Disclosed is a toy racetrack having a toy vehicle launching section that, in a first configuration of the racetrack, launches a toy vehicle toward and through the open, central portion of a loop track section, preferably to impact a target, and in a transformed configuration of the racetrack, launches a toy vehicle through the track portion of the loop track section and preferably toward a catch tray. Two loop track sections are pivotably mounted to a tower, and target flags may be pivotably mounted to a loop section mounting block positioned at the top of the tower. Once one of the target flags is struck by a toy vehicle, an internal transformation mechanism is triggered that causes the loop track sections to pivot into a track engaging position in which the loop sections form terminal track portions for the track segments in the launching section of the racetrack.

Toy racetracks are popular among children of varied ages, and a variety of track configurations have previously been provided that include various features, such as traps, loops, stunts, and the like to add to the excitement a child experiences while playing with the toy. For instance, toy racetracks have been provided having moveable track sections, and other toy racetracks have been provided that include various targets that are intended to be struck by either projectiles that are secondary to the toy vehicles or by the toy vehicles themselves in an effort to require the user to exercise some level of skill while enjoying the racetrack.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,789 to Halford et al. discloses a toy racetrack having a moveable hoop through which the user must launch their toy vehicle.
Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 8,192,246 to Ostendorff et al. discloses a toy racetrack including a shield that a user's toy vehicle must strike after leaving a section of racetrack in order to bounce into a receptacle.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 8,382,553 to O'Connor discloses a toy racetrack having both moveable track portions and various projectiles, projectile launchers, and targets throughout a track relay configuration.
Still further, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2013/0109271 to Ferreyra et al. discloses a toy racetrack with a gap and a catapult mechanism for launching the toy vehicle across the gap.
The specifications of each of the foregoing are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
While the foregoing configurations do provide various racetracks that require some exercise of skill by the user, and that are capable of varying the configuration of certain portions of the racetracks, there remains an ongoing need to provide toy racetrack features capable of maintaining the interest of a child and increasing the excitement and amusement they experience when playing with a toy racetrack. It would therefore be advantageous to provide a toy racetrack that further enhances the excitement and amusement offered to a child as they engage in such play, and more particularly that includes a loop portion that can transform from an open hoop through which the user attempts to launch their toy vehicle to a racing loop that the user attempts to traverse, requiring the user to launch their toy vehicle at the required speeds in order achieve such goals.

Toy racetrack with moveable loop portion


A printing apparatus and a printing method which eliminate a problem of boundary stripes by taking advantage of features of the multipass printing performed by the printing apparatus without causing a reduction in a throughput. An amount of paper feed for each scan is set to a value which, when multiplied by an integer, is not equal to a printing width covered by a total number of nozzles in a print head, in order to prevent the adjoining of the end portions of print areas of each scan which would otherwise increase the possibility of the boundary stripes being formed at the boundaries and to make the boundaries of the print areas appear at shorter intervals than the paper feed intervals. At the same time, the mask used for the image data to be supplied to the print head in each scan is so set that the mask corresponding to the end nozzle groups among a plurality of nozzle groups have low printing duties.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing method and a printing apparatus for producing an image on a printing medium and more specifically to a printing method and a printing apparatus used in a case of performing so-called multipass printing.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink jet printing method, because of its variety of advantages such as low noise, low running cost and ease with which to reduce an apparatus size and to produce color images, has found a wide range of applications as in printers, copying machines and the like. Most of such printing apparatuses employs a print head, which integrates a plurality of printing elements (i.e., nozzles for ejecting ink in a case of an ink jet printing method), to improve the printing speed.
The printing apparatus that uses a print head with the plurality of arrayed printing elements is known to produce a stripe like density variation that appears periodically in a subscan direction (the direction in which the printing medium is fed) and may become one cause of deterioration of printing quality. These periodic stripe like density variations are very conspicuous. Possible causes of these stripe like density variations include, in the case of the ink jet printing system, variations in an amount of ink ejected and an ink ejection direction among nozzles, deviations between paper feed and nozzle pitch, and density variations caused by time variations among each scanning operation.
To reduce the stripe like density variations and improve the print quality, a variety of methods have been disclosed.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 59-31949 (1984) discloses a method which eliminates the stripe like density variation (hereinafter, simply referred to "a boundary stripe") that occurs at a boundary (hereinafter, simply referred to "joint") between respective areas, each of which is printed with respective plurality of scans in a main scan direction (hereinafter, simply referred to as "scans"). In the method, pixels at the lower end of the area printed at a previous scan and pixels at an upper end of an area printed at a current scan are overlapped, and then the overlapped pixels are selectively printed with these two times of scans.
A well-known conventional method for realizing further improvement of print quality is a divisional printing method (multipass printing method). The divisional printing method will be explained as follows.
In a case of a print head founded on an ink jet system, the print head with a plurality of nozzles may have a slight manufacturing error among the nozzles during a process of manufacturing the print head. Such error results in variations in the amount of ink ejected and in the ejection direction among the nozzles on printing, which in turn forms the stripe like density variations on a printed image, thus degrading the print quality. One example of such causing of the stripe like density variation is shown in FIGS. 1A-1C. FIG. 1A shows that, in the print head with 8 ink ejection nozzles, the volumes of ink ejected from the nozzles and the ink ejection directions differ from one nozzle to another. If the printing is performed using a head having such ink ejection characteristic variations among nozzles, ink dots formed will vary in a size and a landing position among rasters printed respectively corresponding to respective nozzles, as shown in FIG. 1B. As a result, a blank portion may be formed at a central part of FIG. 1B as shown or conversely a portion may be formed where dots are overlapped more than necessary. FIG. 1C shows a density distribution on an image printed with such dots. These density variations are recognized as the stripe like density variations that may become the cause of deterioration of the print quality.
On the other hand, the divisional printing method (multipass printing method), rather than printing all pixels in a single pass (or in one scan) of the print head in the main scan direction, prints them in a plurality of scans by using different nozzles in different scans.
FIGS. 2A-2C explain the multipass printing that uses the same head as used in the method shown in FIGS. 1A-1C. As shown in FIG. 2A, with respect to the printing area shown in FIG. 1B, three scanning operations of the print head are performed, and then, printing each half of this area, which is covered by four vertically arranged pixels, is completed with two scanning operations. In this case, the eight nozzles of the print head are divided into two groups, i.e., upper four nozzles and lower four nozzles. The dots formed with one nozzle in one scan is what conforms to data obtained by thinning the image data of each half area to approximately one-half according to a predetermined method. Then, by feeding a paper at a distance corresponding to four pixels, nozzles different from those used for the first printing face the same printing position and complementarily form dots according to the remaining half thinned data, thus completing the printing. According to this printing method, since one raster (one line of dots in a main scan direction) is printed with inks ejected from different nozzles (in the example shown, two different nozzles), the influence of variations among nozzles can be alleviated and the density variations can be reduced as shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C.
This divisional printing method divides image data so that respective image data for the first and second scans are extracted according to respective predetermined rules and the extracted data complement each other. Generally, the extraction is performed using mask processing and a most popular mask is a checker pattern mask where the data is extracted vertically and horizontally at every other pixels like a checker pattern as shown in FIGS. 3A-3C. In a unit printing area (in this case, a 4-pixel unit area), the printing is completed with two scans (2 passes), where at the first scan, a checker pattern as shown in FIG. 3A is printed, and at the second scan, an inverse checker pattern as shown in FIG. 3B is printed.
In the multipass printing method described above, increasing a number of divisions (passes) is effective in further improving the print quality. For example, when a 2-pass printing and a 10-pass printing are compared, the 2-pass printing completes one raster by using two different nozzles whereas the 10-pass printing completes the same raster by using 10 different nozzles. Hence, the degree to which the printed result is affected by the ejection characteristic variations among nozzles is relatively smaller in the 10-pass printing than in the 2-pass printing, and then the overall influence of the characteristic variations on the print quality becomes smaller in the 10-pass printing to that extent. As a result, the stripe like density variations is made inconspicuous.
Regarding the multipass printing method described above, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-143618 (1994) discloses a method which considers a fact that a total numbers of scans applied for completing printing of both side areas of the joint or the boundary portion are greater than the number of scans required to complete printing in other areas, and reduces the print duty in both side areas of the boundary portion, particularly when a printing medium that quickly absorbs ink is used to improve the print quality of the multipass printing method.
In any of the multipass printing methods described above, when there is a discrepancy between the paper feed amount and the nozzle pitch of the print head, the so-called boundary stripe is unavoidably produced. This phenomenon will be explained by referring to FIGS. 4A and 4B.
FIGS. 4A and 4B represent examples of the 2-division printing (2-pass printing) for a case where an 8-nozzle head is used as in FIGS. 3A-3C. For simplicity of explanation, it is assumed that the head has no ejection characteristic variations among these 8 nozzles. Further, the mask used for the division printing is checker pattern mask. That is, during odd-numbered scan the checker pattern mask is used and, during even-numbered scan the inverse checker mask is used, so as to complete the printing in each divided area with a combination of these two different kinds of scans.
FIG. 4A shows a result of printing when the paper is fed at a distance exactly corresponding to four pixels in each of the two paper feed operations. For simplicity, only dots printed during the first and third scans are shown at a right of the drawing and the dots printed during the second scan is not shown. A lower end portion of the area printed at the first scan adjoins an upper end portion of the area printed at the third scan, and the boundary between these areas constitutes the joint between both areas printed during respective scans. As shown in FIG. 4A, when the paper is fed at the distance exactly corresponding to eight pixels in two paper feed operations, the printed dots at the joint between the areas of the scans are arranged correctly and no boundary stripe is formed.
On the other hand, FIG. 4B shows a result of printing that is performed when the paper feed amount is greater than the required four-pixel distance. As similar to FIG. 4A, at the right of the drawing, only the dots printed at the first and third scans are shown. The paper is fed two times from the first to the third scan and because each paper feed amount is greater than the distance corresponding to four pixels, the paper is fed at a distance greater than eight pixels between the first scan and the third scans. Thus, a group of dots printed at the third scan is spaced from the group of dots printed at the first scan by a distance corresponding to the paper feed amount error. This space or gap between the areas of the scans is recognized as a white boundary stripe on a printed image, which deteriorates the printed quality.
It should be noted that conversely, when the paper feed amount is smaller than the required distance so that the paper feed error appears as a minus amount, the gap is recognized as a black boundary stripe. Further, although the above phenomenon is explained based only on the paper feed errors assuming that there are no errors in the pitch among nozzle groups, there may be cases where the overall nozzle pitch is larger or smaller than a normal nozzle pitch. In these cases, the black or white boundary stripes may appear, respectively.
Moreover, even when a paper feed error averaged over the entire printing medium is zero, if there is any two times of paper feed whose total feed amount is larger or smaller than the distance corresponding to eight pixels in paper feeds for the entire printing, the same phenomenon as described above may occur at the boundary between the areas of the two times of scans. The amount of paper feed may vary depending on errors of the outer diameter of paper feed rollers, the environment in which the printing is performed, and the kind and state of the printing medium such as paper. It is therefore difficult to totally eliminate errors produced at every feeding operation.
As described above, the boundary stripe at boundaries or joints may occur also in the multipass printing system. Increasing the number of passes is conducive to alleviating the boundary stripes. Because an increase in the number of passes decreases the number of dots printed at one scan, the boundary stripes, even if produced owing to the paper feed errors, decrease in density.
The degree to which the boundary stripes are conspicuous to the human eye depends upon a spatial frequency of the stripe like density variations. More specifically, stripes of the same density may or may not become noticeable depending on their intervals.
This characteristic is shown in a graph of FIG. 5, in which an ordinate axis represents an intensity of sensitivity and an abscissa axis represents a spatial frequency (cycles/mm). As can be seen from the figure, the spatial frequency realizing the highest sensitivity exists around 1.1 cycles/mm, which means that the stripes at 0.9 mm intervals show most conspicuously. When a print head with 8 nozzles arranged at 600 dpi pitch is used, the interval at which the stripes are produced at the multipass printing is as follows. In comparing between respective printed images produced in the 2-pass printing and the 10-pass printing, the 2-pass printing feeds the paper at a distance corresponding to a 40 nozzle pitch and the interval of the stripe occurrence is a 40 nozzle pitch, which is equal to 1.69 mm (25.4 mm/600 dpi.times.40 pixels). In other words, the spatial frequency is 0.59 cycles/mm. On the other hand, in the 10-pass printing, the paper is fed at a distance corresponding to 8 nozzles and the interval of stripe occurrence is an 8-nozzle pitch, which is equal to 0.338 mm (25.4 mm/600 dpi.times.8 pixels). Thus the spatial frequency is 3.0 cycles/mm. FIG. 5 apparently shows that the interval of stripe occurrence in the 10-pass printing is less conspicuous than that in the 2-pass printing.
However, increasing the number of passes reduces the print area to be completed in one pass or one scan, which in turn increases a time required to print the entire image. For example, increasing the number of passes from the 2-pass printing to the 10-pass printing increases the printing time by five times, based on simple calculation.


