A printed circuit board has a substrate formed of an insulator, a strip line provided on a front surface of the substrate, and a ground metal layer provided on a rear surface of the substrate. An opening is provided in the ground metal layer to reach the substrate. A radio wave receiving converter and an antenna device each include the printed circuit board.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to printed circuit boards, radio wave receiving converters and antenna devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a structure of printed circuit board suffering less bowing after heat treatment for reflow or the like, and a radio wave receiving converter and an antenna device each provided with the relevant printed circuit board.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, a printed circuit board having a wiring pattern formed on a substrate comprised of an insulator is widely known. An example of such a printed circuit board is a high-frequency circuit board. A microstrip line and a coplanar line are often used as lines formed on the high-frequency circuit board.
A substrate portion on which, e.g., a microstrip line is formed (hereinafter, referred to as the "microstrip substrate") consists of a component surface (the surface on which a transmission line is formed) and a ground surface.
FIGS. 13 and 14 schematically show the microstrip substrate. As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the microstrip substrate has a substrate 2 of a dielectric material, a strip line 1 formed on a front surface of substrate 2, and a ground pattern 3 formed on a rear surface of substrate 2. Ground pattern 3 is generally formed of a metal layer covering the entire ground surface of the microstrip substrate. Herein, such a metal layer covering the entire surface is also referred to as a pattern. By comparison, a coplanar circuit generally has a ground pattern surrounding the periphery of a transmission line.
For example, when the microstrip substrate as described above is subjected to heat treatment for reflow or the like, substrate 2 suffers bowing due to a difference in area ratio (hereinafter, referred to as the "residual copper ratio") of the metal left on the front surface and the rear surface of substrate 2. The bowing of substrate 2 becomes greater as the difference in residual copper ratio between the front and rear surfaces of substrate 2 increases.
Generally, such bowing due to heat treatment is unlikely to occur with a hard substrate. On the contrary, a substrate formed of polytetrafluoroethylene and a soft substrate such as a so-called flexible substrate suffer considerable bowing, which greatly affects performance and quality of the circuit board.
Thus, various countermeasures have conventionally be taken to prevent the bowing, which include massaging the substrate before reflow, performing reflow at low temperature, and providing an additional step of calibrating the bowing.
Such countermeasures, however, cannot prevent bowing of the circuit board completely, causing falling off or misalignment of component(s) during reflow. Further, chip crack would occur when mounting the circuit board in an enclosure, possibly causing a serious problem regarding quality. Still further, the additional steps of massaging the substrate and others would lead to a considerable loss.

Printed circuit board, radio wave receiving converter, and antenna device


An image forming apparatus including a stepper motor, a component attached to the stepper motor, and a controller to control the stepper motor. The controller controls the stepper motor to be accelerated or decelerated, at driving frequencies that do not match a resonant frequency, in order to avoid a resonance between the stepper motor and the component, by selecting a speed control table that has the driving frequencies, which avoid the resonance. Thus, the image forming apparatus can avoid the resonance between the stepper motor and the component, minimize vibration and noise, and prevent malfunctions of the component. The image forming apparatus further comprises a first storage unit to store a resonant frequency of the component and, a second storage unit to store speed control tables having different driving frequencies, which are set according to speed control periods.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to an image forming apparatus and a method of driving the same. More particularly, aspects of the present invention relate to an image forming apparatus capable of reducing the vibration of a stepper motor mounted therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, stepper motors are motors that consistently rotate, according to an input DC voltage, or an input AC voltage. A stepper motor is a brushless, synchronous, electric motor that can divide a full rotation into a large number of steps. When commutated electronically, the motor's position can be controlled precisely, without any feedback mechanism.
This stepper motors are used in image forming apparatuses, such as, a printer, a facsimile machine, a multi-functional apparatus, etc., because of they can be precisely controlled.
However, using a stepper motor can result in the production of a resonance that occurs when a driving frequency of the stepper motor matches a resonant frequency of a part of an image forming apparatus to which the stepper motor is attached. In other words, when mechanical and electrical properties of the stepper motor reach a certain driving frequency band, the stepper motor suddenly vibrates, or experiences a reduction in output torque. In an image forming apparatus, the resonance causes vibration and noise, and reduces the performance and life span of the image forming apparatus.


A chart recorder is described, of the type which includes a strip of pressure-markable chart paper (12, FIG. 1) that is slowly moved downpath past a marking station (30) where at least one stylus (32) presses against the chart strip to mark it, which is compact, reliable, and accurate. The marking station includes a first wide but thin belt (52) extending in a loop between a pair of rollers, with the stylus coupled to the belt so as the output of a temperature sensor turns the belt, the stylus moves across the width of the chart strip. A slider (82, FIG. 3 ) coupled to the stylus and belt, can slide along a lateral guide (90) that resists tilting of the slider, to thereby enable it to keep the stylus pressed against the chart strip. Where two styluses are used, a second independently driven belt is coupled to a second stylus with the second belt lying below the first one. A supply roll (20, FIG. 2) of chart strip can lie under a platen (26) against which the stylus presses, with the path of the chart strip extending upwardly from the storage station to the platen.

Low cost strip chart recorders are often used to record the temperature of perishable cargo during its transportation. Such chart recorders must be constructed at low cost, and generally use pressure-markable chart paper. Previously, such recorders have included a bimetallic strip wound into a loose spiral, with one end fixed and the other end holding a stylus that presses against the chart strip, the bimetallic element moving the end of the stylus slowly across the width of the paper as the temperature changes. Such pressure-markable recorders have the disadvantage that they are not highly accurate and cannot record a temperature or other phenomenon sensed by an electronic sensor. Accurate electronic sensors are readily available at low cost and can be placed away from the recorder. A compact pressure marked chart recorder with one or more styluses that are precisely movable by an electronic sensor, and which was compact and of relatively low cost construction, would be of considerable value. For example, such a chart recorder could record temperature near the walls of a container as well as deep within the transported goods, to determine whether any part of the shipment has been exposed to a temperature above a maximum chill temperature. The chart strip may have a length of perhaps 20 inches, and may move at a rate of three eighths to two inches per day along its length.


A waveguide orthomode transducer. In a first layer a turnstile junction having a main waveguide and four waveguide ports, and four hybrid tees each have an e-port, two opposed side-ports, and an h-port. The hybrid tees are ring-arranged around the turnstile junction so the waveguide ports each communicate with one h-port, so adjacent hybrid tees inter communicate with their respective side-ports, and so the e-ports form two sets of opposed e-ports. In a second layer two h-plane power dividers/combiners each have an axial-port and two opposed side-ports. The h-plane power dividers/combiners are arranged so their respective side-ports communicate with different ones of the two sets of opposed e-ports and so their axial-ports are polarization ports. This permits a single signal with two fundamental orthogonally polarized modes to enter the main waveguide and exit separated at the polarization ports vice versa.

