The present invention is a method and apparatus for interconnection system. A first connector located on a first card provides first contacts for first signal traces on the first card. The first connector has a first housing enclosing the first contacts and a first extension portion. A second connector located on a second card provides second contacts for second signal traces on the second card. The second connector has a second housing enclosing the second contacts. The second connector is coupled to the first connector when the first and second housings are mated such that the first and second cards are substantially perpendicular to each other, the second card is aligned on the first extension portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to interconnection systems. In particular, the present invention is related to virtual midplanes.
2. Description of Related Art
As data communication rates become higher and higher to meet demanding applications, interconnecting printed circuit boards (PCB) or cards in communication systems becomes more and more important. Signal transmission rate depends on a number of factors. One important factor is the length of the signal trace on the PCB. The shorter the length, the faster the signal can propagate. In addition, resistance and capacitance of the signal trace have impact on interconnecting system design. When the signal density is high, the interconnection of the signals for high speed applications becomes a challenge.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art interconnection system. For illustrative purposes, only two front cards are shown. The prior art system 100 includes two front cards 110 and 120, a midplane 130, and a rear card 140.
The front cards 110 and 120 have signal traces 118 and 128 and front connectors 115 and 125, respectively. The signal traces are terminated with contact points in the corresponding connectors. One objective of the interconnection system is to connect the signal traces 118 on the front card 110 to the corresponding signal traces 128 on the front card 120. The connectors 115 and 125 are typically full-length connectors having as many contact points as necessary to accommodate the interconnecting of the signal traces on the front cards.
The midplane has mating connectors 132 and 134 to mate with the front card connectors 115 and 125. The midplane 130 also has signal traces 138 running between the mating connectors 132 and 134 to form electrical connections for the contact points in the connectors 115 and 125. The rear card 140 provides additional area for signal traces. The rear card 140 is interfaced to the midplane via a rear connector.
The prior art system 100 has a number of disadvantages. First, the full-length configuration of the connectors 115 and 125 reduces the routing flexibility on the front cards 110 and 120 and the midplane 130. Second, the interconnecting signal trace lengths are long, resulting in higher propagation delay and lower speed. Third, there are two terminations at the two ports, resulting higher cost and additional delay due to additional capacitance and resistance. Fourth, the complexity and hardware cost for the midplane can be very high. The midplane may have many internal layers to accommodate all the interconnecting signals.
Therefore, there is a need to have an efficient technique for interconnecting cards in a high speed environment.
The present invention is a method and apparatus for interconnection system. A first connector located on a first card provides first contacts for first signal traces on the first card. The first connector has a first housing enclosing the first contacts and a first extension portion. A second connector located on a second card provides second contacts for second signal traces on the second card. The second connector has a second housing enclosing the second contacts. The second connector is coupled to the first connector when the first and second housings are mated such that the first and second cards are substantially perpendicular to each other, the second card is aligned on the first extension portion. There is no need for an intermediate card and an additional connector.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the first connector further has a first inter-card spacing portion to provide spacing between the first card and a third card positioned in a substantially parallel direction with the first card, and the second connector further has a second extension portion to provide alignment for the first card when the first and second connectors are coupled and a second inter-card spacing portion to provide spacing between the second card and a fourth card positioned in a substantially parallel direction with the second card.
The advantages of the invention include high signal transmission rates, increased interconnection reliability, high signal density, routing flexibility, balanced mechanical structure, and reduced overall mechanical stress.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.

Virtual midplane to enhance card interconnections using a matrix of interconnecting assemblies


A hydrocarbon adsorber system in accordance with the invention comprising a carbon adsorber element installed in a throttle body of an internal combustion engine. The element may be installed on a wall or in a groove in the wall of the throttle throat at a location immediately upstream (outside) the throttle blade in the air flow direction, and/or an element may be installed on the downstream surface of the throttle blade itself. When an engine is shut down, the engine throttle normally remains slightly open. Any hydrocarbon emissions must pass through this slight opening, and applying carbon adsorbers to these locations takes advantage of proximity to such an opening, as any hydrocarbon emissions must pass close by the carbon adsorbers and thus have a much-increased probability of being adsorbed, in comparison with prior art more general carbon adsorption sites.

Gasoline-fueled motor vehicles have many sites from which hydrocarbons (HC) may evaporate into the environment, thereby contributing to the formation of smog. One such known site is the intake manifold of a carbureted or port-injected internal combustion engine. As HC emission regulations are tightened, a means is needed to prevent residual HC vapor from escaping from the intake manifold through the throttle valve assembly after engine shutdown. Known approaches have included, among others, closing off the intake and idle air with the throttle valve when the engine is shut off; adding adsorptive carbon grids in the intake air flow path between the air cleaner and the engine throttle plate; and lining the intake manifold, other air ducts, and/or the air cleaner with adsorptive carbon sheeting.
Employing an engine's electronic throttle control to close the intake at shut down may impair the desirable option of a so-called "limp home" mode in which a vehicle may be driven in event of a partial failure of the engine electronics control system. Systems with mechanical throttles not employing electronic throttle control typically do close the throttle at shut down, leaving a separate "idle air" passage open. In these systems, achieving a completely sealed manifold is difficult and expensive.
Adsorptive grids in the intake air flow path are undesirable as they are expensive to fabricate, brittle and therefore vulnerable to breakage, and inherently restrict the volume of intake air.
Carbon sheeting applied to inner surfaces of the manifold and air ducts is only partially successful because much HC laden air can escape the manifold without being brought into proximity with an adsorptive surface. Relatively large areas of carbon sheeting are required to ensure that an adequate quantity of HC comes into contact with the adsorber.
What is needed in the art is a means for increasing the efficiency of hydrocarbon adsorption during engine shutdown at the main air entrance to an engine.
It is a principal object of the present invention to reduce hydrocarbon emissions from a shut down internal combustion engine.


The sizes of icons for moving images (the size of a rectangle on the front side of each icon, the length of each icon in the depth direction thereof, etc.) that specify moving-image files are changed depending upon file information (moving image playback times, image sizes of the frames that make up the moving images, sizes of the moving-image files, etc.) concerning the moving-image files specified by the icons for the moving images. The content of each moving-image file can be ascertained by observing the icon for its moving image.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for generating icons for moving images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Figures referred to as icons for identifying software and files stored on the hard disk of a personal computer are displayed on the display screen of a display unit connected to the personal computer. Clicking on such an icon launches the software identified by the clicked icon or displays the content (text, image, etc.) represented by the file.
If such an icon is a file icon, often the icon corresponds to the software that created the file and does not express the content represented by the file.


This invention discloses a method for the induction of arterial-type of hemogenic endothelium.

Generating autologous hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that can be precisely genetically modified with designer endonucleases, and subsequently clonally selected, represents a promising approach for novel patient-specific gene therapies. Although multiple studies were able to generate hematopoietic progenitors (HPs) with a HSC phenotype and limited engraftment potential from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs)1-4, the robust and consistent engraftment with recapitulation of the full spectrum of terminally differentiated hematopoietic cells, including lymphoid cells has not been achieved. Thus, identifying key cellular and molecular programs required for proper HSC specification in vitro is essential to overcome the current roadblocks.

Method for the induction of arterial-type of hemogenic endothelium from hPSCS


A vehicle steering device and control method for use in steer-by-wire steering systems. A steering instrument is operable to receive input from a driver and a turning device is operable to turn at least one wheel. A selectively engageable backup clutch is positioned between the steering instrument and the turning device. Engagement of the backup clutch results in a mechanical connection between the steering instrument and the turning device for assisting control of the at least one wheel, and release of the backup clutch results in a separation of the steering instrument and the turning device for steer-by-wire control of the at least one wheel. A controller is operable to switch from the steer-by-wire control to the assisting control when the backup clutch engages during operation of the steer-by-wire control.

In known so-called steer-by-wire (SBW) systems that include mechanical separation between the steering wheel and the steering mechanism of the front wheels such as, for example, that shown in Japanese Kokai Patent Application No. 2002-225733, a clutch is provided as a backup device for mechanically connecting the steering wheel and the steering mechanism. If a malfunction takes place in a portion of the SBW system, the clutch is quickly connected to stop the SBW control, and switching occurs to an assist control that can reduce the burden of steering on the driver.


In a programmable cell included in a first region, configuration information is stored in a volatile memory, while in a programmable cell included in a second region, configuration information is stored in a non-volatile memory. Configuration information for a sub-process common to a plurality of processes is stored in the non-volatile memory.

