A diaphragm valve which mounts directly on a tank bottom provides positive isolation between the vessel and downstream piping. When closed, the diaphragm seals against the valve body weir to seal the valve, and when opened, the valve provides a smooth, crevice free, drainable passageway to the downstream piping.

This invention relates to diaphragm valves, and more particularly to diaphragm valves which are designed to mount to tank bottoms of sterile vessels.
Similar devices include ball valves, quarter turn valves which have a ported sphere and a pair of seats in a housing. When open, fluid flows from one end of the valve through the ball and out the other end. Rotating the ball 90 degrees closes the valve and prevents fluid flow. The ball may be fixed or floating Plunger valves are linear motion valves which create a seal by forcing an elastomeric boot into a seat area. When the valve opens, the boot convolutes on itself to provide fluid flow. A ram valve is a linear motion valve which consists of a spindle/ piston combination. The seal is typically metal to metal. Another linear motion valve similar to a ram valve is the kettle valve, but a molded elastomer seal, mushroom shaped, is on the end of the shaft.
The foregoing valves are not ideally suited to process fluids in the pharmaceutical/bioprocessing industries. These valves have many limitations including too large in size, they generate a large sump at the vessel bottom and generate crevices in which bacteria can grow, they trap fluid in ball cavity which requires cavity fillers and steam ports to clean, they have poor interior finish and have non-streamlined fluid passages, they do not isolate the working parts from the line fluid, they do not provide positive closure and are not autoclavable, and they contain welds, i.e. mounting flange is normally welded to valve body.
The state of the art of diaphragm valves are known from the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
______________________________________ 1,497,275 3,250,511 2,186,833 3,349,795 2,605,991 3,623,700 2,616,164 3,628,770 2,725,211 3,631,882 2,892,613 4,505,451 3,134,286 4,596,268 3,134,571 ______________________________________
The state of the art for valves used in connection tanks are known from the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
2,679,860 PA0 3,665,946 PA0 3,895,651 PA0 3,918,678 PA0 4,836,236
The tank bottom diaphragm valve according to the invention overcomes the above problems by employing the inherent design features of the diaphragm valves which include positive closure, zero pockets, minimal contact surfaces, streamlined fluid passage, bonnet isolation, and ease of maintenance. The tank bottom diaphragm valve of the invention provides a clean, totally drainable means to isolate the vessel from downstream process piping, and the overall dimensional envelope is minimal and all materials of construction are FDA compliant and autoclavable.


A light waveguide cable includes a compartment holding at least two side-by-side stacks of light waveguide ribbons. The cable is so dimensioned that the order of the ribbons within any stack, and the relative positions of the stacks with respect to each other within any compartment, do not change under normal cable handling conditions.

Optical fiber ribbons, which are generally rectangular in cross-section, comprise a plurality of essentially parallel light waveguides encased in a ribbonizing material, normally a plastic. An advantage of an optical cable utilizing light waveguide ribbons is that the cable is thought by some to be easier to splice, and individual light waveguides can be located by the position in a ribbon.
Optical ribbon cables utilizing stacks of optical fiber ribbons have been proposed. Such cables have compartments holding a plurality of such ribbons where the cross-section of a compartment is much greater than the cross-section of the enclosed ribbons. The open space within compartments takes up a significant amount of the cable volume. This prevents such designs from being used for truly high fiber density optical cables.

Cable utilizing multiple light waveguide stacks


An in-vehicle video system comprising a forward-looking video camera system that includes two independent image sensors and associated digital signal processors for processing imagery received from the respective independent image sensors. The in-vehicle-video system may also comprise a microphone and a transmitter; and a computing system for interfacing with the forward-looking video camera system configured to control the capture, storage and processing of video, still images and audio received from the transmitter and the forward-looking video camera system. The computing system is operable to control image capture including enabling the forward-looking video camera system in a plurality of modes, and to command the forward-looking video camera system to transition to a first mode including commanding a first independent image sensor to capture high-resolution video imagery while a second independent image sensor of the two independent image sensors is capturing still images.

This specification relates to capturing and storing data.
Police officers deployed in a vehicle are often in situations where events occur that necessitate the capture and storage of information related to the events. For example, a police officer can stop a car for speeding or another violation. Information associated with the car and/or interactions with the occupant(s) may be of interest because the information can be used later as evidence or for training purposes. Types of information of interest can include video, audio or still imagery of what is occurring in and in view of the police officer or the vehicle. For example, audio of police officer interactions with the occupant(s) or other people, location information, and physical conditions related to the police car and equipment in or near the car can be important to capture and store.

Video capture system including two independent image sensors


An assembly includes a first structure and a clamp. The first structure may have an opening located on a first surface and the opening includes a keyway. The clamp is configured to clamp a second structure to the first structure. The clamp may include a head configured to be inserted above the opening in the first structure. The clamp may also include a body coupled to the head. An upper portion of the body may include formations located on opposite sides of the body and a lower portion of the body is threaded. The clamp may further include a nut coupled to the body. The nut may be configured to be rotated such that when the formations on the body are aligned with the keyway in the first structure, the head of the clamp is configured to lower onto the second structure and secure the second structure to the first structure.

Support structures, such as those used to support a large number of solar panels, typically include several components that are secured to each other via conventional hardware connections (e.g., bolts, nuts, washers, etc.). One drawback with such support structures is that the hardware connection mechanisms used to hold various components of the structure together do not readily allow for thermal expansion or contraction of the support structures or the devices supported by the support structures. As a result, the support structures may fail or cause other problems when thermal expansion/contraction occurs.
In addition, conventional hardware connection mechanisms used to secure components of the support structure to other components usually require specialized tools, such as a torque wrench, to measure the proper torque setting to achieve the proper clamping force for the particular type of structure. Using such tools is often time consuming with respect to erecting the support structure.


The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display having excellent brightness without moiré patterns. The present invention also relates to a prism sheet and backlight unit which may improve the brightness of the liquid crystal display while removing the moiré patterns. A prism sheet comprises a protective layer including a base material consisting of a light-transmissive resin; and a plurality of diffusion particles distributed in the protective layer to scatter the light input into the base material; a base film disposed on a surface of the protective layer, wherein the light emitted from the protective layer is input into the base film; and a plurality of linear prisms having a pitch of between about 32 μm and about 38 μm and disposed in parallel on a surface of the base film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display having excellent brightness without moiré patterns. The present invention also relates to a prism sheet and a backlight unit which may improve the brightness of the liquid crystal display without developing the moiré patterns.
2. Description of the Related Art
The liquid crystal display, also know as LCD, is an electronic device that transforms electrical signals into visual signals by utilizing the change in the transmittance of liquid crystals according to applied voltages.
As well known in the art, the liquid crystal display is a non-emitting display device. Therefore, the liquid crystal display needs to use an outside light source unit for illuminating uniformly the viewing plane of liquid crystal panel outside the liquid crystal panel in order to display visual information. The backlight unit is conventionally used to provide light to the viewing plane of the liquid crystal panel.
The backlight unit may be classified into two types: direct type and edge-light type according to the position where the light source is disposed. In the direct type, the light source is disposed directly at the back of the liquid crystal panel, whereas the light source is disposed along a side surface of the light guide plate in the edge-light type.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the backlight unit for illuminating the liquid crystal panel from the back of the liquid crystal panel, wherein the backlight unit is of the edge-light type.
As shown in FIG. 1, the backlight unit 10 comprises a light source unit 1, a reflector sheet 2, a light guide plate 3, and a plurality of optical sheets 4, 5 and 6.
The light source unit 1 comprises a light source 1a and a light source reflector 1b. The light source 1a is received inside the light source reflector 1b, and disposed along the side surface of the light guide plate 3. The light source reflector 1b reflects the light generated at the light source 1a toward the light guide plate 3, thereby the light efficiency of backlight unit 10 can be improved.
The light guide plate 3 mixes the light input through the light incidence surface disposed at its side surface and emits the mixed light through the light emitting surface disposed at its upper surface in a direction toward the liquid crystal panel (not shown).
The reflector sheet 2 reflects the light emitted through the lower surface of the light guide plate 3 so that the light is re-input into the inside of the light guide plate 3, which improves the light efficiency of the backlight unit 10.
The optical sheets 4, 5 and 6 may be comprised of a diffuser sheet 4, a prism sheet 5 and a protector sheet 6. Hereinafter, the functions of each component of the optical sheets 4, 5 and 6 will be described.
The light emitted through the upper surface of the light guide plate 3 enters into the diffuser sheet 4. The diffuser sheet 4 scatters the light to make the brightness uniform and widen the viewing angle.
Because the brightness declines sharply while the light passes through the diffuser sheet 4, the prism sheet 5 is provided in the backlight unit 10 to compensate such declination of brightness. The prism sheet 5 refracts the light emitted from the diffuser sheet 4 in a low angle to collimate the light toward the front direction, thereby the brightness is improved within the effective viewing angle.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the prism sheet of FIG. 1 taken along the line I-I′.
Referring to FIG. 2, the prism sheet 5 is comprised of a base film 10, a prism base 11 disposed on the base film and a plurality of prisms 12 disposed on the prism base.
The prism sheet 5 reflects and resends toward the light guide plate (3 of FIG. 1) a portion of the light emitting from the diffuser sheet (4 of FIG. 1) in a certain angle. The prism sheet 5 also refracts the remaining portion of the light to be collimated toward the front direction where the liquid crystal panel (not shown) is disposed, thereby the brightness is improved within the effective viewing angle.
Referring back to FIG. 1, the protector sheet 6 is disposed over the prism sheet 5. The protector sheet 6 prevents the surface of the prism sheet 5 from being damaged, and also widens the viewing angle narrowed by the prism sheet 5.
The liquid crystal panel generally includes repeated patterns of a plurality of transistors and electrode components. However, the patterns of the liquid crystal panel along with the other patterns of the optical devices provided in the backlight unit illuminating the liquid crystal panel develops moiré patterns.
Information relevant to attempts to address the problem of the moiré patterns can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,091,547 (3M Innovative Properties Company), which discloses a luminance control film having less than 30 μm pitched prisms. However, the luminance control film of the reference suffers from the deterioration of the brightness where the pitch of the prism is less than 30 μm. And such fine pitch is also not advantageous in terms of manufacturing process or thermal and mechanical properties.

