A driving circuit includes a driving signal generating circuit which generates a plurality of driving signals; a plurality of switching circuits which are supplied with the driving signals so as to supply driving voltages in response to the driving signals, respectively; an output node which is connected to each of the switching circuits and is supplied with one of the driving voltages selectively; and a control circuit which controls the switching circuits so that any two of the switching circuits are not turned on simultaneously.

This application claims the priority of Application No. 2000-354113, filed Nov. 21, 2000 in Japan, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a driving circuit for driving an LCD (liquid crystal display) or the like.
A conventional driving circuit is designed to drive segment electrodes in, for example, a matrix type LCD. According to a conventional driving circuit, a leakage current may flow between driving voltages via an output node. Although the leakage current caused in each driving circuit is small, as the number of driving circuits is increased in association with a trend toward a larger screen of the LCD, the total power consumption is increased. The increase in power consumption associated with the trend toward the larger screen is a serious problem especially in battery-powered portable displays.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a driving circuit in which the problems of the prior art are solved and in which no leakage current occurs in switching of a driving voltage.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To solve the above problems, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a driving circuit having a plurality of switching units for, when receiving respective corresponding driving signals, outputting driving voltages corresponding to the driving signals to a common output node, the driving circuit including a driving control unit for, when a selection signal to select the driving voltage is activated, outputting the driving signal so as to be delayed by a predetermined time period and, when the selection signal is inactivated, immediately interrupting the driving signal.
Since the driving circuit is constructed as mentioned above, the following operation is performed.
For instance, when a selection signal to select a first driving voltage is inactivated at a certain instant and a selection signal to select a second driving voltage is activated, the driving control unit immediately interrupts a driving signal corresponding to the first driving voltage, thereby interrupting the first driving voltage generated from the switching unit. On the other hand, a driving signal corresponding to the second driving voltage is generated from the driving unit so as to be delayed by a predetermined time period. Consequently, after the first driving voltage is interrupted, the second driving voltage is generated from the switching unit after the predetermined time period.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a driving circuit similar to that of the first aspect, the driving circuit including: selecting units for selecting a first clock signal when a selection signal to select a driving voltage is inactivated and, when the selection signal is activated, selecting a second clock signal delayed in phase relative to the first clock signal; and holding units for holding the selection signal on the basis of timing of the clock signal selected by the selecting unit and supplying the held contents as a driving signal to the switching unit.
In this aspect, the following operation is performed.
For example, when a selection signal to select a first driving voltage is inactivated at a certain instant and a selection signal to select a second driving voltage is activated, the selection signal corresponding to the first driving voltage is held by the holding unit at timing of the next first clock signal and, further, the selection signal corresponding to the second driving voltage is held by the holding unit at timing of the subsequent second clock signal. Consequently, the first driving voltage is interrupted at the timing of the first clock signal and, after that, the second driving voltage is outputted at the timing of the second clock signal.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a driving circuit similar to that of the first aspect, the driving circuit including: selecting units similar to those of the second aspect of the present invention; holding units for holding a selection signal on the basis of timing of a clock signal selected by the selecting unit; and driving control units for, when the selection signal held by the holding circuit is activated, outputting the driving signal so as to be delayed by a predetermined time period and, when the selection signal is inactivated, immediately interrupting the driving signal.
In this aspect, the following operation is performed.
For instance, when a selection signal to select a first driving voltage is inactivated at a certain instant and a selection signal to select a second driving voltage is activated, the selection signal corresponding to the first driving voltage is held by the holding unit at timing of the next first clock signal and, further, the selection signal corresponding to the second driving voltage is held by the holding unit at timing of the subsequent second clock signal. As for the selection signals held by the holding units, the driving control units control delay time and each selection signal is supplied as a driving signal to the switching unit. Consequently, the first driving voltage is interrupted at the timing of the first clock signal and, after that, the second driving voltage is outputted so as to be further delayed relative to the timing of the second clock signal.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a driving circuit similar to that of the first aspect, the driving circuit including: selecting units for selecting a first clock signal when an input signal is inactivated and, when the input signal is activated, selecting a second clock signal delayed in phase relative to the first clock signal; holding units for holding the input signal on the basis of timing of the clock signal selected by the selecting unit; and a decoding unit for decoding the held contents of the holding unit to form the driving signal for selecting the driving voltage and supply the driving signal to the switching unit.
In this aspect, the following operation is performed.
For example, when an input signal is inactivated at a certain instant, the selecting unit selects the first clock signal and the holding unit holds the input signal at timing of the next first clock signal. The held input signal is decoded by the decoding unit. A driving signal as a decoding result is supplied to the switching unit, thereby interrupting the corresponding driving voltage.
On the other hand, when the input signal is activated, the selecting unit selects the second clock signal delayed in phase relative to the first clock signal and the holding unit holds the input signal at timing of the next second clock signal. The input signal held by the holding unit is decoded by the decoding unit and a driving signal as a decoding result is supplied to the switching unit, thereby outputting the corresponding driving voltage.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a driving circuit similar to that of the first aspect, the driving circuit including: selecting units and holding units similar to those of the fourth aspect; a decoding unit for decoding the held contents of the holding units to form a selection signal to select the driving voltage; and a driving control unit for, when the selection signal is activated, outputting the driving signal so as to be delayed by a predetermined time period, and when the selection signal is inactivated, immediately interrupting the driving signal.
In this aspect, the following operation is performed.
For example, when an input signal is inactivated at a certain instant, the selecting unit selects the first clock signal and the holding unit holds the input signal at timing of the next first clock signal. On the other hand, when the input signal is activated, the selecting unit selects a second clock signal delayed in phase relative to the first clock signal and the holding unit holds the input signal at timing of the next second clock signal.
The input signal held by the holding unit is decoded by the decoding unit, thereby forming a selection signal to select a driving voltage. The selection signal is supplied to the driving control unit. In the inactivation, the driving signal to immediately interrupt the driving voltage is supplied to the switching unit and, in the activation, the driving signal to output the driving voltage so as to be delayed by a predetermined time period is supplied to the switching unit.
Preferably, in the first, third, or fifth aspect of the present invention, the driving control unit is constructed by logic gates each having an output unit obtained by serially connecting complementary MOSs having different mutual conductance from each other.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a driving circuit for outputting any one of a plurality of driving voltages to a common output node, the driving circuit including: a driving signal output circuit for outputting a plurality of driving signals corresponding to the plurality of driving voltages on the basis of a plurality of selection signals; and a plurality of switching units, which are controlled by the plurality of driving signals, respectively, for outputting the driving signal corresponding to any one of the plurality of driving voltages to the output node, wherein the driving signal output circuit is constructed so as to generate the plurality of driving signals to allow a transition from an ON state to an OFF state of the switching unit to be faster than that from the OFF state to the ON state thereof.
Preferably, in the sixth aspect, the driving signal output circuit has a first conductivity type first MOS coupled between an output terminal thereof and a power supply potential and a second conductivity type second MOS coupled between the output terminal and a ground potential, when the switching unit is a first conductivity type MOS, the ratio of gate length to gate width of the second MOS is larger than that of the first MOS, and when the switching unit is a second conductivity type MOS, the ratio of gate length to gate width of the first MOS is larger than that of the second MOS.
Preferably, in the sixth aspect, the driving signal output circuit has a first conductivity type first MOS coupled between an output terminal thereof and a power supply potential and a second conductivity type second MOS coupled between the output terminal and a ground potential, when the switching unit is a first conductivity type MOS, the ratio of gate width to gate length of the second MOS is smaller than that of the first MOS, and when the switching unit is a second conductivity type MOS, the ratio of gate width to gate length of the first MOS is smaller than that of the second MOS.
Preferably, in the sixth aspect, the driving signal output circuit has a first conductivity type first MOS coupled between an output terminal thereof and a power supply potential and a second conductivity type second MOS coupled between the output terminal and a ground potential, when the switching unit is a first conductivity type MOS, the ON resistance of the second MOS is larger than that of the first MOS, and when the switching unit is a second conductivity type MOS, the ON resistance of the first MOS is larger than that of the second MOS.
Preferably, in this aspect, the driving signal is generated so as to control the switching unit on the basis of one of a first clock signal and a second clock signal delayed in phase relative to the first clock signal, when the driving signal allows the switching unit to change from the OFF state to the ON state, the driving signal is outputted on the basis of the second clock signal, and when the driving signal allows the switching unit to change from the ON state to the OFF state, the driving signal is outputted on the basis of the first clock signal.
Preferably, the driving circuit according to this aspect includes: clock signal selecting units for selecting either one of the first and second clock signals; selection signal holding units for holding the selection signal on the basis of the first or second clock signal selected by the clock signal selecting unit; and a decoding unit for decoding the held contents of the selection signal holding unit to form the driving signal corresponding to the driving voltage.
According to this aspect, the following operation is performed.
The driving signal to allow the transition from the ON state to the OFF state to be faster than that from the OFF state to the ON state is outputted from the driving signal output circuit to the switching unit. Consequently, a fear of simultaneously turning on the plurality of switching units is eliminated.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a driving circuit for outputting one of first and second driving voltages to a common output node, the driving circuit including: a first driving signal output circuit for outputting a first driving signal corresponding to the first driving voltage on the basis of a first selection signal; a second driving signal output circuit for outputting a second driving signal corresponding to the second driving voltage on the basis of a second selection signal; a first switching unit, which is controlled by the first driving signal, for outputting the first driving voltage to the output node; and a second switching unit, which is controlled by the second driving signal, for outputting the second driving voltage to the output node, wherein the first and second driving signal output circuits output the first and second driving signals for allowing a transition from an ON state to an OFF state of the second switching unit to be faster than that from the OFF state to the ON state of the first switching unit, respectively.
Preferably, in the seventh aspect, one of the first and second driving signal output circuits has a first conductivity type first MOS coupled between an output terminal thereof and a power supply potential and a second conductivity type second MOS coupled between the output terminal and a ground potential, when one of the first and second switching units is a first conductivity type MOS, the ratio of gate length to gate width of the second MOS is larger than that of the first MOS, and when one of the first and second switching units is a second conductivity type MOS, the ratio of gate length to gate width of the first MOS is larger than that of the second MOS.
Preferably, in the seventh aspect, one of the first and second driving signal output circuits has a first conductivity type first MOS coupled between an output terminal thereof and a power supply potential and a second conductivity type second: MOS coupled between the output terminal and a ground potential, when one of the first and second switching units is a first conductivity type MOS, the ratio of gate width to gate length of the second MOS is smaller than that of the first MOS, and when one of the first and second switching units is a second conductivity type MOS, the ratio of gate width to gate length of the first MOS is smaller than that of the second MOS.
Preferably, in the seventh aspect, one of the first and second driving signal output circuits has a first conductivity type first MOS coupled between an output terminal thereof and a power supply potential and a second conductivity type second MOS coupled between the output terminal and a ground potential, when one of the first and second switching units is a first conductivity type MOS, the ON resistance of the second MOS is larger than that of the first MOS, and when one of the first and second switching units is a second conductivity type MOS, the ON resistance of the first MOS is larger than that of the second MOS.
Preferably, in this aspect, the first and second driving signals are outputted so as to control the first and second switching units on the basis of one of a first clock signal and a second clock signal delayed in phase relative to the first clock signal, when the first switching unit changes from an OFF state to an ON state by the first driving signal, the first driving signal is outputted on the basis of the second clock signal, and when the second switching unit changes from the ON state to the OFF state by the second driving signal, the second driving signal is outputted on the basis of the first clock signal.
Preferably, the driving circuit according to this aspect includes: clock signal selecting units for selecting either one of the first and second signals; first and second selection signal holding units for holding the first and second selection signals on the basis of one of the first and second clock signals selected by the clock signal selecting unit, respectively; and first and second decoding units for decoding the held contents of the first and second selection signal holding circuit to form the first and second driving signals corresponding to the first and second driving voltages, respectively.
According to this aspect, the following operation is performed.
The first driving signal to switch the switching unit from the OFF state to the ON state is generated from the first driving signal output circuit to the first switching unit. The second driving signal to switch the switching unit from the ON state to the OFF state is generated from the second driving signal output circuit to the second switching unit. On the basis of the first and second driving signals, the second switching unit is first turned off and, after that, the first switching unit is turned on. Consequently, there is no fear that the first and second switching units are simultaneously turned on.