The present invention relates to programmable devices, and more particularly relates to a structure for storing information for controlling operation of a device including a plurality of programmable cells.
A programmable device, typified by FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), includes a number of programmable cells which perform various operations, with each programmable cell carrying out a specific operation corresponding to the processing to be realized by the programmable device. Such a programmable device, in which a large number of programmable cells are simultaneously operated to execute enormous operations typified by multimedia processing, has been attracting much attention recently. Configuration information indicates what operation is to be executed by each programmable cell, and this configuration information is stored in an internal memory in each programmable cell.
In a known programmable device technique, all of the programmable cells have the same structure and include internal memories of the same structure (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,281,703).
In this known structure, however, every time the programmable device is powered on, configuration information must be stored in all of the programmable cells included in the programmable device. The known technique thus has a problem in that the amount of time required for the configuration (which will be hereinafter referred to as a "configuration time") is increased.
Also, the above-described programmable device, in which all of the programmable cells have the same structure and include internal memories of the same structure, has another problem in that the internal memories occupy a large circuit area in the device.

Programmable device with structure for storing configuration information

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method and apparatus are described for a dual online registration contact information system, comprising receiving a request for contact information for a given user, searching a user contact information database comprising private contact information and public contact information to determine if the given user has associated public contact information, and displaying the given user's public contact information.

The emergence of electronic commerce has revolutionized the processing of transactions between retailers and consumers. What some believe to be advantages of retail-based e-commerce transactions, such as the elimination of person-to-person contact, are undermined by the need to provide personal and private information that would otherwise be unnecessary in conventional retail-based transactions.
In an Internet-based transaction, customers must provide retailers with information, such as the customer's address, phone number, and credit card information in order to have goods delivered. Although this information is essential to the completion of an Internet-based transaction, this information is useful by retailers in other applications, as well. For example, a buyer's personal information is often used on e-commerce auction websites for the purpose of providing a seller reasonable assurance that a sale will be made, and that a buyer's inquiry is not merely frivolous. This process encourages sellers to register their information on the particular website.
In these types of applications, however, the dissemination of personal information is not essential to the base sales transaction. As a result, the dissemination of this information should be much more restricted. In eBay.com's auction website, for example, both buyers and sellers must register their information with the website in order to participate in an auction. In an eBay.com auction, any registered user (buyer or seller) can request contact information of another registered user (buyer or seller). When this information is requested, eBay.com sends the name, city, state, country, zip code, and phone number of the other user. The information is taken from information that the user provides when he or she registers. For example, the user's name, city, state, country, zip code, and phone number are taken directly from the name, city, state, country, zip code, and phone number fields provided on the website's registration page.
Although the user's mailing address is not provided (for security reasons), it does not give the user the choice to opt out of providing the information, or of providing alternate information. Currently, the user must provide the information, or lose the right to participate in auctions.

Method and apparatus for a dual online registration contact information system


A multiple input-type and multiple signal processing-type device may include an input stage for receiving a plurality of different analog signal types, and down and up-converters for respectively downwardly converting first signal types and upwardly converting second signal types to a desired processing frequency range. Furthermore, the device may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for converting analog signals at the desired processing frequency range into digital signals, and time and frequency domain signal processing sections connected to the ADC for processing the digital signals. Furthermore, the device may advantageously include a user selector input for permitting a user to selectively activate one of the down-converter or up-converter and one of the time or frequency domain signal processing sections. Additionally, a signal recognition processor may be included for performing signal recognition to determine whether to selectively activate the down-converter or up-converter and the time domain or frequency domain signal processing sections.

The present invention relates to the field of electronic devices, and more particularly, to electronic signal processors and related methods.
Signal processing systems are commonly used in a wide variety of applications. For example, many electronic devices use signal processors to detect and interpret various input signals, such as from a remote control, and provide an appropriate response based upon the signals. Signal processors may also be used to interpret radio frequency (RF) signals from a radar antenna to detect the location of aircraft, for example. Another example may include using a signal processor to interpret vibration signals from a seismometer or geophone to determine the location of various geological strata and formations in seismic exploration, for example.
An example of a signal processing system for detecting moving targets is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,460 to Clinard et al. entitled xe2x80x9cDual Mode Moving Target Sensor.xe2x80x9d This patent discloses a dual mode sensor having a seismic channel and an RF channel with a logic circuit for recognizing both channels. The seismic channel detects disturbances with a geophone and determines spacing and impulse density. The RF channel radiates electromagnetic energy and detects impedance changes in an oscillator circuit driving the antenna when the target is in the vicinity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,036 to Hyatt entitled xe2x80x9cSignature Filter Systemxe2x80x9d discloses a filtering system for acquiring and processing signals using a sampled filter for signal separation and signal enhancement. For example, the filtering system may be configured for use with geophones when used in a geophysical application, hydrophones when used in sonar applications, and radar receivers, such as phased array antennas, for radar applications.
One potential drawback of such prior art devices is that they may not accommodate enough signal types to provide a complete interpretation in a given environment. For example, it may be necessary in some applications to processes acoustic and/or optical signals to correctly detect a moving target, which would not otherwise be possible with the target sensor disclosed in the Clinard et al. patent. Also, while the filter system disclosed in the Hyatt patent may be configured to process different signal types, this patent does not provide a way to combine such functionality within a single device. Thus, it may be cumbersome as well as expensive to use multiple prior art devices to provide adequate signal processing capabilities for certain applications.
In view of the foregoing background, it is therefore an object of the invention to provide a multiple input-type and multiple signal processing-type device and related methods.
This and other objects, features, and advantages in accordance with the present invention are provided by a multiple input-type and multiple signal processing-type device including an input stage for receiving a plurality of different analog signal types, a down-converter for downwardly converting first signal types to a desired processing frequency range, and an up-converter for upwardly converting second signal types to the desired processing frequency range. Furthermore, the device may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for converting analog signals at the desired processing frequency range into digital signals, a time domain signal processing section connected to the ADC for performing time domain signal processing on the digital signals, and a frequency domain signal processing section connected to the ADC for performing frequency domain signal processing on the digital signals. A digital down converter (DDC) for special processing may also be included upstream from the time and/or frequency domain signal processing sections.
More particularly, the device may advantageously include a user selector input for permitting a user to selectively activate one of the down-converter or up-converter, and to selectively activate one of the time domain or frequency domain signal processing sections. Additionally, a signal recognition processor may be included for performing signal recognition to determine whether to selectively activate the down-converter or up-converter, and to determine whether to selectively activate the time domain or frequency domain signal processing sections.
The time domain signal processing section may include a convolution module for performing pattern recognition on the digital signals and/or a pulse threshold crossing module for performing waveform detection on the digital signals. Further, the frequency domain signal processing section may include a convolution module for performing pattern recognition on the digital signals and/or a spectral threshold crossing module for performing waveform detection on the digital signals.
Moreover, the spectral threshold crossing module may include a constant false alarm rate (CFAR) module, a magnitude calculation module upstream from the CFAR module, and a DC term or interference signal elimination module upstream from the magnitude calculation module. The spectral threshold crossing module may also include at least one of a fast Fourier transform (FFT) module and an inverse FFT (IFFT) module.
Additionally, the multiple input-type and multiple signal processing-type device may include at least one filter coupling the analog signals at the desired processing frequency to the ADC. Also, the plurality of signal types may include at least two of optical signals, radio frequency (RF) signals, seismic signals, and acoustic signals.
A method aspect of the invention is for processing multiple signals having different signal types and may include providing a multiple input-type and multiple signal processing-type device as described above. The method may further include configuring the multiple input-type and multiple signal processing-type device to permit a user to selectively activate one of the down-converter or up-converter, and configuring the multiple input-type and multiple signal processing-type device to permit the user to selectively activate one of the time domain or frequency domain signal processing sections.
Another method aspect of the invention is for processing multiple signals having different signal types and may include providing a multiple input-type and multiple signal processing-type device as described above. The method may further include using a signal recognition processor to perform signal recognition to determine whether to selectively activate the down-converter or up-converter, and to determine whether to selectively activate the time domain or frequency domain signal processing sections.

Multiple input-type and multiple signal processing-type device and related methods


The present invention is a method of improving the persistence of electrical neural stimulation, and specifically a method of improving the persistence of an image supplied to a retina, or visual cortex, through a visual prosthesis. A continuously stimulated retina, or other neural tissue, will desensitize after a time period in the range of 20 to 150 seconds. However, an interruption of the stimulation on the order of a few milliseconds will restore the retinal sensitivity without the user perceiving the interruption, or with the user barely perceiving the interruption.