Prism sheet, backlight unit and liquid crystal display


An appliqué for forming a surface coating to a substrate is disclosed. The appliqué contains a sectioned metal foil that provides a large area electrical circuit for connecting electrical devices. The appliqué may provide additional functions including lightning strike protection. The substrate may be an aircraft surface.

Appliqués are of considerable interest today for commercial and military application. Flight tests have been conducted on paintless aircraft technologies that use an outer surface of a material such as appliqué. These appliqués save production costs, support requirements, and aircraft weight while providing significant environmental advantages. Some of these appliqués are described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,177,189, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, which is incorporated by reference. Further, some commercial airlines, including Western Pacific, use appliqués to convert their transports into flying billboards.
An appliqué provides an advantage of covering a surface with a hydrophobic or superhydrophobic material that may also provide rain erosion resistance. This material is easily applied and removed. This results in a reduction in aircraft maintenance and improves service life.
In addition to the above advantages, appliqués may also provide protection against lightning strikes. Lightning strikes may potentially cause damage to aircraft, especially composite aircraft. To reduce this damage, appliqués may incorporate a layer of a conductive metal foil to reduce damage from these lightning strikes by spreading out the charge of the lightning strike over a large surface area and by directing the charge away from more critical aircraft components. The metal foil may be solid, patterned or a combination of solid and patterned in the appliqué so as to reduce and divert the discharge of the lightning strike. A description of an appliqué providing such protection against lightning strikes is described in U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2006/0051592, filed Sep. 19, 2005, U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2005/0181203, filed Sep. 15, 2004 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,142, filed Apr. 15, 1981, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and incorporated herein by reference.
Up to this time, however, appliqués have been limited in the functions and advantages that they provide, such as lightning strike protection, and an opportunity exists to increase the number of functions that may be provided by appliqués.
Currently, electrical devices are placed on, inside or within the aircraft surface. Electrical connections to these electrical devices have been by hard wiring provided by narrow wires or bundles of wires carried internal or external to the aircraft skin. If the wires are placed on the interior of the aircraft, it is necessary to drill holes through the aircraft skin to connect the wires to external electrical devices and may necessitate a re-certification of the aircraft. In most cases, hard wires cannot be placed external to the aircraft skin because of aerodynamic and safety considerations.
Narrow, thin connections such as those provided by standard flexible thin circuitry may provide a solution to problems associated with hard wiring by placing the connections on the exterior of the aircraft skin in such a manner that the connections are both aerodynamic and safe. Additionally, such circuitry connections must be made resistant to impact, aircraft fluids, water, a wide range of temperature fluctuations, abrasion and UV exposure. Thin circuitry may be applied by printing with conductive inks or etching from sputtered metal films. However, circuitry external to the aircraft skin is readily damaged by physical contact and distortion and elongation of the film, and is prone to electrical overheating.
A solution to these problems may be realized by using appliqués containing sections of foil that provide a large area circuit. The foil sections of these appliqués may provide a robust electrical connection to devices including deicing resistors, aircraft monitoring equipment, solar cells and other power sources, sensors, and lights, some of which may be directly embedded within the appliqué while limiting intrusion into the structure of the aircraft in addition to providing lightning strike protection.
By making an electrical connection through large area sections of the foil that are part of an appliqué, a more robust system may be obtained, since a part of the foil providing electrical connectivity may be damaged and still allow the foil to provide electrical connectivity to a device. Additionally, large area sectioned circuitry foils may allow for elongation of the films containing the circuitry without breaking the electrical paths within the circuitry and help the circuitry foil to conform to a complex 3-dimensional surface such as an aircraft skin.
Most importantly, the appliqué containing the sectioned foil, in addition to providing a large area circuit, may also provide additional functions including, but not limited to, protection against lightning strikes, deicing, and equipment monitoring.
Therefore, a need exists to provide an appliqué that can perform a wide range of functions including, but not limited to, electrical circuitry, lightning strike protection, deicing, and equipment monitoring.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing which illustrates, by way of example, the principles of the invention.


A multi-tiered data acquisition and management system including at least two input computers, operably coupled via a communication link, each coupled to a respective local database of data records. The system includes at least two portable computing devices, each operably coupled to one of the two input computers via a wireless communication channel for accessing the data records of the local databases of the input computers. Each portable computing device comprises a CPU, memory, and a touch sensitive display device that cooperate to display multiple virtual regions (which comprise on a data I/O screen and sense location of contact by a user in these virtual regions to thereby provide for user input). These multiple virtual regions preferably include one of a virtual keypad for entering symbols associated with keys of the keypad, at least one scroll bar, at least one rolling key, multiple icons, a menu screen and a graphing screen. Each portable computer may have an integrated code reader (for example, bar code reader) for data entry. The information acquired and maintained by the system may include product information, information identifying a medical patient, or information related to a medical patient (such as personal information gathered upon admittance for care, information related to past medical history of the medical patient, and information related to vital statistics of the medical patient). In addition, each portable device may include a message notification mechanism that notifies the user of receipt of a message from one of the input computers over the respective wireless communication channels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a system for data acquisition and retrieval through the use of a user interface remotely located from the control system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, most commercial businesses require field employees, such as at points of sale, to fill out paper forms with data sets concerning individual customers or products sold/manufactured. These reports are then collected, compiled and assimilated at a central location and filed for future access. Most modern businesses require this information to be continuously updated and that the field personnel be afforded quick access thereto in order to reduce business costs, improve efficiency, increase accuracy, and the like. Heretofore, data sets concerning matters, such as customer or product information, have been primarily compiled through paper forms completed by field personnel and later possibly entered into some form of central database.
In the healthcare field, hospitals utilize a significant amount of data retrieval and acquisition, with respect to patient information. All data sets containing patient information (data field), such as patient name (a data set, header), date of birth, place of business, address, phone numbers, language, billing account number, social security number, drivers license number, and the like were written on paper forms and maintained in a paper file, and optionally entered by the hospital staff into a common database. Thereafter, the patient information was supplemented with information pertaining to their health condition, such as vital signs, fluid intake, fluid output and the like, which were written on different paper forms by a nurse and later keyed into this common database. Similarly, when patients undergo testing, the test results were manually keyed into the common database and/or written on forms stored in the patient""s paper file.
An alternative example lies in the insurance industry in which field claims adjustors travel to the site of an insurance claim and evaluate the damaged property. These adjustors fill out multiple forms identifying the damage and the insured person""s general information. For instance, in an automotive accident the claims adjustor must describe each problem with the insured car, such as dents, scratches, and the like. These forms are later processed manually or keyed into a common database, after which, the claimant ultimately is paid.
A substantial amount of data acquisition and retrieval is also utilized in factory environments. During the course of manufacturing various products, floor workers and quality review must complete multiple forms concerning a given production unit.
However, every business requiring significant amounts of data acquisition and retrieval in its day-to-day business encounter similar problems. First and foremost, a significant amount of the field operative""s time is required in filling out the corresponding paperwork, in which the potential for user error exists. Also, in systems using paper forms, the information must be ultimately transferred to an electronic database, which provides a second opportunity for user error. Clearly, it would be advantageous to reduce the number of user entries, thereby reducing the likelihood of error.
Further, in many markets, field personnel at one location typically require information quickly from another field location. For instance, in a hospital environment, a doctor within the general ward may require immediate information concerning a patient from the radiology department. However, the process under which the information is written down and carried between departments is very slow. Similarly, doctors and nurses require immediate and accurate knowledge of specific procedures to be followed with regard to particular patients. Past systems for maintaining individual patient procedures have proven ineffective.
Moreover, one office within a business will typically require information from another office which must be hand carried or which is unavailable after the closing hours of the second office. For instance, hospitals require lab testing results be hand-carried to doctors who may be waiting for such results during the course of surgery. Also, typically doctors require clinical data after the clinics have closed.
The need remains in this field for an improved data acquisition and retrieval system to address the problems and drawbacks heretofore experienced. The primary objective of this invention is to meet this need.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a data acquisition and retrieval system which allows users immediate real time access to all existing customer/product information.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a data acquisition and retrieval system which affords users access to wireless remote data terminals.
It is an object of the present invention to minimize the data retrieval time by reducing the necessary information transmitted between handheld units and the corresponding communications server.
It is another object of the present invention to minimize the data necessary for transmission by synchronizing operation within each handheld unit and a corresponding communications server, such synchronization including the minimization of header information for each transmission and the transmission of a command case code used directly by the command server to access a designated database.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a user interface which minimizes user error.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a user interface which utilizes an event driven architecture to allow data entry through a touch pad.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a user interface which is easily operated by using a touch pad which presents a scroll bar, rolling keys and icons for data entry.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a user interface which allows for the scanning of bar codes to identify particular customers or products.
These and further objects will become more apparent from the drawings and detailed description hereafter.

