A seal assembly includes an outer member defining a bore and an inner member received in the bore of the outer member and one of the outer member and the inner member defining a shoulder portion. An inner circular cross-section metallic ring member and an outer circular cross-section metallic ring member are disposed between the outer member and inner member and against the shoulder portion. A wedge member engages the inner circular cross-section metallic ring member and the outer circular cross-section metallic ring member for applying an axial force against each of the inner and outer circular cross-section metallic ring members in a direction toward the shoulder portion and for applying a radially outer force against the outer circular cross-section metallic ring member and for applying a radially inner force against the inner circular cross-section metallic ring member.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
When connecting adjacent sections of fluid flow conduits or vessels, seal rings are typically interposed at the interface of adjacent connecting conduits or vessel portions which are then bolted or clamped together. Most known seal rings and joints work, to a greater or lesser extent, when the pressure within the conduit, pressure vessel or the like is considerably greater than the ambient pressure outside of the conduit, pressure vessel or the like so that the seal or joint is pressure energized.


A cover unit includes a first metal cover having at least one side surface and a second cover made of a material not soluble with the material of the first metal cover. A tongue is formed on the side surface of the first metal cover. The second cover is formed with a brim covering at least one side surface end of the first metal cover and with a hole at a position corresponding to the position of the tongue of the first metal cover.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cover unit and a recording apparatus having the cover unit.
2. Description of Related Art
Electric and electronic apparatuses including home electronic products recently come to have similar specifications in respective sales price bands among competitive entities, and industrial designs tend to provide distinguishable property. As elements for distinguishable property, shape of appearance, color, and qualitative feeling found in material are exemplified.
Products having metallic taste industrial designs are increasing their number recently among goods particularly having portability such as cameras and cellar phone devices as well as electric, electronic apparatuses in the field of personal computers. To obtain those metallic taste industrial designs, some parts can be found using, as a material, metal itself, resin with a metallic taste coating, so called metallic resin containing a metal powder, and the like.
In the meantime, recycling and reuse trends in resins of petroleum chemical products, other than metal materials that have been recycled, are rising these days concurrently with raising of environment protection minds. In consideration of only the territory of Japan, enacted are laws relating to processing and cleaning of wastes (Showa 45 law No. 137, generally referred to as "waste processing law"), laws relating to promotion of use of recycled resources (Heisei 3 law No. 48, generally referred to as "recycle law"), laws relating to separate collection about container packages and promotion of re-commercialization, etc. (Heisei 7 law No. 112, generally referred to as "package recycle law"), specific home use apparatus re-commercialization laws (Heisei 10 law No. 97, generally referred to as "home electronics recycle law"), etc., and according to establishments of those legal restrictions, recycling of thermoplastic resin is accelerated among some goods for large size home electronics goods and automobiles.
Reduction of integral formation among parts made of materials having property not mutually soluble to each other and reduction of the material number itself are targeted in environmental regulations or the like in respective countries, and coating on a resin and printing area size are also exemplified as targets of regulations.
Though there is Germany "Blue Angel" as a representative environmental regulation, "Eco Mark" certifications are given in Japan in respective categories from Japanese Environment Association. "Eco Marks" are set, regarding office apparatus products, for personal computers and photocopiers on November, 1999, and for printers on October, 2001. There are descriptions "checking on suitability with respect to materials" or "satisfying VDI2243," and those are matters requiring compatibility among materials.
The compatibility refers to a mutually compatible state in a case that, e.g., polymers of two or more kinds are mixed. Simple mixture is no more than dispersion of materials and distinguishable from the solubility because of lack of solution.
For example, in a case that a cover as a housing member (appearance member) forming the apparatus housing is considered to be added with, e.g., color and quantitative feeling found in material for a distinguishing purpose, the environment standards and the environment regulations are to be considered though some choices can be thought.
Where the cover is structured of a metal only, the cover tends to become a member with low designing freeness since the shape formed through a metal processing is subject to considerable restrictions, and the cover may be prone to a lowered functioning state. A method of post processing may be used to prevent the functions from becoming inferior, but the costs may be increased, and consequently, users may be disadvantaged with high cost goods.
On the other hand, in a case that the cover is structured of a resin only, the resin is conventionally painted to correspond the needs to obtain a distinguishable industrial design. With such a conventional painting, e.g., metallic quantitative feeling, particularly, coolness of metal when touched, is not expressed with painting, so that the cover may be finished with a mediocre industrial design.


A method and apparatus for displaying are provided. The apparatus includes an interface unit that receives key event signals from a plurality of devices, and a display unit that displays a window. The apparatus also includes a control unit that performs an operation of inputting and editing text corresponding to the key event signals of the plurality of devices on at least one window matching each of the plurality of devices. Accordingly, a text operation may be performed through a plurality of devices simultaneously.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an input device for inputting and editing a text, display apparatus and method thereof, and more particularly, to an input device for inputting and editing a text on at least one window according to a key event signal input from the input device, display apparatus, and methods thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, various kinds of electronic apparatuses have been developed. Further, many companies or organizations often use a projector or a large-scale monitor during a meeting to display conference materials so that participants may present and share opinions while watching the conference materials together.
During such a meeting, while opinions are fine-tuned, the conference materials may be edited in real time using a Personal Computer (PC), a keyboard, or a mouse connected to the projector or the monitor. However, most current systems have only a single input means in a meeting room and thus, only one participant may hear and record opinions being exchanged during a meeting. Since most window systems assume only one user, only one participant may input and edit a text simultaneously.
Therefore, if another participant wishes to input his or her opinion in person, the participant would be required to move to a seat where the input means is installed or bring the input means to his or her seat.
In addition, since only one or two languages are typically marked on an input means such as a keyboard, there is a limit on the usage of the input means by people of various nationalities.

Input device for inputting and editing text, display apparatus and methods thereof


A buffered aqueous composition is useful simultaneously as a wash solution and a dye-providing composition in specific binding assays involving enzyme-labeled specific binding reagents. The wash composition includes a dye-providing composition, a buffer and an organic solvent having a certain molecular weight and water-solubility. Another useful composition includes a particulate substrate having avidin attached thereto, and a peroxidase reducing agent. Either composition can be provided in a diagnostic test kit, and can be used to detect a specific binding ligand in assays.

There is a continuous need in medical practice, research and diagnostic procedures for rapid and accurate determinations of biological substances which are present in biological fluids at low concentrations. For example, the presence of hormones, drugs, narcotics, steroids, polypeptides, prostaglandins, proteins, antibodies or infectious organisms in blood, saliva, urine or other biological fluids must be determined in an accurate and rapid manner for suitable diagnosis or treatment.
To provide such determinations, various methods have been devised for isolating and identifying biological substances employing specific binding reactions between the substance to be determined (identified herein as a "ligand"), and receptor molecules specifically reactive with the ligand. Radioisotopes, fluorogens, chromogens, detectable beads and enzymes have been used to detect the resulting complex between ligand and receptor. One common example of specific binding reactions is an immunoassay in which an antigenic substance and specific antibody thereto react to form an immunological complex.
In recent years, the use of enzyme labels has received increased attention for specific binding assays because of various disadvantages associated with radioactive and fluorescent labels. Assays using enzyme labels include what are known in the art as competitive enzyme immunoassays (EIA) and both direct and indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Another type of useful assay is known as an immunometric or "sandwich" assay, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,530 (issued Dec. 4, 1984 to David et al). In all of these assays, either a receptor for the ligand, or a known quantity of ligand analog is labeled with a enzyme so that ligand-receptor complexes can be distinguished from unlabeled materials. Generally, the complexes are separated from uncomplexed materials using some type of immobilizing technique with or without washing or filtration.
Peroxidase is one enzyme which has been used to advantage as a label in analytical methods. Peroxidase acts on hydrogen peroxide as a substrate and can oxidize various chromogens or dye-providing materials to provide a detectable species at a rate proportional to the amount of peroxidase present. Various dye-providing materials are known in the art, including benzidine and its derivatives, and various leuco dyes.
U.S. Ser. No. 136,166 (filed Dec. 18, 1987 by McClune and Bishop, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,935 issued Jun. 18, 1991) describes an improved dye-providing composition which is stabilized with certain polymers. The composition includes dye-providing leuco dyes dissolved in methanol which can be converted to detectable dyes in the presence of peroxidase and hydrogen peroxide. While the described assay has found significant usefulness in the art, particularly for pregnancy tests, separate wash and dye-providing solutions and steps are required for effective results. It would be desirable to eliminate steps and solutions in order to make the test more reliable and simple for the user.

