The present invention relates to a receiving apparatus of a communication system, which comprises a receiving module, a selection unit, and a processing module. The receiving module receives an input signal and produces a first signal and a second signal. The phases of the first and the second signals are different. The selection unit receives the first and the second signals, and switches for outputting the first or the second signal. The processing module receives and processes the first and the second signals, and produces an output signal. Thereby, the present invention uses the selection unit for processing two phase signals via a set of channels. Thereby, circuit area and power consumption can be reduced, and hence achieving the purpose of saving cost.

In the radio-frequency (RF) transmission architectures of modern wireless communication systems, there are two mainstreams of receiver architectures that are highly integrated as well as providing multiple modes. One is the low intermediate frequency (IF) receiver; the other is the direct conversion, or zero IF, receiver. These two types of receivers own complementary pros and cons, and are extensively valued and applied in the industry. The former receiver can avoid problems of DC shifts and low-frequency noises. However, it suffers from interferences by image signals. On the contrary, the latter receiver has little interferences by image signals. Nevertheless, it has the problems of DC shifts and low-frequency noises.
At present, low- and intermediate-frequency architectures are widely applied to transmitting and receiving sides of wireless communication. Thereby, the problems of image interference and circuit areas in low- and intermediate-frequency receiver architectures have become a major issue in the industry as well as in the academia. The most popular method is, in a low- and intermediate-frequency or an ultra-low- and intermediate-frequency receiver architecture, to use a mixing circuit to down-convert the wireless RF signal received by an antenna and output a pair of orthogonal signals. A complex filter architecture is then used for processing the pair of signals. Starting from the output of a low noise amplifier (LNA) in a general image rejection receiver architecture, passing mixers, filters, amplifiers, analog-to-digital converters, and till the output of a baseband processing circuit, signals are divided into two phases, namely, 0-degree (in-phase, I) and 90-degree (quadrature, Q) signals. Consequently, two sets of mixers, filters, amplifiers, and analog-to-digital converters are required, hence consuming more circuit area and power consumption as well as widening asymmetry between I and Q signals.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a novel receiving apparatus of a communication system, which can avoid using two sets of amplifiers and analog-to-digital converters. Thereby, circuit area and power consumption can be reduced, and the problems described above can be solved.

Receiving apparatus with a single set of channels for processing plural sets of in-phase and quadrature phase signals


Spinal anchoring methods and devices are provided that are effective to correct spinal deformities while allowing some flexibility to the spinal. In particular, the methods and devices allow a spinal fixation element to mate to several adjacent vertebrae to maintain the vertebrae at a fixed distance relative to one another, yet to allow the orientation of each vertebrae relative to the fixation element to adjust as the orientation of the patient's spine changes.

Spinal deformities, which include rotation, angulation, and/or curvature of the spine, can result from various disorders, including, for example, scoliosis (abnormal curvature in the coronal plane of the spine), kyphosis (backward curvature of the spine), and spondylolisthesis (forward displacement of a lumbar vertebra). Early techniques for correcting such deformities utilized external devices that apply force to the spine in an attempt to reposition the vertebrae. These devices, however, resulted in severe restriction and in some cases immobility of the patient. Thus, to avoid this need, several rod-based techniques were developed to span across multiple vertebrae and force the vertebrae into a desired orientation.
In rod-based techniques, one or more rods are attached to the vertebrae at several fixation sites to progressively correct the spinal deformity. The rods are typically pre-curved to a desired adjusted spinal curvature. Wires can also be used to pull individual vertebra toward the rod. Once the spine has been substantially corrected, the procedure typically requires fusion of the instrumented spinal segments.
While several different rod-based systems have been developed, they tend to be cumbersome, requiring complicated surgical procedures with long operating times to achieve correction. Further, intraoperative adjustment of rod-based systems can be difficult and may result in loss of mechanical properties due to multiple bending operations. Lastly, the rigidity and permanence of rigid rod-based systems does not allow growth of the spine and generally requires fusion of many spine levels, drastically reducing the flexibility of the spine.
Accordingly, there remains a need for improved methods and devices for correcting spinal deformities.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Anchoring systems and methods for correcting spinal deformities


An elevator installation and a method for arranging a load sensor in the elevator installation includes a car, a support device for supporting the car, the load sensor and a deflecting roller unit. The deflecting roller unit is arranged at the car and has at least two deflecting rollers which are rotatable about a common axle. The load sensor is arranged on the common axle between the two deflecting rollers.

The elevator installation is installed in a shaft. It substantially consists of a car connected with a drive by way of support means. The car is moved along a car travel path by means of the drive. The support means are connected with the car by way of deflecting rollers with a multiple slinging. The load-bearing force acting in the support means is reduced by the multiple slinging in correspondence with a slinging factor. The car is designed to transport a useful load which can vary according to the respective need between empty (0%) and full (100%).
An elevator suspension of that kind with a car and a deflecting roller arrangement, which is mounted at the car frame, is known from German patent DE 20 221 212, wherein the deflecting roller arrangement comprises at least two deflecting rollers which are rotatable about a common axle.
A further elevator installation of that kind with two deflecting rollers arranged in parallel is known from European patent EP 1 446 348, wherein the deflecting rollers are arranged symmetrically with respect to a car guide.
Elevator installations of that kind usually include a load measuring system which, for example, is to detect an overload in the car or which measures an effective useful load so as thus to be able to preset a required drive torque for the drive. An overload exists when the useful load is more than 100% of the useful load or which the car is designed. In many cases load measuring systems of that kind are arranged in a car floor, in that, for example, deformations or spring deflections of the car floor are measured, or stress measuring elements are mounted at load-bearing structures of the car.
Proceeding from the known state of the art the object now arises of demonstrating a load measuring system for an elevator installation with deflecting rollers arranged in parallel, the system being able to be integrated simply and favorably in cost in an elevator installation and being capable of measuring the useful load of the car with sufficient accuracy. Moreover, use shall advantageously be able to be made of economic measuring elements.

Load sensor apparatus and method for an elevator car


A particle size classifier in which feed material composed of product and overs moves downwardly through a separator unit by the action of negative pressures created by a first air blower associated with the collection of product and a second air blower associated with the collection of overs. As the feed material moves downwardly, the product and the overs are separated with the product passing from within a screen unit to outside the screen unit and the screen unit preventing passage of the overs. Blowback air, applied to the screen unit from the outside cleans the cylindrical screen unit to permit continued passage of product through the screen unit.

There are many types of equipment which handle bulk material in which particles of many different sizes are present and which must separate out desired size particles of from undesired, oversized particles. Generally, such equipment that is commercially available for separating out desired size particles fails to meet one or more of the following desired features:
(1) clean product separation, namely a distinct separation of desired size particles from undesired, oversized particles PA1 (2) high screening efficiency, namely the separation of large percentages of the desired size particles PA1 (3) high throughput capacity PA1 (4) relatively dust free surrounding environment PA1 (5) minimum material build-up on screens that affects separation, particularly static build up of material in the winter


The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computing system program products for iteratively calculating a skewness for streamed data. Embodiments of the invention include iteratively calculating one or more components of skewness in an adjusted computation window based on the one or more components of the skewness calculated for a previous computation window and then calculating the skewness based on the iteratively calculated components. Iteratively calculating skewness avoids visiting all data elements in the computation window and performing redundant computations thereby increasing calculation efficiency, saving computing resources and reducing computing system power consumption.

