The invention relates to melt-spun monofilaments of polyamide, polyester or polypropylene as filament-forming polymers with improved abrasion resistance and their use for producing technical materials or use as wire.

The processes for producing monofilaments from thermoplastic polymers are known in principle and are described, for example, in Handbuch der Kunststofftechnik II, C Hauser Publishers, Munich 1986, pp. 295-319.
It is further known that the notched bar impact strength of moulded bodies of thermoplastic polymers can be improved by the addition of polyethylene/polypropylene rubber. In known manner the polymer mixtures of thermoplastic polymers and modified polyethylene/polypropylene rubber are granulated and compounded on double-shaft extruders and processed by injection moulding.
To date, few suitable polymer mixtures have become known for the manufacture of monofilaments for technical purposes, such as further processing into press felts for the paper industry, which must in particular have high mechanical strength with respect to abrasion. From US patent specification 5 169 711 it is known that the abrasion resistance of monofilaments of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) can be increased by the addition of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU).
Monofilaments of polymer mixtures of polyamide, polyphenylene ether and a functionalized elastomer are also known for the manufacture of press felts (see international patent application WO 93/1325 for example).
The abrasion resistance of the monofilaments and hence of the technical fabrics that can be produced from them is improved by the above-mentioned known raw material modifications to only an inadequate extent, and in addition the strength of the monofilaments is reduced.


An electronic system that produces an enhanced spatial television-like audio-visual experience is disclosed. Unlike normal television, the system enables the viewer to control both the viewing direction and relative position of the viewpoint with respect to the movie action. In addition to a specific hardware configuration, this patent also relates to a new video format which makes possible this virtual reality like experience including a system by which multi-channel audio can be recorded in addition to visual information onto a single data channel which is compatible with existing television and audio-visual standards and an optical tracking system to provide both angular and spatial position information to control the display of said imagery and spatial audio.

While normal television or movie screens are a common form of modern entertainment, these conventional systems do not allow a user to control the viewing direction and relative position of the viewer with respect to the movie action. Additionally, while virtual reality viewing is becoming increasingly popular, conventional systems for producing three dimensional images are often complex and the media graphics are costly to generate.


A head suspension for supporting a read/write head over a disk in a magnetic disk drive. The suspension includes a load beam having a rigid region and proximal and distal ends, with a base on the proximal end and a flexure on the distal end. A spring region is located between the base and rigid region of the load beam. The spring region includes a pair of arms which extend between the base and rigid region to form a cutout, and a plurality of load adjustment frets which extend across the cutout between the base and rigid region. One or more of the frets can be severed by a laser beam to lower the gram load of the suspension. The gram load of the suspension can be increased by shrinking the frets through exposure to the laser beam. Gram load adjustments can be made with the suspensions in a disk stack assembly by directing the laser beam to the frets through an optical fiber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a head suspension for a magnetic disk drive, and a method for adjusting the gram load of the suspension.
2. Background of the Invention
Head suspensions are commonly used in magnetic disk drives to support the magnetic read/write heads in close proximity to the rotating magnetic disks. The well known and widely used Watrous-type suspensions such as that disclosed in the Blaeser et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,945 include a load beam having a mounting region or base plate at a proximal end, a flexure on a distal end, a relatively rigid region adjacent to the flexure and a spring region between the base plate and rigid region. An air-bearing slider which includes the magnetic head is mounted to the flexure. The load beam and flexure are typically manufactured by etching and forming a thin stainless steel sheet. The slider is then adhesively bonded to the flexure.
During operation of the disk drive, typically the slider does not touch rotating disk. Rather, the force of the air rotating with the disk causes the slider to fly at a microscopic distance known as the "fly height" above the disk. The suspension urges the slider toward the disk with a force known as the gram load to counteract the slider-generated air-bearing forces and maintain the proper fly height.
The gram load is established during the suspension manufacturing operation. Techniques for adjusting suspension gram loads are well known and disclosed, for example, in the Schones et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,413. One common gram load adjustment technique involves mechanically bending the suspension at the spring region to increase (i.e., to upgram) or decrease (i.e., to downgram) the gram load. Another technique known as "light adjustment" involves the application of heat to the spring region. Heat relieves mechanical stresses in the spring region and lowers the gram load. During suspension manufacture the gram loads are adjusted to predetermined tolerances to provide the proper fly height. Excessive fly height can impair the ability of the-head to read and write data to the disk; insufficient fly height can cause the head to hit the disk and damage the disk or head.
Following the manufacture and gram load adjustment of the suspensions, the sliders are bonded to the flexures, typically in a manual operation, to form head suspension assemblies. The head suspension assemblies are in turn mounted to actuator arms extending from a rotating actuator shaft to form a head stack assembly. The head stack assembly is then mounted with respect to a stack of magnetic disks, with the suspensions extending between the disks.
Instruments and techniques for measuring fly heights are known. The read signal strength produced by magneto-restrictive heads is proportional to the distance between the head and magnetic disk. The fly height of magneto-restrictive heads can therefore be determined as a function of the difference in the signal strength produced by the head while sliding at low speed on the disk and operational flying position. Another method for measuring fly height involves monitoring acoustic emissions (noise levels) produced by the flying head, and correlating the acoustic emission level to fly height.
Disk drive manufacturers continue to develop smaller yet higher storage capacity drives. Storage capacity increases are obtained in part by increasing the density of the information tracks on the magnetic disks (i.e., by using narrower and/or more closely spaced tracks), and by using smaller sliders and heads. These technological advances require lower and more accurate fly heights.
Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain the required fly height tolerances using known suspensions and manufacturing procedures. Suspension gram load variations account for a significant portion of fly height variations, and are the result of a number of factors. As mentioned above, suspension gram loads will vary within manufacturing tolerances. Another factor is the stacking tolerances in the disk drive assembly. Head suspension assemblies are delicate components, and the physical handling of these components during the head bonding and drive assembly procedures can also alter the suspension gram loads. Furthermore, since the disks are tightly spaced and the suspensions extend between the disks, it is difficult to readjust the suspension gram loads and therefore the fly heights following the manufacture of the disk drive assembly.
There is, therefore, a continuing need for suspensions capable of being efficiently and accurately gram load adjusted. To be commercially viable, the suspensions must be relatively efficient to manufacture. A suspension that can be gram load adjusted in a head stack assembly, and methods for performing such gram load adjustments, would be particularly desirable.

In-stack adjustable magnetic head suspension


A method of establishing a communications link uses automatic sensing of a computer user's presence and activity state to record user attributes in a form accessible to other computers in a communications network. Such automatic sensing may include keyboard/mouse monitors, cameras with associated image processing algorithms, speech detectors, RF radiation detectors, and infrared sensors. Preferably, the attribute recording is done in a server process which can be accessed by other computer programs. A first application of this method is to inform persons at remote locations whether the party to be called is available to receive a call. A second application of the method is to use a Connection Agent to determine whether all desired participants for a conference, or at least a quorum of them, are present and available, so that the conference can be started. A third application of the method is to allow a called party to adjust the kind of notification, if any, he or she receives of an incoming call, depending upon what activity is currently engaging the called party.

In current work environments, interaction between co-workers is becoming increasingly virtual. Transactions that previously occurred face-to-face are becoming more commonly performed via voice and e-mail messages, or through a global computer network or via an intranet web service. While this often greatly increases efficiency and productivity, it has a hidden drawback: there is no longer any "face-to-face" time during which collaborators can exchange information that is not part of a primary transaction. Unit cohesiveness and long-term productivity can suffer when there is no mechanism for physical interaction between team members, or at least interaction via higher bandwidth audio or video conferencing.
Arranging such conferencing time between individuals is currently very difficult, since it requires prior scheduling and coordination of special facilities and dedicated communication links. As the cost of bandwidth declines and connectivity proliferates, however, videoconferencing will become technically feasible on standard desktop computers and web interface devices. The difficulty of scheduling virtual communication will become equivalent to that of arranging physical interaction—that is, finding out whether someone is available to communicate with you at the present time, and if not, to schedule the communication when feasible.
In small office environments, a protocol for communication scheduling is usually carried out by wandering across the hall and seeing if a colleague is in his or her office and not currently occupied with an important task. If a group of people wishes to gather for an impromptu meeting, this can be done informally whenever they see each other to all be physically present. In large office environments spread across many buildings or campuses, or in virtual environments, this becomes infeasible.
Existing solutions for arranging impromptu group communications among physically disparate participants, or for establishing a real-time audio and/or visual communication link, usually involve an equivalent real-time link (e.g. a phone call to see if the person is available. There is no non-intrusive way to simply check if someone is in his or her office and not otherwise occupied in a meeting or other activity, without requiring them to respond to a message, engage a communication link or explicitly specify their state. For example. U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,173, TANG et al., uses an icon 22 (FIG. 9) to indicate a user's activity state. "Buddy lists" and Instant Messaging Presence Protocols (c.f. the IMPP of the Internet Engineering Task Force) are a step towards a solution, but place a burden on the user to signal what mode or activity they are in, and whether they are available. The modes that are relevant to the task of scheduling communication include whether the user was in or out of the office, as well as sub-categories of activity while in the office: whether the user was at a computing device, working at a whiteboard or other surface, meeting with other people, reading something very urgent, on the phone, etc.
These modes are both relevant to the question whether communication is possible now (Is the user present in the office?) and to the question of which is the appropriate method of asking the user if they will "accept the call" and participate in the communication link. The traditional ringing bell of the telephone has long been the notification of a remote user requesting a communication link. Recently, the "caller-ID" service also allows the identity of the remote user to be known before the called party decides whether to accept the call. In most computing environments, pop-up message windows or their equivalent are typically used to notify a user that a "call" is incoming. A prerecorded voice (e.g., "You have a call from Mr. X") may also be used.
These technologies for call notification disregard the current state of the user's activity, and can thus often be intrusive and annoying. While a pop-up display window is an adequate notice when a user is at their computer, it will clearly be ineffective when they are reading at another chair or working at the whiteboard.
A traditional audible notification would be appropriate in these situations, but is not always appropriate during a meeting. Most typically, when one is in a meeting and a communication link is attempted, the appropriate response is to delay the communication until the current meeting is finished.