Buffered wash composition, insolubilizing composition, test kits and method of use


A stand for at least one elongated musical instrument having a narrow end and a wide end and including a base for setting the stand on an essentially horizontal plane, a substantially vertically oriented midsection, at least one support assembly, and at least one yoke, with a rigid latch element, with the support assembly supporting the wide base end of the musical instrument and the yoke receiving the narrow head end of the musical instrument.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a stand for musical instruments and including a case for setting the stand on a substantially planar surface, a substantially vertically oriented midsection, at least one support assembly for supporting a wide base end of the musical instrument, and at least one yoke arranged on the support assembly for receiving the narrow head end of the musical instrument.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Musical instruments are particularly sensitive to external mechanical effects. Even a slight contact with the tuning mechanism of a guitar or of a string instrument can adversely affect the tonal qualities of the instrument. Musical instruments must be set aside in such a manner, that their sensitive components are not exposed to contact with the floor, the wall or passers-by. There are devices available for holding or otherwise accommodating almost any portable musical instrument and which can be adapted to the shape of the instrument. With such devices the musical instrument is supported in those areas that are relatively mechanically insensitive.
Numerous stands are known in the art that are intended for elongate musical instruments having a narrow end and a wide end such as, for example, guitars, bass guitars, string and similar instruments, and that provide a statically stable support for the musical instrument. However, this requires that the musical instrument is placed precisely into the stand by the user. Even minor deviations from the prescribed position can result in the musical instrument being located in uncertain equilibrium. In such a case, even a minor impact could be sufficient to cause the instrument to fall to the floor. This could result in detuning or even damage of the musical instrument.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,497 discloses a stand for elongate instruments, in particular guitars. The stand comprises a base and a generally vertical main section. The base is provided for set-up of the stand on a generally flat surface. The vertical main section has, in its lower portion, a support assembly for the wider end portion of the musical instrument. At the upper end of the vertical main section, a C- or U-shaped yoke is provided for the accommodation of the narrower end portion of the musical instrument.
With said stand, a musical instrument, in particular a guitar, can be stably stowed.
The drawback of the known device consists in that the U- or C-shaped yoke does not adequately enclose the narrower end portion of the musical instrument. Even a light impact could be sufficient to cause the musical instrument to fall from its stand. Such an incident during a concert could jeopardize the course of the entire event. It is desireable, that the expensive musical instrument can be safely stowed.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a stand of the type disclosed above out of which the musical instrument cannot fall.
This and other objects of the present invention, which will become apparent hereinafter, are achieved by providing the yoke with a rigid latch element. Thus, the narrow end portion of the musical instrument is at least enclosed in such a way that it cannot tip out of the yoke. The musical instrument is thus prevented from falling out of the stand.
Preferably, the latch element is held in a closed position by an elastic retaining force, in particular by a spring. In this way, the latch cannot be inadvertently opened. A user must overcome the resistance of the spring in order to open the latch.
Furthermore, the latch element can be coupled with the yoke by a hinge. In this way, the yoke can be flipped open and closed. An easy-to-operate but efficient device is, thus, provided. In the closed condition, the hinged latch element can be located at the opposing end of the yoke. Alternatively, the latch element can be shorter than the space between the two ends of the yoke, with the hinge being provided with an appropriate stop.
Alternatively, a sliding latch element, which is housed inside the yoke, can be provided. This would provide for a compact construction of the yoke. In this case, it is not absolutely necessary that the yoke and the latch element form a closed ring. There can be sufficient gap between the latch element and the opposing end of the yoke. The gap must, however, be so dimensioned that the narrow end portion of the musical instrument is reliably prevented from tipping out of the yoke.
Advantageously, the midsection can be made longitudinally adjustable along its length so that the stand can be adapted to the dimensions of the musical instrument. This can be achieved by providing, in the midsection, adjustable telescopic means, or by using fixing screws. In this manner, a compact construction of the stand is obtained.
Furthermore, the stand can be made collapsible and/or separable. This characteristic is particularly desirable, because such stands are frequently used at musical events or tournaments.
Preferably, the base includes a tripod. In this way, a particularly lightweight construction is obtained, and the stand can be particularly easily disassembled. Furthermore, a relatively large standing base area is created, whereby it is almost impossible for the stand to fall over.
Alternatively, the base can include a plate. By using a heavy plate the common center of gravity of the stand and the musical instrument is relatively low, which has a positive effect on stabiity.
Furthermore, the support assembly can be adjustably attached to the midsection. Likewise, the yoke can be adjustably attached to the midsection. These modifications provide additional options for adapting the geometric dimensions of the stand to the dimensions of a musical instrument. If the stand is intended for several musical instruments, musical instruments of different sizes can thus be accommodated. In the normal case, the musical instruments are held loosely in the yoke pursuant to the invention and are merely prevented from tipping out of it. Alternatively, the musical instruments can be held securely in position, preferably clamped, at their narrow end portions, across the necks of guitars and bass guitars.
The novel features of the present invention, which are considered as characteristic for the invention, are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its mode of operation, together with additional advantages and objects thereof, will be best understood from the following detailed description of preferred embodiment, when read with reference to the accompanying drawings.


System and methods of managing reference frame adaptively for video communication under a network are provided. The system adaptively decides the interval between each I frame, the bitrate of the encoded bit steams, and the resolution of the encoded video to achieve quick connection. The system may set the appropriate reference frame(s) for the current frame, manage the reference frame(s) in the DPB to be long/short term reference frame(s) or mark them as unused for reference; mark the current frame to be a long term reference frame, a short term reference frame, unused for reference or skip encoding the current frame; adaptively change the ratio of long term reference frame(s) with respect to the short term reference frame(s) in the DPB; adaptively change the frequency ratio of marking the current frame as long term reference frame and marking the current frame as short term reference frame.

With advances in and proliferation of communication technologies, content sharing has become commonplace. For instance, video communication has experienced increasing demand and has seen tremendous growth in popularity.
In video coding, intra/inter prediction is introduced to reduce the spatial/temporal redundancy inherent in video data. In inter prediction, at the encoder side, to code the current block, one or more previous reconstructed frames from the decoded picture buffer (DPB) will construct one or two reference frame lists for the current frame to find its most similar block. At the decoder side, based on the information in the bit stream, the decoder will find the corresponding reconstructed frames from its DPB and locate the corresponding block location in the reference frame for reconstruction.
There could be two kinds of reference frames, which are short term reference frames and long term reference frames. A short term reference frame will be removed automatically when the DPB is full or by an explicit command. However, a long term reference frame may only be removed by an explicit command. At the decoder side, once all the frame(s) in the reference list(s) for the current frame are found, the current frame may be correctly decoded.
Due to the network restrictions, there will always be packet loss during the transmission. When packet loss occurs, one possible way is to ask the sender to resend the packet again, which may take a long time to get the missing packet. However, for real-time video communication, live video communication or interactive video communication scenarios, this time delay might not be acceptable. Therefore, for these scenarios, when packet loss occurs, the current frame will be discarded and may not be used for future reference, which may cause the decoding problem for the subsequent frame(s) under the traditional reference frame management approaches. Especially, during the connection process, since the I frame is very large, it is very likely to have a high probability of packet loss. Therefore, how to establish the connection as quick as possible is also a very challenging problem.
Therefore, novel systems and methods are proposed to establish the connection and manage reference frames for video communication under the packet loss scenario, especially for real-time video communication, live video communication and interactive video communication.