Internet, mobile communications, navigation, online gaming, sensing technologies and large scale computing infrastructures are producing large amounts of data every day. Big Data is data that is beyond the processing capacity of conventional database systems and analyzing capacity of traditional analyzing methods due to its large volume and fast moving and growing speed. More companies now rely on Big Data to make real-time decisions to solve various problems. Current methods involve utilizing a lot of computational resources, which are very costly, yet still may not satisfy the needs of real-time decision making based on the newest information, especially in the financial industry. How to efficiently, promptly and cost-effectively process and analyze Big Data presents a difficult challenge to data analysts and computer scientists.
Streamed data is data that is constantly being received by a receiver while being delivered by a provider. Streamed data may be real-time data gathered from sensors and continuously transferred to computing devices or electronic devices. Often this includes receiving similarly formatted data elements in succession separated by some time interval. Big Data sets are accumulated over time and they may be considered as a data stream with irregular time intervals. Streamed data may also be data continuously read from storage devices, e.g., storage devices on multi-computing devices which store a Big Data set.
Stream processing has become a focused research area recently due to the following reasons. One reason is that the input data are coming too fast to store entirely for batch processing, so some analysis have to be performed when the data streams in. The second reason is that immediate responses to any changes of the data are required in some application domains, e.g., mobile related applications, online gaming, navigation, real-time stock analysis and automated trading, etc. The third reason is that some applications or electronic devices require streaming processing due to their nature, e.g., audio, video and digital TV, etc.
Processing streamed data may include performing calculations on multiple data elements. Thus, to process streamed data, a system comprising one or more computing devices typically includes a buffer on one or more storage media for storing some number of streamed data elements received by the system. Processing the streamed data elements may include accessing data elements stored in the buffer. When performing a statistical calculation on streamed data elements, buffer requirements may be quite large. For example, when calculating a skewness a (potentially large) number of data elements may need to be accessed.
Further, some statistical calculations are recalculated as new streamed data elements are received. Thus, the (potentially large) number of data elements may be repeatedly accessed. For example, it may be that a skewness is calculated for a computation window that includes the last n data elements in a data stream. As such, every time a new data element is accessed or received, the new element is added to the computation window and the current nth data element is moved out of the computation window. The n data elements in the computation window are then accessed to recalculate the skewness.
As such, each data element remains in the computation window for n skewness calculations before it is aged out of the computation window. Accordingly, each data element is read from the buffer n times. When performing a skewness on n data elements all the n data elements in the computation window will be visited and used, therefore performing statistical calculations on streamed data elements in this way is time consuming and inefficient.
Depending on necessity, the computation window length n may be extremely large, so the data elements in a computation window may be distributed over a cloud comprising hundreds of thousands of computing devices. Re-performing skewness calculations in traditional ways on streamed data results in slow response and significant waste of computing resources.

Iterative skewness calculation for streamed data using components


Techniques for transferring stored data between a media player and an accessory. In one set of embodiments, one of the media player and the accessory can obtain a unique identifier for a particular file stored in the other of the media player and the accessory. The one of the media player and the accessory can then retrieve data from the stored file using the unique identifier. In certain embodiments, accessories and media players can retrieve and store data utilizing an arbitrary format. This data can be opaque to any protocol used by the media player or accessory and can require no parsing or interpretation. To provide this facility, a plurality of commands can allow both media players and accessories to present a simple file system. The plurality of commands can be utilized in a variety of environments.

A media player stores media assets, such as audio tracks or photos that can be played or displayed on the media player. One example of a media player is the iPod® media player, which is available from Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Often, a media player acquires its media assets from a host computer that serves to enable a user to manage media assets. As an example, the host computer can execute a media management application to manage media assets. One example of a media management application is iTunes®, version 6.0, produced by Apple Computer, Inc.
A media player typically includes one or more connectors or ports that can be used to interface to the media player. For example, the connector or port can enable the media player to couple to a host computer, be inserted into a docking system, or receive an accessory device. There are today many different types of accessory devices that can interconnect to the media player. For example, a remote control can be connected to the connector or port to allow the user to remotely control the media player. As another example, an automobile can include a connector and the media player can be inserted onto the connector such that an automobile media system can interact with the media player, thereby allowing the media content on the media player to be played within the automobile.
Currently, the connectors or ports of a media player are open for use so long as a compatible connector or port is utilized. Consequently, numerous third-parties have developed accessory devices for use with other manufacturers' media players. One difficulty is that since a media player communicates with a variety of accessories must store information retrieved from each of the accessory in the file format of the accessory. Conversely if an accessory stores information in the media player it must do so in a compatible manner.
Thus, there is a need for improved techniques to enable manufacturers of electronic devices to control the nature and extent to which accessory devices can be utilized with other electronic devices.

Method and system for transferring stored data between a media player and an accessory


A method and system for creating a precision approach for an aircraft to a position on the ground from a location above the ground is disclosed. The system comprises a display unit onboard the aircraft that displays a digital moving map, a database onboard the aircraft that contains digital terrain elevation data and obstacle data, a global positioning receiver that identifies the in flight position of the aircraft and an input device use to select the position on the ground displayed on the digital moving map. A processor that is also onboard the aircraft is communicably linked to the display unit, the database and the global positioning receiver. The processor generates the digital moving map on the display unit from the digital terrain elevation data and obstacle data and creates an approach derived from global positioning system data for the aircraft to the position on the ground selected on the digital moving map based upon the in flight position of the aircraft.

Without limiting the scope of the invention, the background will describe the satellite based global positioning system, as an example.
The satellite based global positioning system (GPS) includes twenty-four satellites, orbiting 11,000 miles above the surface of the earth that emit signals to receivers below. By measuring the travel time of a signal transmitted from each satellite, a receiver can calculate its distance from that satellite. Satellite positions are used by a receiver as precise reference points to determine the location of a receiver. When receiving the signals from at least four satellites, a receiver can determine latitude, longitude, altitude and time, each of which are necessary in the navigation of an aircraft. The basic GPS service provides users with approximately 100 meter accuracy ninety-five percent of the time anywhere on or near the surface of the earth.
The benefits of satellite navigation over those of traditional navigation systems are significant. Satellite based systems achieve greater accuracies than most existing land based systems because the satellite signals are propagated independent of the ground making the system less prone to ground derived errors. Furthermore, because the satellite signals are available worldwide, GPS represents an unique opportunity for the international aviation community to start converging toward the goal of a single, integrated Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS).
GNSS will eventually allow aviation users to reduce the number of different types of receivers required for navigation services for all phases of flight. Coupled with satellite communications, satellite based navigation will contribute to increased safety and efficiency of international civil aviation by supporting real time surveillance of aircraft and reducing the separation requirements.
The transition from various ground based systems to a common satellite based navigation system on a worldwide scale will require tremendous cooperation among international civil aviation authorities, governments, and industry representatives. The FAA is involved in such a transition on a national basis and has made the commitment to move from its own extensive ground based communications, navigation and surveillance system to one which will rely primarily on satellite navigation. This transition will not only prepare the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS) to meet the demands placed upon it by ever increasing aviation operations, but will serve the goals of the international community by beginning the transition to a seamless worldwide global satellite navigation system.
The FAA began the transition to GPS based navigation in 1994 with the approval of GPS as a supplemental navigation aid for en route through nonprecision approach phases of flight. This was followed by approval of GPS as a primary means of navigation in the oceanic environment as well as for remote operations. These two operational approvals are contingent upon the use of a properly certified Technical Standard Order (TSO) C129A GPS receiver which includes the Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) feature to verify system integrity. In addition, to support this capability, GPS procedures were developed.
The next significant step in the FAA's transition to satellite based navigation is a Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) called the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) WAAS will satisfy the FAA requirements to be used as the only radio navigation aid for all flight operations down to and including Category 1 precision approaches. WAAS alone will not satisfy the FAA requirements for Category 2/3 precision approaches, nor will it satisfy the requirements for Category 1 approaches outside the WAAS coverage area.
For this reason, the FAA is also planning to implement a Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) called the Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS). LAAS is intended to satisfy FAA precision approach requirements for accuracy, availability, and integrity in order to provide Category 1 precision approach capability where the WAAS cannot, as well as Category 2/3 precision approach capability. In addition, the LAAS signal allows the user to have highly accurate position information anywhere in the airport vicinity, enabling the potential use of LAAS as an all weather surface navigation sensor and an input to surface surveillance/traffic management systems.
It has been found, however, that even with the implementation of the LAAS, only aircraft in the vicinity of an airport will be able to perform Category 2/3 precision approaches. Thus, for such precision approaches of, for example, helicopters or tiltrotors, in areas not covered by the LAAS, a need has arisen for a method and system for utilizing GPS to create a precision approach procedure to a position on the ground using onboard equipment.

Method and system for creating an approach to a position on the ground from a location above the ground


A method, system and computer readable medium for transmitting data and feedback over a noisy feedforward channel and a noisy feedback channel.