A holder is disclosed herein for rotatably supporting a spool whereby a supply of fishing line is carried on the spool with a lead length of line extending from the spool to a fishing pole mounted fishing reel. The holder includes a substantially U-shaped bracket with a cross member integrally supporting a pair of spaced-apart upright plates for carrying a spool support shaft about which the spool rotates during a line dispensing procedure. The shaft includes a friction adjustment mechanism for adjusting tension on the spool to control speed spool rotation. Mounting devices are disposed on the cross member for releasably securing the bracket to a stabilizing support for such a table.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of fishing line spool holders, and more particularly to a novel holder for rotatably mounting a supply of fishing line on a spool having an adjustment for controlling spool rotation and which may be readily mounted onto a supporting surface.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In the past, it has been the conventional practice to manually place a supply of fishing line onto a fishing reel by having one person hold a spool containing a store of fishing line while the other person holds a fishing pole with a mounted fishing reel. By using the turning crank on the fishing reel, line from the spool supply can be drawn from the spool and transferred to the fishing reel for subsequent use during a fishing procedure. Such a practice is time consuming and requires the presence of more than one individual. Also, since the supply spool is hand-held, it is often dropped and removing the supply of line from the spool is very cumbersome and awkward.
Therefore, a long-standing need has existed to provide a novel means for supporting a supply of line on a spool so that the line may be readily withdrawn from the spool and placed directly onto a fishing reel by a single individual. The means should support the spool having the supply of line thereon in such a manner that the spool is stabilized and will not drop or roll out of control during the line withdrawing procedure.


The instant invention is a method and apparatus for administering a program to senior citizens for managing and distributing the interest from pooled government bonds or the like. The program derived around a bond fund unit of various security offerings to specific groups of senior citizens having a common age and financial goal. As long as the participant is alive, the participant will share equally in an increasing income stream derived from the interest from the security due to the number of decreasing participants in a fixed pool based on the participant's initial investment. The income producing bonds jointly pooled and singularly administered based upon U.S. Treasury bonds whose resulting interest is distributed to the remainder of living participants while bond maturity value remains payable to the participant or their estate. The program aids the participants and managers involved with the program regarding Fund assets, statistical predictions, and dividend distribution.