Method and apparatus for reference frame management for video communication


A rotating target ion bombard or implant apparatus with an arrangement for cooling the target. The cooling arrangement utilizes a pattern of air openings or passages and air fins. The pattern of air openings are positioned concentric to the disc hub and act to separate the hub region of the disc from the outer target or work region. The air openings function to both reduce the conductive cross-section between the hub region and outer work region of the disc and permit air to pass from the implant or bombard side to the back surface thereof. The air fins are provided on the back surface of the disc to draw air through the openings when rotating. Cooling is achieved by rotating in atmosphere during the load/unload cycle of operation. Reduction of the conductive cross-section between work region and hub region reduces heat transfer to the ferrofluidic feedthrough means coupled to the hub region thereby increasing the ferrofluidic feedthrough means lifetime.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ion bombardment or implantation method and apparatus and, more particularly, to a high current ion bombardment or implantation method and apparatus utilizing a rotating disc arranged to operate in a cooled mode.
Ion implantation methods and apparatus are of rapidly increasing importance to the fabrication of integrated circuits, particularly to the implantation of doping impurities and the like in the fabrication of FET and bipolar integrated circuits. In these circuit technologies, there is also an increasing requirement for high doses of impurities to be achieved in a relatively low cycle time. Although relatively high doses of impurities may be achieved over a relatively short period of time by increasing implant currents, one of the difficulties recently encountered in using high implant currents is the generation of excessive heat in the target disc.
The problem of target disc heat generated by high currents is compounded by the fact that the disc undergoes a heat buildup from cycle to cycle whereby, after a number of processing runs have been made, the target temperature is prohibitively high requiring machine shutdown for cooling purposes.
In addition to necessitating machine shutdown for cooling purposes, the heat buildup in the target also causes the life of the ferrofluidic feedthrough device used to couple the target to the driving motor to be substantially reduced. As a result, not only is machine shutdown necessitated for purposes of cooling the target, but also for purposes of periodically replacing the ferrofluidic feedthrough device. In either event, the down time of the ion implant apparatus due to heat buildup is substantial.
2. Description of the Problem and Prior Art
Although the prior art has addressed the problems incident the use of high implant currents with regard to potential charge buildup due to the accumulation of positive ions on the disc target, the problems due to the accumulated buildup of heat in the target have not, heretofore, been adequately addressed. For a solution to the charge buildup problem on the target disc, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,630 to McKenna et al, entitled "Ion Implantation Apparatus with a Cooled Structure Controlling the Surface Potential of a Target Surface", filed May 5, 1977, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. It should be noted, that in the McKenna et al solution to the charge buildup problem, McKenna et al employ an electron source adjacent the target which source employs cooling means to maintain the temperature of the source below that of the target disc.
The cooling means comprises cooling conduits, through which pass a coolant such as compressed air or a fluorocarbon coolant. It is clear that such cooling means do not act to, nor are they intended to act to, cool the target disc. Basically, the cooling means of McKenna et al are used to cool a wall positioned between the electrons source and target, which wall is interposed to prevent the electron source from heating the target. Thus, McKenna et al, in attempting to solve the charge buildup problem by utilizing an electron source to neutralize the charges, also find it necessary to take steps to prevent the target from further heating up due to electrons from the electron source impinging upon the target.
For a further description of the manner in which means, such as a wall, or the like, may be positioned between the target disc and the electron source for thereby inhibiting direct rectilinear radiations between the target and source and, therefore, the heating of the target from such source, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,097 to Forneris et al entitled "Ion Implantation Apparatus for Controlling the Surface Potential of a Target Surface", filed May 5, 1977, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. For a typical example of measuring apparatus reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,449 to Ko et al entitled "Apparatus for Measuring the Beam Current of Charged Particle Beam", filed Nov. 5, 1975, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

Cooled target disc for high current ion implantation method and apparatus

International Business Machines Corporation


A long, tubular incandescent lamp has incorporated therein a filament formed by coupling light emitting segments and non-light-emitting segments alternately with each other. Each of the light emitting segments is composed of a light emitting coil and a coil-like coupling member of a larger pitch than the light emitting coil. Each of the non-light-emitting segments is composed of a bar formed to have a straight short-circuit part, bent portions at both ends thereof and supports respectively extending from the bent portions. The short-circuit part is inserted into the coil-like coupling member and these elements are then welded to each other to obtain the filament of alternately coupled light emitting and non-light-emitting segments. The composite filament is subsequently sealed in a long, tubular bulb. Thus, the resulting incandescent lamp is easily assembled, simple in structure, and highly shock resistant.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tubular incandescent lamp, and more particularly to a long tubular incandescent lamp for use in electronic copying machines which has incorporated therein a filament having non-light-emitting parts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many studies and inventions have been made on a long, tubular incandescent lamp for use in electronic copying machines which has incorporated therein a filament having light emitting and non-light-emitting segments.
Recent trends in electronic copying machines employing a lamp of this kind is to speed up operation and reduce power dissipation. To meet these objectives, a very high degree of performance is now required for the lamp used in such copying machines.
For example, to speed up the machine operation, the lamp scanning speed must be increased. In doing so, it is necessary to enhance the shock resistance of the lamp, while appropriately reducing the filament weight and adopting the right structure for the lamp.
To reduce machine power dissipation, the lamp is designed to decrease its power consumption by using a sensitizer of high sensitivity. In doing so, changes in the distribution and quantity of light of the lamp are liable to affect the copying operation; consequently, it is necessary to control the distribution of light with high precision and to reduce the error in changes in the quantity of light.
To fulfill such requirements imposed on the tubular incandescent lamp for use in the electronic copying machine, studies are now being done to obtain an optimum design of the lamp.
Conventional tubular incandescent lamps are roughly divided into the following types:
(a) A segment type in which light emitting and non-light-emitting segments are connected alternately with each other (U.S. Pat. No. 3,416,024).
(b) A short bar type in which continuous coil filament is short-circuited by short bars at a predetermined position (Japanese Utility Model Publication Gazette No. 359/70).
(c) A skipped winding type in which a continuous coil filament is made roughly-pitched at predetermined positions to provide portions which are inhibited to light (U.S. Pat. No. 3,295,007).
(d) A comprise type of the abovesaid types (a) to (c). All these conventional lamps have both merits and demerits, and studies for improvement are being made to keep abreast of developments in the present electronic copying machine art.


The invention relates to an inductor (1) having a coil (2) and a core (3), wherein the core (3) is made of a Soft Magnetic Composite (SMC), the coil (2) is composed of a annularly wound electrical conductor, the coil (2) is substantially integrated into said core (3) so that the core (3) material acts as a thermal conductor having thermal conductivity above 1.5 W/m*K more preferably 2 W/m*K most preferably 3 W/m*K, conducting heat from said coil (2), wherein the inductor (1) is in thermal connection with at least one thermal connecting fixture (10-25), wherein said at least one thermal connecting fixture (10-25) is adapted to be connected to a first external heat receiver (4) so as to conduct heat from the inductor to said first external heat receiver (4).