MULTI-TIER DATA ACQUISITION AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM COMPRISING AT LEAST ONE TOUCH-SCREEN ENABLED PORTABLE COMPUTING DEVICE OPERABLY COUPLED TO COMPUTERS VIA WIRELESS COMMUNICATION FOR ACCESSING DATA RECORDS STORED IN LOCAL DATABASES COUPLED TO THE COMPUTERS


A method and apparatus for disturbing a ferroelectric memory array in a particular direction. The method counts a number of consecutive memory operations of a same type applied to the array and then determines if the number of consecutive memory operations of the same type exceeds a predetermined threshold. If the number exceeds a predetermined threshold then a disturb operation is performed. A system including a memory system having this capability is also discussed.

1. Field
This disclosure relates to ferroelectric memory arrays, more particularly to methods for managing the polarity properties in the ferroelectric memory array.
2. Background
Ferroelectric memories are typically comprised of a material having ferroelectric properties sandwiched between layers of electrodes. The electrodes are typically arranged in an x-y grid, with each cell of the array being located at the points in the ferroelectric materials where the x and y lines cross over each other. The data bit stored in each cell has a value determined by the polarity of the ferroelectric material at that point. The polarity is controlled by application of voltages on the x and y lines. Typically, the x lines are referred to as word lines and the y lines are referred to as bit lines.
These memory arrays are relatively simple to manufacture, as they only involve two layers of metal and some ferroelectric layer sandwiched between. They typically have high density. Disadvantages lie in the nature of the extraction of data as well as the writing of data to the array. Both of these operations are slow. Reads are destructive and therefore require the data be rewritten to the array. Similarly, in order to write to the array, the array must be cleared. Reading the array with no regard for the output effectively clears the array prior to write operations.
Write operations and read operations are normally accomplished by applying voltages to the word line and bit line of the cell. For example, a read operation may apply a positive voltage from the active word line to the active bit line for a particular cell, and a write operation may apply a negative voltage. After the operation ends, the cell typically returns to its quiescent state with the voltage representing the data value for the bit stored there. Read and write operations disturb the polarity of the cell. If that cell receives a large number of read operations without any write operations, the cell may not return to the proper voltages for that data value but will become slightly disturbed in a particular direction, either positive or negative. The cell has developed a memory, similar to metal fatigue in mechanical devices, also referred to as history dependence.
In order to extend the longevity of ferroelectric memory arrays, then, some form of correction must be instituted that corrects the voltages for the cells without upsetting the actual data value stored in that cell.

Disturbing a ferroelectric memory array in a particular direction


A graphene structure and a method of forming the same may include a graphene formed in a three-dimensional (3D) shape, e.g., a column shape, a stacking structure, and a three-dimensionally connected structure. The graphene structure can be formed by using Ge.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to a graphene structure and a method of fabricating the same, and more particularly, to a graphene structure having various structures and methods of fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Graphene is a two-dimensional (2D) thin film having a honey-comb structure formed of one-atom-layer carbon. Carbon atoms form a carbon hexagonal plane having a 2D-bond structure with a sp2-hybrid orbital, and a composite of carbon atoms having the planar structure is referred to as graphene.
There are various methods of forming graphene including a mechanical exfoliation method, a chemical exfoliation method, a SiC thermal treatment method, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, an epitaxial synthetic method, and an organic synthetic method, and furthermore, minute patterning of graphene using a lithography process has been proposed. Because graphene has very useful characteristics that are different from those of existing materials, various studies have been conducted to apply graphene to electronic devices.

Graphene structure and method of fabricating the same


A display panel image stabilization method and apparatus includes enabling a user to adjust both the pixel clock pulses and the synchronization for the display panel simultaneously by a single control. The synchronization is adjusted in a stepwise manner through a given number of steps for a particular number of clock pulses. The image is observed by the user to determine whether or not the noise stripes are being eliminated. The stepwise adjustment of the synchronization is repeated for another particular number of clock pulses if the noise stripes are not being eliminated. Once all of the stripes have been eliminated from the image, both the synchronization and the pixel clock pulses are properly adjusted to stabilize the image.

Display panels, such as liquid crystal display (LCD) panels have been employed for displaying images, such as those created by computers. Such an LCD panel is arranged in pixel elements configured in a matrix of columns and rows. When the information indicative of a display image is scanned across the LCD panel to create an image frame, each row of pixel elements are activated selectively by an image information signal.
In order to synchronize the image information signal with the individual pixel elements, a horizontal synchronization (HSYNC) signal is generated for each row of the matrix of pixel elements. Furthermore, a pixel or dot clock (DCLK) signal is derived from the HSYNC signal and has an individual clock signal for each pixel element in each row.
If the DCLK signal is not properly and precisely synchronized with the image information signal, a distorted or noisy image results. In this regard, if there are too many or too few individual clock pulses generated for a given row of pixel elements, unwanted and undesirable vertical stripes appear on the image. Generally, there would be one stripe for each additional or missing clock pulse. Additionally, if the synchronization of the DCLK signal phase with the image information signal phase is not precisely accomplished, the image is also distorted.
Thus, the number of individual clock pulses must be adjusted, and the phase of the DCLK signal must be synchronized with the phase of the image information signal, to precisely stabilize the resulting image. In order to accomplish this, a phase locked loop circuit has been employed to precisely adjust the number of clock pulses for each row of pixel elements. The phase locked loop circuit was adjusted by the user to adjust the number of pulses corresponding to the pixel elements of a given row. Additionally, a delay circuit was employed to adjust the synchronization of the phases. The user was then required to adjust the delay for the delay circuit to adjust the synchronization.
By adjusting the phase locked loop circuit, the noise stripes can be eliminated. However, since the phase must also be adjusted by the user at the same time, it frequently is difficult for the user to accomplish both adjustments simultaneously to give the optimum stabilization of the image. For example, it can happen that a user can reduce the number of noise stripes onto a single one and then attempt to adjust the phase. Since there are not the correct number of clock pulses being generated, the adjustment to the phase cannot be entirely effective to optimize the stabilization of the image.
Generally, the phase locked loop was passively preset for operation in a particular environment to help display a stabilized image. Factors, such as cable impedance or differing signal paths, can adversely affect the synchronization of the system. Thus, the complicated and confusing adjustment had to be repeated, thereby frustrating the user.
The stabilization of a displayed image could, thus, prove to be extremely difficult for users unaccustomed to adjusting the operation of a phase locked loop. Without a technical understanding of the adjustments required to stabilize an image, a user was liable to make adjustments which would prevent the image from becoming stabilized. As a result, the user could become frustrated and settle for a less than ideal displayed image, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the image.
Therefore, it would be highly desirable to greatly simplify the image stabilization adjustments by a user. In this regard, the adjustment technique should be convenient to use and result in an optimum stabilization.