In 1755 LeRoy passed the discharge of a Leyden jar through the orbit of a man who was blind from cataract and the patient saw "flames passing rapidly downwards." Ever since, there has been a fascination with electrically elicited visual perception. The general concept of electrical stimulation of retinal cells to produce these flashes of light or phosphenes has been known for quite some time. Based on these general principles, some early attempts at devising a prosthesis for aiding the visually impaired have included attaching electrodes to the head or eyelids of patients. While some of these early attempts met with some limited success, these early prosthetic devices were large, bulky and could not produce adequate simulated vision to truly aid the visually impaired.
In the early 1930's, Foerster investigated the effect of electrically stimulating the exposed occipital pole of one cerebral hemisphere. He found that, when a point at the extreme occipital pole was stimulated, the patient perceived a small spot of light directly in front and motionless (a phosphene). Subsequently, Brindley and Lewin (1968) thoroughly studied electrical stimulation of the human occipital (visual) cortex. By varying the stimulation parameters, these investigators described in detail the location of the phosphenes produced relative to the specific region of the occipital cortex stimulated. These experiments demonstrated: (1) the consistent shape and position of phosphenes; (2) that increased stimulation pulse duration made phosphenes brighter; and (3) that there was no detectable interaction between neighboring electrodes which were as close as 2.4 mm apart.
As intraocular surgical techniques have advanced, it has become possible to apply stimulation on small groups and even on individual retinal cells to generate focused phosphenes through devices implanted within the eye itself. This has sparked renewed interest in developing methods and apparati to aid the visually impaired. Specifically, great effort has been expended in the area of intraocular retinal prosthesis devices in an effort to restore vision in cases where blindness is caused by photoreceptor degenerative retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age related macular degeneration which affect millions of people worldwide.
Neural tissue can be artificially stimulated and activated by prosthetic devices that pass pulses of electrical current through electrodes on such a device. The passage of current causes changes in electrical potentials across retinal neuronal cell membranes, which can initiate retinal neuronal action potentials, which are the means of information transfer in the nervous system.
Based on this mechanism, it is possible to input information into the nervous system by coding the sensory information as a sequence of electrical pulses which are relayed to the nervous system via the prosthetic device. In this way, it is possible to provide artificial sensations including vision.
Some forms of blindness involve selective loss of the light sensitive transducers of the retina. Other retinal neurons remain viable, however, and may be activated in the manner described above by placement of a prosthetic electrode device on the inner (toward the vitreous) retinal surface (epiretinal). This placement must be mechanically stable, minimize the distance between the device electrodes and the retinal neurons, and avoid undue compression of the retinal neurons.
In 1986, Bullara (U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,481) patented an electrode assembly for surgical implantation on a nerve. The matrix was silicone with embedded iridium electrodes. The assembly fit around a nerve to stimulate it.
Dawson and Radtke stimulated a cat's retina by direct electrical stimulation of the retinal ganglion cell layer. These experimenters placed nine and then fourteen electrodes upon the inner retinal layer (i.e., primarily the ganglion cell layer) of two cats. Their experiments suggested that electrical stimulation of the retina with 30 to 100 uA current resulted in visual cortical responses. These experiments were carried out with needle-shaped electrodes that penetrated the surface of the retina (see also U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,933 to Michelson).
The Michelson '933 apparatus includes an array of photosensitive devices on its surface that are connected to a plurality of electrodes positioned on the opposite surface of the device to stimulate the retina. These electrodes are disposed to form an array similar to a "bed of nails" having conductors which impinge directly on the retina to stimulate the retinal cells. U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,049 to Byers describes spike electrodes for neural stimulation. Each spike electrode pierces neural tissue for better electrical contact. U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,088 to Norman describes an array of spike electrodes for cortical stimulation. Each spike pierces cortical tissue for better electrical contact.
The art of implanting an intraocular prosthetic device to electrically stimulate the retina was advanced with the introduction of retinal tacks in retinal surgery. De Juan, et al. at Duke University Eye Center inserted retinal tacks into retinas in an effort to reattach retinas that had detached from the underlying choroid, which is the source of blood supply for the outer retina and thus the photoreceptors. See, e.g., E. de Juan, et al., 99 Am. J. Ophthalmol. 272 (1985). These retinal tacks have proved to be biocompatible and remain embedded in the retina, and choroid/sclera, effectively pinning the retina against the choroid and the posterior aspects of the globe. Retinal tacks are one way to attach a retinal electrode array to the retina. U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,844 to de Juan describes a flat electrode array placed against the retina for visual stimulation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,155 to Humayun describes a retinal prosthesis for use with the flat retinal array described in de Juan.
It is known that neurons respond best to change in stimuli. The retina, if continuously stimulated in a consistent manner, will slowly become less and less sensitive to the stimulus. This causes the perception of a constant visual image to gradually disappear. Those with normal vision are unable to perceive this effect because the eye constantly moves, motions called jitter or microsaccades. A normal retina has a resolution of approximately four million light transducer cells (rods and cones), hence it requires a minute movement to change the light intensity cast upon a given light transducer.
A retinal prosthesis, according to the present invention, has two disadvantages. First, the resolution of an electrode array applied to the retina, is significantly lower than the resolution of a healthy retina, requiring a greater movement to move an image from one electrode to the next electrode, as compared to one cone to the next cone. Further, a head mounted camera does not have the natural jitter or microsaccades of an eye. Therefore it is necessary to achieve the required change in another manner.
It is also known that some neural processing is done within the retina. Hence, a continuously stimulated cone will not result in a continuous signal to the brain. Ganglion and bipolar cells pass along this change in information more readily than constant information. In a diseased retina, rods and cone can not be stimulated, since they are dead. Electrically stimulating cells further along the neural pathway, bypasses some of the neural processing. This processing must be simulated electronically to gain normal brain stimulation.
The ability to perceive a constant image or image persistence is necessary to the design of a visual prosthesis.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Neural stimulation for increased persistence


An antenna (100) operable over a predetermined broad band and connected to a transmission line (102) includes a tip radiator (106) having a series capacitance (129) and a base radiator/choke (104) operatively connected to the tip radiator for changing feed point reactance values to values that provide a desired bandwidth to minimize the antenna's voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) over frequencies in the predetermined broad band. The antenna also includes a choke assembly (108) operatively connected to the transmission line for suppressing current below a predetermined point of the antenna to maintain the desired bandwidth and VSWR.

It is known that electromagnetic communication systems employ broad bandwidth techniques, such as the so-called frequency-agile or frequency-hopping systems in which both the transmitter and receiver rapidly and frequently change communication frequencies within a broad frequency spectrum in a manner known to both units. When operating with such systems, antennas having multiple matching and/or tuning circuits that must be switched, whether manually or electronically, with the instantaneous frequency used for communications, are simply inadequate. Instead, it is imperative to have a single antenna reasonably matched and tuned to all frequencies throughout the broad frequency spectrum of interest. One attempt to provide such an antenna is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,164, which is incorporated herein by reference, and which is owned by the Assignee of the present invention. Although adequate in its stated purpose, the above-identified invention does not adequately perform in a higher frequency range.
Initial attempts at providing an antenna with characteristics of instantaneous bandwidth in a higher frequency and having a VSWR no greater than 2:1 were not found to be acceptable. As is known in the art, the bandwidth of an antenna is related to the "Q" of the antenna. The Q or quality factor/selectivity of an antenna can be defined as power stored in the electrical fields surrounding the antenna divided by the power radiated into space, or more simply, power stored divided by power radiated. It is well known that the lower the Q of the antenna, the larger the antenna bandwidth. The major factors affecting antenna Q are: the length/diameter ratio of the radiator; the antenna loss as related to the loss associated with conductor heat loss; placing a load such as a coil or capacitor in series at some point in the radiator; and, matching networks that may be required at the antenna base in order to match the antenna to the required 50 ohms transmission line.
A proposed quarter wave antenna was found to be unacceptable as it exhibited approximately 36 ohms radiation resistance and no reactance at the quarter wave frequency. Although no matching elements were required at the base of the radiating element, at frequencies lower than the quarter wave frequency the radiation resistance decreased and the capacitance reactance increased. At frequencies higher than the quarter wave frequency, the radiation resistance increased and reactive component acted as a series inductance with increasing reactance with increasing frequency. Based upon such an initial construction, it was found that the quarter wave antenna would be marginal at best. In particular, it was found that the VSWR requirement could only be met between the frequencies of 150 to 165 MHz. Outside of this range, the VSWR exceeded the necessary requirements.
A 5/8 wave antenna nominally exhibits approximately 50 ohms radiation resistance and a high capacity reactance at its operating frequency. In these types of construction, it is customary to insert at the base of the antenna a "matching" inductance to cancel the capacitor reactance so that the antenna system impedance is 50 ohms resistive. Although the 5/8 wave antenna is well suited to mobile installations, it was found to not meet the desired low "Q" and broad band bandwidth requirements. Such an antenna construction was found to have only an acceptable frequency range of about 148 MHz to about 158 MHz within the specified VSWR range. Accordingly, such a construction was found to be unacceptable.
One construction that was found to be promising was a capacitance loaded antenna which had a base radiator section of approximately 128.5 electrical degrees of one wavelength and a tip radiator section of approximately 64.25 electrical degrees of one wavelength. This construction includes a series insertion of a capacitance of approximately 2 pf between the base and tip radiators. This provides an antenna with the desired VSWR characteristic between 140 and 170 MHz. Unfortunately, the desired VSWR characteristics were not obtained at the extremes of the frequency bandwidth desired.