By the year 2020 it is anticipated that 1 out of every 4 U.S. citizens will be at least 65 years of age. For this reason a number of financial programs are now available specifically directed to senior citizens for the purpose of providing steady income during retirement. Steady income throughout retirement year helps prevent the retired individual from becoming a financial burden upon their children should they outlive their assets. However, if the retiree relies upon a fixed income, the possibility exists that inflation will depreciate the fixed income to a level that may quickly consume their net worth. In an effort to forego such a possibility, numerous programs have been developed to insure the retiree's income.
Conventional passbook saving accounts, certificate of deposits, or bond purchases maintained by an individual provide a predictable flow of income but do not provide a means for maintaining pace with inflation. Similarly, numerous annuity offerings are made available providing the recipient the right to receive fixed periodic payment either for life or for a term of years. Annuities include bonds, trust contingent, deferred group, joint, life, private, refund, retirement, straight, and variable to name a few. The payments represent a partial return of capital and return of interest.
Insurance is a program generally made operative by death providing the beneficiary with proceeds upon occurrence. For a couple in retirement, a spouse typically collects proceeds upon the death of the spouse. Insurance can also be used to provide protection for uncertain costs. U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,768, 4,722,055 and 4,752,877 issued to Robert's discloses a method and apparatus for funding future liability of uncertain costs. The program allows the investor to fund a fairly certain future cost such as a child's college education as well as estimate the expected cost of the liability, when the liability will incur, and the amount of insurance necessary to cover the liability.
What cannot be predicted is how long an individual will live. Therefore, what is needed is a means for providing a senior citizen with a predictable income as well as a means for providing the individual with a statistically method of increasing that income during the remaining lifetime of the individual.

Method and apparatus for pooling and distributing bond dividends


A method and system for providing routing instance information are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a trace packet at a network device, generating an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) packet in response to the trace packet, and transmitting the ICMP packet. The ICMP packet includes routing instance information contained within the network device.

The present disclosure relates generally to utilizing ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) to obtain network routing information.
Route tracing is used in communication networks to identify problem areas and provide detailed information about the network. Traceroute is an example of a tool that is used to trace the route of a packet over each hop from a client to a remote host by reporting all router addresses therebetween. Traceroute is widely used in IP networks for troubleshooting and status verification purposes. The traceroute program sends a series of trace packets (probe packets) to an IP address and awaits an ICMP reply. ICMP is described in RFC 792, "Internet Control Message Protocol", DARPA Internet Program Protocol Specification, J. Postel, September 1981, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Conventional implementation of traceroute uses only the IP address of an inbound interface or router ID address information attached inside the ICMP packets, and does not provide routing instance information. When using a traceroute tool, it is not obvious where the routing domain boundary is if the interface address is not in a global DNS (Domain Name System) table. This is also the case when the link uses private IP address space. Routing information may be obtained through IGP (Interior Gateway Protocol), however, with increasing demand on QoS (Quality of Service) routing, and with IETF effort on Multi-Topology for IS-IS (Intermediate System to Intermediate System) and OSPF (Open Shortest Path First), IGP troubleshooting has become difficult. Furthermore, methods currently available for discovering routing instance information require access to databases which may not be up to date, may be difficult to access, or require authorization to access information due to security issues. Routing instance information is important for use by network operators in troubleshooting without access to a full local routing database.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

ICMP with IP routing instance information


A wayside lubricator for railroad cars has a number of sensors mounted adjacent the track which detect the approach and passage rail cars. A lubricant supply and a pressurizing system are mounted adjacent the track and in fluid communication with a control valve and spray nozzle. The spray nozzle is aimed to shoot lubricant into a target zone when the control valve is opened. The spray nozzle is turned on for a defined duration of time so that the quantity of the lubricant is kept under control. Application of the lubricant to the wheels of the locomotive is avoided by detecting locomotive wheels and leaving the valve closed until they pass. This invention reduces the friction between the wheel tread and rail on curves for the trailing cars and thus reduces the friction and the force that is experienced by the wheel flanges on curves.

Wayside rail lubrication has been used in the railroad industry primarily to reduce the wear of wheel and rail on curves. The most common devices used for such lubrication are wayside rail lubricator strips. These strips are parallel to the rail and dispense grease before and during the passage of a wheel allowing the wheel flange to pick up the grease and lubricate the gage side of one or both rails. Most of these lubricators are designed to avoid lubricating the top of the rail so that the wheel treads are not affected by the lubricant applied by the wayside lubricator. The situation is slightly different in railroad hump yards. In these yards, it is currently common practice to apply grease to the top of the rail either manually or using a greasing system that dispenses grease through a hole in the rail so that the rolling resistance of the cars is reduced and the rollability is improved. There are several problems with both the wayside grease lubricators and the grease plugs used in the yards. These include the mess created by the black grease which coats the rails, the ties, ballast and the area where the wayside lubricator or the grease plugs are installed. Often the grease spreads, and coats such a large area that it is a slipping hazard to ground personnel. Wayside rail lubricators are difficult to maintain and adversely affected by temperature and weather changes. In yards, the grease plug lubricators do not consistently improve the rollability of cars. The hole in the rail often results in a broken rail which has to be replaced with a similar rail with a hole. Many cars do not clear the curves in the yard as they are supposed toxe2x80x94they have to be pushed into position (trimmed) by a locomotive. The skids, used to stop the rollout of the cars beyond safe points, fail to stop the cars because of excessive grease on the rails. The skids themselves slide for long distances creating situations where the car rollout can result in impact with another car. At times, the grease has contaminated the retarders which are supposed to slow down the cars to a defined speed. Such contamination can result in a loss of control for the retarders.
Lubrication with grease has traditionally been used on the wayside of rail curves as well as on curves in the different yards. As mentioned earlier, the current practice is to use wayside grease lubricators which consist of long grease application bars through which the grease is pumped in a certain quantity so that when the train approaches and crosses the curve, this grease is picked up by the flanges of all wheels including the locomotives and cars. In the railroad marshaling and hump yards, the lubrication of the rail is done either manually or through a device commonly called a xe2x80x98grease plugxe2x80x99. These are through holes in the head of the rail through which grease is squeezed under pressure when a wheel passes over it. Both the wayside lubricators and the yard grease plug lubricators have serious problems. The new method proposed in this invention overcomes the problems encountered to date and improves both wayside lubrication and yard rail lubrication. The problems of wayside lubricators are discussed first.
The grease bars laid parallel to the rail traditionally apply large quantities of grease which are picked up by the wheels and flung all over the track. The grease spreads all over the rails, track, ties, ballast etc. developing a hazardous coating which makes it difficult and dangerous to service these lubricators. Over the years, these lubricators have been found difficult to maintain. Temperature and weather seriously affect their functioning. In order to make sure that some grease is applied to the rail gage corner, the common practice is to increase the quantity of grease in the lubrication bars. This is so large in many cases that it spreads all over the rail head as well. When the train approaches the curve with the grease spread over the rail head, the locomotive wheels slip. As a result, sand is automatically injected. This results in the development of a sand-grease grinding paste which defeats the purpose of rail lubrication and contaminates the ballast, ties, etc.
Looking at the railroad yards, the current practice of lubrication uses wayside lubrication devices such as grease plugs through a hole in the rail head. These also do not function well. Although a large quantity of grease is applied via this through hole in the rail head, it does not adequately lubricate the wheel-rail contact on sharp curves. Since the quantity of grease put through this hole is quite large, it spreads in a coating on the rail throughout the yard as well as builds up on the sides when spills take place. The coating on the rail head is enough to coat the skids placed on the rails to stop the cars from sliding on the rails. Thus, the skids do not stop the car and let it go into a rollout sometimes resulting in collision damage. In spite of such greasing, the rolling friction between all the wheel and rail contacts is not reduced enough and many cars do not go beyond the sharp curves and have to be pushed by a locomotive which has difficulty itself pushing because of locomotive wheel slip.
This invention solves the problems indicated above by applying a spray of clean, smoothly-flowing lubricant directly on the approaching car wheel. For revenue service trains, appropriate sensors detect the passage of the locomotive wheels and do not apply any lubricant. After the locomotive wheels have passed, the lubricant is sprayed by a nozzle on the wheels of the trailing cars. Such an application may be made to both wheels of a wheel-set or a single wheel. The wheel to which the lubricant is applied becomes a carrier and spreads it on the rail at the points of wheel-rail contact to benefit the trailing cars. For the railroad yards, the situation is simpler in that for all approaching cars, the wayside wheel lubricator puts out a spray to lubricate one or more wheels.
This system requires a number of sensors by the wayside which detect the approach and passage of the car or the train. It also requires a lubricant supply and a pressurizing system which develops pressure to move the lubricant from its reservoir to a spray nozzle. In addition, it requires that the spray nozzle can be turned on for a defined duration of time so that the quantity of the lubricant is kept under control. The number and frequency of applications can be calculated for the train or the cars in the yard. By avoiding application of the lubricant to the wheels of the locomotive, this invention reduces the friction between the wheel tread and rail on curves for the trailing cars only and thus reduces the friction and the force that is experienced by the wheel flanges on curves. This method is superior to the current wayside lubricator approach a in that it does not degrade the traction of the locomotive wheels and it reduces the friction as well as the lateral force produced by the car wheels on the rail. In other words, the force exerted by the wheel flanges on the rail is reduced. Current wayside lubricators are designed to reduce only the flange friction with the rail. Furthermore, it applies an accurate amount of lubricant in small quantities directly on the wheels so that the cleanliness of the rail bed is maintained. By using this approach, the rollability of cars in yards can be improved significantly (50% or more). A similar reduction in rail forces and rail-wheel wear on curves in revenue service is expected by using this method of wheel lubrication.
For good lubrication, it is necessary to lubricate much of the wheel tread and the flange that comes in contact with the rail head. The new method of the present invention achieves the needed characteristics and accomplishes the following:
it reduces the friction between the car wheel tread and flange with the rail for all positions that the wheel can have on the rail in a curve including an xe2x80x9cSxe2x80x9d curve;
it reduces the lateral force developed by the wheel on the rail;
it is beneficial to reduce rail and wheel wear and also reduce the cost of maintenance of curves; and
it does not negatively affect the adhesion of locomotive wheels on curves.