Methods of establishing a communications link using perceptual sensing of a user's presence


A defect analysis place specifying device for specifying defect analysis places from an inspection result of produced printed wiring boards in an electronic part mounting device for mounting parts on the printed wiring boards through plural steps, including an accepting unit for accepting plural printed wiring boards as inspection targets every predetermined unit, a defect mode specifying unit for specifying a defect mode having a predetermined frequency or more on the basis of the defect modes of the printed wiring boards and the occurrence frequencies thereof in the last step of the plural steps every unit accepted by the accepting unit, an extracting unit for extracting a combination having the same abnormal phenomenon causing the defect mode specified by the defect mode specifying unit in the other steps than the last step in the plural steps, and an output unit for outputting the combination extracted by the extracting unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a defect analysis place specifying device, a defect analysis place specifying method, a program for specifying a detect analysis place and a recording medium recorded with a program for specifying a defect analysis place, and particularly to a defect analysis place specifying device, a defect analysis place specifying method, a program for specifying a detect analysis place and a recording medium recorded with a program for specifying a defect analysis place that can specify a high-priority defect analysis place to efficiently improve the quality of products.
2. Description of the Related Art
A defective place specifying method in a surface mounting device has been disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3,511,632 (paragraph no. 0009, etc. ), Japanese Patent No. 3,514,486 (paragraph no. 0009, etc.), etc. According to the method disclosed in the former Japanese Patent, defective places of printed wiring boards are individually analyzed every defective place and every printed wiring board to calculate the degree of incidence of the final defect by each step, and a cause for the defect is automatically predicted. According to the method disclosed in the latter Japanese Patent, when defective places are analyzed, the efficiency is enhanced by actively utilizing a condition reflecting a previous analysis result, thereby shortening the defect factor specifying time and enhancing the working efficiency.
The defective place specifying method of an electronic part mounting device has been hither carried out as described above. In order to reduce the defective fraction in the electronic part mounting device with the minimum time and effort, it is required to specify a defective place having a high defective fraction at an early stage and take a countermeasure to the defective place concerned.
However, in the former Japanese Patent, the defective places of each printed wiring board are individually analyzed one by one to estimate the causes of the defects (hereinafter referred to as "defect factor"), and thus it takes much time to perform the estimation of the defect factors, and also when countermeasures to the defect factors thus estimated are successively taken in turn, it takes more time to cover a desired defective fraction. Furthermore, in the latter Japanese Patent, the processing is efficiently executed, however, this method pays no attention to efficient enhancement of the quality of products with respect to the electronic part mounting device.
Furthermore, in order to efficiently enhance the quality of products, it is required to specify a set of defective places which can be estimated to be caused by a common defect factor and determine an analysis target from the defective places thus estimated. However, this method is very difficult for persons other than skilled persons.

Defect analysis place specifying device and defect analysis place specifying method


A method of scheduling uplink transmissions from a plurality of source user equipments to a base station is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of determining the amount of data in the data buffer of each of the user equipments, comparing the amount of data in the data buffers of the user equipments to obtain, for each user equipment, a relative indicator, the relative indicator indicating how full that user equipment's data buffer is in comparison to the data buffers of the other user equipments, and scheduling uplink transmissions in dependence on the relative indicators. In this way, each user equipment is given some knowledge of the state of the buffer in the other user equipments. The user equipments are therefore able to make more efficient scheduling decisions. This can improve the throughput and give lower packet delivery delays.

FIG. 1 shows parts of a wireless communications system, in which a plurality of source user equipments UE1, UE2, UE3 are in communication with a plurality of destination user equipments UE4, UE5, UE6 via a base station BS. Source UEs UE1, UE2, UE3 transmit data packets in an uplink to the base station BS. Base station BS receives the data packets from the source UEs and buffers these data packets for onward transmission in a downlink to the destination UEs. In this example, each wireless channel is allocated a separate channelisation code in order to distinguish that channel from the other channels (CDMA).
In the system of FIG. 1 it is necessary to provide some mechanism for determining when and how each of the source UEs transmits its data in the uplink to the base station. In the simplest case, each source UE transmits whenever it has data to send. This technique may work well when there are low offered loads on the uplink. However, if too many UEs try to transmit data at the same time, the interference levels may become unacceptable, resulting in poor quality of service.
Various techniques are known for scheduling of uplink transmissions. The aim of these scheduling techniques is to manage the way in which the UEs transmit to the base station in order to meet certain criteria, such as interfere levels, fairness or throughput.
In one scheduling technique, known as time scheduling, a single UE is given the full uplink resources for a given period of time. Some mechanism is implemented for determining which UE has the channel resources at any one time. For example, each UE may take it in turns to transmit its data, or else the UE which is given the channel resources may be selected by taking into account the channel quality.
In time scheduling, only one UE transmits at any one time, and so each UE can transmit within its time window at a high data rate, without causing interference to other UEs. However, time scheduling is inefficient in terms of throughput in the uplink due to the delays involved in informing each UE when it can transmit. Other disadvantages of time scheduling include loss of interference diversity (which increases the interference caused to adjacent cells), less accurate power control, due to less frequent power control signals, and wasted uplink capacity when a UE has little to transmit.
In another scheduling technique, known as rate scheduling, each UE decides on the rate at which it transmits data based on information which is signalled to it by the network. For example, in 3 G communications systems (W-CDMA), each UE may decide its rate based on information from the Transport Format Combination Set (TFCS) signalled to it by the radio network controller (RNC). This rate is usually less than the UE's maximum rate, and is set to ensure that interference remains within acceptable levels.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A time-to-digital converter (TDC) that has high resolution, excellent linearity, and a widerange. The TDC includes a first oscillator unit that generates and outputs a pair of first oscillation signals based on a pair of predetermined clock signals that have a predetermined phase difference, a second oscillator unit that generates and outputs a second oscillation signal that have a predetermined frequency based on the pair of first oscillation signals outputted from the first oscillator unit, and a quantizer that calculates a quantized value based on a number of edges of the second oscillation signal outputted from the second oscillator unit.