The following documents are referred to in this document:                [1] C. E. Shannon, "The zero-error capacity of a noisy channel," IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. IT-2, pp. 8-19, September 1956.        [2] J. P. M. Schalkwijk and T. Kailath, "A coding scheme for additive noise channels with feedback part I: No bandwidth constraint," IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. IT-12, pp. 172-182, April 1966.        [3] J. P. M. Schalkwijk, "A coding scheme for additive noise channels with feedback part II: Band-limited signals," IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. IT-12, pp. 183-189, April 1966.        [4] M. Horstein, "Sequential transmission using noiseless feedback," IEEE Trans. Info. Theory, vol. IT-9, pp. 136-143, July 1963.        [5] O. Shayevitz and M. Feder, "Optimal feedback communication via posterior matching," IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 1186-1222, March 2011.        [6] Y.-H. Kim, A. Lapidoth, and T. Weissman, "On the reliability of Gaussian channels with noisy feedback," in Proc. 41st Allerton Conf. Communication, Control Computing, September 2006, pp. 364-371.        [7] Z. Chance and D. J. Love, "Concatenated coding for the AWGN channel with noisy feedback," IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. 57, pp. 6633-6649, October 2011.        [8] A. Sato and H. Yamamoto, "Error exponents of discrete memoryless channels and awgn channels with noisy feedback," in ISITA, 2010, pp. 452-457.        [9] M. V. Burnashev and H. Yamamoto, "On reliability function of BSC with noisy feedback," Problems of Information Transmission, vol. 46, pp. 2-23, 2010.        [10] M. V. Burnashev and H. Yamamoto, "Noisy feedback improves the gaussian channel reliability function," in ISIT, 2014, pp. 2554-2558.        [11] M. Tomlinson, "New automatic equalizer employing modulo arithmetic," Electronics Letters, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 138-139, 1971.        [12] H. Harashima and H. Miyakawa, "Matched-transmission technique for channels with intersymbol interference," IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 20, no. 4, pp.        774-780, 1972.        [13] Y. Kochman and R. Zamir, "Joint Wyner-Ziv/Dirty-Paper Coding by Analog Modulo-Lattice Modulation," IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. 55, pp. 4878-4889, 2009.
Feedback cannot improve the capacity of point-to-point memoryless channels [1]. Nevertheless, noiseless feedback can significantly simplify the transmission schemes and improve the error probability performance, see e.g. [2]-[5]. These elegant schemes fail however in the presence of arbitrarily small feedback noise, rendering them grossly impractical. This fact has been initially observed in [3] for the Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel, and further strengthened in [6]. A handful of works have tackled the problem of noisy feedback as means for improving error performance, see e.g. [7]-[10]. However, these works attain their superior error performance at the cost of a significant increase in complexity w.r.t. their noiseless feedback counterparts. There appears to be no simple scheme (in the spirit of [3]-[5]) that is robust to feedback noise known hitherto.

Communication terminals and a method for exchanging information between communication terminals in a noisy environment


A wireless power transmitting device transmits wireless power signals to a wireless power receiving device. The wireless power receiving device has a rectifier and a wireless power receiving coil that receives wireless power signals. The wireless power transmitting device uses a layer of coils to transmit the wireless power signals. A dielectric layer in the wireless power transmitting device defines a charging surface that receives the wireless power receiving device. A layer of temperature sensors is interposed between the layer of coils and the dielectric layer. Control circuitry in the wireless power transmitting device uses temperature information from the temperature sensors to determine whether a foreign object such as a coin is present on the charging surface.

In a wireless charging system, a wireless power transmitting device such as a device with a charging surface wirelessly transmits power to another electronic device such as a battery-powered, portable electronic device. The portable electronic device receives the wirelessly transmitted power and uses this power to charge an internal battery and to power components in the portable electronic device.
It can be challenging to perform wireless charging operations in a wireless charging system. For example, it can be challenging to ensure that foreign objects such as coins that are present on a charging surface are not inadvertently heated during wireless charging operations.

Wireless charging system with temperature sensor array


A first N-AlGaAs and a second N-GaAs layer are successively grown on an I-GaAs substrate. A third N-AlGaAs, a fourth P-AlGaAs and a fifth N-GaAs layer superpose one another on the second layer except for one lateral portion. Those portions of the five layers remote from the exposed second layer portion are changed into a P.sup.+ type and surrounded by a P zone. A positive and a negative electrode are located on the fifth layer and the exposed second layer portion respectively. The negative electrode is nearest to a laser region located in the second layer and can be secured to a heat sink.

This invention relates to semiconductor laser devices, and more particularly to improvements in a transverse junction stripe (which is abbreviated hereinafter to "TJS") type semiconductor laser device.
In semiconductor laser device, it is desirable to decrease the threshold current at which the laser oscillation is caused and there are already several known structures of a semiconductor laser device having decreased threshold currents. Among them, TJS type semiconductor laser devices have the particularly excellent structure by which a single mode oscillation is generated.
One of the known types of TJS semiconductor laser devices has comprised a substrate of gallium arsenide (GaAs) having a high resistivity and four semiconductor layers disposed in a superposed relationship on the substrate. Those four semiconductor layers have included aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs) layers alternating gallium arsenide (GaAs) layers with the outermost layer formed of gallium arsenide. The four semiconductor layers have included one half having a P.sup.+ conductivity and the other half having an N type conductivity with a P type semiconductor zone interposed therebetween. By removing that portion of the P type semiconductor zone located in the outermost semiconductor layer, a groove has been formed to space the outermost layer into a P.sup.+ type and an N type layer portion, and a positive and a negative electrode have been disposed in ohmic contact with the P.sup.+ and N type layer portions respectively.
With a voltage applied across the positive and negative electrodes to render the former positive with respect to the latter, the greater part of the resulting current is concentrated into a PN junction adjacent to an activated layer region formed of that portion of the P type semiconductor zone located in the gallium arsenide layer nearer to the substrate resulting in the generation of a laser oscillation in that region.
When the semiconductor laser device as above described is disposed upside down on a heat sink, the groove formed in the outermost layer creates a void between the device and the heat sink with the result that this void prevents heat generated in the activated laser region from dissipating in the heat sink. This has given rise to problems in that the threshold current is not only increased but also the characteristics of the device are prematurely deteriorated.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved semiconductor laser device having a structure by which a surface portion of the device located in closest vicinity to an activated laser region involved can directly contact an associated heat sink to improve its heat dissipation and to thereby decrease the threshold current and increase the device lifetime as well as effecting a laser oscillation at a low threshold current, even at relatively high ambient temperatures.


A stabilizer applicable for moving shooting, comprising: an X-axis motor, a Y-axis motor and a Z-axis motor which are orthogonally arranged in space, wherein the X-axis motor controls pitching movement, the Y-axis motor controls rolling movement, and the Z-axis motor controls the movement about yaw axis, wherein a rotating shaft of the Z-axis motor is connected with a stator of the Y-axis motor, and a rotor of the Y-axis motor is connected with a stator of the X-axis motor; and a fixing support arranged on a rotating shaft of the X-axis motor and connected with the rotating shaft of the X-axis motor via a pose estimator, and a Bluetooth module connected with a Z-axis control circuit by serial communication are also provided. The stabilizer is easy to install and may be controlled by a remote or via app, allowing sport fans to shoot during motion.

The existing stabilizers, which render a smooth motion video, are important accessory for video shooting. The stabilizers include mechanical stabilizers and electronic stabilizers, among which the electronic stabilizer has a small size and is easy to carry. As sport fans have more and more various outdoor sports, their demands for small size and good portability are increasing. For example, some sport fans would like to attach the stabilizers to racing cars, helmets or their wrists, so that the stabilizers will not interfere with their movements. However, the existing stabilizers are hard to install and are not convenient to use.

Stabilizer applicable for moving shooting

GUILIN FEIYU TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION LTD.


An apparatus for controlling the turning behavior of a vehicle controls the braking forces of diagonally located wheels of the vehicle independently of depression of a brake pedal to produce a target braking force difference between the controlled wheels when the vehicle is turning, thereby applying a desired yaw moment to the vehicle. The braking forces of the controlled wheels are determined taking account of actual braking forces of respective non-controlled wheels which are located on the other, right or left side of the corresponding controlled wheels.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for properly controlling the braking forces applied to the wheels of a motor vehicle when the vehicle is turning, to stabilize turning behavior of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A control apparatus for a motor vehicle disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 8-310360, for example, controls the braking forces applied to a pair of diagonally located wheels when the vehicle is turning, to produce a difference of braking force between these wheels. Such a difference in braking force acts upon the vehicle as a turning moment or a returning moment. The turning moment serves to cancel out understeer of the vehicle, while the returning moment serves to cancel out oversteer of the vehicle, whereby the turning behavior of the vehicle is stabilized.
The difference of braking force to be produced between the pair of controlled wheels is determined in accordance with the turning state, that is, required yaw moment, of the vehicle. If, however, the driver further depresses the brake pedal after the difference between the braking forces to be applied to the controlled wheels is determined, the braking forces applied to all wheels of the vehicle increase, with the result that a desired difference cannot be produced between the braking forces applied to the controlled wheels. In the above control apparatus, therefore, if the brake pedal is further depressed while the vehicle is turning, the turning behavior control is canceled at this point of time.