A waveguide orthomode transducer (OMT) is a radio frequency (RF) device often used to combine or separate orthogonally polarized signals, thus providing polarization-discrimination. OMTs also have important utility as polarization diplexers.
Unfortunately, most OMTs today are not fully satisfactory. For example, they may not be effective in preventing the generation of undesirable higher order modes, or they may not provide sufficiently high isolation between ports, or they may be difficult to manufacture and thus relatively expensive, or they may be unduly bulky and too thick for many important applications.
There are various types of OMTs, and one type based on a turnstile waveguide junction is of interest here because it can overcome some of the just noted shortcomings. Turnstile junction-based OMTs provide port isolation and suppress undesirable higher order modes, particularly across a broad bandwidth. OMTs of this type are therefore particularly used today to provide broadband continuous-wave (CW) duplexing of radio frequency (RF) energy, to generate elliptical polarizations, to transmit linear and receive cross-linear polarizations, to transmit and receive linear polarizations, and to transmit and receive circular polarizations. Such OMTs also may be used to measure the degree of ellipticity of circularly polarized waves, as main mode transducers in single or dual channel rotary joints, and as variable power dividers.
FIG. 1a-b (prior art) are depictions of a typical turnstile junction 10, as might be used in an OMT. FIG. 1a shows all of the wall structure 12 of the turnstile junction 10, with extensive ghost effect used to represent hidden lines. In contrast, FIG. 1b shows only the major structure of the turnstile junction 10, with limited use of ghost effect to represent hidden major outlines. FIG. 1b thus dispenses with the distracting detail of wall structure to facilitate showing important other features.
From FIG. 1a it can be appreciated that the turnstile junction 10 here consists, basically, of four rectangular (or ridge) waveguide ports (generically waveguide ports 14, individually waveguide ports 14a-d) that lie in a common plane and are placed symmetrically around and orthogonal to a longitudinal axis of a circular (or square) main waveguide 16. A matching element 18 (or matching elements, plural) may be provided at the base of the cavity formed by the waveguide ports 14 and the main waveguide 16 to enhance broadband operation of the turnstile junction 10 with a low reflection coefficient.
The structure depicted in FIG. 1a is merely one example, and various other shapes for the waveguide ports, the main waveguide, the cavity, and the matching elements may instead be employed in a turnstile junction. For instance, the ports can be of any transmission line type, even including planar types such as stripline.
Continuing now with FIG. 1b, the turnstile junction 10 exhibits two fundamental modes (generically modes 20, individually modes 20a-b, respectively designated Pol 1 and Pol 2 and here stylistically depicted with arrowed lines). The fundamental modes 20 can propagate in the main waveguide 16 as independent orthogonal linear polarizations, and the turnstile junction 10 splits each into equal but out-of-phase electric fields (generically e-fields 22, individually e-fields 22a-b of opposite polarity, and here also stylistically depicted with arrowed lines). The mode 20a (Pol 1) is thus split into the e-fields 22a and 22b at opposite waveguide ports 14a and 14b, but is not substantially coupled to waveguide ports 14c or 14d. Similarly, mode 20b (Pol 2) is split equally but out-of-phase into the e-fields 22a and 22b at waveguide ports 14c and 14d, but is not substantially coupled to waveguide ports 14a or 14b.
Since the turnstile junction 10 is a reciprocal electromagnetic device, driving any two opposite waveguide ports 14 out-of-phase and with e-fields 22a and 22b of equal power will result in transferring essentially their total power to the main waveguide 16 as one of the fundamental modes 20a-b, and substantially no power will enter the other, opposite waveguide ports 14.
To make an operable OMT the four waveguide ports 14 of a turnstile junction 10 need to be connected to some other device or apparatus to provide the just discussed conditions between the respective sets of opposite waveguide ports 14. One traditional approach is to attach each set of two opposite waveguide ports 14 to an E-plane T-junction or a hybrid tee junction serving as an E-plane power divider or combiner to employ the desired equally powered but out-of-phase RF signals.
FIG. 2a-b (prior art) are depictions of a typical hybrid tee 30 (also widely termed a "hybrid junction," "hybrid T," and "magic T" in the art). Similar to what is done in FIG. 1b, in FIG. 2a-b ghost effect is used sparingly to represent only major hidden outlines, and the distracting detail of wall structure has been dispensed with to facilitate showing more important features. The hybrid tee 30 has one H-port 32 (also sometimes called an "H-arm"), two side-ports 33 (or "side arms," or "symmetrical ports," or "symmetrical arms") and one E-port 34 (or "E-arm").
FIG. 2a shows the hybrid tee 30 used as an E-plane power divider/combiner 36 to combine two opposed-polarity e-fields 22a and 22b into one higher power e-field 22c (or to split one high power e-field 22c into out of phase e-fields 22a and 22b having half the power each). In the E-plane power divider/combiner 36 e-fields travel via the two opposed side-ports 33, and via the E-port 34. Conversely, FIG. 2b shows the hybrid tee 30 used as an H-plane power divider/combiner 38 (which has importance discussed presently) to combine two in-phase e-fields 22b into one e-field 22d (or to split one high power e-field 22d into two in-phase, half power e-fields 22b). In the H-plane power divider/combiner 38 the e-fields 22 travel via the H-port 32 and the side-ports 33, and the E-port 34 has no active role.
FIG. 3a-c (prior art) show three different exemplary OMTs that employ turnstile junctions. FIG. 3a shows FIG. 3 of NAVARRINI & PLAMBECK, "A Turnstile Junction Waveguide Orthomode Transducer," IEEE Transactions On Microwave Theory And Techniques, Vol. 54, No. 1, January 2006, pp. 272-77. FIG. 3b shows FIG. 1 of ARAMAKI et al., "Ultra-Thin Broadband OMT with Turnstile Junction," IEEE MTT-S Digest, 2003, pp. 47-50; and can also be seen as FIG. 1 in U.S. Pat. App. 2005/0200430 by ARAMAKI et al., titled "Waveguide Branching Filter/Polarizer" and as FIG. 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 7,019,603 by YONEDA et al. (including Yoji ARAMAKI), titled "Waveguide Type Ortho Mode Transducer" And FIG. 3c shows FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,600,387 by COOK et al., titled "Multi-Port Multi-Band Transceiver Interface Assembly." As can be appreciated by these three prior art examples, the transmission lines attached to the turnstile junction ports have to pass over each other to avoid interfering. The approaches of NAVARRINI & PLAMBECK and of CLARK et al. employ "normal" sized waveguides, and produce OMTs that are quite sizable. NAVARRINI & PLAMBECK teach fabricating their device from four machined bocks that are bolted together, thus being especially challenging to manufacture economically. The patent by CLARK et al. is specialized, resorts to waveguide pass-overs to fully utilize a turnstile junction, but can be manufactured with more conventional techniques. The approach of ARAMAKI et al. reduces the waveguide heights and uses pass-overs to minimize the total thickness. However, this excessive reduction of waveguide height compromises power handling capability, and the passing over itself increases thickness of the overall device.
In summary turnstile junction-based OMTs generally remain bulky and thick, or else require accepting undesirable performance compromises. And accordingly, what is still needed is an OMT design that provides the advantages of the turnstile junction yet permits the resulting OMT to be small and thin, yet to have high power handling capability, provides low VSWR, to provide high mode purity over a broad bandwidth, to exhibit high isolation between ports, and that is easy to manufacture.


In a capacitor-discharge ignition system for an internal combustion engine having a power generation coil, a capacitor connected to the power generation coil, an ignition coil having a primary winding connected to the capacitor through a thyristor and a secondary winding connected to a spark plug, and a microprocessor which turns on the thyristor at a predetermined crank angular position to produce ignition in the spark plug, an engine stop switch is installed to input an engine-stop command signal to the microprocessor when being turned off by the operator. With this, it becomes possible to surely stop the engine at any time if desired.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a capacitor-discharge ignition (CDI) system for an internal combustion engine, more particularly to the CDI system for an engine that can surely stop the engine at any time if needed.
2. Description of the Related Art
The CDI system for an internal combustion engine generally includes a power generation coil which is fixed on the engine body inside a rotating flywheel to generate electric power when crossing the fluxes of magnets fastened on the inner wall of the rotating flywheel, and a capacitor which stores the electric power produced by the power generation coil. When a switching element such as thyristor is turned on, the charge stored in the capacitor is discharged to the primary winding of an ignition coil through the switching element so as to produce high voltage for ignition in the secondary winding, as taught, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 6 (1994)-6229.
In the ignition system, an engine stop switch is installed to be manipulated by an operator. When the stop switch is turned on by the operator, the power generation coil or primary ignition coil is grounded or short-circuited such that the engine is stopped. However, if wire breakage occurs in the switch circuit, it becomes impossible to stop the engine.

Capacitor-discharge ignition system for internal combustion engine


A process for the continuous extraction of water soluble solids from solid particles containing them for providing an extract product in one or more extraction stages. In each extraction stage, a slurry containing particles to be extracted and extract is introduced into an extraction reactor to form an upwardly moving packed bed. Particles are scraped from the packed bed for defining an upper surface of the packed bed. An extraction liquid is introduced into the extraction reactor above the upper surface of the packed bed. A portion of the extraction liquid percolating through the packed bed for extracting water soluble substances from the particles in the packed bed and forming an extract. The remaining portion of the extraction liquid entrains the particles scraped from the packed bed for providing a spent particles slurry. The spent particles slurry is removed from the extraction reactor. Extract is removed from below the packed bed and at least a portion of the extract forms the extract product. The extraction stages may be separated by one or more solubilization stages. Examples of water soluble substances are soluble coffee solids or soluble tea solids.