Image display stabilization apparatus and method


A method and system for ensuring property tax compliance are disclosed, in order to assist municipalities in achieving high accuracy compliance in the Personal Property Declaration (PPD) filings that they receive from taxpayers. The invention achieves greater total assessments of taxable property, in an equitable manner. This municipal personal property tax compliance program (MPPTCP) would change the way a state's municipalities enforce personal property tax assessment statutes. The invention includes a method for auditing a PPD, the PPD being a report of taxable property of a filer who is an individual or a business. According to this method a PPD is automatically analyzed to detect possible inaccuracies, by comparing the PPD with data provided by other PPDs. If the possible inaccuracies are detected, then a report is generated that identifies at least some of those possible inaccuracies.

Personal property subject to taxation in many states is taxed at the municipal level, while being regulated by state statute and administered by a state's executive branch. Revenues are typically kept by the taxing municipality, and contribute to the support of their annual budget.
Most commonly, all personal property is subject to taxation, unless specifically exempted by state statute, and qualifying taxable property is often owned by commercial entities. Therefore, a municipal taxing authority deals with predominately businesses and commercial interests.
Taxable personal property must typically be reported on an annual basis to the respective municipal tax assessor. The reporting document is commonly referred to as a Personal Property Declaration, and this term "Personal Property Declaration" (PPD) will be used here as a broad term to cover such documents.
In order to ensure accuracy m submitted PPDs, statutory authority provides broad powers to the (municipal) tax assessor and certain qualified others acting on behalf of the assessor. Audits of PPDs are typically time-restricted, in that they are limited to a specified number of years (e.g. the current and previous two years).
Heretofore, a municipality has typically had only two options available in order to track down unreported taxable assets: (1) employ personnel to audit selected filers, or (2) outsource to a private company. Interestingly, neither of the aforementioned methods have had much of a long-term impact on "compliance," which is defined here as an accurate reporting of all taxable assets. One possible reason for this situation is that neither of these two options involves "compliance" as a specific goal, and neither has employed a process which is designed to achieve it over the long term. Instead, these two options are typically driven by short-term revenue goals only.
A method for improving accuracy of PPDs is needed that establishes "compliance" as the primary goal. If the long-term goal is not directed towards increased "compliance" in annual filings, then the program will result in lower efficiency and effectiveness in collecting potential tax revenue.
It is a generally accepted fact that a significant percentage of PPDs filed with the local assessor's office each year contain inaccurate information, usually in the form of under-reported taxable assets. In addition, many filers fail to include the required information on leased property, even though this information is needed to reconcile with the property owner's filing. Moreover, some people who are legally obligated to file do not bother to file at all.
There are a number of reasons to account for these shortcomings in filed PPDs, ranging from clerical error to intentional misrepresentation. Generally, the accuracy of these reports has suffered from the inattention given them by the taxing authority. Internal staff shortages and antiquated computer systems, as well as ineffective outsourcing programs, have severely limited the ability of municipal assessors to correct the situation.
Further contributing to the problem is the fact that many errors relate to structural problems such as the taxpayer's fiscal year being out of phase with the October 1 day of record, for taxable personal property. Additional error can arise from the fact that the expense/depreciation rules for federal tax purposes differ from Personal Property Declaration schedules.
Regardless of the reason, attempts to raise compliance through manual audits have proven ineffective. Outsourcing to service companies that use typical prior art audit methodology may enhance revenue, but accomplish little for "compliance." A new approach is needed to provide the catalyst for compliance. Former methods have failed and, in some cases, have had costly outcomes resulting from court actions taken by the taxpayer. All of the former programs were revenue-driven, with "compliance" given only passing attention.

Municipal personal property tax compliance method, system, and computer program product


The present invention relates to a method for accessing integrated services by an access network, including: establishing at least one Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Label Switch Path (LSP) in a broadband access network; MPLS encapsulating at a broadband access node a service to be transmitted, and transmitting the encapsulated service in the broadband access network via the LSP. As MPLS is a technology for providing multi-layered connection, in the embodiments of the present invention, MPLS is utilized as the means for networking of broadband access network and private line passing through the core network, so that the problem faced by the broadband access network serving as the bearer network of integrated services can be solved, the integrated services of video, voice, data and private line (including IP private line, and traditional private lines of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) and FR (Frame Relay)) can be carried over the broadband access network at a lower cost.

Network providers have always been pursuing the implementation methods of carrying services of voice, video, data, private line, etc., over the same network at the same time so as to increase the utilization of network and reduce the costs of investment and operation.
An IP (Internet Protocol) network has the advantages of high efficiency of bandwidth utilization, low price, and high bandwidth, and is open and easy for providing flexible services. With the mass deployment of broadband access network, the IP network gradually becomes the practical platform for carrying integrated services. Providers wish to access voice, video and enterprise private line and the like, besides the originally carried data services, via the broadband access nodes. In addition to IP-based voice and enterprise private line which are newly deployed on the broadband network, some providers also wish to carry the traditional services, such as voice or private lines based on TDM (Time Division Multiplexing), ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), or FR (Frame Relay), via the broadband access network.
The existing IP network is mainly designed and constructed for the transmission of data services. The IP network is connectionless and can meet the requirement of the transmission of data services which need only reachability, but can not meet the requirements of reliable transmission (packet loss ratio), time characteristics (order, delay and delay variation), security (isolation between various services, privacy of private network services) and survivability (the recovery time of backup link after failure) for transmission of voice, video and private line interconnection services.
In order to meet the requirement of QoS (quality of service) required by the transmission of voice, video and private line interconnection services, it is necessary for a bearer network to provide connection-oriented service for these services, and protect these services on the basis of connection. To this end, the IP network needs to provide a connection-oriented bearer service.
The MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) technology is a new technology for providing connection over the IP network. The MPLS technology has been applied to the broadband core network and can provide connection-oriented bearer service. At present, however, the MPLS technology is applied only for the broadband core network; while for an access network, different access approaches are employed to implement the access of different types of services over the access network.
At present, these different types of services are generally transmitted over different independent access networks established respectively for the services of voice, video, data and private lin.
The voice service is accessed by PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network, the ordinary telephone network using TDM technology). SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) system is used for the networking of the accessing network;
The data service is accessed by broadband. Direct fiber connection, Ethernet ring (using RSTP (Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol) for protection) or RPR (Resilient Packet Ring) are employed for the networking of the accessing network;;
The video service is accessed by CATV (Cable TeleVision) system. CATV system is employed for the networking of the accessing network;;
The private line service is accessed by DDN (Digital Data Network, which is a private line technology based on TDM), ATM or FR network. SDH system is employed for the networking of the accessing network.
It can be seen that, presently, if a variety of services are to be transmitted, investment for the corresponding network establishment are needed respectively, and the individual networks need to be maintained independently, which increases the provider's CAPEX (Capital Expenditures) and OPEX (Operating Expenditures).
At present, an access network may use the MSTP (Multi-service Transport Platform) system based on SDH, to carry the data, voice and private line altogether.
However, MSTP is a technology based on SDH, with low availability of bandwidth, poor flexibility of services, complex administration and maintenance, and high costs for networking and maintenance.
Another way for implementing integrated service access network is based on ATM, that is, data, voice and private line can be carried together over the ATM network.
However, with the enlargement of IP network, more and more applications have been transplanted to IP platform to make use of its advantages. The ATM network is not the actual development direction of network. It has low efficiency, high cost, and poor expandability, and is difficult to implement whole-network and whole-path coverage when carrying the IP services. ATM is also difficult to implement video multicast services. Furthermore, when ATM network is applied, two kinds of networks based on ATM protocol and IP protocol need to be maintained, thus complicating the administration and maintenance. So, the ATM network can not serve as the integrated service bearer platform for all services covering whole network and whole path in the aspects of bandwidth, scale and tendency, etc.
Presently, the access network based on Ethernet protocol is also employed. That is, the Ethernet technology is applied between a broadband access node and a broadband access server to carry the services of data, voice, video and private line together.
With the Ethernet access network, the access of pure data services can be implemented simply and efficiently at a low cost. However, there are still some issues in the bearing of integrated services.
1. survivability: the Ethernet access network of tree networking can not meet the requirements for service protection. The protection switching time of an Ethernet ring network constructed with RSTP protocol is at the level of seconds, which can not meet the switching time requirements for high quality services.
2. QoS (Quality of Service) and security: the Ethernet forwarding based on MAC (Media Access Control) address learning can not meet the security requirements for the bearing of integrated services, because its forwarding direction is unpredictable, and traffic cannot be isolated completely, and can not meet the QoS requirements for the bearing of integrated services, because bandwidth is hard to be planned.
3. A whole-network and whole-path connection across BAS (Broadband Access Server) or edge router of core network, which ensures a better quality of service for voice and private line, can not be established.
4. The traditional services of TDM, ATM, FR can not be carried, there is no standard method for carrying TDM, ATM, FR across the BAS or the edge router of core network on Ethernet.
Therefore, at present, there is no unified access network which can access all the existing services, such as voice, data, video and private line, etc., at the same time with a low cost.