Apparatus and method for controlling behavior of a vehicle


An optical fiber splice element useful for effecting a splice connection between at least two optical fibers comprises a pair of joinable splice halves. Fiber channels are provided on the splice halves extending through the element for accepting an optical fiber. Recess portions are provided on the splice halves to one side of the fiber channel for accepting a tool for applying a force for variably separating the halves to allow for fiber insertion in the fiber channel. Welds for joining the halves are disposed to a side of the fiber channel opposite to the recess portion. The welds are capable of holding the halves together along a side adjacent thereto while allowing the halves to variably separate along a side adjacent the recess portion so that the halves are at an angle to each other when separated by application of a force to the recess portion, with the welds being generally adjacent an apex of an angle so formed by the halves. The welds are capable of encouraging the halves back together when the application of force has ceased.

The present invention relates generally to a novel and improved construction of an optical fiber splicer having a welded splice element, and more specifically to a unique welded splice element useful for splicing at least two optical fibers together.
Many different types and constructions of optical fiber splicers and splice elements for use in the same are evident in the prior art. The splicers often house the splice elements, and have channels to guide optical fibers towards the splice elements to form a spliced connection therebetween. These splicers and splice elements have become quite popular in the telecommunications industry, for example, due to the increased transmission speeds and signal clarity of optical fibers used as telecommunications transmission lines as compared with older, metallic wire telecommunications transmission lines.
The spliced connection between two optical fibers is very critical to the operation of a telecommunications network because optical fibers utilize the phenomenon of total internal reflection of incident electromagnetic wave fronts. If signal bearing cores of the spliced fibers are misaligned even slightly, the quality of the telecommunication network may be compromised because signal loss can occur at the spliced interface between two optical fibers. This can result in customer dissatisfaction with the telecommunications network service and operator, and in reduced revenues to the network operator.
To reduce the probability of core misalignment and signal loss, the splice elements are constructed to meet relatively exacting standards. One such splice element is disclosed in the U.S. patent application of Essert et al., Ser. No. 07/579,127 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,456 (the '127 application). That patent application is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and the disclosure thereof is incorporated herein by this reference.
With use of the prior art splice elements, two elements are sandwiched together within the splicer, with the optical fibers to be spliced located therebetween. To provide a spliced connection meeting the exacting standards, the splice elements are held together by the spring-like properties realized by the novel design of another part of the splicer, such as a housing containing the splice elements. Thus, the construction of the housing and the spring-like properties thereof are relied upon to achieve a proper spliced connection between two optical fibers in the above-referenced '127 application.
As fiber optic technology becomes more and more prevalent in modern applications, it is desired to increase the number and types of applications for reusable splice connectors in various forms of fiber optic equipment. This can result in increased revenues to the operator, and improved service quality.
The welded splice element of the present invention is an improvement over the splice element of the prior art and of the above-disclosed patent application of Essert, and is intended to allow for a plurality of additional applications or uses of reliable and easily operable reusable splice connectors in various optical fiber equipment. Also, with use of the welded splice elements of the invention, the construction of the splicer or housing and the spring-like properties thereof are not relied upon for a proper optical fiber spliced connection, and hence the splicer may be used in a variety of new and different applications.


A power semiconductor device including a plurality of trenches each for supporting a gate structure adjacent a channel region, and a plurality of drain columns each under the bottom of each trench, and each formed by multiple high energy implants.

A well known and prevalently used power semiconductor device is a power MOSFET. FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a portion of the active region of a power MOSFET according to prior art. The device illustrated by FIG. 1 is of the trench variety. A trench type power MOSFET includes vertical gate structures.
FIG. 2 shows the cross-sectional view of a portion of the active region of a prior art power MOSFET. The device illustrated by FIG. 2 is a planar type device. Such devices include horizontally oriented gate structures.
Referring now to both FIGS. 1 and 2, each device includes source regions 10 each formed in a channel region 12. Gate structures are formed adjacent source regions 10 and the channel region 12 in which the source regions 10 are formed. Each gate structure includes a gate electrode 14, which is typically formed from a conductive polysilicon, and a gate insulation layer 16 which is typically comprised of silicon dioxide. Each gate insulation layer 16 insulates its associated gate electrode 14 from an adjacent channel region 12.
As is well known in the art, in a vertical conduction type MOSFET, channel region 12 is disposed adjacent to drain region 18. Drain region 18 and source regions 10 are of one conductivity while channel region 12 is of the opposite conductivity. Thus, under a range of applied voltages, source regions 10 and drain region 18 are insulated from one another by channel region 12. When an appropriate voltage is applied to a gate electrode 14 a region (invertible channel region or channel) in channel region 12 adjacent its associated gate insulation layer 16 changes conductivity through what is referred to as inversion. As a result, source regions 10 and drain region 18 become electrically connected. Thus, current can be conducted when a voltage is applied between source regions 10 and drain region 18.
In a typical power MOSFET, drain region 18 is epitaxially formed over a semiconductor substrate 20 of the same conductivity, but of a higher concentration of dopants. To allow for external electrical connection drain contact 22 may be electrically connected to substrate 20, and source contact 24 may be electrically connected to source regions 10. It is also well known to connect source contact 24 to a high conductivity contact region 26 of the same conductivity as channel region 12 in order to suppress the possibility of formation of parasitic devices.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show an N channel device in which source regions 10 and drain region 18 have N type conductivity, while channel region 12 has P type conductivity. These conductivity types may be reversed in order to obtain a P channel device.
In a power MOSFET, it is desirable to reduce the resistance of the device during conduction (Rdson). Rdson is primarily determined by the resistance of the channel and the resistance of drain region 18 (sometimes referred to as drift region). The resistivity of the drift region is determined by the resistivity and thickness of the epitaxial layer, and is proportional to the breakdown voltage rating of the device. The breakdown voltage rating of the device indicates the ability of the device to withstand breakdown under reverse voltage conditions. Thus, to reduce Rdson the conductivity of the epitaxial layer can be increased, which adversely affects the breakdown voltage rating of the device. Conversely, to improve the breakdown voltage rating the conductivity of the epitaxial layer can be reduced, which increases Rdson. The inverse relationship between Rdson and breakdown voltage rating often forces designers to settle for less than ideal values for the Rdson and the breakdown voltage rating of a device.
A superjunction structure allows the designers to decrease the Rdson of a device without adversely affecting its breakdown voltage. A superjunction device includes alternating P and N type regions below the active cells of the device. The alternating P and N type regions are in substantial charge balance so that under a reverse voltage condition these regions deplete one another thereby allowing the device to withstand breakdown. Thus, a superjunction arrangement allows for an increase in the conductivity of the drain region to improve the Rdson without an effect on the breakdown voltage rating of the device.
FIG. 2 shows a device that includes a superjunction type arrangement. Specifically, FIG. 2 shows a planar type power MOSFET which includes regions 28 of conductivity opposite to that of drain region 18. Regions 28 are in substantial charge balance with drain region 18 in order to form a superjunction.
In a superjunction device of a proven given breakdown voltage, it is known that Rdson per unit area is reduced as the width (Wp) of regions 28 and drain region 18 is reduced. Thus, for a device such as the one shown in FIG. 2, it is desirable to reduce the pitch (the cell to cell spacing defined by the distance between the center of adjacent gate electrodes in FIG. 2 or trenches in FIG. 1).
In the device shown by FIG. 2, regions 28 may be formed by forming multiple layers of epitaxial silicon 18′. A portion of a region 28 is then formed in each epitaxial layer by, for example, implantation followed by a diffusion drive step, before the formation of the next epitaxial layer. A final diffusion drive step can then be applied to join the separated implants in the vertical direction. Such a process is typically used to form high voltage devices because the long diffusion allows for wide (>4 um) regions 28. The wide regions 28 are not suitable for lower voltage devices and are not capable of achieving an acceptably low Rdson.
Referring to FIG. 3, regions 28 can also be formed by multiple high energy implants below channel regions 12. For example, regions 28 may be formed by a series of high energy implants through the source contact opening during the manufacturing of the device. Such a process allows for narrow, well controlled widths for regions 28 W(p) and its adjacent drain region 18 W(n) and fewer epitaxial growth steps. A device shown by FIG. 3 can exhibit a high breakdown voltage and a low Rdson.
To obtain a device according to FIG. 3, however, the high energy implants must be effectively blocked from reaching the area under the trenches that contain the gate structures. The blocking step introduces manufacturing complexities, and does not allow narrow pitch devices with a spacer-defined contact to be manufactured.
Other methods have also been suggested for forming the prior art devices. For example, it has been suggested that a region 28 in the device of FIG. 2 can be formed by etching a groove and filling the same with p-type material through, for example, epitaxial deposition. Such a process, however, involves a complicated deep trench etch process, which cannot create the narrow pitch device that is desired. The epitaxial growth process in the trench also introduces defects and can possibly compromise the reliability of the device.
Another suggested method is forming a region 28 through selective neutron transmutation doping. This process, however, is not commonly used or available for power MOSFET fabrication.
Yet another suggested method involves forming a deep trench, doping the sidewalls of the trench to form regions 28, and then filling the trench with a dielectric material. This process can possibly provide narrow pitch devices, but still requires deep trenches to be etched in the silicon, and the sidewalls to be doped in a defined manner. It is doubtful that this doping can be controlled well.
To reduce the pitch of a cell in a trench type MOSFET, Darwish in U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,264, and U.S. Publication No. 2003/0006454 suggests forming drain regions below the trenches that contain the gate structure. In the device suggested by Darwish each trench is formed in an epitaxial layer of opposite conductivity that is formed directly over a substrate of the same conductivity as the drain region. Each drain region in a device suggested by Darwish is formed by a single implant step through the bottom of a trench followed by a diffusion drive so that the implanted region can expand to reach at least the bottom of the trench and the substrate, thereby forming a drain region below the trench.
The device suggested by Darwish suffers from certain drawbacks. First, forming an epitaxial layer of the opposite conductivity directly on a substrate may limit the breakdown voltage because the depth of a drain region that can be achieved using the process proposed by Darwish may not be enough to withstand higher voltages. Furthermore, because the drain regions are formed by a single implant step followed by a diffusion drive, the width of the drain regions cannot be narrowed in a well controlled manner. In addition, because one implant step is used, the width of the trenches, through which drain implants are received, must be increased in order to allow for forming implant regions of sufficient initial width from which drain regions extending from the bottom of the trench to the substrate may be formed. Undesirably, increasing the width of the trenches results in the increase of the pitch of the cells.
It is, therefore, desirable to have a device which is not restricted by the limitations of the prior art.