A system and method for signal channel balancing through accurate estimation of signal amplitude and phase parameters are described. The system includes multiple analog-to-digital (A/D) converter devices coupled to a digital signal processing (DSP) unit, each A/D converter device corresponding to a communication channel within the system. The system further includes multiple analog multiplexers, each analog multiplexer being coupled to a corresponding A/D converter device and having a number of inputs equal to the number of communication channels to be balanced within the system. The system further includes a timing generator circuit and selection logic coupled to the DSP unit, such that for each clock cycle, a single analog channel input is routed to each A/D converter device.

A single side-band (SSB) communication system requires accurate balancing of amplitude, offset, and phase between the in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) channels for the best image rejection. A method widely used in the transmit channel is to use analog to digital (A/D) converters to accurately measure the amplitude and phase of the I and Q channels right before the single side-band mixer, and use that information in a digital signal processing (DSP) unit in a feedback configuration to adjust the gain, offset, and phase mismatch of the two channels, as illustrated in FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional approach for I/Q channel balancing. The system 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes two analog-to-digital (A/D) converters 101, 102 coupled to a digital signal processing (DSP) unit 103. The A/D converters 101, 102 are able to sample the signal bandwidth of the I and Q channels 111, 112, respectively, but the information bandwidth extracted (signal amplitude, offset, and phase) in the DSP unit 103 is much lower than the signal bandwidth. Therefore, the A/D noise performance of the system 100 can be low to moderate due to averaging and bandwidth reduction in the DSP unit 103.
However, systematic mismatches between the I and Q A/D converters 101, 102, translate directly into mismatches of the I and Q amplitude, offset, and phase information, leading to reduced image frequency cancellation and local oscillator feedthrough. The A/D converters for such applications need very high matching performance, usually much higher than their noise performance.
One proposed system architecture designed to avoid the need for matched A/D converters is shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a conventional approach for I/Q channel balancing using a single A/D converter. In FIG. 2, a system 200 uses a single A/D converter 201 coupled to a DSP unit 203 and being clocked at twice the normal sampling rate. The system 200 multiplexes the I and Q channel signals 211 and 212 at its inputs. The perceived drawbacks of this proposed technique relate to the fact that the A/D converter 201 has to work at twice the previous clock rate, which may or may not be available in the system 200, and the fact that, due to time interleaving, the I and Q channel sampling does not occur at the same time, but there is a ½ clock time difference between the I and Q channel sampling. This time difference requires special processing in the DSP unit 203 and can have various unintended effects on the signal amplitude and phase estimation based on I and Q signal bandwidth compared to the A/D converter sampling rate.
It would be advantageous, therefore, to provide a method and system without the aforementioned drawbacks.


Conventional CMOS devices suffer from imbalance because the mobility of holes in the PMOS transistor is less than the mobility of electrons in the NMOS transistor. The use of strained silicon in the channels of CMOS devices further exacerbates the difference in electron and hole mobility, as strained silicon provides a greater increase in electron mobility than hole mobility. However, hole mobility is increased in the SiGe layer underlying the strained silicon layer. Therefore, a more evenly-balanced, high-speed CMOS device is formed by including strained silicon in the NMOS transistor and not in the PMOS transistor of a CMOS device.

The present invention relates to the field of manufacturing semiconductor devices, and more particularly, to an improved complementary metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (CMOSFET).
An important aim of ongoing research in the semiconductor industry is increasing semiconductor performance while decreasing the size of semiconductor devices. Planar transistors, such as metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET) are particularly well suited for use in high-density integrated circuits. As the size of the MOSFET decreases and the density of the devices increases, the demands of maintaining the electrical isolation of adjacent transistors increases.
The use of shallow trench isolation (STI) significantly shrinks the area needed to isolate transistors and thereby provides higher device density than local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS). STI also provides superior latch-up immunity, smaller channel width encroachment, and improved planarity. The use of STI techniques also eliminates the bird""s beak frequently encountered with LOCOS.
Strained silicon technology allows the formation of higher speed devices. Strained-silicon transistors are created by depositing a graded layer of silicon germanium (SiGe) on a bulk silicon wafer. A thin layer of silicon is subsequently deposited on the SiGe layer. The distance between atoms in the SiGe crystal lattice is greater than the distance between atoms in an ordinary silicon lattice. Because there is a natural tendency of atoms inside different crystals to align with one another when a second crystal is formed over a first crystal, when silicon is deposited on top of SiGe the silicon crystal lattice tends to stretch or xe2x80x9cstrainxe2x80x9d to align the silicon atoms with the atoms in the SiGe layer. Electrons in the strained silicon experience less resistance and flow up to 80% faster than in unstrained silicon.
There are two general types of MOS transistors, N-channel MOS (NMOS) formed with n-type source and drain regions in a p-type wafer, and P-channel MOS (PMOS) formed with p-type source and drain regions. NMOS transistors conduct electrons through the transistor channel, while PMOS transistors conduct holes through the transistor channel. Typically, the source and drain regions of the transistors are doped with phosphorous or arsenic to form n-type source/drain regions, while boron doping is used to form p-type source/drain regions.
CMOS transistors, which comprise N- and P-channel MOS transistors on the same substrate, suffer from imbalance. The imbalance is due to electron mobility being greater than hole mobility in the channel region. Therefore, NMOS transistors are faster than PMOS transistors. Typically, NMOS transistors are about 2 to about 2.5 times faster than PMOS transistors.
The problem of imbalance in CMOS devices is further exacerbated in CMOS devices comprising strained silicon channels. Strained silicon does not enhance hole mobility in PMOS transistors as much as it does electron mobility in NMOS transistors. Therefore, a CMOS device comprising strained silicon channels is more unbalanced than a CMOS transistor with conventional crystalline silicon channels.
The term semiconductor devices, as used herein, is not to be limited to the specifically disclosed embodiments. Semiconductor devices, as used herein, include a wide variety of electronic devices including flip chips, flip chip/package assemblies, transistors, capacitors, microprocessors, random access memories, etc. In general, semiconductor devices refer to any electrical device comprising a semiconductor.
There exists a need in the semiconductor device art to provide CMOS transistors, which combine more closely balanced PMOS and NMOS transistors with the increased speed of strained silicon. There exists a need in this art to provide smaller devices. There exists a need in this art to combine higher speed and smaller device-size to provide a more balanced CMOS transistor.
These and other needs are met by embodiments of the present invention, which provide a semiconductor device comprising a semiconductor substrate comprising a silicon germanium (SiGe) layer formed on a base layer. A plurality of field effect transistors (FET) including at least one first FET and at least one second FET are formed on the semiconductor substrate. The first FET comprises a gate electrode formed over the SiGe layer, and a gate oxide layer interposed between the gate electrode and the SiGe layer, wherein the gate oxide layer is formed immediately adjacent to and in contact with the SiGe layer. The second FET comprises a silicon layer formed on the SiGe layer, a gate oxide layer formed on the silicon layer, and a gate electrode formed on the gate oxide layer.
The earlier stated needs are also met by certain embodiments of the instant invention, which provide a method of manufacturing semiconductor devices comprising providing a semiconductor substrate comprising a SiGe layer formed on a base layer and a silicon layer formed on the SiGe layer. The semiconductor substrate comprises first regions and second regions spaced apart from each other by interposed isolation regions. At least a portion of the silicon layer is selectively removed only in the first region. Dopant is implanted in the first and second regions. A gate oxide layer is formed in the first and second regions and a gate electrode layer is formed over the gate oxide layer.
This invention addresses the needs for a higher-speed CMOS device with improved balance between the PMOS transistor and the NMOS transistor. The present invention allows the formation of smaller-sized CMOS transistors with improved performance.