The noise associated with conventional techniques for evolutionary improvement of neural network architectures is reduced so that of an optimum architecture can be determined more efficiently and more effectively. Parameters that affect the initialization of a neural network architecture are included within the encoding that is used by an evolutionary algorithm to optimize the neural network architecture. The example initialization parameters include an encoding that determines the initial nodal weights used in each architecture at the commencement of the training cycle. By including the initialization parameters within the encoding used by the evolutionary algorithm, the initialization parameters that have a positive effect on the performance of the resultant evolved network architecture are propagated and potentially improved from generation to generation. Conversely, initialization parameters that, for example, cause the resultant evolved network to be poorly trained, will not be propagated. In accordance with a second aspect of this invention, the encoding also includes parameters that affect the training process, such as the duration of the training cycle, the training inputs applied, and so on. In accordance with a third aspect of this invention, the same set of training or evaluation inputs are applied to all members whose performances are directly compared.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of information processing, and in particular to machine learning, neural networks, and evolutionary algorithms.
2. Description of Related Art
Neural networks are commonly employed as learning systems. Neural networks can be structured in a variety of forms; for ease of understanding, a feed-forward neural network architecture is used herein as a paradigm for neural networks, although the application of the principles presented herein will be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art to be applicable to a variety of other neural network architectures. A typical feed-forward neural network comprises one or more input nodes, one or more output nodes, and a plurality of intermediate, or hidden, nodes that are arranged in a series of layers between the input and output nodes. In a common neural net architecture, each input node is connected to one or mode hidden nodes in a first layer of nodes, each hidden node in the first layer of nodes is connected to one or more hidden nodes in a second layer of nodes, and so on until each node of the last layer of hidden nodes is connected to each output node. The output of each node is typically a nonlinear function of a weighted combination of each input to the node. In a feedforward neural net, when a set of input values is applied to the input nodes, the weighted values are propagated through each layer of the network until a resultant set of output values is produced. Other configurations of nodes, interconnections, and effect propagation are also common. For example, in some architectures, a node may be connected to one or more other nodes beyond its immediately adjacent layer.
In a learning mode, the resultant set of output values is compared to the set of output values that a properly trained network should have produced, to provide an error factor associated with each output node. In the case of pattern matching, for example, each output node may represent a likelihood that the input pattern corresponds to a particular class. Each input pattern is pre-categorized to provide an xe2x80x9cidealxe2x80x9d set of likelihood factors, and the error factor is a measure of the difference between this xe2x80x9cidealxe2x80x9d set and the set of output node values that the neural network produced. The error factor is propagated back through the network to modify the weights of each input to each node so as to minimize a composite of the error factors. The composite is typically the sum of the square of the error factor at each output node. Conceptually, the node weights that contributed to the outputs of the incorrect class are reduced, while those that contributed to the output of the correct class are increased.
Although the error factor can be propagated back based on each comparison of the ideal output and the result of processing each input set, preferably, a plurality, or batch, of input sets of values is applied to the network, and an accumulated error factor is back-propagated to readjust the weights. Depending upon the training technique employed, this process may be repeated for additional sets or batches of input values. The entire process is repeated for a fixed number of iterations or until subsequent iterations demonstrate a convergence to the xe2x80x9cidealxe2x80x9d, or until some other termination criterion is achieved. Once the set of weights is determined, the resultant network can be used to process other items, items that were not part of the training set, by providing the corresponding set of input values from each of the other items, to produce a resultant output corresponding to each of the other items.
The performance of the neural network for a given problem set depends upon a variety of factors, including the number of network layers, the number of hidden nodes in each layer, and so on. Given a particular set of network factors, or network architecture, different problem sets will perform differently. U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,530 xe2x80x9cGENETIC ALGORITHM SYNTHESIS OF NEURAL NETWORKSxe2x80x9d, issued Aug. 18, 1992 to Guha et al, and incorporated by reference herein, presents the use of a genetic algorithm to construct an optimized custom neural network architecture. U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,259 xe2x80x9cGENETIC ALGORITHM TECHNIQUE FOR DESIGNING NEURAL NETWORKSxe2x80x9d, issued Sep. 28, 1993 to Robert L. Harvey, and incorporated by reference herein, presents the use of a genetic algorithm to select an optimum set of weights associated with a neural network.
Genetic algorithms are a specific class of evolutionary algorithms and the term evolutionary algorithm is used hereinafter. Evolutionary algorithms are commonly used to provide a directed trial and error search for an optimum solution wherein the samples selected for each trial are based on the performance of samples in prior trials. In a typical evolutionary algorithm, certain attributes, or genes, are assumed to be related to an ability to perform a given task, different combinations of genes resulting indifferent levels of effectiveness for performing that task. The evolutionary algorithm is particularly effective for problems wherein the relation between the combination of attributes and the effectiveness for performing the task does not have a closed form solution.
In an evolutionary algorithm, the offspring production process is used to determine a particular combination of genes that is most effective for performing a given task. A combination of genes, or attributes, is termed a chromosome. In the genetic algorithm class of evolutionary algorithms, a reproduction-recombination cycle is used to propagate generations of offspring. Members of a population having different chromosomes mate and generate offspring. These offspring have attributes passed down from the parent members, typically as some random combination of genes from each parent. In a classic genetic algorithm, the individuals that are more effective than others in performing the given task are provided a greater opportunity to mate and generate offspring. That is, the individuals having preferred chromosomes are given a higher opportunity to generate offspring, in the hope that the offspring will inherit whichever genes allowed the parents to perform the given task effectively. The next generation of parents is selected based on a preference for those exhibiting effectiveness for performing the given task. In this manner, the number of offspring having attributes that are effective for performing the given task will tend to increase with each generation. Paradigms of other methods for generating offspring, such as asexual reproduction, mutation, and the like, are also used to produce offspring having an increasing likelihood of improved abilities to perform the given task.
As applied to neural networks, the chromosome of the referenced ""530 (Guha) patent represents the architecture of a neural network. Alternative neural networks, those having different architectures, each have a corresponding different chromosome. After a plurality of neural networks have been trained, each of the networks is provided evaluation input sets, and the performance of each trained neural network on the evaluation input sets is determined, based on a comparison with an xe2x80x9cidealxe2x80x9d performance corresponding to each evaluation input set. The chromosomes of the better performing trained neural networks are saved and used to generate the next set of sample neural networks to be trained and evaluated. By determining each next generation of samples based on the prior successful samples, the characteristics that contribute to successful performance are likely to be passed down from generation to generation, such that each generation tends to contain successively better performers.
The speed at which a particular neural network converges to an optimal set of weights is highly dependent upon the initial value of the weights in the neural network. Similarly, the likelihood of a particular neural network converging on a xe2x80x9cglobalxe2x80x9d optimum, rather than a xe2x80x9clocalxe2x80x9d optimum, is highly dependent upon the initial value of the weights in the neural network. In like manner, the success of a particular neural network may be dependent upon the number of training cycles applied, whereas the cost of applying an unbounded set of training cycles may exceed the benefits derived. Globally, the likelihood of evolving to an optimal architecture may be highly dependent upon the selection of initial chromosomes used in the original ancestral chromosomes. Because of these dependencies on initial conditions, conventional evolutionary algorithms employ random values to initialize most states and conditions of each network, to avoid the introduction of biases that could affect the accuracy of the results. As such, the determination of an optimal neural network architecture via an evolutionary algorithm is an inherently xe2x80x9cnoisyxe2x80x9d process. Potentially better performing architectures may score poorly because of the particular evaluation test set used, or because of inadequate training compared to a less robust architecture that is easily trained, and so on. In like manner, the use of randomly selected training sets or evaluation sets among the evaluated neural networks may cause potentially worthwhile architectures to be rejected prematurely, obviating the advantages realizable by a directed trial and error process.
It is an object of this invention to provide a method for improving neural network architectures via an evolutionary algorithm that reduces the adverse effects of the noise that is introduced by the network initialization process. It is a further object of this invention to reduce the noise that is introduced by the network initialization process. It is a further object of this invention to provide an optimized network initialization process. It is a further object of this invention to reduce the noise that is introduced by the use of randomly selected training or evaluation input sets.
These objects and others are achieved by including parameters that affect the initialization of a neural network architecture within the encoding that is used by an evolutionary algorithm to optimize the neural network architecture. The example initialization parameters include an encoding that determines the initial nodal weights used in each architecture at the commencement of the training cycle. By including the initialization parameters within the encoding used by the evolutionary algorithm, the initialization parameters that have a positive effect on the performance of the resultant evolved network architecture are propagated and potentially improved from generation to generation. Conversely, initialization parameters that, for example, cause the resultant evolved network to be poorly trained, will not be propagated. In accordance with a second aspect of this invention, the encoding also includes parameters that affect the training process, such as the duration of the training cycle, the training inputs applied, and so on. In accordance with a third aspect of this invention, the noise effects caused by the random selection of training or evaluation sets is reduced by applying the same randomly selected training or evaluation set to all architectures that are directly compared with each other.