Soluble coffee and tea powders are usually prepared by extracting soluble solids from roast and ground coffee or tea leaves, concentrating the extract so obtained, and drying the extract to powder, either by spray-drying or freeze drying. To increase yields to commercially acceptable levels, the extraction is usually carried out in two or more steps. In the first step, readily soluble matter is extracted from the roast and ground coffee or tea leaves. In subsequent steps, insoluble carbohydrates remaining in the partially extracted grounds or leaves are solubilized using thermal solubilization and further extracted; either simultaneously or in separate solubilization and extraction stages.
The extraction is traditionally carried out in a battery of fixed bed reactors in a counter-current manner. An extraction liquid, usually hot water, is introduced into the fixed bed reactor which contains the most extracted coffee grounds or tea leaves and flows from one reactor to the next, leaving the battery after the reactor which contains the freshest grounds or leaves. After a certain time, the process is halted and the reactor which contains the most extracted grounds or leaves is disconnected from the battery. A reactor which contains fresh grounds or leaves is then connected to the opposite end of the battery and the process is repeated.
The traditional process works well but suffers the disadvantage that it is not continuous while the downstream production steps are substantially continuous. Further, the extracted grounds or leaves must be dug out or blown out of the reactor, which is removed from the battery, prior to the reactor being re-filled with fresh grounds or leaves. Also extraction and solubilization are essentially coupled in the traditional process. Therefore the solubilization conditions cannot be adjusted independently from the extraction conditions. This, along with high pressure drops over the fixed bed reactors, prevents the use of potentially advantageous solubilization conditions. Further, these problems often lead to the grounds or leaves having long residence times in the extraction process, which is detrimental to product quality and leads to tars which foul equipment. Therefore, there have been many attempts over the years to replace the traditional process with a continuous process and to decouple extraction from solubilization. None of these attempts have been overly successful.
One attempt is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,629,663. In the process described in this patent, the coffee grounds are fed into a tubular reactor which contains an auger. The auger then transports the coffee grounds through the reactor. Extraction liquid is caused to flow through the reactor, counter-current to the coffee grounds. The reactor has several zone of differing diameter to prevent plugging of the reactor due to swelling of the grounds. A problem with this process is that the mechanical action of the auger on the coffee grounds is likely to generate fines. Also low extraction temperatures are used and there is no solubilization. The process is unable to produce products of commercial interest today.
Another attempt is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,347. In the process described in this patent, coffee grounds are slurried with a concentrated coffee extract and introduced into the bottom of a tubular reactor. A cold, dilute coffee extract is introduced into the top of the tubular reactor as an extraction liquid. Hollow blades rotate in the tubular reactor near its bottom. Extraction liquid travelling down the reactor is drawn off through the blades. The blades also serve to transport the coffee grounds upwards. Once the coffee grounds are transported above the hollow blades, the grounds form a packed bed which moves upwards against the flow of the extraction liquid. The temperature within the bed is carefully controlled so that the viscosity of the extraction liquid decreases or remains the same as it travels down through the bed. However, the process described in the patent is an attempt to mechanically optimize the system by reducing channeling. The process does not improve the flavor of the extracted coffee. The arrangement of column and the blades is such that the ratio of the height of the packed bed to the diameter of the column is above about 7:1. Hence the residence time of the extract in the column is long which ordinarily negatively affects flavor. Also, pressure drops across the bed are likely to be high.
It is an object of this invention to provide a process for the continuous extraction of water soluble substances from solids which contain them, especially to provide a beverage products of good flavor.


A television channel selection apparatus for use with a television receiver having a number of available television channels. The television channel selection apparatus includes a pushbutton pad having a first pushbutton and a group of second pushbuttons. A television channel list is displayed on the television channel when the first pushbutton is depressed. The television channel list includes channel numbers listed in relation to the respective television channels. One of the second pushbuttons is selectively depressed to specify the corresponding channel number and thus to select the corresponding television channel.

This invention relates to a television channel selection apparatus for use with television receivers having a number of available television channels.
Various types of television channel selection apparatus have been used to select a desired one of television channels or stations available for television receivers. For example, a commander is provided to control a television receiver at a position remote from the television receiver. The commander includes a pushbutton pad having a number of pushbuttons provided thereon. The pushbuttons include the numerical digits (0-9) to enter a desired television channel or station number. With such a television channel selection apparatus, however, it is not easy for the operator to remember television channel numbers in connection with the respective television channels. This is true particularly when a great number of television channels are available for the television receiver.

Apparatus for display and selection of available television channels


Systems and methods are provided herein for providing an NoC including a configurable array of nodes, where a node of the configurable array of nodes operates in a default operating mode until a replacement operating mode is triggered. For example, when an NoC is unconfigured, a latch bank may be initialized to “clear,” such that no routing decisions are stored. This may enable a default operating mode where routing logic updates the latches' values as needed to implement required routing behavior in a dynamic fashion until configuration is performed.

A System-on-Chip (SoC) is a large silicon chip implementing an entire subsystem comprising numerous subcomponents. A Network-on-Chip (NoC) provides a standard interconnection scheme for large, possibly standardized components in a System-on-Chip. Without an NoC, these subcomponents would be connected in ad-hoc ways, utilizing numerous ad-hoc interfaces on the subcomponents. Such ad-hoc configuration makes it difficult to route the overall chip properly and meet timing requirements. With a Network-on-Chip, each subcomponent is designed to, and verified against, an interface with known, fixed properties, and later the interconnect is customized and/or synthesized to tie these subcomponents together into an overall system.
Generally, an NoC implements point-to-point connections, and the desired service properties may vary from connection to connection. At one extreme, a connection could be a completely provisioned, dedicated connection with so-called "Guaranteed Traffic" (GT), and on the other extreme, a connection could utilize shared bandwidth to transmit packetized data with variable latency on a so-called "Best Effort" (BE) basis. The former might be useful for real-time, high-bandwidth, high-utilization streaming data, whereas the latter might be useful for signaling, status, control, and configuration purposes, all requiring much less bandwidth and mostly insensitive to variable latency.
Various schemes have been proposed to allow one network to provide both extremes of service, if not even more types in between, but these require extensive additional logic to provide the guarantees for GT while still providing BE routing capabilities and avoiding deadlock for BE. These schemes also have not been fully explored because most NoCs carry mostly packetized read/write traffic between compute and memory cores for high-performance computing applications, whereas other application areas, such as multimedia, networking, and digital signal processing (DSP), all operate on real-time streaming data.

Network-on-chip with fixed and configurable functions


The invention disclosed herein provides a system, apparatus and method for removing a paint roller cover from a paint roller frame. The paint roller frame includes a handle having a movable button, a hollow support shaft, a roller support pivotally attached to the hollow support shaft, a spring mechanism and a cable that is connected to the button and the roller support. The paint roller cover is released from the paint roller frame by pressing the button. When the button is pressed the cable is pulled towards proximally. As the cable is pulled proximally, the roller support is moved towards the spring mechanism. The movement of the roller support towards the spring mechanism causes the spring mechanism to transform into a position to release the paint roller cover.

Paint roller dispensers are generally known in the art and can range from very complex devices to those of extreme simplicity. Often after a user is done painting, he has to grasp the paint roller cover, full of paint, with his hand or around the edge of a bucket and physically remove the roller from the dispenser. This process is fairly inefficient, and messy as the user becomes covered in paint because he had to touch the paint filled roller to remove the roller from the dispenser.
Several solutions have been proposed in order to alleviate this problem. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,447,184 to McGinley discloses a paint roller frame that facilitates removal of a paint roller sleeve. The paint roller frame comprises an inner end cap and an outer end cap for rotatably supporting the roller on the frame, a gripper means on the axle of the frame for preventing axial movement of the sleeve relative to the frame and a means for removal of the sleeve. The sleeve is removed from the frame by manually moving the inner end cap towards the outer end cap. The means for removal of the sleeve is not remotely actuated by use of a cable.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,748 to Roe discloses a roller frame that includes an expandable core on the roller frame shaft. The expandable core has a plurality of expandable fingers. The fingers are forced radially outward during axial movement of the expandable core in one direction relative to an axially stationary cam hub on the shaft. Thus, the fingers frictionally engage the inner diameter of the paint roller cover. The paint roller cover is removed by the application of thumb pressure to the inboard end of the expandable core. When the inboard end is pressed, the expandable fingers are moved radially inward. When the expandable fingers are moved radially inward, this removes the locking tension of the cam hub by forcing the expandable core in the opposite direction. The expandable core is not spring loaded nor does it include a star spring that is remotely actuated by use of a cable.
PCT Application WO00/37184 to Babkowski discloses a paint roller frame that includes an end cap assembly. The end cap assembly comprises a push button and a cam member having a plurality of angularly spaced apart fingers. The fingers on the cam member are normally biased radially outward causing the tips of the fingers to engage the inner surface of the paint roller cover. To remove the paint roller cover from the frame, the button on the end cap is manually pressed. When the push button is pressed, the fingers move radially inward causing the tips to disengage from the inner surface of the paint roller cover. Babkowski does not disclose a use of a star spring or use of a cable to remotely actuate the fingers.
The inventions disclosed in McGinley, Roe and Babkowski all contained a removal mechanism that is attached to or near where the paint roller cover attaches to the roller frame. Since the removal mechanism is attached to or near where the paint roller cover attaches to the roller frame, the removal mechanism will get covered in paint during use of the paint roller. Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a paint roller apparatus that allows a user to remotely engage and disengage a paint roller cover from a paint roller frame quickly, cleanly and efficiently.

Remotely actuated paint roller cover dispensing frame


This disclosure may disclose, inter alia, a handle for actuating a device. The handle may include a top comprising a first end and a second end, a first top side coupled to the first end of the top via a first corner hinge, and a second top side coupled to the second end of the top via a second corner hinge. The handle may further include a first bottom side coupled to the first top side via a first side hinge, a second bottom side coupled to the second top side via a second side hinge, and a bottom coupled to the first bottom side via a third corner hinge and coupled to the second bottom side via a fourth corner hinge. In some examples, actuation of the handle may cause deployment or retraction of an element from or into a shaft.