As both frequencies increase and energy content grows in inductors they are usually produced using e.g. 1) laminated steel plates with different thicknesses i.e. 0.5 mm 0.35 mm, 0.22 mm, 0.10 mm, depending on frequencies, 2) amorphous magnetic material, 3) sintered ferrite or pressed Soft magnetic composite (SMC) materials made into E, C or U shaped cores or I or toroid shaped cores, which can be glued together to make larger units and pot cores. A common problem with all these technologies is that introducing effective liquid cooling into their structure results in considerable mechanical challenges. Liquid cooling technologies usually entail numerous connecting points creating leakage risks as well as additional production steps. Another problem is that cooling both the conducting wire and the core material simultaneously with known and simple methods such as using planar liquid or air cooled heat sinks is very challenging or impossible. Furthermore, due to the fact that these units are produced from standard core materials the possibilities for optimization are limited. Also, due to challenges in production, some shapes made from pressed materials are not available above certain sizes. Additionally, inductors made with said technologies do not have a direct thermal connection between the core and coil material and their mechanical structure is such, making it impossible to create fully thermally homogenous designs. This creates inefficiencies and weaknesses in the inductor's structure.
The main technical challenge with inductors that have the coil encapsulated within their structure, e.g. pot cores or soft magnetic mouldable material cores, is that the resistive and high frequency related losses stemming from the coil are encapsulated within the inductor's structure. Higher temperature in turn increases the conductor's resistivity affecting its temperature and losses further. High frequencies also give rise to skin—and proximity effect within the coil, increasing temperature and losses in the coil even further.
Coils which are encapsulated within traditional pot cores are usually wound on standard bobbins. As such bobbins usually have very low thermal conductivity this creates a thermal barrier towards the top, bottom and centrum within such inductors. Pot cores are either made into half open cores to allow air cooling of the coil or they are open where the connecting cables come out. In the latter case they are usually filled with thermally conductive polymer based materials to obtain better thermal properties compared to only air. However, thermal properties of such materials are always relatively low in thermal conductivity usually not exceeding 1.5 W/m*K.
Other thermally motivated inductor designs include using aluminum housing for the inductors which are subsequently filled with similar thermally conductive polymer based material as described above. Such inductor designs include C-, U- or E cores, based on different core materials, where the coil is wound on a standard bobbin and subsequently placed between two cores, which usually have discrete air gap in between. The coil or the core is then placed against the aluminum housing which is usually mounted on or connected to a heat sink. Some of such designs also include the inclusion of cooling pipes for water cooling. The problem with these designs is the same as described above. They are not thermally homogeneous in their design. There is no direct thermal coupling between the coil and the core material allowing thermal conduction. The thermally conductive "potting material" has relatively low thermally conductive properties. There is only the possibility of placing either the coil or the core material against the housing/cooling. If such inductors are liquid cooled, this entails complicated mechanical challenges to effectively implement such cooling into their structure. Liquid cooling would further usually call for numerous connecting points creating leakage risks as well as additional production steps. An additional and important drawback is the need for the additional and costly aluminum housing and potting material around the inductor which also adds weight and takes more space within the further technical product.
It becomes particularly important for inductors that have the coil encapsulated within their structure, i.e. pot cores or soft magnetic mouldable material cores, to apply a system that secures the possibility of making inductors that do not run to hot i.e. a system that extracts the heat generated by the losses created in the conducting wire in the most efficient way. If this is not done the units become overly large, heavy and costly. In some cases, i.e. above certain energy content, such inductors become practically impossible to make using the current state of art.

Thermal management system for SMC inductors


An apparatus for providing a display of information or a source of light to a viewer or an object along the line of sight between a user of the apparatus and the viewer or object without preventing the user's normal vision. The apparatus generally includes an element which provides visible images to the viewer, a member which blocks the visible image from the user, and an activating device which provides oscillating activation signals to the imaging element and the blocking member. The apparatus may also include prisms associated with each other to reflect certain images or light to the viewer or object.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to apparatus for displaying visible light to a viewer while retarding a displayer's perception of the displayed light. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, this invention relates to apparatus for displaying information which is placed on the line of sight between the viewer and the displayer.
2. Description of the Prior Art (Prior Art Statement)
The following statement is intended to be a Prior Art Statement in compliance with the guidance and requirements of 37 C.F.R. Sections 1.56, 1.97 and 1.98.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,352,644 issued to Linderman, Jr., et al. discloses an apparatus for estimating ranges which proposes right triangular prisms joined along their hypotenuse sides and containing an image applied to the top surface of the resultant cube.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,860,544 issued to Kahn proposes a viewing device having a vertical display area physically offset from the viewer's line of sight and further having mirrors to display material to the viewer.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,920,134 issued to Dresser discloses a cueboard and spot projection for electronic picture taking. This includes a cue indicator which operates during "blind" periods of a picture tube thereby permitting the cued material to appear visible to a direct viewer thereof through persistence of vision, but does not permit it to be visible to the camera containing the picture tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,926,559 issued to Oppenheimer discloses a prompting apparatus for cameras which includes reflecting means for reflecting material to be read by a reader onto the line between the reader and the lens of the camera.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,060,308 issued to Fortuna discloses an illuminated optical device. In particular this device includes spectacles which have light sources disposed above the lenses.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,245,315 issued to Marks et al. discloses an electro-optic responsive flashblindness controlling device having crystal layers between transparent conductive coatings and also having polarizers associated with the crystal layers. These elements are incorporated into a pair of glasses which includes a photocell and power supply for activating the crystal layers to become opaque to prevent flashblindness.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,714 issued to Uyeda et al. discloses an information display for a diver's face mask. This is proposed to include an information display means mounted to the mask out of the diver's normal line of sight. The display means is reflected by appropriate means to be visible to the diver upon the shifting of his eyes to the proper location.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,804 issued to Gordon proposes a welding helmet with eye piece control having a liquid crystal member incorporated into the protective welding lens. The liquid crystal member is activated by electrical energy to control the opacity of the liquid crystal as a result of the welding activity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,935 issued to Witt discloses a flight training hood which has a liquid crystal viewing lens whose opacity is controllable to occlude the wearer's vision.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,803 issued to Harsch discloses an electro-optic welding helmet lens assembly which has a liquid crystal light shutter responsive to infra-red and visible light energy.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,912 issued to Budmiger discloses a light filter for a welder's mask having ceramic crystals or fluid crystals between transparent electrodes. The opacity of the welder's mask is triggered by an activator circuit responsive to sound or light.
As shown by the above-mentioned disclosures, there is a need for an apparatus which can respond to certain stimuli to occlude unwanted light from the user's eyes. However, there is the additional need to have such a responsive apparatus which occludes certain light for certain purposes yet which does not substantially adversely affect normal vision. There is also the need for data display glasses which provide visible information to a viewer from the eye region of the displayer without substantially adversely affecting the displayer's vision and without displaying the information to the displayer. An additional need is to provide a direct source of light along the line of sight between the viewer and the subject to be examined. Still further there is the need for variably controlled sunglasses. Also there is a need for security panels which provide uni-directional vision therethrough.
The previous disclosures, however, do not propose apparatus which meet these needs. These references fail to indicate apparatus which display information or provide illumination directly along the line of sight between the apparatus users and viewers. Still further the prior references fail to show the combination of frequency responsive occluding elements with frequency responsive illumination elements. Therefore, Applicant believes that no previously disclosed device which is known to him indicates, either singly or in combination, the present invention.

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A circuit for detecting failure of a segment in a digital display which includes a comparator connected to the energizing circuit for the display segments so that when a segment fails and is addressed, the comparator output is changed to provide a blanking signal which is fed by a circuit to the blanking input of the display driver for blanking the display. The energizing circuit for the display includes lamp test means, which, after display blanking, is actuated to energize all of the segments thereby permitting identification of the failed segment. Release of the lamp test means activates a timer circuit for providing an override signal for overriding the blanking signal to return the display to normal operation for a predetermined period of time following which the display will be blanked again when the failed segment is again addressed.

