is decreased since very low concentrations of phenol are required in the method, as compared to conventional techniques which employ saturated phenol solutions. This remarkable advantage is due to the encapsulation of the phenol nanoparticles into the polymerized carbon nanotubes.

The initial step in many molecular biology procedures involves the analytical separation of DNA fragments. As is known to those skilled in the art, general steps of nucleic acid purification include cell lysis, which disrupts the cellular structure to create a lysate; inactivation of cellular nucleases, such as deoxyribonuclease (DNase) and Ribonuclease (RNase); and separation of desired nucleic acids from cell debris.
As is understood in the art, a mixture of phenol:chloroform:isoamyl alcohol (about 25:24:1) is used for denaturing proteins, and inhibiting the aforesaid RNase activity. Proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and cell debris are removed through extraction of the aqueous phase with the organic mixture of phenol and chloroform. A biphasic emulsion is formed when phenol and chloroform are added. By centrifugation of the aforementioned emulsion, the hydrophobic layer settled at the bottom and the hydrophilic layer on top. The upper phase, which contains DNA, is collected, and the DNA could be precipitated from the supernatant by adding ethanol or isopropanol in 2:1 or 1:1 ratios and high concentrations of salt. Then, the DNA precipitate is collected by centrifugation, and the salt is rinsed with ethanol.
The DNA pellet is then dissolved within a Tris-Ethylenediaminetetraacetic (TE) buffer or sterile distilled water, where Ethylenediaminetetraacetic is also termed EDTA.
For plant extraction, grinding the sample after freezing it in liquid nitrogen is necessary to break down cell wall material of the sample and allow accessing the nucleic acid, while harmful cellular enzymes and biochemicals remain inactivated. After grinding the sample, it can be re-suspended in a suitable buffer, such as cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) or sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). This method also uses organic solvents and alcohol precipitation in later steps. Insoluble particles are removed through centrifugation to purify the nucleic acid. Soluble proteins and other materials are first mixed with chloroform, and then are separated by centrifugation. Nucleic acid must be precipitated after this from the supernatant, and washed thoroughly to remove contaminating salts. The purified nucleic acid is then resuspended, and stored in a TE (Tris-EDTA) buffer, preferably at −20° C., or in sterile distilled water.
The conventional methods described hereinabove require repeated centrifugation steps, followed by removal of supernatants, depending on the type of specimen and additional mechanical treatments, which is time consuming.
As is known to a person skilled in the art, saturated solutions of phenol are used in the conventional methods of DNA extraction and purification described hereinabove. Phenol is a flammable, corrosive and toxic carbolic acid, and, therefore, using its saturated solution is unfavorable, as it is harmful to both humans and environment. Thus, phenol and substituted phenols have been included as priority pollutants in the list of the European Union (EU) and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
There is, therefore, a present need for improved methodologies and techniques for the extraction and purification of DNA.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an alternative extraction agent for DNA extraction and purification, which facilitates a faster and safer extraction process.
These and many other objects are met in various embodiments of the present invention, offering significant advantages over the known prior art.

Methodology for the formation of an extractive agent of polymerized carbon nanotubes encapsulating phenol nanoparticles used for DNA extraction and purification, and product thereof


A new Impatiens plant particularly distinguished by double, rose-shaped, rose flowers, semi-compact, upright, outwardly spreading and mounded plant habit, free flowering, good basal branching, and moderately vigorous growth habit, is described.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Impatiens, botanically known as Impatiens walleriana and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Silte Ror07'. The new cultivar originated from a sib cross made in June 2004 in Andijk, The Netherlands. The parents were the proprietary red star-flowered Impatiens plant 'ID03-20-5' (unpatented) and the proprietary red star-flowered Impatiens plant 'ID03-20-7' (unpatented). The seeds produced by the sib cross were sown in September 2004. A single plant selection was chosen for further evaluation and for asexual propagation in December 2004.
The new cultivar was created in 2004 and has been asexually reproduced repeatedly by vegetative cuttings and tissue culture in Andijk, The Netherlands and Gilroy, Calif. over a two-year period. The plant has also been trialed at Gilroy, Calif., Andijk, The Netherlands and Hillscheid, Germany. The present invention has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive asexual propagations.
Plant Breeder's Rights for this cultivar were applied for with the European Union on Dec. 14, 2006, in Canada on Apr. 19, 2006 and in Japan on Nov. 1, 2006.


A method of fabrication and a field effect device structure are presented that reduce source/drain capacitance and allow for device body contact. A Si based material pedestal is produced, the top surface and the sidewalls of which are oriented in a way to be substantially parallel with selected crystallographic planes of the pedestal and of a supporting member. The pedestal is wet etched with an anisotropic solution containing ammonium hydroxide. The sidewalls of the pedestal become faceted forming a segment in the pedestal with a reduced cross section. The dopant concentration in the reduced cross section segment is chosen to be sufficiently high for it to provide for electrical continuity through the pedestal.