An assembly line for motor vehicles in which a overhead guide supports a plurality of conveying units, each of which has a longitudinal axis, is provided with a supporting element for a respective body to be assembled, and is mobile in a given direction of advance through one or more rotation stations, in each of which an drive assembly, carried by the rotation station, is designed to engage a driven transmission assembly, carried by the conveying unit, for rotating the supporting element about the longitudinal axis.

As is known, a motor-vehicle assembly line normally comprises a plurality of workstations aligned to, and set at a distance from, one another, a fixed conveying guide, which extends through the workstations in a given direction of advance, and a plurality of conveying units, each of which is designed to support a respective body and is mounted so as to slide along the conveying guide for displacing, with continuous or steplike motion, the body itself through the workstations.
In general, a conveying unit of a known type is defined by a gondola, which is suspended from a slide slidably coupled to the fixed guide and comprises an arched element designed to embrace laterally the body, and a supporting element, which is set at the free ends of the arched element and is designed so that it couples to the bottom panel of the body itself.
The suspension of the gondola from the slide is made in such a way as to enable the gondola to oscillate, with respect to the fixed guide, about an axis of its own parallel to the aforesaid direction of advance and to rotate the body between a normal plane position, where the bottom panel faces downwards and is substantially parallel to the floor, and a position rotated upwards, where the bottom panel is inclined, with respect to the floor, by a sufficiently wide angle, normally between 45° and 90° so as to enable operators to carry out work on the underbody conveniently.
To perform rotation of the gondola in given stages of the assembly process, it is known to provide, in the corresponding stretches of the assembly line, fixed deviator elements, each of which is shaped in such a way as to couple in succession to the arched elements and rotate each arched element by a respective pre-set angle. Each conveying unit is moreover provided with a blocking device designed to keep the respective arched element in the inclined position.
A solution of this type is known, for example, from JP 52002971 and JP 52043277. In particular, JP 52043277 discloses an arched hanger arm rotatably inserted between the two pairs of rotatable guide rollers which are rotatably supported by a suspension mechanism of an hanger body which is driven by a overhead conveyer 2. The hanger arm is provided on its outer peripheral edge with a chain extending therealong and is rotated by a rotation mechanism having a gear which engages with the chain. The rotation mechanism comprises a gear set mounted on the hanger body and comprising a first bevel gear coaxial to the gear which engages with the chain, a second bevel gear which engages with the first bevel gear, a spur gear coaxial to the second bevel gear, a rack which engages with the spur gear in parallel with the overhead conveyer and which is arranged so as to rotate the hanger arm, and a reversing rack which engages with the spur gear to thereby reverse the hanger arm. Thus, the hanger arm is rotated or returned in by the movement of the hanger body.
Even though widely used on account of its simplicity, such a solution suffers, however, from certain drawbacks that can be put down principally both to the fact that the deviator elements have relatively large overall dimensions, which obviously complicates the structure of the assembly line, and to the fact that the deviator elements, being fixed, do not enable substantial modifications of the assembly process, for example modification of the stages of the process in which the bodies must be rotated, without considerable interventions of reconfiguration of the assembly line.
A further drawback derives from the fact that the fixed deviator elements, being "passive" elements, are able to perform rotation of the arched elements only when the respective conveying units displace, engaging with the deviator elements themselves, and consequently prove barely usable in the cases where the assembly line does not advance with continuous motion.
To overcome the above drawbacks, a different solution has been proposed, which envisages providing "on board" each conveying unit an electric actuator capable of rotating the respective arched element independently in pre-set workstations.
An example of this solution is provided by the document No. U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,096.
Albeit effective, said solution presents the drawback of proving considerably burdensome both from the standpoint of its construction and from the economic standpoint.


An developer for developing a latent image with a developing agent such as toner. The developer includes a developing sleeve for holding the developing agent on its surface, in which magnetic poles are provided in the developing sleeve; a equalizer bar for equalizing the amount of the developing agent on the surface of the developing sleeve; a pressing member to press the equalizer bar onto the developing sleeve. In the developer, a radius of curvature of the equalizer bar is between 0.5 mm and 15 mm, and the developing sleeve is processed to have a jagged surface which is defined by a glossiness between 2% Gs and 1400% Gs (20.degree.).

The present invention relates to a developing apparatus for development of a latent image on an image forming retainer for use in an image forming machine, particularly in an electrophotographic image forming machine.
In order to obtain a quality image in the electrophotographic image forming machine using a one-component or two-component developer, it is necessary to form a thin and uniform developer layer on a developer retainer (hereinafter also referred to as the developing sleeve 3, or the sleeve, as shown in FIG. 1, for example).
Conventionally, a developer amount limiting member (hereinafter also referred to as the developer layer limiting member or the developer layer thickness limiting member) has been used for many years constituted of a fixed limiting plate used to equalize the layer thickness. A lower limit of the layer thickness has been approximately 0.3 mm because fastening the developer retainer with the fixed limiting plate has a limited mechanical accuracy. With such a method using the fixed limiting plate it is difficult to obtain a uniform thin layer without unevenness. In addition to the fixed limiting plate, there have been proposed various developer layer limiting devices in order to obtain a uniform thin layer. For example, these include the following:
a. The developer layer forming device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 54-43038/1979 includes a developer layer limiting member made of an elastic plate having a free end which is deflected to press the developer retainer for use with a one-component toner.
b. The developer layer forming device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 54-51848/1979 uses an elastic plate having a metal spring and a soft elastic segment laminated together to make a plate-like surface of which a soft elastic segment presses against a developer retainer to limit the layer thickness of a one-component developer.
c. The developer layer forming device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 59-126567/1984 and 59-129879/1984 is to presses an intermittently or continuously rotating elastic roller to a developer retainer to make a nip between the limit layer thickness of a developer in a developing apparatus using a one-component developer.
d. The developer layer forming plate disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-12627/1985 places a rotating roller in contact with a developer retainer of elastic material to limit the layer thickness of a one-component developer in a developing apparatus using a one-component developer.
e. The Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 62-191868/1987 and 62-191869/1987 disclose technical means for forming thin developer layers on a developing sleeve 3 useful for non-contact development in order to make the prior devices mentioned above available for two-component developers.
In these disclosures, an end of an elastic plate held by a supporting member is directed toward an upstream portion of a developer on a developing sleeve 3 and is pressed to the developing sleeve 3. This limits the layer thickness of the developer by a magnetic carrier and a toner adhered to and conveyed by the developing sleeve 3. This makes a highly accurate thin developer layer which is easier to form as compared with the previous limiting means.
f. The developing apparatuses using the two-component developer disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 61-189582/1986 and 62-75563/1987 have a solid plate-like layer thickness limiting member and a magnetic member on its rear side. The attraction force of a fixed magnet assembly provided in a developer retainer indirectly presses a surface or bent edge of the limiting plate to limit the layer thickness.
g. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-50184/1990 discloses a technique for limiting layer thickness with use of a pressure limiting magnetic bar.
The developer layer forming devices proposed previously involve the following defects. Since both the devices in the prior arts a and b mentioned above use pressure caused by deflection of the elastic layer thickness limiting member, the pressure is likely changed with variation of the rotational speed and pressing position of the developer retainer and the developer layer thickness. Also, since they do not only likely vibrate, but also have no means for suppressing the vibration, they resonate and vibrate with the vibration caused in the image forming apparatus. Thus, it is hard to obtain uniformly the developer layer having a equalized thickness. In particular, the device in the prior art b produces such an adverse effect due to a great extent to pressure applied by the soft elastic member. In addition, a geometrical shape of the pressing member (nip) is likely disturbed by variation of the rotational speed and pressing position of the developer retainer and the developer layer thickness, resulting in a change of the area of the nip. It is a problem that the developer layer thickness is liable to have irregularities. In addition to such difficulties, if one or both of the nips are made of soft elastic material, they become clogged with the developer, and the elastic material wears with time. These difficulties occur to the developer, particularly in the developer containing a magnetic material and fluidizing agent. The device in the prior art c mentioned above can obtain a more stable, uniform thin developer layer than the one in the prior art a, but is inferior in capabilities of demolishing or removing coagulated particles of the developer as its layer limiting means is made of a rotating matter. The coagulated particles are retained by the nip portion and made to pass through with rotation of the rotating matter. This means that the desired performance cannot always be obtained by the intermittent rotation, resulting in image contamination and black spots leading to deterioration of the image. The device is defective as its rotating and pressing arrangements are complicated to balance the pressure.
In any of the prior art devices a to d mentioned above, the layer thickness limiting member has a large pressing area. This adversely causes variation of the developer layer thickness with time corresponding to changes of in the amount of developer fed to the nip portion with time in the ordinary developing apparatus.
The devices in the prior arts c and d are useful for the non-magnetic, one-component developer. They form a thin developer layer in the way that the developer layer thickness limiting member is pressed to the elastic developer retainer. However, they cannot be stable in forming the developer layer as the developer retainer is likely to be permanently deformed, and the developer layer thickness limiting member is changed in elasticity in a long period of operation.
Also, the means in prior art e innovated for the two-component developer cannot be maintained in an operable condition in a long period of operation.
Further, the prior arts a, b, e, and f are to form the thin layer in the way that the elastic developer layer thickness limiting plate is pressed to the stiff developer retainer (metal sleeve). However, they have the disadvantage that the layer thickness limiting plate is short in durability as the elastic plate is likely to change in elasticity and be deformed permanently. Besides, if an installation position of the elastic plate is deviated a little, its end allowance and the pressure are changed. It is hard to stably limit the layer thickness. This is a critical disadvantage in that the installation accuracy is extremely severe in mass production.
The developing apparatus in the prior art f has a feature that the two magnets provided on the rear side of the developer layer thickness limiting member and inside the developer retainer function to demolish the coagulated toner to some degree. However, as this uses attraction through the fixed plate-like limiting member, the attractive force decreases promptly with the distance between both magnets. The pressure, therefore, is likely varied with a change of distance. The pressure effect to the developer layer cannot be stable nor uniform. These lead to the disadvantages that the coagulated toner or developer is made to pass through or conversely, irregular layer thickness causes clogging, resulting in white streaks in the image.
The technique disclosed in the prior art g overcomes most of the disadvantages of the preceding prior arts discussed above, but is not successful and leaves critically important problems unsolved. That is, recent toners are progressively made lower in the softening point in view of use of color toner, energy saving, and low power consumption. In connection to this, the developing sleeve 3 is rubbed with the developer amount limiting member. The toner itself is melted. The melted toner sometime sticks to the developing sleeve 3 and the developer amount limiting member of bar. A cause is that the developing sleeve 3 has irregular, sharp projections on its surface which is generally round. The projections allow conveyance of the developer, but are so sharp that friction heat would be likely generated. Sticking of the toner changes the developer conveyance amount. This causes severe defects, such as concentration unevenness and decrease.
Such drawbacks as described above will not frequently happen and are not normally problematic. But, if it occurs it is a serious difficulty. Such problems can not be allowed to occur often.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a developing apparatus that can form a developer layer thickness on the developer retainer uniformly and stably and can prevent coagulated developer and toner from moving to a developing area, thereby being capable of stably reproducing quality images.