Digital circuitry is in widespread use today in many areas such as calculators, counters, electronic watches and many other measurement devices so that many of such devices include digital displays involving integrated circuit techniques. The most common type of such digital displays utilizes seven-segment readout devices for digital numeric indicators. As is well known, by illuminating various combinations of the seven segments, the numbers zero through nine may be formed. Such electrically energizable seven-segment displays may be of any type such as light-emitting diodes, gas discharge tubes, or electroluminescence, etc., the light-emitting diode and incandescent lamp segment being the most common type of digital display in use today.
While such seven-segment displays are extremely reliable, on occasion, one of such segments in an indicator or display may fail as the result of an open circuit or the like. When a segment fails in a display, and is addressed, the failure of the segment to be illuminated results in the indication of an erroneous number. For instance, if the center segment in a seven-segment display burns out, the driving signal to the display for producing the digital display of the numeral "8" becomes a "0" producing an incorrect reading.
In an attempt to alleviate such erroneous readings when a segment fails, one approach has been to generate a blanking signal upon the failure of a segment which is addressed, which signal causes the digital display to go blank thereby indicating that there is a failed segment in the display. However, such a blanking arrangement, while indicating an error, gives no indication of the numeric information which was to be displayed, resulting in a loss of the correct numeric data. Furthermore, to avoid further erroneous readouts, there is no alternative but to discontinue the operation of the display until it can be repaired or replaced.

Segment failure detector for digital display


The present invention relates to discloses a manufacturing method of a gate-split flash memory, which is suitable for a self-align contact process and fully-salicide-compatible process. The present invention masks the invalid peaks with a thick passivation layer to obtain the purpose of removing the invalid peaks in the manufacturing process of a gate-split flash memory. The present invention deposits a nitride spacer to define a pattern of a floating gate of the flash memory, so that a channel length of the floating gate can be finely defined. The present invention also utilizes a mask pattern to define the floating gate region of the flash memory, and the manufacturing process will be smooth and cheap.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a gate-split flash memory, and particularly to a manufacturing method of a gate-split flash memory which can remove unnecessary peaks in a floating gate polysilicon region.
2. Description of Related Art
For a prior art manufacturing method of a flash memory, a source region of the flash memory is manufactured by a similar resist-stripping way. Therefore, if there is a demand to reduce the size of the flash memory, a STI technology is always used, which separates the source region into several parts and connecting them by a plurality of local wires. A disadvantage of the STI technology is incompatible with the process of the modern gate-split flash memory. A prior art method which increases a barrier oxide layer to generate a self-aligned salicide floating memory will cause unequal gate lengths and bad removal rate. Generally speaking, if a misalignment happens in defining the floating gate by a pattern of a mask, the channel length and operational characteristic of the flash memory will be heavily affected. Several prior arts, which disclose how to avoid misalignment of a split control gate, can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,278,087 and 5,940,706. Meanwhile, the prior art also discloses another method of utilizing a spacer to define a floating gate and avoid asymmetric situations when utilizing a mask.
FIGS. 1(a)-(j) shows a prior art manufacturing flow of the flash memory using a self-align contact process. In FIG. 1(a), a flash memory 10 includes a substrate (such as a P-type carrier) 101, a tunnel dielectric layer 102, a first polysilicon 103 acting as a floating gate, a silicon nitride layer (such as Si4N4) 104 and a resist 105 acting as a channel mask. The resist 105 has an opening 120 for forming the region of the floating gate. In FIG. 1(b), the silicon nitride layer 104 corresponding to the opening 120 is etched. In FIG. 1(c), a polysilicon-oxide region 106 is formed by thermal oxidation, and is represented by a cross section of an ellipse. FIG. 1(d) is a cross-sectional view taken from another direction. In FIG. 1(e), the polysilicon-oxide region 106 is used as a hard mask, that used in removing all polysilicon except that under the polysilicon-oxide region 106 forming a separate floating gate, which is called xe2x80x9cfloating gate polysiliconxe2x80x9d 117. In FIG. 1(f), a polysilicon layer 111 acts as a control gate, on which a W-silicide layer 107 (such as WsiX) and a silicon nitride layer 108 (such as a cap SiN) are deposited in order. Two peaks 115 and 116 are formed on two sides of the top surface of the floating gate polysilicon 117. Generally speaking, a field emission functions as one method to erase data stored in a non-volatilc memory, and has been largely used. When the function of the field emission is utilized, peaks on the floating gate must be generated first. However, only below the control gate, the peak can develop the function of field emission, and peaks on the other places not only fail to develop the function of field emission, but also affect an yield of the salicide process. For example, in FIG. 1(f), the peak 115 beneath the control gate 111 can erase the data of the flash memory by utilizing the function of field emission, but the peak 116 has not the function and is an invalid one. In FIG. 1(g), after an annealing process, a NLDD region 110 and N+ region 109 are formed by an ion implantation process. In FIG. 1(h), a spacer dielectric 112 is deposited, and a spacer etching is executed, and the invalid peak 116 would be exposed, causing a short circuit or a current leakage between the polysilicon-oxide region and source region. In FIG. 1(i), a barrier layer 113 is deposited to prevent contacts inside the flash memory from being etched. In FIG. 1(j), an inter-layer-dielectric (ILD) 114 is deposited and oxide in the source region is removed.
FIGS. 2(a)-(d) shows another prior art manufacturing flow of the flash memory using a fully salicide-compatible process. The first flows of the manufacturing method of the an other prior art is the same as those shown in FIGS. 1(a)-(e). In FIG. 2(a), a polysilicon layer 111 is deposited In FIG. 2(b), an annealing process is first executed, and a NLDD region 110 and N+ region 109 are formed by an ion implantation process. In FIG. 2(c), a spacer dielectric 112 is deposited, a spacer etching is executed, and the invalid peak 116 will be exposed, causing the floating gate to be salicided. In FIG. 2(d), for a stand-alone memory process, W-silicide is utilized as the material of a third polysilicon layer 118; for an embedded memory process, Ti-silicide is used as the material of the third polysilicon layer 118.
In conclusion, the peaks only beneath the control gate have the ability of erasing data stored in the flash memory, and peaks on the other positions do not have the ability and lead to a short circuit, current leakage or being salicided, because they are exposed outside the control gate after a spacer etching is executed. Besides, when the oxide in the source region is etched, the oxide in the floating gate will be also etched. In this circumstance, if the contacts inside the flash memory are etched, the channel length between the source region and floating gate will be shortened and an error will happen.
A first object of the present invention is to eliminate the disadvantage of generating invalid peaks in the prior art manufacturing process of a gate-split flash memory. The present invention masks the invalid peaks with a thick passivation layer to obtain the purpose of removing the invalid peaks in the manufacturing process of the flash memory. The present invention is suitable to two main processes for the gate-split flash memory. The two processes are self-align contact process and fully-salicide-compatible process.
A second object of the present invention is to propose a manufacturing method of keeping a complete channel length of the flash memory. In the self-align contact process, the present invention deposits a nitride spacer to define a pattern of the floating gate of the flash memory, so that the channel length of the floating gate can be finely defined. In the fully-salicide-compatible process, the present invention utilizes a mask pattern to define the floating gate region of the flash memory, and the manufacturing process will be smooth and cheap.

Manufacturing method of a gate-split flash memory


A waterbed sheet attachment system having a waterbed harness assembly formed from a plurality of straps that criss-cross each other underneath a waterbed mattress. The outer ends of these straps are secured to sheet attachment assemblies. Each of these sheet attachment assemblies have an elongated locking member and a sheet locking bracket. The harness straps also each have a length adjustment buckle near their free ends.

The invention relates to waterbeds and more specifically to a novel waterbed sheet attachment system.
Presently numerous structures exist or have been designed for capturing sheets and other bed clothing used with mattresses. The Shield, U.S. Pat. No. 2,326,399, discloses a bed clothes harness that uses eye members and elastic sections formed with heads at their ends that are attached to the bed strap harness.
The Svedberg-Reker et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,139, discloses a different type of harness-like arrangement for securing a mattress pad to the top of a waterbed mattress. Murray, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,137, discloses the use of a plurality of individual bedding holders that are positioned around the perimeter of the mattress for securing the bedding in position.
Reaser, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,518, discloses structure for bed sheet installation and retention using individual cover retainer members. Seeman, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,016 discloses a bedclothes retainer structure that utilizes Velcro fastening structure. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,880, the inventor Hamm discloses bed clothing fastening structure that utilizes a clasp and a wedge member.