Method for accessing integrated services by an access network


A computer-implemented method of automatically optimizing a print production process, comprising the operations of:                receiving a printed matter specification, comprising data regarding at least one printed matter, as input data from a remote device; and        determining an optimized print production specification on basis of the printed matter specification and print production resources data; wherein the operation of determining an optimized print production specification comprises:        fetching print production resources data, comprising printing press data regarding at least one available printing press;        determining all possible signatures by means of the printed matter specification;        determining, for each printing press, all possible print sheet sizes and print areas, by means of the printing press data;        determining all possible impositions by means of at least the signatures and the print areas; and        determining an optimized production specification by means of at least the impositions, the print areas, and at least one optimization variable selected from a group of optimization variables comprising a cost variable, a delivery time, and an environmental variable.

Estimating of the most cost efficient way to produce printed matters today means time-consuming manual work. The impact of this is that printers need to spend a lot of time on the price calculation and also that their clients have to wait to get the price. There are some major reasons for that. The specifications of a printed matter can vary almost infinitely, and every conceivable print product can be produced in many different ways. Additionally, every printing provider, such as a print shop or a printing plant, has a unique combination of equipment, labor and suppliers.
Today there are two different approaches to this task, in order to reduce the burden, i.e. standardization and cost estimating systems. Standardization means that printers calculate the prices of some standard products, allowing customers to choose between only them. This is what today's e-commerce of printed matter is based upon. Even large web shops can only offer a very small fraction of all feasible printed matters.
Cost estimating systems are typically used by all but the smallest printing plants, and they are in most cases managed by particularly experienced employees at the printing provider, as the systems require deep knowledge of the production process to make the right choices.
There are two types of input data to estimate the production cost of a printed matter; the specification of the wanted printed matter, also called product intent, and the specification of the production process of the printing provider.
As regards the specification of the wanted printed matter the following parameters are needed;                Type of printed matter (sheet, folder, bound product, envelope etc.)        Number of pages (body and cover)        Finished size of the printed matter        Paper stock type or brand, texture/color, weight (caliper) (body and cover)        The number and type of printing colors (body and cover)        Quantity        Finishing and other options
As regards the specification of the production process the following parameters are needed;                Available printing presses and other machinery, their specifications and pricing        Available paper stock items and pricing
The selection of the best production alternative is done as follows. Before performing the cost estimation, the printed matter may need to be split into suitable parts, called signatures. The main types are 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24 and 32 pages per signature. For folded products more types are available. As an example, a 44-pager printed matter can be produced by combining 32+12 pages, 24+16+4 pages, 16+16+12 pages, 16+16+8+4 pages, etc. The division that is finally selected depends on the requested finished size of the printed matter, the sizes of available paper stock, specifications of the machinery and pricing.
Every signature can be produced in many ways. Here you have to choose printing press, raw paper stock size and print sheet size. Then you need to choose suitable layout of the pages on the print sheet, a process called imposition, taking into account the margins that are needed in the finishing. To save plates and make-ready times in sheet offset production, you can choose to lay out front and back pages on the same print sheet mirrored in the centerline so that the print sheet can be turned, which is called work-and-turn, or tumbled, called work-and-tumble, after the first print work and then be printed again on the back using the same plates.
It should be noted that it is sometime a good idea to print several ups, i.e. lay out the same signature many times on the same print sheet. Different signatures can also sometimes be fit on the same print sheet. Additionally, the imposition must often consider the grain direction of the paper stock, e.g. so that the last fold is parallel to the grain direction.
Often not all signatures can be fit on a single print sheet.
All print sheets can be different to each other, i.e. different combinations of printing press, print sheet size and imposition.
After all these choices have been made, often by experienced staff at the printing provider, who know the print sheets, and for each of them the printing press, the print sheet size and the imposition.
Next step is to calculate the cost. Here even more variables are introduced, such as how many impressions will be needed for each print sheet, and how much setup waste and run waste must be taken into account. What operations will be needed and how long production time will be needed in the different operations are also necessary to estimate, as well as the material usage and costs of paper stock, printing plates, boxes etc.
To help with these calculations print estimating systems are often used, besides spreadsheets and manual calculations.
The equation to calculate the production cost is:
      Production                          cost    =            ∑              (                  Time                                                              per                                                              operation          *          Hourly                                                              rate                                                              for                                                              the                                                              operation                )              +          ∑              (                  Material                                                              usage          *          Unit                                                              cost                                                              for                                                              each                                                              item                )              +          ∑                                        External                                                  costs                                                  and                                                  other
A further aspect is that there are reasons for estimating the production costs for more than one printed matter at the same time. One reason is that a customer may want a single quote for many printed matters to be produced at the same time, and another reason is that the printing company may want to explore the possibilities for co-production of printed matters to lower its own production costs.
To sum the individual production costs for all printed matters is easy, but this is not always the most efficient solution if the paper specification is the same. By laying out signatures from many printed matters on the same print sheet many setup costs and material usage can be saved. However, this is far from an easy task, because both size and quantity can vary, and moreover it should be possible to effectively cut the print sheet into the different signatures after printing.
With many printed matters and versions, the number of possible ways to combine signatures on print sheets can be very high. Typically this is used only for standardized products like business cards and stationery, since the human capacity is too low to evaluate too many alternatives.
Unfortunately, it is likely that this lack of capacity causes a non-optimized production, which in turn causes the customer to pay a higher price than would be necessary.

System and a method for optimizing a print production process


A vehicle and system for providing a communication link among a plurality of mobile vehicles comprises a broadband RF transceiver with antenna, a GPS receiver, an audio-visual interface, and a microprocessor with associated memory, whereby said microprocessor generates a communication by constructing data packets from a plurality of data fields, including sender information and receiver information.