Trench MOSFET superjunction structure and method to manufacture


The flame-retardant properties of polymers with an aromatic main chain can be improved by incorporating therein a fluorine compound in combination with a boron compound.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a polymer-based material which comprises a flame-retardant and optionally a plasticiser and further conventionally used additives
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Polymers having an aromatic main chain are materials having good properties which are used in many fields. They are high-melting-point materials and for facilitating their processing a quantity of plasticiser is sometimes added or they are mixed with styrene polymers. It is sometimes desired to improve the impact strength of this type of polymers and for that purpose a rubber is often added, for example, EPDM-rubber or rubber-modified polystyrene. In addition additives for other purpose are also used, if so needed. However, a flame-retardant is conventionally incorporated in all materials.
Polymers having an aromatic main chain are to be understood to mean herein polymers the main chain of which is formed from units having at least one aromatic ring, also including hereto-aromatic rings, which is incorporated in the main chain of the polymer. Not included are polymers, for example, polystyrene, the aromatic ring of which is incorporated in the side chain of the polymer.
The polymers of the above-mentioned group have in common that their combustibility and smoke production generally are slightly smaller than those of polymers, for example, polystyrene and the polyalkenes. Of course, the various polymers of this group do differ mutually in their combustibility and smoke production.
For various important applications, for example, in aeroplanes, a great fire resistance and low smoke production are required. For purposes having stringent combustibility requirements it is therefore sometimes to be preferred not to mix a polymer having an aromatic main chain with a modifying polymer which increases the combustibility. In that case it is further to be preferred to use a plasticiser of a predominantly aromatic nature, if such a plasticeser is to be used.
Various possibilities are available to make polymeric materials flame-retardant For example, the quantity of polymer in the material may be reduced by the addition of inorganic fillers. However, large quantities of this material are necessary which would deteriorate the physical properties of the polymers having an aromatic chain to an unacceptable extent. Another possibility consists in mixing with materials which split off water or carbon dioxide during burning, but such materials cannot be used in polymers having high processing temperatures in which most polymers having an aromatic chain are included. Compounds which comprise phosphorus, chlorine and/or bromine, sometimes with an antimony compound, are conventionally used as flame-retardants in polymer materials. Such flame-retardants produce their effect by poisoning of the flame. This results in an incomplete combustion of the polymer, which in turn usually causes an increase of the smoke emission. Furthermore, the thermal stability of these agents is also restricted, so that they are not suitable as such in polymers which require a high processing temperature. Fluorine-containing compounds have seldom been used as flame-retardants. They often are too stable and in addition it has been found that fluorine is not so effective as a flame poison in the vapour phase as is the case with chlorine or bromine.
Another, scarcely examined, possibility is to achieve the flame-retarding effect by an increase of the yield of carbonised material (remaining weight after combustion); this also implies that the emission of combustible gases and hence of smoke is reduced.
It has been found surprisingly that combination of fluorine compounds and boron compounds form good flame-retardants for polymers of this class and this not only for polymer materials of this type which are used in stringent combustibility requirements, but also for combinations which have to satisfy less stringent requirements and the polymer component of which comprises at least 20% polymer having an aromatic main chain.

Polymer containing fluorinated polymer and boron compound


A device for transforming a toothpick container of the type that includes a cylindrical receptacle in which the toothpicks are marketed and that has external threads on the open end portion that are removably engaged by an internally threaded cap into a dispenser from which a single toothpick is ejected when the receptacle is disposed in a downwardly inclined position.

1. Field of the Invention
Toothpick Dispensing Device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, numerous toothpick dispensers have been described and used, but such dispensers have the operational disadvantage that they required a receptacle of special design in which the toothpicks are stored prior to being dispensed.
A major object of the present invention is to provide an assembly that replaces the screw cap on a cylindrical container in which toothpicks are marked, and the assembly after replacing the cap permitting the toothpicks to be sequentially dispensed one-by-one from the container each time the container is manually disposed in a downwardly inclined position.


A device for deflecting a metal strip (3) running continuously through a treatment line at a location where the temperature of the strip is greater than 100.degree. C., said location being downstream from a station in the line where the strip is covered with a fragile coating. The device has a frame (1), a plurality of strip support members (2) rotatably mounted on the frame about axes extending parallel to the transverse dimension of the strip and distributed around a curve parallel to the desired deflection curve for the strip (3), with each of the members being partially immersed in a tank (4) beneath the member and filled with liquid.

Certain lines for treating metal strips include a station for covering the strip continuously with a coating of the varnish type; and on leaving the station, the strip passes through a dryer in which its temperature may be raised to more than 220.degree. C. Downstream from this section of the treatment line, the strip is cooled. The length of strip required for cooling purposes is so long that the strip must follow a path which includes loops, and therefore which includes devices for deflecting the strip. Such deflection is generally provided by a metal roller of sufficiently large diameter and around which the strip is wound through 90.degree. or more. Further devices of this type occur along the path of the strip within the treatment line.
It is observed that on leaving the drying station, the product is ill-suited for bending since the coating is fragile. As the strip winds round a roller the coating flakes off in places, and blisters also occur in places on the coated sheet.
The present invention seeks to remedy these manufacturing defects by providing a deflection device which does not damage the coating on making with contact with the strip.