A carbon fiber precursor fiber bundle which permits easy bundling of a plurality of small tows into one bundle, is provided with a dividing capability to divide into the original small tows spontaneously at the time of firing, and is suitable for obtaining a carbon fiber that is excellent in productivity and quality. A carbon fiber precursor fiber bundle that has a degree of intermingle of 1 m−1 or less between small tows, consists of substantially straight fibers without imparted crimp, a tow of which straight fibers has a moisture content of less than 10% by mass when housed in a container, and has a widthwise dividing capability to maintain a form of a single aggregate of tows when housed in a container, taken out from the container and guided into a firing step, and to divide into a plurality of small tows in the firing step by the tension generated in the firing step.

As an acrylonitrile-based precursor fiber for a carbon fiber, for the purpose of obtaining a carbon fiber having high strength and high elasticity modulus, predominantly a so-called small tow of 3,000 to 20,000 filaments which tow scarcely suffers filament breaking and fluff generation and is excellent in quality has hitherto been produced; a carbon fiber produced from such a precursor fiber has been used in various fields such as the aerospace field and the sport field.
A precursor fiber for producing a carbon fiber is subjected to a flame retarding treatment in which, in advance of carbonization, the precursor fiber is heated in an oxidative atmosphere set at 200 to 350° C. The flame retarding treatment generates a reaction heat, and hence heat tends to be stored inside the fiber tow. When excessive heat storage occurs inside the fiber tow, yarn breaking and fusion bonding between fibers tend to be generated. Accordingly, it is necessary to suppress the heat storage due to the reaction heat as much as possible. For the purpose of suppressing the heat storage, the thickness of the fiber tow fed to a flame retarding oven is inevitably made to be equal to or less than a certain thickness; thus, a constraint is imposed on the thickness of the fiber tow, and accordingly constitutes factors that degrade the productivity and simultaneously raises the production cost.
For the purpose of solving the above described problems, for example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-121325) discloses a precursor fiber tow for a carbon fiber which tow maintains a form of a tow when housed in a container, but has a widthwise dividing capability to divide the tow into a plurality of small tows when the tow is taken out, from the container, to be used. For the purpose of producing the fiber tow having this dividing capability, a plurality of spun yarns (fibers) are divided into a plurality of groups each having a predetermined number of yarns, and the plurality of groups are made to travel parallel in this divided condition, made to pass through a fiber-making step and a finishing oiling agent imparting step, and transferred to a crimp imparting step involving a crimper. The crimp imparting carries out bundling of a predetermined number of the plurality of groups into a form of a tow. When the crimp imparting step is not applied, individual small tows each are made to contain water in a content of 10% or more and 50% or less.
In the bundled form, the yarns at the selvage of each of the yarn groups, each having a small tow form, are made to obliquely cross each other over approximately 1 mm to be mutually weakly intermingled, and thus, a single tow form made of a plurality of yarn groups is maintained. The intermingle based on the oblique crossing of the yarns at the selvage of each of the yarn groups is weak, and hence, when the bundled form is transferred to and used in a carbon fiber producing step after having been maintained in a single tow form, easy division into individual yarn groups from the selvage is made possible, and the bundled fiber bundle is housed in a container as it is in a condition capable of being divided into small tows.
The precursor fiber bundle, having dividing capability, for a carbon fiber housed in a container are divided into the above described individual small tows in a dividing step before being guided into the flame retarding oven. This division is to be carried out, for example, by using a grooved roll or a dividing guide bar. The small tows are mutually bundled by being weakly intermingled at the selvages thereof, and hence this division can be extremely easily carried out in such a way that breakage or fuzz generation scarcely occurs. The individual tows divided into small tow forms each having a predetermined size or less are guided into the flame retarding step to be subjected to the flame retarding treatment. In this treatment, it is stated that the small tows are subjected to the flame retarding treatment as they are in the divided condition, so that the excess heat storage is not generated, and accordingly the breakage or the fusion bonding between filaments is prevented.
The mechanism for imparting the bundled fiber bundle the dividing capability into small tows, according to above described Patent Document 1, is stated to be based on the intermingling due to oblique crossing of each fiber located at the selvages of the small tows; however, with a degree of intermingle of 1 to 10 m−1 at the dividing portions in the small tows, when division into small tows is carried out by a dividing means in advance of being guided into the flame retarding step, single yarn breaking is possibly caused and the quality of the carbon fiber is possibly affected thereby. Furthermore, in Patent Document 1, as means for intermingling small tows with each other, there is disclosed only a method that is based on the imparting of the crimp where a form of a tow is maintained by crossing the yarns at the selvages of the individual small tows obliquely with each other to weakly intermingle the yarns. In the case of such a crimped tow, when the crimped tow is guided as it is into the flame retarding step involved in a production process of a carbon fiber, it is difficult to uniformly straighten the crimps over the whole range of the tow to provide a predetermined elongation. Consequently, there may occur unevenness in the basis weight (weight per unit length) and the fineness of the obtained carbon fiber, and the quality of the obtained carbon fiber is possibly thereby affected. Under these circumstances, a crimp removing means is required in advance of the flame retarding step, which increases the equipment space, impedes work saving and significantly affects the productivity.
On the other hand, in aforementioned Patent Document 1, for the case of a form of a straight tow without imparted crimp, it is only described that the moisture percentage thereof is from 10 to 50%. In other words, there is described only a mechanism that the surface tension due to the moisture bundles the small tows to maintain a form of a single tow. With such moisture percentage, the surface tension due to the water within the tow serves to maintain the bent shape formed when folded and housed in a container, and consequently when fed to the production step of the carbon fiber, the tow is fed as it still has the bent shape and the oblique disposition of the filaments within the tow caused by the bent shape, the quality of the obtained carbon fiber is impaired, or sometimes the bent shape turns into twisted shape, and there is a fear that excessive heat storage is caused in such twisted portion in the flame retarding step.
Furthermore, irrespective as to whether or not a bundled fiber bundle is made to pass through a crimper, the bundled fiber bundle is required to be divided into small tows each having a predetermined thickness before the bundled fiber bundle is guided into a firing step after the bundle is taken out from a container; thus, a dividing device is required to be installed purposely, which increases the equipment space, impedes work saving and significantly affects the productivity.
Application of carbon fiber is being expanding over common industrial fields including automobiles, civil engineering, construction and energy. Accordingly, there are strong demands for supply of large tow carbon fiber high in strength, high in elastic modulus, high in grade and high in quality as well as large tow carbon fiber lower in price and excellent in productivity. For example, Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose production methods of a large tow carbon fiber and a carbon fiber precursor fiber bundle; however, the carbon fiber disclosed in either of these Documents does not attain strength to a sufficient extent, and as affairs now stand, does not reach the strand strength and the elastic modulus comparable to those of a conventional small tow having the number of filaments of 12,000 or less.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-121325    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-189913    Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-181925

Carbon fiber precursor fiber bundle, production method and production device therefor, and carbon fiber and production method therefor


A process for producing hydrofluoric acid from SiF.sub.6.sup.2- in a wastewater is disclosed. The process is carried out by. (i) combining (NH.sub.4).sub.2 SO.sub.4, at a pH high enough such that the sulfate is in its divalent state, with SiF.sub.6.sup.2- from said wastewater in an amount in excess of that stoichiometrically required to form (NH.sub.4).sub.2 SiF.sub.6 as follows: EQU (NH.sub.4).sub.2 SO.sub.4 +SiF.sub.6.sup.2- .fwdarw.(NH.sub.4).sub.2 SiF.sub.6 +SO.sub.4.sup.2- PA0 (ii) concentrating a solution including (NH.sub.4).sub.2 SiF.sub.6 and excess (NH.sub.4).sub.2 SO.sub.4 to precipitate and separate (NH.sub.4).sub.2 SiF.sub.6 of high purity therefrom; PA0 (iii) re-solubilizing the (NH.sub.4).sub.2 SiF.sub.6 for reaction with NH.sub.4 OH to form NH.sub.4 F liquor and precipitated Si(OH).sub.4 ; PA0 (iv) separating the NH.sub.4 F liquor from the precipitated Si(OH).sub.4 ; PA0 (v) reacting the NH.sub.4 F with water to form precipitated NH.sub.4 F.multidot.HF and ammonia gas; PA0 (vi) reacting NH.sub.4 F.multidot.HF with NaF to yield precipitated NaF.multidot.HF and NH.sub.4 F liquor; and PA0 (vii) heating and decomposing the NaF.multidot.HF into HF and NaF.