As miniaturization in recent large-scale-integration (LSI) manufacturing process advances and the voltage required in an LSI chip lowers, significant improvements, including decreasing chip area, increasing speed, and decreasing power consumption, have been achieved in the digital circuit field. Similar improvements, however, have not been achievable in the analog circuit field. Some factors preventing the advance in the analog circuit field include a decrease in transistor gain, an increase in characteristic variation, and an increase in leak current.
Therefore, in designing a 'mixed signal IC (LSI),' which is a combination of a digital circuit and an analog circuit, an approach is to minimize the use of analog circuits and/or 'replace analog circuits with digital circuits.'
For example, a PLL circuit is used in a variety of applications, such as a clock generation circuit and a frequency synthesizer, but a charge pump and a loop filter each formed of a pure analog circuit are primarily responsible for preventing reduction in the area of a chip. Therefore, to reduce the area of a mixed signal IC, an All Digital Phase Locked Loop (ADPLL) circuit that replaces a conventional PLL circuit with a digital circuit is used.
In such an ADPLL circuit, in which a digital loop filter (DLF) is used, a phase frequency detector and a charge pump used in a PLL circuit are replaced with a time-to-digital converter (TDC). Further, a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is replaced with a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO).
For example, a TDC using a free-running oscillator (FROSC) is configured to include inverters having a ring structure and is advantageous in that linearity is more readily ensured than that in a TDC using single delay lines (SDL) (I. Nissinen, A. Mantyniemi, and J. Kostamovaara. A CMOS time-to-digital converter based on a ring oscillator for a laser radar. IEEE ESSCIRC, pages 469-472, April 2003).
Further, in order to achieve high resolution, a TDC using a multipath gated-ring oscillator (MPGRO) has been proposed (C. Hsu, M. Z. Straayer, and M. Perrot, "A low-noise wide-BW 3.6-GHz digital ΔΣ fractional-N frequency synthesizer with a noise shaping time-to-digital converter and quantization noise cancellation," IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 43, no. 12, pp. 2776-2786, December 2008). An MPGRO is configured to include a multipath that allows an input to each delay cell to be an output from an immediately preceding delay cell and an output from the delay cell upstream of the immediately preceding delay cell. Using the MPGRO allows noise-shaping-based improvement of adequate resolution. The noise shaping used herein is to drive quantization noise into a high-frequency region. Therefore, in such an ADPLL circuit, the combination of the noise shaping and the characteristics of a lowpass filter allows removal of phase noise in a loop bandwidth.
Further, it is possible to achieve high resolution of a TDC by using a time amplifier (TA) in a TDC (M. Lee and A. A. Abidi, "A 9b, 1.25 ps Resolution Coarse-Fine Time-to-Digital Converter in 90 nm CMOS that Amplifies a Time Residue", JSSC, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 769-777, April, 2008). A TA is a circuit that amplifies a time difference between input signals, and then outputs the amplified time difference. For example, when a TA has a gain A, inputting an output from the TA to a TDC having a gate delay Tg achieves an effective resolution Tg/A.

Time-to-digital converter and PLL circuit using the same


Motion sensing of a portable device using two cameras. A first camera is directed along a first viewing axis and a second camera is directed along a second viewing axis, different from the first viewing axis. The second viewing axis can be substantially opposite the first viewing axis. A motion processing module determines changes in images from the first camera and changes in images from the second camera. The motion processing module compares the direction of change determined from the first camera images relative to the direction of change determined from the second camera images. The motion processing module determines the motion of the portable device based in part on the comparison.

Sensing the motion of a device can be a time consuming task that requires intensive numerical processing. Additionally, motion sensing may only provide a gross measure of the motion of a device. Sensing motion of a portable object may require costly hardware and complicated numerical processing techniques.
Motion sensing using trilateration of positions, as performed by a Global Positioning System (GPS) or a hybrid position determination system, may be inadequate for sensing motion of a portable device. A GPS system or hybrid position determination system typically provides inadequate precision to sense motion of a portable device. GPS can require a great deal of time to acquire an initial position fix. Additionally, a GPS system or hybrid position determination system typically cannot determine rotational motion of a portable device.
Motion sensing systems incorporating gyroscopes can be used to sense the motion of a portable device. However, such systems are typically costly and not suitable for low cost designs. The costs associated with gyroscopes used in motion sensing may exceed a perceived value of the entire portable device.


Durable stretch fabrics are made and processed from one or more crosslinked, heat-resistant olefin elastic fibers, e.g., a substantially linear, homogeneously branched ethylene polymer. The fabrics can be made by any process, e.g., weaving, knitting, etc., and from any combination of crosslinked, heat-resistant olefin elastic and inelastic (“hard”) fibers, e.g., cotton and wool. These fabrics exhibit excellent chemical, e.g., chlorine, resistance and durability, e.g., they retain their shape and feel (“hand”) over repeated exposure to processing conditions, e.g., stone-washing, dye-stripping, PET-dyeing and the like, and service conditions, e.g., washing, drying, etc.

The present invention relates to stretch fabrics. In one aspect, the invention relates to stretch fabrics comprising synthetic and natural fibers while in another aspect, the invention relates to such fabrics comprising crosslinked, heat-resistant elastic fibers capable of withstanding dyeing and heat-setting processes. The crosslinked, heat-resistant elastic fibers are useful in various durable or repeated-use fabric applications such as, but not limited to, clothing, undergarments, sports apparel and upholstery. The crosslinked, heat-resistant elastic fibers can be conveniently formed into fabrics using well-known techniques such as, for example, by using co-knitting techniques with cotton, nylon, and/or polyester fibers.
A material is typically characterized as elastic if it has a high percent elastic recovery (that is, a low percent permanent set) after application of a biasing force. Ideally, elastic materials are characterized by a combination of three important properties, i.e., (i) a low percent permanent set, (ii) a low stress or load at strain, and (iii) a low percent stress or load relaxation. In other words, there should be (i) a low stress or load requirement to stretch the material, (ii) no or low relaxing of the stress or unloading once the material is stretched, and (iii) complete or high recovery to original dimensions after the stretching, biasing or straining is discontinued.
To be used in the durable fabrics, the fibers making up the fabric have to be, inter alia, stable during dyeing and heat setting processes. For an elastic polyolefin fiber to be stable under dyeing and heat-setting conditions, it must be crosslinked. These fibers can be crosslinked by one or more of a number of different methods, e.g., e-beam or UV irradiation, silane or azide treatment, peroxide, etc., some methods better than others for fibers of a particular composition. For example, polyolefin fibers that are irradiated under an inert atmosphere (as opposed to irradiated under air) tend to be highly stable during dyeing processes (that is, the fibers do not melt or fuse together). The addition of a mixture of hindered phenol and hindered amine stabilizers further stabilized such fibers at heat setting conditions (200-2100 C).
Lycra®, a segmented polyurethane elastic material manufactured by E. I. du Pont de Nemours Company, is currently used in various durable stretch fabrics. Lycra, however, is not stable at the typical high heat-setting temperatures (200-210° C.) used for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fiber. Moreover, and similar to ordinary uncrosslinked polyolefin-based elastic materials, Lycra fabrics tend to lose their integrity, shape and elastic properties when subjected to elevated service temperatures such as those encountered in washing, drying and ironing. As such, Lycra can not be easily used in co-knitting applications with high temperature fibers such as polyester fibers.

Stretch fabrics with improved chemical resistance


In a multiple render target mode, a pixel shader computes color values for pixels and stores the computed color values in a register file. The register file acts as a buffer for the computed color values. Conventionally writing pixels in the order they are received (pixel-major order) can result in large strides across memory in the frame buffer. At least a minimum amount of work should be done within a DRAM page, for example, to cover the overhead required in opening the DRAM page. Therefore, color values are written from the register file to two or more targets in a frame buffer in a target-major order within a segment. Writing in a target-major order (sequential with respect to targets but non-sequential with respect to quads received and processed) yields coherent writes to frame buffer memory and improves memory efficiency.

The present invention relates in general to graphics processors, and in particular to systems and methods for writing graphics data for multiple (two or more) render targets from a graphics processor in a coherent fashion.
Graphics processing is an important feature of modern high-performance computing systems. In graphic processing, mathematical procedures are implemented to render (draw) graphic primitives such as triangles on a display to produce desired visual images. Real time graphics processing is based on the high-speed processing of graphic primitives to produce visually pleasing moving images.
Graphics processing is typically performed using an application program interface (API) that provides a standard software interface that can be run on multiple platforms, operating systems, and hardware. Examples of APIs include the Open Graphics Library (OpenGL), Direct3D. and DirectX10 (DX10). In general, APIs include a predetermined, standardized set of commands that are executed by associated hardware. For example, in a computer system that supports OpenGL, the operating system and application software programs make calls according to OpenGL without having to "know" any specifics regarding the system hardware and without concern as to how those commands will be implemented in the system hardware.
APIs are particularly beneficial when supported by dedicated hardware. High-speed processing of graphical images is often performed using special graphics processing units (GPUs). A GPU can be designed to rapidly process graphics commands for output to a target (e.g., a CRT display).
Recently, graphics APIs allow for output to multiple render targets (MRT). With MRT, the GPU renders graphics output to not just one output target, but to two or more (e.g., up to eight) output targets.
During multiple render target rendering, updates are performed on multiple targets. Deferred shading is one example of MRT. In deferred shading, multiple intermediate shading parameters are written by one shader as MRTs (e.g. diffuse and specular color, surface normal, etc.) with a secondary shader reading these intermediate values and performing the remainder of the shading processing.

Coherent shader output for multiple targets


A method and apparatus for proving hover help support is described. In one embodiment, the method includes loading a documentation file generated from application source code. The method may also include parsing the documentation file to determine a context of elements within the documentation file. Furthermore, the method may include generating a model of the documentation file based on the context of the elements and storing the model in a memory.