Developing apparatus with an improved sleeve


Disclosed is a multi-purpose sectional sports apparatus. The sports apparatus includes a plurality of assembling poles each including a main pole and a sub pole, a connector, and a supporting unit. The main pole has an insertion bore, an L-shaped lower fixture and a plurality of main coupling holes in an upper portion thereof. The sub pole is inserted into the main pole and has a plurality of lower height-adjusting holes and a plurality of upper sub coupling holes. The sub pole is movable up and down to have an adjustable height relative to the main pole as a fastener is fastened through selected ones of the height-adjusting holes and main coupling holes. The connector includes a branched body having a plurality of insertion branches for connection of the assembling poles, each insertion branch having an opening and an insertion bore. The supporting unit includes a plurality of supporting bars for supporting the assembling poles, at least one hollow supporting-connection member having a plurality of supporting-insertion branches for insertion of, for example, the supporting bars, and at least one branched connection member having a plurality of supporting-insertion branches for insertion of, for example, the supporting bars.

Generally, sports apparatuses used for ball games are constructed, on the basis of the kinds of the ball games, by joining various shapes of iron pipes via a welding process, etc. For example, volleyball uses a net structure constructed by hanging a net between a pair of elongated poles mounted at left and right borders of a volleyball court, soccer uses a rectangular goalpost, tennis or Jokgu has a lower net height than that of volleyball, badminton has a different pole distance from that of volleyball, and basketball uses an apparatus consisting of a net basket, a bounding backboard, and a triangular supporting base. As described above, these various ball games have a need for a variety of apparatuses having different shapes from one another.
FIG. 1 illustrates a variety of sports apparatuses used for different ball games.
As shown in FIG. 1, each of a variety of sports apparatuses used for different ball games includes a supporting member 1, 4, or 6 and a net 2, 5, or 7, and is fixedly or movably installed on a sports court. Each of the sports apparatuses is designed to be exclusively used in only an associated sports game.
The above described conventional sports apparatuses for exclusive use in associated sports games have several problems as follows.
Firstly, the conventional sports apparatuses are constructed by welding iron pipes or angled members, which are prepared to have different lengths and straight or bent shapes required to obtain characteristic shapes of the sports apparatuses, and thus, have a difficulty in their mass production. Also, the conventional sports apparatuses have a limit in the number of workers allowed to participate in the manufacture of each product and therefore, suffer from increased labor costs and consequently, enormous manufacturing costs and time.
Secondly, the conventional sports apparatuses for exclusive use in associated ball games have completely different structures from one another and cannot be used compatibly in other ball games. Accordingly, a plurality of different sports apparatuses should be provided to enjoy a variety of ball games, and this causes problems of increased purchase costs and insufficient installation space for the plurality of sports apparatuses.
Thirdly, the conventional sports apparatuses, which are constructed by welding iron pipes to have their characteristic shapes, have no transformation ability and consequently, have no compatibility. Accordingly, it is essential to prepare a plurality of different sports apparatuses for exclusive use in a variety of ball games, and this inevitably causes a need for a large-scale storage space as well as increased storage costs.
Fourthly, the conventional sports apparatuses have to be transported while maintaining their basic shapes in spite of the fact that they have a large size and heavy weight. Therefore, the conventional sports apparatuses have a problem of enormous transportation costs.
Fifthly, preparing all the conventional sports apparatuses for use in a variety of ball games that have different shapes from one another makes it difficult to construct a physical sports complex facility due to a limit in efficient use of a space.

Multipurpose prefabricated sporting goods


An object of the present invention is to provide a chimera VEGF-E having a reduced antigenicity while maintaining the activity of VEGF-E. The present invention provides a chimera protein having an activity of growing vascular endothelial cells, which is obtained by substituting a part of the sequence of a VEGF analogous protein having an activity of vascularization that binds to KDR (VEGF receptor-2) but does not bind to Flt-1 (VEGF receptor-1) with a corresponding sequence of a human-derived VEGF analogous protein.

Circulatory disorders caused by vascular system abnormalities are observed in numerous diseases, and specific examples of such diseases include angina pectoris, heart infarction, lower extremity circulatory failure caused by diabetes, and arterial occlusive disease. These diseases not only impart a great deal of pain to patients but also often lead patients to death. In order to overcome this problem, a great deal of research has been conducted regarding vascularization, and as a result, vascular endothelial growth factors (hereinafter abbreviated to "VEGF") and their receptors (Flt-1, KDR) were found to play central roles therein (Ferara N. and Davis-Smyth T., Endocrine Review, 18, 4-25, 1997, Shibuya M., Advances in Cancer Research, 67, 281-316, 1995).
A possible method to ameliorate various circulatory failures is carried out by administering VEGF, an analogous protein thereof, or a vector for expressing them into subcutaneous tissue or muscular tissue of cardiac muscle or lower extremity to accelerate vascularization by these vascularization factors. Clinical experiments on VEGF have already started, and VEGF are known to bind to and activate both Flt-1 (VEGF receptor-1) and KDR (VEGF receptor-2) (Shibuya M. et al. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, 237, 59-83, 1999). Approximately 90% of vascularization signals are sent from KDR (VEGF receptor-2) (Takahashi T. et al. Oncogene, 18, 2221-2230, 1999), while Flt-1 (VEGF receptor-1) sends out signals for the chemotaxis of monocytes and macrophages and relatively weak vascularization signals (Barleon B. et al. Blood, 87, 3336-3343, 1996, Clauss M. et al. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 271, 17629-17634, 1996). Monocytes and macrophage cells are known to secrete various cytokines and the like to induce inflammation, and are likely to disturb vascularization therapy. Accordingly, a VEGF analogous protein which binds to only KDR (VEGF receptor-2) and can activate it, is understood as more suitable for vascularization therapy. VEGF-ENZ-7 was reported as a protein that binds to only KDR (VEGF receptor-2) (Ogawa S. et al. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 273, 31273-31282, 1998). Although this gene per se was found in the Orf virus genome of Parapox in 1994, its property still remains unknown, and its characteristic features that it binds to only KDR (VEGF receptor-2) and has potent vascularization activity were elucidated for the first time by Ogawa et al. (Lyttle D. J. et al. Journal of Virology, 68, 84-92, 1994; Ogawa S. et al. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 273, 31273-31282, 1998).
Thereafter, VEGF-ED1701 and VEGF-ENZ-2, which are allied with VEGF-ENZ-7, were similarly reported as binding to only KDR (VEGF receptor-2) (FIG. 1) (Meyer M. et al. EMBO Journal 18, 363-374, 1999). As described above, VEGF-ENZ-7 binds to only KDR (VEGF receptor-2), has substantially the same vascularization activity as VEGF, and does not stimulate the chemotaxis of monocytes and macrophages.