CMOS with strained silicon channel NMOS and silicon germanium channel PMOS


A magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus is disclosed which includes: a recording device configured to record with a write head a plurality of tracks constituting a unit of signal processing for data detection, to magnetic recording media; a reproduction device configured to reproduce with a read head a plurality of reproduction signals concurrently from the plurality of tracks on the magnetic recording media in different positional relations to the tracks, the reproduction signals being arranged into that one unit for signal processing thereby generating the track-specific reproduction signals; and a phase alignment device configured to align phases of record signals between adjacent tracks among the plurality of tracks recorded by the recording device to the magnetic recording media.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus and a magnetic recording and reproducing method for causing one or a plurality of write heads to record a plurality of tracks to a piece of magnetic recording media and one or a plurality of read heads to reproduce signals from these tracks.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, efforts have been made to bring about higher recording densities to achieve greater capacities of magnetic recording media using magnetic heads suitable for narrowing the widths of tracks on pieces of the media. Generally, the key to the successful narrowing of tracks is how to improve the accuracy of the tracking servo in use.
As the widths of tracks have been narrowed, it has become increasingly difficult for the servo facility of magnetic tape recording and reproducing apparatuses to progress in accuracy. One proposed solution to that difficulty is the so-called non-tracking system that is now in actual use (e.g., see Japanese Patents Nos. 1842057, 1842058, and 1842059; and Japanese Patents Laid-open Nos. Hei 04-370580 and Hei 05-020788). The non-tracking system involves having data recorded in blocks for identification purposes to tracks that are recorded by helical scan with a double azimuth head arrangement. Even if data is not reproduced from the target track by a single trace, the system allows the data to be reconstituted later. The non-tracking system provides at least four times as much margin for tracking control within a single track as traditional tracking servo systems require.
The non-tracking technique has been considered for possible use in linear recording in addition to helical scan (e.g., see Japanese Patents Laid-open Nos. Hei 10-283620 and 2003-132504).
Where the substrate for magnetic recording media is an elastic nonmagnetic support such as polyester film, the allowable amount of deformation in the substrate is typically up to about twice the track width applicable to double azimuth recording in combination with a tracking servo. A larger amount of deformation than that would make it impossible to reproduce signals with a high enough S/N ratio from the media. For recording without recourse to the double azimuth feature, each of so-called guard bands separating tracks is required in size to be no greater than the amount of deformation in the tape in combined use with the tracking servo. The requirement needs to be met to prevent degradation of reliability in such factors as error rate.
The problem above is attributable to the fact that typical signal reproduction systems so far have left their signal quality to deteriorate considerably while using at least one read head to read signals concurrently from a plurality of tracks. The bottleneck has been bypassed traditionally by providing guard bands in conjunction with the double azimuth arrangement and by getting the read head to read signals from one track only.
However, provision of guard bands is an impediment to higher track densities. Moreover, double azimuth recording, which is supposed to minimize interference between adjacent tracks during reproduction, tends to lose its effectiveness when the tracks are arranged to be narrowed.
The same applies to the non-tracking system as well. That is, although signals are apparently reproduced by the read head concurrently from a plurality of tracks, the read head in fact reproduces the data always from a single track from a time-shared point of view. Signals are never reproduced simultaneously from a plurality of tracks.
Where non-tracking systems are designed to address ever-higher track densities, they tend to suffer from noise stemming from signals picked up from tracks adjacent to the target track. Apparently, there exists a limit to how much narrower the tracks can be arranged to be.
In a proposed technique belonging to the related art of magnetic head devices, a plurality of magnetic recording layers or magnetic read head layers each having the same magnetic head element are stacked on the substrate composed of a nonmagnetic material. All magnetic head elements are then shifted in a direction substantially perpendicular to the stacking direction (the perpendicular direction is called the head width direction). This arrangement is disclosed illustratively in Japanese Patents Laid-open Nos. 2002-216313 and 2002-157710.
In another development aimed at boosting recording density, there is proposed a technique for recording a plurality of data frames concurrently using a plurality of heads forming a single block of the same azimuth (e.g., see Japanese Patents Laid-open Nos. 2003-338012 and 2004-071014).
The proposed techniques outlined above involve narrowing the read head width to about half the track width. This constitutes restrictions on attempts to increase the output of reproduction signals. Illustratively, a sufficiently high S/N ratio is difficult to sustain with these techniques. Overall, these techniques are not necessarily suitable for attaining ever-higher recording densities.
Meanwhile, MIMO (multi-input/multi-output) technology is a well-known technology for use in wireless communications (e.g., see Japanese Patent No. 3664993).
Also known are techniques for applying MIMO technology to magnetic recording (e.g., see IEEE Paper Trans. Mag. Vol. 30, No. 6; November 1994, page 5100). However, there are problems yet to be cleared before commercialization, including how to employ a read head wider than a recorded track.
The present invention proposes techniques which are designed to apply MIMO technology to magnetic recording and which were not anticipated from the related art including the above-cited paper.

Magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus and magnetic recording and reproducing method


A bearing cage includes a circumferential ring element and an axial bridge that meet in a connection region, and the connection region includes a recess formed such that a thickness of the ring element in the connection region is less than a thickness of the ring element outside the connection region and such that a thickness of the bridge in the connection region is not less than a thickness of the bridge outside the connection region.

Bearing cages are usually used in rolling-element bearings to support and guide the rolling elements of the rolling-element bearing, preferably in a uniformly-spaced manner. Such bearing cages can be manufactured from metal or plastic, and in the case of metal from a metal plate by punching and subsequent stamping. The cage itself usually consists of two ring elements axially offset from each other, which are connected to each other via bridges, so that pockets are formed between the ring elements and bridges, in which pockets the rolling elements are received. However, this also means that the rolling elements received in the pockets and the elements of the cage that form the pockets interact with each other, so that the bearing cage is subjected to heavy loads.
Here it has been found that in particular in the case of rolling-element bearings wherein the cages have a substantially angular shape, the structural loading of the cage in the corners, i.e., in the transition region between bridge and ring element, is particularly high. In order to reduce this load concentration in the corners of the pockets, it has been proposed to increase the radius of curvature in the corners of the pockets. However, with roller-shaped rolling elements of the rolling-element bearing this leads to interference with the edge reductions provided on the rollers, so that the radius of curvature in the corners of the pockets cannot be increased arbitrarily.
It has therefore been proposed in EP 1 233 199 A2 (family member of U.S. Pat. No. 6,599,019) to provide a recess in the region of the corner of the bearing cage on the bridge and on the ring element, via which recess the radius of curvature of the connection location can be increased without negatively influencing the edge reduction of the rolling element.
However, it is disadvantageous in this design that further weak points are introduced on the cage via the recesses, so that its structural load-bearing capacity is further compromised despite the increased radius of curvature.