Software applications are often written and edited by users in graphical user interface environments. Because applications code is often reused, it is common to use pre-written or open source software in an application to impart functionality on the application without an application developer having to unnecessarily recreate applications code. Thus, the pre-written software packages include documentation that describes the various functions and capabilities of the software to inform other software developers how to use various functions, data structures, data types, etc. contained within the pre-written packages. The documentation often exists in a file, such as a text document, web page, postscript document file, etc., separate and distinct from the code library and graphical user interface. As a result, when a user desires documentation for a particular software element, attention must be diverted from the present task of writing and editing a software application to loading a documentation file, locating a description for a particular software element within the documentation file, and then reading through the documentation file.

Hover help support for application source code


The present invention relates to a product for structurally supporting polymer chains comprising fullerene molecules mixed with a polymer mass wherein the fullerene molecules have a relatively large bend radius over which the polymer chains contained therein can be deformably flexed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to polymer based articles having increased structural rigidity. More particularly, the invention relates to polymer based articles formed by polymer mixes containing fullerenes whereby the fullerenes impart structural rigidity to the polymer chains which make up the polymer based articles.
2. Description of Related Art
Graphitic carbon molecules, which consist of hexagonally arranged carbon atoms are used throughout the chemical and manufacturing industries for reinforcing polymer based compounds such as synthetic and natural rubbers. Graphitic carbon tends to be a good conductor of electricity and heat but is extremely soft and malleable. Likewise, amorphous forms of carbon such as carbon black have relatively large specific surface areas and improved reinforcing properties, but tend to be poor resistors against heat build up. Further, carbon black tends to have a high modulus of elasticity but is poor in fatigue resistance and cut resistance.
Ideally compounds used as reinforcing agents will be good conductors of electricity and heat, should have a large specific surface area with improved reinforcing properties, will have a high modulus of elasticity and will impart good fatigue and cut resistance characteristics.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide polymer based structures formed from a combination of polymer chains and fullerene molecules.
A further advantage of the present invention is to provide polymer based products formed from a combination of polymer chains and fullerene molecules wherein the polymer based product is resistant to deformation caused by excessive heat.
A further advantage of the present invention is to provide polymer based products formed from a combination of polymer chains and fullerene molecules wherein the polymer based product is resistant to deformation caused by physical contact with other objects.
Other advantages and features will become apparent from the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Polymer based articles having increased structural rigidity


A tape streamer device in which the current arraying state of partitions formed on a tape-shaped recording medium can be known even on addition or deletion of partitions. Includes a recording and/or reproducing unit 130 and a write/readout controller 163. The recording and/or reproducing unit 130 has a partition rewriting portion for rewriting the partitions and a data recording and/or reproducing portion for the partitions. The recording and/or reproducing unit 130 has the function of controlling the recording and/or reproducing portion based on the arraying information stored in a memory-in-cassette unit for recording and/or reproducing data. The write/readout controller 163 has the partition arraying information writing function of storing the arraying information indicating the arraying of the partitions in the magnetic tape 12 in the memory-in-cassette unit.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tape cassette comprised of a tape-shaped recording medium housed in a cassette, and to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus for recording and/or reproducing data for the tape-shaped recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a tape recording and/or reproducing apparatus, capable of recording and/or reproducing digital data for a tape-shaped recording medium, there is known a so-called tape streamer drive. This tape streamer drive can have a voluminous recording density of the order of, for example, tens to hundreds of gigabyte, depending on the tape length of the tape cassette, as a recording medium, and is widely used for backing the data recorded on a hard disc, for example, of a main body unit of the computer. It is also conveniently used for storage of picture data of large data size.
As the above-mentioned tape streamer drive, there is proposed such a one configured for recording and/or reproducing data for a tape cassette for an 8 mm VTR as a recording medium, in accordance with a helical scan system employing a rotary head.
As the above-mentioned tape streamer drive, exploiting such a tape cassette for an 8 mm VTR, the small computer system interface (SCSI), for example, is used as an input/output interface of recording and/or reproducing data.
During recording, data furnished from, for example, a host computer, is inputted via the SCSI interface. This input data is transmitted in terms of preset groups of data of a fixed length as a unit. The input data is compressed, if need be, in accordance with a preset system, and transiently stored in a buffer memory. The data stored in the buffer memory is supplied to a recording and/or reproducing system in terms of a preset length, known as a groove, as a unit, so as to be recorded by a rotary head on a magnetic tape.
During reproduction, data of a magnetic tape is read out by a rotary head so as to be transiently stored in the buffer memory. The data from the buffer memory is expanded., if previously compressed for recording, and is transmitted via SCSI interface to a host computer.
The data recording area on the magnetic tape forms numbered partitions in which it is possible to reproduce or record data.
In a data storage system, comprised of the above-described tape streamer drive and a tape cassette, the numbers affixed to the partitions are used to supervise the partitions on the magnetic tape for performing proper recording and/or reproducing operations for the magnetic tape of the tape cassette. For example, for performing recording and/or reproduction, the tape streamer device moves to the partition carrying the desired number, by prediction from the current prevailing partition number.
For recording the recording data on a data recording area carrying plural partitions on the magnetic tape as described above, the numbers affixed to these partitions are in the falling order beginning from the leading end of tape (BOT) to the trailing end of tea (EOT) of the tape-shaped recording medium, as shown in FIG. 1. If, for example, there are formed eight partitions, the partition numbers are P7, P6, P5, P4, P3, P2, P1, P0 from the BOT of the tape-shaped recording medium. The suffixes of the partition numbers, that is n of Pn, stand for the partition numbers.
The reason the partition numbers are in the falling order is to enable the total number of the partitions formed on the tape-shaped recording medium to be inferred from the partition number of the leading end of the tape-shaped recording medium. For example, from the partition number affixed to the leading end partition, herein xe2x80x9c7xe2x80x9d, it can be inferred that a sum total of 8 partitions are formed on the tape-shaped recording medium shown in FIG. 1.
There are occasions wherein, if the partitions are formed in this manner in succession, the operator desires to add a new partition. In such case, a new partition can be added by splitting a pre-existing partition.
The routine practice in adding a partition is to split the partition P0 of the EOT of the tape-shaped recording medium. This adds the new partition P8 at back of the partition P0, with the number affixed to the partition P8 being xe2x80x9c8xe2x80x9d. However, this produces disruption in the partition numbers affixed to the partitions.
If, when the partition P8 is added to the trailing end of the partition P0, and the current prevailing position is the partition P3, the operator desires to move to the partition P8, the operator moves to the BOT of the tape-shaped recording medium, reliance being had on the relation 3 less than 8, on the assumption that the numbers affixed to the partitions are on the falling order.
If the tape streamer device is moved based on this assumption, it is not possible to find out the partition P8 provided at the trailing end where the new partition has been added. That is, for efficient movement of the tape streamer device to the targeted partition P8, there is required means for grasping the current disposition of the partitions without regard to the current positions.
There occurs a similar situation in case of partition deletion. For example, if the operator moves in search of the partition P0 unawares of the fact that the partition P0 has been deleted, there is no such partition and the tape comes to a close contrary to the intention of the operator. In order to avoid this from occurring, means need to be provided which permits the fact of previous deletion of the partition without regard to the current partition position.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a tape cassette and a tape recording and/or reproducing apparatus in which the current arraying states of the partitions formed on the tape-shaped recording medium can be grasped even if partitions are deleted or added incidentally.
A tape cassette according to the present invention includes a tape-shaped recording medium having at least two numbered partitions in each of which recording data is recorded, and storage means for storing the ancillary information concerning each of the partitions. The storage means is provided separately from the tape-shaped recording medium, and holds on memory the arraying information specifying the arraying state of the partitions on the tape-shaped recording medium.
The tape cassette can thus store the arraying information indicating the partitions in the tape-shaped recording medium.
A tape recording and/or reproducing apparatus according to the present invention includes partition rewriting means for rewriting partitions on the tape-shaped recording medium, partition rewriting means for rewriting the partitions on the tape-shaped recording medium, writing means for storing the arraying information specifying the arraying of the partitions in the storage means, recording and/or reproducing means for recording and/or reproducing the recording data for the partitions, and controlling means for controlling the recording and/or reproducing means based on the arraying information to record and/or reproduce data.
Thus, the tape recording and/or reproducing apparatus controls the recording and/or reproducing means by the controlling means based on the arraying information of the partitioned tape cassette in the tape-shaped recording medium written by the partition arraying information writing means in the tape cassette storage means.