Chimeric human-type vascular endothelial cell growth factor


A connector assembly for connecting a bicycle seat to a bicycle seat post. The assembly includes a housing defining a hollow opening downwardly to allow the upper end of the bicycle seat post to be passed upwardly into the hollow; a generally horizontal bore in the housing opening in the opposite side faces of the housing and sized to pass a fastener to facilitate fastening of the connector member to the frame of the bicycle seat; a circumferential array of serrations on each of the opposite side faces of the housing concentric with the bore for coaction with circumferentially arrayed serrations on the bicycle seat frame to allow adjustment of the angular position of the seat relative to the seat post upon loosening of the fastener; a vertical clamping surface defined in the housing in confronting relation to the hollow; and a clamping jaw slidably mounted in the hollow of the housing and having a vertical clamping surface coacting with the housing clamping surface to clamp the bicycle post therebetween. The clamping jaw is moved slidably in the hollow of the housing by a set screw passing through the rear wall of the housing and engaging the rear face of the clamping jaw. This arrangement allows the connector assembly to accommodate a wide variety of sizes of bicycle seat posts.

This invention is directed to a connector member for a bicycle seat and more specifically to a connector member for a bicycle seat which allows the associated seat to be universally mounted on a wide variety of seat post sizes.
Bicycle seats are typically mounted on the bicycle post by a U-shaped connector member including a bight portion which wraps clampingly around the upper end of the seat post, apertures in the free ends of each leg portion of the clamp, and a circumferential array of serrations concentric with each aperture. The frame of the associated seat also includes apertures and circumferential arrays of serrations centered on the apertures and a fastener passes through the apertures in the seat frame and in the connector member to clamp the bight portion of the connector member around the seat post in the desired angular position of the seat relative to the seat post. When it is desired to adjust the angular position of the seat relative to the seat post, the fastener is loosened to disengage the coacting serrations, the seat is moved to the adjusted angular position, and the fastener member is tightened.
While this arrangement is in wide use and is generally satisfactory, it has the disadvantage that a particular connector member is usable only with a particular size seat post so that a bicycle seat equipped with a particular connector member may be mounted only on a particular size seat post, thereby limiting the ability of the seat to be used universally with the various sizes of seat posts encountered in various types and sizes of bicycles.


A magnetoresistive read sensor having an MR sensing element in parallel with a flux guide. The flux guide is made of an amorphous alloy having a composition of Co.sub.a Hf.sub.b Nb.sub.c where a is the concentration of Co, b is the concentration of Hf, and c is the concentration of Nb. Co.sub.a Hf.sub.b Nb.sub.c has a high magnetization and is highly resistive which reduces the amount of sense current flowing through the flux guide, thus increasing the amplitude of the signal sensed by the MR sensing element.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates in general to a magnetoresistive read sensor for reading signals from a magnetic medium and, more particularly, to an improved magnetoresistive read sensor comprising a high resistivity flux guide.
2. Description of the Background Art
A magnetoresistive (MR) read sensor has been shown to be capable of reading data from a magnetic surface of a magnetic disk at great linear densities. An MR sensor detects magnetic fields through the resistance changes of its MR sensing element (also referred to as "MR layer") as a function of the strength and direction of magnetic flux being sensed by the MR sensing element. MR read sensors are of great interest for several reasons: MR sensors' intrinsic noise is lower than inductive sensors' intrinsic noise, thus providing improved signal-to-noise (S/N) performance; MR sensors sense magnetic flux (.phi.) as compared to inductive heads which sense the time rate of change of flux, d.phi./dt, thus making the reproduction of the signal recorded on a medium independent of the relative velocity between the MR sensor and medium; and MR sensors have bandwidth in the gigahertz (gHz) range which allows areal storage density well in excess of one gigabit per square inch.
MR sensors currently being used or under development fall into two broad categories: 1) anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) sensors and 2) giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors. In the AMR sensors, the resistance of the MR layer varies as the function of cos.sup.2 .alpha. where .alpha. is the angle between the magnetization and the direction of the sense current flowing in the MR layer. The MR layer is made of ferromagnetic material. U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,037 entitled "Magnetoresistive Read Transducer Having Hard Magnetic Bias", granted to Krounbi et al. on May 21, 1991, discloses an MR sensors operating on the basis of the AMR effect. In the GMR sensor, the resistance of the MR sensing element varies as a function of the spin-dependent transmission of the conduction electrons between the magnetic layers separated by a non-magnetic layer and the accompanying spin-dependent scattering which takes place at the interface of the magnetic and non-magnetic layers and within the magnetic layers. GMR sensors using only two layers of ferromagnetic material separated by a layer of non-magnetic electrically conductive material are generally referred to as spin valve (SV) MR sensors. A GMR sensor fabricated from the appropriate materials provides improved sensitivity and greater change in resistance than observed in sensors using the AMR effect. U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,590 entitled "Magnetoresistive Sensor Based On The Spin Valve Effect", granted to Dieny et al. on Apr. 27, 1993, discloses an MR sensors operating on the basis of the spin valve effect.
There are several problems associated with the use of the MR sensors which require inventive solutions; for example, MR sensors, especially spin valve MR sensors, typically utilize materials such as copper (Cu), cobalt (Co) or nickel iron (NiFe) in order to form the magnetic layer or layers of the sensing element. The presence of these material at the head/disk interface can cause head failure due to the head corrosion. Furthermore, in near contact recording applications, the presence of an MR sensor at the head/disk interface can lead to failure of the head due to mechanical and/or thermal phenomena such as thermal asperity. Thermal asperity can cause severe mechanical and thermal damages to the MR sensor. Furthermore, since the performance of MR sensors are dependent on the size of their sensing elements, it is critical to control the size of the sensing elements during the lapping process as much as possible. However, mechanical lapping processes currently used to lap MR sensors have substantial manufacturing tolerances. As a result, it is extremely difficult to precisely control the size of MR sensors' sensing elements.
In order to substantially eliminate these aforementioned problems, it has been suggested to place a flux guide between the MR sensing element and the air bearing surface (air bearing surface (ABS) refers to the surface of the slider adjacent to the surface of the magnetic disk). A flux guide is generally made of magnetic material which is noncorrosive or less corrosive than the magnetic material used in forming the MR layer(s). It can also be made of magnetic material having a higher permeability than the MR layer(s). Placing a flux guide between the MR sensing element and the air bearing surface eliminates the corrosion problem; eliminates mechanical and/or thermal problems in near contact recording; and eliminates the sensitivity of the MR sensor to the lapping process because what gets lapped during the lapping process is the flux guide as opposed to the MR sensing element.
In one approach as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the flux guide is placed between the MR sensing element and the air bearing surface (referred to as "ABS Flux Guide" and/or "Front Flux Guide" or simply "Flux Guide"). However, since the front flux guide forms a resistor in parallel with the MR layer, a substantial amount of the sense current which is meant to flow in the MR layer ends up flowing in the front flux guide (this is referred to as flux guide shunting the sense current). For example, a 250 angstrom (.ANG.) thick NiFe flux guide shunts about 60% of the sense current away from the MR layer thus seriously reducing the sense current through the MR layer which reduces the MR sensor's sensitivity.
One possible way to avoid the shunting effect is to insulate the flux guide from the MR sensing element using insulating material such as Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 or SiO.sub.2 as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. However, the use of an insulating layer reduces the sensing efficiency of the MR sensor for reading signals recorded on a magnetic disk. For example, it can be shown that the sensing efficiency of a spin valve MR sensor is lowered by about 30% for even a 200 .ANG. thick insulator material placed between the flux guide and the MR sensing element. Furthermore, using an insulator to insulate the MR sensing element from the flux guide adds to the number of processing steps, thus lowering the overall yield for producing MR sensors. Moreover, a second insulator has to also be added between the flux guide and the MR sensor leads to ensure insulation between the flux guide and the leads. (As shown in FIG. 2B). Furthermore, since the performance of the spin valve MR sensors are very sensitive to high temperature fabrication process, temperatures in excess of 200.degree. C. can permanently degrade magnetoresistance of the spin valve MR sensor by up to 50%. Therefore, a flux guide material is required which could be fabricated below 200.degree. C.
Therefore, there is a need for an invention which teaches how to use the flux guide to protect the MR sensor against corrosion, mechanical and thermal problems, performance degradation due to high temperature fabrication process, performance degradation due to manufacturing tolerances in lapping process, and at the same time to avoid sense current shunting problems created by the use of the flux guide.