During laparoscopic surgery, a distal laparoscope lens frequently becomes contaminated due to contact with blood or tissue, or may become foggy due to condensation. When the lens becomes contaminated or foggy, the lens provides a reduced visibility. This reduced visibility generally requires a surgeon to remove the laparoscope, clean the lens, soak the lens in warm saline in a thermos to prevent fogging when returned into a warm humid environment of an abdomen, and finally replacing the laparoscope into the abdomen. Often, when the laparoscope is replaced, the laparoscope lens may touch tissue in or at a distal end of a cannula requiring the cleaning procedure to be repeated. These activities are generally repeated several times during a surgery.
Repeated removal of the laparoscope for lens cleaning interrupts the surgical procedure, wasting valuable time in the operating room. These interruptions are a frustration to the surgeon(s), cause delay in the operation, and may complicate the operation as well. For example, after the laparoscope is reinserted into the abdomen (following a cleaning procedure), the laparoscope will need to be rotated and adjusted to return to a previous view, and a step in the procedure is generally restarted where the interruption occurred. Stopping and restarting the procedure can lead to mistakes. Also, a frequent source of offending contamination includes a severed blood vessel. In such an instance, at a time that this issue should be dealt with quickly, the surgeon may not be able to see well enough to stop the bleeding, and thus, the procedure may need to be interrupted while the bleeding continues in order to clean the laparoscope lens.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An exemplary embodiment provides a stackable container for gemstones that has an optically clear lid having an optically planar upper surface with a first optical property, such as a refractive index. The lid has an underside coating of a clear gel adhesive having a second optical property matched with the first optical property to minimize optical distortion. The gel releasably adheres gemstones to the lid. The base and lid of the stackable container clamp releasably together without hinges and without a snap fit closure. The container has a gemstone containment volume wherein gemstones appear to “float” and can be examined. For stackability, an upper region of the lid mounts releasably to an underside of a base of a like second stackable container; and the base mounts releasably to an upper region of a lid of a like third stackable container such that a plurality of stackable containers are stackable in an array.

1. Field of the Technology
The technology relates to stackable containers for the transport and display of gemstones, and more particularly to stackable containers having optically clear lids for ease of examining the gemstones and that are configured and sized for stackable storage of the stackable containers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Gemstones that have been cut and faceted are typically sorted before being transported to locations through the marketing chain from cutting facility to the final point of sale. Gemstones are usually sorted and grouped into similar grades and sizes. The gemstones are also stored at various locations during flow through the marketing chain.
During transport, many gemstones may be contained in a single container such as a pouch, or a box. Box containers often include a soft material, such as cotton or other textile that provide a cushion on which the gemstones rest. The cushioning is often ineffective in maintaining gemstones in position during handling of the box containers, for example during transport of the containers. Movement of the gemstones during handling is undesirable because it increases the risk of damage to the stones from stones impacting against each other causing chipping of the stones, reducing the value of the stones or even rendering them worthless Alternatives, such as adhesively securing the gemstones in position have been attempted.
At each stage, when the gemstones are to be examined, typically by a jeweler or gemologist, the container is opened and gemstones must be individually selected and examined. The sorting of gemstones, particularly natural gemstones having color and shade ranges, is a time consuming and expensive process, taking into account the specialized labor costs of a skilled gemologist. Moreover, once examined and replaced in a box container, the gemstones are able move within the box container during handling, and the gemstones are again "mixed up" within the container necessitating re-examination and re-sorting at the next party in the supply chain.


Reducing access time for data in a file system when seek requests are received ahead of access requests. In one embodiment, an operating system providing access to the file system receives a seek request (from a user application) indicating an identifier of a file and a location within the file at which a data is sought to be accessed. In response, the operating system computes the offset of a disk block containing the location (thereby the data that is sought to be accessed). On receiving an access request (after the seek request from the same user application) indicating an operation to be performed on the data, the operating system executes the operation on the data using the pre-computed offset of the disk block. The computation of the disk block is performed before the access request is received thereby reducing the time required to process the access request.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to system software and more specifically to reducing access time for data in file systems when seek requests are received ahead of access requests.
2. Related Art
File systems enable data to be stored and retrieved from a storage device in the form of files. As is well known, a file represents a collection of data that is identified by a corresponding file name. Files can be grouped into one or more folders/directories which are generally organized in the form of a hierarchy/tree. As such, each file is uniquely identified by its file name and its location (termed "path") in the hierarchy with respect to a root directory. Examples of files systems are NTFS (New Technology File System) for Windows operating system, EXT2 (second extended file system) and EXT3 (third extended file system) for Linux/Unix family of operating systems, etc.
Data forming a file is typically stored in the form of one or more blocks on the storage device, with the blocks being contiguous or scattered in non-contiguous blocks of the storage device. File systems typically maintain data structures that indicate the blocks that form each file along with other "metadata" related to each file. The metadata may include information such as the name of the file, the path of the file, date of creation, date of modification, access control, etc. File systems may also maintain data structures that specify the details of the folder/directory hierarchy.
Accessing data (from an application) in a file entails sending one or more requests to the file system. In one approach, each access to data is performed by first sending a seek request to an operating system providing access to the file system, followed by an access request. The seek request indicates information such as the name and/or path of the file, and the absolute/relative location of the data within the file (typically indicated as the number of bytes/words from the start of the file which is assumed to be 0) sought to be accessed. On receiving the seek request, the operating system stores the corresponding information in a memory.
The following access request indicates the name/path of the file, the operation (read/write) to be performed on the data indicated by the seek request, the amount of data (as number of bytes/words) to be read/written (retrieved/stored), and also the new data to be written (stored) to the file. Accordingly, on receiving the access request, the operating system identifies a block on the storage device based on the name/path of the file, the location within the file (stored in the memory based on the seek request) and the data structures maintained in the file system. The operating system then performs the specified read/write operation at the identified block.
It is generally desirable that the access time (from receiving the access request to sending a response indicating the completion of the operation specified in the access request) for data in file systems be reduced, in particular when access to the data in the file system is performed by seek requests received ahead of access requests.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.

Reducing access time for data in file systems when seek requests are received ahead of access requests


A mobile device identifies a secure document that contains one or more context rules that correspond to the secure document. The mobile device determines whether a user is authorized to access the secure document based on the one or more context rules. The mobile device identifies an original document format for the secure document if the user is authorized to access the secure document and identifies an authorized application installed on the mobile device for accessing the secure document using the original document format. The authorized application corresponds to the original document format of the secure document. The mobile device sends the secure document to the authorized application.

An Enterprise, such as, a business organization, can store data that may have sensitive content. Such sensitive data can come in the form of private or company information, intellectual property (IP), financial or patient information, credit-card data, and other information depending on the business and the industry. Data loss prevention (DLP) solutions generally detect sensitive data in documents and prevent unauthorized access, saving and/or sharing of the sensitive data. Traditional DLP solutions typically prevent unauthorized access, saving and/or sharing of the sensitive data by monitoring, detecting and blocking sensitive data while in-use (endpoint actions), in-motion (network traffic), and at-rest (data storage). Enterprise users, such as Enterprise employees, may wish to access the Enterprise data remotely. For example, a user may be traveling and may use a tablet computer and an insecure network, such as a hotel's public network, to access his or her Enterprise email account. The email may have sensitive Enterprise data. Generally mobile devices do not have the capability to run security agents to prevent the users from accessing the sensitive data using an insecure network. Conventional DLP solutions also typically do not prevent unauthorized attempts to copy or send sensitive data when the sensitive data is synchronized with a native mobile device application. For example, when the sensitive data is synchronized with a mobile email client, the sensitive data may be forwarded using non-authorized email accounts to unauthorized recipients. The sensitive data may be accessed using other applications installed on the mobile device and the other applications can be used to move the sensitive data from the mobile device to a non-sanctioned destination. Generally, mobile clients (e.g., email clients) do not provide extensibility mechanisms typically used to provide additional security capabilities such as data loss prevention, and may leave the sensitive data that is synchronized with a mobile device vulnerable to data loss.

Preventing the loss of sensitive data synchronized with a mobile device


The present disclosure provides systems and methods for integrating an energy control system with an electrical system having a utility meter connected to a utility grid, a photovoltaic (PV) system, an energy storage system, and a plurality of electrical loads. The systems and methods include determining a site condition of the electrical system, determining a type of backup configuration for the electrical system based on the determined site condition, and determining a location of at least one of a main circuit breaker, the PV system, a subpanel, and a site current transformer with respect to the energy control system based on the determined site condition and the determined type of backup configuration.

Residential electrical systems vary from home to home, where power in each home may be distributed from a utility feed to a plurality of electrical loads in myriad ways. For example, some residential homes feature a single panel for servicing all electrical loads of the residential system, whereas other systems use multiple service panels, including a main service panel and one or more subpanels directed to a subset of electrical loads. Moreover, the utility service sizes and load breaker sizes of residential electrical systems differ according to the size and the geographic location of the home. Residential electrical systems may also differ by having alternative energy sources, for example, photovoltaic power generation systems and/or energy storage systems that provide power to the loads or back to the grid.
Thus, due to these countless number of differences, integrating a stand-alone energy control system with various types of electrical systems can be challenging.

Methods and systems for integrating energy control systems with electrical systems


Disclosed herein is a highly enantio- (75 to 98% ee) and diastereoselective (99 to 100% de) synthesis of functionalized pyrazolidines via tandem a-amination-Corey Chaykovsky reaction of alpha unsubstituted aldehydes.