Method for improving neural network architectures using evolutionary algorithms


In an armature, a slot insulation paper provided in a slot of an armature core protrudes from an insulation plate in the axial direction. A part of the slot insulation paper that faces an outer peripheral surface of a coil end is cut out to expose the outer peripheral surface of the coil end. A reinforcing ring is fitted at the axial outside of the armature core to surround the exposed outer peripheral surface of the coil end. Accordingly, the reinforcing ring is disposed close to the armature core in the axial direction. Therefore, a straight portion of the coil end is shortened by an amount of cut of the slot insulation paper, and as a result, the axial length of the armature is shortened.

This application relates to and incorporates herein by reference Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-392318 filed on Dec. 25, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary electric machine having a reinforcing ring on an armature.
2. Description of Related Art
It is proposed to fit a reinforcing ring on the outer periphery of an armature coil end, which protrudes from an end surface of an armature core in an axial direction, to protect the armature coil from centrifugal force. For example, in an armature 100 shown in FIG. 5, a reinforcing ring 130 is fitted on an armature coil 110 axially outside of a slot insulation paper 140 without over lapping the slot insulation paper 140. When the reinforcing ring 130 is fitted on the slot insulation paper 140 that protrudes from the side surface of the armature core 120 in the axial direction, the coil end is likely to expand in a radially outside direction due to centrifugal force by compressing the slot insulation paper 140. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a straight portion within the coil end for fitting the reinforcing ring 130 axially outside of the slot insulation paper 140 without overlapping. As a result, the axial length of the armature 100 is increased.
However, in order to downsize the rotary electric machine, it is needed to shorten the axial length of the coil end as much as possible because the coil end does not contribute to performance. Thus, mounting method of the reinforcing ring 130 must be improved to meet this requirement.
The present invention is made in view of the above problem and it is an object to provide a rotary electric machine which has a reinforcing ring on an armature and suitable for downsizing.
In an armature of the present invention, a slot insulation paper provided underneath an armature coil has a shorter axial length at an outer peripheral side of a coil end of the armature coil than at an inner peripheral side of the coil end to provide an exposed surface of the coil end at the outer peripheral side. A reinforcing ring is fitted on the exposed surface.
As compared with other armatures in which the reinforcing ring is mounted axially outside of the slot insulation paper that protrudes from the axial side surface of an armature core in the axial direction, a mounting position of the reinforcing ring is made closer to the armature core side so that the straight portion of the coil end is shortened. As a result, an axial length of the armature is shortened.
Further, a resin insulator is filled in a clearance between the exposed coil end and the reinforcing ring. Thus, it is unnecessary to accurately manage the inner diameter of the reinforcing ring.
In addition, the reinforcing ring is press-fitted in direct contact with the exposed surface of the coil end. Accordingly, the armature coil can be strengthened against the centrifugal force.

Rotary electric machine having reinforcing ring on armature


The disclosure discloses a liquid crystal display device and a compensation circuit of an organic light emitting diode thereof. The compensation circuit at least includes: a first switch unit, a second switch unit, a third switch unit and a fourth switch unit, when the first switch unit is off, the second switch unit, the third switch unit and the fourth switch unit are on, the compensation circuit drives the organic light-emitting diode to irradiate, in order to compensate the organic light-emitting diode. By the manner above, the disclosure can prevent influence of drift of the threshold voltage of the thin film transistor on the current passing through the organic light-emitting diode.

An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) is an electroluminescent device. A conventional OLED drive circuit includes two thin film transistors and a capacitor, the two thin film transistors include a switch thin film transistor and a drive thin film transistor, the switch thin film transistor is applied to control input of a data signal, the drive thin film transistor is applied to control current through the OLED. A positive drift or a negative drift of a threshold voltage of the drive thin film transistor leads to various currents passing through the OLED under the circumstances of same data signal.
The threshold voltage drift of the drive thin film transistor occurs in all the conventional thin film transistors during utilization, factors such as irradiation in oxide semiconductors, source drain electrode voltage stress make the threshold voltage of the drive thin film transistor to drift, currents through the OLED fail to attain a required value.

Liquid crystal display device and compensation circuit of organic light-emitting diode thereof

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd


A fiber optic coupler comprising a plurality of single-mode optical fibers, each of which is tapered to form a small diameter section that extends in contiguous relationship with the small diameter sections of the other fibers to form a coupling region. Each of the fibers has a core surrounded by a cladding of refractive index lower than that of the core. At least one of the fibers has a refractive index pedestal of refractive index n.sub.i between said core and cladding, wherein n.sub.1 >n.sub.i >n.sub.2, n.sub.1 and n.sub.2 being the refractive indices of the core and cladding, respectively.