Today's integrated circuits include a vast number of devices. Smaller devices and shrinking ground rules are the key to enhance performance and to improve reliability. As FET (Field Effect Transistor) devices are being scaled down, the technology becomes more complex, and changes in device structures and new fabrication methods are needed to maintain the expected performance enhancement from one generation of devices to the next. The mainstay material of microelectronics is silicon (Si), or more broadly, Si based materials. One such Si based material of importance for microelectronics is the silicon-germanium (SiGe) alloy.
There is great difficulty in maintaining performance improvements in devices of deeply submicron generations. Various detrimental device effects become more serious with successively decreasing device dimensions. For instance, with shortening gate lengths the so called short channel effects, most notably the "drain induced barrier lowering" pose severe roadblocks to miniaturization. Also, parasitic capacitances, such as source and drain capacitance, stand in the way of device performance. Several avenues are being explored in the art for keeping device performance improvements on track. One approach to deal with unwanted device capacitance is to utilize so called semiconductor on insulator (SOI), usually Si on insulator, technology. SOI devices typically are fabricated in a thin semiconductor layer disposed over an insulator layer. Most commonly, the insulator layer is a so called buried oxide layer on a Si substrate.
In general, FET devices built in SOI technology have the advantage of a lowered source/drain capacitance in comparison to devices built on bulk substrates. When SOI field effect device dimensions are being reduced, typically the SOI Si layer thickness is also reduced in order to have better short channel control of the threshold voltage (Vt). Eventually, the reduction of the SOI Si layer thickness results in FETs with floating body. A floating device body means that the device body potential is not tied to an applied voltage through a body contact. In such a case the threshold voltage, Vt, control of the device is more difficult. Field effect devices built on a bulk Si substrate can have body contact, but suffer from higher source/drain capacitance. It would be desirable to have a device which combines lowered source/drain capacitance, with the capacity for body contact.

Device fabrication by anisotropic wet etch

International Business Machines Corporation


An image forming apparatus includes an exposure device exposing a photosensitive member, an exposure device support member supporting the exposure device, a cartridge holding member holding a cartridge which includes the photosensitive member, and a locking mechanism to prevent the cartridge holding member from being drawn out from the main body of the apparatus. The locking mechanism includes a locking member that is movable between a locking position at which the locking member is engaged with the cartridge holding member and an unlocking position at which the locking member is disengaged from the cartridge holding member, and an interlocking mechanism having an urging member urging the locking member so it is located at the locking position, and a pressing member that is displaced along with the movement of the exposure device support member and presses the locking member against an urging force of the urging member so as to move the locking member to the unlocking position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a printer, which has a function to form an image on a recording material such as a sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-98772, in general, in an image forming apparatus such as an LED type printer and an LED type copying machine, an LED light beam corresponding to image data generated based on a print object is radiated to a photosensitive member so as to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member. Toner is supplied from a cartridge (process cartridge) to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member so as to form a toner image on the photosensitive member. The toner image is transferred onto a recording material, and then fixed thereto. In this way, an image is formed on the recording material.
In this image forming apparatus, an LED unit for radiating the LED light beam needs to be arranged near the photosensitive member so as to face the photosensitive member. Thus, in an LED type monochromatic/color image forming apparatus, LED units corresponding to respective colors are set between the cartridges.
Therefore, in this apparatus, the cartridges cannot be replaced by being forward drawn out from the apparatus.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-275805 discloses a structure in which the LED units are retracted above the cartridges along with an opening operation of an upper door so that the cartridges are forward drawn out from a main body of the image forming apparatus.
However, in the structure of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-275805, the upper door (support member) on which the LED units (exposure devices) are mounted may be closed even when the cartridges and a receiving tray for holding the cartridges in a removable manner are being moved in front and rear directions of the main body of the image forming apparatus.
Therefore, in this structure, the upper door may be closed even under a state in which the cartridges are out of image forming positions, and hence the LED units may be damaged.

Image forming apparatus having a cartridge holding member lock


Various embodiments of a hybrid class AB super follower circuit are provided. One embodiment is a follower circuit comprising: an input node for receiving an input voltage signal; an output node for driving a capacitive load based on the input voltage signal; a transistor M1 having a gate terminal connected to the input node for receiving the input voltage signal, a source terminal connected to the output node, and a drain terminal; a feedback loop comprising a second transistor M2, a third transistor M3 and a fourth transistor M4, wherein: the gate and source terminals of the second transistor M2 are connected to a current source I2, and the drain terminal of the second transistor M2 is connected to the output node; the source terminal of the third transistor M3 is connected to the current source I2 and the drain terminal of the third transistor M3 is connected to a current source I0; the gate terminal of the fourth transistor M4 is connected to the drain terminal of the third transistor M3, the drain terminal of the fourth transistor M4 is connected to the output node, and the source terminal of the fourth transistor M4 is connected to a ground; and a replica bias circuit for providing a voltage bias signal to the gate terminal of the third transistor.