Many analgesic/anti-inflammatory drug molecules such as Ampyrone, Azapropazone, Clofezone, Kebuzone, Metamizole, Mofebutazone, Oxyphenbutazone, Phenazone, Phenylbutazone, Phenylbutazone, Sulfinpyrazoneetc possesses pyrazolidine ring in the structure.
There is ample literature available on the preparation and evaluation of pharmacological activity of the compounds containing pyrazolidine scaffold. There is considerable research activity in progress for the synthesis and evaluation of the new molecules with pyrazolidine scaffold for various biological activities as well as novel methods of synthesis for achieving the same.
References may be made to Journal "Biochemical Pharmacology 70 (2005) 22-29", wherein Inhibition of dipeptidyl peptidase IV by novel inhibitors with pyrazolidine scaffold is reported by HyaeGyeongCheonin.
References may be made to Journal, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters Volume 15, Issue 5, 1 Mar. 2005, Pages 1337-1340, wherein Jin Hee Ahn et al reported new series of pyrazolidine derivatives and their ability to inhibit dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DP-IV).
References may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 7,557,102, which discloses Pyrazolidine-1,2-dicarboxyldiphenylamide derivatives as coagulation factor Xa inhibitors for the treatment of thrombosis.
References may be made to Journal, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 2005, 15, 2527-2531 Kristina M. K. Kutterer et al discloses 4-alkyl and 4,4-dialkyl 1,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)pyrazolidine-3,5-dione derivatives were synthesized, utilizing microwave accelerated synthesis, for evaluation as new inhibitors of bacterial cell wall biosynthesis.
References may be made to Journal J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2008, 130 (39), pp 12907-12911, wherein stereoselective Synthesis of cis- or trans-3,5-Disubstituted Pyrazolidines via Pd-Catalyzed Carboamination Reactions of unsaturated hydrazine derivatives is reported by Natalie C. The products obtained are reported to be in good yield with up to >20:1 diastereoselectivity.
In the light of the above, it is evident that the compounds having pyrazolidine ring possess valuable biological activities and therefore, it is essential to have an industrially viable process to synthesize the same on larger scale. As mentioned above, metal catalyzed reaction for the synthesis of Pyrazolidines are known, however, the same incurs higher cost and further affects the nature due to the pollution.

Organocatalytic synthesis of chiral pyrazolidines and their analogues

COUNCIL OF SCIENTIFIC & INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH


In the neighborhood of each connecting region of a panel substrate, tape automated bonding (TAB) substrates, and a flexible substrate, marks for a visual inspection are provided at a preset distance apart from the connecting region. According to the present marks, inferior products are eliminated with a high rate of accuracy upon visual inspection after completing a connection of display panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mark for a visual inspection upon assembling a display, and also to an electronic equipment provided with a display panel, a tape automated bonding (TAB) substrate, or a flexible substrate having the mark for the visual inspection thereon, respectively.
The present application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-279532, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
2. Description of the Related Prior Art
Recently, a portable telephone or a personal digital assistant (PDA) has come into wide use, and needs a display panel which has a small size, reduced thickness, and high display capability. A liquid crystal display panel or an organic electro-luminescent (EL) display panel is employed as the display panel meeting with the requirement.
In order to improve the display capability of such a display panel, an optical control characteristic or a light emission characteristic of each display element, of course, must be improved, and additionally it is also an important factor to bond electronic parts onto the display panel with high accuracy.
With reference to FIG. 5, the conventional bonding process of the electronic parts onto the display panel will be described. The electronic parts such as the TAB substrate and a flexible printed circuit (FPC) are connected onto the display panel. Here, the connection between the display panel and the TAB substrate will be explained as an example.
A panel substrate 51 of a display panel 50 has leads 51a of the display panel 50 to be exposed at an end portion of the substrate 51. The leads 51a are connected to leads 52a of the TAB substrate 52 through an anisotropic conductive film (ACF) 53. Alignment marks 51b are provided on lateral both sides of a connecting region formed by the leads 51a of the panel substrate 51. Likewise, alignment marks 52b are provided on the TAB substrate 52 to fit with the alignment marks 51b. A photograph of these alignment marks 51b and 52b is taken by an image pickup device 54, and is observed by an enlargement thereof or image-processing. In such a way, positioning is regulated by a regulating mechanism (not shown) so as to bring the positions of the both display panel 50 and the TAB substrate 52 into a predetermined position-relationship therebetween.
After completing the positioning, the end portion of the panel substrate 51 is overlapped with an end portion of the TAB substrate 52 through the ACF 53. The overlapped portion is pressed down by a temporary pressure-bonding head 55. Thus, the both panel substrate 51 and the TAB substrate 52 are temporarily bonded, putting the ACF 53 between the both.
After, then, completing the temporary bonding, the positioning of the alignment marks and also dust or the like to be adhered on the panel are inspected. Only the display panel which passed in these inspections is conveyed into a permanent pressure-bonding process. In the permanent pressure-bonding process, a predetermined temperature and pressure is applied to the temporary bonding portion during a predetermined time, thereby permanently bonding the panel substrate 51 with the TAB substrate 52.
Even if the positioning is performed by using the above-mentioned alignment marks and image processing of the alignment marks through the image pickup device, it is very difficult to perform perfect positioning of each lead disposed with high density since there may be any problem of resolution ability in a photographic image, or any formation error of a substrate glass, the TAB substrate, the FPC, and the like, respectively. In addition, a positional deviation or a pressure-bonding failure may occur in the temporary bonding step or the permanent bonding step after the positioning is performed, so that a connection failure may be caused.
In particular, in the case of a display panel comprising current injection type display elements such as an organic EL display panel, a minute positional deviation causes a contact area formed by connected leads to be decreased, so that there may occur a bad effect to the injected current value. Specifically, even if the connection between each lead is secured, the display performance may be deteriorated due to reduction of the contact area. Comparing with a liquid crystal display panel or the like to be driven by a voltage, the organic EL display panel requires strict accuracy of the positioning. Then, in the case of the organic EL display panel, a visual inspection is performed after the panel substrate is permanently bonded with pressure to the TAB substrate in order to firstly eliminate inferior products which can be visually found out. Further, a microscopic inspection is performed to the remaining products in order to inspect whether the contact area between leads is appropriately secured.
Here, since the microscopic inspection is a work with high load, it is preferable that the inferior products are eliminated in the visual inspection prior to the microscopic inspection as much as possible, and as a result, the objects of the microscopic inspection should be decreased. However, it is impossible for the visual inspection to perfectly examine to see whether the contact area between the leads is under a good or bad condition. In addition, the above-mentioned alignment marks also for regulating the position of the both substrates are too small to find the inferior products by the visual inspection. Thus, in a conventional way, only inferior products having obvious problems such as a distinct pressure-bonding failure can be eliminated by the visual inspection step. As a result, the workload in the microscopic inspection step can not be reduced.

Mark for visual inspection upon assembling a display


A water-based ink for ink-jet recording includes a self-dispersible pigment modified with carboxylic acid group; water; di-2-ethylhexyl sulfosuccinic acid or salt thereof; and a compound represented by the following general formula (1):

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water-based ink for ink-jet recording, an ink cartridge, an ink-jet recording apparatus, and an ink-jet recording method.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is required for a water-based ink for ink-jet recording to provide the high optical density (OD value) and the quick drying performance adaptable to the high speed recording. As those capable of realizing these properties, a water-based ink for ink-jet recording has been suggested, in which, for example, the blending amount of a self-dispersing pigment is adjusted (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-35716).
However, if the blending amount of the self-dispersible pigment is increased in order to improve the optical density (OD value), the redispersibility of the water-based ink for ink-jet recording is lowered. On the other hand, if the discharge amount of the water-based ink for ink-jet recording is decreased in order to obtain the quick drying performance adaptable to the high speed recording, then the white stripe-shaped unevenness (banding) appears on a recorded image, and the optical density (OD value) is consequently lowered in some cases.

Water-based ink for ink-jet recording, ink cartridge, ink-jet recording apparatus, and ink-jet recording method


A method uses natural language for visual analysis of a dataset. A data visualization is displayed based on a first dataset. The method then extracts analytic phrases from a natural language command related to the data visualization. The method computes conversation centers based on the analytic phrases and computes analytical functions associated with the conversation centers, thereby creating functional phrases. The method updates the data visualization according to the functional phrases. The method then extracts analytic phrases from a second natural language command related to the updated data visualization, and computes temporary conversation centers from these analytic phrases. The method then computes cohesion between the first analytic phrases and the second analytic phrases to build a set of conversation centers, and computes analytical functions from this set of conversation centers, thereby creating functional phrases. The method updates the data visualization based on the created functional phrases.

Data visualization applications enable a user to understand a data set visually, including distribution, trends, outliers, and other factors that are important to making business decisions. Some data sets are very large or complex, and include many data fields. Various tools can be used to help understand and analyze the data, including dashboards that have multiple data visualizations. However, some functionality may be difficult to use or hard to find within a complex user interface. Most systems return only very basic interactive visualizations in response to queries, and others require expert modeling to create effective queries. Other systems require simple closed-ended questions, and then are only capable of returning a single text answer or a static visualization.