The present invention relates to fiber optic couplers, and more particularly, to couplers that exhibit low values of nonadiabatic-taper-induced excess loss.
This invention relates to fiber optic couplers regardless of their function or physical configuration. The various kinds of coupler function to which the invention applies include achromatic, wavelength division multiplexing, signal tapping, switching and the like. Examples of various configurations are: (a) fused biconic taper couplers that are made by heating and stretching a plurality of coextending optical fibers to fuse and taper them, (b) overclad couplers that are made by inserting a plurality of optical fibers into a tube and heating the tube to collapse it onto the fibers and thereafter stretching the tube midregion, and (c) coextending fiber couplers that are made by heating and stretching a plurality of optical fibers to taper them, and thereafter placing the stretched regions of the fibers adjacent one another to form a coupling region where, optionally, portions of the claddings have been removed by etching, polishing or the like. In the various kinds of couplers the coupling region is surrounded by a medium having a refractive index n.sub.3 that is lower than the refractive index of the coupler fiber cladding. The medium can consist of air, glass, plastic or the like.
As the requirements for the optical performance of fiber optic couplers become ever more stringent, the need to eliminate excess loss sources becomes more critical. One such loss source, which can be the dominant loss source in some couplers, is nonadiabatic-taper-induced excess loss.
In the tapered regions of fiber optic couplers the fundamental mode is continuously changing shape to accommodate the changing local index profile. If the rate of change of geometry is too great, the fundamental mode can be coupled to the higher order modes of the coupler index structure. This mechanism is referred to as nonadiabatic mode coupling. While the coupler is called a "single-mode" coupler, that actually refers to the fact that the input and output fibers only support the low-loss propagation of the fundamental LP.sub.01 mode. The coupler can typically support several bound, propagating modes. However, some of these modes may cut off at some point during the taper, coupling their optical power into radiation modes which are lost as potential coupler output, resulting in excess loss. Other higher-order modes which do not cut off will output their power into higher order modes of the output fibers. These modes suffer high loss and, again, the net impact is power lost to the coupler output and increased excess loss. Typically these nonadiabatic mode coupling effects are wavelength dependent, and excess loss varies as a function of wavelength.
The following symbols are used herein to characterize features of the prior art and/or the present invention. The term .DELTA..sub.1-2 is defined as (n.sub.1.sup.2 -n.sub.2.sup.2)/2n.sub.1.sup.2, where n.sub.1 and n.sub.2 are the refractive indices of the fiber core and cladding, respectively. The term .beta..sub.CR is used herein to mean the propagation constant of the fundamental mode in a coupler fiber in the coupling region of the coupler. The term .DELTA..sub.pedestal equals (n.sub.i.sup.2 -n.sub.2.sup.2)/n.sub.i.sup.2, where n.sub.i is the refractive index of that portion of the fiber just beyond the core (see refractive index dip 10 of FIG. 2 and refractive index pedestal 27 of FIG. 8).
In the refractive index profiles depicted in the figures, no attempt is made to represent indices and radii to scale and/or in exact relative magnitude.
Significant nonadiabatic mode coupling has been observed in a specific type of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) coupler (referred to herein as a type A coupler) used to couple a signal (at wavelength .lambda..sub.S) and the pump power (at wavelength .lambda..sub.P) to the gain fiber of a fiber amplifier. One such coupler, which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,603, functions as both a WDM and a mode field converter. A first coupler fiber has a core matched to a standard telecommunications fiber (.DELTA..sup.esi =0.36%, d.sub.c.sup.esi =8.3 .mu.m, mode field diameter=10.5 .mu.m at 1550 nm and 5.7 .mu.m at 1000 nm). The second coupler fiber has a large core-clad .DELTA..sub.1-2 (about 1%), a d.sub.c.sup.esi of 3.5 .mu.m, and a mode field diameter that is sufficiently small (6.4 .mu.m at 1550 nm and 3.7 .mu.m at 1000 nm) that it is substantially matched to an Erbium-doped gain fiber. The term .DELTA. .sup.esi is the equivalent step index delta of the fiber, and d.sub.c.sup.esi is the equivalent step index core diameter. The two coupler fibers would have possessed substantially different values of .beta..sub.CR except that the cladding of the second fiber is provided with an amount of chlorine that is greater than the amount of chlorine in the cladding of the first fiber, whereby the refractive index of the cladding of the second fiber is greater than that of the cladding of the first fiber. The refractive index disparity between coupler fiber claddings causes the .beta..sub.CR values thereof to become sufficiently matched that more than 95% of the light power at wavelength .lambda..sub.S couples between the first and second coupler fibers. Because of the manner in which the second fiber is made, its chlorine profile (idealized) is as shown in FIG. 1, and its overall refractive index profile (idealized) is as shown in FIG. 2. It is noted that the refractive index profile of these coupler fibers is determined by both the chlorine and germania doping, the large germania doping level at small radii (<2 .mu.m) forming the inner refractive index peak shown in FIG. 2. The radius of transition between the two chlorine levels is r.sub.t, the core radius is r.sub.c and r.sub.o is the outside radius of the fiber.
The refractive index profile (idealized) of the standard telecommunication fiber is illustrated in FIG. 3.
This loss mechanism was observed to be even greater in WDM couplers (referred to herein as type B couplers) made with two identical small mode field diameter fibers of the type characterized by FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 4 shows excess loss versus wavelength for types A and B couplers (curves 12 and 14, respectively). In both cases, the variations in loss with respect to wavelength are indicative of possible nonadiabatic loss mechanisms.
It was discovered that type A couplers made with small mode field diameter fibers having a chlorine doping profile represented by curve 20 of FIG. 5 had 0.3 dB higher excess loss than those made with small mode field diameter fibers having a chlorine doping profile as represented by curve 21 of FIG. 5. Except for the cladding chlorine level, all other aspects of the small mode field diameter fibers were substantially identical. Thus, it became apparent that a larger dip in the chlorine profile caused larger coupler excess loss.

Fiber optic coupler exhibiting low nonadiabatic loss


There is provided a filter device for gas including: a cylindrical filter case formed to be airtight; a hollow filter which is formed with an opening in a bottom part thereof, a top part of which is obstructed, and which is placed inside the filter case in such a manner that a central axis thereof substantially aligns with a central axis of the filter case; and a flow controlling plate which is attached roundly between an outlet in the top part of the filter case and the top part of the hollow filter on an inner peripheral wall of the filter case, wherein gas introduced through an inlet in a bottom part of the filter case is introduced into a hollow part of the hollow filter, and also passes through a space between an outer periphery of the hollow filter and the inner peripheral wall of the filter case, and then is discharged through the outlet.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a filter device for gas that is used while being connected to a fuel flow path on the intake side of a gas engine operating with gas fuel such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG), for example.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, in a gas engine that uses gas fuel such as LPG and CNG, it is known that fuel residue of impurities in oil form caused by tar contained in gas fuel in mist form, plasticizer eluted from a hose, or the like (referred to as "fuel residue", hereinafter) flows into an injector on the downstream side, resulting in adverse effect on the injector function.
Therefore, as a means of preventing such fuel residue being mixed into an engine, a means of preventing the fuel residue being mixed into an injector or an engine is by providing a filter device for gas in the middle of the fuel flow path.
For example, there is a known filter device for gas disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-328364 that includes: a cylindrical filter case; a hollow filter that is also cylindrical and provided inside the filter case; and an inlet and an outlet on the top part of the filter case. The filter device for gas is configured in such a manner that gas flowing in from the inlet passes the inside of the filter case, passes through the hollow filter, flows into a space outside of the hollow filter, and then is discharged to the outlet.
In addition, there is a known filter device for gas disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2011-245442 configured in such a manner that gas flowing into a filter case from an inlet is filtered by a hollow filter provided in the filter case, and the gas that has passed inside the hollow filter is discharged through an outlet.
As described above, a way that gas flows from an inlet to an outlet in the conventional filter devices for gas can roughly fall into a type where gas passes from the inside of the cylindrical hollow filter to the outside thereof, and a type where gas flowing into the filter case flows from the outside of the hollow filter into the inside thereof through the filter and is discharged.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2011-245442 disclosing a filter device for gas of the latter type, there is a known filter device for gas capable of efficiently trapping gas flowing inside the filter case on the hollow filter by providing a flow controlling plate that controls a flow of gas flowing into the inlet as a filter device for gas that extends life of the hollow filter by efficiently contacting gas flowing into the filter case to the hollow filter, and by separating impurities.
This filter device for gas is designed in such a manner that gas that has passed through the hollow filter flows to the outlet positioned on one end of the hollow filter in the axial direction. In addition, the outlet has substantially the same inner diameter with the hollow filter, and the flow path is a straight line. Therefore, it is thought that there is no obstacle that distributes flow speed distribution and thus any problem of non-uniformity of the flow speed distribution on the outlet side or the like is not caused.
On the other hand, in a case of a filter device for gas where gas flows in the former way, an outlet 24 is formed to be eccentric as illustrated in FIG. 3. Therefore, non-uniformity occurs in the flow speed distribution of gas at a filter outer peripheral section 35 of a hollow filter 3 or around the outlet 24 (resulting in decrease of trap effect at a part having a high flow speed on the hollow filter 3), and thus liquid of fuel residue or the like attached to an inner peripheral wall 21 of the filter case is discharged to the outlet 24 together with gas at a part having a high flow speed of gas on the inner peripheral wall 21 of the filter case, which is around the outlet 24. Consequently, a failure of an engine system is caused.
In order to solve this problem, there is a known method of providing a communication hole to narrow a flow path, the hole being positioned short of a point connected to an outlet as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-328364, and there is also a known method of providing a space of a predetermined length between a hollow filter and an outlet so as to decrease flow speed and thus decrease an influence of non-uniformity of flow speed distribution as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-114996.