The present invention generally relates to communication systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a mobile communication system which allows mobile vehicles to communicate with neighboring vehicles and roadside communication networks.
Various communication systems have been used by automobile drivers to communicate with other vehicles while the vehicle is in motion. While many advances have been made in vehicle to vehicle communication, numerous disadvantages still remain in using conventional communication systems.
Conventional mobile communication systems include cellular telephones and CB or two-way radio. When using a cell phone as a means of mobile communication, there is no practical way of discovering whether a neighboring vehicle operator possesses a cell phone. Additionally, there is no process for determining the phone number of the targeted cell phone. Accordingly, the cell phone as a communication medium is severely limited.
CB radio is a widely broadcast public medium where mobile users may talk to other mobile or stationary users in their vicinity. However, since there is no ability to prevent others from listening, there is no privacy between mobile communicators.
Automobile accidents are one of the greatest causes of serious injury and fatalities in society. Accordingly, the development of improved control and warning systems to minimize personal and financial losses resulting from automobile accidents is of utmost importance. The limitations of present forms of communication are even more severe when considering the extent to which a communication link can improve both the driving experience and the safety statistics of modern vehicles.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for communicating between mobile units


Devices and methods for treatment of prolapsed hemorrhoidal arteries is disclosed. The devices can identify the hemorrhoid and ligate the artery without causing significant pain or distension of the rectum. The artery can be identified with ultrasound. The ligation can be performed using energy and/or mechanical structures, such as clips or rubber bands.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to medical devices used for closure or ligation (e.g., mechanical ligation) of vessels, such as arteries or veins, such as vessels in the GI tract, for example veins in the esophagus or arteries in the GI tract, more narrowly the hemorrhoidal arteries, More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus to treat hemorrhoids without subjecting patients to pain, or with minimal pain.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hemorrhoids are a network of vascular cushions that exist as a normal part of human anatomy present in all healthy individuals. However, the term 'hemorrhoids' is generally used to refer to the disease process whereby a person develops symptoms when the hemorrhoids become inflamed, thrombosed, or prolapsed. When a person strains during defecation the pressure within the rectum increases and causes engorgement of the hemorrhoids. The mechanism of action is believed to be due to decreased venous return and continued arterial supply. Additionally aging causes laxity of connective tissues supporting the hemorrhoids and, hence, increases their ability to prolapse.
Hemorrhoids are simply enlarged vascular structures in the anal canal that produce discomfort, soiling of undergarments, intense itching, and in some patients, excruciating pain.
Hemorrhoids are one of the most common medical afflictions of older adults. The prevalence of hemorrhoids in the United States is approximately 13 million with a yearly incidence of 1.5 million. With a peak prevalence in the 45-65 age range, hemorrhoids particularly impact the quality of life for millions of Baby Boomers. However, only about a third of these patients seek medical treatment. This may be due to the fact that people are uncomfortable talking about this problem, that there is perception that there is no good treatment for this problem, or that there is a complicated referral pathway. The grading system used by physicians has 4 grades of increasing severity. Grade I are internal hemorrhoids that bleed. Grade II hemorrhoids are those that bleed and prolapse with straining but return by themselves. Grade III hemorrhoids bleed and prolapse with straining and require manual replacement. Grade IV hemorrhoids do not return to the anal canal and are chronically prolapsed.
Grade I hemorrhoids are treated conservatively with dietary changes (including increasing fiber and water intake) to soften the stool and medications to increase the lubrication of the stool. Grade II hemorrhoids that do not resolve with the above therapies are treated by a variety of methods, with rubber band ligation being the most common and effective. This method is fast and relatively pain-free, but has a recurrence rate of about 70% after 3 years and it usually requires several return visits to the physician. Grade III hemorrhoids are candidates for several different treatments as well, with an emphasis currently on stapled hemorrhoidopexy, doppler-guided hemorrhoidal artery ligation (DHAL), and hemorrhoidectomy. The efficacies of these therapies are approximately 80% for stapled hemorrhoidopexy and 70% for DHAL. DHAL is associated with significantly less pain that stapled hemorrhoidopexy or hemorrhoidectomy, but it is a relatively new technology and is currently not widely adopted. Grade IV hemorrhoids are typically treated by a surgical hemorrhoidectomy, which has an efficacy of 95% and almost no recurrence, but it causes a significant amount of post-operative pain and can risk complications such as permanent fecal incontinence. Patients miss an average of 11 days of work due to the severity and duration of pain.
Currently there is no treatment that is both highly effective and has a low rate of post-procedural pain and complications. Procedures with low invasiveness, such as rubber-band ligation, are used on mild hemorrhoids with few complications, but have poor long-term efficacy. More invasive procedures, such as hemorrhoidectomy and stapled hemorrhoidopexy, have good long-term efficacy, but are associated with significant pain and high complication rates. Thus, there is a need for a more effective way to treat Grade II, III, and IV hemorrhoids that is effective, but produces little pain and few complications, and has a low recurrence rate.
Methods of treatment using hemorrhoidal dearterialization (HD) work by ligating the hemorrhoidal (aka rectal) arteries, more specifically the superior hemorrhoidal arteries via hand-thrown sutures, performed through an anoscope that required significant dilation of the anal canal. HD causes the blood-engorged hemorrhoids to regain their normal structure within a few weeks. Numerous studies show that HD cures greater than 90% of grade II-IV hemorrhoids, with almost no post-operative pain in 95% of patients.
There is also great need for a treatment that can be performed outside the operating room (OR) by surgeons and non-surgeons alike. Meeting this need could decrease costs and increase the number of patients who could receive treatment. First, costs should decrease because current treatments, such as hemorrhoidectomy, can only be performed in the OR, which is tremendously expensive. Second, a new treatment performed by non-surgeons would simplify the referral pathway, which could increase the number of hemorrhoids treated. Currently, patients must first see a primary care physician and/or a gastroenterologist, who then refer to a surgeon who has the requisite skills to perform current procedures. The long cycle of care causes many patients to never receive treatment, as patients are lost between referrals. If gastroenterologists had a tool to effectively treat hemorrhoids, they could treat the patients they diagnose, preventing patients from being lost in a long referral chain. Fewer appointments would also decrease costs.

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY


Stepping and un-stepping of a sailboat mast, of the un-stayed type that is supported only by a receptacle configured in the sailboat structure, are facilitated by a hinged core that is easily retrofitted into the foot of the mast. The core includes a two-part locking hinge that, when the mast is elevated up out of the receptacle in process of stepping or un-stepping, serves to keep the mast upright with its base held aligned in location above the receptacle. Then the hinge, located at the foot of the mast, can be unlocked to allow the mast to be tilted down to any desired angle, where it can be easily removed. The system enables one crewmember to easily step or un-step the mast manually on sailboats up to about 30 feet in length, optionally assisted by a small lifting winch that can be rigged on board.

As most commonly practiced, sailboat masts are designed to be held upright by a system of guy wires: typically a forestay, a backstay, and usually two or more pairs of lateral shrouds attached to the hull by chain plates. If the mast is stepped deep inside the hull, it may receive sufficient support part way up by a deck or cabin-top to hold the mast upright sufficient for maintenance work, e.g. for mast removal by a shore-based travel lift or crane, but not sufficient for sailing. Alternatively, in "tabernacle" mounting, the mast is stepped on the deck or cabin top, where a hinged attachment allows the mast to be lowered en route, e.g. to clear an overhead bridge, usually by inclining the mast forward. However, the "tabernacle" hinge generally cannot be made to hold the mast upright, even temporarily, without the necessary shrouds and stays.
In contrast to the stayed mast category as described above, in a special un-stayed mast category, addressed by the present invention, the sailboat and its mast are designed to sail without requiring any support from guy wires such as stays and shrouds.
As shown in FIG. 1 in a cross-sectional representation, an un-stayed mast 10 is held upright entirely by its lower end region being fitted in a cantilever manner into a strong receptacle 12 configured in the sailboat structure 14, usually in a deck or cabin top. The weight of the mast 10 rests on a support member or floor at the bottom of the receptacle 12, which will generally require drainage to prevent water accumulation.
The cross-sectional shape of the mast 10 and receptacle 12 is a matter of design choice and could include round, oval, rectangular or square. The mast 10 and receptacle 12 need not have identical cross-sectional shape, e.g. they could be circular and square, tangent at four places, and should be dimensioned for a slide fit so the mast 10 can be readily removed by pulling it upwardly and out of the receptacle 12.
A round cross sectional mast shape has the advantage that the mast 10 can be allowed to rotate for sailing purposes: annular sleeves or bearings may be placed near the upper and lower ends of the receptacle 12, and/or a ball or other form of thrust bearing may be deployed at the bottom to carry the weight of the mast 10.
Typically this category of cantilevered un-stayed rig has been viable for single-handed manual mast stepping and un-stepping only in small sailboats up to about 20 feet. With the sailboat underway in the water, or even docked, mast insertion or removal can be physically challenging, unwieldy and risky for one crewmember, since the foot of the mast 10 must be held steady and properly aligned with the receptacle 12 at the critical insertion/removal point otherwise the mast 10 and/or the receptacle 12 can be seriously damaged.
Since weight/strength characteristics of boats generally increase exponentially with boat length by the third power, the associated mast deployment difficulties would nearly double for a 25 foot boat, and more than triple for a 30 foot boat compared to a 20 foot boat; therefore in such larger boats, installing and removing un-stayed type masts manually becomes virtually impossible for one crew member and extremely difficult and skill-dependent even for two.
The capability of manually stepping and un-stepping of un-stayed masts is highly advantageous in avoiding the cost and inconvenience of hiring shore-based equipment such as a crane or travel-lift; however, with the conventional arrangement as shown in FIG. 1, manual stepping and un-stepping continue to prove troublesome, difficult or impractical, depending on the size of the sailboat and mast.