Data visualization user interface using cohesion of sequential natural language commands


A disk storage device includes two data buses 100, 200 for data transfer. Hard disks (HDDs) 0 and 1 are permanently connected to the data buses 100, 200, and hard disks 2 and 3 are selectively connectable to either of the data buses. When a microcontroller (MCU) 32 outputs a specified signal to a data path controller (DPC) 10 in response to a command from a host, multiplexers 20, 22 connect the selectively connectable hard disks 2 and 3 to one of the data buses. When data is written to or read from the hard disks, the write or read can be performed quickly with fewer data buses and a simple device configuration. A parity data generator (PGEN) 24 is connected to both of the buses, receiving new data via one bus and writing new parity data via the other bus.

As computers are downsized and network systems and multimedia communication are extensively disseminated, the quantity of data that a personal computer handles is being considerably increased. With the increase in a quantity of data, the processing capabilities of the hard disk and the protection of data are becoming the center of considerable attention.
Disk storage devices using a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) system have been proposed in view of the above points. This RAID system is one which employs a plurality of hard disks (hereinafter referred to as HDDs) and realizes mass storage, high-speed processing, and protection of data. In the RAID system, there are six levels, RAID 0 to RAID 5, as shown in FIG. 15. In RAID 0, data (A to D) is divided to be recorded on a plurality of hard disks. In RAID 1, the same data is recorded on two HDDs. In RAID 2, data (A to D) is divided to be recorded on a plurality of HDDs and an HDD for ECC is employed. In RAID 3, data (A to D) is divided to be recorded on a plurality of HDDs and a single HDD for parity is employed. The parity is generated in units of word. In RAID 4, parities are generated at a unit of block. HDD for parity is determined in advance. In RAID 5, parities are distributed to all of the HDDs. In all of RAID 0 to RAID 5, a plurality of HDDs physically appears to be a single HDD logically.
In the disk storage device using RAID 5, in writing data, it is necessary to read data (old data) to be overwritten and original parity data (old parity data) out of the respective HDDs, and thereafter it is necessary to write new data and new parity data to the respective HDDs. That is, in order to write data corresponding to one sector, a data read operation and a data write operation are needed with respect to each of the two HDDs and therefore the input/output operations are needed 4 times.
On the one hand, in the RAID system with a single data bus, the processing speed of the data writing is slow and cannot be increased. If, on the other hand, there is a plurality of data buses, the number of times of data transfer can be apparently reduced to half. If the data transfer is one-sector writing, the number of HDDs that can be operated at a time would be limited to two even if there were three or more data buses. Therefore, data buses other than the two data buses with respect to the two HDDs being operated are not to be used. For this reason, even if a RAID system had three or more data buses, it would become identical in performance to a RAID system with two data buses.
Thus, two data buses are sufficient in a disk storage device using a RAID system, but there did not exist a disk storage device that employs a RAID system which is effectively operated with two data buses. Therefore, the disk storage device with a single data bus has the disadvantage that its processing speed is poor, and the disk storage device with three or more data buses has the disadvantage that data buses other than the data bus connected to a HDD being operated are unnecessary.
Incidentally, although a disk storage drive exists that uses a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) (this drive will hereinafter be referred to a SCSI drive) and a disk storage drive with an AT Attachment (ATA) interface (this drive will hereinafter be referred to as an ATA drive), the ATA drive can be directly controlled by a microcontroller and therefore, in a construction having a small-scale HDD, the ATA drive is superior in several respects to the SCSI drive.
However, because a microcontroller must control the ATA drive directly, the load thereon becomes large. That is, since the microcontroller directly controls the timing adjustment of the ATA drive in each mode, the load on the microcontroller becomes large. In addition, when a microcontroller providing high-speed operation is employed, it is not possible from the standpoint of timing to access the ATA drive as a normal external memory-mapped device.
Further, in a disk storage device with a RAID system including an ATA interface, if too many interrupts are transferred through each HDD to the microcontroller, the operation processing requirement becomes a considerable load.
In view of the facts described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a disk storage device which is capable of writing data with a simple configuration and reading data quickly.

International Business Machines Corporation


A hybrid coupler for UHF-band television transmission has a box containing two lines, each of which is insulated from the box and from the other line, is connected to the other line in a “tandem” configuration, and has a first, a second, and a third portion separate from one another and connected respectively to the third, second, and first portion of the other line to define a first, a second, and a third coupling section to achieve a constant connection over the whole UHF band.

An important application of hybrid couplers is the production of directional filters by means of a balanced structure comprising two band-pass filters and two hybrid couplers, and which, commonly known as a double-bridge channel mixer, provides for combining a number of frequencies at the same output.
Currently used UHF-band hybrid couplers comprise quarter-wave coupled lines, and have a band unbalance of about 0.5 dB, which has no particular effect, except noticeably impairing matching of the wide-band transition port of the directional filter. Currently used quarter-wave hybrid couplers, in fact, provide for a maximum theoretical match of 25 dB return loss at the wide-band port. This is decidedly poor when cascade-connection of a number of systems is required, and accumulated reflection inevitably produces unacceptable matching values.
The current trend is to solve the problem by means of complex adjustments and compensating devices, in an attempt to improve matching of only required frequencies.
In any case, the problem involves specific, normally painstaking, adjustments, limits the maximum number of channels that can be combined, and does not permit versatile use of the directional filters, i.e. cascade connection of independent modules. These drawbacks are further compounded in the case of the latest digital television transmission systems (DVB-T and ATSC) which frequently involve inserting a new frequency on an existing radiating system, and, simultaneously, strict transmission filtration (Ref. ETSI EN 300 744 V1.4.1).

Hybrid coupler and UHF television channel mixer comprising such a hybrid coupler


Memory efficient data processing is provided in a computer environment. A data representation or description is utilized to reduce memory footprint. A data structure can be serialized iteratively utilizing the representation rather than first loading the entire data structure to memory. Portions of the data structure can be materialized to and removed from memory as function of operational need.

The pervasiveness of computers and other processor-based devices has resulted in data proliferation such that vast amounts of digital data are created and stored daily. Although originally the sole domain of well-funded companies and research institutions, technology advancements and cost reductions over time have enabled computers and other electronic devices to become commonplace in the lives of most everyone. As a result, both businesses and consumers create and interact with large amounts of digital data.
Traditionally, a database management system (DBMS) is employed to manage interaction with database data. The DBMS efficiently manages requests or queries from users and programs so that these entities are free from having to know specifics pertaining to how and where data is physically stored. Furthermore, in handling requests, the DBMS ensures integrity and security with respect to the data. The most common DBMS is a relational database management system (RDBM). In this system, data is stored in a tabular format wherein data resides at the intersection of a row and a column.
With the advent and growing popularity of the Internet and other networking technologies, various other structured data languages or formats have been developed to facilitate storing and sharing of information across different technology systems. One such language is XML (eXtensible Markup Language), which is a standard language that allows entities and/or groups to share information in a convenient fashion. This language uses tags or symbols to markup or describe content. Another format that enables sharing of data is JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). JSON is a lightweight data exchange format rather than a markup language that utilizes a collection of name-value pairs and arrays of values to represent data. XML and JSON can capture various computer data structures (e.g. objects, lists trees) for storage and/or transmission.
A myriad of application programming interfaces (APIs) and/or language implementations can be employed to process structured data. For example, XML data can be formatted, queried and/or transformed by XSLT, XQuery and/or XPath. Furthermore, similar mechanisms can be utilized for serializing or streaming such data. Conventionally, such mechanisms load an entire data structure in memory and subsequently perform operations over the materialized data structure.


The present invention relates to the synthesis of a new class of indeno[1,2-c]pyrazol-4-ones of formula (I):