Magnetoresistive sensor with high resistivity flux guide

International Business Machines Corporation


Xml pages are obtained from knowledge bases that contain step by step instructions. The xml pages are presented as “active content,” by which we mean a series of prompted questions and answers. A user's interactions with the active content is recorded so that the results may be copied to the user's clipboard for automatic transfer to a problem management/ticketing system. Active content that contains embedded questions asked of the user may be used to infer answers to some of the questions from a search query, and, thus, alleviate the need for the user to answer them.

In the prior art, in order to answer callers' problems, call takers must navigate through knowledge documents and follow documented procedures, during which time the callers are asked a series of questions. In such systems, after the problem is resolved or needs to be escalated to a higher level of support, the problem is documented in a problem management/ticketing system (such as, for example. commercial Peregrine and Remedy systems).
There presently does not exist a way to automatically track diagnostic steps and immediately transcribe the results into a ticketing or other recording system without a user having to independently spell out the details of the diagnostic steps taken. In addition, when a user describes their problem through an explicit or implicit search interface (either to a call taker, or in the context of self-help) to the self-help system, and when either the call taker or the user is taken to a knowledge document to resolve the problem, there presently does not exist a way to bypass questions in the knowledge document that are implicitly answered by the problem description/search query.
Accordingly, the present invention addresses one or more deficiencies of the prior art.

Method for creating, executing and searching through a form of active web-based content

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates to an input unit of a letter sorting system which comprises separable first and second conveyor lines. The first line is positioned proximate to an isolating device which processes letters. The first line comprises a conveyor surface and supporting wall along with a linear guide which extends beyond the surface. On the linear guide runs a separating blade. The second line also comprises a conveyor surface and supporting wall along with a linear guide, however this linear guide does not run beyond the length of the second conveyor line supporting surface. At least one second separating blades run on the second conveyor line linear guide. In operation, letters are placed on the second conveyor supporting surface from bins. The placement may be in a select order. The second conveyor line is then brought proximate to the first conveyor line where the two are then coupled. The conveyor surfaces of the two lines substantially mate so as to facilitate transported by a separating blade of the letters from the second to the first conveyor line and then to the isolating unit for processing.

The present invention relates to an input unit of a letter sorting system including a mail or letter isolating device connected to a mail conveyor line and oriented horizontally with a supporting wall. Relatively flat mail pieces are transported, with the assistance of separation blades, to the isolating device. The mail pieces are standing on edge. The separation blades may be made to swivel into a stack of mail pieces in facilitating transport of a select portion of the stack as well as provide support therefor. The separation blades further run on linear guides which facilitate linear transport of a select stack portion.
To date, input units are loaded manually. This is a rather expensive undertaking. Herein, mail pieces are dumped from a mail container of a mail conveyor line, or manually removed stack-wise from the mail container, and put on the mail conveyor line. Thereafter, the mail pieces are moved, again by hand, along a supporting base and oriented sidewise against a supporting wall and to the mail isolating device. The separating blade is then swivelled in behind the stack and mail separation or isolation starts. The separating blade and additionally the optional mail conveyor line, which is executed as conveyor coupled with the separating blade, supplies the stack in a pressure-controlled manner to the isolating device.
EP 0865328 B 1 sets out an installation for an automatic loading of an input unit of a letter sorting system without manual input. A loaded container is thereby emptied by a loading module on the mail conveyor line of the input unit between two additional, moveable and swivelling separating blades. Then the stack is automatically moved to the remaining stack by the two separating blades in a direction of the mail isolating device. The separating blade, which supports the remaining stack, extends, advances closely behind the additional rear separating blade, swivels in again and the two additional separating blades swivel out and advance to the back for the capture of a new stack. With this solution too, the mail pieces get to the input unit in a mail container, i.e. the mail pieces have to be loaded in the mail containers in a relatively expensive manner. These mail pieces come in many cases from pre-arranged sorting machines. Then the pre-sorted mail pieces are loaded from the respective sorting bins into the mail containers and, as described, transported to the corresponding input unit.
There are also sorting processes with several successive sorting runs, where the mail pieces from the sorting bins are not loaded into the mail containers, but moved by a transfer bridge from the sorting bins on the mail conveyor line of the input unit (see e.g. DE 42 36 507 C1). For this, a certain machine layout is necessary where the sorting bins and the mail conveyor line of the input unit are opposing.

Input unit of a letter sorting system and method for loading the input unit


A mounting fixture for attaching at least one device for controlling the movement of a furniture part which is received on a stationary furniture part so as to be movable in a driven manner. According to the invention, a fastening mechanism is provided, with elongate profiles which extend separately from each other with a clearance in between them and to which the device for controlling the movement can be attached.

Arrangements for mounting or for attaching a device for controlling the movement of a furniture part are known in the furniture sector. In modern pieces of furniture, in addition to aesthetic aspects, ease of use of the pieces of furniture is becoming increasingly important. For this purpose, use may be made, for controlling the movement of a furniture part, of a broad range of devices, for example devices which assist in a driven manner opening or closing or which dampen the movement into an end position. In this way, the user of the piece of furniture can be provided with helpful additional functions on the piece of furniture. In order to find high acceptance in practice, as little space as possible must be required for accommodating the device for controlling the movement. Furthermore, the solution should be inexpensive and mounting should be easily possible.

Device and system for controlling the movement of a furniture part, mounting fixture for said device and piece of furniture


An apparatus and method of using an adjustable food guard. The method and apparatus include a food serving station that further includes a food serving device and an adjustable food guard apparatus. The food guard apparatus includes at least one adjustable bracket that includes a bracket slot, wherein the bracket slot includes at least one lock slot. In addition, the food guard apparatus includes at least one of vertical-mounting member that includes a plurality of pivot pins, where the pivot pins are capable of engaging the bracket. Also, the bracket is capable of adjustment from a first position into at least one second position using the pivot pins. The pivot pins are capable of engaging the bracket via the bracket slot. Further, the pivot pins are capable of sliding within the bracket slot and the pivot pins are capable of reversibly locking into the second position using the lock slot.