Tape cassette and tape recording and/or reproducing apparatus


This invention applies to the field of light projectors for graphics media, such as movie film, projection slides, liquid crystal cells and fiber optic arrays. High light levels have not been possible with prior art projectors due to plastic media aging and melting in the heat of concentrated light; due to optical inefficiencies in converting circular lamp beams to a rectangular medium format; and due to mismatches between the numerical aperture of the lamp to the graphics media. The present invention solves the heating problem by providing a projector having an elongated, heat absorbing glass coupler between the light source and the graphics medium; it solves the optical inefficiency problem by providing the coupler with a circular light entrance end and a rectangular exit end; and it solves the numerical aperture problem by providing the coupler with a generally parabolic shape that collimates extreme off-axis light rays.

A principal disadvantage of prior art projection systems is that they heat, age and melt film, slides, liquid crystal cells and even optical fiber ends. Many thermal control methods are presently used to reduce the heat to protect such media. A most effective method for controlling media temperature is shown in the present inventor's U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,399, which uses a cylindrical glass coupler between the lamp and the graphics medium. A reflector lamp focuses a very intense spot of light on a proximal (inner) end of the glass coupler. The glass rod absorbs the infrared heat and conducts it out of the light beam. The coupler described in the '399 patent has a tuned length to diameter aspect ratio, whereby very intense and sharply-focussed, light enters the proximal end of the coupler, but the light emitted from the other end is cold and uniformly distributed across the distal (outer) end glass surface. As a result, after continuous operation of a 150-watt lamp, one can touch the end of the glass rod and feel no heat. This has proven highly successful in use since 1991, and it is so efficient that 150-watt projector according to the '399 patent produces more usable light than most 250-watt projectors.
Another disadvantage of prior art projectors, including movie projectors, video projectors and fiber optics projectors is that they produce light in a circular beam, but the graphics media used, such as movie film, projection slides, liquid crystal cells or imaging fiber optic arrays, are all rectangular. The transition from the circular lamp beam to a rectangular medium format is currently accomplished by using a rectangular mask to shape the light beam before it strikes the mask. The mask can be a simple planar aperture, or it can be a rectangular glass coupler, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,445, which uses a polygonal coupler instead of the cylindrical coupler of the '399 Patent. Polygonal masks are optically inefficient, as the edges of the circular lamp beam are clipped off, allowing only the rectangular portion of the circular beam to pass into the mask and onto the graphics medium.
Although the inventor's '399 patent solved the media heating problem, there is still another limitation on projected beam brightness and overall optical efficiency. That limitation is the numerical aperture mismatch between the projection lamp and the imaging medium.
A projection lamp has a very large aperture, near F:1, to capture and focus as much of the source radiation as possible. An aperture of f:1 means the distance from the lamp reflector face to the focal plane, where the source in imaged as a bright spot, is equal to the reflector diameter. Therefore, in an f:1 aperture, the total included angle of the beam is approximately 90.degree.. Due to the greater distance from the source to the rim of the reflector where the image magnification is the least, the reflector lamp produces the smallest, most intense light spot almost entirely from the widest angle rim rays.
However, most graphics projectors have an aperture of at least f:4, where the maximum light acceptance angle of an image-projecting lens is only about 50.degree.. Thus, most of the lamp light, which is contained in the sharply-focussed light incident on the medium at between 50.degree. and 90.degree. off axis cannot be seen by the projection lens and is just thrown away.
In the case of optical fiber arrays the numerical light acceptance aperture is about f:2, as any incident light beyond the angle of total internal reflection of the fibers simply passes out the sides of the fibers and is lost as "side glow". Thus, the lamp light contained in the sharply-focussed light incident on the medium at between 70.degree. and 90.degree. off axis is also thrown away.
A first purpose of the present invention is to provide a projector having high-efficiency light coupler that absorbs and dissipates the beam heat before it reaches the projection medium. A second purpose of the present invention is to provide a projector in which sharply-focussed energy of an f:1 aperture projection lamp is accepted by the entrance end of an f:1 aperture coupler, and be emitted from the exit end of the coupler at an exit aperture of f:2 to f:4, or the optimum f-stop aperture for the specific graphic medium used in the projector.
A third purpose of the present invention is to provide a projector having a light coupler in which the sharply-focussed circular light pattern from a projection lamp is efficiently transformed by the coupler into a rectangular exit beam.
A fourth purpose of the present invention is to provide a projector having a light coupler in which wide angle rays from a projection lamp are substantially collimated into narrow angle rays that can be effectively utilized by the graphics medium.

Light projector with parabolic transition format coupler


The disclosure relates to a waste gas purification method, and more particularly, to a waste gas burning method of reducing CO and NOx by burning waste gases using a system for individually controlling CO and NOx. In accordance with the disclosure, there is provided a low-pollution burning method using a system for individually controlling CO and NOx including a waste gas introduction and flame injection step; a first waste gas burning step; and a second waste gas burning step.

1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a waste gas purification method, and more particularly, to a waste gas burning method of reducing CO and NOx by burning waste gases using a system for individually controlling CO and NOx.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, waste gases, which are generated in an industrial process such as a semiconductor or LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) manufacturing process or a chemical process, have highly toxic, explosive, and corrosive properties. Accordingly, the waste gases are released as they are into the atmosphere to allow environmental pollution to be caused. Therefore, a purification process should be necessarily performed to reduce an amount of noxious components contained in the waste gases below the allowable concentration.
As a method of processing the waste gases generated in the semiconductor manufacturing process or the like, there is a burning method of decomposing, reacting, or burning a pyrophoric gas with a hydrogen radical or the like in a high temperature combustion chamber, a wet method of dissolving a water-soluble gas in water while the water-soluble gas passes through the water stored in a water reservoir, or an adsorption method of purifying a toxic gas, which is not pyrophoric and soluble, in such a manner that the toxic gas is adsorbed onto an adsorbent by physical or chemical adsorption during passing through the adsorbent.
The burning method utilizes a combustion apparatus to burn the waste gases. There is, however, a problem in that, in the combustion apparatus of the related art, the waste gases generated in the semiconductor manufacturing process and N2 gases used in a dry vacuum pump or the like are oxidized at a high temperature while being introduced into the combustion apparatus, thereby allowing large nitrogen oxides (NOx) to be rapidly generated.
Moreover, there is a problem that the waste gases are burned at a high temperature within the combustion chamber with the consequence that CO is introduced and generated due to incomplete combustion.
Furthermore, looking through combustion characteristics, a NOx concentration is increased by an increase in temperature within the combustion chamber as a CO concentration is decreased. Conversely, there is a problem in that a trade off relation occurs in which the CO concentration is increased as the NOx concentration is decreased.

Low-pollution burning method using system for individually controlling CO and NOx


A digital circuit operating frequency characterizer provides a combination of frequency and duty cycle characterization. The digital circuit operating frequency characterizer includes a programmable frequency generator, a programmable edge variator, a test engine, and a control circuit. The programmable frequency generator provides one or more output signals, and the programmable edge variator is coupled to one or more outputs of the programmable frequency generator for adjusting duty cycle. The test engine uses the outputs from the programmable edge variator and/or programmable frequency generator to apply a defined test signal sequence to a circuit under test and produce a status output after evaluating the outputs received from the circuit under test. The control circuit is connected to the control inputs of the programmable frequency generator, programmable edge variator, and the status output of the test engine. The control circuit synchronizes their operations and performs the combination of frequency and duty cycle characterization.

In order to exactly determine the performance of digital circuits, it is required to test them for different frequencies and duty cycles. The existing methods for testing digital circuits offer either frequency testing or duty cycle testing, but do not test for combinations of these parameters. Also, the conventional testers are generally external to the chip. The tester applies different frequencies to the circuit through the IO pads. The frequency limitation of the IO pads limits the frequency being fed into the circuit. The manual operations involved in the testing process further increase the testing time of the circuit. Owing to these limitations, designers have to rely on simulation results, which inherently differ from the behavior on the actual silicon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,016 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,216 describe different approaches to generating a variable clock using voltage controlled programmable delays and synchronized clock frequencies or phases. However, these approaches do not provide any mechanism to determine maximum operational clock frequency.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,081,143 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,272,439 describe frequency monitors that compare two frequencies and accordingly either align the phase of a PLL or select/reject the input signals. However, they do not compute the maximum operating frequency and also do not provide any mechanism to characterize both frequency and duty cycle.
Thus, there is a need to develop a system that overcomes the above drawbacks.
Also, there is a need to develop a system that can provide both frequency and duty cycle characterization.