Panels for cladding floors, walls and ceilings of rooms for locating ducting for carrying heating/cooling media for controlling the room temperature.. Mounting panels are formed from thermally insulating foamed plastics material with projections of different diameter in rows and columns to locate flexible tubing thereon. The mounting panels have jigsaw-like edges to allow for interlocking. The projections are solid and flat structural panels typically of steel or aluminium and adapted to be screwed or glued to the protrusions. Location of the structural panels is assisted by annular rims on the underside thereof around the screw holes, which penetrate into the projections.. Methods of moulding the mounting panels from foamed polystyrene are described and a preferred form of mould to give differential foaming.. A fixing screw having particular relationships between thread and core dimensions is described for securing to foamed plastics materials and the like.

A mounting panel for securing heating medium ducting in floors is known from German Patent specification No. 1,929,529, made of a base plate with planar parallel sides, with cylindrical projections arranged on one side, between which the heating medium ducting can be secured (DT-AS No. 1,929,529). These mounting panels are laid in a building on a supporting base made of concrete, wood or the like, or on an insulating layer. Heating medium ducting which is connected at its ends to the flow and return of a central heating system is inserted according to a specific layout between the projections and is held in place by them. Steel plates are laid on the projections. These form the floor which is actually walked on. In the known mounting panel the cylindrical projections have a uniform diameter. This diameter is determined by two factors, which determine the maximum and minimum diameters which can be used. From the point of view of high load-bearing capacity and in order to give a substantial support for the structural panels (typically steel plates) laid thereon, the projections should have a large diameter. Only then will the steel plates be adequately supported and, particularly with point loading, be prevented from bending down in between the individual projections and rising up along their edges. However, projections with a large diameter restrict the free laying of the heating medium ducting. The space occupied by large diameter projections is no longer available for the ducting. This does not affect so much the straight runs of ducting as it does loops and return bends. At points where the ducting reverses its laying direction, it should follow the widest possible curve. In the known mounting panel a compromise has therefore to be made in establishing the diameter of the projections. This means that either the supporting of the steel plates or the possibility of laying the heating ducting freely must suffer.


Methods for etching a dielectric barrier layer with high selectivity to a dielectric bulk insulating layer are provided. In one embodiment, the method includes providing a substrate having a portion of a dielectric barrier layer exposed through a dielectric bulk insulating layer in a reactor, flowing a gas mixture containing H2 gas, fluorine containing gas, at least an insert gas into the reactor, and etching the exposed portion of the dielectric barrier layer selectively to the dielectric bulk insulating layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to semiconductor processing technologies and, more specifically, to a method for etching a dielectric barrier layer with high selectivity to a dielectric bulk insulating layer in semiconductor processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Integrated circuits have evolved into complex devices that can include millions of components (e.g., transistors, capacitors and resistors) on a single chip. The evolution of chip designs continually requires faster circuitry and greater circuit density. The demands for greater circuit density necessitate a reduction in the dimensions of the integrated circuit components.
As the dimensions of the integrated circuit components are reduced (e.g. sub-micron dimensions), the materials used to fabricate such components contribute to their electrical performance. For example, metal interconnects with low resistance (e.g., copper and aluminum) provide conductive paths between the components on integrated circuits.
Typically, the metal interconnects are electrically isolated from each other by a dielectric bulk insulating material. When the distance between adjacent metal interconnects and/or the thickness of the dielectric bulk insulating material has sub-micron dimensions, capacitive coupling potentially occurs between such interconnects. Capacitive coupling between adjacent metal interconnects may cause cross talk and/or resistance-capacitance (RC) delay which degrades the overall performance of the integrated circuit.
In order to minimize capacitive coupling between adjacent metal interconnects, low dielectric constant bulk insulating materials (e.g., dielectric constants less than about 4.0) are needed. Examples of low dielectric constant bulk insulating materials include silicon dioxide (SiO2), silicate glass, fluorosilicate glass (FSG), and carbon doped silicon oxide (SiOC), among others.
In addition, a dielectric barrier layer often separates the metal interconnects from the dielectric bulk insulating materials. The dielectric barrier layer minimizes the diffusion of the metal into the dielectric bulk insulating material. Diffusion of the metal into the dielectric bulk insulating material is undesirable because such diffusion can affect the electrical performance of the integrated circuit, or render it inoperative. The dielectric layer needs to have a low dielectric constant in order to maintain the low-k characteristic of the dielectric stack between conductive lines. The dielectric barrier layer also acts as an etch-stop layer for a dielectric bulk insulating layer etching process, so that the underlying metal will not be exposed to the etching environment. The dielectric barrier layer has a dielectric constant of about 5.5 or less. Examples of dielectric barrier layer are silicon carbide (SiC) and nitrogen containing silicon carbide (SiCN), among others.
Some integrated circuit components include multilevel interconnect structures (e.g., dual damascene structures). Multilevel interconnect structures can have two or more bulk insulating layers, low dielectric barrier layers, and metal layers stacked on top of one another. As an exemplary dual damascene structure shown in FIG. 1A, a dielectric bulk insulating layer 108 with an underlying dielectric barrier layer 106 are stacked on another previously formed interconnect with a conductive layer 104 embedded in another dielectric bulk insulating layer 102. As a via/trench etching process is completed and a via/trench 110 is defined on the dielectric bulk insulating layer 108, the exposed dielectric barrier layer 106 defined by the via/trench 110 is subsequently removed to expose the underlying conductive layer 104 so that the following deposited conductive layer 116 can be connected and jointed therethrough, as shown in FIG. 1B. However, the similarity of the selected materials of the bulk insulating layer 108 and dielectric barrier layer 106 results in similar etch properties therebetween, thereby causing poor selectivity during etching. As shown in FIG. 1C, as the dielectric barrier layer 106 is etched, the dielectric bulk insulating layer 108 may be attacked simultaneously by the reactive etchant species, resulting in non-uniformity or tapered profile on the top and/or sidewall of the layer 114. In embodiments where the underlying conductive layer 104 is not aligned with the trench opening 110, as shown in FIG. 1D, the underlying dielectric bulk insulating layer 102 may be attacked 112 during etching of the dielectric barrier layer 106 due to poor selectivity to the dielectric bulk insulating layer 102.
Therefore, there is a need for a method of etching a dielectric barrier layer with high selectivity to a dielectric bulk insulating layer.