Bearing cage of a rolling-element bearing


An improved extraction splint which is initially substantially flat but is readily formed by manual means to conform to the contortions in which an injured person may be found and is then applied to that person to immobilize injured parts prior to moving the person for transport to a medical facility. The extraction splint is primarily intended as means for immobilizing relative to each other any or all of the head, neck, arms, shoulders, collarbones and spine of an injured person in the same position in which found.

Technical Field
This invention provides an improved extraction splint which is initially substantially flat but is readily formed by manual means to conform to the contortions in which an injured person may be found and is then applied to that person to immobilize injured parts prior to moving the person for transport to a medical facility. The extraction splint of my invention is primarily intended as means for immobilizing relative to each other any or all of the head, neck, arms, collarbones, shoulders and spine of an injured person in the same position in which found, all for the purpose of inhibiting aggravation of an injury already sustained and for preventing further injury due to relative motion of damaged or broken parts of the person's body.
My new extraction splint is also well adapted to immobilization of individual injured extremities such as arms and legs.


A solid polymer electrolyte for an electrochemical cell is prepared by a sol-gel process in which an active metal ion conducting liquid electrolyte, e.g. a lithium-ion electrolyte, containing a salt which is stable in the presence of water, e.g. lithium bisperfluoroethanesulfonimide, LiN(SO.sub.2 C.sub.2 F.sub.5).sub.2, is admixed in aqueous solution with an alkoxide, e.g. silica alkoxide, to form a liquid precursor which is added to the electrochemical cell between the anode and cathode thereof and allowed to solidify in situ to form the solid electroyte.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid polymer electrolyte and to an electrochemical cell employing such an electrolyte. In a preferred aspect, the invention relates to a lithium-ion electrochemical cell employing a novel and improved solid polymer electrolyte/separator which can be processed as a liquid and to a method for assembling such a cell. The invention is particularly directed to an improved method for the facile fabrication of electrochemical cells with improved safety characteristics.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Electrochemical cells, such as Li-ion cells, require an electrolyte to permit transport of the cationic species, in this example, lithium ions, between the cathode and anode as the cell is charged and discharged. To prevent electronic short circuit in the cell, an electrically insulating material is need to separate the cathode and anode in the cell.
The prior art includes a wide variety of mixtures which may be classified as liquid electrolytes. When applied to lithium-ion electrochemical cells, prior art electrolytes include those consisting of a solution of a salt, such as lithium hexaflurorophosphate or lithium hexafluoroborate, in a solvent mixture typically containing one or more carbonate type solvents, such as propylene carbonate, ethylene carbonate or dimethyl carbonate. Liquid electrolytes have a number of significant disadvantages, notably, they freeze at low temperatures, are liquid and free flowing at intermediate temperatures and thus able to leak and they degrade at elevated temperatures. Moreover, liquid electrolytes have a high volatility and are thus able to vent and burn.
The prior art also includes polymer electrolytes. These electrolytes are solid phase organic materials that have appreciable ionic conductivity, typical for lithium. They include polyethylene oxide, polyether and poly(dimethylsiloxane) polymers, for example. The ionic conductivity of these polymer electrolytes is usually poor at room temperature and accordingly they must be heated to above about 40.degree. C. to operate. Unfortunately, none of these electrolytes operate at low temperatures. Electrochemical cells or batteries which utilize these electrolytes are typically maintained at temperatures between about 40.degree. C. and 80.degree. C. during operation. Below40.degree. C. the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte is too low for operation of the cell whereas at higher temperatures, above about 80.degree. C., decomposition of the organic polymer ensues. Moreover, for processing reasons, the minimum useable thickness of some polymer electrolytes is over double that typical in a liquid electrolyte cell. The increased cathode-anode distance and lower ionic conductivity result in poor rate capability in such polymer electrolyte cells when compared to liquid electrolyte cells.
Gel electrolytes are another class of electrolytes known in the prior art. They typically embody a polymer host, such as poly(ethylene oxide) or poly(vinylidine fluoride) or copolymers such as poly(vinylidine fluoride)-hexafluoropropylene and a liquid electrolyte guest or "plasticizing agent" containing a lithium salt and a solvent such as ethylene carbonate or dimethylcarbonate. Gel electrolytes are usually fabricated as a free standing film. Cells utilizing gel electrolytes must be fabricated by incorporating the polymer host between the cathode and anode during cell fabrication. Such materials are typically "activated" after cell fabrication by addition of liquid electrolyte which is absorbed into the polymer host material.
Gel electrolytes possess all of the disadvantages of liquid electrolytes with many of the inhibitions of polymer electrolytes. They achieve a conductivity which is close to but below that of liquid electrolytes by incorporating liquid electrolytes into a polymer host. As a result, they have volatility and flammability comparable to liquid electrolytes. Gel electrolytes also have processing inhibitions similar to polymer electrolytes. As a result, cells with gel electrolytes typically have rate capability inferior to comparable cells which use a liquid electrolyte.
Solid electrolytes are also known in the prior art. They include ceramic materials such as lithium phosphorous oxynitride and are able to conduct lithium ions. Ceramic materials typically have ionic conductivity 1000 times less than liquid electrolytes and are brittle. Such materials must be deposited by a plasma or gas phase method such as sputtering onto one electrode and then the other electrode deposited onto the electrolyte layer. To date, solid electrolytes have only found application in very small cells due to manufacturing limitations inherent in a ceramic device. Solid electrolytes present many difficulties in achieving a viable interface between the electrolyte and the electrode materials.
In a recent article entitled "Synthesis and Properties of Sol-Gel Derived Electrodes and Electrolyte Materials", by J. Harreld et al appearing in "The Proceedings of the 5th Workshop for Battery Exploratory Development", published on Jun. 30, 1997, there is disclosed a solid electrolyte material which exhibits a high lithium, ion conductivity. The solid electrolyte was prepared by a known sol-gel process wherein a hydrolyzed silica precursor, namely, (tetramethyl) orthosilicate, Si(OCH.sub.3).sub.4, was admixed with a lithium, ion conducting liquid electrolyte along with deionized water and an acid catalyst to form a lithium conductive sol. The liquid lithium electrolyte was prepared by dissolving ethylene carbonate with lithium borofluorate, LiBF.sub.4 in a propylene carbonate solvent to a molarity of 1.65M. After ageing and drying, Si--O--Si linkages form within the sol and a three-dimensional silicate network develops in which the liquid phase is encapsulated. The liquid electrolyte provides ionic conductivity while the silica linkages support the liquid electrolyte.
Experimentation with the solid electrolyte material disclosed in the above article has shown that the lithium borofluorate, LiBF.sub.4, component in the liquid electrolyte reacts with water in the reaction mixture and is not stable. This of course precludes use of this solid electrolyte material in the fabrication of a working electrochemical cell.
Reference is also made to an article entitled "Sol-Gel Approaches for Solid Electrolytes and Electrode Materials" by B. Dunn et al, appearing in "Solid State Ionics", (1994). This article describes the sol-gel process in greater detail and the concept-of using an inorganic gel in combination with an organic ionic conductor. The authors describe the use of only one salt in preparation of the liquid electrolyte, namely, lithium perchlorate, LiClO.sub.4. They also note that in addition to silicon alkoxides, other metal alkoxides could be used in the sol-gel process such as the metal alkoxides of aluminum, titanium, vanadium, molybdenum and tungsten.

Solid electrolyte for an electrochemical cell composed of an inorganic metal oxide network encapsulating a liquid electrolyte


In the technical field of liquid crystal display, a pixel electrode and a liquid crystal display are provided. The pixel electrode comprises a first trunk and a second trunk formed as an elongated linear member, said first trunk and said second trunk being orthogonal to each other, and a plurality of branches each formed as an elongated linear member and extending from the first trunk or the second trunk, wherein an acute angle θ formed between either branch and the first trunk satisfies the following relationship: 0°<θ<45° or 45°<θ<90°.

A vertical display mode is one of the display modes of a liquid crystal display (LCD). In the vertical display mode, the liquid crystals will present different alignments when viewed from different viewing angles, resulting in color distortion under large viewing angle. At present, in conventional liquid crystal displays adopting the vertical display mode, the pixel electrode therein is divided into four regions.
Moreover, in order to reduce the color distortion under large viewing angle, the liquid crystal pixel is also divided into two parts, so that eight regions are formed. One part of the regions is a main area, and the other is a subarea. The distortion under large viewing angle can be reduced by controlling the voltages of the two parts, which is called low color cast design.
FIG. 1 shows an equivalent circuit of a common pixel unit adopting the low color cast design. A pixel unit is divided into a main area and a subarea. Two or more different thin film transistors are utilized to supply power for the main area and the subarea of the pixel unit. When a scan line 11 is activated, the thin film transistor Tmain in the main area and the thin film transistor Tsub in the subarea will be turned on, so that electrical signals from a data line 13 are transmitted to a liquid crystal capacitor and a storage capacitor in the main area and the subarea of the pixel unit respectively. When the scan line 11 is deactivated and a charge sharing line 12 is activated, a shared thin film transistor Tcs is turned on, and part of voltage in the liquid crystal capacitor Clcsub and the storage capacitor CSTsub in the subarea is released into a shared capacitor Cb. In this way, a potential difference is presented between the main area and the subarea of the pixel unit, so that the color cast can be reduced with the aid of control.
However, in the low color cast design of the prior art, the pixel is divided into two parts, resulting in a reduced aperture ratio inevitably. In addition, the effective potential of liquid crystal in the main area is reduced, resulting in the loss of brightness in the main area. Consequently, the light transmittance of the liquid crystal display is negatively influenced.
In order to improve the display effect of the liquid crystal display, the present disclosure provides a new low color cast design scheme, which can be used to replace or combine with the low color cast design in the prior art.