Digital circuit for frequency and timing characterization


A device for rotatably mounting a camera on a person comprises a female connector and a male connector. The female connector has a U-shaped slot defined by a pocket and a pair of opposed channels which extend from the pocket. The male connector has a wedge shaped base, a plate spaced-apart form the base, and an opening extending through the wedge shaped base and the plate. The plate is slidably received by the U-shaped slot of the female connector and rotatable through 360 degrees within the pocket of the female connector. A threaded member extends through the opening in the male connector. The threaded member is for engaging a threaded tripod receiver of the camera. A strap assembly is connected to the female connector. The strap assembly is for mounting the device to the person. The plate of the male connector has a first rotatable position within the pocket of the female connector in which the male connector is secured to the female connector, and a second rotatable position within the pocket of the female connector in which the male connector is releasable from the female connector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera carrying device and, in particular, to a device for rotatably mounting a camera on a person.
2. Description of the Related Art
Camera carrying devices are well known, the simplest being a strap, secured to a camera, which allows a person to carry the camera around their neck or shoulder. However, the strap allows the camera to swing freely about the person. The camera may therefore become damaged upon impact with the person or another object. The strap may also become entangled with the camera, the person, or another object and consequently interfere with the person's ability to take a picture. To overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings numerous body-mounted camera cases have been developed. Carrying a camera disposed within a body-mounted camera case removes the need to have a strap secured to the camera. However, conventional body-mounted camera cases are also limiting. The time required to remove the camera from within the case may prevent a person from taking a desired photograph, particularly, in situations where the scene is fluid. There is accordingly a need for an improved camera carrying device.
United States Patent Application Publication Number 2009/0196596 to Chamberlayne which was published on Aug. 6, 2009 discloses a device for rotatably mounting a camera on a person. The device comprises a female connector having a U-shaped slot which is defined by a curved pocket and a pair of opposed channels that extend from the pocket. The U-shaped slot receives a male connector which includes a circular plate that is freely rotatable within the U-shaped slot and an elongate threaded member for engaging a female tripod receiver of the camera extends concentrically of the circular plate. A strap assembly secures the female connector to a person, thereby allowing the camera to be rotatably mounted on the person.
United States Patent Application Publication Number 2010/0054724 also to Chamberlayne which was published on Mar. 4, 2010 discloses a similar device for rotatably mounting a camera on a person and is further provided with a locking mechanism. The U-shaped slot of the female connector includes a bulb shaped opening disposed between the pair of opposed channels that extend from the curved pocket. The bulb shaped opening is defined by a circular portion and an elongate portion that extends from the circular portion. The male connector includes a truncated cylindrical body disposed between a pair of circular plates. The truncated cylindrical body includes a pair of opposite flat surfaces. A first one of the plates is freely rotatable within the U-shaped slot and an elongate threaded member for engaging a female tripod receiver of the camera extends concentrically of a second one of the plates. The male connector is only releasable from the female connector when the flat edges of the truncated cylindrical body of the male connector are aligned with the elongate portion of the bulb shaped opening in the U-shaped slot of the female connector. This prevents the male connector from being accidentally decoupled from the female connector.
Both of the above mentioned references are incorporated herein by reference.

Male connector for a camera carrying device


A method of inhibiting growth of a bacterium including steps of: a) delivering a polynucleotide including a sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a homologue thereof to the bacterium, and b) contacting the bacterium with an effective amount of an antibiotic; wherein the bacterium is Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A method of treating a subject suffering from an infection caused by a bacterium which is Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the method including steps of: i) delivering said polynucleotide to a tissue infected by the bacterium or a bacterial cell in the subject; and ii) administering an effective amount of an antibiotic to the subject. A composition and a recombinant plasmid containing said polynucleotide.

Bacteria with multiple drug resistance (or multidrug resistance, MDR) have become a global issue worldwide, and hundreds of thousands of people's lives are threatened every year. In recent years, a steady increase in the MDR of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) has been reported. P. aeruginosa is a gram-negative bacterium of the family Pseudomonadaceae, and it can switch from being an environmental isolate (soil and water) to a human pathogen.
P. aeruginosa causes nosocomial pneumonia, catheter and urinary tract infections, sepsis in burn wound and immunocompromised patients, as well as chronic pulmonary inflammation in cystic fibrosis patients. One of the major characteristics of this bacterium is its resistance to antibiotics, which is due to the highly coordinated and complex transcriptional regulatory networks it possesses, resulting in the assimilation of signals originating from a multitude of different environments, such as the expression of different sets of genes to facilitate growth in drug-induced stress environments. The emerging MDR strains were resistant to fluoroquinolones, cephalosporins, carbapenems, and aminoglycosides. Thus, the choice for clinical treatment of P. aeruginosa infection is very limited.
Accordingly, there remains a need for developing compounds or methods that can be used against bacteria particular P. aeruginosa which have multidrug resistance.

Method and composition for inhibiting growth of bacterium


A beverage-containing article carrier includes a supporting frame and a release strip member. The supporting frame member contains a first set of openings having a diameter which is larger than the necked portion of bottles retained in the carrier. The release strip is releasable relative to the supporting frame and covers a portion of the first openings. The release strip further includes a plurality of arc-like recess portions, which combines to form with the uncovered portions of the first openings, a set of second openings having a diameter sized to retain the necked portion of a beverage-containing article, such as a bottle or can. Preferably, the second openings each include a set of retaining tabs, whereby removal of the release strip causes at least one of the tabs to be removed, allowing a predetermined number of articles to drop through the first openings.

Currently, there are known carriers for retaining a predetermined number of containers, such as bottles or cans or others used for containing carbonated beverages, e.g., soda-pop, water, etc.
The most common bottle carrier is the so-called "basket carrier" which, as the name denotes, is formed into a basket which receives a predetermined number of bottles. Six packs of soda and beer are often seen using such basket carriers. These carriers have several drawbacks. First, the blanks for the carriers are complex, requiring equally complex machinery for their construction. In addition, filling the bottles using these carriers is also tedious and time-consuming. Finally, these basket carriers are difficult to stack, such as for display in a store.
To that end, bottle carriers have been developed which include a plurality of neck-receiving apertures. Typically, the apertures include a number of radially extending tabs projecting from the circumferential margin of the aperture which engage the chime or the crown of the bottle to hold the bottle in the carrier. To remove the bottles from the carrier, the bottles must be individually pulled downwardly through the tabs. The force required, however, to overcome the restraining force of the tabs is significant and difficult to overcome. It has been found that pivoting or hinging the bottle eases in the removal of the bottles, most notably, in plastic carriers of the type, but in removing a bottle as described the structural integrity of the carrier may be compromised or in other instances, other bottles may be inadvertently released, either agitating the contents or breaking the bottles.
To solve the above problems, some carriers introduced release mechanisms. U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,464 issued to Galbierz et al. and filed Jul. 29, 1994 describes a paperboard carrier having individual tear strips which expand the bottle neck apertures. A tear-strip can release mechanism is described by U.S. Pat. No. 3,331,500 to Poupitch. Another Galbierz et al. patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,776 filed Oct. 6, 1995, describes a paperboard carrier using a perforated strip which removes a first ply of material and expands openings to facilitate removal of bottles from the carrier. In this particular mechanism, the second ply includes the entirety of the tabs as well as a series of release openings such that removal of the first ply expands the bottle neck opening allowing the bottle to break through a slit forming a tab and allow the bottle to pass to the release opening. Such a mechanism as described is complex and difficult to manufacture. Moreover, such a design is not equally suitable for plastic bottle holders, which are becoming increasingly popular due to their ease in molding and ability to mass-produce.


The method of the invention involves providing a first receptacle and a second receptacle. The first receptacle contains a sterile aqueous broth and the second receptacle contains an aqueous broth including a carbon source. The method then includes placing into the first receptacle a first support surface having a paraffin wax coating thereon and placing into the second receptacle a second support surface having a hydrophobic material coating thereon. A body specimen, such as sputum, is then introduced into each of the first and second receptacles. The presence of a nonparaffinophilic hydrophobic microorganism in the body specimen is determined by observing (i) a lack of microorganism growth on the paraffin coated material of the first support surface and (ii) a presence of microorganism growth on the hydrophobic material coating of the second support surface. The presence of the nonparaffinophilic hydrophobic microorganism can be further confirmed by performing a DNA extraction. An associated DNA extraction procedure is also provided.

This invention relates to a method for determining a presence or absence of a nonparaff inophilichydrophobic microorganism in a body specimen by using a DNA extraction procedure and a novel DNA extraction procedure.
Several of my United States Patents disclose a method of identifying paraffinophilic and nonparaffinophilic microorganisms in a body specimen. Focussing particularly on detection of paraffinophilic microorganisms, a paraffin slide is placed into a receptacle containing a sterile aqueous broth. After this, a body specimen, such as fecal matter, is introduced into the receptacle. As the broth contains no carbon source for food for the microorganism, if the microorganism is a paraffinophilic microorganism, it will be baited by and attach to the paraffin coating on the slide in order to utilize the paraffin wax as a food/carbon source. By observing the microorganism growth on the slide, and by (if desired) performing a sequence of assays, the paraffinophilic microorganisms can be identified.
This method, however, does not eliminate the potential presence of a nonparaffinophilic hydrophobic microorganism, such as M. tuberculosis. Thus, what is needed is a simple, inexpensive and easy to use method that will allow the determination of the presence or absence of a nonparaffinophilic hydrophobic microorganism.