Device for deflecting a hot steel strip covered with a fragile coating


A folding assembly structured to arrange any one of a plurality of different articles into a folded orientation and including an orienting device having a main segment and at least two outwardly extending and spaced apart side segments, wherein the main segments and two side segments are initially disposed in engaging relation to different portions of the article being folded. An attachment assembly in the form of a flexible material connector pivotally attaches each of the side segments in spaced relation to the main segment and outwardly spaced relation therefrom. The flexible material connectors thereby serve to accommodate the folding of articles of various thicknesses, in that they allow for the automatic spaced positioning of each of the sides segments at different spaced distances above the main segment as the different portions of the article are being oriented when the side segments are in a folded position. A support assembly comprises an elongated configuration selectively disposable into either a supporting position or a collapsed, stored position, wherein the supporting position is defined by disposing the orienting device at a convenient height above a supporting surface to facilitate the arranging of the articles into the preferred folded position. Furthermore, disposed at an end of the main segment is an accessory fastener structured to operatively secure a tag dispenser and/or garment bag holder in a convenient position.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a folding assembly designed to facilitate the manual arrangement of any of a plurality of different articles into a folded orientation, on an independent basis, wherein various operative components of the folding assembly are expandable or extendable into their intended, operative position during the folding procedure, and are selectively disposable into a stored or collapsed, inoperative position to facilitate transport of the folding assembly between different locations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous devices exist which are directed to the arrangement of garments, as well as other articles, in a predetermined, folded position. Such folding devices vary from small manually operated structures, which may be used at home or in an environment where only occasional folding is required, to large mechanized folding devices, which are extremely expensive and primarily designed for strictly commercial environments where garments or other articles are manufactured and/or packaged in extremely large numbers. Devices of the type set forth above are commercially available and are primarily directed to an attempt to save both time and labor, which would normally be expended if the process were relegated to laboriously hand folding each article. In addition, except in the home or domestic environment, the hand folding of garments or other articles is generally unacceptable due to the lack of uniformity resulting from such manual folding. It is of course recognized that such uniformity in appearance of the folded article is a necessity in a commercial or retail establishment, wherein the folded article is made available in a container or package of standard dimension and configuration, or the folded article is presented for display in a manner which is hopefully appealing to the consuming public.
Accordingly, depended upon the particular area of application, folding devices have primarily been designed for specialized applications, in order to accomplish either individual or bulk folding of a variety of different types of articles or of specific articles, such as shirts or the like. Therefore, with the exception of the bulk folding of articles, as primarily used in the garment industry, the individual folding of garments or other articles is usually accomplished either by the use of fully or semi-automatic machines; small, inexpensive and less than durable folding boards; small apparatus specifically designed to fold garments or other articles for purposes of packaging or, as set forth above, by the individual hand folding of each item. A recognized disadvantage of the above set forth categories of folding devices is their lack of versatility and inability to be used other than in the specialized field, for which they are initially designed. For example, there is certainly no need or use for a fully or semi-automatic folding machine in a commercial or retail establishment, such as a department store the like, where uniform folding is important but, wherein the quantity of articles that must be folded, or refolded does not justify the expense of such mechanized equipment. Moreover, such mechanized devices do not generally provide a desirable degree of portability so as to allow workers to gather and fold items conveniently at a display location. Alternatively, folding tables or like devices which are manually operated are typically formed from inexpensive, light weight material having a relatively short operable life and which are specifically not intended to accommodate the folding of large numbers of garments or other articles. Likewise, such less sophisticated devices are still somewhat cumbersome to manipulate and move to a desired folding location when a number of spaced display locations are present within a particular establishment.
Also, in certain locations such as department stores or other similar retail establishments, available space is at a premium. Accordingly, space dedicated to the storage of a folding table or like device is typically unavailable. Known or conventional garment folding assemblies, of the type set forth above, are not readily adaptable for use in locations where the folding of garments or other articles is necessary for either display or packaging, but where the storage space needed to maintain such folding tables is at a minimum or non-existent.
Therefore, based on the above disadvantages and the overall failure of known or conventional designs to incorporate sufficient versatility and mobility to be adaptable for use in a variety of different commercial, retail and/or domestic environments, there is an obvious need in this area for an improved folding assembly. Such an improved folding assembly should be capable of being operated manually, but should also have sufficient versatility to be used with any one of a wide variety of different types of articles for arrangement thereof in a predetermined, folded orientation, resulting in the folded article having a sufficiently uniform appearance to facilitate its display and/or packaging. In addition, such an improved folding assembly should be inexpensive and light weight, yet be formed from materials and or structural components which assure a long operable life and which facilitate the folding device to be transported from location to location without placing undue stress on personnel responsible for its re-location or transport. Finally, an improved folding assembly of the type referred to herein should be capable of being selectively oriented in either an operative position or a collapsed position, wherein when in the collapsed position, the improved folding assembly has a significantly reduced size and configuration so as to be conveniently stored in any of a variety of locations, particularly in establishments where storage space is at a minimum.


In a radio frequency (RF) coil for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the RF coil includes loops that are radially arranged. At least some areas of each of the loops overlap each other at a central portion of a radial structure formed by the loops.

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device, a magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) device, etc. are well known as a magnetic resonance system using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) phenomena.
An MRI device captures images of cross-sections of a human body by using NMR phenomena. Since atomic nuclei such as hydrogen (1H), phosphorous (31P), sodium (23Na), and carbon isotopes (13C) existing in a human body each have a unique rotating field constant due to the NMR phenomena, a high frequency signal is applied to magnetization vectors of the atomic nuclei arranged in a direction of a main magnetic field by using a RF coil, and the images of the cross-sections of the human body may be obtained as the RF coil receives a magnetic resonance signal generated when the magnetization vectors are rearranged on a vertical plane due to frequency resonance.
The RF coil includes a RF antenna that transmits high frequency signal and receives a magnetic resonance signal to resonate the magnetization vectors. The resonance of the magnetization vectors by using one RF coil (the RF antenna) (i.e., a RF transmission mode) and receiving the magnetic resonance signal (i.e., a RF receiving mode) may be simultaneously performed. Alternatively, a RF coil only for the RF transmission mode and a RF coil only for the RF receiving mode are separately used to separately perform the RF transmission mode and the RF receiving mode. A coil that performs both the RF transmission mode and the RF receiving mode is referred to as a transmit/receive (Tx/Rx) coil. A Tx only coil is referred to as a transmission coil, and a Rx only coil is referred to as a receiving coil. RF transmission coils are mostly installed within a main magnet and are in a cylindrical form or a birdcage form above a cylindrical frame which has a sufficient size to fit a human body therein. On the contrary, RF receiving coils may be located close to the human body and be in various forms, depending on shapes of body parts.

Radio frequency coil for magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance imaging system


In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, a display assembly received in a cover by the front mounting method, a combining recess is formed on a corner formed at which a side part and an upper portion of a supporting part meet together, and a first hole is formed on a bottom of the combining recess. A first opening exposing the first hole is formed in a top surface part of a front receiving frame. A bottom part of a rear receiving frame supporting a rear face of a display module has a second hole corresponding to the first hole. An incision portion opening the sidewall part of the rear receiving frame exposes the second hole, the first reinforcement member is bent around an edge of the sidewall part, and connects the opposite edges. As such, the width of a frame of the cover is reduced, and the rear receiving frame improves the strength against external force.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a display assembly and a display device having the same, and in particular, to a structure combining a flat plate display assembly and a cover by a front mounting method and a display device having the same.
2. Related Art
Generally, a liquid crystal display (LCD) is a type of flat panel display device that includes a backlight assembly supplying light and a LCD panel which displays an image using the light. The LCD device is used in various industrial fields and has advantageous characteristics, such as thin thickness, light weight, low power consumption, low driving voltage, etc. The LCD device is widely used in large sized electronic devices such as a television receiver set.
In the large-sized LCD devices, a cover directly exposed to a user, for example, a front cover or a rear cover including a plastic material, receives the LCD device to protect the LCD device and have an excellent design. Typically, an edge of the LCD device may be covered by a metal chassis to protect the LCD panel and the backlight assembly. The chassis may be combined with the cover to secure the LCD device to the cover.
Conventional methods for combining the LCD device to the cover include a side mounting method and a front mounting method. In the side mounting method, a screw is used to attached a bracket to the front cover or the rear cover. The bracket forms a gap between the side of the LCD device and a side of the front cover, and the bracket increases a width of a frame of the front cover.
Reducing the width of the frame of the display device is preferred so as to reduce a slimness of the LCD device. The front mounting method has been presented to reduce the width of the display device in the side mounting method. In the front mounting method, the bracket is removed and a connecting structure is formed on a front surface of the chassis, which is combined with the front cover and the rear cover.
However, to assemble the LCD device without the bracket through the front mounting method, incision parts are formed in one or more sidewalls of the chassis of the LCD device to reduce interference with a connecting boss that is extended from the front cover or the rear cover. Thereby, the sidewall of the chassis has openings formed in several places so that a mechanical strength of the sidewall against an externally provided impact is decreased. For example, the sidewall having the opening is deformed against a bending stress.
As a result, a number of defects of the chassis are increased by the deformation during an assembly process of the LCD device.