The present invention relates to the recovery of fluoride ions from waste fluorosilicic acid solution and, more particularly to a process for converting waste fluorosilicic acid into hydrofluoric acid.
Divalent fluorosilicates (SiF.sub.6.sup.2-) are a by-product associated with wet process phosphoric acid plants. More specifically, during the production of phosphoric acid, relatively large amounts of fluoride vapors are evolved from the acidulation circuit, the evaporation operation and from other processing steps. To avoid discharge of this fluoride into the atmosphere, scrubber systems are utilized throughout the plant. Furthermore, large amounts of fluoride vapors are evolved in the phosphoric acid evaporators and are collected in barometric condensers. The water used in the scrubbers and barometric condensers, as well as water used to slurry the gypsum for disposal, is discharged into gypsum and cooling pond systems.
Where phosphoric acid is further processed through ammonium phosphate or superphosphate plants to produce a variety of fertilizer products, still more fluoride is evolved. Once again, to prevent escape of the fluoride gases into the atmosphere, scrubbers are employed and the fluorides returned to cooling ponds.
To recover fluoride from the pond water system described above, the pond water can be diverted to a fluoride recovery plant and, upon removal of the fluoride from the water, returned to the pond. Thus, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,200, there is described a process for the removal of fluoride contaminants from an acidic process wastewater. More specifically, it was discovered, unexpectedly, that fluorides such as SiF.sub.6.sup.2- could be removed from an acidic process wastewater by contacting the wastewater at pH levels between about 1.5 and 2.0 with a strong base ion exchange resin. Such SiF.sub.6.sup.2- loaded resin was then regenerated by contacting it with a compound capable of stripping the fluoride from the resin and forming water-soluble commercially useful end products or intermediates capable of being converted to commercially useful end products. Included among such compounds were sulfuric acid, ammonium sulfate, and ammonium bisulfate, the particular compound used not being critical so long as the fluoride salt thereby formed was water-soluble thereby enabling it to be washed out of the resin. The pH of the solution containing the ammonium silicofluoride strip solution was then raised, e.g., by adding ammonia, to increase the pH of the solution to between about 8.5 and 9.0 thereby precipitating an activated silica compound. After removing the silica, the filtrate solution including ammonium fluoride was then used as an intermediate for various commercially useful fluoride compounds such as calcium fluoride, hydrofluoric acid, metallic fluorides and the like.
The preparation of hydrofluoric acid from the wastewater is particularly advantageous because, while simultaneously removing a contaminant from a wastewater, a commercially valuable end product is produced. Additionally, the ability to produce hydrofluoric acid from an acidic process wastewater is an attractive alternative to current commercial methods for producing hydrofluoric acid. More specifically, hydrofluoric acid is generally produced by reacting sulfuric acid and high grade calcium fluoride (fluorospar). The process typically involves the intimate mixing of the fluorospar and sulfuric acid to initiate the chemical reaction wherein the calcium fluoride and sulfuric acid mixture is converted to hydrogen fluoride and calcium sulfate. The resulting mixture is subsequently treated in a rotary kiln and hydrogen fluoride evolved from the reaction mass. The hydrogen fluoride gas is then treated and subsequently condensed to form anhydrous hydrogen fluoride.
The above process, although being the primary means through which hydrofluoric acid is produced, is somewhat difficult to carry out since it involves the handling of the hydrogen fluoride-laden gas throughout most of the process. Additionally, the cost and availability of fluorospar are subject to wide and unpredictable fluctuations and thus, elimination of fluorospar as a starting material could be highly advantageous since it is generally the most significant factor affecting commercial production of hydrofluoric acid.

Process for removing fluoride from a wastewater and producing hydrofluoric acid therefrom


A communication managing apparatus (CMA) that manages transmission of data employing a token passing system in a network in which a plurality of communication apparatuses (CAs) are connected via a transmission line. The CMA includes a network-presence checking unit performing network presence checking processing for transmitting, by broadcast, a network presence check frame for recognizing the CAs, receiving, from the CAs, frames including thereof, and generating connection information indicating a connection state via the ports. The CMA further comprises a unit determining token circulation order using the connection information, a setup processing unit performing, based on the token circulation order, setup processing for notifying the communication apparatuses of a communication apparatus to which a transmission right is giving next, and a data-fame-communication processing unit performing transmission and reception of a data frame using a token frame.

An FA (Factory Automation) system includes control target apparatuses and a control apparatus such as a programmable controller that performs predetermined arithmetic processing using states of the control target apparatuses as input data and outputs operation conditions of the control target apparatuses as output data. Communication means are provided in the control apparatus and the control target apparatuses and connected via a network, whereby real-time control is enabled. Specifically, the communication means provided in the control target apparatuses are caused to function as slave stations. The communication means provided in the control apparatus is caused to function as a communication management station that controls data transmission by the slave stations. The communication management station periodically performs processing for receiving data from the slave stations, calculating, using the received data, data for controlling the control target apparatuses, and transmitting the data to the slave stations. In performing the processing, the communication management station controls timing of the data transmission by the slave stations to guarantee real-time properties of the data communication.
A method of estimating performance of the network in such an FA system in which the communication management station and the slave stations are connected via the network is proposed (see, for example, Patent Literature 1). Patent Literature 1 discloses a network configuration managing tool including collecting means for collecting, in an actual network, peculiar information of the slave stations such as IDs and input and output sizes, table creating means for creating, based on the collected peculiar information, a parameter table that is information concerning a network configuration used in a master station, and download means for downloading the created parameter table to the master station. The network configuration managing tool is connected to the FA system. The parameter table is automatically generated by the network configuration managing tool and generated information is registered in the master station.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Communication managing apparatus and data communication method


A color picture tube having a cathodoluminescent screen, electron gun and a slit type apertured mask located between the screen and gun, wherein the slits in such mask are arranged in columns and the slits in each column are separated by webs, has an improved web configuration. Alternate webs within a column are of lesser thickness than the general mask thickness with the geometric center of the alternate webs being offset toward the screen side of the mask.

This invention relates to color picture tubes and particularly to such tubes having a slit type apertured mask.
Shadow mask type color picture tubes usually include a screen of red, green and blue emitting phosphor lines or dots, electron gun means for exciting the screen and a shadow mask interposed between the gun means and the screen. The shadow mask is a thin multiapertured sheet of metal precisely disposed adjacent the screen so that the mask or apertures are systematically related to the phosphor lines or dots.
Color picture tubes having shadow masks with slit shaped apertures have received relatively recent commercial acceptance. One of the reasons for this acceptance is that the percentage of electron beam transmission through the mask can be made higher for a slit mask-line screen type of tube than for a circular apertured mask-dot screen type tube. Even though the use of a slit mask provides a definite advantage in electron beam transmission, the percentage of electron beam transmission through a slit mask can be increased even further than is practiced in the present art.
Two types of slit shadow masks are in present use. In one type, the slits extend continuously from the top to the bottom of the mask. Such configuration is only used in a cylindrically shaped mask and requires a massive rigid frame to hold the mask taut. In another type slit shadow mask, the mask is domed so that it is curved both vertically and horizontally. In this mask embodiment, the vertically extending slits are interrupted by a plurality of spaced bridges or webs to aid in maintaining the domed shape. The presence of these webs, however, reduces electron beam transmission and thereby reduces the amount of tube brightness compared to a tube having no webs. It is therefore desirable to develop a mask wherein the effect of the webs on electron beam transmission is reduced.