Pixel electrode and liquid crystal display device

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


When line graphs are displayed on coordinates having a horizontal axis as a time axis and a vertical axis as an axis representing examination values, a line graph is generated in such a manner that data points representing examination data are connected to each other by a line in a case where a time interval between examinations temporally next to each other is less than a maximum line-connection interval for an examination item, and in such a manner that data points representing examination data are not connected to each other in a case where the time interval between examinations temporally next to each other exceeds the maximum line-connection interval for the examination item. Plural line graphs overlapping with each other are displayed on the coordinates.

The present disclosure relates to a graph display apparatus for displaying examination results of plural examinations performed on a patient by line graphs, an operation method of the graph display apparatus, and a non-transitory recording medium having stored therein a graph display program.
In medical fields of recent years, when diagnosis is performed on a patient, plural results of examinations performed on the patient are displayed and used as reference information for diagnosing a disease name, deciding a treatment policy or the like.
There are many kinds of examination performed on patients. In actual clinical scenes, when a patient is suspected of a specific disease, a doctor performs diagnosis or treatment by referring to each examination result of plural examinations that are considered to be important to diagnose the specific disease. However, it is difficult to display all the results of examinations performed on the patient because the size of a display is limited. Further, if too much information is displayed on a display screen, that will become even a negative factor as observation becomes rather difficult.
In conventional systems, an operator selected important results or results in which he/she had interest from results obtained by examinations, and the results were displayed by graphs. Further, items to be displayed together with the graphs were selected by the operator from many items of treatment performed on the patient (medication and injection). Therefore, some methods were proposed to reduce the work of operators. In the methods, conditions for displaying the content of treatment and a change in examination results were determined by managing items to be displayed by graphs, display modes and the like for each disease (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6(1994)-083880 (Patent Document 1)).

Graph display apparatus, its operation method and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having stored therein graph display program


The present disclosure discloses a smart device grouping system, method and apparatus, which belong to the field of smart home. The method includes: sending a transmission power value to one or more smart devices; acquiring signal strength information fed back by the smart devices. The signal strength information include signal strengths of the received signals and identifications of the smart devices sending the received signals. The received signals are broadcast by other smart devices based on the transmission power value. The method further includes grouping the selected smart devices according to the signal strength information fed back by said each smart device.

With the development of smart home technology, users can control smart home appliances using mobile terminals.
However, as the number of smart home appliances in a house increases, the number of smart home appliances to be controlled by mobile terminals also increases. For example, multiple smart electric lamps may be provided in the same room. When multiple lamps need to be turned off, a user needs to select these lamps one by one from a device list using his/her mobile terminal and turn off these lamps one by one. Such a control process is of rather low efficiency.

Smart device grouping system, method and apparatus


A vent valve apparatus (10) for use with a system for supplying breathable gas pressurized above atmospheric pressure to a human or animal. The apparatus (10) includes a gas washout vent (15), a vent valve (18) adapted to progressively restrict the flow area of the washout vent (15), and a pressure sensitive vent valve control means (20,22,23). The control means is adapted to progressively cause the vent valve (18) to restrict the flow area of the gas washout vent (15) in response to increases in the pressure of the gas supply, thereby substantially regulating the volumetric flow of gas and/or CO2 gas through the washout vent (15) over a range of gas supply pressures.

Treatment of OSA by CPAP flow generator systems involves the continuous delivery of air (or breathable gas) pressurised above atmospheric pressure to a patient's airways via a conduit and a mask. CPAP pressures of 4 cm H2O to 22 cm H2O are typically used for treatment of sleep disordered breathing due to OSA and/or central apnea, depending on patient requirements.
Treatment pressures for assisted ventilation can range up to 32 cm H2O and beyond, depending on patient requirements.
For either the treatment of OSA or the application of assisted ventilation, the pressure of the gas delivered to patients can be constant level, bi-level (in synchronism with patient inspiration and expiration) or autosetting in level. Throughout this specification the reference to CPAP is intended to incorporate a reference to any one of, or combinations of, these forms of pressure delivery.
The prior art method for providing CPAP treatment includes a vent for gas washout of the gas flow. The vent is normally located at or near the mask or in the gas delivery conduit. The flow of gas through the vent is essential for removal of exhaled gases from the breathing circuit. Adequate gas washout is achieved by selecting a vest size and configuration that will allow a inium safe gas flow at the lowest operating CPAP pressure, which, typically can be as low as, around 4 cm H2O for adults and 2 cm H2O in paediatric applications.
Existing vent configurations include single or multiple holes, foam diffusers, slots and combinations thereof. A reference herein to a vent may be understood to include a reference to one or more holes, foam diffusers, slots or any combination of them.
The flow of gas from the gas delivery system through the vent to atmosphere creates noise as the delivered gas, and upon expiration the patient expired gas including CO2, passes through the vent. Increasing CPAP pressure results in more gas passing through the vent which in turn creates more noise. Existing prior art vents produce excessive noise when CPAP pressures are raised above about 4 cm H2O. This noise can adversely affect patient and bed-partner comfort. Existing vents are also inefficient as they allow more gas through the vent than is required for adequate exhaust gas washout and thereby require the flow generator to provide more flow than is necessary in order to maintain the required treatment pressure. Further, where treatment gas is being supplied, such as oxygen, surplus treatment gas is vented and thereby wasted unnecessarily. A similar waste occurs where the supplied gas is humidified.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome or at least ameliorate one or more of these deficiencies of the prior art.


A collet attachment apparatus for a lathe machine tool including a collet holder for engagement of a spring collet, a nose collet adapter chuck to be fastened to a standard master chuck for engagement of a collet holder. A rear spindle draw tube adapter fastens to a hydraulic actuator to cause axial movement of a drawbar and exert or release pressure on the spring collet. Various lock ring means are utilized to limit the axial movement of the drawbar and ultimately the pressure on the collet.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an apparatus to hold a spring collet for a machining process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The manufacturing facility of our present time must have the highest efficiency and quality control yet at the same time costs of operation must be kept to a minimum, all in an effort to remain competitive in a market that is now more ruthless due to the ever present and expanding global economy of scale. Down time of production machines critical to the manufacturing process is an expensive and wasteful matter causing production managers and manufacturing executives to forever update production equipment and machinery.
Rotating machine tools have been at the foundation of the production manufacturing business. The lathe is one such piece of rotating machinery which has been in use since very early times of manufacturing. The lathe is typically a machine tool with a horizontal spindle for shaping a workpiece by gripping it in a holding device and rotating it under power against a suitable cutting tool for turning, boring, facing or threading primarily cylindrical objects. Chucks are used as the holding device. The chuck is a device standard to most lathes for holding the workpiece rigid, usually by means of adjustable jaws or set screws. The collet is a further refinement to the holding device being a split, coned or tapered sleeve for holding generally small circular workpieces inside the chuck.
An earlier chucking mechanism is shown in Duphily at U.S. Pat. No. 2,430,761 where the chuck is typical operating in cooperation with a series of radially placed jaws to hold a workpiece. U.S. Pat. No. 2,597,712 being another similar chucking mechanism issued to Drissner utilizes a chuck mountable on a spindle for cooperation with a series of jaws. A later edition is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,530 to Parsons being entitled "Collet Activating Device" including two concentrically arranged tubular members movable axially and annularly relative to the other. All existant devices consist of variously designed chucks that must be removed, rebored and reinstalled to adapt to the various collets available being at considerable down time cost and causing inefficiency on the production line.
Today's manufacturing facility demands a superior collet attachment apparatus that will reduce down time. The invention presented in this application meets and exceeds this criteria.


An above ground storage facility for volatile and inflammable liquids which includes a concrete vault formed as a base and cylindrical upstanding walls on or integral with said base. An inner liquid container formed of metal has a metal base resting on ribs of the vault base to space the metal container from the vault base. Cylindrical walls of the liquid container are sealed to and rise from said metal base. The walls of the metal container are spaced inwardly from the inner surface of the vault walls to leave an annular envelope of air around the metal container. A conical roof is secured and sealed to the upper edges of the metal cylindrical walls and the roof has peripheral edges which overlie and are spaced from the upper edges of the concrete wall and the annular air envelope around the steel container. The roof edges are shaped to protect the space between the vault and the container from the elements while allowing air passage from the envelope to the atmosphere to allow escape of condensate which may collect on the steel container or on the inner surface of the vault walls.