One of the most important and fundamental processes in biology is the division of cells mediated by the cell cycle. This process ensures the controlled production of subsequent generations of cells with defined biological function. It is a highly regulated phenomenon and responds to a diverse set of cellular signals both within the cell and from external sources. A complex network of tumor promoting and suppressing gene products are key components of this cellular signaling process. Over expression of the tumor promoting components or the subsequent loss of the tumor suppressing products will lead to unregulated cellular proliferation and the generation of tumors (Pardee, Science 246:603-608, 1989).
Cyclin dependent kinases (cdks) play a key role in regulating the cell cycle machinery. These complexes consist of two components: a catalytic subunit (the kinase) and a regulatory subunit (the cyclin). To date, six kinase subunits (cdk 1-7) have been identified along with several regulatory subunits (cyclins A-H). Each kinase associates with a specific regulatory partner and together make up the active catalytic moiety. Each transition of the cell cycle is regulated by a particular cdk complex: G1/S by cdk2/cyclin E, cdk4/cyclin D1 and cdk6/cyclinD2; S/G2 by cdk2/cyclin A and cdk1/cyclin A; G2/M by cdk1/B. The coordinated activity of these kinases guides the individual cells through the replication process and ensures the vitality of each subsequent generation (Sherr, Cell 73:1059-1065, 1993; Draetta, Trends Biochem. Sci. 15:378-382, 1990)
An increasing body of evidence has shown a link between tumor development and cdk related malfunctions. Over expression of the cyclin regulatory proteins and subsequent kinase hyperactivity have been linked to several types of cancers (Jiang, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:9026-9030, 1993; Wang, Nature 343:555-557, 1990). More recently, endogenous, highly specific protein inhibitors of cdks were found to have a major affect on cellular proliferation (Kamb et al, Science 264:436-440, 1994; Beach, Nature 336:701-704, 1993). These inhibitors include p16INK4 (an inhibitor of cdk4/D1), p21CIP1 (a general cdk inhibitor), and p27KIP1 (a specific cdk2/E inhibitor). A recent crystal structure of p27 bound to cdk2/A revealed how these proteins effectively inhibit the kinase activity through multiple interactions with the cdk complex (Pavletich, Nature 382:325-331, 1996). These proteins help to regulate the cell cycle through specific interactions with their corresponding cdk complexes. Cells deficient in these inhibitors are prone to unregulated growth and tumor formation.
This body of evidence has led to an intense search for small molecule inhibitors of the cdk family as an approach to cancer chemotherapy. There are no known examples of molecules related to the current invention which describe 5-substituted-indeno[1,2-c]pyrazoles as cdk inhibitors. There is one case describing indeno[1,2-c]pyrazoles having anticancer activity. There are two other examples which describe indeno[1,2-c]pyrazoles having unrelated utilities and structures.
A series of indeno[1,2-c]pyrazoles having anticancer activity are described in JP 60130521 and JP 62099361 with the following generic structure:
No substitution is claimed on the indenophenyl portion of the molecule and the molecules are not indicated to be cdk inhibitors. In addition, we discovered that substitution at the 5-position was critical for cdk inhibitory activity.
A series of indeno[1,2-c]pyrazoles having herbicidal activity are described in GB 2223946 with the following generic structure:
The above compounds differ from the presently claimed invention in Xn is defined as halo, alkyl, haloalkyl, and haloalkoxy; n=0-2. In addition, R1 is defined as acyl and R2 is defined as alkyl or cycloalkyl.
A series of 1-(6′-substituted-4′-methylquinol-2′-yl)-3-methylindeno[1,2-c]pyrazoles having CNS activity are described by Quraishi, Farmaco 44:753-8, 1989 with the following generic structure:
Compounds of this series are not considered to be part of the presently claimed invention.

Acylsemicarbazides as cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors useful as anti-cancer and anti-proliferative agents

Abstract: that are potent inhibitors of the class of enzymes known as cyclin dependent kinases, which relate to the catalytic subunits cdk1-7 and their regulatory subunits know as cyclins A-G.

Abstract: This invention also provides a novel method of treating cancer or other proliferative diseases by administering a therapeutically effective amount of one of these compounds or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt form thereof. Alternatively, one can treat cancer or other proliferative diseases by administering a therapeutically effective combination of one of the compounds of the present invention and one or more other known anti-cancer or anti-proliferative agents.


Multilayered structures formed from two or more polymeric layers are fabricated to obtain a single structure preferably having advantages of each of the separate layers. Polyolefin-based substrates can provide a layer with a good balance of stiffness and impact resistance, excellent processability, and relatively lower cost. Tie layers, preferably physically positioned adjacent a polyolefin-based substrate layer, facilitates adhering additional layer(s) together with the polyolefin-based substrate. Suitable tie layers generally include a multicomponent blend of at least one vinyl cyanide-containing component and at least one styrenic block copolymer component. Preferably, the additional layers include at least one acrylate-based cap layer, which can have a glossy, scratch resistance outer layer with excellent optical characteristics.

Multilayered structures formed from two or more polymeric layers are well known in the art and are typically fabricated for the purpose of obtaining a single structure having some of the advantages of each of the separate layers. Processes that are typically used to form multilayered polymeric structures include lamination, extrusion, coextrusion, blow molding, and injection molding. Before such multilayered structures will perform successfully on an ongoing basis, however, it is important that the various layers be suitably adhered one to the other so as to avoid separation (i.e., delamination) during use. If the layers of the structure do not adhere sufficiently to each other, one or more tie layers formed from adhesive compositions have been used to join certain types of layers of a multilayer structure together. These multilayered structures find use in a variety of applications in the building and construction markets; in packaging; in leisure and recreation applications; and in the automotive industry.
Methods for increasing the adhesion between certain types of layers have been reported, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,588,648 discloses an adhesive layer containing an olefin copolymer grafted with maleic anhydride. U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,548 teaches the need for an intermediate adhesive layer which ties or bonds a weatherable outer layer and a polyolefin substrate such as polyethylene. The weatherable outer layer is a blend of acrylonitrile-ethylene/propylene rubber-styrene graft copolymers and a thermoplastic elastomer such as chlorinated polyethylene, aliphatic urethane, saturated styrenic block copolymers, and ethylene propylene diene copolymers. The coextruded adhesive layer contains chlorinated polyethylene, styrenic diblock and triblock copolymers, copolyamide adhesives, polyester adhesives, polyurethane adhesives, PVC, and mixtures thereof.
In addition to initial adhesion problems, however, dissimilar materials may also exhibit processability issues due to differences in rheological properties. At typical processing temperatures, polymeric materials with similar shear viscosities may have significantly different responses to the forces of tensile deformation and extensional flow. Such viscoelastic differences may result in appearance and processing problems (i.e., melt fracture, slip-and-stick phenomenon, sharkskin, and other irregular surface imperfections), as well as variations in the thickness of the layers. For example, coextruding an adhesive tie layer containing greater than 95 percent by weight of styrenic block copolymer along with a second, non-adhesive layer may result in a sharkskin appearance in the finished part and a non-uniform thickness of the adhesive layer, which detracts significantly from the aesthetics of the multilayered structure. If the processing incompatibility is severe, the layers may separate completely during processing or even later during use due to inadequate adhesion.
Blending a styrenic block copolymer with a second component to form an adhesive tie layer has also been reported. Such attempts to improve the viscoelastic differences between the various layers, however, can disadvantageously result in a reduction in the adhesive properties of the tie layer. WO 2003/046102, for example, discloses a tie layer composition containing maleic anhydride grafted styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene block copolymer and at least one adhesion promoter, such as a tackifier resin. The material forming the tie layer may be dissolved in a suitable organic solvent and applied as a solution onto the surface of a substrate layer. EP Patent No. 994776 B1 discloses a multilayer film with an intermediate tie layer composed of a blend of a styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene block copolymer and either a functionalized polyolefin or an ethylene acrylate copolymer.
Multilayered polymeric structures containing acrylate-based cap layers and polyolefin-based substrate layers have also been used. The cap layer provides a glossy, scratch resistance outer layer with good optical characteristics while the polyolefin-based substrate provides a layer with a balance of stiffness and impact resistance, excellent processability, and low cost. EP Patent No. 651013 B1, for example, discloses a process for improving the adherence between (meth)acrylic films and polyolefin substrates through the use of a tie layer containing 5-95 parts by weight of a butyl acrylate/methyl methacrylate core-shell polymer and 5-95 parts by weight of a grafted polypropylene/poly(methyl methacrylate/butyl acrylate) copolymer.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,455,171 relates to a multilayer structure containing a cap layer, a substrate layer, and a tie layer including either an olefin acrylate or a vinyl aromatic diene block copolymer. The cap layer includes at least 50 percent by weight of a polymethacrylate ester or polyacrylate ester. The substrate layer preferably includes 30 to 70 percent by weight propylene polymer containing less than 10 percent by weight ethylene, 7 to 65 percent by weight of a polymer of a aromatic vinyl monomer (i.e., polystyrene), and 5 to 20 percent by weight vinyl aromatic diene block copolymer. The tie layer preferably includes a multiblock polymer of styrene and either isoprene or butadiene in a particular ratio (e.g., 43% styrene:57% butadiene). In one embodiment, the tie layer contains an olefin acrylate such as ethylene methyl acrylate, ethylene ethyl acrylate, or ethylene butyl acrylate.
Polymeric materials containing unsaturated elastomers are generally, however, not thermally stable. Thus, it tends to be difficult to use them at temperatures at or above the temperature at which degradation of the unsaturated elastomer occurs, thereby limiting the usefulness of such materials in processes such as coextrusion. It is further known that unsaturated elastomers, such as conjugated diene rubbers, which have unsaturated bonds in the main chain as opposed to the side chains, are more susceptible to damage from ultraviolet radiation, oxygen, and ozone (i.e., poor weatherability). In addition, when unsaturated conjugated dienes such as butadiene are used in pigmented polymeric composites, color retention after significant outdoor exposure may be unacceptable (i.e., fading).
In light of these deficiencies, therefore, there is a need for tie layer compositions that can be used to adhere polyolefin-based substrates in particular to form multilayered polymeric structures, preferably with a tie layer disposed adjacent to the substrate layer(s) that permits the multilayer product to be prepared, finished and used without severe temperature and weathering limitations typically required of conventional tie materials. Although the multilayered polymeric structures described in the prior art above each has one or more specific properties that may exceed the norm, including mechanical strength, toughness, and scratch resistance, there remains a need for multilayered polymeric structures having greater adhesion between the layers, better weatherability, and increased color retention, while having good or increased processability and aesthetics.