Locking hinge for unstayed mast deployment


A switched-capacitor converter is provided that includes an intermediate voltage generator having a flying capacitor. A sampling and hold circuit samples a top plate voltage for the flying capacitor and samples a bottom plate voltage for the flying capacitor to form an output voltage for the switched-capacitor converter.

A switched-capacitor converter typically generates an output voltage that is inversely proportional to a divisor such as 1.5, 2, or 3. The switched-capacitor converter divides an input voltage by the divisor to form the output voltage. As compared to a buck converter, a switched-capacitor converter offers a number of advantages such as low cost (no inductor), ease of integration, high efficiency, and fast transient responses. But conventional switched-capacitor converters are limited by the fixed divisor relationship between its input and output voltages.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for switched-capacitor converters without divisor dependencies between their input and output voltages.

Dual-stage inductorless switched-capacitor converter without divisor dependency


In a semiconductor device, each of a first connection metal member, a second connection metal member, a third connection metal member, and a fourth connection metal member electrically connects a corresponding line to a corresponding one of main electrodes formed on lower surfaces and upper surfaces of first and second semiconductor elements. A cross-sectional area of each of the first connection metal member, the second connection metal member, the third connection metal member, and the fourth connection metal member is larger than a cross-sectional area of a fifth connection metal member that is disposed at a region located outside regions of the first and second semiconductor elements in a plan view.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device such as a power module.
2. Description of Related Art
A power module is a device in which paired switching elements are connected in series to a power supply, and an output is obtained from between the paired switching elements. Such a power module is used in, for example, an inverter circuit constituting a driving circuit for driving an electric motor.
The inventors have developed a new method of manufacturing a power module. Specifically, a plurality of sheet members, on which predetermined processing is performed in advance, are prepared. Each of the sheet members includes a thermoplastic resin film. The predetermined processing includes etching for forming a circuit, hole processing for forming a hole, and metal paste filling for forming a connection metal member such as a via. A component hole for receiving an electronic component is formed in a predetermined sheet member.
The plurality of sheet members are stacked. In this process, each of a high-side switching element and a low-side switching clement is received in a predetermined component hole. These two switching elements are disposed to face each other at intervals in atop-bottom direction. Hot pressing is performed in a state where all the sheet members are stacked. Thus, it is possible to obtain a power module in which the high-side switching element and the low-side switching element are provided.
In such a power module, a connection metal member, which is electrically connected to a main electrode formed on the upper surface side of each of the switching elements, is disposed on the upper surface of the switching element. In addition, a connection metal member, which is electrically connected to a main electrode formed on the lower surface side of each of the switching elements, is disposed on the lower surface of the switching element. In such a power module, when a plurality of sheet members stacked in a manufacturing process are hot-pressed together, large stress is applied to each of the switching elements through the connection metal members, and therefore, there is a possibility that breakage may occur in the switching element.


A probing apparatus includes a housing, a device holder positioned in the housing and configured to receive a device under test, a temperature-controller positioned in the device holder, a platen positioned on the housing and configured to retain at least one probe, and a flow line positioned in the platen, wherein the flow line is configured to flow a fluid therein to adjust the temperature of the platen.

(A) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a probing apparatus for semiconductor devices, and more particularly, to a probing apparatus for semiconductor devices using pressurized fluid to control the temperature uniformity of the platen with objects positioned thereon.
(B) Description of the Related Art
Generally, it is necessary to test the electrical characteristics of integrated circuit devices at the wafer level to check whether the integrated circuit device satisfies the product specification. Integrated circuit devices with electrical characteristics satisfying the specification are selected for the subsequent packaging process, and the other devices are discarded to avoid additional packaging cost. Test time and cost are much increased with the increasing test requirements and conditions especially increasing temperature ranges. The time required for the test system to be stabilized increases with increasing temperature and larger wafer size. The cause is result of requiring test electronics, probe station, probe units and probes to stable at the test temperature.
To initiate the electrical testing, the integrated circuit device is positioned on a device holder with temperature-controlling unit, which adjusts the temperature of the device under test according to the predetermined testing temperature. This testing is not conducted until the temperature of the testing environment is stable. Unstable test environment will result in probe movement on the contacting area of the device under test and the probe may moved out of the contacting areas (probe pads). To probe different devices during the electrical testing, the device holder has to move the wafer under test such that the probe of the probe card can contact different integrated circuit devices or different pads of the same integrated circuit device. However, the location of the device holder under higher temperature may cause the temperature distribution of the testing environment, leading to the physical dimension changes of the surrounding parts such as the platen, the probe card, or the probes. The physical dimension changes can be the deformation of the surrounding objects due to localized thermal expansion of heated parts and shrinkage of cooler parts. This alters the relative positions of the probes against the contact area on the wafer, which precludes further electrical testing if the probes are not in contact with the contacting areas. Consequently, after the movement of the device holder, the electrical testing cannot be performed until the temperature of the testing environment is stable and the probe are re-aligned to make contact with the contacting areas again so as to ensure the accuracy of the testing result. However, waiting for the testing environment to reach the stable status again consumes time and increases the testing cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,976, U.S. Pat. No. 6,468,098 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,906,543 disclose probe cards equipped with temperature-adjusting mechanisms, which can only adjust the temperature of the circuit board of the probe card locally, so as to prevent the material of the probe card from undergoing physical dimensional change due to the temperature variation. However, the temperature-adjusting techniques disclosed in these patents cannot prevent the other parts such as the platen or probe unit from physical change due to the temperature variation of the temperature control unit. Changes in test temperature or movement of the wafer will alter the relative positions of the probe against the contacting area such as the probe card and the probe on the platen and the probe pads on the wafer, which precludes further electrical testing.

Semiconductor devices testing apparatus with temperature-adjusting design


An aqueous solution that will prevent rust, corrosion and scale on metal surfaces that includes potassium sorbate at percentages above 0.3%. This aqueous solution is effective at pH 4.5. However, its optimum effectiveness as a rust preventive is at pH 6.0 and above. The solution can be produced in a concentrated form and then diluted with tap or deionized water. The potassium sorbate solution has reduced conductivity and reduced oxygen content, both relative to tap water. This is believed to be the technical basis for its ability to prevent rust. Furthermore, the combination of lower conductivity and reduced oxygen content renders the potassium sorbate solution less viable for microbiological growth which prevents the solution from becoming rancid when it is used in re-circulating water systems. This also permits the use of toxic biocides to be eliminated in re-circulatory water systems, which are often used to reduce and control microbiological growth. Also, the solution can be substituted for tap water in water-based products, such as paints, which eliminates the need to plate the cans.