Color picture tube having improved slit type shadow mask


An apparatus for providing counteracting force to overcome the off-center weight of a microscope assembly without counterweights. The apparatus is a microscope balance compensator which uses springs or gas pistons to compensate for a change in a moment developed in a microscope assembly when attachments are added or removed or when the tilt angle of the microscope is changed. The microscope balance compensator includes one device for applying counteracting force about a tilt axis and another device for applying counteracting force about a tip axis oriented perpendicular to the tilt axis. Each counteracting force is applied at discrete angles relative to the pivot centers and is adjustable. The apparatus provides balance compensation over a wide range without adding counterweight, thereby minimizing the total weight of the microscope.

Surgical procedures for the treatment of patient tissue frequently require visual contact by the surgeon with a target area which is limited in size. In the field of microsurgery, a surgical operation is performed while the surgeon and his assistants simultaneously view the target area by way of respective binoculars optically coupled to the microscope along respective optical paths. These binoculars provide the surgeon and the observers with the same view of the targeted tissue.
During surgical procedures, the surgeon must move the microscope as needed to optimize his view of the tissue being treated. At different stages of the procedure, the surgeon will need to view the subject tissue from different observation angles. Accordingly, the microscope must be easily manipulatable during the procedure to allow the surgeon to accurately direct and focus the microscope at the particular area of interest. Such manipulations must be performed rapidly in order to minimize any delay in carrying out the surgical procedure. Furthermore, the surgical microscope must be supported on a stand or suspended from a ceiling support in a manner that allows the microscope to be manipulated into a desired position within a working space without any obstruction to the surgical procedure.
In addition, it is desirable that the microscope assembly be adaptable for use in different surgical disciplines without the need for tools to convert the microscope from one physical assembly to another. The need to reconfigure the assembly using tools requires that doctors, nurses or other technical personnel be trained. Such training is an added burden in terms of time, cost and effort to hospitals and medical centers. Therefore, a versatile surgical microscope in which the relative positions of various components can be changed and adjusted to meet the requirements of different disciplines, e.g., otolaryngology versus ophthalmology, is preferred.
One conventional surgical microscope assembly includes the following: a microscope; a housing or casing by means of which one or more observer's tube assemblies can be mounted to the assembly; an illumination module which changes the magnification of the object or target area visible through the binoculars of the microscope (and observer's tube assembly); a fiber optics cable which transmits light to the illumination module; a mechanical assembly for changing the tilt of the microscope; means for focusing the microscope; and an adjustable tilt-axis counterweight to balance the assembly. A second adjustable counterweight is provided to prevent lateral or transverse tip of the assembly of elements when one or more laterally extending accessories (e.g., an observer's tube assembly) are added or removed. The microscope assembly optionally includes a video path to allow the microsurgery to be recorded by a video camera.
All of these elements are mounted on a support arm coupled to a mounting member. The support arm is mounted to a mounting member suitably connected to a ceiling, wall or other counterweight stand, either directly or through an angle coupling. The support arm's position is swingable through a 180.degree. arc about the axis of the mounting member. Further, the means for mounting the microscope on the support arm is rotatable about a tilt axis extending through the mechanical assembly.
With each attachment or accessory which is incorporated as part of the assembly, the microscope assembly increases in weight. This increased weight impairs the surgeon's ability to maneuver the microscope easily and accurately. Thus, it is desirable to minimize the weight of the microscope assembly. In particular, it would be advantageous to provide a mechanism for counterbalancing a change in a moment developed about the tilt or tip axis which did not require the use of counterweights.


An optical fiber array is provided which allows each optical fiber to be rarely sheared down by the action of a stress and inhibits the reflection of an optical signal on the interface at its joint and a method of fabricating the optical fiber array is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical fiber array for use in optical communications and particularly to an optical fiber array which has a fiber clamping member mounted to the distal end thereof for ease of connection with an optical element or the like and a method of fabricating the optical fiber array.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of a fiber clamping member mounted to the distal end of optical fibers for connection with an optical element is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2,824,177. This comprises a base which has a plurality of parallel straight grooves provided therein for accommodating the stripped end portions of optical fibers and a sheathed portion holding plate which has a recess therein for holding the sheathed portions of the optical fibers and mounted next to the straight grooves on the base. The straight grooves extend at a right angle to the front end of the base which is joined to an optical element or the like.
As the optical fibers have been inserted into the recess of the sheathed portion holder from the rear side of the fiber clamping member and accommodated at their stripped end portions in the corresponding straight grooves, the straight grooves surface is enclosed with a clamping plate thus forming an optical fiber array. Problems that the Invention is to solve
However, in the conventional arrangement, the imaginary line extending along the insertion end of the straight grooves for the optical fibers is at a right angle to the straight grooves or namely the axes of the optical fibers. Accordingly, when any of the optical fibers receives a significant stress, it may be sheared down by the action of the stress. Also, as the front end of the base to be joined to the optical element extends at a right angle to the axes of the optical fibers, the reflection of an optical signal on the interface at the joint may generate an adverse artifact such as a noise.
It is hence an object of the present invention, in view of the above problems, to provide an optical fiber array in which each optical fiber is protected from shearing stresses and inhibits the reflection of an optical signal on the interface at its joint and a method of fabricating the optical fiber array.
For solving the above drawbacks, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an optical fiber array includes a fiber clamping member for clamping the stripped end portions of optical fibers in corresponding straight grooves and simultaneously holding the sheathed portion of the optical fibers close to the stripped end portions of the optical fibers to align the distal ends of the optical fibers. An angle between an imaginary line extending linearly along the insertion end of the straight grooves housing the stripped end portions of the optical fibers and the axes of the straight grooves ranges from 45 degrees to 85 degrees.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the angle between the front end of the optical fiber clamping member arranged flush with the distal ends of the optical fibers and the axes of the straight grooves ranges from 45 degrees to 85 degrees.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the straight grooves are uniform in the length.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the rear end of the optical fiber clamping member extends in parallel with the imaginary line along the insertion end of the straight grooves housing the stripped end portions of the optical fibers.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of fabricating an optical fiber array. The optical fiber array includes a fiber clamping member for clamping the stripped end portions of optical fibers in corresponding straight grooves and simultaneously holding the sheathed portion close to the stripped end portions of the optical fibers to align the distal ends of the optical fibers. The method includes the steps of: preparing a wafer in which groups of straight grooves extending in parallel with each other are provided and step surfaces extending in parallel with each other are provided at an angle of 45 to 85 degrees to the straight grooves; mounting on each of the step surfaces a continuous member of sheathed portion holders which has a corresponding number of recesses provided at locations thereof opposite to the straight grooves for accommodating the sheathed portions of the optical fibers of the groups; bonding each the continuous members of sheathed portion holders to the corresponding step surface at a given location and cutting the wafer together with the continuous members of sheathed portion holders in parallel with the step surfaces and the straight grooves to separate the fiber clamping member into a chip form; and mounting and clamping the optical fibers to the optical fiber clamping member so as to align the distal ends of the optical fibers.

OPTICAL FIBER ARRAY HAVING AN OFFSET ANGLE BETWEEN AN END PORTION OF A SUBSTRATE PORTION HOUSING AT LEAST ONE STRAIGHT GROOVE AND THE AXIS OF THE HOUSED STRAIGHT GROOVE HOLDING AT LEAST ONE OPTICAL FIBER THEREIN

Abstract: The angle between the imaginary line L which extends linearly along the proximal end of straight grooves (7)for clamping the stripped end portion (2a) of the optical fibers (2) provided in a fiber clamping member (2) to align the distal ends of the optical fibers (2) at uniform pitch and the axes of the straight grooves (7) ranges from 45 degrees to 85 degrees. Also, the front end (1a) of the fiber clamping member (1) which serves as a joining end is arranged in parallel with the imaginary line L.