Display assembly and display device having the same


Translucent polycrystalline alumina made of aluminum oxide containing magnesium oxide in an amount of larger than 0.01% by weight and less than 0.03% by weight, zirconium oxide in an amount of larger than 0.01% by weight and less than 0.06% by weight and calcium oxide in an amount of less than 0.001% by weight, all based on the weight of aluminum oxide, which alumina has good light transmittance and mechanical strength.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to translucent polycrystalline alumina and a process for producing the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to polycrystalline alumina having improved light transmission and mechanical strength and a process for producing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,026,210 discloses translucent alumina and a process for producing the same, which process comprises adding 0.5% by weight or less of magnesium oxide to high purity alumina fine powder and sintering the mixture at a temperature of 1750.degree. to 1950.degree. C. in a hydrogen gas atmosphere. Further, Japanese Patent Publication No. 6831/1984 discloses a process for increasing a solubility of magnesium oxide in alumina by the addition of zirconium oxide or hafnium oxide to the high purity alumina fine powder in addition to the magnesium oxide.
According to the invention disclosed in the above Japanese Patent Publication, alumina containing at least 80% by weight of .alpha.-alumina is used, and about 0.03 to 0.15% by weight of magnesium oxide and about 0.002 to 0.07% by weight of zirconium oxide or about 0.003 to 0.07% by weight of hafnium oxide are added to alumina, and the mixture is molded and calcined at a temperature of about 1750.degree. to 1950.degree. C. in a hydrogen gas atmosphere, whereby the amount of magnesium oxide is not substantially decreased during calcination.
As is well known, the presence of magnesium oxide will accelerate elimination of pores from grain boundaries of alumina in a sintering step and suppress abnormal growth of grains, whereby uniform crystalline grains are formed. If magnesium oxide is not present or its amount is too small, no polycrystalline alumina having good light-transmission is obtained.
When an excess amount of magnesium oxide is added to alumina, a spinel phase consisting of magnesium aluminate is formed on the grain boundaries of alumina grains, so that the light transmission of alumina is decreased.
It is known that added magnesium oxide is dissipated and decreased in the high temperature calcination step, and the dissipation rate depends on various parameters such as the shape of the molded material, the heating rate, the holding time, and the size or shape of the sintering furnace. Thus, it is very difficult to control the process parameters in the commercial production of translucent alumina.
Since R. L. Coble introduced the light transmission property of polycrystalline alumina, many improvements have been proposed. When the translucent polycrystalline alumina is used in an application such as an arc tube of a sodium discharge lamp, only a slight improvement of light transmission of polycrystalline alumina causes improvement in the luminance of the sodium-discharge lamp and increases the commercial value of such lamp greatly. Accordingly, polycrystalline alumina having higher light transmission is still required. In addition, when the lamp is on or off, the tube may be broken by thermal shock, polycrystalline alumina having high strength.

Translucent polycrystalline alumina and process for producing the same


A burner for difficult to combust gas mixtures, particularly those including exhaust gases of an internal combustion engine, that is preferably intended for the regeneration of particle filter units in the exhaust gas duct of an internal combustion engine, such as a diesel internal combustion engine. For initiating the regeneration of such so-called soot filter units, the burner generates hot combustion gases at the outlet thereof. The burner includes, at a distance from the discharge opening of a fuel injection nozzle, a baffle barrier that extends approximately perpendicular to the center axis of the fuel injection nozzle. This baffle barrier divides the combustion chamber into an energy-rich zone with a gas mixture prepared to be ignitable and a second zone in which the exhaust gas from the internal combustion engine is diverted. In this way, the burner can also burn even difficult to combust gas mixtures and can reliably maintain, regardless of the operation conditions of the internal combustion engine, a flame in the combustion chamber for generating hot combustion gases.

The invention relates to a burner for difficult to combust gas mixtures, particularly for exhaust gases of an internal combustion engine, wherein the burner has a combustion chamber, an ignition device and a fuel injection nozzle.
As used in connection with the present invention, the term difficult to combust gas mixtures refers to those that either contain little oxygen or include fuels that are difficult to burn, i.e. are relatively incombustible in comparison to typical fuels, such as fuel oils, kerosene and gasoline. In a principle application of such a burner, the burner is used to generate hot combustion gases that are used, for example, to initiate the regeneration of a particle filter unit in an exhaust gas duct of a diesel engine by burning off accumulated soot particles and the like in the filter unit.
In an older commonly assigned application U.S. patient application Ser. No. 235,292 filed Aug. 23, 1988), an exhaust gas burner is described, wherein an auxiliary burner for the ignition of such gas mixtures is provided which is supplied with compressed air. According to another embodiment described therein, the burner is provided with an auxiliary air injection device at the level of the fuel nozzle within the burner. These features are provided, in particular for the regeneration of an exhaust gas filter unit, so that the regeneration of the filter unit can be performed regardless of the oxygen content in the exhaust gas. In the area around the ignition device, an extremely combustible mixture is prepared so as to cause an ignition of the burner even when the oxygen content of the exhaust gas is low. As known, the oxygen content of the exhaust gas is subjected to wide fluctuations, that depend especially on the instantaneous operating level in the engine family of characteristics of diesel internal combustion engines in motor vehicles. This residual oxygen content in the exhaust gas can be between about 20% and about 4%.
In German Offenlegungsschrift No. 35 26 074, a device for removing combustible solid particles from exhaust gases of internal combustion engines is described in which a pilot burner is connected by an overflow opening to a combustion chamber, Wherein additional air and fuel are fed to the pilot burner. A partial exhaust gas stream enriched with the solid particles is introduced into the combustion chamber by a first spray nozzle tube, after which, the solid particles are burned off together with the additional air brought into the combustion chamber. Then, the stream is again carried away together with the remaining combustion products by a second spray nozzle tube as purified exhaust gas. By this device, the combustible solid particles within exhaust gas are burned in the combustion chamber directly for the purpose of exhaust gas purification. There is no description or indication of the use of this device in connection with the regeneration of soot filter units, whereas this device represents an alternative to the use of particle filter units in the exhaust gas area of a diesel engine.

Burner for difficult to combust gas mixtures


Devices and methods of forming an integrated circuit (IC) that offer protection against ESD in high voltage (HV) circuit applications are disclosed. A device includes N ones of a field effect transistor (FET) stacked in series to provide an N-level stack, where N is an integer greater than 1. A first pad of the device is coupled to a first FET and a second pad is coupled to an Nth FET. The device also includes a stacked/distributed RC control circuit configured to cause a short circuit between the first pad and the second pad in response to an ESD event. During the ESD event, the RC control circuit is configured to concurrently provide sufficient voltage to control the N ones of the FET by turning them on using parasitic conduction to cause the short circuit.

High voltage (HV) integrated circuits used in power management, power conversion, LCD/display, automotive and other applications typically operate between 52 V and 100 V. Stacked field effect transistor (FET) based cell structures are often used in the design of HV circuits. An occurrence of an electrostatic discharge (ESD) can severely and irreparably damage unprotected electronic circuits, including HV integrated circuits. As such, many HV integrated circuit chips may include a built-in ESD device to pro vide some measure of protection against the undesirable flow of damage-causing currents.
An ESD protection device in HV applications is typically prone to latch up errors since the FET operating voltages may exceed its design window (typically between supply voltage (VDD) and device breakdown voltage (BVDSS)). Stacking FET cell device (e.g., NMOS type) adds-up trigger voltage as well as the holding voltage by a factor N, where N is the number of devices being stacked. That is, although the stacking arrangement of N FET's has the potential to provide a total holding voltage of N times the holding voltage of each cell but it also provides a much higher trigger voltage (typically higher than BVDSS) which defeats the primary purpose of an ESD device since the protection feature is unable to be triggered before device breakdown.
From the foregoing discussion, it is desirable to provide tools and techniques to improve the robustness and reliability of ESD protection circuits in HV applications.

RC-stacked MOSFET circuit for high voltage (HV) electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection


In one embodiment, a method includes writing a file into a data partition of a tape medium. The method also includes storing a high resolution tape directory (HRTD) having location information of data in the data partition as part of end of data (EOD) of the index partition. The storing the HRTD as part of the EOD of the index partition includes requesting movement of the tape medium to the index partition in order to update an index file after changes have occurred to data in the data partition, and writing an updated index file into the index partition concurrent to writing an updated HRTD into the EOD of the index partition.