Method for determining a presence or absence of a nonparaffinophilic hydrophobic microorganism in a body specimen by using a DNA extraction procedure and a novel DNA extraction procedure


A hub transmission for a bicycle comprises a hub axle; a driver rotatably supported to the hub axle; a hub shell rotatably supported to the hub axle; a power transmitting mechanism disposed between the driver and the hub shell for communicating rotational power from the driver to the hub shell through a plurality of power transmission paths; a shift mechanism for selecting the plurality of power transmission paths; a shift assist mechanism for communicating rotational power from the driver to the shift mechanism; and a power control mechanism disposed between the driver and the shift assist mechanism and coupling rotational power from the driver to the shift assist mechanism for communicating non-constant rotational power from the driver to the shift assist mechanism.

The present invention is directed to bicycle transmissions and, more particularly, to an internally mounted multi-speed hub transmission for a bicycle.
An internally-mounted multi-speed hub transmission sometimes is mounted to the rear wheel of a bicycle so that the rider can select different gear ratios to vary the pedaling effort. A typical hub transmission includes a hub axle that is mounted to the bicycle frame, a driver rotatably supported to the hub axle for receiving the pedaling force through a sprocket and chain, and a hub shell rotatably supported to the hub axle. A power transmitting mechanism is disposed between the driver and the hub shell for communicating rotational power from the driver to the hub shell through a plurality of power transmission paths, wherein each power transmission path typically produces a unique gear ratio. The power transmitting mechanism ordinarily comprises a planetary gear mechanism including one or more sun gears rotatably supported around the hub axle, a ring gear rotatably supported around the hub axle, a planet gear carrier rotatably supported around the hub axle, and a plurality of planet gears rotatably supported to the planet gear carrier and meshing with the sun gear and the ring gear. The plurality of power transmission paths and the corresponding gear ratios are selected by selectively nonrotatably coupling the various components to each other. For example, one gear ratio may be selected by nonrotatably coupling a sun gear to the hub axle, another gear ratio may be selected by nonrotatably coupling the driver relative to the planet gear carrier, and another gear ratio may be selected by nonrotatably coupling the driver relative to the ring gear. Many such coupling relationships often are possible in a typical hub transmission, thus resulting in a relatively large number of possible gear ratios.
A shift mechanism is usually provided for selecting the plurality of power transmission paths. The shift mechanism may comprise a shift sleeve that surrounds the axle such that rotation of the shift sleeve controls the nonrotatable coupling of the various components. Such a shift sleeve ordinarily is coupled to an actuator member outside the hub, wherein rotation of the actuator member is controlled by a shift control device mounted to the handlebar or by a motor that is electronically controlled by the rider. When the rider exerts a large amount of force on the pedals to accelerate the bicycle quickly, a very large amount of force is applied to the internal components of the hub, thus creating significant resistance to the shifting operation. Such resistance results in excessive manual shifting effort required by the rider or in unacceptable strain on the motor that drives the actuator member.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,508 discloses an apparatus that uses the rotational power of the hub itself to assist the shifting operation when significant drive force is applied to the hub. That apparatus senses when the shift sleeve experiences significant resistance to the shifting operation. Such resistance activates a pawl mechanism coupled to the shift sleeve so that pawls carried by the pawl mechanism engage a ratchet mechanism comprising a plurality of ratchet teeth formed on the inner peripheral surface of the driver. The rotational power of the driver is thus communicated to the shift sleeve, and the shift sleeve is rotated to complete the shifting operation. If the shift sleeve still does not move in response to the rotational power of the driver, then the pawls ride over the originally engaged ratchet teeth and engage successive ratchet teeth in the rotational direction, thereby providing a series of pulses of rotational power to the shift assist mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,500 also discloses an apparatus that uses the rotational power of the hub itself to assist the shifting operation when significant drive force is applied to the hub. To avoid damage to the shift sleeve or to other components of the shift mechanism, a power control mechanism that comprises at least two frictional discs controls an amount of rotational power communicated from the driver to the shift mechanism to prevent locking between the driver and the shift mechanism.

Bicycle hub transmission with a power control mechanism for a shift assist mechanism


A temperature-compensated junction isolator (28) is used with a waveguide junction (20) in a hollow microwave waveguide system (22). The junction isolator (28) includes a ferrite cylinder (34) within the waveguide walls (30 and 32) at the junction with its cylinder axis (36) perpendicular to the waveguide walls (30 and 32). A pair of temperature-compensation washers (38) are aligned with the cylinder axis (36) of the ferrite cylinder (34) and are positioned external to the waveguide walls (30 and 32). Each washer (38) has a central opening (40) smaller in diameter than the diameter of the ferrite cylinder (34) and is made of a material whose permeability decreases with increasing temperature, preferably a nickel-iron alloy with about 30 percent iron. A pair of magnets (42) are aligned with the cylinder axis (36) of the ferrite cylinder (34), one of the magnets (42) being located exterior to each of the temperature-compensation washers (38 ). The waveguide junction isolator (28) produces a circulator function with relatively uniform properties over a range of operating temperatures.

This invention relates to microwave devices, and, more particularly, to a design for a waveguide junction isolator that achieves relatively unvarying performance over a range of temperatures.
Microwaves (including millimeter waves) are high frequency waves in the gigahertz range that are widely used in communications and other applications due to their ability to carry a large amount of information. Microwaves can propagate either in a waveguide or through free space. The present invention relates to their propagation in a waveguide.
In a microwave waveguide system, there are sometimes junctions between several lengths of waveguide. In one type of commonly encountered junction, the Y-junction, three ports leading to separate waveguides lie in a plane and are oriented symmetrically from a central junction structure. In the absence of an isolator, microwaves entering the junction from one port propagate to the other two ports with diminished energy.
In many applications, however, it is desirable to be able to direct the microwave energy from one port entirely to another port, isolating the third port so that very little of the microwave energy flows to it. A microwave isolator is a known device that may be placed at the junction to perform the function of directing the microwave energy from one port to another port, while isolating a third port.
A microwave isolator of conventional design for use with a hollow microwave waveguide includes a ferrite cylinder within the waveguide walls at the center of the junction structure. Outside the waveguide walls on either side of the ferrite cylinder and aligned with its cylindrical axis are permanent magnets that produce a magnetic field through the ferrite cylinder. The design and operation of conventional microwave junction isolators are known in the art. The operation of the microwave junction isolator is determined by factors such as the wavelength of the microwave radiation, the physical size of the waveguide, the physical size of the ferrite cylinder and the magnet, the strength of the magnet, and the geometry of the isolator structure.
Microwave junction isolators must operate over a range of temperatures, both because the environment of the waveguide system may change and because the transmitted microwave energy heats the waveguides and other parts of the system. It is highly desirable that the isolator have properties that are relatively independent of temperature, and therefore various design modifications of the basic junction isolator have been developed with the objective of achieving a temperature-independent operation. These prior temperature-compensated designs have not been fully satisfactory, and do not achieve as temperature-independent an operation as desired.
There is therefore a need for an improved temperature-compensation approach for waveguide isolators. Such an approach should be operable with known types of waveguide junctions, and should achieve the isolation or circulation function with minimal temperature dependence of performance. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides related advantages.


A light table is used in connection with an underlying portable light source to illuminate a pattern disposed between the light table and an overlying fabric sheet. The light table includes a portable frame which spaces a translucent upper plate from a lower supporting surface over the light source. The frame also includes a downwardly facing peripheral frame channel which is utilized to clamp the overlying fabric sheet to the light table. More particularly, a plurality of resilient, one-piece hold-down clamps are placed about the periphery of the light table to firmly hold portions of the fabric sheet to the table to minimize relative movement therebetween. The clamps include a lower bracket bent into a resilient arch. The clamps snap into place about the periphery of the light table such that the arch-like lower bracket cooperates with the peripheral frame channel.