The storage of combustible and flammable liquids such as gasoline, diesel fuel and other similar liquids has long been a problem. With above ground tanks, it has been common to provide a collecting space in the form of a surrounding trench or well which would contain the liquid of the tank in the event of a spill U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,590 to Ebbrell illustrates such a collecting space. There has been no containment in the event of fire in these surrounding trenches.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an above ground storage facility including an inner steel tank for the desired quantity of liquid. A fireproof concrete vault encases the inner tank but provides an annular space between the outside of the inner tank and the inside of the outer tank to serve as a containment volume for any liquid escaping from the steel tank and also as a fire barrier in the event of combustion.
The invention contemplates a unique base construction with a reinforced outer vault and ventilation wall configurations to dissipate condensation. Thus, the tank walls and bottom can remain dry and avoid rusting and corrosion.
A further object is a steel cone roof which encloses the inner tank but also extends over the annular containment volume to prevent entrance of the elements while providing ventilation of the included annular space between the tank and the enclosing vault. Thus, condensation can be dissipated.
The outer vault can be constructed of a selected concrete which has a high resistance to flame and heat as well as bullet proof and may also be constructed of annular vertical sections with sealed joints to enable the height of the overall structure and the resulting volume to be selected for particular needs.
A still further object is the provision of an angled bottom construction with snifter connections and sump evacuations when desired.
Additional objects and features of the invention will be apparent in the following description and claims which, in connection with appended drawings, will enable persons skilled in the art to practice the invention, all in relation to the best mode presently contemplated for the invention.


The art has, disposed in order from an object, a first lens group (G1) having positive refractive power, a second lens group (G2) having negative refractive power, a third lens group (G3) having negative refractive power, and a fourth lens group (G4) having positive refractive power, in which zooming is made by varying an air distance between the first lens group (G1) and the second lens group (G2), and the following conditional expression (1) is satisfied:0.60<f4/fw<1.15  (1)where f4 denotes a focal distance of the fourth lens group (G4), and fw denotes a focal distance of a zoom lens in a wide-angle end state upon focusing on infinity.

A proposal has so far been made on a zoom lens having a small size and a short back focus (for example, see Patent Document 1).
Moreover, a proposal has so far been made on a zoom lens suitable for a photographic camera, an electronic still camera, a video camera, and the like (for example, see Patent Document 2).

Zoom lens, imaging device and method for manufacturing the zoom lens


A method of hardening a clothing wire for processing textile fibers and to an apparatus system therefor. The clothing wire has a succession of teeth arranged in its longitudinal direction, and the clothing wire is guided through a heating region in a pass-through direction for contact with at least one open flame. The heating region is followed by a quenching bath having a quenching liquid and by a subsequent tempering apparatus. The clothing wire moving in the pass-through direction is flushed around with a protective medium in a transition region between the region of contact with the open flame and the entry into the quenching liquid.

The present invention relates to a method of hardening a clothing wire for processing textile fibres and to an apparatus system therefor, the clothing wire having a succession of teeth arranged in its longitudinal direction, and the clothing wire being guided through a heating region in a pass-through direction for contact with at least one open flame, the heating region being followed by a quenching bath having a quenching liquid and by a subsequent tempering apparatus.
Clothing wires have a sawtooth profile and are drawn onto cylindrical drums or rolls to form a carding machine. As a result, the carding machines have an envelope surface which is provided with teeth; a clothing wire can be used, for example, to form a cylinder or doffer and can have a length of several kilometers. In order to provide the clothing wire with sufficient strength and wear-resistance, methods of hardening the clothing wire, which are based especially on flame hardening, are known.
In the process, the hardening method preferably makes use of an open flame to form a heating region, through which the clothing wire is guided in its longitudinal direction. In the process, only the teeth are to be hardened and the tooth foot should have a high degree of toughness, which can be achieved, for example, by means of soft annealing.
Upstream of the heating region there can be provided a rinsing chamber, which allows at least partial cleaning of the clothing wire. After passing through the heating region, the clothing wire has to be quenched, for which purpose the clothing wire is led into a quenching bath filled with a quenching liquid. Following on therefrom, the clothing can be led through a tempering apparatus and through a cooling apparatus which follows on from the tempering apparatus.
Hardening a clothing wire over an open flame has been found to be especially advantageous, although scale can form on the surface of the clothing wire, which is always to be avoided. Especially when drawing the clothing wire onto a drum or roll, problems can arise when the clothing wire surface has scaling, because the clothing wire has to be drawn onto the cylindrical roll helically with a high degree of dimensional accuracy, and for drawing-on there is used a wire-guiding device, which cannot function properly in the case of a clothing wire surface that has scaling.
From DE 10 2005 025 627 B3 there is known a method of hardening a clothing wire, in which it is proposed that the hardening process itself be carried out with exclusion of oxygen. For that purpose protective gas has to be introduced into the heating region, with only so much oxygen being added for formation of the open flame as is necessary for reaction with a fuel gas. In order to feed in a protective gas whilst simultaneously introducing a fuel/air mixture, there is proposed a mixing device so that the fuel/air mixture is burnt in such a way that no non-combusted oxygen reaches the clothing wire. Accordingly the atmosphere in the heating region has to be kept free of oxygen, for which purpose therefore the protective gas is additionally introduced into the heating region.
However, further tests have shown, surprisingly, that scaling on the clothing wire at the exit from the heating region can be avoided even without introducing protective gas into the heating region. The reason therefor may be residues of cleaning agents, oils or other hydrocarbons which adhere to the surface of the clothing wire and which burn in the open flame and so prevent a reaction of the clothing wire with oxygen. The finding is based especially on the fact that at the immediate exit of the clothing wire from the heating region there is no scaling on the surface of the clothing wire. However, after following through the complete method for hardening the clothing wire, scaling is nevertheless to be found on the surface of the clothing wire. From this scale formation it can be concluded that the clothing wire, whilst still in a hot state, comes into contact with a reactant, which is to be avoided.

Method of hardening a clothing wire for processing textile fibres, and apparatus system therefor


Provided are a non-transitory recording medium, a scanner profile correcting method and a printer. A printer outputs a color chart including color patches for correcting a scanner profile. A hardware processor of the printer or a device in a printing system obtains measured RGB values and measured colorimetric values of the color patches. The hardware processor calculates, for each K component value, two kinds of correlation of each of R, G and B component values with lightness component values, by using a scanner profile, and the measured RGB values and colorimetric values. The hardware processor calculates, for each K component value, a difference in each of R, G and B components between RGB values given from the first correlations and the second correlations, both correlated with each of lightness component values, and creates correction tables for R, G and B components, to be used for correcting the scanner profile.

Devices such as a scanner and a printer output device values (like RGB values or CMYK values), which are values depending on the respective devices, or device-dependent values. To handle such device values, a color conversion table (a device profile) for converting device values into device-independent values is created, and color conversion (conversion between device values and device-independent values) is performed using the device profile. As an example of a way to create a device profile, a description is now given of a way to create a scanner profile. To create a scanner profile, a color chart is output with a printer, and the color chart is measured with a scanner and a color measurement device (like a colorimeter or a spectrophotometer), where the scanner obtains measured RGB values and the color measurement device obtains measured device-independent color values like L*a*b* values in the CIE 1976 color space or XYZ values of the CIE 1931 color space ("colorimetric values" is a general term for these values). The measured RGB values and the corresponding measured colorimetric values are associated with each other, whereby a scanner profile is created.
In executing color conversion of device values obtained by measurement of a printed matter with a scanner, by using a scanner profile created beforehand through the above-described procedures, a certain problem can arises. That is, an individual difference of a scanner used in the creation of the scanner profile and that used in color conversion (where the individual difference means a difference in characteristics among a same type of scanners which are different in lot) and a difference of print sheets in properties can cause deterioration in color accuracy of converted colors, even after color calibration has been executed in an assembly process of the printer, by using a reference color chart printed by offset printing. In such a case, it is necessary to correct the scanner profile.
As an example of a technique to correct a scanner profile, there is a technique to use a commercial software program, and recreate the scanner profile by measuring a color chart, which was reprinted with a printer, with both a scanner and a color measurement device. As an example of a technique to correct a scanner profile in response to an occurrence of deviation of scanner characteristics, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (JP-A) No. 2006-033572 discloses a technique to, when a need for color conversion arises because of deviation of scanner characteristics, cause a high-speed external device to perform calculation for a creation of a scanner profile, so as to reduce a load of an image processing apparatus.
As an example of a technique relating to correction of a device link profile, which is not a technique to correct a scanner profile, JP-A No. 2008-136065 discloses a technique to perform a color-tone correction on a device link profile which does not include device-independent profile data. The technique divides a device link profile into several parts according to K component values, to create three-dimensional parameters such that an output value is specified for each lattice point represented by input values for C, M, and Y components. From the three-dimensional parameters, the technique extracts at least one lattice point where any of C, M, and Y component values becomes 100%, as a target lattice point, and determines the range of full-saturated values (the range of tone-correction targets) in which output values are at full saturated. Then the technique adjusts the parameters at points needing adjustment, which are the lattice points in the determined range, so as not to give full-saturated tones.
To correct a scanner profile, the above-described technique using a commercial software program and the technique disclosed in JP-A No. 2006-033572 need a process to recreate a scanner profile from the beginning, and thus need sufficient time to correct the scanner profile. These techniques further need, at each time when a scanner profile is corrected, a process of outputting a color chart for creating a scanner profile, which may waste time and resources to print the color charts.
Moreover, the technique disclosed in JP-A No. 2008-136065 is a technique established under the assumption that input CMYK values are fixed. This technique is not suitable for correction of a scanner profile, because measurement of a color chart, which was printed by a printer having deviating characteristics, with a scanner and a color measurement device, gives deviating RGB values and deviating L*a*b* values.