The present invention relates to tape-based data storage, and more particularly, this invention relates to a high resolution tape directory (HRTD) which is stored at end of data (EOD) in an index partition.
Linear Tape File System (LTFS) is a file system that is implemented by using a partitioning function of a tape drive. In LTFS, a tape is divided into a plurality of partitions. Conventionally, two partitions are established, but there is no limit as to the number of partitions possible. Information on a file system is stored in a partition referred to as the Index Partition (IP). Data, which is the contents of one or more files, is stored in a partition referred to as the Data Partition (DP).
One reason to partition LTFS is the sequential nature of tape-based media, e.g., data stored to a tape must be accessed sequentially, from beginning to end or vice versa. In the data format of a tape, the writing of data is permitted only once if it is to be stored into the same partition. Meanwhile, subsequent data will also be erased when data is written by starting from some midpoint in the data.
When an update to a file is to be written to tape-based media, it is necessary to update the file system information relating to the data stored to the tape. Because of the format characteristics of any sequential access device on which the tape may be accessed, it follows that such information will be written once at the last position of the tape.
If there is only one partition, pointer information of the file system is acquired from the last logical position of the tape at each time the cartridge (housing the tape) is loaded. In some cases, it takes time to acquire the file system information. A known technique for solving the above problem is, in order to access the pointer information of a file system at a high speed immediately after the loading of a cartridge, to prepare a dedicated partition and store the file pointer information in this partition. In this way, it is possible to access the file-system pointer information on the tape at a high speed immediately after the loading of the cartridge.
One principal use of a conventional linear tape open (LTO) tape drive is for backup purposes. For example, when data written to the tape is read out, the necessity of randomly moving to (locating) data on the tape, such as sequentially transferring it from a certain specified location to the host, has been limited. The necessity of high-speed movement (locating) has been recognized in use in an Enterprise environment, such as a high performance storage system (HPSS), a virtual tape system (VTS), and/or a hierarchical storage management (HSM). In such use, a drive that has the ability to utilize the high resolution tape directory (HRTD) function in order to access a specified data location at a high speed, for example, IBM tape drive model TS1130/TS1140, is useful.
Tape directory (TD) is information that indicates, in detail, a location of data on a tape. This information is stored at a specified area on the tape, written at the time of cartridge unloading, and read out at the time of cartridge loading. The tape drive searches for the data through the tape on the basis of this location information. In standard LTO, this information is obtained by bisecting a tape in a longitudinal direction (which is referred to as TD) and is stored in a cartridge memory (CM), whereas in IBM tape drive model TS1130/TS1140, 64-divided detailed information sections (which is referred to as HRTD) are stored on the tape. Making more detailed location information available results in greater accuracy for determining the location of data stored on the tape, and also results in less time that is required to find the data on the tape. Therefore, the speed of accessing the data increases, which is beneficial to the art of data storage.
However, conventional LTO drives do not offer HRTD. Some reasons why it is not offered may include that the amount of HRTD information is too large to be stored in CM (which is only 8 KB), if a tape drive is in conformity to IBM's original format, such as TS1130/TS1140; and moreover, since LTO is an open standard, a storage location at a specified area on the tape is not defined therein. Also, the HRTD function is not as important if a tape drive is used primarily for backup purposes, as most tape drives typically are. In backup applications, the amount of time necessary to read data from a tape may not be the most important factor in choosing the tape storage over other methods and media.
However, in an LTO5 drive, which is a major use environment of the current linear tape file system (LTFS), a user may be able to read/write data on a tape, as well as data stored in other media formats, such as on a CD-R and/or a universal serial bus (USB) memory stick, via simple graphical user interface (GUI), such as drag and drop or by conducting command-line operation. For this reason, conventionally, time taken for accessing an arbitrary file on the tape is becoming more and more important in an LTO drive, as well as in other tape formats.
However, unlike the IBM tape drive model TS1130/TS1140, an LTO drive does not offer the HRTD function of pinpointing a data-read location at a high speed immediately after loading.

High resolution tape directory (HRTD) stored at end of data in an index partition

International Business Machines Corporation


Drug delivery vehicles which reversibly increase in either loss modulus or storage modulus, or both, upon contact with the eye, skin, mucous membrane or body cavity are disclosed. The vehicles contain one or more nonionic substituted cellulose ethers and do not require a charged surfactant or a pH-sensitive polymer for such increase in loss modulus or storage modulus, or both, upon administration. In one embodiment, the vehicles gel upon instillation in the eye.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pharmaceutical drug delivery vehicles. In particular, this invention relates to drug delivery vehicles which can be administrable as a drop, and which reversibly increase in loss modulus, storage modulus, or both, upon contact with the eye, skin, mucous membrane or a body cavity.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of gelling drug delivery systems have been developed in an effort to prolong the contact or residence time of pharmaceutical drugs at target sites on or within the body. Drug delivery vehicles containing polysaccharide polymers which gel in response to a pH change have been proposed, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,136,173, 4,136,177, and 4,136,178, for example. However, compositions having an initial pH which is too low are irritating when administered to sensitive parts of the body, such as the eye.
Alternatively, drug delivery systems which gel in response to changes in ionic strength have been proposed, such as those described in European Patent No. 0 227 494 B1 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,760. The rates of gelation for systems which gel in response to ionic changes are dependant on the supply and diffusion of ions, and consequently are generally slower than those for thermally gelling systems because the diffusion of ions is generally a slower process than heat transfer. In addition, certain charged drug compounds cannot be used in drug delivery systems which gel in response to changes in ionic strength because they may cause premature gelation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,162 discloses compositions containing both a gelling polysaccharide and a drug carrier substrate, such as finely-divided solids, colloidal particles, or soluble polymers and/or polyelectrolytes which are capable of selective adsorption or binding with drug molecules. The polysaccharide is capable of reversibly gelling based on a change in ionic strength or pH. Such factors as a change in temperature, amount and type of drug carrier substrate, and characteristics and concentrations of drugs or other adjuvants may also affect the ability of the polysaccharide to undergo a liquid-to-gel transition. The preferred polysaccharides are carrageenans.
Drug delivery systems which gel in response to temperature changes have also been proposed. For example, drug delivery systems utilizing Tetronic.RTM., Pluronic.RTM., or other polyols have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,474,751; 4,474,752; and 4,188,373. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,124,151; and 5,306,501 also disclose thermally gelling systems. Several disadvantages are associated with these materials. One disadvantage common to all of these thermally gelling systems is that they require a large amount of polymer (10-50 wt. %), and such large amounts of polymer can be irritating and/or toxic to the eye. Another disadvantage of some of the known thermally gelling systems is that they gel irreversibly. Such thermally irreversible gels require special precautions for product shipping and handling.
It is an inherent requirement that drug delivery systems which gel solely in response to temperature changes undergo the "sol-gel" transition at temperatures lower than physiologic temperature. It is known that methylcellulose and its hydroxyalkyl derivatives reversibly gel with increases in temperature. Generally, however, the liquid-to-gel transition temperature for cellulose polysaccharides, such as methylcellulose, occurs at temperatures well above physiologic temperature. See, for example, N. Sarkar, "Thermal Gelation Properties of Methyl and Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose," J. of Applied Polymer Science, Vol. 24, 1073-1087 (1979).
It is known that the addition of salts to methylcellulose can adjust its liquid-to-gel transition temperature; however, the amount of salt required to adjust the transition temperature to the physiologic temperature range often results in hyperosmotic compositions which are irritating. It is also known that the gelation temperature of methylcellulose may be altered by adding hydroxypropyl substituents, but the reported change does not bring the gelation temperature any closer to physiologic temperatures. N. Sarkar, J. of Applied Polymer Science, Vol. 24, 1084 (1979).
One effort to utilize cellulose polysaccharides in liquid pharmaceutical drug delivery vehicles is disclosed in PCT Application Publication No. WO 92/09307. This reference discloses gelable carder compositions containing a water-soluble, nonionic cellulose ether, such as ethylhydroxyethylcellulose, and a charged surfactant. The reference gels are formed by strong hydrophobic interaction between the polymer and the charged surfactant. However, charged surfactants may be toxic if delivered to sensitive parts of the body, such as the eye. Additionally, other adjuvants may detrimentally influence the polymer-charged surfactant gelation.
Various drug delivery systems employing combinations of two types of gelling polymers have also been disclosed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,033 discloses a thermally irreversible gel system comprising a combination of polyoxyalkylene and ionic polysaccharides. U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,228 discloses aqueous reversibly gelling polymeric solutions containing ion exchange resin particles. The polymeric component of the solution may be a pH sensitive polymer, a temperature sensitive polymer, or combinations of both pH-sensitive polymers and temperature sensitive polymers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,252,318 also discloses reversibly gelling aqueous compositions containing combinations of polymers, in this case at least one pH-sensitive reversibly gelling polymer and at least one temperature sensitive reversibly gelling polymer. One disadvantage common to systems which require pH changes in order to gel is that they must be administered at a relatively low pH, typically in the range of 2.5-4.5. Systems administered to the eye at such a relatively low pH are irritating.

Thermally-gelling drug delivery vehicles containing cellulose ethers