Multilayered polymeric structure and methods

LyondellBasell Advanced Polyolefins USA Inc.


A pipe flaring die has a central opening with a profile configured to reduce stress concentrations at the base of the flared portion of the pipe. The profile includes an annular relief area intermediate an annular gripping surface and an annular beveled portion which defines the angle of the flared portion. The relief area provides a longer transition distance for the formation of the flared portion which results in a reduced residual stress concentration created at the base of the flared portion during the forming process.

This invention relates generally to dies for flaring and/or coupling pipe ends, and more particularly, to such a flaring die configured to reduce stress concentration at the base of the flange created by the flaring die.
Pipes and tubing are used to carry a variety of fluids, some are liquids and others are gases. These fluids may be under substantial pressures or at standard pressure. Therefore, pipes and tubing are rated according to the fluid pressures which the conduit can carry without rupturing. A particular conduit is considered to be a pipe or tubing depending upon the wall thickness of the conduit, the industry or application in which it is being used, and sometimes upon whether it is plastic or metal. For present purposes and simplicity the term pipe will be used to encompass both pipe and tubing as those terms are used by those skilled in the art.
In hydraulic connections it is quite common to utilize pipes in which the end of the pipe has been flared to form a collar which is placed to abut against a surface of the device to which the pipe is being connected, or against another flared pipe often with a sealing ring between them. In order to create the flared end or collar it is customary to provide a clamping die which is pressed against the pipe to be flared at a specified distance away from the end of the pipe. This die typically will have a gripping surface containing teeth or threads which bite into the exterior surface of the pipe being held. The die is pressed against the end of the pipe to hold the pipe during flaring. The flaring process is usually performed by a flaring machine having an eccentric cone. The eccentric cone is pressed against the end of the pipe and rotated circumferentially about the end of the pipe to form a flare. The flare can be at any angle relative to the side of the pipe. The pipe flaring practice is quite old, but there have been improvements in the flaring tools. An improved flaring tool and method of using the same for forming a transverse collar on the end of the metal pipe is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,492.
A conventional flaring die comprises two members which are clamped over the pipe near the end to be flared. Each die member has a central semi-circular opening which is placed over the pipe to be flared. The die members are clamped together near the end of the pipe which is going to be flared. The opening through the die members is sized such that the pipe is of slightly larger diameter than the opening so that the pipe is rigidly gripped between the die members. When the die is closed, the teeth or threads on the gripping surface bite into the pipe creating a series of cuts or grooves on the outside of the pipe. Also, the die members have an annular beveled portion, angled outwardly from the gripping surface. The end of the pipe to be flared is pressed against the beveled portion by the eccentric cone to create the flare. The angle of the beveled portion determines the angle of the flared portion of the pipe. During flaring a stress concentration is created at the base of the flared portion. Because the threads of the gripping portion extend to the edge of the annular beveled portion there are cuts or grooves near the base of the flared portion. These cuts create stress risers. Prior to the present invention those skilled in the art did not recognize that such stress risers had been created or if they had recognized their existence, such skilled artisans did not understand their significance. This stress concentration negatively affects the life and usefulness of the pipe, and the joint of which the flared end of the pipe is a member.
We observed that certain couplings made with flared pipes failed in a high pressure system. One of the pipes cracked at the base of the flare. We believe that the crack occurred during a pressure spike in the system. Consequently, we saw a need for a flared pipe that would not crack when exposed to pressure spikes. One obvious solution to this problem is to use a thicker pipe or a pipe made from a stronger alloy. Not only are those solutions more expensive, they also are not practical for many applications.
A better solution is to find a way to make a flared pipe having lower stress at the base of the pipe than the same pipe made in the conventional way. A flaring die which is configured to reduce the stress concentration at the base of the flared portion would increase the life of and reduce limitations on the pipe and the joint of which it is a part.
Another problem encountered with conventional flaring dies is positioning the pipe in the die so that the flare is of a desired length. If one simply places the pipe so that the end of the pipe is in the same plane as the face of a conventional die the flare will not extend the full width of the beveled portion. If the pipe extends too far beyond that plane the flare will extend beyond the beveled portion. One solution to the problem is to first determine the correct distance from the end of the pipe where the pipe must be gripped. Then the pipe fitter makes a mark on the pipe at that distance and inserts the pipe into the die until the mark is aligned with the insertion side of the die. Another approach is to make and attach a jig or stop to the die against which the pipe can be placed. Using a jig or stop saves time but adds cost. A better solution would be to design the die to have an alignment guide as part of the die.
We provide a pipe flaring die having a profile configured to reduce stress concentrations at the base of the flared portion of the pipe. The flaring die typically is two arch-shaped members which are clamped around the wall of the pipe to be flared. Each member has a profile which includes a relief area provided between a gripping surface and an annular beveled portion. The gripping surface aids in rigidly holding the pipe while the flared end is formed. The annular beveled portion defines the angle of the flared portion that is created by deforming the end of the pipe outward against the annular beveled portion of the die members. Unlike the dies of the prior art we provide a relatively wide relief area between the gripping surface and the beveled portion. For, example in a flaring die for a two inch pipe the width of the die is 1.625 inches wide, the gripping surface is 0.655 inches wide and the relief area is 0.475 inches wide. Indeed, we prefer that the width of the relief area be about two-thirds of the width of the gripping surface. When a pipe is held by our die the grooves or cuts made in the outer surface of the pipe while the die was gripping the pipe during flaring are spaced apart from the based of the flare. The relief area provides a longer transition distance for the formation of the flared portion. This results in a reduction in the residual stress concentrated in the region of the pipe at the base of the flared portion. Additionally, the edge between the relief area and the annular beveled portion can be provided with a radius which further reduces the residual stress concentration at the base of the flared portion.
We further prefer to provide a recess between the edge of the beveled portion and the face of the die that serves as an alignment guide. The pipe fitter places a ruler or other straight edge across the face of the die and inserts the pipe until the pipe abuts the straight edge.
A further feature according to the invention is that mating surfaces of each die member can be provided with a recessed area that can be externally accessed by a tool to separate the clamped together die members after the flaring process is completed.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a description of certain preferred embodiments shown in the drawings.


A method of determining a dose-to-clear of a photoresist on a wafer includes providing an image of the wafer after the photoresist was exposed to a dose of energy and was developed, transforming the image of the wafer into frequency spectrum data, calculating an average frequency spectrum component of the frequency spectrum data, calculating a difference between the average frequency spectrum component and a noise average frequency spectrum component of a noise average frequency spectrum, and determining a dose-to-clear of the photoresist based on the difference between the average frequency spectrum component and the noise average frequency spectrum component.

Generally, integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices are used in a variety of electronic applications, such as computers, cellular phones, personal computing devices, and many other applications. Home, industrial, and automotive devices, which in the past included only mechanical components, now have electronic parts that require semiconductor devices.
Semiconductor devices are manufactured by depositing many different types of material layers over a semiconductor workpiece or wafer, and patterning the various material layers using lithography. The material layers typically include thin films of conductive, semiconductive, and insulating materials that are patterned and etched to form integrated circuits (IC's). There may be a plurality of transistors, memory devices, switches, conductive lines, diodes, capacitors, logic circuits, and other electronic components formed on a single die or chip.
Lithography involves the transfer of an image of a mask to a material layer of a die or chip, also referred to as a wafer. The image is formed in a layer of photoresist, the photoresist is developed, and the developed photoresist is used as a mask during a process to alter the material layer, such as etching and patterning the material layer.
As feature sizes of semiconductor devices continue to decrease, as is the trend in the semiconductor industry, transferring patterns from a lithography mask to a material layer of a semiconductor device becomes more difficult, due to the scattering and the diffraction of the light used to expose the photoresist. The scattering of light at small feature sizes is known as projection optics flare. Projection optics flare is stray light produced by light scattering from lens inhomogeneities, contamination, and surface roughness in the optics of the lithography system. The amount of flare is inversely proportional to the square of the wavelength of the light, and has become a significant factor for Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.
It is often desirable to measure the projection optics flare in a system. One method of measuring projection optics flare is known as the Kirk method. In the Kirk method, a "dose-to-clear" must be measured. Dose-to-clear is the amount of energy (dose) to which a photoresist must be exposed in order to dissolve the entire exposed area of the photoresist when the photoresist is developed.
The value for the dose-to-clear in a photoresist is traditionally determined by visually inspecting a series of Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) resist images exposed at different doses. Visual inspection of the resist images is subjective, and the determined dose-to-clear may vary based on the person inspecting the images.
Other methods measure the contrast of the image and determine the dose-to-clear based on when the contrast in the images is equal to zero. Image contrast, however, is affected by differences in the photo-resist, under-layer coating material, post exposure baking conditions, and SEM settings (e.g., magnification, voltage, current, frame, etc.). Therefore, contrast methods may not yield satisfactory results under all experimental conditions.
As such, it is desirable to provide objective and widely applicable methods and systems for determining dose-to-clear in a lithographic process. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the inventive subject matter will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the inventive subject matter and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the inventive subject matter.

Methods and systems for determining a dose-to-clear of a photoresist