Non-transitory recording medium storing scanner profile correcting program, scanner profile correcting method, and printer


A controller connected to computers analyzes messages from the computers and converts the analyzed messages into a different format. The controller also generates correspondence information for the message.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system management information apparatus and a system management information method, and in particular, to a system management information apparatus and a system management information method in which a message issued from an operating system (OS) of an information processor is converted into a particular format and which generates correspondence information corresponding to the message and a command to be executed for the message.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, a computer system includes a console as an interface between an operator and the computer system. On the console is displayed a message indicating a status of the operating system. The message format varies depending on a type of the operating system.
JP-A-5-308415 describes technique in which an autonomous message sent from a telephone network switch B includes information such as urgency, day/time, a message identification, a message title, and detailed information in this order. The autonomous message from the switch is converted into an integrated message format including information such as a telephone exchange identification, year-month-day, time, day or the week, urgency, a message title, a message number, and detailed information in this order. On the other hand, a network system includes a network management system to manage network nodes constituting the network such as servers and routers. One of the products of the network management system is OpenView Network Node Manager (to be abbreviated as NNM herebelow) put to the market from the Hewlett-Packard, Palo Alto, Calif. U.S.A. (OpenView is a trademark of the Hewlett-Packard in U.S. and the other countries.) NNM monitors and manages statuses of network nodes according to RFC1157, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). NNM acquires event information outputted from an operating system of a network node according to SNMP, converts the information into a message of a particular format, and then displays the converted message. According to HP Managing Your Network with HP Open View Network Node Manager, HP Part No. J1240-90035, the converted message format can be registered and the value of an event item can be specified in NNM.

System management information processing method for use with a plurality of operating systems having different message formats


Specific example debugging sessions are used to generate a generic decision tree (flow diagram) for use in future debugging sessions. Debug metadata is recorded for each debugging session. The debug metadata includes log file accesses and key traces. A generic decision tree is generated for use in future debugging sessions. Each file accessed by a developer during debug sessions creates a node in the generic decision tree. Branches of the decision tree are created between the nodes by aggregating the plurality of debug sessions together based on similarities and differences among the file accesses and results for the various debug sessions. The recorded metadata is genericized by identifying specific actions taken by developers and specific results thereof. The actions and results are abstracted to create more general types of actions and results such that the generic decision tree is applicable to a wider variety of problems in the software program.

The present invention relates generally to the field of software debugging, and more particularly to automated debug processes and debug guidance.
Software debugging is a process of finding and correcting computer program errors or abnormal operation. Debugging is typically approached in a specific manner—for example, open log files, look for a set of key traces, then based on the result, open another log file, look for another set of key traces and so on. In a live debug session, the process may also include running diagnostic commands, or graphical user interface/representational state transfer (GUI/REST) operations, and then again examining log files or other output.

Debug session tree recorder with generic playback

International Business Machines Corporation


There is disclosed a solid-state laser resonator capable of outputting a high power linearly polarized laser beam, in which a laser beam subjected to the birefringence in the laser resonator is effected to minimize a component of the laser beam which is orthogonal with the direction of polarization definable by a Brewster plate upon traversing a quarter-wave plate, to enable the linear polarization output distribution of the laser beam to become uniform. With this, the emission efficiency and the output power of a linearly polarized laser beam are much improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid-state laser apparatus and, more particularly, to a high power solid-state laser resonator which is capable of emitting a high-power linearly polarized laser beam.
2. Description of Related Art
In order to output a linearly polarized laser beam from a solid-state laser resonator such as a YAG laser resonator, for example, it is a typical practice to insert an optical device represented by such as a Brewster plate which characterizes a direction of polarization thereof. According to this method, however, it is difficult to output a high-power linearly polarized laser beam due to a birefringence caused by the thermal stress occurring in the laser rod.
As a method for solving such a problem, an arrangement including a quartz polarization rotator which is capable of rotating the polarizing direction by 90 degrees and which is disposed between two laser rods is disclosed in (1) APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS (Vol. 18, No. 1, pp.3-4, January 1971). According to this scheme, the influence effected from the birefringence induced in one laser rod is canceled out by the induced birefringence associated with the other laser rod. To this end, it is prerequisite that a laser beam be such as to traverse substantially the same portions in both laser rods, and that substantially the same thermal loadings to be applied to both the laser rods.
According to the experiments conducted by the inventors, however, it was found very difficult in practice to successfully arrange equipment for these two prerequisite conditions to be satisfied concurrently. Thus it was found impossible to fully cancel out the influences caused by the effect of the birefringence. As a result, therefore with an increasing thermal loading applied to the laser rod, the output of a linearly polarized laser beam decreased thereby resulting in a non-uniform intensity distribution thereof.
Further, another arrangement for solving the problem is proposed in (2) U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,932 in which a polarization plate and a quarter-wave plate are disposed at both ends of a laser rod, respectively, whereby the polarizer and the quarter-wave plate are disposed such that an incident light beam impinging on the laser rod becomes elliptically polarized or, more preferably, to become circularly polarized.
In the arrangement of (2), it was found that the output of a linearly polarized laser beam decreased with an increasing thermal loading of the laser rod. This phenomenon is presumed to be due to a so-called thermal loading birefringence effect induced in the resonator which allows for the laser beam generated within the resonator to have a component polarized in a different direction from the polarized direction determined by a Brewster plate or the like.
When a birefringence phenomenon takes place, a linearly polarized laser beam having a cross-shaped intensity distribution as shown in accompanying FIG. 15, referred to as the cross mode, is emitted from the laser resonator. An arrow P in FIG. 15 designates the directions of polarization to be characterized by a Brewster inserted therein.
Portions designated by symbol Br in FIG. 15 are regions where a laser beam, subjected to the birefringence phenomenon, has an orthogonal component relative to the direction of polarization to be characterized by a Brewster plate which becomes dominant. Thereby, the overall efficiency of the linearly polarized laser beam is degraded, thus resulting in a significantly reduced output power.


A connector is for connecting a connection object which has a wiring portion, a protruding portion protruding from the wiring portion on one side thereof, and a wiring pattern extending from the wiring portion to the protruding portion. In the connector, a housing has a main body portion provided with a receiving surface for receiving the wiring portion. The housing further has a side portion disposed at one side of the main body portion. The side portion has a receiving groove for receiving the protruding portion. A contact is held by the side portion so as to be connected to said wiring pattern of the protruding portion.

This invention relates to a connector for use in connection of a connection object, such as a flexible board.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. H7-153531 discloses a connector for connecting a flat cable as a connection object.
Referring to FIG. 1, the connector disclosed in the above-mentioned publication will be described. The connector depicted at 41 has a U-shaped housing. The housing 42 is provided with a pair of tail plates 43 formed at opposite sides of an end portion thereof. The housing 42 has a bottom portion 42c provided with a plurality of contact receiving grooves 42c1. In the contact receiving grooves 42c1, a plurality of contacts 46 are received and held, respectively. Each contact 46 has a front end provided with a contacting portion 46a to be contacted with a corresponding one of a plurality of contacting patterns 54 of a flat cable 51, and a rear end provided with an engaging portion 46b. The engaging portion 46b is inserted into a through hole 42a1 formed at a base portion 42a of the housing 42.
The connector 41 has a recessed portion 44 formed between the base portion 42a of the housing 42 and the tail plates 43 and defined by left and right side portions 42b and the bottom portion 42c of the housing 42.
The flat cable 51 has one end provided with a connection base portion 52 of a rectangular shape. The connection base portion 52 has a rear end connected to an extending portion 53 narrower in width than the connection base portion 52. The connection base portion 52 has an upper surface provided with the contacting patterns 54. The extending portion 53 has an upper surface provided with a plurality of wiring patterns 55. The contacting patterns 54 are connected to the wiring patterns 55, respectively. The connection base portion 52 has a lower surface to which a reinforcing plate 56 is fixedly attached.
The flat cable 51 and the connector 41 are connected to each other in the following manner. The flat cable 51 is turned upside down from a position illustrated in FIG. 1. The connection base portion 52 is inserted into the recessed portion 44 of the connector 41. Then, the contacting patterns 54 are contacted with the contacting portions 46a of the contacts 46.
In the above-mentioned connector 41, the housing 42 has the base portion 42a and the left and the right side portions 42b. Therefore, the connector 41 is complicated in structure and is inevitably increased in overall size.