The invention relates to sorbic acid and its derivative potassium sorbate for use as a preventative against rust, corrosion and scale that usually forms on metal surfaces.
Sorbic acid and its salts are commonly used to preserve foods such as cheese, fish, meat, vegetables, fruit, non-alcoholic beverages, wine, confectioneries and baked goods. Sorbic acid and its salts are also used as preservatives in some pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Potassium sorbate (hereinafter PS) or 2,4 hexadienoic acid potassium salt, is extensively used as a wide spectrum anti-microbial for maintaining freshness in foods, beverages, animal feed, cosmetics and as a preservative for products destined to come in contact with foodstuffs such as adhesives for food packaging. PS has excellent water solubility as compared to sorbic acid which has low water solubility. PS is highly effective against most micro-organisms, is economical and has obtained worldwide approval for use in a wide variety of foods. The concentration of sorbic acid and its salts as a preservative, in food in which the preservative is evenly dispersed, is about 0.1% and generally falls in the range of 0.05% to 0.3%. Some food products are dipped or sprayed with a PS solution that has a concentration of 5-10%, however, the concentration of the preservative in these final products fall within the above range.
The effectiveness of all food preservatives is highly dependent upon the pH of the preservative. The optimum effectiveness of PS as a food preservative is when it is used below pH 6.0. However, it is an effective food preservative at up to pH 6.5 which qualifies PS to be used in a very wide variety of foods.
The major manufacturer of potassium sorbate in the United States is Eastman Chemical in Kingsport, Tenn. The largest manufacturer of PS is Hoechst Celanese of Frankfurt, Germany. There are a limited number of large manufacturers of PS in the world, one being in Japan and another in Denmark.
Although sorbic acid and its salts have been found to be effective against a long list of microorganisms that are responsible for food decay, its use as a rust preventative agent has not been previously recognized. There is currently no known published literature that discloses the use of PS for other than its widespread anti-microbial use, primarily in products directly or indirectly related to food, with some acknowledgement of its anti-microbial effect in unrelated food products, such as cleaning solutions primarily used for cleaning areas involving food, such as food preparation or processing areas.
Corrosion is a very serious problem in many industries. According to an article in McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, xe2x80x9cThe cost of corrosion in the United States and other industrial countries has been estimated to be on the order of 4% of the gross national product.xe2x80x9d This estimated cost includes both the replacement cost and the cost of protecting against corrosion. Extensive efforts have been made in the design of products such as steam generators, heat exchangers, bridges, oil platforms and motor vehicles to minimize the destructive effects of corrosion. However, corrosion remains a problem in these traditional products. In addition to traditional products, new developments in the areas of energy sources, new materials and microprocessors present new challenges in the fight against corrosion. As new devices are developed on a submicrometer scale, even smaller amounts of corrosion will result in device failure.
For these reasons, a new method and product that is effective to prevent and guard against corrosion of metal is needed.
It is the object of the invention to provide an aqueous solution that will prevent rust. The aqueous solution of this invention includes PS in the form of powder or granules that have been dissolved in ordinary tap water or deionized water, at percentages above 0.3%. PS is at its optimum effectiveness as a rust preventive at pH 6.0 and above.
The formula for producing applicant""s PS solution rust inhibitor, in a concentrated form, is to mix at the following ratio 269.5 ml of water (49.9%), 0.5 ml of sodium nitrate (0.1%) and 270.0 ml of potassium sorbate (50.0%). This concentrated rust inhibitor will have a pH of about 10.2. One part of the concentrate should be diluted with 16 parts tap water or deionized water to produce applicant""s rust preventive water. This diluted rust preventive water will have about a pH of 6.5.
The PS dosages for rust and corrosion prevention differ from the dosages of PS that are used for the prevention of microbial degradation. PS concentrations are effective as anti-microbial food preservatives, generally in the range of 0.05% to 0.3%. Higher dosages are not used because of the bitter taste that is imparted by PS.
The low concentration of PS currently used in the food industry are not effective for preventing rust, corrosion and/or scale. Concentrations of PS above 0.3% in aqueous systems have been found to be increasingly effective against the rusting, corroding or scaling of metal with a fail-safe concentration of xc2x11.75% laboratory tested as consistently and indefinitely preventing rust, corrosion and/or scale.
Applicant has found that the PS solution of this invention has reduced conductivity and reduced oxygen content of tap water and believes that this is the technical explanation of how applicant""s PS solution functions to prevent rust. Furthermore, the combination of lower conductivity and reduced oxygen content renders the PS solution less viable for microbiological growth. This feature of applicant""s PS solution is responsible for eliminating rancidity in re-circulating water systems due to mold. Toxic biocides are often added to re-circulatory water systems to reduce and control microbiological growth. The elimination or reduction of biocides in re-circulatory water systems is an added enhancement of this invention. Furthermore, by substituting the PS solution for tap water in water-based products, such as paints, will also eliminate or reduce the addition of toxic biocides.

Sorbic acid and/or its derivatives, such as potassium sorbate, as a preventative for rust, corrosion and scale on metal surfaces


A scanning charged particle microscope is offered which can selectively detect and image electrons. The scanning charged particle microscope (100) has: a source (1) of a charged particle beam (E1); an objective lens (6) for bringing the charged particle beam (E1) emitted from the source (1) into focus at a sample (S); a scanning deflector (4) for scanning the focused charged particle beam (E1) over the sample (S); a sorting portion (10) for sorting out electrons emitted at given emission angles from electrons released from the sample (S) in response to irradiation of the sample (S) by the charged particle beam (E1); an electron deflector (20) for producing a deflecting field to deflect the electrons (E2) sorted out according to their energy; a detection portion (30) for detecting the electrons (E2) deflected by the electron deflector (20); and an image creating portion (44) for creating an image, based on the results of the detection performed by the detection portion (30).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scanning charged particle microscope, image acquisition method, and electron detection method.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known that a scanning electron microscope (SEM) is one example of scanning charged particle microscope.
In a scanning electron microscope, an electron beam derived from an electron gun is sharply focused by an objective lens, deflected by a deflection coil, and enters a sample. The electron beam entering the sample scatters within the sample, resulting in emission of electrons from the sample. The emitted electrons are different in energy, emission angle, and amount of emission, depending on the composition and morphology of the sample. Therefore, a scanned electron image reflecting composition and morphology of the sample is obtained by detecting released electrons by an electron detector while scanning the electron beam.
In such scanning electron microscopy, E-T (Everhart-Thornley) detectors and semiconductor detectors are known as electron detectors for detecting electrons.
An E-T detector has a scintillator to which a high voltage is applied. Electrons released from a sample are drawn by the potential and accelerated. Thus, the electrons enter the scintillator, producing light. The light is converted into electrons, multiplied by a photomultiplier, and detected as an electrical signal.
In a semiconductor detector, electrons released from a sample are directly entered into a PN junction semiconductor. This produces carriers across the PN junction. The carriers are detected as an electrical signal.
JP-A-2005-4995 discloses a detector capable of detecting an energy distribution of signal electrons such as backscattered electrons or secondary electrons. Scanning electron microscopy has the problem that, if the same sample is observed, individual different SEM instruments produce different scanned electron images. One cause of this is that the position at which a semiconductor detector is installed is different for each different instrument and the detected electron energy or emission angle is different for different instruments. Therefore, there is a demand for a scanning charged particle microscope capable of performing imaging under conditions where operating conditions such as detected electron energy and emission angle have been selected. For example, in the scanning electron microscope of the above-cited JP-A-2005-4995, the energy of electrons released from a sample can be selected but the emission angle of the released electrons cannot be selected.

Scanning charged particle microscope, image acquisition method, and electron detection method


A network apparatus transmits the completion notice of the start to a start indicating apparatus in a case of completing a start processing to be executed according to a start indication. In a case of monitoring and receiving the receipt of the completion notice of the start transmitted from the network apparatus, the start indicating apparatus transmits the completion notice of the start with respect to a terminal apparatus through a repeating apparatus.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a network system, a network apparatus and a start indicating apparatus.
2. Related Art
There is known a technology which starts a network apparatus, for example, WOL (Wake on LAN), by a remote control through a network. The network apparatus corresponding to WOL, for example, mounts a network adapter which is able to interpret a predetermined packet, called a Magic Packet, that indicates a start. Then, the network apparatus starts in a case where the network adaptor detects that the predetermined packet is received.
According to this, for example, JP-A-2005-333229 discloses a system in which a terminal starting apparatus and a terminal apparatus are connected with a start requesting terminal through a router apparatus. In this system, the start requesting terminal transmits start requesting information to the terminal starting apparatus through a router apparatus, the terminal starting apparatus receives the start requesting information through the router apparatus and transmits a packet including a start requesting sequence to the terminal apparatus.
However, in JP-A-2005-333229 described above, even though the start of the terminal apparatus has completed, the information which indicates that the start of the terminal apparatus has completed is not notified with respect to the terminal starting apparatus as well as the start requesting terminal. Furthermore, the information which indicates the status of a start processing at the terminal is not notified with respect to the terminal starting apparatus as well as the start requesting terminal. Therefore, the following problems occur in which anxiety is experienced by a user.
For example, for some reasons, in a case where the terminal apparatus is unable to complete the start processing, it is difficult for the start requesting terminal to determine whether the start processing is completed or not. Furthermore, for example, for some reasons, in a case where the start processing time until the terminal apparatus completes the start processing, takes longer, it is difficult for the start requesting terminal to determine whether the start processing is executed or not.
In addition, in JP-A-2005-333229 described above, there is a need to be provided one terminal starting apparatus. However, for example, in a case where the electric power consumption of the terminal starting apparatus is high, or the like, it is difficult to easily meet users' needs in which the electric power consumption in the system is reduced as much as possible.

Network system, network apparatus and start indicating apparatus