The apparatus is a cross fader with a slide assembly which slidingly traverses a path defined by two parallel guide rods which pass through a partially open channels in the slider of the slide assembly. Tension plates are secured by self-tapping screws within recesses laterally adjacent to open portions of at least one of the channels. The tension plates are urged radially against the guide plates, so that the tighter the screws are secured, the tighter the tension plates are urged against the guide rods and the more frictional resistance is generated when the user moves the slider.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a cross fader with dual optocouplers and a handle with adjustable tension, which can be used in a DJ (disk jockey) mixer or as a replacement cross fader for a DJ mixer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, cross faders have used resistive components to allow a user, such as a disk jockey, to cut or short out a first signal from a respective channel of audio signal, while allowing the opposite channel of signal to pass. However, such resistive cross faders have been deficient with respect to noise, wear characteristics and lack of complete cutting of the respective signal.
The parent application of the instant application relates to the use of dual optocouplers to address this deficiency of the prior art. This has been found very satisfactory. However, it is desired to improve this apparatus by providing adjustable tension in the handle.


A system for providing a simultaneous ring service for a subscriber. The system allows a subscriber to identify one or more telecommunication units that should be rung simultaneously with the subscriber's landline telecommunications unit when a call is directed to the landline unit. A list of numbers to be simultaneously rung is maintained by the subscriber and may be stored at a service control point. Ringing wireless numbers is initiated prior to ringing wireline numbers to account for timing delays inherent in wireless communications systems.

Increasingly in today's society there is a need for individuals to "stay in touch," whether it be with business contacts, co-workers, friends or family. A primary avenue for allowing individuals to stay in touch are the telephone networks, both landline or wireless. These telecommunication methods have their drawbacks, however. Significantly, if an individual is not sufficiently proximate to their telephone, the individual cannot answer an incoming call before it stops ringing, in which case the call often goes unanswered. The advent of answering machines and voice messaging systems have ameliorated this problem, but even these technological advancements are not acceptable for all situations. Some circumstances simply require more personal communication capabilities.
One known solution to this problem is the so-called "simultaneous ring" telephone service. According to the typical simultaneous ring service, when a called party receives an incoming call on their landline telephone, a wireless telephone associated with the called party would ring relatively simultaneously, allowing the called party to answer the most accessible phone. For example, a person may have the simultaneous ring service established for his work phone, such that whenever a calling party calls him at work, not only does his work phone ring, but also his wireless telephone may ring. As a result, the businessman need not miss any important work-related calls when he is out of the office.
There are a number of known mechanisms for implementing the simultaneous ring service. One is a switch-based system. In a switch-based system, an incoming call to a pre-designated directory number is additionally routed to a number of other pre-designated directory numbers. For example, an incoming call to the businessman's work phone may also be additionally routed to the businessman's home and/or mobile phones. The switch-based systems, however, treat each call the same. Accordingly, when one of the other pre-designated directory numbers is for a mobile phone, the system cannot account for inherent delays in wireless networks when connecting calls to mobile end users. As a result, a disgruntled calling party is likely to hear an unacceptable number of rings from a landline telephone before the mobile end user is able to answer. Alternatively, an answering system for the landline phone may answer before the mobile end-user can answer, thus precluding realization of the very benefits that the simultaneous ring service was intended to provide. A switch supporting such a service is available from NORTEL NETWORKS of Research Triangle Park, N.C.
These switch-based systems also suffer from a number of other serious problems. First, a subscriber is only able to activate or deactivate the simultaneous ring service from their landline telecommunications unit. The subscriber cannot activate or deactivate the service from a wireless telephone. Moreover, because the service is switch-based, the service cannot take into account the timing delays associated with wireless networks and cannot start a call to a wireless network prior to starting a call to a telephone number on a wired network. Accordingly, these systems cause outgoing telephone calls to landline telecommunications units to be placed prior to the calls to wireless telecommunications units. Therefore, the telephones are not simultaneously rung. Moreover, because these prior systems are switch-based, they cannot check the status of wireless telephones to be simultaneously rung prior to entering call setup. This may result in the unnecessary use of network resources. Additionally, prior art switch-based systems are limited to ringing a maximum of five wireline or wireless telephones. It is often desirable to have more than five phones simultaneously rung.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a simultaneous ring service that can simultaneously ring any number of wireline or wireless telephone lines. There also exists a need for such a service that effectively interfaces with wireless networks and accounts for delays in these networks. There further exists a need for such a service that may be administered by the subscriber from any wired or wireless telephone unit.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for providing a simultaneous ring service for multiple landline or wireless telecommunications units

BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation


A motor vehicle air-fuel ratio automatic control device comprises an electromagnetic valve electrically connected to the generator of a motor vehicle to control the passageway of an air loop to the fuel pipe of the motor vehicle. Starting the engine of the motor vehicle causes the electromagnetic valve to open the passageway to supply additional air to the fuel pipe so as to increase the proportion of air in the air-fuel ratio. Stopping the engine of the motor vehicle causes the electromagnetic valve to be electrically disconnected so that the passageway is closed whereby the proportion of air in the air-fuel ratio is reduced to enable a subsequent easy starting of the engine.

The present invention relates to a motor vehicle air-fuel ratio automatic control device which automatically controls the proportion of air of the air-fuel ratio to provide for easy starting of the engine without increasing engine exhaust pollution.
In the combustion system of a motor vehicle, the air-fuel ratio is generally controlled at 1:8 or 1:7 for easy starting of the engine. After start-up, the air-fuel ratio is adjusted within the range of 1:14 to 1:17 so that better combustion efficiency can be achieved. Several cold starting fuel supply auxiliary systems are known and used in controlling the air-fuel ratio of the combustion system of a motor vehicle. However, if the proportion of fuel in the air-fuel ratio is excessively increased, the engine of a motor vehicle may be stopped easily. Once stopped, the engine is difficult to start again. Although increasing the proportion of fuel in the air-fuel ratio makes cold starting easy, it simultaneously increases the consumption of fuel and produces additional exhaust pollutants.

Motor vehicle air-fuel ratio automatic control device

Haw Mei Engineering Enterprise Co., Ltd.


It is proposed a method for post-processing images of an region of interest in a subject, the images being acquired with a magnetic resonance imaging technique, the method for post-processing comprising at least the step of: —unwrapping the phase of each image, —extracting a complex signal over echo time for at least one pixel of the unwrapped images, and —calculating fat characterization parameters by using a fitting technique applied on a model, the model being a function which associates to a plurality of parameters each extracted complex signal, the plurality of parameters comprising at least two fat characterization parameters, the magnitude error and the phase error generated by the use of the bipolar readout gradients, the fitting technique being a non-linear least-square fitting technique using pseudo-random initial conditions.

Suboptimal diet is the single leading modifiable cause of poor health in the world. High fat intake causes obesity and increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, type-2 diabetes mellitus, and cancer. The metabolic risks are related to ectopic fat deposition in the abdomen and the liver and are influenced by the intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA).
Moreover, the protective effects of replacing SFA with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) have been demonstrated for coronary heart disease and for some cancers, especially when omega-3 PUFA are administered.
These points underscore the fact that obesity related diseases are caused not only by the total amount of fat, but also by visceral fat distribution and fatty acid composition.
Therefore, it is desirable to develop non-invasive methods to quantify the amount and composition of abdominal fat.
It is known from document WO 2012/061839 A2 techniques, apparatus and systems are described for using parameters including chain length, number of double bonds and number of double-double bonds of a complex, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-generated fat spectrum to determine the composition and properties of fat and to perform various diagnostic functions. In one aspect, a method using magnetic resonance imaging to characterize fat includes acquiring a magnetic resonance (MR) image that includes MR data from a target, determining fat characterization parameters based on the acquired MR data, and using the determined fat characterization parameters to produce a relationship between regions of fat and/or water in the MR image.
However, such technique is not usable in the context of high field preclinical magnetic resonance imaging systems.

Method for fat characterization using MRI images acquired using a multiple gradient-echo sequence with bipolar gradients

INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTE ET DE LA RECHERCHE MEDICALE (INSERM)

ASSISTANCE PUBLIQUE-HOPITAUX DE PARIS (APHP)