This invention relates generally to light tables. More particularly, the present invention relates to a portable light table and an associated quilting/craft system utilized to apply a design to a fabric sheet.
Light tables have been used extensively by draftsmen and artists to facilitate the preparation of drawings and in the application of designs to an overlying material, such as paper or fabric. Light tables are very popular with artists desiring to carefully copy a pattern from one substrate material onto a sheet of fabric.
Prior light tables utilized in connection with fabric sheets are typically heavy, of relatively complicated construction and expensive. Such prior light tables usually combine the table and the light into a single unit, and include a translucent or transparent upper surface over which a pattern may be placed and disposed between the upper surface and an overlying fabric sheet. When the light bulb is turned on, the pattern is clearly visible through the fabric sheet, which permits one to trace the pattern and/or apply decorative materials to the fabric sheet in accordance with the pattern, as desired.
One primary drawback with prior light tables is the inability to anchor the fabric sheet to the light table in a manner minimizing or preventing relative movement between the two. Another problem lies in the sheer bulk of prior light tables, which makes it difficult to carry them from room to room or from one remote location to another over an extended period of time.
Accordingly, there has been a need for a novel light table quilting/craft system which is economical to produce, efficient, and which can be used in connection with a portable light source. Such a novel light table quilting/craft system should lend itself to being manufactured of a variety of lightweight, strong materials which permit the light table itself to be moved with ease and without fear of breakage. Additionally, a light table is desirable which may be nested with other similar tables to facilitate transportation and storage thereof. Moreover, there is a need for means for non-destructively clamping a fabric sheet to the light table to minimize relative movement therebetween. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.


A method and device for connecting a load to an AC power source is arranged to ensure that the volt-second ratings of magnetic devices in the load are not exceeded, in order to limit in-rush currents resulting from saturation of the magnetic devices. In the case where the load is being disconnected from a first AC source and connected to a second AC source, the volt-seconds of the load can be measured and/or calculated during disconnect, in order to delay connection of the load to the second AC source by an amount sufficient to prevent saturation of magnetic devices and thereby ensure volt-second synchronization of the sources.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of connecting a load to an AC power source or sources, and in particular to a load connection method in which the load is connected to the AC power source based on the magnetic saturation characteristics, in volt-seconds, of the load, thereby minimizing the current in-rush caused by reduced impedance due to saturation of magnetic constituents of the load during connection.
The invention also relates to a load disconnect/reconnect method in which the magnetic saturation characteristics of the load are measured or determined during disconnection of the load from a first AC power source, and used to minimize in-rush current during re-connection of the load to a second AC power source.
Finally, the invention relates to devices that implement the above-mentioned volt-second based connection and disconnect/reconnect methods.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of static or electro-mechanical devices to achieve phase synchronization when disconnecting from and reconnecting to AC power sources has made a considerable contribution to the power quality and reliability in critical IT, MIS, and communications facilities. However, one problem that is not solved by current phase synchronization devices is the inability of the distribution system to survive the high initial influx of current drawn by down stream transformers and other magnetic devices when they saturate. This initial influx of current can trip upstream protective devices and/or initiate bypass in an upstream UPS.
The performance of transformers and other magnetic devices is defined by their B-H curve. The axes of the B-H curve are flux density (B) and magnetic field intensity (H). The flux density is the integral of the applied voltage and is therefore proportional to the volt-seconds of the applied voltage. The magnetic field intensity is proportional to the current.
The relationship between B and H is determined by the permeability of the magnetic device and this relationship is generally non-linear. The slope of the B-H curve is inductance. At high levels of flux density (volt-seconds) the B-H curve flattens causing the slope of the B-H curve to approach zero. The knee of the curve is where the curve starts to flatten and the device core starts to saturate, i.e., the part at which increases in the input voltage do not increase the secondary voltage proportionally.
If the applied volt-seconds exceed the rated volt-seconds for a ½ cycle interval, or if there is a volt-second off-set, the core saturates, the device impedance is reduced (core saturation), and large current flows in the power system.
When a magnetic device is disconnected and connected between two power sources that are out of phase, the applied volt-seconds can be twice the rated volt-seconds, causing a large influx of current. The current in-rush can be up to 12 times the rated full load input current for the first half cycle. Only the source impedance and the magnetic device winding resistance and leakage impedance will limit the current, and typically the upstream protective devices(s) will trip or open and cause the loss of the critical loads supported by the transformer.

Volt-second synchronization for magnetic loads


A nail driver bumper comprises an inner pad and an outer pad which are made of heat-resisting elastomer material. A plurality of axial ribs is arranged between the inner pad and the outer pad. An axial slot is formed between two adjacent axial ribs. A top of each axial slot is communicated to the lower chamber of the cylinder. An axial channel and a radial channel are formed at the lower end of each axial slot. The entire axial channels and the radial channels are communicated with the axial slots and the central hole of the inner pad so as to communicate to the lower chamber. Thus, a plurality of air paths is informed between the inner pad and the outer pad so as to increase the surface area for an ability of preferred heat dissipating, and prolong the lifetime of the bumper.

The nail driver bumper is located at a bottom of the cylinder of the nail driver body for absorbing the impact of the nail-beating piston when the nail-beating piston beats downwards so that the nail-beating piston will not be destroyed.
It is known that the conventional nail driver bumper is made of elastomer material. However the repeated operation of the nail-beating piston will generate high temperature to the nail driver bumper so that the bumper is easy to crack and thus the lifetime is shortened. To overcome this problem, it is necessary to make the nail driver bumper with heat-resisting elastomer material.
Furthermore, the heat dissipation of the bumper is not preferred. This is also disadvantageous to the bumper. The conventional single ring or double ring nail driver bumper is not sufficient to solve the defect in the prior art.


This invention suppresses accidental change of an adjustable parameter that influences a print job. For this purpose, when the print data of a certain job exists in a storage unit, change of the adjustable parameter by a user interface is inhibited.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system adapted to enable a user interface to change an adjustable parameter about processing by a printing system, and a program product.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the commercial printing industry, publications are issued through various kinds of work steps including entry of a document, designing of the document, layout editing, comprehensive layout (presentation by printing), proofreading (layout correction and color correction), proof (proof print), block copy preparation, printing, post-processing, and shipping.
In the conventional printing industry, an offset reproduction printing press is often used in the printing step, and the block copy preparation step is inevitable. However, once the block copy is prepared, it is difficult and disadvantageous in terms of cost to correct the block copy. In block copy preparation, therefore, careful proofreading (i.e., careful layout check and color confirmation) is indispensable. Some period of time is generally taken until a publication is issued.
In the commercial printing industry, most of apparatuses used in the respective work steps are bulky and expensive. Additionally, work in these steps requires expert knowledge and, therefore, know-how of experts called craftsmen.
Under these circumstances, a so-called POD (Print On Demand) market is recently appearing along with the advent of high-speed and high-quality electrophotographic and inkjet printing apparatuses and competing with the commercial printing industry.
The POD market that is replacing the above-described large-scale printing presses and printing methods handles jobs of relatively small lots in a short delivery period without using any large-scale apparatus or system.
In the POD market, digital printing using electronic data is implemented and print services are provided by making the best of printing apparatuses such as a digital copying machine and a digital multi function peripheral.
In the POD market, printing is merged with digitization more than in the conventional printing industry, and management and control using computers become widespread. This actually enables a publication to issue in a short delivery period and obviates know-how of operators (workers). Recently, the quality of printed products is also coming close to the level of the commercial printing industry.
In these situations, office-equipment makers and the like are currently considering to enter the new POD market (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2004-310746 and 2004-310747). Particularly, they are recently examining printing apparatuses and printing systems capable of sufficiently satisfying requirements not only in an office environment but also in a POD environment that expects cases of use and needs different from those in the office environment. For a printing environment assumed in the POD market, the method of improving the productivity of a printing system is expected to be important. The method of designing a user-friendly printing system for an operator (worker) while maintaining high productivity is also expected to be important.
As described above, for, for example, an office-equipment maker which is strong in the office environment now and wants to fully enter the new POD market, it is preferable to cope with use cases and user needs that are assumed not in the office environment but in the POD environment. In other words, for full entry in the POD market, it is necessary to conduct sufficient studies for commercializing a digital printing system suitable for even the POD environment. Assuming commercialization of a printing system suitable for the POD environment, however, there is still room for further study and problems and demands to be tackled.
For example, a job to be printed by a printing apparatus is saved in a storage unit. The saved print job is printed in accordance with an instruction from the operation unit of the printing system. If this job holding function is provided, the operator of the system can, for example, print a desired print job at a desired timing. Alternatively, if the operator (worker) of the printing system can flexibly change various device adjustable parameters of the system, the system can be prevented from creating, as an end product, a printed product without quality desired by a customer. The market can demand such a printing system convenient for an operator who works in the printing environment such as the POD environment. However, simply employing these configurations can pose the following problem.
For example, if change of device adjustable parameters is permitted independently of the presence/absence of a print job in the storage unit, a change that affects the print style of the print job saved in the storage unit can be done.
This can be a problem in the POD market that assumes to create a product meeting the request of an end user (customer). That is, the above-described configurations which are provided to meet the possible needs of the POD market may pose a new problem.