The present invention is generally related to food service stations and, more particularly, is related to food service stations that have an adjustable food guard that has moveable and rotatable brackets.
Generally, a food guard is used to protect food that is to be served from a food service station. The food guard protects the food from contamination from the breath of customers that are requesting or self-serving food from a fast food bar, cafeteria food bar, or other similar food bar. Generally, a food service station includes a food service line or counter that includes some or all of the following: hot or cold food pans, soup wells, chafing dishes, and a breath protection device or sneeze guard. The food guard is typically attached to the food service counter. The food guard is positioned to protect the food from airborne bacteria, contaminants, the breath, sneeze, or cough of customers. The food guard has a transparent shield made of glass or other material, which is attached to a support structure. The shield can be moved into various positions to ensure protection of the food, while also allowing the necessary accessibility.
In order for a food guard to be effective, it must intersect what is considered the xe2x80x9cbreath zonexe2x80x9d. This zone is determined by 1) constructing an imaginary vertical line from the front edge of a serving counter up to a height of about 4xe2x80x2-6xe2x80x3 and about 5xe2x80x2-6xe2x80x3 from the floor and 2) constructing an imaginary line from the 4xe2x80x2-6xe2x80x3 intersection to the front edge of the food zone and 3) constructing an imaginary line from the 5xe2x80x2-6xe2x80x3 height to the rear edge of the food zone. The food zone is the area that exposed food will be displayedxe2x80x94generally a food pan, soup well, chafing dish, or similar device that is set back about 3xe2x80x3 to about 6xe2x80x3 from the front edge of the counter. A glass shield must intersect the breath zone in order to prevent the contamination of food from airborne bacteria from the breath of customers.
In general, food guards are used for different applications in a number of different circumstances. One circumstance involves using the food guard in an attendant-serving mode. In this mode, the customer is restricted from being able to touch or reach the food by way of a transparent shield, which can be in any of a multiple of configurations. However, the attendant can hand the food to the customer over the top of the food guard or under the guard if there is enough clearance between the food guard and the counter of the food serving device. Another circumstance in which a food guard can be used is in a self-serve mode. Here, the shield of the food guard is angled or positioned so that a customer can serve himself food through the clearance between the shield and the food service device. The shield still provides protection from contamination from the breath of the customer because it is positioned so as to intersect the xe2x80x9cbreath zone.xe2x80x9d The angle of the shield may need to be varied depending on the position of the food in the food serving station and the customer. Food that is farther away from the customer requires sufficient clearance between the shield and the food service station to enable access to the food. Therefore, depending on the circumstance, more or less clearance may be needed to allow accessibility, while maintaining xe2x80x9cbreath zonexe2x80x9d coverage. In addition, different degrees of accessibility are often needed from meal to meal and from event to event thereby requiring a food guard that is adjustable.
Generally, the shield of currently used food guards are in a fixed non-adjustable position (e.g., in the vertical or angled position). The disadvantage to this arrangement is that different types of food guards are required for different serving circumstances, thereby increasing costs considerably. However, other food guards have shields that are adjustable into different positions. Generally, in order to rotate the shield these types of food guards require the operator to loosen a plurality of mechanical fasteners. While the fasteners are in the loosened state, the operator or another must support the shield so it does not fall. When the shield is positioned at the required angle the fasteners must be tightened. This process often requires two operators to adjust the angle of the shield (e.g., one operator holding the shield while the second operator is adjusting the fasteners), thereby requiring more man-power, slowing the process, and increasing costs. In addition, the shield must be positioned properly to protect the food and the aforementioned food guards do not lend themselves to easy positioning.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.
The present invention provides an apparatus and method of using an adjustable food guard. One embodiment of the present invention provides a food serving station that includes a food serving device and an adjustable food guard apparatus. The food guard apparatus includes at least one adjustable bracket that includes a bracket slot, wherein the bracket slot includes at least one lock slot. In addition, the food guard apparatus includes at least one of vertical-mounting member that includes a plurality of pivot pins, where the pivot pins are capable of engaging the bracket. Also, the bracket is capable of adjustment from a first position into at least one second position using the pivot pins. The pivot pins are capable of engaging the bracket via the bracket slot. Further, the pivot pins are capable of sliding within the bracket slot and the pivot pins are capable of reversibly locking into the second position using the lock slot.
Another embodiment of the present invention provides an adjustable food guard apparatus. The adjustable food guard apparatus includes at least one bracket that includes a bracket slot, wherein the bracket slot includes at least one lock slot. In addition, the food guard apparatus includes at least one vertical-mounting member, which includes a plurality of pivot pins. The pivot pins are capable of engaging the bracket. The bracket is capable of adjustment from a first position into at least one second position using the pivot pins. The pivot pins are capable of engaging the bracket via the bracket slot. In addition, the pivot pins are capable of sliding within the bracket slot. The pivot pins are capable of reversibly locking into the second position using the lock slot.
A further embodiment provides a method of converting a food service station from an attendant-serving food station to a self-serving food station. The method includes providing an adjustable food guard apparatus that can be moved from a vertical position to an angled position. The adjustable food guard apparatus includes a first bracket that includes a first bracket slot. The first bracket slot includes at least one first lock slot. In addition, the adjustable food guard apparatus includes a first vertical-mounting member. The first vertical-mounting member includes a plurality of first pivot pins that are capable of engaging the first bracket. The first bracket is capable of adjustment from the vertical position into at least one second position using the first pivot pins, which are capable of engaging the first bracket via the first bracket slot. The first pivot pins are capable of sliding within the first bracket slot and are capable of reversibly locking into the angled position using the first lock slot. The adjustable food guard apparatus also includes a second bracket. The second bracket includes a second bracket slot, where the second bracket slot includes at least one second lock slot. In addition, the adjustable food guard apparatus includes a second vertical-mounting member. The vertical-mounting member includes a plurality of second pivot pins that are capable of engaging the second bracket. The second bracket is capable of adjustment from the vertical position into at least one second position using the second pivot pins. The pivot pins are capable of engaging the second bracket via the second bracket slot. The second pivot pins are capable of sliding within the second bracket slot and the second pivot pins are capable of reversibly locking into the angled position using the second lock slot. The adjustable food guard apparatus also includes a shield that is engaged to the first bracket and the second bracket. The adjustable food guard apparatus is moved from the vertical position by moving the adjustable food apparatus in the upward direction and sliding the first bracket via the first bracket slot along the first pivot pin of the first vertical-mounting member. This is done so that the first pivot pin is engaged with the first lock slot and sliding the second bracket via the second bracket slot along the second pivot pin of the second vertical-mounting member so that the second pivot pin is engaged with the second lock so that the adjustable food guard apparatus is in the angled position.
Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the present invention will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the present invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.


A coating composition for coating metal plates comprising a hydroxyl group-containing polyester resin having a number average molecular weight of 1,500 to 30,000, a glass transition temperature of -20.degree. to 40.degree. C. and a hydroxyl value of 3 to 50 mg KOH/g; a melamine resin curing agent comprising a methyl etherified melamine resin and a butyl etherified melamine resin; a curing catalyst comprising an optionally neutralized sulfonic acid compound; a secondary amine compound having a boiling point of 30.degree. to 250.degree. C.; and optionally titanium dioxide.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a coating composition having good coating properties and that is capable of forming a coating film which is excellent in film hardness, processing property, pollution resistance and acid resistance. More particularly, the present invention relates to a coating composition suitable for precoated steel plates used in the manufacture of vessels, and/or coated metal plates prepared with the composition of the present invention.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, as topcoating compositions for precoated steel plates used in the manufacture of vessels, coating compositions have often been used that are obtained by blending a mixture of a polyester resin (a basic resin) and a methyl etherified methylol melamine resin (a cross-linking agent) with a curing catalyst. This is typically because such coating compositions possess an excellent balance between hardness and processing property. Processing property generally refers to the durability of the coating when subjected to pressing or bending processes. That is, a coating which does not crack or peel off under pressing or bending is said to have an excellent processing property.
With regard to conventional precoated steel plates used in the manufacture of the vessels, characteristics such as pollution resistance and acid resistance in addition to the hardness and the processing property have recently been regarded as important.
In conventional polyester resin-methyl etherified methylol melamine resin coating compositions, the pollution resistance of the coating film can generally be improved by increasing the amount of the methyl etherified methylol melamine resin, or by increasing the amount of the curing catalyst. However, such increases in resin and/or catalyst may cause the processing properties and, most particularly the acid resistance of the coating film may become noticeably deteriorated.

Coating composition and coated metal plate using it


Provided is a method of managing medical information in an operating system for a medical information database, the method including encrypting, by a first user, first medical information having patient treatment information by using a group key, and second medical information having patient private information by using a private key, generating, by the first user, an index corresponding to the encrypted first medical information, storing the encrypted first and second medical information and the index to the medical information database, searching, by a second user, the medical information database for the encrypted first medical information by using the index; and decrypting the searched encrypted first medical information by using the group key.

The present invention disclosed herein relates to a method of managing medical information in an operating system for a medical information database.
As paper-based medical records become digitalized by introducing electronic medical records (EMR) and an order communication systems (OCS), management of a medical information database highly attracts interests. Even though medical information including sensitive, privacy-related information requires to be encrypted, since not all the information is sensitive, an active encryption method reflecting characteristics of the medical information is necessary. Also, as evidence-based medicine (EBM) is developed, it is required to effectively search a medical information database for medical information for clinical research.
Typically, since a medical information database locates within a hospital, there is no separate protection measure on medical information therein or all medical information is encrypted with a symmetric-key cryptosystem. In the search, all encrypted medical information is read, decrypted, and then searched, and, in this process, there is a risk of information leaks by an inner manger.
Accordingly, the search is necessary to be enabled in an encrypted state without decryption for security and efficient commerciality. For this, database encryption and search schemes are being researched, which mainly focus on a system for selecting representative keywords from a document, encrypting them and using the encrypted keywords as indexes for a search. Since a medical information database is accessed by users in various groups such as doctors, nurses, or the persons related to hospital management, the group users are to be considered. Accordingly, typical database encryption and search schemes have limitations in applying to medical information databases, since they do not consider characteristics of medical information and lack consideration for various group users.

Method of managing medical information in operating system for medical information database

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


An LED package includes a chip carrier, an adhesive layer, one high-voltage LED die, and an encapsulating member. The chip carrier defines a receiving space. The adhesive layer is disposed in the receiving space and has a thermal conductivity of larger than or equal to 1 W/mK. The high-voltage LED die is attached to the adhesive layer to be received in the reflective space and has a top surface formed with a trench. The trench of the high-voltage LED die is disposed at an optical center of the receiving space. The encapsulating member encapsulates the high-voltage LED die and includes a plurality of diffusers. The trench is embedded with the encapsulating member and has a width ranging from 1 μm to 10 μm and a depth of less than or equal to 50 μm.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a light-emitting diode (LED) package, more particularly to a light-emitting diode (LED) package by adopting a high-voltage LED die.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional 0.5 Watt-to-3 Watt LED packages, which are incorporated with phosphors, usually utilize two low-voltage (2.8 volts to 3.6 volts) blue LED dies in their designs in order to reach higher luminance. However, the two-LED design not only causes difficulties as well as increases the production cost in wire-bonding process, but also generates light-absorbing effect between the two blue LEDs, which may lower the luminance thereof.

Lite-On Opto Technology (Changzhou) Co., Ltd.