Connector small in size and simple in structure

Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited


A removable storage media case is described with a series of base segments each with a fin separation or an end-fin and with plastic flexures permitting segments to rotate with respect to each other and a retaining band. The base segments become successively shorter moving away from the center of the case.

Definitions
Removable storage media is defined as any of a number of devices that store digital information for potential playback, re-use, or re-recording. Examples of removable storage media are any rotating media without a permanently connected protective shell housing such as compact disks (CDs), recordable compact disks (CD-R), re-writable compact disks (CD-W), or digital video disks (DVDs). Removable storage media is defined to also include cartridge-format devices, which are systems where rotating or non-rotating media is permanently contained within a protective shell housing. Examples include floppy disks, Zip disks, and Jaz disks. Non-rotating systems include such as devices as digital audiotapes (DAT).
Removable media case is defined as a protective, reusable container in which removable storage media is usually sold, often referred to as a "jewel case." Removable media cases are usually made of molded plastic, some large majority of which is transparent so that the user may observe the presence of the media, or a descriptive or decorative label.

Device for transport and splayed display of media


A computer system resource allocation method is disclosed. The method may be implemented by a process and may comprise acquiring a total system resource and resource allocation data of each resource user submitting a resource application request, the resource allocation data including a maximum resource quota and a requested amount of resource by the each resource user, determining a corresponding resource saturation rate as a ratio between the amount of requested resource and the maximum resource quota, sorting the resource users according to the calculated resource saturation rates of the respective resource users, determining a boundary resource user using a set condition, according to the sorted resource users, and identifying resource users with a resource saturation rate smaller than or equal to that of the boundary resource user to be B-class resource users, and identifying resource users with a resource saturation rate larger than that of the boundary resource user to be C-class resource users.

In order to utilize system resources, resource users usually need to apply for resources under the management of the system. After the system receives a resource application request from one of the resource users, the system allocates a corresponding amount of resources to the resource user. Since the total system resource is fixed, resource available for each resource user is limited. Also, each resource user has a different weight. Some resource users may request a larger amount of resources, while some other resource users may request a smaller amount. Existing resource allocation algorithms may allocate some available resource quota of a resource user requesting fewer resources to another resource user requesting more resources. Such allocation algorithms have a high computational complexity O that is proportional to a square (n2) of a number of resource users n. In addition, even when only one resource allocation quota of a certain resource user is required, such allocation algorithms have to calculate the resource allocation quota of all resource users. For a large system having a great number of resource users, the existing computer system resource allocation methods cannot satisfy real-time calculation requirements. Meanwhile, these methods cannot support a situation where a resource user request allocation of a minimum resource quota.

System, method, and apparatus for computer system resource allocation


An electrical, circuit breaker protected, extension cord in-line tap, securement device for securing tandemly connected electrical extension cords. The securement device includes opposing proximal and distal open-ended hook members each having a hinged locking flap for receiving therein a looped end of the associated extension cord thereby preventing unintended separation of the extension cords. The hook members may comprise a back wall having a plurality of vertical ribs along at least a portion of the back wall. The vertical ribs may be configured to grippingly secure the extension cords. Embodiments of the in-line tap may also include a plurality of circuit breaker protected auxiliary electrical outlets on opposing sides for powering additional extension cords or electrical devices.

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to an electrical extension cord accessory. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention teach an improved extension cord coupling device for tandemly connecting two separate extension cords together in a manner to prevent the extension cords from being uncoupled by application of an unintentionally applied tensile force.
Hand held electrically powered tools may have a relatively short power cord that severely limits the range within which such tools may be used. As a result, a user may employ an electrical extension cord to increase the distance from a power source to the power tool being used. However, the typical male/female connectors, when coupled together, may, unintentionally, pull apart, thereby interrupting the electrical power supply to the tool in use. As a preventative measure, the tool user may tie the two cords together, in some manner, thereby preventing unintentional separation of the cord coupling. However, such a practice may place an undesired stress, and/or strain upon the cord in the knotted area.
Further, a user may desire to attach an additional electrical accessory to the power supplying electrical extension cord such as a light, for night work, to illuminate the work area.
Heretofore many devices have been proposed for connecting two electrical cords together in a manner to relieve undue stress and/or strain upon the extension cord material.
One such device is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,524 issued to Sanner et al., entitled "Cord Lock" on Dec. 10, 1996. Although the Sanner et al. device may relieve the stress and/or strain from two tandemly connected electrical extension cords it is relatively complex to use. The Sanner et al. device requires the user to first form a loop of the extension cord, pass the looped portion of the extension cord through an elongated eyelet and hook the looped portion of the extension cord upon a hook member.
A similar device is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,702 issued to Fladung, entitled "Electrical Outlet In Line Tap," on Aug. 3, 1999. Although the Fladung device may also relieve the stress and/or strain from two tandemly connected electrical extension cords it is also relatively complex to use. The Fladung device also requires first forming a loop of the extension cord, inserting the looped portion of the extension cord through an elongated eyelet. A rotating post like assembly, hingedly attached to the top of the eyelet, must then be rotated downward through the looped portion of the extension cord that protrudes through the eyelet.
While numerous devices and methods have been made and used to connect two electrical cords together in a manner to relieve undue stress and/or strain upon the extension cord material, it is believed that no one prior to the inventors has made or used the invention described in the appended claims.


Methods for laser induced ablation spectroscopy are disclosed. A position sensor, and position motors can move a sample stage in three independent spatial coordinate directions, and a stage position control circuit can move an analysis sample site to selected coordinate positions for ablation. Light from laser ablation can be gathered into a lightguide fiber bundle that is subdivided into branches. One branch can convey a first portion of the light to a broadband spectrometer operable to analyze a relatively wide spectral segment, and a different branch can convey a second portion of the light to a high dispersion spectrometer operable to measure minor concentrations and/or trace elements. Emissions can be simultaneously analyzed in various ways using a plurality of spectrometers having distinct and/or complementary capabilities, and isotope analysis of a sample can be performed.

Restriction of hazardous substances by statutes such as the Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment 2002/95/EC (commonly referred to as the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive or RoHS) was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union. The state of California has passed a similar law. The directive restricts the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment. The six hazardous materials include Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Hexavalent chromium (Cr-VI or Cr6+), Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), and Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE).
Industry seeks efficient and economical measures to comply with RoHS. Dissolution in acid is commonly used to test and measure compositional qualities of sample material. This method has inherent disadvantages. Laser induced breakdown optical emission spectroscopy (LIBS) as well as other laser spectrometry methods are potentially efficient and economical techniques to determining and/or verify the composition of products and other materials.
Isotopic analysis of sample composition can provide important information, particularly in the fields of archaeology, ecology, nuclear forensics, geology, hydrology, paleoclimatology, and national security, among others. Isotopic analysis has typically been done using techniques gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), time of flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS), or inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP/MS). Mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful technique for isotopic analysis owing to its ability to discriminate ions based on mass to charge ratio. MS techniques can also be quite sensitive. However, these measurements often require time consuming counting and/or complex chemical digestion procedures for the mass spectrometric analysis. In general, mass spectrometric analyses must be performed in a vacuum, have low throughput, and require a gaseous sample.
Various other techniques that have been used for isotopic analysis include inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy, atomic absorption spectroscopy, and gas chromatography-atomic absorption spectroscopy. Each of these techniques has serious limitations and many of them require extensive sample preparation and/or dissolution in a liquid prior to analysis.
The LIBS type of spectrometry has been an unreliable and inexact measurement system since there is a large variation in the recorded data. A major source of variability has been inconsistent plasma plume generation by the pulse laser. Former LIBS type analyses have been unsuccessful in matching known standards achieved with other analysis methods.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A boom truck includes a truck chassis having a frame, a boom assembly connected to the frame, and a boom counter weight assembly rotatably connected to the boom assembly. The boom counter weight assembly is configured to be disposed between a first position to extend a wheel base of the boom truck and a second position to define a counterweight relative to the boom assembly.

Conventional boom trucks typically include a telescoping or extendable arm mounted to the truck frame. For example, front mounted boom trucks typically include a boom assembly mounted to the truck frame at a location near the cab of the boom truck. In another example, rear mounted boom trucks typically include a boom assembly mounted to the to the truck frame at a location near the rear axle of the truck. In either case, these boom trucks typically do not include a counterweight and instead rely on the weight of the vehicle to counterbalance a load carried by the boom during operation.

Truck suspension used as a crane counterweight