The invention generally relates to follower circuits, and more particularly relates to class AB and super follower circuits.
Follower circuits are commonly used as drivers to buffer signals and provide a low output impedance to drive resistive (R) and/or capacitive (C) loads. Follower circuits typically exhibit high linearity and low distortion characteristics. However, in applications where the C or RC load is large, follower circuits have the disadvantage of consuming much power and requiring a larger area. Furthermore, to increase bandwidth, a follower circuit requires large bias current/transistor size to increase transconductance (gm) and reduce output impedance. The transconductance problem may be particularly troublesome in certain types of applications, such as, for example, in deep sub-micron complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes. Increasing transistor size further contributes to the problem of increased C or RC loads, which leads to even more power consumption and larger area.
Follower circuits also have the disadvantage of larger slew rates or settling times. In electronics, the slew rate represents the maximum rate of change of a signal at any point in a circuit. Limitations in slew rate capability can give rise to non linear effects. To reduce the large signal settling time, follower circuits may require larger bias current, which in turn increases power consumption and silicon area.
To address these and other problems, certain types of follower circuits have been developed. For example, class AB followers address the problem of increased slew rates by implementing a push-pull driver effect. The push-pull arrangement is provided with a complementary pair of transistors, in which each transistor amplifies opposite halves of the input signal and, thereby, charges and discharges the C or RC load. While this arrangement addresses the slew rate problem, class AB followers have significant disadvantages. Class AB followers require large headroom (e.g., higher power supply) for biasing and do not adequately address the need for low output impedance.
Another type of follower circuit is a super follower circuit. Super follower circuits address bandwidth issues by reducing output impedance with a gain path that generates high current drive (transconductance). While super follower circuits can meet bandwidth requirements (e.g., by reducing follower impedance), they do not adequately address the slew rate problem. Super follower circuits generate high current drive only on the side of the gain path, and still have to overcome the current from the other side. In other words, super follower circuits may either address the rise time or the fall time—not both.
Despite the many advantages and the commercial success of class AB followers and super followers, there remains a need in the art for follower circuits that have the combined advantages of low output impedance, high bandwidth, and push-pull capability to reduce transient settling time.


A video reproducing apparatus which controls a revolution speed of the rotary drum to have a variable speed according to the tape transport speed during a special playback, and maintains the inclination angle of the head running locus to be the same as that during a standard playback. The apparatus comprises a capstan servo, a drum servo, a time base corrector, and a control circuit which controls the above elements, thereby displaying a clear picture without noise bars during the special playback modes.

This invention relates to a video reproducing apparatus, and more particularly a video reproducing apparatus for improving picture quality of a playback screen during a special playback.
As shown in FIG. 1, a general video recording and reproducing apparatus such as a video cassette recorder (VCR) is an apparatus for recording the video signals on slant tracks 2 of a magnetic tape 1 and reproducing the recorded video signal therefrom. This apparatus records one field video signal for each slant track 2 by scanning slant track 2 of magnetic tape 1 with a rotary head having a constant rotating speed in the time of moving magnetic tape 1 at a standard speed (e.g. 33.35 mm/sec in the case of VHS standard of NTSC system) during a recording stage. This apparatus reproduces the video signal recorded on the slant tracks by controlling the transport speed of the magnetic tape and the rotation speed of the rotary head in a similar manner during a reproducing stage. Such a reproduction mode is called standard speed playback. In case of the standard speed playback, the clear picture screen is obtainable as shown in FIG. 2A. In a double speed playback mode, a tape transport speed is double the standard speed. Here, since the rotary head which is rotated with the same speed as that of the standard speed playback scans the magnetic tape while transversing two slant tracks, one noise bar appears in the playback screen as shown in FIG. 2B. In a five-time speed playback mode, the tape transport speed is five times as the standard speed. Accordingly, four noise bars appear in the playback screen as shown in FIG. 2C. Such noise bars occurring in the high speed playback mode correspond to the to a number of the slant tracks which are transversed by the rotary head. Thus, in variable speed playback or special playback mode except for a standard speed playback mode, the scanning locus of the rotary head is not the same as the slant tracks of the recording stage, with a result that the noise appears in the playback screen. Accordingly, the clear picture screen can not be provided as in the standard speed playback.

Video reproducing apparatus for maintaining picture quality during high speed search functions